Monthly Archives: February 2014

I’m not the man I used to be

February 28, 2014ThoughtsMe and Al Roker...warren

I’m a proud American. I like apple pie and Chevrolet and a cold beer every now and then. I stand for the flag at parades and I know most every Alabama song there is. I also discovered that I ate a little too much junk while partaking the typical American diet.

When Emily and I were married, I weighed in at a whopping 145 pounds. I wasn’t any taller then but I definitely had not finished growing. I don’t mean just growing heavier, but I was still growing into an adult…yes, we were married pretty young…right out of college.

Anyhow, I matured and settled in at a pretty consistent 185 and that worked pretty well. Like most people though, time goes on and the kids keep us busy and we ate less home cooked meals and more junk on the run. I got pretty well addicted to Mt Dew and donuts and candy bars and all that jazz…and I never turned down a trip to Panera. Consequently, I blossomed in the last 2 years, to a heavier-than-I-wanted-to-be 218 pounds. That’s when I had enough and decided to do something about it…

So, I started eating right, got on a journal-what-you-eat program and have, in the last 7 weeks, lost 40 pounds. My blood pressure is down. My energy is fine and I have a healthy mane and coat…wait…I mean I feel good. It has shed fast and is a bit startling to people around me but I am pleased. Many people have asked if I am healthy or if I am angry at everything. It’s weird, but when you get used to looking at someone at a certain weight, it’s weird when you see them a lot lighter.

So, I am definitely not obsessed with weight but I am interested in my long term health and, to that end, I am determined to eat better and make better choices about my health. I may not be the man I used to be, but I will be a healthier man and that makes me very excited!

A little more about my diet

Early bee check

February 25, 2014Bees, Nature, WVBeekeeping, Bees, Did youknow bee poop is bright yellow?, Do I have too much interest in poop?, Honeybees, I said "bee poop"warren

Like many folks across the country, this has been a weird winter. Honestly, it may not be so weird compared to when I was a kid, but lately, winters have been so mild. Anyhow, we had a this-year-rare nice weekend so I tromped out to my bee yard to see how my girls had fared.

Did I ever mention that there are only female bees in the hive at this time of year? You see, the males are only useful for breeding in the spring and summer when the colony may need a new queen. Queens only breed during a week or so period when they first hatch and never again. So, males (aka drones) are only good for breeding during that period when a new queen is hatched. Otherwise they just eat up resources which are precious through the winter. The females kick out all the males in the mid-Fall and make new in the spring. Males are made when the queen lays unfertilized eggs, a process she controls since all breeding happened during that one week of glory when she was first hatched.

Anyhow, I like to check on the bees on warm days to make sure they are still alive, haven’t starved and don’t have nosema (like bee dysentery). Bees “hold it” to keep the hives clean, so on a warmish day, they all need to get out and poop. Normal poop is fine but “the runs” is a bad thing so I check to make sure they are not abnormal.

So, for the most part, the colonies looked good. I may have lost one colony but that isn’t unexpected or unusual. I don’t like it, but some winter loss just happens, even in a well-managed apiary. I made some feed available in the form of sugar-water so any colony that is a little light on stores can grab a quick bit of food to get through the remaining weeks until the maples bloom and the pollen and nectar flow again. That is often at the end of February through the beginning on March but with our cold and snow, it may be a bit later. Well shall see, but for now, it looks like the bees are doing well!

Four eyes are better than two

February 24, 2014ThoughtsGlasses...not coke bottles at least, It's not so bad...maybe I looked scholarly now?warren

I think I was the last hold-out on my side of the family as far as glasses goes. My brother got glasses when he was around 10 and my parents and everyone else has had glasses for as long as I can remember. Somehow, I had escaped. Emily is pretty much in the same boat. Her whole family has glasses as well.

New glasses — My new glasses. This was taken on Valentine’s day…notice we are both wearing black…coincidence?

Let pass 40+ years and even the vision-very-best of us fail though. Emily got glasses last year and I recently gave in as well. I guess most folks get regular lens and then move towards bifocals or progressives but we both went right to progressives. That’s just because we made it 40 years without I guess…

So, I had my glasses about 1 week before we went to see Phil a few weeks ago. I mostly got used to them pretty well on that trip. Speaking of trip, however…a few folks had warned me about stepping off curbs and walking down steps. Pretty early on, I fell down 4 steps when I misjudged a flight in our house. Luckily Isaac already knew all those words I used when I fell but it caught me by surprise and really hurt. Nothing broken though.

Mostly a bespectacled family…during a recent walk in the woods

So, now Isaac is the only one in the family without glasses. Abigail got hers a few years back too. Hers are probably worse than mine or Emily’s so she follows the greater family tradition. Isaac however…he’s the hold out now. I give him 30 or so more years until he joins the club, but somehow I suspect he will!

