I can hardly stand it!

We're so close to being able to move into our new house, that its not even funny! Its like being in a full body cast, and its getting close to the time you're supposed to be getting it off, and you have a recurring itch that you can't scratch because of the cast. Thats basically how my entire famliy is feeling right now. Hopefully we'll be able to itch... er... I mean move this weekend!

Time for a little 'Zesty' update!

Well have I played the part of the negligent writer these days past, of which number there are not few. With the longing of the bee, who yearns for his work, have I wanted to word my adventures of these days. But, alas! I have been denied those things which the completing of this task necissitates, the chief of which I name as the lack of internet access. Coupled with the lack of material to write about is the you can discern the cause of my negligence!

Seriously though, I have been extremely busy since my last post, and I haven't even had time to think about what has happened since my last post until now. I will now attempt, however, to lay down as best as I am able the events spanning from my last post until now. Now let's see...

If my memory serves me well, the first major activity that I was able to engage in would be flying on the 15th, followed by another on the 17th. Both focused soley on Touch and Goes, which is basically flying in the traffic pattern at the airport, landing and taking right back off, then doing it all over again. On the fifteenth, my flares( the part of the landing on final approach where I transition from the landing attitude to the touch down attitude) were really rough, which led to some rather bumpy landings. This was rather frustrating to me, but I was able to improve it on my flight on the 17th, on which all of my landings were better, and I had two really good ones. I hopefully be going flying tomorrow, and if I am able to nail my flares and be consistent on my landings, then I will be able to solo!

Saturday was the next day full of activities. To start it all off, we made a trip up to Canada to attend my cousins baptism. It was done in the traditional Latin rite by an Australian priest from the Fraternity of St. Peter, who was visiting the Archdiocese of Vancouver. The most moving part of the ceremony, however was when the priest took the baby in his arms, walked up to the statue of Mary to the side of the altar, and holding him out towards the statue, consecrated him to Mary. Afterwards, we had a jolly good time eating lunch, walking around downtown Vancouver, and talking with the priest about everything under the sun. Then we headed back to the church and went to confession, followed by a private Mass. I can't think of a day that was as well spent as Saturday, nor a better birthday.

Sunday was spent in Seattle seeing a production of Singin' in the Rain goin down at the Fifth Avenue Theater. The theater was simply magnificient, as was the performance. Definitely worth seeing says I!

And that is all I can remember, and hopefully thats all I did. It would be really bad if I had done something worth remembering and didn't remember it, if y'know what I mean;)

Happy St. Valentine's Day

The Origins of St. Valentine's Day

A quick quiz: St. Valentine was:

a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.
b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.
c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.
d) all, some, or possibly none of the above.

If you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts. (Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine.

The roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.

Pope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine's name.

There was also a conventional belief in Europe during the Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and sending small gifts to their beloved. Legend has it that Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a half-century later of old age.)

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Thanks to American Catholic for this information!

Egads!!!!

Have you ever been preoccupied, but you can't figure out what it is that your preoccupied about? Well, I've been that way for a couple of days now, and I just can't seem to sluff it off! If anyone has any advice as to how to get over something like this, I would be greatly appreciate it!

"Remember you are dust,..."

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which marks the begining of the forty days of fasting and penitence known as Lent in the Catholic Church. I am extremely looking forward to it this year as a time for some serious spiritual growth. Last year we kicked lent off with a viewing of Mel Gibson's, "The Passion of the Christ", followed by a 24-30 hour fast and guys's retreat. I think this year, only the girls will be having a retreat, but I plan on watching, "The Passion", again sometime during Lent. Another aspect of this upcoming season, is the willful giving up of something you enjoy for the duration. I have yet to think of what I am giving up, and despite my tradition I will NOT be giving up coffee. I will however be limiting myself to 1(one) cup of the brown goodness per day.

What are you going to be doing for Lent, and why? Also, if you happen to have any ideas as to some other things that I might be able to do, please go ahead and spout them off in the comments box.

So I was just...

...standing here at work waiting for a customer to help, when a rather largish chap walked up to my window. While I was helping him I happened to read his shirt, which stated the following, "The voices aren't real, but they sure have some good ideas."! Sheer Brilliance says I!

Simply amazing!

I was just sitting here at work pondering about nothing in particuliar, when I realized that in just 15 days, I will be one year from my second decade! Its really kinda bizarre to think of it like that, but it also lends itself to a certain feeling of accomplishment! Also our good friend Dr. Jerome will be one year from her second decade in just six days, and Mary K. in...uh... I can't really remember the exact day, but its in May sometime, so a couple of months for her yet.

A comedy of errors!

A comedy of errors! Thats the best way I can think of to describe the chain of events yesterday that involved the delivery of our house.

It all started out very wonderfully, actually! As I was coming home from Everett after having just been flying, I ended up getting behind and following the trucks pulling the two halves of our house. That was pretty awesome, as I was able to call home and sound the alert for them to get everything in order. As we made our way up to our house, we passed the Kennedy's house, and they were all jubilantly out in the yard video-taping and taking pictures of this fateful day. After forcing many cars off of the road, we finally made it to our property.

