Category Archives: Family

My Uncle Bill

March 9, 2015FamilyFamilywarren

William S. “Bill” Flick, age 81, of Tionesta, PA, died on Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Erie, PA. He was born June 2, 1933, in Tionesta, son of the late Frank and Ruth (Seigworth) Flick.

Bill proudly served in the US Army in Panama before being honorably discharged in September 1955 after two years of service. He returned home where he was employed by Struthers Wells of Titusville, PA, sold insurance for United Republic, worked in Quality Control for Tionesta Sand & Gravel, and served Forest County as a Deputy Sheriff. He was a member and Past Master of Olive Lodge #557 F&AM of Tionesta, the Coudersport Consistory, and the Shriners.

He was Methodist by faith.

Bill enjoyed tournament bridge, hunting, fishing, and spending time with his family.

On June 30, 1962 in Coudersport, PA he married Laura Marie (Patterson) Flick, who survives. In addition to his wife he is survived by two brothers, Donald Flick and his wife Shirley of Beaver Falls, PA; Virgil Flick and his wife Jane of Tionesta; three sisters, Helen Sweet of New Castle, PA; Betty Bowen of Tionesta; and Doris Tucker, also of Tionesta. Additionally, he is survived by his beloved nephews Warren and Garth Patterson as well as several other nieces and nephews.

Friends will be received on Saturday, March 14, 2015 at the Tionesta United Methodist Church from 10 am until 11 am. A memorial service will be conducted at 11 with Associate Pastor Jeffrey Foor, officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of the Norman J. Wimer Funeral Home of Tionesta.

A Masonic memorial service will be held at 10 am on Saturday, March 14 at the church as well.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Wounded Warriors Project (P.O. Box 758517 Topeka, Kansas 66675), St Jude’s Children’s Hospital (501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105) or to the charity of one’s choice.

Our new driver

February 13, 2015Awesome, Family, Fun, Thoughts, WVAm I old enough to have a kid who can drive?, Driving!, Watch out worldwarren

We are pleased to introduce the newest driver in our house! Isaac passed his learner’s permit test yesterday. As soon as I got home from work, he bounced into the kitchen, license in hand. Of course, I knew he wanted to go drive. I suspect he had planned on my tossing him the keys and saying “let’s go.”

Although he has driven many times out at the executive deer stand, he had not driven at any real speed with opposing 2 ton hunks of rolling metal coming at him. Instead, I drove him to a nearby neighborhood with flat straight streets. He was a mix of excited and nervous…and so was I honestly.

He got into the driver’s seat and we went over the “make it go forward” checklist. Isaac tended to hug the white line as we drove house, cars, and mailboxes. Of course, he was still a little jerky with the gas pedal and the steering but he was very cautious and seemed to take it seriously enough to satisfy my nerves a little. I guess we drove for 40 minutes and had a lot of fun.

Probably my favorite part of the trip happened at the end of our drive. There is a church near our house where I asked Isaac to pull in so I could take us home. Our road is steep and windy and has a blind crest. We weren’t ready for that yet. Anyhow, we pulled into the parking lot and miscommunicated where we were going to park. Isaac got it between the parking lines so all was fine, but I suppose it looked funny to the older couple sitting in the car across the parking bumper from us. The look on their face was, at first, one of slight confusion with our antics. As soon as Isaac and I got out and switched seats, they got big goofy grins on their faces. It was obvious…we were practicing driving. In response to their big goofy grins, I grinned right back and nodded my head. I suspect they said a quick prayer for both me and them as, that night, a new driver was unleashed on the road!

Solo and Ensemble

February 10, 2015Audio, Family, Fun, WVBand, Band kids rock!, Proudwarren

It seems like things have been pretty slow around our place lately but we remain busy with stuff…some of the stuff I can identify, while other things are less clearly identified. Anyhow, last weekend, we had the pleasure of hearing Isaac and a small group of his fellow band members play at the Solo and Ensemble ratings at WV State University.

Ensemble Performance #1

Ensemble Performance #1 (lower quality)

This ratings event is not a head-to-head competition per se, but the bands compete for highest ratings. It is possible for multiple bands to have the highest ratings so no one gets trophies or certificates exactly although I suspect there is a good opportunity for bragging rights involved. Individual students can perform solos and small groups can perform as ensembles. Isaac’s school had a representation in both areas.

