Meanderings of a Recluse
It's always an odd sensation to come off of a 3 day silence and solitude retreat. Before I left, I remember thinking that I would come back and have to bust out a handful of blog entries to get all of the thoughts out of my head that had not had the chance to escape via my mouth. But then the opposite happened. I was so used to being quiet, that I had to ease my way back into the land of the expressed word. Even Wed evening when I was having dinner with Stacy and Elli, I realized that a good period of time had gone passed as we sat there together where I had not said anything.
Very early the next morning, I had to get up and force myself out of my hiatus, however. Whenever we travel as a family for Christmas, we have a little private celebration the night before we leave. Since we are heading out of town tonight to make stops in both Central Kansas and Oregon, I had to finish up my gift for Stacy.
For the better part of a year, I've been writing her a book. It was somewhat challenging, because I was trying my hardest to work on it when she was either sleeping or not around the house. And after early intentions of having friends proof-read my writings, I made the call early on in the process to just edit my writings myself and present them to Stacy as my pure thoughts. A noble thought, though very difficult in practice. While all 24000 words make sense to me, there is no telling if there will be any coherency to a second reader. I guess we'll find out as she works through it this week. She should get the gist, seeing as though it is the story of us and our dogs and our relationship with God.
In a fortunate turn of events, I could not have picked a better year to give my best Christmas gift ever. That is because Stacy pulled out all of the stops. We tend to keep Christmas low key at our house, but she decided to surprise me by getting me a new smoker. Not just any new smoker, but the Weber Smokey Mountain.
I had had my eye on this particular beauty for a while, but was thinking I'd try to get my hands on one next summer. I dropped zero hints that it was the desire of my heart. Yes, I did mention it once on the blog, but Stacy doesn't read the blog. Too busy saving lives.
It is not so much that she bought me the smoker, it is what the gift symbolizes. It demonstrates that she is a willing accomplice in my plan for meat smoking glory. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
When we get back, we'll have to have a nice little christening ceremony, as well as a memorial service for my old smoker. I think I shall name this new beauty Darth. It seems fitting.
Fair Dinkum
Very early the next morning, I had to get up and force myself out of my hiatus, however. Whenever we travel as a family for Christmas, we have a little private celebration the night before we leave. Since we are heading out of town tonight to make stops in both Central Kansas and Oregon, I had to finish up my gift for Stacy.
For the better part of a year, I've been writing her a book. It was somewhat challenging, because I was trying my hardest to work on it when she was either sleeping or not around the house. And after early intentions of having friends proof-read my writings, I made the call early on in the process to just edit my writings myself and present them to Stacy as my pure thoughts. A noble thought, though very difficult in practice. While all 24000 words make sense to me, there is no telling if there will be any coherency to a second reader. I guess we'll find out as she works through it this week. She should get the gist, seeing as though it is the story of us and our dogs and our relationship with God.
In a fortunate turn of events, I could not have picked a better year to give my best Christmas gift ever. That is because Stacy pulled out all of the stops. We tend to keep Christmas low key at our house, but she decided to surprise me by getting me a new smoker. Not just any new smoker, but the Weber Smokey Mountain.
I had had my eye on this particular beauty for a while, but was thinking I'd try to get my hands on one next summer. I dropped zero hints that it was the desire of my heart. Yes, I did mention it once on the blog, but Stacy doesn't read the blog. Too busy saving lives.
It is not so much that she bought me the smoker, it is what the gift symbolizes. It demonstrates that she is a willing accomplice in my plan for meat smoking glory. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it.
When we get back, we'll have to have a nice little christening ceremony, as well as a memorial service for my old smoker. I think I shall name this new beauty Darth. It seems fitting.
Fair Dinkum