After making it around the two trucks I hurridley drove to the back of property to watch the proceedings with all who had gathered to watch. All told there was probably about 25 people gathered to watch this momentous occasion, including the Kennedy's, and multiple neighbors. No pressure on the guys bringing it in or anything, as we were only photographig every little move they made.

To start the comedy of errors, while they were pulling the trailers off of the road, they bent the axel on one, and blew one of the tires out on the other. After this little escapade, they realized that they had set up the site wrong, so they were going to have to BACK the trailers all the way into position! That was fairly interesting, and in the midst of backing the back half onto the foundation, they got their little towing tractor stuck. They then attempted to get it unstuck using their truck and only succeeded in getting it stuck. So, with a little bit of shovel work, and couple of huffs and puffs, we managed to get them unstuck.

Then they found that they had started putting it in at the wrong angle, and had to get it remaneuvered. And finally after almost two hours, they got the back half onto the foundation, after which I left for work. I was told however, that they then spent until dark trying to get the other trailer unstuck, because they had parked it on unknowingly on a patch of ground that was just soft enough for the 40,000 lb half of our house to sink into the ground. So they came out this morning to get the other half moved on to the concrete.

To top it all off, however, they also forgot to add in the fourth bedroom, which incidentially happens to be Alex and I's room. And they forgot to take out a half wall which we asked them to. And that is more or less the saga of our home!

Alleluia, the end is finally here..

...or rather it will be by the end of this week. Not the end of the world as we know it, but the end of living in two travel trailers waiting for the work on our property to be completed, and and our mobile home finished being built. It hasn't been THAT bad. Except for the constant dampness, having to constantly wash stuff to prevent mold growth, and various other nusciances.

Our home was scheduled to be delivered today, but do to a lack of communication on the part of our contractor , it won't be delivered until tomorrow. Big Bummer, but at least the house is on its way. Then after they deliver it, they have to get the two halves connected, put in our wood stove, hook up our electrical and water, and finally come and dig our septic field. Then after all of this is done, we have to have a county inspector come out and approve the house for habitation. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, we should be able to start moving into our house by the weekend.

We plan on having a big party to celebrate, complete with a bon-fire, much running around and playing of games, and food! Lots of FOOD!!! But we probably won't be able to get around to doing this until summer, just so we can get everything in order, and get some better weather. Maybe we can even connive to get the homeschool picnic involved in it! The possibilitie's are endless!

Anyway, this is me, signing out!

ITS FRIDAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right! Only 11 more hours until my weekend officially starts, and its shaping up to be a marvelous weekend. First off, its just gorgeous outside, and what more could you want in a weekend besides that! But, to top it all off, I'm going flying tomorrow! Huzzah!

What is everyone else doing over the weekend?

There is a time for everything...

... And in a few weeks, it will be time for the Lenten season in the liturgical year. For one I am extremely looking forward to it, spefically as a time for spiritual growth. I will try to establish some sort of a tradition , such as daily reflections or something. If you have any ideas for me, just put'em in the comments box and I will see what I can do.

Alien Vs. Predator...

If you're a fan of the "Alien" movies, or the "Predator" movies, here's a movie that you should see. Chock full of science fiction fun, multiple battle sequences involving the title mentioned, and all out a guy movie. Its also suprisingly clean with a sum total of three swear- words in it, which makes it all the more enjoyable. If you're a guy and you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favour and rent it.

Whatever I feel like doing...GOSH!!!

I've finally done it. I've seen, " Napoleon Dynamite", and I must say I rather enjoyed it. It was an hiliarious movie, in the stupid kind of humour that tends to make one laugh for no apparent reason. The star is a geeky nerd and, as a matter of fact, there are several characters in the movie who fall into this category. And to top it all off, his grandma owns a llama named Tina! If you are a fan of the stupid movies that make you laugh for no apparent reason, "Napoleon Dynamite", is a must see movie!

Up in the wild blue yonder...

I went flying today, and it was glorious! It wasn't too warm, it wasn't too cold, it wasn't too bright, as a matter of fact it wasn't too much of anything. Thereby it was a perfect day in the happy medium of Washington. After pre- flighting the airplane, my instructor and I hopped in and took off from Paine Field in Everett, and headed off East and then North to the Arlington Airport to do touch and go's. This was loads of fun for several reasons. First, I had never flown from one airport to another, and so had to do infinitely more than I had ever done while flying the airplane. Second, I love Arlington's airport. And I could go on and on about the reasons I like to fly and today in particuliar, but I will continue with the narrative.

After leaving Paine we headed out over Lake Stevens, and flew around in there while I got my bearings and started getting Arlington's weather, and changing all of my frequencies. Then after listening to the weather, and determining which runway was in use, I manuevered the airplane to get in the traffic pattern. Once we reached there, we did about five touch and go's and then headed back to Paine field. I made a near flawless approach and landing there, and then came to the library. I love flying!

Almost there!

Well, the PUD has been coming up to our property and getting things ready to get our power hooked up, which they say they will be doing sometime next week. HUZZAH!!! It will be so nice to have constant power at our property. This also means that we're just one step closer to having everything in place for our house to come out there, which is an even bigger... HUZZAH!!!

