Category Archives: Thoughts

Why are we off today?

Thoughts

I was tucking Abigail into bed last night and reminded her that she could sleep in and enjoy her morning.  She remembered that it was Martin Luther King, Jr day.  She asked, “Jr means there was someone else with that name.  Who was that?”  I told her what I knew about her father and how MLK Jr was also a Southern black preacher (like his father) who led a movement to gain civil rights for black people 50-60 years ago.  We talked about Rosa Parks on the bus in Alabama and how brave she was to remain seated in her seat.  We talked about how badly some white people treated black people, abusing or killing them for a stray look or a misstep or just for fun.  I think she knew a lot of the information we discussed but we talked pretty plainly about how important it is to celebrate the bravery of the white and black pioneers of the Civil Rights movement.

I love where I grew up and I am proud to have come from a small town.  It’s funny though…we were monocolor and in some ways were so incredibly far apart away from race issues.  There was no diversity though so it was not an issue.  While I never saw race riots or first-hand discrimination or anything even close, I heard plenty of racial slurs and stereotypes and if anyone had ever even seen a person of color, it might have been different.  I didn’t really think much of it at the time as I knew not a single non-white person until I was in high school.  But for Isaac and Abigail, they don’t even comprehend racism.  That is not to say that it does not exist today, but I am so thankful that in their lives and experiences in their school, it seems to be absent.  I truly think that they no more understand hating someone for the color of their skin than hating someone because they are left handed or blonde.

As Abigail and I were finishing our conversation, she said, “Thanks Dad for answering all of my questions.”  (Yes, she said it just like that)  Thinking ahead to her preteen years, I assured her that she could always ask me any question and she would never be in trouble for curiosity.  “Well Dad, there is one more thing then…I have always wondered how cars work…”

The call came at 5:15

Thoughts, WV, ,

That’s 5:15 in the morning.  Or maybe it was even a tad bit earlier.  I am not sure.  You see, I was ASLEEP!  Oh, I complain and all but I am thankful that the school system uses an automated system to call everyone when school is cancelled.  We live in the armpit where WV, KY and OH all join so if we had to watch the scrolling thing on tv, we end up waiting a long time for them to roll back around to WV schools.  Did you like how I used armpit there?  I am not sure how else to describe it.  Let’s just say that border area is a really nice smelling, freshly cleaned (and maybe even shaved) armpit.  Maybe like Sandra Bullock’s armpit or something.  Anyhow, it’s a weird boundary so everyone in all three states watches the same tv stations waiting to see if their school is cancelled.

Ok, back to the call…the call came in at 5:15ish.  Emily normally gets up at 5:30 so she wasn’t too messed up by the call.   I tend to get up an hour later.  It works well for us.  Today, however, when she has the chance to go back to bed, she kept bugging me to haul my butt out of bed early and get out the door so she could go back to sleep.  Snow days for me mean that I get up earlier than normal.

Of course, Abigail was up (because the child never sleeps in) so it was sweet when I was getting ready to walk out the door.  She grabbed onto me and said, “do you have to go to work?  Don’t you get a snow day?”  She really didn’t want to let me go.  That’s pretty sweet and almost worth the pain of being run out of the house early by my wife.

We’re having a pretty good snow right now but I suspect we are nothing compared to NYC and Boston.  Once again, I am glad I live in West-by-God-Virginia!

Thank you Mr Williams

Thoughts,

I may be the only person, but do any of you dear readers remember your Dad or Grandpa with a cup and a brush on the bathroom sink that they used for shaving?  My Dad had one that he used to shave but it always seemed so old-timey.  I started shaving when I was 13 (I think) and there was no way I was going to use that old fashioned mess.  Oh no, I was all about the sleek gel in the glamorous (?) spray container.  It was cool when Mom and Dad were paying for it.  As soon as I got out of college, Emily and I were married and we lived on next to nothing.  I still wonder how we didn’t starve but I felt as rich then as I ever have.

Following my forefathers...my shaving mug

Anyhow, we had no money so we bought the cheapest spray foam shaving cream and liked it (uh…we “liked” lots of stuff when there was no choice).  Actually, it wasn’t bad at all.  The gel made me smell like a girl anyhow so I didn’t mind the cheaper foamy stuff.  Yes indeed, very manly…very manly.

About a year ago, I read an article suggesting that modern guys and their significant others are missing out on something special.  The secret of a really great shave was lost on most people and daggone it, I wanted to recall the olden days when men wore hats and had a proper shave.  Well, sort of.  I don’t wear hats but I was up for getting a better shave.

Mr Williams makes my favorite variety

I searched for a proper coffee mug in our cabinets and bought a shaving brush and some of Mr Williams’ shaving soap and gave it a try.  Friends, I am here to report that the shaving experience with shaving soap is a different experience than using the girly gel or the cheap foam.  I haven’t yet moved to using an old fashioned safety razor, but changing to soap alone makes me hop up in the mornings looking forward to shaving.  Well, I may exaggerate some but I definitely prefer using it to cans of cream.  Call me a convert – a convert who is now a step closer to supreme manliness!

