WELCOME

WELCOME to Sensible Home, a site devoted to all things home and family. Since this is the first posting on the site, I thought I would introduce myself and maybe tell you where I hope this blog will take us.

I truly don't consider myself to be a leading authority on anything in particular, although I do have expertise in several areas and hope to be able to share them with you and my family through this amazing and interesting venue.

My name is Dan. My lovely wife Diana and I have five of the most amazing wonderful children. All of them are grown now and are in the process of starting and raising their own families. We currently have eight grandchildren and love being with and growing with them. It is a common thing at our house to have all five children, their spouses, and the grand kids in the house at the same time for dinners and the like. It can really rock around here.


My life to this point has been interesting (to me at least) and I have had opportunity to see and do interesting things. I served a career in law enforcement and am currently retired. Oh yes, I enjoy collecting the pension. It has provided me with the ability to do good things for my family and create other opportunities for my wife and I in particular. I would like to say I am rich as far as money is concerned, that is just not the case. I still work a full time job, but maybe for the first time in our lives we are in a position to not fret all the time about money. Just some of the time.


My police career was in a smaller jurisdiction in northern Utah. When I started I was an addition to the police department. I was the first number 18 in seniority. By the time I retired there were 35 sworn officers and the department has grown since then. Working in a smaller jurisdiction you have opportunity to do a lot of different things. Larger agencies for example might give an officer the opportunity to specialize in a particular part of police work. In our agency we might specialize in something, but we do it all when things get tough. So for years I was an accident investigations specialist. Self proclaimed, yet the one they called to assist with complicated crashes. Then I spent five years as a child victimization crimes investigator. Unfortunately, I was very busy at that job and saw some things that I would rather not have. Yet through this, some families started their path down a new road for the first time in generations. There was some satisfaction in that.


During my career I also served as the department armorer and firearms instructor. I did this for the last 13 years I was there. I have considerable training in this field and still enjoy shooting of almost any kind. I have personally investigated numerous shootings ranging from accidents to suicides to homicides, and yes, I have developed strong opinions about personal defense and safety. I will write articles about these issues, but just let me say, that so much of accidents and violence occurring today is unessessary. I know that may go without saying, but I will discuss firearms safety and the other issues in the future.


My wife and I are do it your selfers. That isn't to say that we fix everything, but we do most of it ourselves. She is a fabulous cook and has become proficient at extending food and getting her dollars worth. She is handy in the yard and in the house and has used a sewing machine over the years to suppliment our income. When it came time to replace the lanolium in the kitchen, she and her sister laid down a marble floor. I'll show it to you in the future. They did the whole thing! I didn't even help. We also planned and installed our sprinkling system ourselves. Turned out great!


We have felt that home is the place of refuge from the storms of life and have done what we can to prepare our home for most everything we can. Our children and grandchildren seem to feel that way and seem to enjoy being there. If the house is standing, we should be able to survive there. If it is not, we have some ideas as to how to survive some place else. I will share some of this with you in the future as well.


Well again, WELCOME! I hope this site provides a service to you. I also hope it provides a forum for you to share ideas with us and those that view this site.


I look forward to exchanging ideas and solutions with you!

Dan