Post Groundhog Day

February 4, 2014Adventure, Awesome, Family, Fun, NatureFamily, Fun, Groundhog day...better than Christmas!, Punxsutawney Phil, the one true groundhogwarren

So, here’s the rest of the story…we toured around Punxsutawney all day on Saturday buying souvenirs and generally acting touristy. The town undoubtedly makes a good bit of money during this celebration and that is cool. We enjoyed seeing the sights but headed in a little early because we knew we had to be up early for the real celebration. You see, bus tickets to Gobbler’s Knob go on sale starting at 2am, February 2. I knew my family wouldn’t follow me quite that early so we opted to sleep in until 3:30 am. At 3:30, we hopped up (I did anyhow) and headed to one of the bus stops. I was shocked. I mean, there were a number of people around on Saturday, but the crowd was amazing for the real show.

The powers-that-be had done it right though…there were a metric crap-ton of buses shuttling people the 1.5 or so miles from town up to the Knob. We got there sometime early…I can’t remember exactly when, but early enough to get a pretty good spot, not too far back from Phil’s burrow-of-prediction. It was still dark and had started to rain. It was still rain but it was that cold rain, just above freezing that is so pleasant. When we got there, the crowd was large but little did we know…

Some of the members of the Inner Circle were there keeping the crowd excited and they did a heck of a job. When you see it all on TV, they look sort of formal, but let me tell you, they know how to have a good time. I mean, they wee singing and dancing and telling funny stories. Honestly, I see why Phil trusts them so much. They are good people for making this weekend a success!

At some point, they had a band come on and play some music…and then some dancers…and them more music and singing…and then some pretty cool fireworks. Time is sort of a blur but we had a good time. More and more people showed up as time went on though and it got extremely crowded. We honestly had to shove back against people to keep from being knocked over or otherwise moved from our position. Being a jerk, I am pretty well disposed to that anyhow, but I do not think Emily or the kids enjoyed that part too much.

Panorama of the crowd at Gobbler’s Knob…this doesn’t really capture the size of the crowd (click to make it bigger)

Sadly, this isn’t really a kid-friendly affair. For too many people, it was an excuse to get dunk and act stupidly. I am all for a good time, but my only complaint is that the powers-that-be didn’t jerk people out of the crowd by their ears when they started acting like total morons. Oh well, such is life and my kids already knew all those bad words anyhow (thanks to their Mom of course).

Phil's prediction with the Inner Circle — Phil’s prediction with the Inner Circle

Anyhow, the Inner Circle finally retrieved Phil from his den. The President of the Inner Circle, the only human able to translate Groundhogese discussed with Phil his outlook and declared that Phil saw his shadow thus guaranteeing 6 more weeks of winter.

Just a few buses from Gobbler's Knob — Just a few buses from Gobbler’s Knob

Now I never doubt Phil…after all, he is the Seer of Seers and the Prognosticator of Prognosticators, but I was a little disappointed in his prediction. I cannot be selfish however, as he is merely the bringer of news. And based on how things are looking, I’d say he was spot on (as usual)!

Groundhog Day Eve!

February 1, 2014Adventure, Awesome, Family, FunBest birthday present ever!, Groundhog day...better than Christmas!, Not your ordinary whistlepigwarren

Oh my word! It’s here! The best holiday of the year! I love Groundhog Day…it signals the beginning of the end of Winter, my bane! This year, we decided to make the trek to Punxsutawney, PA, the home of the Seer of Seers, the Prognosticator of Prognosticator, the world famous Punxsutawney Phil!

Tourists in Punxsutawney, PA — Tourists…Check

This year, for my birthday, Emily gave me a trip with the family of my choice to the one true Groundhog Day celebration. We drove in last night and I had a terrible time falling asleep. I was like a little kid on Christmas!

This morning, we drove into Punxsutawney and actually found great parking right away. There is still much snow on the ground so we sloshed around to the main square where we saw all sorts of sights. We saw wood carvers and magicians and all sorts of tourists. The first thing we bought were awesome wool Phil hats so we could easily be identified as “tourists”. Punxsutawney is all about Phil so there are groundhog statues and paintings all over the place! We took pics of a bunch of them. There were all sort of families were around so we had no problem finding people to take our picture.

Phil’s Inner Circle were all about town and were quite friendly and approachable. We talked to a few of the fellows, probably for 10-15 minutes. They are great salesmen of the experience and I really appreciated their helpfulness in figuring out what we needed to see and do!

The family with Jim Cantore — Groundhog hat compliant!

Jim Cantore and the Weather Channel crew were around and also very approachable (not while on the air of course). I asked him to take a pic with me, the two most handsome bald people in Punxsutawney (and maybe all of Pennsylvania) this weekend. He was very nice and kind to allow us to get pics.

Phil's den at Gobbler's Knob — Phil’s den at Gobbler’s Knob

Gobbler’s Knob, the location where Phil makes his prediction, is open ahead of the big reveal so we got a chance to walk around and actually touch his chamber. I was trembling like a little girl from the excitement!

We bought all sorts of souvenirs and walked all over town. I am so excited for tomorrow morning! We plan to get up around 3am to make the trek to Gobbler’s Knob on this best birthday trip ever!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!