Category Archives: Fun

The iron age

Food, Fun

My parents were in town this weekend for a visit.  They come from someplace north of the Mason-Dixon line where it’s cold and where Yankees live.  We never cook at the house when we have guests…not sure why but it just never happens.  Typically we eat all sorts of snacks as well and then we fall asleep on the couch – just like Thanksgiving.

Anyhow, when I do cook, one of my new traditions is to cook eggs for the kids and Emily as they prepare for school/work in the mornings.  You may remember awhile back when I got Emily a frying pan for Valentines day.  It seemed like a reasonable gift to me but it didn’t end well.  I think I have learned my lesson though.  You see, for her birthday this year, I got her a cast iron skillet.  The frying pan was clearly too light and flimsy to suit her…why else would she not like my gift?

I used to cook eggs in the non-stick valentines day pan but I didn’t really like cooking in it.  Is it weird to analyze what sort of pan one likes to eggs in?  I thought so.  Alas, it has to be done.  So, I no longer use the valentines day pan for eggs.  I tried cooking eggs in the cast iron the first day and it was just absolutely marvelous!  It heats so evenly and I can control the temperature just right.  If the President ever needed an eggs-only chef, I could do the job!  Well, I could do the job if the President only ordered scrambled eggs.  Anything else and I am out…

After I cook the eggs, I like to play short order chef…”eggs are up!” I holler every morning.  It doesn’t matter if everyone is right beside me.  I channel Mel from Mel’s diner every time.  It’s cool to clean up too…I just wipe out the pan, add a dollop of butter and put it back on the heat to melt so the pan stays seasoned.  The cats love to lick the butter (found that one out the hard way) so I always have to watch the pan and store it in the oven when it cools some.

Aside from the race with the cats, I really like to use Emily’s cast iron birthday pan.  As long as I use it, she doesn’t feel the need to place it along-side my head!

Spitball for the generations…

Family, Fun,

We were at a birthday party last night for some family members.  It’s always a good time to get together with family.  This party was especially fun as the kids and I got to show off a little bit.  Isaac and his buddies at school must have been talking about spitballs because he asked me to show him how to properly make and deploy a first-class spitball.  When he asked, he even had straws for he, Abigail and me…I guess he figured what my answer would be.

Preparation

We headed out to the front porch and I discussed proper spitball construction material, the physics of flight and viscosity issues with cold-weather spitballing.  All-in-all, I think they received a pretty thorough crash-course in spitball mechanics.

Direct hit

Of course, we took dozens of practice shots at each other.  I was able to score hits on both kids…above the neck…before I ran inside to shelter.  Isaac and Abigail devised a master plan to lure the unsuspecting adults outside into the “shooting range”.  They begged and pleaded and sounded pathetic…every trick they could come up with to get some adult outside to help them with their “problem”.  Finally Granddad picked the short straw and took one for the adult team.

Victory!

I was proud of the kids for the expression of their new-found knowledge.  The three of us stood and looked out over the valley.  We saw the future as we stood there waiting for our straws to cool.  My newborn nephew was at this party and the kids and I schemed about all of the fun things we will teach him.  See, I am all about passing on important and useful information to younger generations!

Smelly Cat

Fun

I was never a “Friends” guy. The show just didn’t appeal to me for some reason. Anyhow, I did see a few episodes. One in particular makes me think of Seph-baby, our somewhat new cat. Seph-baby (we added the baby part, it just seemed right). So Seph-baby is the smelliest cat on the planet. We feed him science diet kitten food, the same brand we feed all of our wild-life. He is the only one that really stinks.

We clipped his claws the other day. We do it in the bathroom for some reason…I guess so we can lock him in. Anyhow, we grabbed him and started to clip when he, like all good cats, freaked. He jumped around and hissed and did all that cat stuff. His most effective counter-measure, however, was the stench that he somehow released. I initially thought it was just a flatulence bomb but my hands smelled like him as well. I wasn’t holding his hind parts so it’s not like he dropped a bomb in my hand. All I can figure is that his father was a skunk or he has some other extra-powerful reek capabilities.