Ensemble Performance #2

Ensemble Performance #2 (lower quality)

We took videos of the two performances in which Isaac was involved. We didn’t have an opportunity to hear other performances as a lot of people shuffle in and out, but I am so proud of these shows and am certain that there was much greatness to be heard from the other groups from our school as well as other schools in the region. I don’t know how many groups played exactly, but I would guess around 50! That’s a beautiful thing, I think, for the arts to be so well represented! Yeah band!

The flu…one down, three to go

January 9, 2015Family, ThoughtsCover your coughs and wash your hands folks!, Flu sucks, Ugh...winterwarren

All four of us dutifully got our flu shots in October or November…whenever they came in at our doctor’s office. We usually get them every year and have mostly been well served. Both kids and Emily are exposed to a lot of potential flu-people though so it’s always a bit of a gamble as to whether or not someone will end up with the flu at our house.

This year, of course, the flu shot is apparently not as effective as the CDC had hoped…and sure enough, Abigail was diagnosed with the flu last night. I didn’t realize they had a quick-swab test thingy that could positively identify the flu in a matter of a few minutes…thankfully they do and she and Emily were on their way a few minutes later. Of course, the flu isn’t gone in a few minutes and tamiflu apparently only knocks it down a day earlier than it would have been, I guess a day is a day so that helps.

I went to the pharmacy last night to pick up her meds and was helped by the parent of one of the boys on my soccer team. She knew why I was there based on my prescription for tamiflu. I think it also was clear what the 4 bottles of wine were for as well…my medicine! Wine, you see, is prophylactic for all illnesses. I should be good with the wine only, but if I come down with anything, I’ll kick it up a notch like my Grandpa used to do…ginger brandy cures all! Time will tell, dear friends!

So, right before lunch time, I called Abigail to check on her and see what she wanted for lunch today. Her throat and snot-maker are so congested/screwed up that she couldn’t speak clearly enough for me to determine what she wanted. We hung up and 10 seconds later I got a text, “Donuts” As a donut connoisseur myself, I certainly appreciated her need. I popped into Krispy Kreme, which, incidentally, I think makes the weakest of all chain-donuts, to buy a cool dozen for Abigail to eat at lunch. I mean, one needs energy and comfort when fighting an illness, right? Hopefully the other 3 of us can remain healthy. We’ve broken out the disinfecting wipes and gas masks and flame throwers and stuff we use to kill germs in the house. Hopefully we can stay ahead of it!

Wish us luck dear friends…today is also the one year anniversary of Aquapocalypse 2014…the mess where some chemical storage tanks leaked a bunch of crap into our water system which resulted in 300,000 local folks not having safe water to drink.

The Settlers of Catan

January 7, 2015Awesome, Family, FunFamily, Fun, Games, Not at all like Dungeons and Dragons...I promise!warren

I am having a terrible time getting back into the swing of life after a really great holiday season. Winter is always tough for me to bother getting out of bed, and since this holiday seemed so fun this year, I guess I am a little more weird than normal this January.

Boo hoo…

So, what, you may ask, are we doing to occupy our time during the cold Winter months? My brother gave Isaac a new game for Christmas and we have been enjoying playing it of course! The game is called “The Settlers of Catan“. I have seen it before and sort of always figured it was a little more deep than I wanted in a board game…and by deep I mean I had no intent in playing a game that would take 17+ hours to play or required me to think super hard or that required me to keep the cats away from an elaborate board covered with important pieces. We just never bothered to look into it any further. On our fiasco trip to PA a few months ago, we ended up walking through a book store that had the games for sale. Since we were a somewhat captive audience, we read more about the game and thought it might be worth a go. When my brother gave Isaac the game, it seemed like perfect timing.

It seems a bit complicated at first read of the rules, but the idea really is pretty simple…build settlements (and later cities) using the basics of civilization building – wood, wool, bricks, ore and wheat. (As a side, this makes me think of the saying, “…with caffeine, nicotine, and kerosene, one can take over the world”) It’s a fun mix of Monopoly (but nowhere near as tedious), RISK (with a lot fewer moving pieces) and chess.

All 4 of us played several rounds of the basic map and we have just started making our own maps (it’s all very simple to lay out with the map tiles). We trash talk and make under the table deals. We laugh and fuss (and sometimes cuss) and actually talk with one another. It’s a great diversion from life and just challenging enough to be interesting, but fast enough and simple enough to be a fun evening-time game for 4 nerdy fantasy lovers.