I might even go so far as to say Two Yars and A Huzzah for the house thats almost here! Yar, Yar, Huzzah!

Needless to say we're all very excited at the Wilson Homestead. That is all.

Happy Anneversiary!

While riding on the bus with John to Olympia, we were enjoying ourselves immensely talking about anything and everything. One topic which we happened to be covering was that of asking girls out, which happens to be something of which we are both fairly naive. It was during this conversation that Claire came up to us, and reaching her hand over to shake mine, she said, " Happy Anneversiary Mr. Zest!"

" Why thank you very much!"

Just as she had gotten out of earshot while working her way back to her seat, John leaned over to me with a slightly befuddled look on his face and said, "Uh, Kodi, what was that all about?"

"Oh, today is just the one year anneversiary of the birth of Mr. Zest!", I replied nochalantly.

"Oh, good, because I was gonna say that I thought I knew you better!"

We both had a good laugh over this as we resumed our previous conversation.

George W. Bush Sworn In For Second Term

January 20, 2005
By KOMO Staff & News Services

WASHINGTON, D.C. - George W. Bush swore the presidential oath for a second term in turbulent times Thursday and issued a sweeping pledge to spread liberty and freedom "to the darkest corners of the world."

to read the rest of the article go here!

A Day Well Spent...

...For indeed that was what yesterday was! It started rather interestingly, what with getting only a couple hours sleep, getting up at six o'clock, taking a three minute shower, and then jetting on our way down to Shoreline to catch the St. Mark's bus down to Olympia. My usually wonderful driving wasn't helped by the fact that I thought we were going to miss the dictated departure time of 8 am. So being the resourceful boys that we are, we called Mrs. Kennedy at home and got the number to their cell phone, and then attempted to call Mr. and Mr. Kennedy and the rest of the clan and ask them to hold the bus for us. After not having gotten through, we realized the fruitlessness of our efforts when we exited right behind them.

When we finally arrived at the Church, we found much to our delight that not only was the bus still there, but that it wasn't leaving until after mass. So we hurriedly ran inside and sat down just at the end of the epistle.

After Mass we all hopped on the bus, and started a rather jolly trip down to the Capitol. About fifteen minutes into the trip we started the rosary, after which we all resumed our seats. My traveling companion was, as it is every year, John Kennedy. We had a wonderful time talking about pretty much everything until we arrived at our destination.

Upon arrival all the occupants of the bus teamed up in little groups and started going around perusing the capitol building with the hour and a half we had before the march started. Almost all of the YFLers went into the governor's office and left her notes. That was rather delightful, even though I'm sure she won't be reading all of the individual notes, but it felt good to write it. Another adventure was volunteering to go and pass out roses to the politicians.

And then came the actual march, which was loads of fun and very inspiring! The four politicians they allowed to make speeches were all very good, despite the fact that they had to contest with the yelling of the Pro- abortion advocates who had gathered to make a scene. They all cut rather...interesting figures, what with their peircings, colored hair, and tattoes. But we countered any all of their yelling with cheers and clapping for the various inspirational speakers.

After this we all got back on the bus and had an equally enjoyable ride home, talking, holding our collective breath through all the tunnels, and eating a well earned lunch. Ah, I love having days like yesterday!

Tomorrow is an exciting day!

To start it all off, the annual March for Life is being held in Olympia. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a demonstration held on the capital steps every year by pro-life advocates. It is a peaceful demonstration which shows the goverment that abortion should be illegal. The bus ride down there is always jolly good fun, and this year will be no exception. What better way is there to spend a day than spending a couple of hours with your friends while helping out for a good cause.

Coincedentially, tomorrow is also the first anneversiary of the infamous Mr. Zest, for those of you who are in the know about such things, or even care!

A little bit about me...

...I suppose you might be wondering what type of person it is that is the author of this blog. I will tell you. It all began on a fateful day in the early part of the year 1986, when two normal American parents welcomed into the world their first born, a son whom they named Kodilee. However most people took to just calling him Kodi, and the longer was reserved for instances when he was in trouble.

Kodi has lived in many places ranging from eastern Washington to Massachusetts to Arizona over a period of 18 years, but has finally ended up in the small town of Arlington, Washington. He lives there with his Mother, Father, four brothers and two sisters, all of whom he loves very much.

He has had many hobbies, loves, and interests throughout the years, some of which were passing fancy, others which have stayed with him. One such love is flying, and all things aviation which was fed with many books, and the occasional flight in a small airplane. And in the summer of 2004, he was able to start the necessary training to become a pilot. He is still only a student pilot, but hopes to one day make a career out of flying.

His love for flying, however, is second to one thing, and that is his belief in his Catholic faith. He has been Catholic most of his life, having been baptized at age three, and has had many experiences which have led to deeper love, and appreciation of his faith. Two such experiences were his parents decision to home school him and his siblings, and secondly his confirmation in his faith in may of 2002.

Other hobbies and interests that have stayed with him are reading, drawing, and especially spending time with family and friends.