Recall visiting the William S. Hart home?

Feeding the mule deer fawn

One year ago today we drove over to Santa Clarita and visited the museum ranch and home of silent film cowboy star William S. Hart. He was one of the first great stars of the western motion picture, and you were really into cowboys at the time. It seemed like a perfect fit to tour his home!

The ranch included a little mini zoo where you could feed the animals. You got to feed chickens, rabbits, a mule deer fawn, and a big Brown Swiss cow. The pigs were sleeping, though!

After the zoo, we hiked up a hilltop to Hart's home. I was very impresed with you - though it was a long tour, you were really well-behaved and very interested in everything there.

On the way down, we stopped at the gift store, where we purchased the toy cowboys and Indians set that included Sheriff Jack, the Deputy, Calamitous Jane, Luke the horse, and Baby Kieran.

Here's a whole bunch of pictures from the visit.

Moving to San Diego and Palmdale

The night of April 1, 2011, your mother moved out of the green house in Lancaster. I had to go to court to get the right to see you, which I accomploshed on April 22. That allowed me to see you a couple of days a week unil I could get back in court on May 25 for it to order joint custody between your mother and me of you.

In late May of that year, I moved to San Diego for a new job. I worked at Business Leader Media, editing a suire of business magazines, and moved into the house in Encinitas. Thus began several months of us travling back and forth between the two towns on weekends and holidays.

By December, I'd finally got my business launched and went full time with it. At the same time, I moved back to Palmdale so that we culd spend more time together. That autumn, you entered preschool in Lancaster.

Then in March 2012, we moved into the condo into Palmdale, which Jane shared with us. That lasted until May, and brings you up to date on what has happened in my life!

My letter to you from Jan. 19, 2013

Here is my email sent to you today, in case you don’t receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you doing? I’m doing fine, though I miss you very much. I miss not being able to spend time with you and talking to you on the phone every night like we used to do .

I am very excited, though, that we will see each other in just two short weeks on Feb. 1. When we get together, we will have two big days to celebrate: Valentine’s Day and your birthday! Grandma is whipping up some fun Valentine’s Day sweets for you, and all of us – me, grandma and grandpa, Uncle Chris-Aunt Suzy-and-your-cousins-Bryan-and-Rebekah – all have bought birthday presents for you. They all miss you, too, and though you may not remember them because you were so young the last time you saw them, they all remember you! They can’t wait, either, to finally see you again.

How was your first week back to school? I bet seeing your friends again after a couple of weeks off was a lot of fun. When I was a little boy your age, it also was a lot of fun to find out what all of my friends got for Christmas and some of the neat places they went during their winter break.

Do you enjoy the snow in Minnesota? You always liked it when we went up to the mountains together after a snowfall. We’d go sledding together and throw snowballs. Sometimes we’d stop off for a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Although the winters do get long in Minnesota, one nice thing about them is you have lots of opportunities to drink hot chocolate!

I am glad you’ve enjoyed the games, toys, art supplies and books I’ve been bringing to our visits. Playing with and reading to again has been a lot of fun for me, too. What games should I bring next time? I was thinking some card games like Old Maid or Go Fish. Email me to let me know which games you’d like to play.

You may notice that these questions were the same that I asked the previous week. Unfortunately, your answers to them were not sent. So, I am repeating them in hopes that your mother will correct this problem by resending your answers (as well as your emails to my last three weeks of emails to you).

Have you read any good books lately? One good Valentine’s Day book you might like to find at your school or city library is “Hedgehug: A Sharp Lesson in Love” by Dan Pinto. We read it together a couple of years ago, and you liked it a lot. You might recall that’s about a hedgehog who looks for someone to be his valentine, but no one wants to hug him because hedgehogs have prickly hair. Will he find someone to give his Valentine card to? You’ll have to read the book!

That is all for now. I love you very much and can’t wait to see you on Feb. 1!

Love,

Dad

 

Finding fossils, gems in Opal Canyon

Two years ago today we took a hike into Opal Canyon. Located in Red Rock State Park about 35 minutes north of where we lived in Lancaster, Calif., the canyon is most famous for its opal gems, but three sites also have been known to yield 7-million- to 12-million-year-old fossils.

We went opal hunting but kept our eyes out for fossils as well. You enjoyed tapping away at the shale with my geologist’s hammer as we looked for some cool finds.

And we did find some stuff! One was a fossilized impressions of tiny leafs and an opalized bone fragment in a chunk of shale. I also found a partially opalized bone fragment from a piece of shale; it looks vaguely like a tooth. I still have the fossils and gems and will show them to you one day!

Here’s a whole bunch of pictures from our adventure!

Living at 'the green house' in Lancaster

Pear tree in backyard of "the green house."

In February 2009, we moved from Santa Clarita to Lancaster, Calif., specifically to the "green house" as you called it. Your mother worked at the hospital in Lancaster, and I was a stay-at-home dad, taking care of you!

I loved the "green house". It had a garage (that we used more as a storage shed), a neat galley kitchen, a cool bedroom for you (That I put these wonderful tote shelves into for your toys and boys), and a family room (that opened up to the backyard), where I had my "office." We had beautiful plants growing in our backyard and a grille on the side porch.

We had many great adventures together when living in Lancaster, especially hikes. Much of our day was spent playing, punctuated by trips to the library or errands we neded to run.

We stayed in the green house until April 2011,  a little more than two full years!

Living in Santa Clarita, Calif.

While Grandma and Grandpa Bignell took care of you from December 2007-September 2008, I moved from Eureka to Santa Clarita, Calif. While the job I took at the Santa Clarita newspaper wasn't any different than - I was still the copy desk chief - Santa Clairta offered some great opportunities. I was tasked with redesigning the newspaper and with setting up new software for reporters and editors to work on. In addition, it was in sunny Southern California, where I longed to live!

In September 2008, you returned to live with me in Santa Clarita. I met you at the airport in Minneapolis, and we drove cross country through Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California! I remember the first time you saw the mountains - you were so impressed with how they soared so high. You'd tap me and point at them!

I was so happy to finally be reunited with you. Though I'd missed seeing you learn how to walk, what began was three years of wonderful time spent together!

Unfortunately, the economy crashed in autumn 2008. I was laid off at the newspaper in November 2008. On the plus side, I was able to dedicate all of my time to you as a stay-at-home father!

My brief job in Eureka, Calif.

In July 2007, I unfortnately was laid off at the Crescent City newspaper. The newspaper industry was rapidly shrinking thanks to competition from the Internet and the rising cost of raw materials, especially paper. When the economy got rough in any way, newspapers cut back on their expenses somehow...including getting rid of people.

Fortunately, I was able to find employment as the copy desk chief at the Times-Standard, the newspaper in Eureka - the town in which you were born! While I liked many of the people there, it was a real step back in my career, as I was doing the same job I had in manitowoc six years before. Still, I was determined to work hard and regain my footing in what had become a declining industry.

On Dec. 11, 2007, we parted ways for a few months, Your mother decided to move back to Wisconsin and live with my parents, Grandma and Grandpa Bignell. It was a very sad several months for me while you were away, but it was not my choice. I will explain more to you about the truth of what happened when you are older and can better understand it.