Category Archives: Fun

The Stop Sign Artist of Charleston, WV

Fun, WV,

I like art.  Most of the time, I like pretty mainstream stuff, but can appreciate all sorts of things (I am flexible like that!).  Last July, someone in Charleston expressed their creativity on some stop signs in my neighborhood.  In my neighborhood, graffiti is almost unheard of so you can imagine the excitement I felt when I saw it.

No doubt, some of the more uppity folks were offended.  Our city is really great about cleaning off any graffiti that might show up.  I only captured one of the art pieces before they had cleaned everything up.  I was sort of sad.  Not in a “they’re defacing the Mona Lisa” sort of way, but I like clever stuff.

Now, I hate the idea of what traditional graffiti means…”We own this area” and the like.  That sort of thing makes me mad.  The seniors (and sometimes juniors) at the local highschool typically go around and paint their graduation year all over everything.  That makes me mad too because they are thoughtless and careless and their work is sloppy.  I really dislike that mindless defacement.  Anyhow, the stop sign graffiti was pretty clever though so I was sad that I didn’t get to enjoy it a little longer (and didn’t get to take pictures of it all).

Lo and behold, a week or so ago, the artist struck again!  With all of the rain (it’s pouring again today), I think the city is a bit slower to clean things up so I got pictures!  I don’t have anything particularly thoughtful to say other than, “Thanks, Stop Sign Artist of Charleston, WV.  I appreciate your work!”

But Stop Sign Artist, I do not think I am ready for this…I barely know you!

Tionesta Indian Festival 2009

Family, Fun,

(well…there are some indians)

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.

(don’t ask…)

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).

(sausagey goodness!)

(pre-heartburn)

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.

(Abigail and Aunt Laura)

(Abigail loved climbing that growth on the huge tree!)

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!

They got high

Adventure, Fun,

We went back to my hometown this weekend to visit my family, have a high school reunion and give my kids a chance to get high.  Yup, you heard it…my kids got high with my Mom and my cousin!

(The flight crew)

(The flight crew)

My cousin Bob has been a private pilot for 30+ (?) years, flying both airplanes and helicopters.  He and my Mom fly pretty often and it’s become a tradition for Isaac (and now Abigail starting this year) to fly with them in August.

(This is fun, right?)

(yup…must be fun!)

(Another thumbs up on the fun!)

Abigail has flown on commercial planes before but it was when she was much younger so she remembers none of it.  In her mind, this was effectively her first time to ever fly.  She’s a little timid lately about “stuff”.  It is not always predictable what will upset her so we weren’t sure about flying.  Although she tried to be scared, my Mom said they had an absolutely wonderful time.  Abigail was amazed at all of the tiny little cars and houses and buildings.  Without time to be afraid, she quickly got over her trepidations and had fun.

(The co-pilot)

Like last year, Isaac was the co-pilot and was able to steer the plane some, much to the dismay of his sister (did I mention she was a perceptive child?).  Isaac is an old pro and wants to take lessons to fly just as soon as he is able.  I have no doubt that he will love it (time to get a job kid)!

(Exhausted!)

After flying and seeing the sights, they did several touch-and-goes and then called it a night.  Abigail was exhausted and fell asleep on the ride back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  I am sure there will be more stories to hear about their adventure this morning!

My girl, the future builder

Family, Fun,

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.

(Reading directions?  What?  Huh?)

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.

(Thumbs up!  That’s my girl!)

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!

The birds and the bees

Family, Fun,

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…

A Member of the Club

Adventure, Family, Fun, ,

We harvested honey this weekend (more about that later this week) at Emily’s grandparents’ house.  I keep 4 hives at their place and they have a perfect setup in their garage for our honey extraction.  Emily and the kids and I were joined by Emily’s parents and her grandparents to make the extraction a family affair.  We started around 9 in the morning and finished by 6 in the evening.  So, we had an all day affair.

The kids were super well behaved in spite of the work and the heat (we finally had a hot day among all the rainy days) and the apparent boredom.  Under Emily’s grandparents’ house is a crawlspace in which an adult can almost stand upright.  The kids discovered that and found that it made a perfect hide-out.  The best part is that their hide-out was naturally air-conditioned.  The coolness was a great escape for them and they loved playing under there.

In time, they decided that their club needed to be a little more exclusive than it was when the started it (an hour earlier).  Isaac and Abigail were, of course, members and they decided to invite their great-grandmother to be the first non-founding member.  She happily obliged and helped them move in a table and chairs and met with them in their first members’ meeting…yes, Emily’s 82 year old grandmother crawled under the house and sat around a tiny table with the kids.  She is definitely a member of the club!

Though her birth certificate says she is 82, she certainly doesn’t look or act like it.  Both of Emily’s grandparents are built that way.  It’s so much fun to hang out with them and watch as nothing slows them down!  That’s a club I want to be in!

