Current News
Hallo!? Liest hier noch jemand? 8-D
Hello!? Is anybody still reading this? 8-D
Sorry for the long pause, but again I have less leisure time available. As some of you already know, we finally moved into our new house (left, I know, I know, I’m supposed to rake leaves) in Harrisburg, IL on September 1st. Not only that, but I also found a job at Evolution Multimedia and work from 8-5 again. Currently, I am working on the affiliate section of Stinky Fish Poker, an online poker site. Of course, the game has to be tested, which meant that I had to learn Texas Holdem for work in a hurry. The web site and the game are still being worked on, but soon you will be able to sit down on a virtual poker table with me.
Rigth after work I’m busy repairing the house. It is an old, two-story home, built around 1920, with high ceilings, creaking stair cases, weird light switches and about 2492 square feet of character. So far my hands-on education included laying power lines, replacing faucets and drain pipes, connecting an ice maker, installing a gas stove and now I am trying to keep the fall leaves out of the gutter. It contained a good inch of great compost soil, which was successfully stopping the water from draining and provided a luxurious indoor waterfall in the basement.
Amy is helping with unpacking the moving boxes. At first, she worked at a local Christian school, but then decided to stay home, as the day care costs for Kai were about as much as her income. She also passed her Illinois teacher certification test with flying colors and plans to apply for a teaching position in one or two years again, when Kai is going to school, too.
The kids like Illinois, too. They are visiting the Coens almost every weekend, discovered the local town park for playing and help me in the garden. Here you can see Kai as he is raking leaves with the StingRay. We found this peculiar machine in a corner in the basement and it is working pretty good. A rotating rake is flipping the leaves into the collecting bag, which is then emptied by hand. The garden is raked in no time, until it all starts again in about two days… Oh yeah, fall season, I have missed it a lot. We have two many colored maple trees and an ancient oak that looms large over the west side of the roof. Then there are two Redbuds, which interestingly are named Judas trees in German. As the legend goes, Judas made the tree blush when he hanged himself on it, thus the profusion of magenta and pink blooms around Easter, hmm… Then there a few bushes and a hedge, so enough leaves to keep us busy until the End of November.