RECCE ROOM

Some notable obituaries from my family's history, that predate this blog: Uncle Alvin Howell Uncle Gene Howell Grandfather Austin Howell passed in February of 1985. Obituary not available. 

 My cousin, Kevin Russell , passed away recently. 

Friday afternoon, my mother-in-law passed away. She was 67 years old. My children now have no blood grandmother, though they still have a step-grandmother whom they love and who loves them just the same. .

Earlier this month, my cousin passed away at age 23. Not sure if this is mentioned in any article anywhere, but the cause of death was self-inflicted hanging. For those keeping score, our nearest common ancestor was my grandmother, his great-grandmother, Edna McDaniel . If you read that last linked article, you'll be curious about something - yes, Drew was in jail at the time of my grandmother's passing. I understand the charges were drug-related. No, he wasn't perfect. Drugs Theft Jail time Made his wife have an abortion, then called it a miscarriage. (Funny story - had a twitterstalker think I was talking about him when I was indeed talking about my cousin. But that's how folks like that do - they want to think it's all about themselves) To be fair, later, his ex had another abortion (the child was Drew's by all accounts) against Drew's wishes. Supposedly, this influenced his decision to end things. Someone asked me if his committing suicide...

Hey, Mom! Just thought I'd write to you a bit. It's been a while since you left us. I remember you used to really enjoy writing us letters. First, the traditional kind, and then later the email letters. Your two youngest grandchildren are in kindergarten. Mine loves it and rides the bus every day with her big brother. My nephew also goes every day. I hear he rides the bus, too. Cael got his black belt this past weekend. You'd have loved being there. He showed much poise and concentration. I am on my way to a third straight President's Club award. I know that doesn't surprise you at all. Still, I know you'd enjoy hearing about it. My wife got a job at a preschool when Cali went to Kindergarten. She really loves it. Deals with older 3-y-o children. Have you talked Jeremiah's ear off yet? I bet you'd enjoy speaking to Isaiah after you get finished. Well, gotta go. See you when we get there! .

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I took my son up to my Uncle's place and we did some squirrel hunting. Here is the young man in question: Cael. Age 8 and ready to bag a squirrel... even if he was not so sure of what to do with it afterwards.  Here is the tool of choice: a Charles Daly pump 20-gauge youth sized shotgun. We used #7 shot. Walking through the woods, we found a deer stand. Cael decided to investigate: Then he realized he could use the perch as a better way to spot some tree-rats:  Later, we got settled in a spot I felt would be good. Here is a tiny tree that was to my left: There was not a single squirrel in the woods to be found, so after a couple of hours, we went back to my uncle's house, and since he lives in a remote area, we took some time to make sure the Sig Mosquito works well: Of course, we shot the shotgun, too (that boy shot a whole box of shotgun shells!) and a few others. All in all, we got no squirrels, but h...

Found out last night that my mother has passed away. She was 70 years old. Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated. If you do not pray, call me and I'll show you how. I have several posts still lined up and scheduled, but if it goes light for a while, then you know what's up.  .

Frankly speaking, I am probably the least sarcastic of my siblings. I have the second-strongest filter of the three of us. I just happen to have the biggest dose of "I-don't-give-a-crap." Anyways, one of my siblings has started a blog . Funny stuff. This is what our conversations are typically like. :)

So part of my son's 7th birthday gifts from my wife and I was tickets to the Tennessee Titans game this afternoon. Mrs. Usagi does not enjoy watching professional football in person (too many TV timeouts), so it was just the boy and myself. We left early in the afternoon to make the 3:05 start time. We both had fun, even though the Titans did not emerge victorious. My overall record, watching the Titans in person, is 2-2. Twice I've watched the Titans beat the Jacksonville Jaguars . I've also witnessed them lose to the Oakland Raiders , in addition to the loss today.

Happy Birthday to my son today. He is 7. The funny thing is right now it is 30 degrees. Today's high is supposed to be 57. When my son was born, it was 93 degrees that day. We had to use the AC in the car on the ride home that Sunday morning.

