WV has a lot of bad statistics associated with it.  We deserve some of the bad press, but I think I have an explanation for one problem in the state.  You see, WV leads the nation in tooth loss. Apparently some 43% of folks in WV aged 65 or older have had all of their teeth removed.  It’s not widely known, but belts are outlawed in WV.  Older folks typically obey the law.  So, a person faced with a sealed beer bottle and no belt buckle with which to open it will naturally turn to the bottle opener God gave him.  Tooth loss among WV’s older folks simply a matter of the anti-belt lobby which is so strong here in WV.

Among younger folks, I have a harder time explaining tooth loss.  My daughter lost (i.e. I pulled) another tooth last night.  She’s lost 5 teeth since March,  Only 1 of those has been replaced by a new adult tooth.  So, Abigail is nearly toothless here in WV.  What could possibly be causing such change in her?  Surely she isn’t getting older on me.  No, there must be something else going on here causing young people to lose teeth…

Last night was my first time.  I had held out, saving myself I suppose.  Everyone said it would be special.  I wanted it to be magical…something I would never forget.  I had never been to Chuck E. Cheese.  They just didn’t exist anywhere near where I grew up so that wasn’t an option.  Once we had kids, I was busy…every single time somone had a birthday party there.  Last night, Emily’s school had a fund raiser there and she committed me before I had a chance to make other plans.  So, I got protection (hand sanitizer) and headed inside the place.

At first, I was pretty overwhelmed by the smell of kids and the number of germ-hiding locations.  In fact, the germs were so bold that they didn’t even try to hide.  They seemed to be flying through the air before my eyes in fact.  Anyhow, we ordered some…uh…I guess you’d call it food.  We ate and then started to play.  Now folks, I never have really grown up…or at least I never grew up right.  We played skee-ball and rode on the rides.  Isaac showed me his expertise at a reaction time game and Abigail pedaled herself into the air on a magic bike.

I tried to ride the rides but I didn’t fit too well.  The manager finally came over and asked me if I wanted a job as Chuck himself.  “I’ll pass I think…I am part elephant and am afraid of mice.”  She just shook her head and walked away.  Don’t grown-ups understand?  I am playing!

All in all, it was a pretty good time.  A lot of kids from Emily’s school were there and I am sure they raised money.  I had a pretty good time too.  In fact, I wasn’t really ready to leave.  I did need to take 2 showers and I did a dance with a scrub brush and a bucket full of Mr. Clean!

Every year for the past thousand or so years, my home town has hosted the Indian Festival (feather not a dot) in celebration of the original inhabitants of the area.  Anyone who has ever driven through NW PA has seen the names of rivers and creeks and, no doubt, pondered how on Earth to pronounce them.  I know this isn’t exclusive to PA, but it is definitely a part of the area’s Native American history.

In the past few years, sadly, it has become less about Native Americans and more about…ummm…something else.  Still, it is the town event from my childhood that brings me home every year.  This year, we watched the parade and the fire trucks and cars and twirling teams.  I ate the awesome hot sausage that they sell at the Methodist church and I had a great chance to visit with some folks with whom I went to high school (I’ll probably say more about that another day).

It’s weird I guess how things stick with me, but I love to go back and see the town.  There are so many faces that I am sure I knew 20 years ago.  People who were my age then are now retiring and life is generally moving on..but I see glimmers of my growing up there and it makes me smile a bit on the inside.

So, Indian Festival isn’t what it once was, but then, I am not sure anything ever is. Still, with a little work and imagination, there are some awesome memories of times long gone…and even better, there are lots of new adventures for my kids!

We seem to go to Home Depot about every weekend to get materials for some project or another.  You see, we have an old house on which we are doing all sorts of repairs.  Repairs may be a mild way of putting it.  We are sort of doing a central nervous system replacement on the old girl.  Anyhow, since I am not a professional and do not have one of those nifty trucks that just seems to have one extra of every part  or nut or bolt that I need, I need to make many trips to the home repair place.

A few months ago, we just happened to be in the store when Home Depot was offering one of their “let your kids build something on our dime” classes.  For some reason, Isaac was not with us, but Abigail was very interested in the project so we participated in the class.  It turns out that HD offers a kids’ class in the morning on the first Saturday of every month.  We went back again this month and Abigail built a message board for her room.  On this trip, Isaac was with us but had slightly less than no interest in building the project.  Isaac is the sort of kid who likes to do things his own way and his own way never involves reading directions or sitting still.  Anyhow, he had no interest so Emily and Abigail decided to tackle the project.

Luckily for Abigail, her mother is willing to humble herself and actually read directions.  They did a marvelous job of nailing nails and screwing in screws and gluing that which needed gluing.  I knew they were underway as I could hear the hammer strikes as Isaac and I were elsewhere in the store looking at wood and block and other guy stuff.

Abigail does the bulk of the work on these projects and really enjoys getting to do her own work and seeing the finished project.  We are doing a new project at the house on which she and her brother are the main builders.  I surely hope her practice is going to pay off or else my fingers and thumbs will suffer under her hammer swings!

We were riding in the man-van the other day and, out of the blue, Isaac asked me for the definition of sex.  Well, I knew it was coming but I wasn’t sure when it would present itself.  I am not timid about telling him what I know (which may not take too long) but I didn’t want to tell him anything that was not age-appropriate.

I started by asking where he heard the word.  He said, “I think I heard it at summer camp from some of my friends.”  Dang, I wanted my kid to be the one to share stuff with friends so that they had to talk with their parents.  “Well, Isaac, sex can mean boy or girl.”  He replied, “Yeah Dad, I know that one.”

He has started to hear boys talk about girls being cute or hot so I tried that route, “Sometimes, when people get older, they say that someone who is cute is sexy.”  Of course, he was familiar with that one too.  I guess now is the time to spill my guts.

“Isaac, sex can also mean when a mom and a dad get together and make a baby.”  We went into a number of age-appropriate details and he seemed genuinely interested.  At the end however, he said, “That’s interesting Dad, but that’s not the definition I needed either.  I guess I’ll just go look it up in the dictionary.”  I tried my very hardest not to laugh out loud but that’s good stuff!

It turns out that we were listening to a station on xm radio, our satellite radio provider.  For some reason, one of the DJs said something like, “…and next on sex-m radio…” Isaac heard that and thought there must be another definition for sex.  And I signed up for xm originally because there were no DJs…