What's So New About This Year?

Looking at my writing production for 2012, it looks like someone fell off the wagon so to speak. In my defense, I've been a bit preoccupied with work, wife and kids. Hopefully, with the impending adoption of M&M and the return/moving on of The Banshee and Mini Me, time for writing will increase again. So, I thought I'd give a brief random update with pictures.

A little over two weeks ago, I came down with the rampaging nastiness. I've had garden variety nastiness in the form of the flu. Pneumonia was a breeze compared to the rampaging nasties. With pneumonia, I only thought I was going to die. With the rampaging nastiness, serious thought was given to WANTING to die.

Warning: TMI to follow. It all started with explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting. At the same time. After about eight hours worth of that, and I was prepared swear off food and water for life. Then, it stopped. I collapsed in a heap for several hours of sleep after that only to wake up to The Queen sharing my fate in the middle of the night. No fun. That was Sunday.

Monday dawned with me feeling weak but otherwise able to take nourishment and function somewhat normally. I stayed home from work to take care of The Queen and the kids. She needed it.

Tuesday dawned with me sporting a 103 degree fever. I normally run a degree or so cool compared to normal people. So, 103 is a bit of a concern. The magic elixir of alternating tylenol and advil only managed to keep me sleeping in a pool of my own sweat for three days.

Along about Wednesday or Thursday is when things really got interesting. My hands and feet broke out in a rash, the tips of my fingers and toes calloused over, and it felt like I had burned my hands and feet. This was new and interesting. It was also a giant pain in the keister. Friday I went back to work which was a mistake in hindsight as I had a sore throat.

Saturday found me sitting in the doc in a box's office trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The sore throat turned out to be ulcers in the mouth and throat. Which explained why swallowing water felt like I was gargling with broken glass.

The reason I am sharing this story is that the medical history discussion with the PA was amusing to say the least.

Me: [after relating the above history] I am concerned about shingles or staph.

PA: mmm...are you sexually active Mr. Erickson?

Me: Yes, I've been married for nine years to the same woman.

PA: Are you active with anyone else?

Me: No. Why?

PA: Well, I think it's either hand, foot and mouth or it might be syphillis.

Me: [BLINK, BLINK]...what the....????

I can assure my readers that I do not have such an interesting social disease. I have the test results to prove it. My C-reactive protien levels are about six times higher than normal indictative of a viral infection which, combined with my other symptoms, is consistent with hand, foot and mouth. I have Mini Me to thank for that one. HF&M is common in school age kids, and Mini Me just started pre-K in October. He was also worshiping Hurl!! the day before I did.

In other news, The Queen and I have made a firm decision to home school M&M when the time comes.

Other than my hands and feet peeling, flaking and cracking from a bunch of dead skin caused by the rash, I am over my affliction.

Moving right along, the forecast at Castle Erickson for Christmas Day was for cold but not freezing wet weather. Instead, we got this:

Global warming my big, hairy (flaking, peeling, cracking) toe.

Mini Me and The Banshee are still with us for the time being. There is a pretty significant security issue developing which may see them relocated in the near future. Or it might not. I'll share details after the fact. We are waiting to hear back from the powers that be regarding what they want to do about it.

M&M remains with us and is increasingly likely to be ours forever. By my count, we are 53 days away from the earliest day we would be able to adopt her assuming the genetic donors do not file an appeal. So far, there has been no indication that they have the means or the interest in filing an appeal. Also, female genetic donor's mother's home study was denied. Apparently, brain cancer and medical marijuana use make a person unfit to be a single parent to an infant. Who knew? Grandma Toker (not her real name) has 90 days to get a neurological evaluation if she wants her home study to be reconsidered. There is no guarantee that the Texas case worker will accept it even if her home state approves her the second go around.



Mimi, My Sister...The Devil and an Unidentified Midget. Shhssh! Don't tell anyone.

There will be a fight (legal...maybe otherwise too) if she gets approved. Just sayin'.

Some Very Special Feet

As of today, I have been at the new job for one year meaning I can no longer use the "I'm the new guy" excuse. In hindsight, it was a really good move career wise and otherwise. The travel requirement has been managable. And I can afford a better quality of bourbon.

MMMM....Tasty

One Year...Give or Take

As of last Sunday, M&M has been with The Queen and I for one year. Time has absolutely flown by. It seems like yesterday that I was getting up with her in the middle of the night to give her bottles and snuggle up with her on the loveseat in the TV room. There is just something calming and peaceful about a small child trusting you enough to fall asleep in your arms, and there is still nothing I like more than to snuggle up with her on my chest in the TV room...she just covers a little more real estate now. .

Speaking of covering more real estate, we were going through a huge amount of "old" baby clothes from the last year to give to a friend of a friend. We found her preemie and newborn clothes. She was so tiny, tiny, TINY! I truly wish I could post then and now photos, but that will have to wait a little longer. She was barely a handful, but she has made up for lost time. She is two months younger than The Banshee, but they are all but the same size.

Mini Me and The Banshee are still with us and likely to remain so through mid March when the next hearing is scheduled in their case. In the meantime, I have to suppress the urge to dope slap their bio parents who seem to be intent on having one dumb ass attack after another.

First, they lost out on leasing a pretty decent mobile home for a reasonable monthly rent just down the street from family because they didn't get a lease nailed down in writing. They had been trying to work off the deposit by performing the painting and make ready work for the land lady. Well, land lady's son needed a place to stay for some reason. Guess who won that one. The land lady did at least offer them $400 for the work they had performed.

