Good Morning!
You probably wondered where we disappeared to! Life has been busy and exhausting lately, and I haven’t had time to update our blog.
The week after Applefest, our church had a candidate for our Worship Pastor position come to the church, lead rehearsals for choir and the worship band, etc. for the weekend. There were several times for Q & A with him and his wife. We also got to meet Ty and Dayna Cooper at a social gathering at one of our church member’s farm. Ty really impressed me, as he did many other people at our church. That Sunday, September 27th, Ty led both services and also played bass guitar with the 3rd service worship band, so everyone who attended that week got a little flavor of what it was like with Ty leading. The following Sunday (Oct 4th), the church membership voted on whether or not to hire Ty. The vote was 98% in favor, so Ty was called and accepted. I am very excited to have him on board. He starts in November (the 9th, I believe). Welcome, Ty!

Joshua marching at Cranfest
Carrie and I only were able to attend about 30 minutes of that September 27th church service, as we had to head out to Warrens, WI to attend the Cranfest parade and watch Joshua and Elizabeth march with their respective bands. The Tomah MS band was alot bigger than I had figured it to be! Both Joshua and Elizabeth did a great job marching in the parade. The parade itself had lots of wind and a little rain. When I taught band, I hated it when it rained on the parade (pun unintentional…really!) because of all the potential damage to the instruments and uniforms. There was a guy there who was a vendor selling toys for kids at the festival, and all of the sudden we saw him selling these “emergency rain ponchos” to everyone. I ran over there and got me 2 of them for $2 each right before he ran out of them. All they were were glorified garbage bags with holes for 2 arms and a head. But hey! It kept us dry!

Elizabeth with the Tomah HS Marching Band
Carrie and I also attended the Tomah HS Homecoming game where we watched the Band (with Elizabeth). After the halftime show, we took Hannah and Caleb back with us for the weekend, and Elizabeth, Danielle and Joshua came after the football game was over. We had a great time with the kids for the weekend. Elizabeth had a voice lesson on Saturday, and Danielle and Joshua went to the mall while she was at her lesson. Carrie and I went grocery shopping with Hannah and Caleb and had a nice lunch with them, too. Come to think of it, we had a nice snack at Sam’s Club before lunch, munching through the various displays offering free samples.
Carrie had asked Hannah what she wanted for supper, and she said potato soup. So part of our grocery shopping was looking for ingredients for homemade soup. Carrie decided that it would be good to have ham with the soup, so we got that along with some vegetables, potatoes, etc.

Joshua marching with the Tomah MS Band and HS Band
One of the things that I have learned about being married to Carrie is that, when the kids are over, I tend to get in her way in the kitchen. When it is just the two of us, there isn’t as much food to make, so if I am in the kitchen, no problem. However, when the kids are over, it is best for me to stay out of the kitchen while she is cooking. But I do see that she has alot to do, so I try to ask her where I can help. Carrie knows this, so she has me do things that are easy for her “kitchen-challenged” husband.

Elizabeth leads the Tomah HS Band at Cranfest
I used to be a kitchen knife salesman, and when we got married, Carrie had her own set of kitchen knives that she likes, so she uses her knives. I like to use the ones I used to sell, so when I get a chance to use them, life is good. So we combined these two concepts in making Hannah’s Potato Soup. I asked Carrie if I could help her with making supper (Note: I was in the dining room when I asked) and she suggested that I cut the ham (see above grocery list). (Carrie’s insert – I asked him to slice the ham)
Now, I in my little male mind thought that she meant that the ham was going into the soup, and I figured it would be easier for me to first slice this ham, and then cut it into cubes. Carrie saw me slicing the ham into rather thin slices (when I sold my knives, I used to say that they were so thin, they only had one side), so she turned around and tended to the soup. Once I was done slicing, I started to cube the ham. A few minutes later, I heard a loud *GASP* coming from the direction of the stove, followed by a “What are you DOING???” in a high-pitched, Soprano voice that sounded like Carrie.
It WAS Carrie…..
After the initial shock, she started to laugh and say that being married to me is SUCH an adventure….always.
Obviously, she wanted ham slices to go with the meal, but the cubed ham in the soup gave it more seasoning. It was GREAT soup!
We took the kids back to Tomah on Sunday afternoon, and then I had to continue on to Stevens Point for more manager training for work. After we dropped off the kids, we went to dinner and then Carrie went home and I went to Stevens Point. Training was rather uneventful until it was time to leave and head for home. We got out about 4:30 in the afternoon, and headed to our cars. I got in, turned the key, and…..nothing. It didn’t turn over. The lights were on, but nobody was there. This was not a good thing, because I had to work the next morning, and most everyone else had already left. I called my roadside assistance program and asked them to send a tow truck. They offered to find me a mechanic to tow the car to, so I suggested one. They called the mechanic, but they closed at 5:00. So I suggested a second one, and they actually put that mechanic on the line with me. This mechanic was open until 8:00, so we had the car towed there. I got there around 6:30, and they diagnosed it as a dead battery cell, which was easy for them to replace. I was on my way by 8:00PM and home by 10:30. Thank you, Scaffidi Motors in Stevens Point!
These past 4 days I have been working alot of hours. Friday night the Tomah MS Band played with the Tomah HS Band at the football game. I was scheduled to be done with work that day at 5:00, but one of our co-workers called in sick, so I had to stay until close. Carrie was able to go to see Joshua and Elizabeth with the bands, but I missed it.
So that brings us to this week. I am scheduled for 72 hours this week, with today being my only day off. I will be heading out a little later to go to Joshua’s last football game of the season today at 4:00, then spending the evening with Carrie. Next week, our little Alltel store will be re-branded as a Verizon Wireless, so that will bring about a new adventure.
Today is Columbus Day – October 12th. There is SNOW out there today. What is going on? Did we just skip from summer to winter? I miss the fall!
More next time,
~Tim