I tried pot

Fun

At my age, you would think I wouldn’t be messing around with new things…you know, experimenting and all.  But I had such a cold for the last few weeks that I needed to do something drastic.  A few folks I know suggested pot but I had no idea where to buy it.  Wait, did I say pot?  I mean the pot…the neti pot that is.  What kind of guy do you think I am anyhow?

Ok, so what is a neti pot, you might ask?  It’s like a bidet for your snout, a watering can for the snoz, a beak wash…it’s a tool to perform nasal irrigation and to bring you closer to our prehistoric ancestors.  It’s a caveman way of clearing your sinuses while, at the same time, giving you an out of body experience!  Basically, you mix a saline solution and, using a neti pot, pour it through your sinuses.  Pour enough in and you get a river of…well…boogers.  To see some robot-like people demonstrate this thing, click here and here and here.  I cannot imagine how real people could looks so placid as they pour salty water into their own heads so I figure they must be robotic.  Anyhow, please watch the first video at least.

Like I said, this cold was ridiculous.  I was getting desperate and, apparently, pretty whiny.  Emily said, “go get a neti pot you big baby.  The nurse at school swears by them.”  At that time, I really didn’t understand so I decided it was worth a try.  The local drug store had plain old pots, but being a guy, I opted for the turbo pot.  It seemed best since I wanted to not only have an out of body experience, but also wanted to really experience my throat chakra.

Mohinder was not impressed

Ok, enough foolishness….I got down to business and tried this thing.  I suspect I lost 25 pounds or so and now have enough room in my head to stow a carry-on bag for my next flight.  A neti pot, and especially a turbo neti pot, will clear you out!  I have done this a few times and indeed, my cold is much better.

So, Isaac, wanting to one-up me, decided to give his own version of nasal lavage a try.  Some day he’ll crawl down from that tree that he launched himself into when I turned the hose on!

An evening…shot

Adventure, Family, Fun, ,

The kids have been involved in an archery instruction program at their grandparents’ church all summer.  Last night was the final night of the program for the summer (but it restarts in September).  The church uses the Centershot curriculum which is pretty neat.  The kids love to shoot and have improved imensely.

Isaac has advanced into using heavier bows and shooting the full length of the range.  He hits mostly in the colored part of the target and really, most are very near the center.  Abigail, who is smaller of course, shoots at a softer and closer target and has improved in her ability to stick the arrows.  They love shooting and will definitely continue in the fall.  I think that we also plan to buy them bows so we can shoot during the off-season (whenever that is)

Since last night was the end for this round, we went to see how everything works and the instructors let us shoot as well.  I shot first and did ok.  It’s been a long time since I shot a bow (25 years?) so I was pretty pleased.  Emily shot next (her first time ever) and shot ok.  We went again and Emily shot much better than me the second round.  In fact, she shot the only bullseye of the evening at the range.  That’s pretty typical of us which is pretty funny.  I am a pretty good shot with a rifle and pistol but she is even better.  But hey, I am thrilled.  If the times ever get tough, I am sending her out to hunt and gather!

Anyhow, I think we have found a new family hobby as all of us enjoy shooting and there are plenty of opportunities  to practice.  A few weeks ago, Abigail said she wanted to hunt with me.  Last night, she recognized what hunting was…”Dad, why can’t we just leave the animals alone?”  It was a good opportunity to talk about the source of our food.  Still, I think we’ll be a target shooting family more than a hunting family initially…

A regular hootenanny

Family, Fun,

Emily is the counselor at a year round school in Charleston.  In WV there are only a handful of year round schools so her schedule is pretty unique.  Basically, she is on for 9 weeks, off for 3 weeks, all year round.  That fact pretty well guarantees that we take vacation in the middle of June.

The funny thing is that Emily’s birthday is also always in June.  It never seems to vary.  So, once again, we celebrated Emily’s birthday at the beach.  It’s a little strange to celebrate a special holiday away from home.  All of the best gag gifts have to be hauled in for the event.  We seem to have a tendency to play jokes and horse around a good bit…in case that surprises anyone, we are a bunch of goofballs.

Anyhow, my Mom and brother also have birthdays in June so we decided to have a regular hootenanny at the beach this year.  Mom brought a bunch of luau stuff and we dressed up and then danced (really loudly and obnoxiously) to bluegrass music that my sister-in-law had brought.  It was an absolute blast.  Some had liquid courage to help with dance moves but everyone had a blast.  Folks walking past from the beach certainly gave us funny looks but we put our best West Virginia on and hooped it up at the ho-down!

Somehow the porch on our house survived the dance and we finally settled down when the cops came…just kidding.  We finally settled down when the sugar highs and liquid courage ran out.  We wandered back in and crashed for the night.  I am pretty sure that we honored Emily’s birthday appropriately.  She’s pretty old though so I don’t know if she’ll remember!


(Note the touchless hug)