If you are into board games and like fantasy (although it isn’t dwarf or elf-laden at all…it just feels fantasy-ish to me but I suppose I am imposing that on the game), give Settlers of Catan a try. It’s a little spendy, but it has revived our board game playing and has already made for several evenings of laughter and talking and fun!

A Christmas to Remember

December 30, 2014Adventure, Family, House, WVAdventure, Better than living in a cave, Christmas, Family, House, Stress-testing a new house...not a safe thingwarren

Christmas is such a nice time of year. Like most people who celebrate Christmas, we enjoy the time with family, the great food, and the fun we share exchanging gifts, baking cookies and listening to holiday music. It’s always a special time and a real joy for me.

This year (actually just a few weeks ago), my parents have bought a house nearby and came to their new place (into which they have not yet really moved). My elderly aunt and uncle and my brother and sister-in-law came and stayed with my parents in their new house. My gang hung around the new place too and it was setting up to be a really fun time. My brother and I planned to do a few projects to “tighten up” the new place and then just goof around for fun.

The house had been empty for a good period of time so there are always kinks that need to be worked out. The kitchen and bathrooms were remodeled and had never been used so we figured there might be a few little things as is common with new construction. Little did we know…

As people started using the plumbing, we discovered that the shower drain leaked, the installers had cracked the tub spigot, the door was not sealed in and the water control valve was not installed correctly. My brother and I set about remedying all of those issues by basically yanking out all of the things and re-installing the tub/shower correctly. Meanwhile, we found that the wax ring on one of the toilets was leaking. It turns out that the plumbers had not tightened the hold-down bolts at all…it’s a wonder the toilet didn’t just topple over when used.

Meanwhile, my Mom was cooking in the kitchen and ran some peels down the disposal. I think there was a drainage problem beforehand with a clogged pipe, but the peels made it very apparent and stopped up the kitchen drain completely. We had a snake and ran a good bit into the drain to clear it but it was a job for a plumber…after-hours on a weekend. The guy came out and was great and ran 50 feet of snake into the drain and made it better but definitely not clear. He’s coming back to finish later this week when regular rates apply. Hopefully that will be a simple fix!

My aunt became very ill during the shower fix and we were concerned that she was in very bad shape during all of this…it came to the point where we called an ambulance to take her to the ER. Since my brother and I had the shower apart, Emily volunteered to go along to the hospital with my aunt and uncle. About 5 hours later, we found she had both kidney and gall stones and all was basically ok (the wonders of medicine!)

Around 8 or 9 that evening, when everything seemed to be winding down and it seemed like nothing else could go wrong…you guessed it…more went wrong! The hot water heater started leaking water pretty badly…it turns out there was a faulty pressure relief valve that didn’t really need any pressure before it decided to relieve itself. No hardware stores were open when we figured out what was going on so I got a new one the next morning. We were back in business in 20 minutes or so and everyone could get hot showers!

As bad as all of this sounds, for some reason, it just wasn’t a stressful weekend for me. LOTS of stuff went wrong, but it all had fairly clear solutions. I knew everything was going to be ok and that I’d have a good story to tell. I doubt it is necessary to document this entire weekend here as I doubt I’ll ever forget it, but just in case, this was definitely a Christmas unlike any other!

Abigail’s trio

December 23, 2014Audio, Family, Fun, WVBand, Band kids are awesome!, Christmas, I still hate the mallwarren

Abigail started taking flute lessons in 3rd grade. It’s had its ups and downs but mostly she enjoys playing and she has done very well playing in various school events in elementary school. Now she is in middle school where she is in the school band, a five-days-per-week endeavor. Of course, with a lot more playing time, she has really seen a jump in her ability. Practice makes perfect of course!The other day, her band had the opportunity to play various duets, trios, etc at the local mall. It was packed with shoppers and felt all festivey, especially with the beautiful music the kids played. I am always amazed at the ability of these kids and their band instructor to make kids, many of whom had never touched an instrument, into pretty amazing musicians in a year-and-a half or two years! It’s really wonderful and makes me so proud!

Performance 1

Performance 2

Anyhow, Abigail was (I think) the only 6th grader to play in the group. She had a duet and a trio. I recorded both but the acoustics in the mall along with my position make it harder to hear in the video than it was in real life. Anyhow, I loved hearing the groups play Christmas songs and carols and have a good time!

At the end, they decided to walk to the next stage area over and have a group shot with Santa. He was a pretty good sport!

Time flies!

