Knoxville Chainsaw Annoyance

This week has been highlighted by some yard work going on at Country Club Apartments. Behind our little house are a number of trees that were growing pretty close to the building, at least until management decided to have them removed. I guess that we are now safer because a tree is no longer likely to fall into the bedroom whilst we sleep, but it has meant people with chainsaws cutting down trees 10 feet outside our windows at 8 am. Admittedly, this has bothered Alixa more than anyone else, as there are some pretty deep sleepers in the family, myself included. The worst thing actually happened in the afternoon. Jarom and Alixa were having some samwiches when they heard the now-familiar sound of a tree falling in the back yard. This was followed by the agonizing screams of a man who sounded like he was being eaten alive by a pack of hungry wolves. Due to the proximity of the trees to the building, an elaborate set of ropes was used to make sure no damage was done. In this instance, the ropes somehow managed to pin the logger’s hand to the tree, with a 25-foot section of a pine tree attached to it. We all had to listen for about 10 minutes while the victim tried to get to his chainsaw, start it, and cut the ropes to free the tree, all with only one hand and in the most intense pain I’ve ever listened to. Honestly, it was terrible.

The backyard, only now those trees are gone

On a happier note, the world famous Knoxville fall weather has arrived. The humidity is gone, it is sunny and in the 70’s, and it gets a little chilly at night. It’s perfect. To go along with that, Jenna has gone back to sleeping through the night, a trick she began at the 2-month mark, but didn’t last. She continues to get chubby, and is more animated and fun to be around every day. Her parents have decided that she will have a stuffed animal buddy, named Fufu. They have forced her to like it so that they can take pictures because they think it is adorable. I think it is ridiculous. Jenna has mastered rolling over both front to back and back to front which is very exciting although it makes changing a diaper that much harder. Also this week, Jarom took Jenna in to visit Lix at the OG. This was Jenna’s second visit to the restaurant, but the first time she was in a bad mood and cried the whole time. This time she was so cute and pleasant that Lix’s manager told her that Jarom’s lunch was on the house. Way to go, Jenna!

Assorted shots of Jenna and Fufu. We think she may be the cutest kid ever. You may feel free to barf if our biased familial opinions make you sick.

The Winn’s also began attending their actual ward this week, mostly because Alixa made a deal with God that if we pay our tithing and go to the right ward He would find Jarom a job. I am a little skeptical that even God can find a job in this market, but I guess we will see if he really is all-powerful. Despite attending the other ward, we continue to participate in the old ward’s activities, including basketball, volleyball, and book club, which Alixa hosted at the house this week. The book was the Something Something Potato Peel Pie Society and Lix actually made potato peel pie for the activity, which I thought was cool.

Sad Jenna, Happy Jenna

Chillin' Jenna

The Winn’s other favorite pastime, playing Settlers of Catan online, also had an interesting twist recently. One evening this week Jarom was playing a game when one of the other players, realyellow3261 propositioned him with the inviting line, “Wanna cyber?” Jarom was interested in what “cybering” consisted of, according to realyellow3261. So he asked, and was told that basically dirty messages are typed back and forth between participants. This seemed like the least appealing, stupidest thing in the world to Jarom, and also he is married, so he declined. Realyellow was persistent though, and continued to make offers to Jarom, going from typing dirty messages to phone sex to web cams. All of this made Jarom giggle like a schoolgirl, but he abstained on all accounts. The story was later shared with Alixa, who is now keeping her eyes out for this realyellow home wrecker, presumably to give her a piece of her mind. Jarom doesn’t judge miss yellow though, because he knows how irresistible he is to women, even when they can only see his name and a goofy looking avatar.