The nasty beast has also taken to stealing tissues and napkins, new or used, from anywhere he finds them...

(Click above for a video or here if that doesn’t work on your computer)

Well, we finished clipping his claws and then had to scrub our hands. The whole room was fouled (which isn’t uncommon in our house…just not usually from the cat). Poor smelly cat, I don’t know what we’re feeding him, but I am sure it’s not his fault!

MANKs no more

Adventure, Family, Fun, , ,

For three days we have been MANKs – Married Adults, No Kids.  School starts Friday (why on Earth would anyone make the first day of school on a Friday?) and the kids’ summer camp closes the week before school.  As we both work, that left us in a bind.  Fortunately my parents are retired (mostly anyhow) so were willing to watch the kids for this week before school.  The good and the bad thing about that is that they are 350 or so miles away.

We headed to PA last weekend to deliver the kids.  Sunday afternoon rolled around and we headed back to WV.  It was the strangest thing…no movies were playing in the back seat, no one was kicking my seat, there was no complaining or fighting.  It was very odd.  Emily and I stopped at an outlet mall and I heard not one whiny, “Are we ever gonna leave?  I am sooo bored!”  I didn’t have to take anyone to the public restroom lecturing them not to touch ANYTHING!  Travel was so very weird.  I just wasn’t sure how to go about my trip.

Anyhow, once we got home, we “organized” the kids’ stuff some too.  Some things were put away properly and many things were filed in the plastic container out back.  You see, without the kids around, we get stuff done!

I miss my kids.  They are great and I love them tons.  Still, a few days as a MANK is a welcome change for us and for them…and I think my parents had fun too.  After all, they got some good child labor out of the deal!

Feet

Family, Fun, ,

I have pretty normal  feet…actually, my feet are nearly perfect, but that’s another story.  My kids have feet too and that’s what I am here to talk about today.

So, Isaac’s feet.  Isaac is 10.  He wears a size 10 1/2 shoe.  That’s an adult 10 1/2 by the way.  I only wear a 10 and I am done growing (up at least).  Isaac’s maternal line sports gunboats way back so it’s in his genes to have big feet but I expected a little time to save up for the process.  I am terrified of the cost of buying 2 foot long shoes for that boy when he reaches 17 (or 13!).  To put it all in perspective, I took a picture of Isaac’s feet alongside the feet of his two best friends this weekend when we went ice skating.  I suspect you will pick out the one that is different…

Of course, to grow a foot like that, a boy needs to eat…a lot!  I started gardening for the healthy, outdoorsy nature of it, but now we are forced to garden just to feed the bottomless pit!  Alas, a parent’s work is never done!

Now…about Abigail’s feet.  She has normal petite little 7 year-old feet.  We were at the WV Power (our farm team) game the other night and the wolf from a local radio station spied her tootsies.  I think they must have looked tasty though the wolf was clearly disabled.  Typically a wolf has a good sense of smell but this one was apparently unable to sniff very well.  He untied her shoes and retied her shoes and generally tried to get her riled up and (to my surprise) she let him do it!  We’ve had foot-happenings this week and that’s a little weird for me.

You see, feet usually disturb me.  I won’t force mine upon you, but let’s just say my “no-longer-the-biggest-feet-in-the-house” are doing just fine and will remain properly covered as all feet should be!  I am hoping next week we move onto something more tolerable like ear wax or something…no more feet!

Covering one’s hind-end

Family, Fun, Thoughts, ,

Last Christmas, Isaac was given a membership to study Taekwondo under Grandmaster S.H. Kang.  He’s done really well and enjoys fighting and learning his forms (routines practitioners do to increase balance, focus, etc).  I have seen him split a number of boards and he is learning how to defend himself very well.

It occurred to me that his teenage years are coming up.  That time is, of course, always full of moody, brooding, hormonal fun.  I suppose many parents lose touch with their kids when they become teenagers.  TKD seems like an easy place where Isaac and I can find common ground so I started taking classes with him a couple of weeks ago.  I figure the exercise will be good and Isaac and I get a chance to talk on the way to and from the training studio.  If we ever find ourselves in a moody teenage fit or a dark alley, I also will have skills to…uh…calm the situation.  Plus, this is really a great chance for each of us (esp as he gets bigger) to be all manly and tough and express frustration in a controlled way.

