Rachael and Nathan were cleaning the gutters at my dad’s house. It is always dangerous to set foot in my dad’s house, because he’s always looking for people to put to work. Now, Rachael is afraid of heights, so she’s army crawling around on the roof, trying to be as careful as she can. Before long, my dad disappears for a little while. When he comes back, he is carrying bottle rockets, which he proceeds to shoot at them. Of course, being on the roof, it is hard for them to escape.

Eventually the bottle rockets ran out, and my siblings were able to descend from the roof. Later, Rachael was talking to my step-mom:

Rachael: “Do you think regular families ask their children to clean the gutters and then shoot bottle rockets at them?”
Sharon: “Well, maybe except that last part. I told you to get rid of those bottle rockets…”

So really, they have no one to blame except their selves. Besides, come on. This was my dad we’re talking about here. They grew up with the guy and they didn’t see that coming?

Quick, just like expected! I’m glad everything got resolved.

Today I recieved 3 mysterious pictures in my work email, entitled:

john and sharon new house <– picture of a house
dad’s fram ??????????? <– picture of a painting
john fram <– picture of the same house as above

Now, first off, recieving any email from my dad is an adventure in trying to figure out what he was trying to say.  My first guess was maybe “frame” since the one picture showed a painting in a frame.  Maybe he made the frame and he was proud of it?  But why the pictures of a house?  Surely he would have mentioned to me if he was thinking of buying a new house!  Finally I figured out that the picture was of a farm and the house was in the picture, by which I guessed he was buying a farm.  Rather than retyping everything, I will just put the emails between my sister and I:

After about 20 minutes of trying to figure out what a “fram” was…

Did dad buy a farm??? And if so, why is this the first I’ve heard of it??  Did you guys hear anything?
________________________________

From: Rachael
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 9:31 AM
To: Shane; Nathan
Subject: RE: john fram

Hey
Well, I figured the same thing, so I called him last night and asked. Apparently he has always wanted to be a farmer and he did buy it but they have so many days to sell there house before they sign the papers. I guess there are several buildings on it, and he wants to raise chickens and cows.  He was talking about getting 1000 chickens so I guess he is serious.  I think this is for when he retires so he will still have stuff to do.  I could think of a better hobby for someone, but whatever.  Maybe its a midlife crisis:) Anyways I guess that is probably where they are moving.  He told me to start lifting weights because he’s going to need help moving.  But I’m moving, Shane’s moving, and Amy’s moving into town I guess that’s the first I had heard of that also.  He said he would absolutely not pay 2 house payments this time though.  It seems like a pretty good deal, he is selling his house by owner and already talked to legal services about how to do it. Who Knows? Maybe it is what he wants! Love, Rachael
________________________________

From:  Shane
Sent: Wed 4/12/2006 9:38 AM
To: Rachael; Nathan; Sara
Subject: RE: john fram

I know dad would love to be a farmer, but I’m surprised Sharon is going along with it.  Is he still going to work at GM and be a farmer at the same time??  Anyway, it’s a pretty big life changing decision, so you’d think he would have talked about it before hand, unless he just decided to buy a farm and then bought it the same day.

I figured dad would be more of a field farmer, like corn or wheat or something, not livestock.  He loves to garden and work outside, so that would make sense, but does he even know anything about raising chickens and cows?

Nathan, I’ll tell you right now, if Rachael’s moving away you better get moving as well or else you know you’ll become a defacto farmhand!

 

 

From: Rachael
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 9:50 AM
To: Shane; Nathan; Sara
Subject: RE: john fram

 

Hey!
So apparently the farm is in South Whitely, which is very close to where Amy lives, but now she is moving into town (I believe the town is either South Whitely or Columbia City.)  I think it will still be about 1/2 hour away from Fort Wayne though.  I guess Sharon was taking Meliah home on Friday and saw the lady putting a for sale by owner on the house, so she called dad and he went to see the house.  He is not planning on retiring now because he already has his 30 years in and the package they are offering is not very good.  He said something about getting 25 chickens until he retired and a few cows.  He is planning on having a garden out there as well, but not doing any actual farm land stuff.  I guess the property has 80 acres but he said he can’t afford to buy it all, he is just hoping for 3-4 acres around the house and barns.  He is planning on taking the cats and getting outside and inside dogs when he gets there.  He did say that Sharon is the one that wants to move and he is not entirely sure.  he said he is completely happy where he is but the price is right and he could have the new place paid off in 5 years.  
Love,
Rachael

In other news, CNN declared Software Engineer to be the best job in the United States.  I think I need to talk to some people about that average salary…