Scattered Leaves

The common Poor Man's Eclipse Well, Saturday was interesting! We started the day by heading to the Old Courthouse in STL to get some tickets to ride to the top of the Arch. Along the way we noticed a cool phenomenon. Something I dubbed a "Poor Man's Eclipse", where the sun was being blocked by the Arch. It looked pretty cool and with the weather forecast calling for clouds and possible thunderstorms...it may be the closest to an actual eclipse that we get to see (we hope not). The Arch was quite the specimen and if you're ever in the area, you should definitely check it out. We watched a video documenting the construction and design of the Arch and it was really something to see. Those men and women who worked on the Arch must have been made of steel themselves. Many were 600 feet above the ground walking around without any safety harnesses (it was the 60s after all, where either they didn't give a damn or they didn't have time to be scared). We rode t...

We'll have to drive around 9-10 hours to see the total eclipse. We've decided to leave early on Friday in hopes of beating the major traffic rush that will likely occur from Saturday through Monday. Naturally, I have a pretty big checklist of things we're gonna need for this trip. I tend to stress myself out over planning for as many different situations as I can figure, especially now that we have children in tow. Back when it was only my wife and me, it wasn't such a big deal. The kids alone have their own set of things that must be prepared: iPads/Fire tablets/laptops/miscellaneous digital devices Travel Bingo cards Books Snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. No less than 30 charging cables and bricks Many sets of headphones/ear buds (for my sanity and theirs) Since we'll be traveling through areas with no cell coverage I have to download some of the kids' favorite YouTube videos to keep them happy. I don't like them burying their heads constant...

Wow, I'm pretty bad at keeping my blog up to date.  I don't think many people are keeping tabs on it though, so I probably have some wiggle room. Summer has finally arrived here in the U.P. and the weather has been pretty nice for the last few weeks with a few exceptions sprinkled in here and there.  I find that it's a lot harder to make time to sit down and work on stories every night with the weather being so nice.  In the winter it was no problem at all to come home from work and then spend 3 or 4 hours writing.  It became clear right away that I couldn't keep up with that routine once the sun started staying above the trees past 6 PM,  so I've made a more modest goal for myself.  One hour a night dedicated to writing.  Some days/nights I end up working for much longer than that.  Sometimes I get half of it or none of it at all.  I find that if I can sequester myself away from the rest of my family and put on some headphones and disappea...