Category Archives: Family

Every boy needs a ballista

May 17, 2014Awesome, Family, TechnologyBallista! Ballista!, Siege weapons? Heck yeah!, Time with my boy, Will it launch?warren

There is a special bond that a father and son sometimes get to share…when building a siege weapon, for instance. In one of Isaac’s classes, the final project was to build a siege weapon of some sort to throw a water balloon as far as possible. Wen Isaac mentioned the project, I immediately though of building a catapult or a trebuchet.

Isaac and members of the class had done research though so there wee a number of other weapons that he learned about which are more unusual (to my mind) and a lot more fun for their uniqueness. Isaac decided he wanted to build a ballista. A ballista is basically a crossbow on steroids. That’s perfect!!!

For Pride...for honor...for goodness sakes — For Pride…for honor…for goodness sakes

Original Greek ballistas used two arms that were wrapped with twisted sinew, leather, who knows what to produce tension. Regular bows use flex in the arms to produce tension that ultimately dives the projectile forward. In the original ballistae, the torsion in the sinew generated tension to launch the projectile.

This doesn't look safe now that I look back on it — This doesn’t look safe now that I look back on it

We decided to modernize/pervert the old design to use flex in the bow arms to provide tension to launch our projectile. PVC pipe to the rescue! Isaac and I cut, hammered and cussed this thing into existence this week and launched a tennis ball several times…our max shot was 20 yards. We had one somewhat serious design flaw for which we had no time to remedy. We ran a single rope from bow-end to bow-end passing through the projectile cup in the middle. The rope went through the back of the cup so when we released the tension, the rope had to push the cup which often caused it to flip as it tried to push so hard and fast. A better design would have been to attach a rope tot he leading edge of the cup on each side so the rope would pull the cup rather than push…I suspect we could have easily thrown a tennis ball 50+ yards.

Ballista Movie — Click to watch our first launch!

Isaac’s event went well and he got his credit. I see more design enhancements in the coming weeks…this project isn’t over for me yet! And that’s the best part in my mind…sure, the grade was the main driver for this project, but the best part was shared time and cussing with my son!

Peonies and Ants

May 13, 2014Family, Garden, NatureI love peonies and that's ok, It's a Family Traditionwarren

For as long as I can remember, my family has grown pink peonies. My great grandmother had a substantial stand of them at her old home place and it has been a tradition that a few toes go with family members as we move about so we can propagate the blooms and share something in common no matter where we are. My grandparents had them planted at their place and my parents have them also.

To me, peonies are about as lovely a flower as they make…secondly only to daffodil I expect. Both flowers have the most wonderful fragrances of anything in the world too. I could honest-to-goodness start every day for the rest of my life smelling daffodils and peonies and be a happy man.

We planted our peonies a few years ago when we bought our home in WV. We waited and waited and nothing really showed the first year or two. In fact, I sort of forgot that they were in the ground until last year when familiar shoots started up through the ground. I do not think a single bloom grew but I knew the leaves and was hopeful.

This year, the flowers came on strong and we have buds waiting to open! I took a few pictures of the ants that always go with peony blooms which I thought was pretty cool. I always heard that without the ants, peonies would not bloom. Apparently that is an old wives’ tale. Ants just like the sweet nectar the blooms produce. The blooms will be just fine without the ants though.

So, ants and aphids are welcome…peonies now grow in my yard as they have in my family for at least 4 generations!

All-county band!

April 28, 2014Audio, Awesome, Family, WVBand kids rock!, If it's too loud...you're too old!warren

I love band kids! They are just some of the coolest, non-jerky kids I have ever met. I am especially proud of my band kid and the fact that he recently killed it in the all-county band as well as the all-county jazz band performances. You see, Isaac plays tenor sax and he plays it pretty well. Well enough to earn first chair in both bands!

These kids get together once a week for 2 hours at a time over the course of 6 or 8 weeks to practice. They work very hard and it comes together in a fantastic performance that we enjoyed a few weeks back! Isaac had a number of solos and he did a great job!

