The Old Man and the Blog

While in Ohio for my father’s funeral, I got to show Nate and Juliet the road named after their ancestors. I had been planning to show it to them, but I couldn’t remember exactly where it was. Just by luck we happened to cross it, and my wife’s sharp eyes spotted the sign post.

Behnfeldt Road runs for about 11 miles roughly between Bryan, OH in the north and Sherwood, OH in the south. It lies about half way between Toledo and Fort Wayne. It has nothing – and I mean nothing – on either side except farm houses and fields. Find it on Google maps if you don’t believe me.

I don’t know which Behnfeldt it was named after; I’d like to find out some day, but “history of Behnfeldt Road” seems to be the one thing Google knows nothing about.

This year for Christmas, we bought ice skating lessons for Nate and Juliet. Their friends Nelson and Dora have been taking skating lessons for years now, and it always seemed like a lot of fun. We bought lessons at the same rink. Even though they are in different levels (and, as such, different classes), they still get to see each other every week and skate together before and after their lessons.

Nelson and Dora always take a break in their lessons around this time of year, because their parents don’t like the condition of the rink as the weather warms. We are not sure how far into spring Nate and Juliet will continue. We plan to stick with it a little longer and make a decision after we see the condition for ourselves.

Nate has wanted to try baseball for some time now, and I finally remembered to sign him up for it. We were both worried that his skill level might be far behind that of the boys who have been playing for years, but it’s really not that bad. We’ve been working together a few times per week, and he’s making great progress.

I took some video of the boys warming up on opening day. (Nate is #3.) I had intended to record some of the actual game itself, but Coach K didn’t have any assistant coaches that day. I offered to lend a hand and so was unable to record any more. I’ll try to get some video of a real game later this season.

Juliet and her friend Maeve attended a Zumba Party at their school. I’m not quite sure what that is, but they said they had a lot of fun.

The youth at our church usually begin helping as acolytes when they begin Confirmation classes in 7th grade. The current crop of 7th graders is a little thin, so Pastor Gewecke has recruited the 6th graders to help fill out the ranks. That means that Nate is now serving as an acolyte.

Nate was nervous his first time, but he got through it without any mishaps. He’s helped a few times now, and, while he still gets a few butterflies, he says it’s not as bad as it was at first.

As a toddler, Nate loved this bouncer. As an older child, he loves this picture of himself.