Boys are from Idaho or Albuquerque

Boys are from Idaho or Albuquerque

"All boys are from Idaho!" This is the chant that my wife has been singing lately. She gets into these laughing fits and she can barely breathe while she's singing, "all boys are from Idaho!' Get it, Boise, Idaho? No, I don't get it either. But it sure bugged Charlie, as he screamed back, "I am NOT from Idaho!" Why, oh why am I subject to such craziness? Oh, I like it, never mind. I liked it so much I told Charlie that boys were from Albuquerque. So the next time Amy chanted all boys are from Idaho, Charlie shot back "no, they're from Albuquerque." Priceless!

Love,
Dave

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Next Time: A Legend in my Own Mind

Four Weddings and a Funeral Part II

My brother passed away earlier this year. He was not yet 39. He was the youngest boy and second youngest child. Yet he got married before either of his brothers.

Lynn (my brother's bride) had gotten a winter wedding dress on sale. Now a hint for you June Brides: Don't get a winter wedding dress! She looked lovely, even when she fainted during the wedding!

It was the last wedding my Grandpa Friedrichs would attend. Keith's middle name was Bertram just like my Grandpa's first name. I remember him dancing at the wedding and Amy and I driving my grandparents home after the wedding. My Grandpa passed away later that year.

I was finishing my second year of living in South Carolina when Keith got married. I came in for the wedding and also to land a job as I had decided that I was going to come back to Illinois and court Amy. I got the job, so after the wedding I went back to South Carolina for a few weeks to tie up loose ends before I started.

When Keith got married 3 of my grandparents were still living. They have all since passed. At the wedding I knew that their time was closing to an end. However I never expected that I would be eulogizing my brother in the same church he was married in less than 12 years later.

I wanted to write this post to commemorate Keith's anniversary back in June. I just couldn't find the words then. Even now the somberness of his death makes it hard to recount the great joy of his wedding.

I have sat for about 20 minutes since writing the last paragraph. Not with writers block, just going over in my mind the events preceding Keith's wedding and those following it. He and Lynn took a Disney Cruise for their Honeymoon. I remember what a great uncle Keith was to my children and how much he loved his own kids. Our families spent a lot of time together over the years. Kid's birthdays, scouting and church events, carnivals and cookouts. Tomorrow we will head over there for his daughter's sixth birthday party.

As much as I miss Keith, I continue to celebrate his wedding and his life by spending time with his family and reminding his children what a great Dad they had.



Next Time: Boys are from Idaho or Albuquerque

Zoos

Zoos work for me because they create memories like this.

That is Lucy in the background screaming "do it again, do it again!"

For more WFMW head back to Kristen at

We Are That Family

To see my current give-a-way click here

Next Time: 4 Weddings and a Funeral Part II

Pennies

I generally do not lament my name. My Dad's name was David and he named me such, sure I would have rather him named me David. But Such Roller has a good ring to it. But today I lament that they did not name me Kevin for if they did I could name this post Pennies from Kevin.

Okay, that was a long way to go for a bad joke, so let's move on.

As you may know this year is 2009. If you did not know that, you may be beyond my ability to help you further, so hopefully you did. Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809, 200 years ago . 100 years ago to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. His image was placed on the penny.

Prior to 1909 the penny had an Indian Head.

To put things in perspective the last time the Chicago Cubs won the World Series Lincoln was not yet on the penny. Wow!

In 1959 to celebrate Lincolns Sesquicentenial (150 years) The Lincoln Memorial replaced the wheat.

This year to celebrate Lincoln's bicentennial the face of the penny got a new look ...

And 4 different images on the back . . .

The 4 images represent his early years in Kentucky, his boyhood years in Indiana, His professional years in Illinois, and his presidency in D.C.

Many wheats are still in circulation. I opened 2 rolls (100 pennies) today and found one 1958 wheat and no 2009 pennies. I usually average about 2 wheats and 1 Canadian penny per roll.

Being a good Illinois boy from the original LOL: Land of Lincoln (Not the original Land of Lincoln which is Kentucky, but the original LOL) I would like to celebrate Abe's 200th with not 1 but two give-a-ways! Yes I will be giving out 2 sets of 100 pennies (with at least 1 wheat each). Yes you heard it right the buck ships here.

To win the first set do the regular old comment thing. When you comment tell me significant years in your life (yours, spouses, kids birthdays anniversaries, year favorite team won World Series (after 1908 of course) and I will try to mix a few of those years in).

For the second set I will be picking from my followers, so if you don't follow, this would be a fine time to start. While it's mathematically possible to win both sets, let's share the wealth and say that we will have 2 different winners.

I am going to run this contest until September 23rd, because 2 dollars is a lot of money and in these tough times I may have to raid my birthday money to make good. If you blog about my crazy give-a-way I will give you 2 more chances at the first contest, simply link the blog to your comment. See the official rules on the sidebar. .

All this bang for a buck? That's why they call me Crazy Dave!

Next Time: Zoos