Saber the Drug Dog

Our neighbor, Officer McKinley, of the National Forest Service, brought Officer Saber, her K-9 partner to visit the scouts last night. The boys were so excited to see her in action, sniffing out real drugs in the basement of our church. That was a little weird. They also got a good talk about the the dangers of drugs from Sargent Dwayne of the Montana Highway Patrol. Brendan is in front, petting Saber and distracting her from looking at the camera. They had a million great questions and I hope the information sinks in and none of these kids will ever try drugs.

3rd Grade Field Trip

This is Brendan's class at Glacier National Park yesterday. They spent the entire day (Brendan said he never set foot inside the school)at the park learning and snow shoeing. Thanks to his wonderful, hard working teacher, Laurie Kollman and all the parents who drove.

Truth

I Still Don't Understand

Understanding Engineers One

Two engineering students were walking across a university campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"
The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."
The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."

Understanding Engineers Two

To the optimist, the glass is half-full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

Understanding Engineers Three

A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.
The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!"
The priest said, "Here comes the green-keeper. Let's have a word with him."
He said, "Hello George, what's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The green-keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind firemen. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."
The group fell silent for a moment.
The priest said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"

Understanding Engineers Four

What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.

Understanding Engineers Five

The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

Understanding Engineers Six

Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

Understanding Engineers Seven

An engineer was crossing a road one day, when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."
He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for one week and do ANYTHING you want."
Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess and that I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"
The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that's cool."

Christmas Day

It took me a while to get around to putting Christmas pictures up but here they are. Don't be surprised if next year's Christmas card is the picture of the three kids on the altar steps. All dressed up, all clean and all looking at the camera. It may be the Christmas card for the rest of my life since it's rare to get a picture like that!

Christmas was quiet and awesome. We decided to stay home and not accept dinner invitations this year. We also went to Mass on Christmas Eve instead of dragging kids away from presents on Christmas morning. We had a blessed tantrum free day with each other!

Sledding

This was a brief sledding outing in December with Brendan and Reece. Rita and Anthony were sick so we stayed in the warm car with a movie and I exited occasionally to snap a picture. I got a nice, but blurry one of Brendan catching air.

Montana Kid

We fear no cold! This is Brendan walking home from Rogun's house after a sleepover.