Home

I can't believe I was home more than a month ago. This is a post I've been meaning to put up almost as long as I've been back, but time just seems to fly so quickly these days. Anyhow... this post is dedicated to my home and family.

Anyhow, my home is Crandon, Wisconsin. While I grew up in Prentice, Clintonville, and Phillips, my grandparents always lived in Crandon and for whatever reason, it has always felt like "home." The picture on the top is my parents' house. It was originally built by my great-grandfather and my dad lived in it when he was much younger. On the North face of the house, which you can't see in the photo, is the window out of which my dad saw Santa Claus when he was 8. After my great-grandparents moved out, the house was used for decades as storage by my grandfather. About 4 years ago, my dad decided he was going to renovate it as a "retirement project" (despite the fact he wasn't yet retired) and so we gutted the place. After years of labor - literally - the above picture is the current state of things. I love it, and only wish I had a picture of how it had started. I promise you would be amazed with how far it has come.

The picture to the above left is of my parents, Wendy and Jerry. Great picture, eh? It wasn't even posed. A regular Modern American Gothic. Anyhow, my mom works for Project Headstart and my dad is a retired high school history teacher and elementary school principal. They're great. I'm sure better opportunities will come for me to brag about them in the future, but following a bit of thought, I am convinced I couldn't have had better parents. I am extremely thankful for them, and consider myself blessed because of them.
Enter "el hermano." Yep. That's my brother Jackson. Needless to say, he's a classy guy. He pretty much personifies the phrase "Jack of all Trades." At present, he lives in Spokane, WA and works as an electrician's apprentice. This is a recent development for him, as in the past he has worked as maintainence personnel for a housing complex, a herdsman for a Dairy farm, as an Assistant Engineer on a Cruise boat out of Alaska, and as a deckhand on a Tug boat. Now, that all said, there isn't anyone I'd trust more to fix my car or have my back in a fight. He's my brother and, honestly, he's my best friend. Now, I know this picture doesn't show it, but he is also an impressive ladies man. The joke is that we were both born with half of each other's brain. He can't do science, and I can't talk to women. Go figure.

The picture to the right is of Jackson and me following a good ride. Not sure if I mentioned, but we live on a horse farm. I've been riding horses for longer than I've been walking, and I think Jackson is the same way. Anyhow, he's on a new 3 year-old filly "Fleck" (I think) and I'm on Spud. Take a guess at his temperament...
Right, so like I said, we have a horse farm. I think our current herd count is somewhere around 29 horses, including our two Belgian Draft Horses, Mike and Tony. To the left is a picture I took off of our deck.

Now, it occurs to me I haven't mentioned my sister. My sister, Morgan, lives in Australia and works for the Queensland state government. She recently obtained dual citizenship, and as best I can tell, she isn't planning to leave anytime soon. All the pictures above were from my trip home at the end of August, and sadly, she wasn't there at that time. No worries though, right is a picture of her from Christmas, 2007 during our family expedition ice fishing.

Okay... its not really THAT cold in Wisconsin. Anyhow, I'm told she's very pretty, so below is a better picture of her.

Yeah. Okay... so that's better.

And that's my family. Granted, I've got grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, cousins, and my siblings significant others, but I'm actually really tired of searching through endless photos to try and find the ones I have in my mind.

So...This is my family and my home.