2005
Copyright © James W. Blilie, 2010: All rights reserved
Phyllis and Jim's family photos - Main Page
Phyllis and Jim's family photos 2005
It's been another eventful year. We are looking forward to a "normal" year some time! We have our good health, two fine, healthy, happy boys, nice homes in Shoreview and White Salmon, time with our family and friends (never enough of that), good and remunerative jobs. We feel particularly blessed.
Jamie - wow, has that boy changed and grown! Last year, he was sitting up. And this year, he went through: squirming, worming, creeping, crawling, pulling himself up, then walking, and now running and climbing up on everything! Poor Annabelle has almost no where to hide from Jamie's "loving" now. Jamie is talking, though much of it is hard to understand. He particularly enjoys trucks, books, and puzzles. He inherited lots of trucks from big brother. Jamie is a good eater and sleeper - just like Mom and Dad! He loves to eat the same spicy food that we like. The only foods we haven't tried with him yet are aged cheeses and red pepper. He loves garlic. Jamie really enjoys his brother Joe, he laughs when he sees Joe. We think Joe is enjoying Jamie as well. Our wonderful day-care lady, Rosalie, decided that 39 years were enough and she retired. We feel very lucky to have had Rosalie's help during Jamie's infant year. Luckily, we were able to find another great provider: Paula, who is very near Phyllis's work place. Jamie enjoys Paula and especially the other kids there. We got two baby-carrier packs from REI (one for White Salmon, one for home) and Jamie really enjoys riding on Daddy's back. He has the same view-point as Dad and he just laughs and enjoys it. (It also gives Dad a good workout - Jamie is solid!) Jamie's legs and arms have stretched out and he's taller than average (big surprise!) and about average in weight. He's starting to look long and lean - except those big mountain-climbing legs like his Daddy. Suddenly, we notice that Jamie is a boy, no longer a baby. Wow, that happened fast!
Joe is doing very well. Again this year, he is in advanced reading and math and is doing well in school, His teachers are monitoring him closely as are we and he is keeping up with his work. Joe has been especially helpful this year, taking over a number of chores: mowing, dishwasher, cat box, watering our potted plants in the summer, baling the boats. He helped out very much with Jamie, even baby-sitting him a few times (and changing dirty diapers - what an education Joe is getting!) Joe has really pitched in with good humor and often does things without being asked. Joe got a nice air rifle from Jim's Mom and Dad for his birthday; and he has been enjoying the rifle very much. Pumping the rifle is building arm muscles! Also for his birthday, Joe got to pick out an electric guitar and amplifier. He is enjoying it and we hope he hooks up with friends to play. Joe also continues his violin playing in the Chippewa school orchestra (not band!), Joe helped with a number of outdoor projects in White Salmon and Shoreview, including building the pad for the (to-be) hot tub. Joe clearly demonstrated that he can now out-hike Jim and Phyllis. Joe has become strong and tall and broad-shouldered. And we notice that Joe has become a young man, not the boy anymore. Wow, that happened fast!
Phyllis had an excellent school year last year. She also, finally, for the first time since the late 1990's, a nice, normal, calm, relaxing summer. She got her usual 10 weeks off; but this year there were no extraordinary events; so she was able to relax and enjoy. Jim put up a temporary fence in the back yard to contain Jamie's running. Phyllis could then let Jamie play outside and be able to sit and relax rather than chasing him. In the new school year, Phyllis has a great bunch of kids. She also had an excellent student teacher Erin, who really helped out at the beginning of the year. Phyllis has worked out some good systems that are making her out-of-school work less and more efficient. This has given her more time with family. We were disappointed this summer in not being able to visit Glacier National Park, as we had planned to do the first week of August. The mechanics strike at Northwest airlines prevented Jim from taking the vacation.
