shoes that pay for themselves

Well maybe. I got some Teva Dozer shoes a couple of weeks ago. I don't like flip-flops, Crocs, or sandles, but I'm loving these. They are saving (at least some) money for us because when wearing them, I tend to keep the office about 5 degrees warmer than I do otherwise. I hadn't thought about the impact my shoes were having on my temperature preferences.

These are great because they are well ventilated but provide good arch support, have plenty of adjustments to get them sized just right, and have Microban® soles so they don't stink.

To buy them, I used some birthday money that I hadn't yet allocated (thanks Mom & Dad and Mike, Lisa, & Logan!!) so it was a really good deal. :-)

family updates

It's been a busy week here. The kids had swim lessons all week and I've had a lot of work to try to get done.

Last night I was trying to get some work stuff finished that's due Monday. It was going to be a few simple fixes, but things turned out to be much worse than I thought and it was around 3:45am when I finally went to bed. But at least I finished it and should be work-free for the weekend. We had some lay-offs earlier in the week at work. So I am feeling really blessed to still have a job. But it makes me think that one should always keep your resume up to date.

Today we are going to Kim's birthday party. Kendre is making the cake, cookies, and other goodies - they look really yummy! Lots of chocolate! The house smells like a desert bakery. She'll post photos on her blog soon.

Kendre got the stitches taken out of her finger this week. She went on Monday, but they said it needed to dry out a couple more days, so we went back late Wed night after VBS/band rehearsal. It looks pretty good though she says it still feels a little numb and she's a little nervous about bumping. I think it will grow out ok.

Speaking of swim lessons, the kids did really well. Macy worked on pushing off while diving and improved her freestyle swimming. Keegan got to learn a first competition style dive. The teacher said she'd never had a student pick up dives so quickly. Tressa learned freestyle swimming and worked on it. Mathias worked on swimming without assistance. He was able to cross the whole pool alone. He also swam underwater.

Keegan and Tressa both lost teeth this week. And the tooth fairy remembered to pay a visit. :-)

Here's a couple of random Blackberry photos from this week...

I woke Drinian up one morning when I went out for an early conf call. He looked a little stunned and a lot silly sleeping on his back in his dog house:


I love the green rolling hills around here. And when you zoom with the Blackberry's cheesy camera, you get something that kinda looks like a painting:

Swiss K31

I've been reading about military surplus rifles on and off for a couple of years. Lately, I've come back to this again and rediscovered the rifle that I'd really like to own sometime. It's the Swiss Karabiner Model 1931 (K31) rifle chambered in 7.5x55mm.



The K31 was in use by the Swiss Armed Forces from 1933 through 1958. It is unusual in a number of respects. It is a bolt action, but unlike most bolt actions, it pulls straight back rather than rotating up and back. They have a reputation for being one of the most accurate production military rifles ever produced - often shooting groups of less than one MOA (minute of angle - 1" at 100yds). There were around 580,000 of them made and many have card under the butt plate that identifies the person to whom the rifle was issued.


In addition to the good reputation, interesting history, and affordable price (currently available from $150 - $450), one thing I find attractive about the K31 is that the ammunition is relatively cheap, fairly widely available, and the surplus Swiss stock (shown above) is all match quality. The ballistics of the 7.5x55 are very similar to the .308 Winchester so it's a good general purpose upper-mid range round.

For more info on the K31, see:

• Swiss Rifles page on the Schmidt-Rubin Series
• Wikipedia page for the K31
• Surplus Rifles section on K31

clearing around the chick's pen

Saturday, I moved the firewood pile, cleared brush, and trimmed some trees to make the chicken pen more visible. I wanted us to be able to see over there more easily. There is still more cleaning up to be done from the building of the new pen. I need to find a good use for old chicken wire... With help from Tressa and Mathias, I used some of the rotten wood from the bottom of the pile to fill up some sink holes at the bottom of the yard. Maybe that will help reduce the erosion around them. Or maybe it will just be a hole filler... :-)

let him eat cheese

Sunday evening, Lathen discovered a new use for his pacifier. It makes a great cheese eating utensil.



After the next operating system upgrade, my Blackberry 8310 will be able to shoot video in addition to taking photos. Then I won't have to make videos from 3 still images... :-)

my favorite teas

Over the last 2.5 years I've become something of a loose-leaf tea junkie (thus the title of this blog). I have sampled many varieties in my quest to find what my favorites are. I have decided that for the most part, Chinese black teas are my preference. I also like some oolong, green, and white teas and some from other areas, but I always come back to a couple of specific types as my daily tea.

The first is from the Yunnan province and generally called something like "Yunnan Gold". It has a slightly peppery and malty flavor. I've even experimented with adding a little freshly cracked black pepper as it steeps to build on that flavor - pretty good but not something I'd do every day... :-)

My second favorite is called "Golden Monkey" and comes from the Fujian province. It is picked with one leaf and one bud and supposedly the name comes from the fact that it resembles a monkey hand in its final form. It has a slightly chocolaty flavor.

I drink them both without sugar, milk, or lemon. Making tea from full leaves instead of the small pieces found in bags leads to a less bitter taste so I don't miss the sweetening at all. I tend to make them both pretty strong - they look more like coffee from a distance.

I buy most of my tea from two sources. Adagio has a good variety and a great web site. Seven Cups is more expensive but tends to higher over all quality and is more seasonal I think. Here are links to Yunnan Gold and Golden Monkey at Adagio. I have gotten "Yunnan Golden Palace" from Seven Cups before but they don't have it right now.