December 17, 2014Audio, Awesome, Family, Fun, ThoughtsAudio, Band, Band kids rock!, Happy birthday!warren

I can’t believe that Isaac is another year older already! All parents say this I know, but I can’t believe he isn’t still the tiny little baby who had such a horrific start. It seems like yesterday we were learning to ride a bike and here he is about to drive a car! Although he has had some issues, he has grown into a fun and wonderful young man of whom I am so very proud!

I made these recordings on my phone…

Last night we heard his Christmas band concert, and it was a thing of beauty! He is the first chair tenor sax player in his concert band which makes me very proud. He loves to play his horn and with a band that can make music like they can, who wouldn’t love it?!

Anyhow, we celebrated Isaac’s birthday among family the other night and had a great time celebrating both Isaac and his uncle who share a birthday. It’s such a fun and wonderful time as they both get into the party and make it a lot of fun for everyone.

I think as much as anything, I was happy to see Isaac, both at his birthday party and at the band concert, just having fun and making people laugh. His name is Hebrew for laughter and he has always been one to make people comfortable and happy through his laughter and sense of humor. He is one of my true joys and I am so proud to be his father!

I had a birthday awhile back

December 10, 2014Family, FunFamily, Fun, Happy Birthday to me!warren

I guess it’s been over a week now, but I had another birthday! I like having birthdays…the more the better of course! Like most December birthdays, mine runs the risk of getting lost in the Christmas hubbub. My family is really good, though, about making sure that both Isaac and I get birthdays apart from Christmas.

So, this year we went to my favorite Japanese steak place…you know, where they cook out in front of the guests. We had 15 or so people come and have a fun time eating way too much food. I got some cool gifts too! I got some gift cards and money and a new piece of cast iron cookware. I cook breakfast for the family every morning and I love using cast iron to cook. Maybe it’s the trendy thing or something…maybe it is so heavy it just cooks better…anyhow, more cast iron is always better!

The big surprise came from my lovely wife. You may remember, I recently bought a record player. She bought me a new record…the soundtrack to Footloose, one of my all-time favorite movies! As a purist, I only recognize the existence of the original Kevin Bacon movie release in 1984. The 2011 “movie” doesn’t really count. Anyhow, I was thrilled with the original soundtrack on LP. To top off my 80s music-filled birthday, she got us tickets to hear John Mellencamp in the spring! Everyone knows Jack and Dianne and a few of John Mellencamp’s songs, but my all-time favorite is “Rain on the Scarecrow”. I hope I’ll get to hear it live! I am so excited!!! We have seen a few bands from when we were kids and it is just absolutely some of the most fun ever! We heard Billy Joel and Elton John for our anniversary in 2009 and Bryan Adams last year…and now we add John Mellencamp (gosh I want to call him John Cougar Mellencamp)!

So, getting older is just fine and we still have a lot of 80s bands yet to see! Let’s just hope we all continue to be able to R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.!

As Thanksgiving should be

December 2, 2014Family, FunFamily, Fun, Pie!!!, Thanksgiving!!warren

As always, I am late to the party as Thanksgiving was nearly a week ago. I had Black Friday shopping to ignore…and of course, we had to ignore Cyber-Monday as well. I had a lot of shopping not to do between Thanksgiving and now. Actually, we did absolutely all of our Christmas shopping in one night…on-line. We basically had wishlists set up on Amazon and just bought out of the lists…slick and easy and done! That sounds like I am only giving gifts out of obligation, but that’s not how we feel about it. I just prefer the actual giving rather than the shopping.

Maybe a little pie... — Maybe a little pie…

Anyhow, even though we didn’t do any real shopping, we have been busy. We worked on the executive deer stand a few days and I had to manage my killer beard as well! But the real event was Thanksgiving day…we gathered 20-some people together and ate a lot of food. I guess it was probably too much food, but we have never been ones to go too hog-wild. I like a nice serving of turkey and taters and gravy…maybe a few slices of pie, but not too far overboard.

I am not sure I can say the same for Isaac. He was pulling sugar straight from the can…truly it was a thing of beauty!

We took a bunch of group pics, but not everyone wants to be seen ~~with me~~ online so I will only show Abigail prepping for the family to sit around the bench…I think she was staking out a napping location, honestly. So, we had a pretty nice Thanksgiving and a busy but nice mini-break from school and work. I think that Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite holidays (after Groundhog Day of course), because it is mostly a relaxing time with family…and pie!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!