Tune #1
Tune #2
Tune #3
Tune #4
Tune #5
Tune #6
Tune #7
Tune #8
Tune #9

He didn’t show too many signs of nervousness (at least until we were getting ready to drive to the performance…maybe a little tension then) and he pressed right through and played so well. I am very proud of course. Take a listen and see what you think. As always, this was recorded on my phone which was somewhat swamped at times by their sound and by random knuckleheads talking, the occasional cough or two and my stomach growling. I still like their sound and hope you enjoy!

In the middle of tweendom

April 3, 2014Awesome, Family, Fun, ThoughtsAnother year older and growing like a weed!, Happy birthday!warren

My little baby girl turns 11 today. That places her squarely in the demographic known as “tween”. My mom always used to say that she liked my brother and me best at the age we were, whenever someone asked. I have to say I see it now. I loved Abigail as a baby and as a 5 year old and I am really enjoying her as a budding young woman right now. It’s fun to see her interests begin to shape and her soon-to-be-adult ideas begin to form. She is strong willed and determined and sometimes emotional and always just a lot of fun to be around.

Emily and I had to beg her (as we always do) to give us some gift ideas. Our kids have the most awesome responses when asked what they want for gifts. Typically it is just a small thing or two. I wrote about a few examples awhile back…sort of a funny read I think. Anyhow, I do not think they have ever just “gone wild” asking for things. They see value in certain things and also are beginning to see and understand the value of money.

Birthday Presents!

So this year, Abigail asked simply for a pocket knife, an iTunes gift card and some Gobstoppers. I think that’s a pretty cool list…not a typical list by any means. Of course, the pocket knife surprised me the most but hey, who am I to question my daughter wanting to buck stereotypes?! I got her exactly what she wanted and surprised her with it this morning. As of breakfast time, she had not yet cut herself. I know it will happen at some point. Folks have to learn things and sometimes it has to be learned the hard way. We will teach her safety of course so it will be up to hear to learn, one way or another. It’s good to have a little danger and responsibility too…she is 11 after all…growing right up into ~~a real person~~ a wonderful young lady!

Regional Jazz Band Festival

March 3, 2014Audio, Awesome, Family, Fun, WVBig Noise from Jazz Band!, So proud!warren

I post a lot about Isaac’s middle school band but they are just so good, I can’t help but post more. This weekend, they attended the Regional Jazz Band Festival in Huntington, WV and played as awesome as they always do.

In the Mood

Ballad for Zoe

Malaguena

Big Noise from Winnetka

(Try the links below on your phone or if the links above do not work)
(Warning! They are huge and will use your data plan if you download on your phone)

In the Mood

Ballad for Zoe

Malaguena

Big Noise from Winnetka

The band director is a fantastic guy and loves the kids…they love him too and it shows when they play. The amazing thing in my opinion, is that there is no official jazz band program in the school. The kids and the director work before school or after school or on weekends…on their own time. I think they are amazing regardless of age, but even more impressive is that this band is 6th-8th grade kids. It is just unbelievable I think! I wish my phone captured the dynamics and quality of their sound better than it did. In the end, they got a “superior” rating which is as good as it gets. We will find out soon how they rank state-wide…here’s hoping for a top finish!

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!

Snow sucks…and other stuff

January 3, 2014Family, Food, FunChristmas fun!, Family, Is that elf...normal?warren

Right after Christmas, the kids and I went to PA to visit with my family. Various things have gone down recently which changed other plans so this was sort of a spur of the moment trip. Luckily, my brother and sister-in-law were able to make it too so we had a chance to just goof around together.

So we left WV on Friday morning and headed North. It was pleasant when we left here but as we approached Tionesta, PA, we found snow. Luckily it wasn’t on the roads but snow still sucks. Of course, in my misery, I felt the need for comfort food. Comfort food is a personal thing of course, but to me it meant ring bologna (on this trip at least). There is a local store that used to be sort of famous for their ring bologna. I stopped there before even going to my parents’ home. I swear they used to have rings just hanging from the rafters but I suppose sanitation concerns took over eventually. They still had bologna but it was sealed and in a refrigerated case. I don’t think any other part of the store had been cleaned since the last time I was there 25 years ago, but the bologna was good.

Abigail and my SIL saw the snow as an opportunity so they headed out to build snowmen. There wasn’t a lot of snow but they worked with what they had. They made a snow turtle, a snow pig, a snow teenager(complete with smart phone) and a snowman. Definitely cool…but snow still sucks.