So, I started taking lessons and I am here to tell you, TKD is a serious cardio workout.  I am not in bad shape but the free-fighting very nearly kills me each night.  It’s just constant exertion and challenging balance maneuvers.  I am certain that those movie scenes where people fight each other for several minutes is bogus (as if we needed evidence!)  Unless you are in great shape, a real fight doesn’t last long without oxygen tanks nearby!

Anyhow, I am learning my stuff and trying to get more flexible.  Isaac insists that I will have to bow to him when he becomes a black belt.  He probably will beat me there since he has 8 months head start, but I remind him that another TKD rule is that kids essentially bow to their parents…this part is going to be interesting!  Anyhow, I am here to tell you that even the stuff I thought looked simple is anything but…but at least I am covering my hind-end defense-wise and getting in better cardio shape so my Emily and the kids can enjoy me even longer!

Dye job

Fun

Today is wild hair day at the summer camp the kids attend.  They have all sorts of fun activities for the kids but wild hair day has been the most anticipated in our house.  Abigail was going for the tie dyed look.  Emily braided her hair last night and let it dry in braids.  This morning they sprayed the braids then undid her hair.  The color didn’t take the way we expected but the dried-in braids were awesome!

Isaac’s hair is so short that it didn’t have much chance to stand up but the color was awesome!  He’s got a cool iceman look and it works for him!  When I dropped them off this morning, they definitely had the coolest looks of the kids who were there!

As usual, I am having a bad hair day.  I am ok though…don’t worry

To the river gods

Adventure, Family, Fun, Nature, Thoughts, WV, ,

Last weekend we went canoeing with the kids and Emily’s aunt and uncle.  The Little Coal river is near where we all live so it is convenient and really, a pretty great river for canoeing.  Like most of the East, we have been hot and dry for quite awhile so I had pretty low expectations about the quality of the water on the trip.  I grew up in NW PA near the beginning of the Allegheny river.  It is pretty shallow and slow there so I have plenty of experience in carrying a canoe through shallow water.  I didn’t really want to carry a canoe full of my offspring over rocks and downed trees.

We threw our canoes in (actually, the kayak started down the river without us) and headed out.  The water was perfect!  My shallow-water-eyes were just flat out wrong.  There were spots that weren’t deep but in every case, there was a ton of room to navigate the river anywhere we wanted!  The last time we went on this river, the water was raging.  We absolutely could not  get out of the boats (and truth be told, probably shouldn’t have even been in the boats) and our trip down the river was speedy.  This time, we got to really enjoy the river!

There were a few “rapids” that we got to ride.  I wasn’t sure whether the kids would enjoy it but they laughed and Isaac yelled, “Caribou!” at the top of his lungs (yeah, it’s a 4th/5th grade boy thing I think).  We stopped at the end of several of the rapids and walked back up to ride down in the rapids sans boat.  Holy mackerel that was fun!  I had to hold on to the kids the first few times because they were wary, but in no time, they were itching to go on their own…we just had to catch them at the bottom!

At one point, we saw a few cassette tapes in the water.  I suspect that someones house or camp was flooded at some point as no one would just dump old Motley Crue cassettes.  Anyhow, the kids saw them and asked what they were…that’s right, my kids had no idea what a cassette tape was or why people would use them instead of cds or dvds.  That was a bit shocking to me but we had a great conversation about how life was when I was a kid (and that wasn’t super long ago…I can’t imagine if they had the conversation with my 96 year old Grandpa!)  I enjoyed telling them about sleeping in the back of the station wagon on trips and how our legs would burn and stick to the plastic seats…how we didn’t have A/C in the house  or cars and no cell phones or video games.  Abigail asked me, “How did you make it through?”  HA!  And our lives were still pretty easy compared to people before us!