My son is in the middle of a two-week fall break. Today, I took him shooting, along with my brother.

Seems there is a blog out there by my sister-in-law which details some of the hilarious antics of my mother. I blogged about some of these antics a while back. Well, my SIL has done the same . Same story - two different points of view. Still - my mom eating a whole dollop of wasabi was fracking hilarious! "Millie" in the blog refers to my mom - the exact same woman who gave birth to me several decades ago. Post - Edit: Evidently, being "discovered" and the possibility of family seeing this was too much, and so my SIL has deleted all the entries except the "Wasabi" incident.   :/ Post - Edit 2: And now all of it has been deleted. I have a rule of thumb that I do not put anything online about someone I wouldn't want them to find. Guess not everybody adheres to that mindset.

My son lost his first tooth last weekend in Chattanooga. He thought a chip was stuck, and when he pulled it free, he saw that it was his loose tooth! Many family members were present for the event, and saw it firsthand.

 My grandmother, Edna McDaniel , passed away recently. 

Yesterday, my grandmother passed away . She was 93. Saturday, I am a pallbearer in her funeral. Sadly, we had to step outside the family for pallbearers, as many of my grandmother's sons-in-law are older, and not physically capable; and many of the younger ones who would be physically capable, are in jail. Yes, that's right, several cousins on my mom's side are in jail - mostly for drug and theft (to get money to pay for the drugs) related crimes. That part is just as sad. Special thanks to my brother-in-law, MJ, for stepping up to help out, and to his brother, RJ, for the same. Allow me a moment to reflect: If you are the praying sort, your prayers are appreciated. If you are not the praying sort - learn how. God loves you and would like to hear from you. And you never know when your time might be. Get things in order. Get your heart right with God.

I was sitting in my recliner earlier this week, enjoying an Oreo. I'd eaten most of it, when my daughter sneaked up on me from my blind side, and snatched the cookie from my hand. At this point, I played along, and acted like I was trying to get the cookie back. Of course, she put it in her mouth quickly and grinned really big, all proud of herself. "What did you just do?" I asked playfully. "I squealled your cookie," she said. The Mrs. and I were laughing too hard to correct her.    :)

This past weekend, I attended my sister's wedding. The weather was perfect. The location was great! The ceremony was short - and that was really good! My son (ring bearer) behaved - and that was good, too! The food, music, and cake was all good, too.

This past weekend, I was told my brother-in-law, Brad Irwin, had accepted the head-coaching position for the East Tennessee State University women's softball program. Unfortunately, I was sworn to secrecy, as the announcement had not yet been made official. Well, now it's official . Congrats to Brad. I know he will bring success with him. I've seen him coach before. Heck, he even coached me once on an intramural team we both played on. He played Shortstop and I played 1st base on that team. We were the heart of the batting lineup, as well. At the time, we were dating the sisters who are now our respective wives.

My family has grown much in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, my first neice was born - Madeline Noel. They call her Maddie. Friday, my second neice was born - Tinsley Grace. Both neices hail from Mrs. Usagi's side of the family, in the Chattanooga area. I urge those not wanting more children right now to avoid that area!

Might as well brag on my little brother. He works in IT, and is very adept at his job. The simple fact is that he is the go-to guy on his current team, and does the job of several people. Recently, he decided to apply for an internal position with his employer. He was good friends with the hiring manager for the spot. A few discussions with said hiring manager told my brother all he needed to know - can stay in Nashville (the hiring manager and many of the team members were located in Michigan), significant pay raise, etc. It seemed like a good fit. Well, my brother's immediate supervisor was a bit short-sighted and complained to his boss, who holds the position of "Director." In an effort to grease the squeaky wheel, the director made several behind-the-scenes moves to block my brother: - Stating the job would be a lateral move and that the pay would be the same. - Stated my brother would have to move to MI to get the spot. - Stating my brother would have to pay for his ...