Hunting Anyone?

Maybe we can convince Lincoln to come for a visit.

There's also a decrepit deer stand in our woods.

You might be the BLD redneck if...

Adin's recent transition from a laid-back island girl to a driving force in the military-industrial complex certainly mixes up the status quo here in BLD land, and I would like to continue that trend by placing Lincoln on notice regarding his status as the reigning redneck of the BLD.

Now, Lincoln does hail from W. Virginia, shoots animals on a regular basis, eats meats of questionable origin (scrapple), and probably owns a fair amount of camo and blaze orange. That being said, I believe I am now in a position to mount a respectable challenge. Consider the following:

*I am the proud owner of a double-wide, which has the added attraction of being a fixer-upper.
*I have dispatched a number of furry little creatures to the great hereafter in recent days.
*I was disappointed to discover that the previous owner had taken the two broken down cars that I had previously discovered in the back corner of our property.
*There is currently a broken toilet tank resting in the "yard" outside our side door.
*I am now the proud owner of a lagoon.
*I am also the proud owner of a half-completed metal outbuilding of dubious structural integrity, which had been listed on the real estate listing as a "4+ car garage".
*I am looking forward to working with a contractor to fix some holes in our ceiling who perfectly fits the stereotype you are about to form in your mind as you think of "mobile home contractor". (To help complete the image, you should know that his fly has been conspicuously open every time we've met with him.)
*My home is technically a vehicle.
*I am feeling a strange desire to watch Nascar and possibly chew. (Ok, that one's a lie).

So, Lincoln, I welcome any rebuttal you would like to offer. As for the rest of you, if you might offer up a small prayer to the patron saint of home repairs and mobile homes, I would appreciate it.

The reappearance of the Hawaiian.

Man...I get taken offline for a month and a half by laser scientists and island science education programs and what happens?...BLD multiplication! What are you guys...rabbits? Just kidding...the child whisperer is very very happy.

On another ridiculous note I did so well for National Security that they want me to be the security officer for my office...so now I study away to make sure that you and yours are safe in this tumultuous world.

I do it for the children...and especially the ones who share my name. =)

Racing towards Doucethood/Walshdom

Having spent one and a half long years in the early Willis family design (3 boys), the Mazzuccos are moving on towards either the Doucets of Dollard model (4 boys) or the 3 boys & one girl model made famous by the Walshes of Townline. Will they ever achieve the elusive Fasani pentanarchy? God only knows.

To put it another way, we are expecting a fourth child! Due date April 6, 2009.

Sorry I didn't call everyone (or anyone, for that matter); in a post-Palin world, having your fourth child just isn't as newsworthy as it once was. If it makes you feel better, we haven't even told my parents yet. I think we'll just call them when it's time to deliver. "Hey, guys, can I drop the kids off for a few hours? Betsy's having another baby."

This whole experience reminds me of some line from an old movie I used to have heard of when I slept at night... "I might one day go as high as five, but I really don't know what that would do to you. So, let's just start with what we have. What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest -- how do you feel?"

Contrary to the implication of my silly comments above (I've been thinking for weeks about how to announce it, and I couldn't decide between the TPB reference or the family unit comparison), we really are quite excited about our new child. And we are looking forward to new baby Mazzucco getting a chance to play with Nora, Jaya, Moira Thome Hurst, Second Daughter, the Jewel of Jakharta, little Doucet #2, and anyone else born in 2008-9 that I may have overlooked.

Dan

P.S. Name recommendations welcome (sorry... "Lincoln" has already been claimed).

Life on the Range

The wise friend mentioned in this post is Betsy.

Check out the sidebar for an ongoing list of Josh's experiences as a home-owner. I'll be adding to it as I'm sure I'm missing some stuff and (of course), he's still working on it. Some of the fun and exciting adventures to come: installing a dishwasher (and the plumbing for it), replacing a pedestal sink in the kids' bathroom, devising a dryer vent, replacing toilet hardware and/or tanks and cutting the corner off a cabinet so our refrigerator will fit. And paint the rest of the house.

He has some great BLD posts planned, but hasn't had time to write them yet.

My Hometown

How come I'm the only one who blogs anymore? 3 kids = no excuse.

In any case, the town we live in just got named a "Classic Town." Yay us.

In other news, Aidan starts soccer on Monday. I am assistant coach. 45 minutes of strength and conditioning practice every evening. As Mama Marilyn used to say, "Discipline!"

VP Disappointment

Was anyone else diasppointed to find that the Republican VP candidate was the governor of Alaska, and *not* actually Sarah Bailin '98?

MS 150

Howdy folks!

I'm doing the MS 150 again this year. This time, Betsy's doing it also. For those who forgot, it's a 150 mile bike ride over two days. It raises money to fight MS, which is a devastating disease that affects many people.

I understand that everyone has many financial commitments, and so I don't intend for anyone to feel pressured.

However, if you have a little extra cash, I need to raise $250, and I'm hoping to do so by 10 $25 donations. Betsy is hoping to do the same.

I don't know her donation page, but mine is the link here.

Thanks for considering it.

Dan

Reunion photos

Check this out if you are a facebooker:

Baby Jaya

Good news! If Jaya continues to do well tonight, we'll be able to bring her home tomorrow. Devon and I are both very excited (obviously). Now the real "fun" begins with a baby in the house!

Who's the cat that won't cop out...

The cat copped out.

Thanks for the good music, Isaac.

It's a shame Jaya will never get to meet the legend. Then again, I had almost 32 years to meet him, and never made any effort to do so.

+1 Day

I wish I could say that Jaya was already here, but she's officially 1 day late. Devon is DEFINITELY ready to have her, but Jaya seems content to stay indoors for now. At the last doctor's appointment on Wed, Devon wasn't dilated at all, so we may have a bit of waiting to do... We will be sure to post pictures and news when she makes her appearance. After all, doesn't Clare need a BLD playmate soon?

Is anyone out there?

I miss hearing from y'all.

Dan

P.S. Our French exchange student, Claire, is back for 3 weeks, so I probably won't have time to post anything until September.

Clare Elizabeth

She finally arrived five days late at 12:07am Saturday morning. Her early departure (a day earlier than Caleb and Reva) might account for why she's the smallest thus far at 8lb. 10oz. Jill's labor was remarkably quick and we were only in the room for about 20 minutes before Clare arrived. Thankfully the on-call physician from Jill's OB's practice showed up about 5 minutes before the birth. I think the poor family practice resident was happier about that than we were. She didn't look too excited about delivering the baby solo.

Everyone is doing well. You probably received an email from Jill with some pictures. If not, let us know and we'll get you some. And as always, stay tuned to ourhomeontherange.blogspot.com for the latest news and updates.

Exile

Alrighty, so I heard Kiss You All Over by Exile today on the radio. Awesome. It reminded me of Shan, Mo and my River apt (the Grays) and cleaning that apartment in high heels listening to that song. That got me to thinking of Tipsy, the rabbit, and I quickly shifted my thoughts on that to other things. For instance, did I make up that we once heard a lot of banging and clanging upstairs and went up to find out what the heck was going on that Jamie (last name escapes me) was only wearing tube socks and that he was "wrestling" with other football players? I really don't think that I would conjure something like that, because contrary to general public belief, that's not really my style...
That aside, I really miss playing Taboo. Don't get me wrong, peek a boo is cool and all, but Taboo and beer is, well, different. And, I miss when cooking basically just meant making brownies.