ratman.com » family http://ratman.com this too... shall pass... like a kidney stone... Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:20:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 13… is a magic number sometimes… http://ratman.com/?p=906 http://ratman.com/?p=906#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:20:22 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=906 our youngest, devin, turned 13 today. what if when they started doing birthdays, they did like floors in buildings and 13 wasn’t a birthday year? how weird would that be…???

happy birthday devin!!! welcome to the teen years!!!

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=906 0 cats… http://ratman.com/?p=877 http://ratman.com/?p=877#comments Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:08:45 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=877 really, kittens. michele missed having more to do around the house, so we now have 2 kittens. magnum and raven. brother and sister. they’re kind of cute, except for their claws. my legs are suffering those consequences.

pictures should arrive shortly. they aren’t in one place long enough to get them right now!

peace…

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=877 0 birthday wishes… http://ratman.com/?p=831 http://ratman.com/?p=831#comments Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:54:24 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=831 to my son ian.

happy birthday ian!

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=831 0 the trip… http://ratman.com/?p=829 http://ratman.com/?p=829#comments Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:46:57 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=829 1770.2 total miles. for a while in the morning on sunday, we were getting 31.1 mpg. helped the last part of the trip as to saving fuel. however. the mountains of flagstaff dropped it down to 28.6. still not to shabby for a 75 mile per hour drive! it’s a good little car!

yep. arizona is hot, and it is a dry heat. spent the early evening hours in the pool tossing toys around. good to see the in-laws but better to see the kids.

got to meet the new little dog. scruffy. he is a pocket dog. not that that’s a bad thing, but small is just not my thing. he’s cute.

past that… not much to say. just lounging around, like any vacation is supposed to be.

peace…

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=829 0 day 2 comes to a close… http://ratman.com/?p=827 http://ratman.com/?p=827#comments Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:36:48 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=827 in moriarty nm. have to do the stats tomorrow. i forgot to write them down.

mileage sucked today. always a wind. strong at times. but otherwise a very nice ride. it’s 8:30 here, but it feels like 9:30 and so, bed is likely very soon.

the car is holding up well. it’s not terribly uncomfortable. mich was squirming a bit more today, but it was likely because sleeping last night sucked. there was a mist this morning. but no real rain.

i have been trying to get us to places to eat better. but it doesn’t always work out. today, we had the WORST meal ever at a sonic. the worst. needless to say, that could of helped her squirm.

otherwise, we are doing good. miss the dogs and the sitters. miss the kids. we’ll see um tomorrow if they’ll get out of the pool.

it was 92 at one point today while we were out of the car. and. it really was a dry heat. still hotter than hell… but it was dry…

peace…

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=827 0 happy birthday barb… http://ratman.com/?p=820 http://ratman.com/?p=820#comments Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:17:12 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=820 Click to play this Smilebox greeting: Fabulous at Your Age Create your own greeting - Powered by Smilebox Free digital ecard made with Smilebox ]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=820 0 a beautiful night in the neighbor hood. http://ratman.com/?p=814 http://ratman.com/?p=814#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 02:21:27 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=814 image

vacation is almost here. woohoo!

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=814 0 weekend wasn’t long enough… http://ratman.com/?p=803 http://ratman.com/?p=803#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:15:29 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=803 out to the lake for memorial day weekend! back home last night. all set for work today!

last night, the hawks – the mighty blackhawks took a 2-0 lead in the stanley cup! woohoo!!! not that i am a hockey fan, cause i’m not. but i am a chicago fan. hell, i even rooted for the sox a couple years ago. continue onward and upward!

finals for jon tomorrow. then it’s a summer of drivers education. what fun it will be!!!

michele’s almost done with school. if you know of a teaching position, please forward whoever to this website… mlratcliffe.net. her work samples and resume can be found there! can’t hurt!

awful accident at the close of the indy on sunday. from a safety standpoint, how far we have come.

there was an f1 debacle on sunday as well. teams should play nice within their little group. i would be willing to bet that there was an immense amount of being talked to for the rest of sunday. would not have wanted to be either of those drivers.

that’s it. off to work! it’s a brand new day!

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=803 0 memorial day… http://ratman.com/?p=801 http://ratman.com/?p=801#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:13:48 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=801 i felt sorry for the president as well as those that expected him to speak today in elmwood, il. the weather in illinois changes every 10 minutes, so to some extent it must have been expected.

i hope that everyone had thoughts of the men and women that protect us 24x7x365. i know that i did. i thought back to the people that i was able to meet over the years that did serve. the friends that i met that weren’t able to have some of their friends return to the states with them. my thoughts are with you all.

president obama. i know that the problems in the middle east are going to be pressing at you, but please, please work out the problems in the gulf. the loss of income for the state of louisiana and the devastation to the area around the gulf is just too important to america. it’s time to take over and get this thing stopped. right now, fault should be the last thing on anyone’s mind. it should be only to stop what is happening. take control. find some way to stop the leak. please.

]]> http://ratman.com/?feed=rss2&p=801 0 mothers day… http://ratman.com/?p=789 http://ratman.com/?p=789#comments Sun, 09 May 2010 14:13:03 +0000 ratman http://ratman.com/?p=789 m.a.

mom

you were my mother and my friend,
which was unusual.
somehow our characters still blend:
your wisdom and my will.

i turned, and you were there for me;
i spoke, you understood.
i felt cared for, but also free;
you loved, and i was good.

i’m fortunate that i was born
to someone just like you;
i love you still. though you are gone,
you live in what i do.

love you mom.
shawn

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