From Dallas To Kansas

My sister and her two children came to visit this weekend. I drove along with them from Dallas to Kansas, and I believe we made the trip in record time.
While his big sister was sleeping we let Will hold the portable DVD player--a privilege which he relished.

The kids loved the farmstead near our home. Will kept saying "Oh-oh-oh" at all the animals, including this pig shaped rocker.

Savannah went nuts crazy on her horse.

I think she also set a new land speed record for toy trackers. You can't see her intensity in this picture, but she would have made her dad proud with the way she attacked that race track.

Of course I had to take a token picture of the most photogenic animals at the farmstead, namely, the pigs.

New Car

We recently replaced the Golf with this 2002 Honda Civic we found on Craigslist. It doesn't have as much personality as the Golf, but it has airbags, an air conditioner, and a windshield that doesn't leak. We are really quite happy with our new car. The biggest problem that we have now is distinguishing the keys to the Civic from the keys to the Accord.

Springtime

That was one of the longest winters of my life! After what hopefully will be one last batch of snow flurries last weekend, we are finally getting some warmer weather. Today we noticed the first birds using our new bird feeder. We hung the feeder last fall, but as far as we know it attracted no birds until recently. We think the birds may have been coming for a while because the cat has been extremely interested in the balcony lately.

Goodbye Golf

I'm both saddened and pleased to announce that the Golf was sold on Monday to a mechanic who loves to fix up old cars and sell them. It is with high hopes that we sent the Golf to yet another owner. After nine years and trips that span many of the Western states, I have to say we really got our money's worth out of the Golf. I have to particularly mention my Father in law, Scott, who purchased the Golf for my wife when she was Sophomore in college and then turned the title over to us when we were married. Thanks, Scott; we owe you for this and a million other things you do for us. Below are our final pictures of the Golf being towed away to its new home.

I posted the Golf on Craigslist and had an offer within two hours. No, seriously, they made me an offer over the phone within two after the posting. I subsequently received two other phone calls. I think the part that got people's attention was, "Make me an offer, and it's yours."

The new owner has restored several VW's. In fact, he had an experience that was very similar to mine, so he knew what it was like to loose a faithful car like the Golf. That makes me wonder how many other VW owners are out there with similar stories.

I admit it was sad to turn over the keys to a non-working car. When people actually offered me money for the Golf, I had to make sure they understood that the car didn't actually run. The car needed a new distributor (which I actually pulled off of an old Jetta last week in a wrecking yard), so hopefully it won't take much to get it going again. My dream is to see the Golf driving around Kansas City sometime in the future. That would be awesome!

Finally, we say goodbye to the Golf. I know that families are forever, but when we die do we get to see our pets again? What about our old cars? I've always wondered what happened to a certain 1980 Mercury Zephyr or that 1984 Toyota Camry. I've been way too sentimental in this post, but I just can't help thinking I may never get another car quite like this. (Now that I think about that leaky windshield, maybe it's a good thing.)

Congratulations KU!!!

2008 NCAA Basketball Champions.

The End of an Era

The last couple weeks have been sad ones in our house because we've come to realize that it is time to say goodbye to a stalwart friend, The Golf. Lately the poor, 22-year old Golf has needed more maintenance than we can afford. This blog is a tribute to The Golf and the many years of service it gave us.

In the spring of my Sophomore year of college my Mom came to visit me from Colorado. She picked me up from the airport on my return from a track meet. On the way out to the garage she handed me a card, which I thought was strange. What was the occasion? The front of the card said "There are many things I need to teach you." I opened the card and the inside said, "but first ... how do you like your new car!" And that was my introduction to The Golf. I was so surprised. Over the next few days my Mom taught me how to drive a car with manual transmission. Here I am with The Golf during those first few days.

It became clear pretty quickly that The Golf was a real treasure with a lot of guts and pep for such an old car. The Golf made countless trips from Provo to Colorado Springs without any problem. It also made a trek from Provo to Seattle. Nicole, Jill, Jessica, and Paige and Nate all took multiple road trips in The Golf. Here's a picture of The Golf in Colorado.

It also became clear pretty quickly that The Golf had a few quirks. The door handles were a disaster. I was always coaching people on how to open the car doors, and my friends who could open the doors themselves knew they were really good friends. All of the door handles have had to be replaced. Thanks to my Dad and Sam for going to the junkyard to find some old VW door handles. Also, after I had driven The Golf for a few years the car started honking every time that I turned left, which was pretty embarrassing. My Dad disconnected the horn. I never realized how often the horn would come in handy until after it was no longer available. The speakers broke and my brother attached a new one. It doesn't fit into the car, and you can see it below just sitting on top of the backseats. Speaking of the interior, one of my favorite compliments to my car came from my friend Heather who said that she thought it was the perfect college car. Just admire that tweed interior.


After I got the car, we realized that the odometer was broken. We have no idea how many miles that car has driven. This was always difficult to explain to mechanics who usually expected me to at least guess. The broken odometer is probably my favorite quirk of the car. I started telling people that I drove a 1986 Volkswagon Golf with unknown mileage.

In 2004 I loaded up The Golf with most of my possessions and drove it to Kansas. You'd be surprised how much stuff can be crammed into that car. Here it is fully loaded.


Nate and I have been driving The Golf for three years. Every time that the car broke down we would fear it was for the last time, but it usually wasn't a big fix. After a while we started to say that The Golf wanted to be immortal. Over the years the air conditioning broke, the windshield started leaking, and various other little things went wrong, but The Golf just kept trucking along.


Even this last breakdown is fixable. The car needs a new distributer. The problem is that the part is so expensive because the car is so old. We will miss our faithful Golf.


I know many of you also loved The Golf. We invite you to post your own tribute in our comments section.

Another Visit to the Farm

After three years I think we can say with certainty that a family tradition we have is visiting the Deanna Rose Farmstead between the Sunday sessions of conference. It's fun to see the big goats and the new baby animals. Here a few highlights.

JoLee was instantly popular when she entered the baby goat pen with a bottle in hand.

The goats were all over both of us, and when we returned home Zephyr sniffed us from our hands to our feet. She has never met a goat, but I bet she would like to.

This turkey was new to the farm this year. Wow, what a big, ugly creature. It kept sneezing and shivering at us to scare us away. I guess if you were the national dinner of choice, you would be a little skiddish as well.

I can't believe this was my idea.

The new milk barn housed several new baby cows, all of which were wonderful to pet and watch. The milk barn has a few stations where you can learn about cows and practice your milking skills.