Then, they reverted back to their prior idiocy by giving The Banshee Dr Pepper in a sippy cup. Hello??? Anyone in there??? Mini Me has not freaking teeth because you disolved them using highly acidic carbonated sodas and other sugary junk food all because you don't have the skills to parent and never learned how to say NO!!

There is more drama involved that I will not report here because it would elevate my blood pressure beyond reasonable limits, and I've been enjoying a period of relative calm of late. It just angers and frustrates me that I can almost script out the path those kids lives will take in the future; and, unfortunately, none of it is pretty. Needless to say, I cannot wait to be out of the foster care system.

I wanna go back home and snuggle up with M&M now.

Inaugural Review in The Toy Box

Since some of y'all asked, this is your notice that the inaugural product review is posted over at Daddy Hawk's Toy Box. Go check it out.

The Toy Box is Open

The first post is up at Daddy Hawk's Toy Box. The layout and look are still under construction, but I wanted to get some content posted sooner rather than later.

Enjoy.

There's Gonna Be Some Changes 'Round Here...

Before I get to the changes here at Preachers & Horse Thieves, I'd like to take a moment to welcome another follower. Even though she does not appear in the "official" listing in the side bar, Jane of Virginia sounded off her presence in the comments of the last post. Her profile lists her online presence at "Rational Preparedness" : The Blog. Everybody say "hi" to Jane. While you're at it, tell me if you don't think her profile picture is the spitting image of Cote de Pablo from NCIS.

Now, moving right along, the first change I would like to make you all aware of is the new name. Not for the blog, but for the blogger. Shepherd K has been a fun name, but it's time to put it to bed. There are a couple of reasons for the decision. The main one is the likely adoption of M&M in the near to mid future. As some of you may recall, The Queen bestowed upon me the title of "Daddy Hawk" shortly after M&M's arrival. Over the almost one year since her arrival, I have come to view myself more and more as a husband / father / protector, a Daddy Hawk, as opposed to anything else. Besides, the best nicknames are those that others give you instead of ones you think up for yourself.

So, when you see a comment from a stranger named Daddy Hawk, it's just me.

We'll get along fine as long as you don't mess with my wife or my daughter.

The second change (or second and third depending on your point of view) is the changing nature of the blog. My original intent when I started writing here was to have a place to hone my writing skills, find my "voice" and share random thoughts on a variety of topics and other stuff. In other words, a general blog. Over time, I have gotten away from random thoughts and other stuff and started focusing more on my life as it happens. A diary of sorts. Part family history, part spleen venting. Looking back through the stats though, I've noticed that my most "popular" posts were the car reviews. In fact, my 2010 Ford Focus SES review is the number three entry for that search term on Google. Yeah, I just patted myself on the back. There might have been a self satisfied, maniacal chuckle or two as well.

In light of those revelations, I've decided on a two part solution. Part one, Preachers & Horse Thieves will continue to be your destination for all things related to The Queen, Daddy Hawk, M&M and the happenings at Castle Erickson. Part two is the creation of a new blog, called Daddy Hawk's Toy Box, which is where I will turn my inner twelve year old boy loose for things like writing reviews of cars, planes, motorcycles, guns, tools, books, movies....in short, anything a twelve year old boy (or girl) stuck in a middle aged man's (or woman's) body might find interesting.

The Toy Box is under development as you read this. It may be a little bit before some content appears, but I'll get something up there before too long.

Finally, I will continue to contribute to The GunDivas blog on occasion. Just under the new blogger name. Otherwise, it'll be semi-business as usual around here.

As always, I really appreciate your readership, your friendship and your comments.

Welcome and A Brief Word From Our Sponsors

I'd like to take a moment out of my day to welcome a recent addition to the followers list, Little Lotta, of the blog Whitless Relocation Program. Little Lotta, we're glad to have you as a member of the congregation. I hope to hear you singing in the choir.

Now, I know I've been relatively quiet here lately. The fact of the matter is that I have been working on writing M&M's full story, by which I mean her story as I know it from my point of view. I started working on it in late October, and I'm already at 8 pages and 4100 words. It's a bit emotional for me, and it's pretty much consuming what little brain power and free time I have for writing. I promise to give you all fair warning before I post it so that you can have tissues and a few minutes set aside.

I will say that we have crossed one very major hurdle in the process. Earlier this week, the parental rights of M&M's birth parents were officially terminated by the court. They have 90 days to file an appeal. Even if they find an attorney willing to file the appeal, we do not anticipate the court accepting the appeal. If all goes well, that puts us in position to consummate an adoption in early to mid March assuming what we have been told is correct.

So, look for M&M's story sometime after that. Semi-regular content will resume once I have the majority of her story ready for final edit and can focus on other topics.

I Love My Wife

A brief text exchange between myself and The Queen as she went out for an after dark exercise walk.

Me: Be careful

The Queen: It is well lit and there are people on the playground area.

Me: Okay. Good. God protects. But it always helps to be aware.

The Queen: Naw. I don't think I will be aware.

Me: And you wonder why I want long range rifles...so I can protect you from afar.

The Queen: LOL, You are so heroic.

Me: Nothing says "stay away from my wife" like a .308 in the ear.

The Queen: LOL. Awww so protective.

Me: That's my job. Is what I vowed on our wedding day. Well, not the .308 in the ear exactly, but the general concept of get off my wife.;)