We ate meat and cheese for lunch and opened some gifts. Abigail got a chemistry set from my brother, the chemist, so they did some experiments and no one got hurt. We ate more meat and cheese and drank a little beer…just a little. Then we acted like idiots. Well, we didn’t just start then but it became more apparent as the day went on. We had a pretty good time and I think I finally am recovered from eating all that ring bologna!

After Christmas 2013

December 26, 2013Family, FunChristmas can actually be fun!, Familywarren

Christmas with little kids is a lot of fun, but I think it might be even better with older kids. We started asking the kids what they wanted for Christmas a few months ago and they didn’t really have a lot to say. Both wanted some books and a movie or two. Maybe some music and some candy. It was pretty cool although when you want to buy stuff for the kids, it works better when they offer some suggestions. Gone are the days (thankfully) of buying plastic stuff that makes noise…any old thing as long as it makes noise …that’s a guarantee that the kids will like it.

Their tastes are more refined now I guess… (which is wonderful…don’t get me wrong). Anyhow, we finally drug out of Isaac that he would like a home gym and Abigail offered that a new flute would be nice (that was as much her flute teacher seeing the need I think). We spent a lot of time letting them believe that neither would happen, being big ticket items.

Bored — Isaac was not impressed…and yes, that is a bathtub in our family room…

I don’t think the picture captured it but I have never actually seen Abigail’s jaw drop leaving her speechless! It was fantastic! Isaac also was thrilled with some video games and chocolate. It was pretty nice really to get them the exact things they wanted.

We spent time with family and ate too much of course. We will travel to PA this weekend to hang with my people. It’s just been an easy going holiday and I couldn’t be happier with how the kids have blossomed into nice people!

The lighting of the MyHomeAmongTheHills.com Christmas tree

December 9, 2013Family, FunFamily fun!, Merry Christmas baby!, Pagan tree tradition needs love toowarren

Just like everyone else, this time of year is very busy for us. Both kids have numerous concerts between Abigail’s singing in the Appalachian Children’s Chorus and participating the county’s music magnet program and Isaac’s playing in the middle school band. Thanksgiving being late threw us off even more so we only put up our tree on Sunday. We do not usually decorate too early but rarely do we have a tree up for only 2 weeks either.

Our Christmas tree...still wrapped up! — Our Christmas tree…still wrapped up!

Finally this weekend, we got a few free moments to go to the farmers’ market to buy a locally grown tree (WV local anyhow). It’s a pretty good time skittering around through the hundreds of trees for sale. The smell of pine (in fact, the very smell of Christmas) is fantastic and people are generally pretty friendly. Some trees are high dollar but we generally steer away from those vendors. Unlike most years where we put a tree in our living room with 10′ ceilings, this year we are decorating in the family room with 7′ ceilings. Lots of times we look for the trees that are a little off-shape…not usually a true Charlie Brown Christmas tree but tending that way. So, we looked and looked and finally found the perfect tree from a farm in French Creek, WV for $34. Emily paid and I drove around where the attendants even tied it on the roof for us! He told me it was a 70 mph tie-job though I decided not to test the bailing twine.

We got the tree positioned and started with the lights. Like every year, somehow the process of storing the lights for 10 months or so caused half of the strings to die so we had to run out and get new lights. Finally, after a trip or two out of the house, we finally got around to actually hanging the ornaments.

Decorating progress... — Decorating progress…

Friends, I have to confess that I do not enjoy any part of Christmas decorating once the tree is inside the house. I like picking the tree and even setting it upright but then my fun is over. Isaac is pretty much the same as me so Emily hangs lights and then she and Abigail hang the bulk of the decorations. We usually listen to Christmas music and joke around but that’s the extent of what we do. This year, with a smaller tree, we are hanging far fewer ornaments that usual so it was more enjoyable that usual.

Once we were all done, Isaac and Abigail sort of wrestled around in the family room and had a lot of fun. Emily looked over at me and smirked, “and that’s why we set up a tree”. Although Isaac and I don’t like decorating, the process did somehow put us both into a playful mood and it was totally worth it! Christmas has finally set in at our house too!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!