Family

Logan, my 16 year-old son, has pursued his passion to become a pilot this last year. To help pay for that he's been working part-time at local restaurants since he was 14. Today he woke up at 3:30 AM so he could be in Omaha competing with his high school's Show Choir.

I bring this up not because I'm a proud Dad (although I am) but because many of my son's friends are just like him. Hard working and committed to reaching their full potential. This next generation of kids is promising and we're going to be better off with them.

Summer is a distraction. While promises of consistent blogging are easy to make here in South Dakota when temperatures are below freezing, the true test of a blogger is spending time in front of the computer when the warm sunny skies of summer are on us. The successful blogger is one that posts consistently and routinely throughout the year. The ideal blogger puts the readers first before himself or herself. Regular readers of my blog already know this but for the record let me state it anyway, I'm not that blogger.

My blog posts were far and few between this past summer. With no regrets, I traded that blogging time for probably the busiest and greatest summer of my lifetime. Weeks of experiences that wouldn't have been seen if I spent the same time with keyboard under my hands instead of a walking stick in my hand.

My son fishing from the dock this past weekend. Over the years, these are my favorite pictures of Logan while we're camping. If you have never taken your son or daughter camping, fishing, or hiking...do it now before time slips away.

Where I've been so far in this great country of ours. Also how I got there...whether by Plane, Car, or Can-Am Spyder.

Yesterday, we just didn't get rain but also had some snow in the mix. It's days (weeks) like this that have me miss the warm days my son and I get to ride our bicycles on the city bike trails. In April we did just that and completed a 25 mile bike path with a nice stop at the Sioux Falls Waterfall.

I've taken my son on these bike rides since he was eight years old. We started out with 12 mile rides but he can now easily do 25 to 30 miles with me. He's now getting to the point that my sport is his sport and he'll hit the long bike trails even without me.

Life is so much fun when you have someone to share it with. Close to this day, eighteen years ago I proposed to this woman. She said yes and we've been by each other's side ever since then.

I'm not that big of a fan of people calling pets "their children". Yet, here I am reluctantly admitting that our Miniature Australian Shepherd has become part of the family since she entered our home in early 2016. By my estimation Jasmine has already traveled across six different states with us as she has accompanied us on family vacations and family visits. She's still a "teenager" and like most teens even has her own Instagram account. I'm not joking, her account is jasmine_the_mini_aussie.

The below video of Jasmine was produced automatically via Google Photos.

My son recently finished another season of hockey. This year he was on one of the traveling Bantam B-teams of the Sioux Falls Flyers.  For those that don't know hockey, the "Bantam" means that he's playing with a team of 13 and 14 year old's. Some of his teammates he's played with since he was six years old (they were called Atoms back then).

Here is a fun fact. I've never lived more than 363 miles from home. To be exact, outside of my college years, I've always lived exactly 363 miles from my childhood home in Kansas City, Kansas.

My first job after graduating college landed me a job at a Weather Service Meteorological Observatory in southwest Kansas. My apartment was 363 miles away from my parents' driveway. A couple years later, my next job took me to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. To my surprise, on the first visit from Sioux Falls to Kansas City I found that I added exactly 363 miles my truck's odometer.