Sometimes things are blogworthy

Family Camping Trip at Carolina Point. On a walk with the fam, and stumbled across Carolina Point Staff's wildLife camera, so Asher and I decided to do our thang...

My cutest girl

I mean...gahhh!

Goodbye XBox

I'm not so sure that the reason I haven't posted since January is because I've been playing XBox. let me tell you something, I used to pick on people that played video games for hours on end, til the wee hours of the night, until I met Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. I know, it sounds dumb even writing it.

Friends, I confess, I have played over a full week of my life on this game since March. Seriously, they log the time on the machine, and it tells me that over 7 full days of my life have been spent playing a video game.

Embarrassing? Yes.

Sad? Yes please.

So I'm getting rid of it. For less than half of the mint that I spent on it. The blows just keep coming.

So if you're interested in making your wife feel unimportant, sleeping less, being in bad moods in the morning, and imagining that around the next corner there might be someone waiting to snipe you down, then I suggest you buy this from me.

I should burn it.

The End of an Era

It's a new year, which makes some think of making "New Year Resolutions".

But Ben and I decided last year not to make a New Years Resolution. We dumbed it down to calling it what it is, A DECISION. Not because it's a new year, but because it's Tuesday, or Wednesday, or just another day. This fits right in with on of my secret philosophies of life: "My life would be so much easier if people weren't dumb."

Now, I'm dumb, and I know that, but the old principle of making yourself feel better by putting other people down applies to this situation for me.

I digress.

The biggest event of this new year is the departure of one Benjamin Kyle Johnson from the Sloan home. It really is the end of an era. An era that's been filled with a good friend other than Leslie to hang with, someone who loves my kids, someone who makes me try/do things that I would be too afraid to do, someone who smacks at the table, someone who is not flattered by me but still wants to hang around, someone who has made me look like I can fix a lot of stuff when he's the one who actually fixed things, someone to play beat guitar hero with, someone who has sat upstairs through some serious fights between leslie and I downstairs, someone who wants to be more like Jesus and less like himself.

Ben Johnson, Hoss, SFBF, Crapface, and so many other endearing names, has gone off and rented himself a house with some other awesome guys in Asheville.

Way to go man. You're a beast. Glad to have you a part of our family.

Opening Day

Leslie took the kids down to Columbia.  The USC women's soccer team won the SEC, and was hosting the first round of the NCAA tourney at the Graveyard.  I would not care at all about this story, nor any other women's sports, except that I'm realizing more and more that my wife was a great athlete, and I mean a great one.  I was a great athlete in my head, she actually was one. 

NOW TO THE POINT

Today was opening day for Duck Season.  Because Leslie took the kids, I was able to drive to Goldsboro to hunt with Hancock and Tom.  Yes it's a 5 hour drive...but worth it.

I've been here before for hunts, and they've not been spectacular.  But this morning we killed 6 birds, and I shot one of em.  I mean I shot, and so did Tom, but I killed it.  Mallard.  Hen.  so sweet.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to stay up til 130, then get back up at 5am, eat no breakfast or drink any coffee, walk out into the cold water in waders, and stand still for 4 hours.  But I've got to tell you, it's what I'm made to do.

There's something about strapping on camo, lippin' a Grizz, filling your pump action Benelli full of 3 inch shells, watching a 6 month old yellow lab retrieve ducks, and blasting waterfowl next to the fellas.

Deer hunting tonight, then duck hunting again Monday.  Thanks for the man weekend Leslie.

It's been over a month... but it feels like just yesterday

Well, here it is. I got it finished over a month ago, but I've been too tired to post anything. Seriously.
Actually, here's the kitchen sink. Signifying completion, and elation!!

Here's a close-up view of the beast. That hood was the last thing I installed(that was about 3 weeks ago). I was real nervous installing that, especially when I took the sawzall to the exterior of my house.

This project changed me some. Yes, the man-skills are much improved.

But what I learned the most was that crap takes time. There's simply nothing easy about doing a project, and it's probably going to take more time than you originally think. It's that simple, I just learned that I need time to do something well.


So thanks Ben, Kyle, Mas, Sprinkle, Albee, Turd, Mathew, Knauer, Shelow, and all the other people that helped out so much.

Leslie and I are so glad to have it. Sandy, we hope you are honored.

Asher said it best about this project:
Daddy helped Ben build the kitchen.

So glad to have my friends.
And an over-observant son.

Destination Kitchen Sink

It's here friends.  Kitchen sink is in.   

Sure, there's a slow leak in the plumbing that I have to fix, but it's in.  I'll get you pictures sometime soon.

Sorry about the slackness.