Anyhow, it didn’t take long for Diva…I mean Abigail…to get tired.  She propped back in the kayak and toured the rest of the river “princess style”.  We ate lunch on the river and laughed and had a great time not worrying about a thing.  Our only donation to the river gods was one pair of old sunglasses.  They were easily satisfied with our sacrifice.  I think the river was just what we needed…and I can’t wait to go again!

Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4

You may need to download Quicktime viewer if these videos don’t work for you…

I am part mermaid

Adventure, Awesome, Family, Fun, , ,

I think I was born to live on the beach.  I have been to the mountains and the cities and foreign lands (like New Jersey), but I think I relax and enjoy my time at the beach more than anywhere else.  If I could live at (or near) the beach, I wouldn’t hesitate.

I keep trying to do my best Percy Jackson routine under water…you know, where he holds his breath for 8 minutes because he is a demi-god- son-of-Poseidon (if you have no clue what I am talking about, check out the movie and books!)  I never seem to make it much past 45 seconds or so which must mean I am not a demi-god.

I guess that must mean I am part mermaid.  In fact, I tried on a seashell bikini top and it looked magnificent…they did throw me out of Red Lobster though.

Anyhow, we went to the beach last week so I felt like I had returned to my homelands.  We had tons of fun boogie boarding and body surfing and skim boarding and falling asleep under the tent and chasing crabs and watching for sting rays and reading mindless books.  Abigail finally discovered that she can ride the waves so the beach turned into a lot of adventure for everyone!

We usually sit around and read all evening but this year we added bocce to our evening fun list.  We all had a bunch of fun playing although Isaac was a little overzealous in his throwing of the bocce balls.  He and I did our victory dance several times which pretty well cleared the beach…so it was perfect!

The local wildlife was interesting though we found one that had stayed out in the sun a bit too long (which we didn’t realize at first…talk about funny as we tried to sneak up on him to get a picture!)  Anyhow, we saw sting rays and little fish and “diggers” and pelicans.  The shrimp boats were always nearby too…and we enjoyed the fresh shrimp indeed!

By the end of the week, things had started to get a bit silly…which meant it was the funnest time!  I don’t know who taught these kids to act this way…probably their mother…

The buzz around Charleston

Adventure, Bees, Fun, WV, ,

Charleston is such a nice city.  For the most part, it is pretty laid back and a decent place to live.  But just yesterday, there was a something going on down by Women’s and Children’s Hospital at the Martin Marietta gravel yard.  Folks who were in the area said they heard a buzz, and then the sky was darkened by flying creatures that (they later found out) were scouting for a new home.  Eventually, the creatures found their mark…a swarm of bees landed on the stop light for the truck scales at the gravel yard…and that my friends, is why bees will never rule the world.

I am thankful that the yard guys (and gal) called WV DNR who called me.  I was able to run over at lunch yesterday and catch this excellent swarm.  They were pretty gentle and appeared to be healthy and vigorous.  After work (and hours after their capture so they had time to calm down), I was able to find a good looking queen so they should be a good colony.

Anyhow, I showed up to get these bees in my work clothes…you know, dress shoes, nice pants, etc.  I think I mentioned that the swarm was in a gravel yard, right?  It had rained the night before so it was a muddy mess (as was I).  Anyhow, the foreman brought me a ladder and stopped traffic on the scales and I was able to scoop the swarm into a cardboard box using a dust pan (yes, I have learned these tricks the hard way).  When on a ladder, it is best to have something light into which the bees can be placed for the trip down the ladder.  Old paper boxes work perfectly!  Anyhow, I scooped the majority of the bees into the box and carried it down the ladder where I dumped them into the hive I had waiting.  I waited about 10 minutes and the ones I missed smelled the queen in the hive and followed after her.  It’s just how swarm catching is supposed to go!

I love catching swarms.  I think my favorite part is the crowd that invariably gathers to “watch the crazy bee man on a ladder”.  The really cool part is when I (didn’t) load the hive into my van to drive them home.  The guys thought (not really, because I didn’t really do it) I was doubly crazy!  Anyhow, the folks at the gravel yard were really helpful and had lots of questions so this was, in all ways, a great swarm to catch!

More swarms…