Jim has had an eventful year. His job at Northwest got very difficult. First, in preparation for the strike of the AMFA mechanics, he had to cancel the planned trip to Glacier National Park. Then, during the strike, he worked long hours: at the beginning 72-80 hours a week. Many of the engineers were "deployed" to airports to help maintain airplanes. Jim was lucky to not be deployed. Then Northwest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Life became very difficult at Jim's job and work dominated his August, September and October. He had to cancel our planned trip to Glacier National Park in August and a planned trip to White Salmon in October. These events convinced Jim very clearly that he needed a new job and a new industry to work for. (Actually, Jim had been trying to enter the Medical device industry since 2001. He reckon's this industry is the best gig in the Twin Cities for engineers.) Jim's big event for the year is: He got a new job at Guidant Corporation in Arden Hills! This is a wonderful change for Jim. His commuting has gone from 1 ½ hours per day to 20 minutes per day. Guidant is the nearest facility to our home that hires engineers! Guidant is a growing and thriving company, while NWA is in bankruptcy (along with the other problems noted above.) Jim got a very nice raise and a signing bonus, along with 401k fund matching, annual bonus eligibility, a better working environment, another week's vacation, and the opportunity to "buy" an additional week of vacation each year, which he will be exercising every year. (Not to mention avoiding the pay and benefits cuts at NWA.) The job is also a nearly perfect fit for Jim: it's virtually the same job he was doing at Boeing for 15 years, just on a different product. He is doing stress analysis on implantable heart pace makers and defibrillators. He is enjoying the new work, the lowered stress level, short commute (5 traffic lights, but who's counting?!), and pay. He is working hard to come up to full speed on Guidant's systems and the details of the products.
Jim's guitar building went way down this year and that was a good thing. He had little time after work and commuting and that little time was spent with the family and on home projects and practicing guitar playing. He still is eking out a few guitars. He has gotten much more efficient at building them. He was able to fully construct two guitars during the 2 weeks he had off between jobs. Also between jobs, Jim used his last flight benefits from NWA and flew to Portland to winterize the White Salmon place and pop up to Seattle to attend Ben and Gaye's winery open house (www.cadencewinery.com).
Jim's Mom and Dad are doing well. They are enjoying their town-home at Boutwell's Landing, near Stillwater, MN. We get to see them often, usually coming by on a weekend afternoon to make dinner for them. Jamie enjoys Grandma Harriet's house.
Phyllis's Mom sold her trailer in Florida and bought a new home in Shawano, which is really nice. She is enjoying it very much. Her George had heart bypass surgery last spring and continues to struggle with some complications. We are thinking about him and hoping he shakes them off soon. Phyllis's Mom went with her sister Anna to visit sister Mary in Kansas again this fall. Jamie enjoyed visiting at Grandma Kay's house. He got to meet many of his Shawano relatives.
Annabelle continues strong at 19-½ years old (!). Jamie really loves her and doesn't give her much peace when he's awake. She shows no sign of slowing down and doesn't look any older than she did 5 years ago. An amazing beast. We finally got sick of crawling into and out of the back seat of Jim's old Honda Civic 2-door with Jamie and his car seats. We bought a used 2002 Camry with 4 doors, air conditioning, cruise, and power windows. We are really enjoying the new car. Phyllis says she feels like an adult driving it.
We had one major project at our place in White Salmon, Washington. Jim and friends Kevin Beretta, Jeanne Mason, and Anne Gengler moved all the furniture into the bathroom and laundry room, stripped off all the old carpet and padding, removed the tack-strips, and painted the floors (and some walls) with Kilz sealer. Thanks for all the help, especially Kevin! Then we had a contractor install new carpeting, which was in place for us to enjoy during our week-long visit this summer. It was so nice to have the nice new carpet and be rid of the smell! We really felt moved in, finally. We unpacked all remaining boxes and put up a bunch of pictures and some new pieces of artwork. The place really feels like home now. The vetch was in massive full bloom this summer while we were there. Jamie enjoyed walking around our property and walking the trails on some hikes we took. Joe went on a bunch of hikes and enjoyed relaxing with our friends. Phyllis and Jim enjoyed the hikes, completing the moving in process and just relaxing. We had one big excitement in White Salmon: Jamie had his first unscheduled trip to the doctor. He dived from the couch face-first into the coffee table. The result was a cut to the bone and 7 stitches in his forehead. We had our first, and we hope last, visit to Skyline Hospital in White Salmon. A very nice, very professional hospital, They took good care of Jamie. Jamie is fine and now has his "Harry Potter Lightning Bolt."
Jim and Joe put a lot of work into preparing the ground, literally, for a hot tub in our backyard in Shoreview, that we are hoping to install this winter. We are looking forward to looking up at the winter stars, wine glass in hand, from the warmth of a hot tub. We made a crushed rock pad and raised four posts that will eventually support a pergola and wisteria vines and some privacy screens.
Phyllis and Jim's family photos - Main Page
Phyllis and Jim's family photos 2005
Last updated: 13-Jan-2010