A letter to Santa

Awesome, Family, Thoughts

I think all kids probably write letters to Santa at some time or another.  My brother and I always used to sit at my Mom’s typewriter with the JC Penny, Sears and Montgomery Ward Christmas/toy catalogs.  We’d pour over them for hours if not days.  I don’t know whether we were greedy or anything but I do know that the letters we typed were pretty much to the point…something like , “Dear Santa, here’s the stuff we want…”

Isaac and Abigail have been pretty varied in what they want for Christmas and how they ask for it.  One year when Isaac was much younger, he asked for batteries and a peach.  I guess we hadn’t replaced the batteries in his noisy baby toys soon enough to suit him.  That explains the batteries but I don’t know where he got the idea for the peach.  Anyhow, I still smile when I think about how simple his wants were back then.  Gosh, one year he asked for bottled water.  His tastes have gotten a little more sophisticated but he really only wants one thing this year…a pellet gun.  Now, he doesn’t want a Red Rider or anything like that.  In fact tonight, he quoted to me, “Dad, I think that pellet gun we saw at Gander Mountain (an awesome outdoor-sports store) shot pellets at 1600 feet per second.”  That’s no toy really at that point but still, he only wanted that one thing.  Isaac has never been much on writing stuff down so I think he had to hope that his Christmas wish-list made it through the ether to the North Pole.

Abigail's letter to Santa

Abigail, on the other hand, is very expressive in her writing, and, well, everything really.  So a couple of years ago she wanted an art easel which she loves to use.  Recently she has taken to writing notes to Emily and me on the dry-erase part so it is pretty common for us to see a very detailed message or a clever note in her hand-writing on the board.  A few weeks ago we noticed an updated message and I have to tell you, I laughed out loud and still get  huge smile on my face when I look at the picture.  You see, Seph, our little orange kitten is a full sized cat now but he still likes to bite a little and can be quite the terror.  I don’t think Seph was actually chewing on Abigail when she wrote the note to Santa, but I absolutely love her creativity.  The best part is, after all of the details of the note, at the bottom she adds all that she really wants for Christmas – a chess set of her own.  We probably have 5 others laying around but she wants a nice one that is just hers.  I suspect Santa will help her out on her wish.  And besides my pride in her excellent writing, I am so glad that she, like her brother, has such simple Christmas wishes.  Merry Christmas kids and my blog friends.  I hope your Christmas is a simple one heaped full of awesome and love.

Edit:  It turns out that Santa just passed through and he left this note:

Santa's letter to Abigail

Give me a sign

Family, Fun, Thoughts, ,

We spent last weekend with my family at my brother’s place in MD.  We had all sorts of fun but I’ll tell you about that later.  So, Sunday, we were travelling back home to West-by-God-Virginia and had to make various pit-stops.  We stopped some for drinks or snacks, some for “rest” and some to shop.  Well, I don’t really shop much so I’d say our stop at the outlet mall in Flatwoods, WV was more to buy.  Anyhow, as Isaac and I walked into one store, we came upon a sign.  It’s funny…I love that the kids “get” stuff now.  Isaac looked at me, and I looked at him and he started laughing at the wording.  Lots of stuff ran through my head including the importance of words and education and planning, but I think that it was all apparent to Isaac, even if only subconsciously.  He saw the mistakes that were made in that sign and understood why words matter.  Of course, I think he takes that to mean that he shouldn’t write any more than is absolutely necessary.  He loves to talk but trying to get that boy to hand-write a note is like pulling weeds…with your teeth.  Anyhow, I am pretty proud to say that he can properly use “they’re”, “there”, and “their” and that he knew that the wording of the sign was completely wrong.

During one of our stops, we pulled into a rest area someplace near the top of the world (or so it seemed).  The rest area had a great view so we took a few minutes to observe before our ears froze.  After getting our fill of the landscape, we walked into the place and they had signs around including this one…

I don’t think it ever would have  occurred to me that the appliance before me was a water fountain.  Again, Isaac looked at me and I at him and we both just busted out laughing!  I am pretty germ-a-phobic (which is weird since I am not dainty about much of anything) so I am pretty glad we had alcohol hand sanitizer (which we call germ wash) in the car.  Honestly, I use the stuff every time I enter my car.  Weird, huh?  Anyhow, we subdued our thirst and pressed on towards home.

Here's the view where the water was not for drinking...

We had a great trip all around, but I think one of my favorite parts was this ride home.  It’s cool how the simplest of times with the family can make for the best of times!

OCD eggs

Fun, Thoughts,

About a year ago I first disclosed my wife’s CDO (that’s OCD only in alphabetic order as it should be).  She’s funny about a lot of things including the slots on the screws for switch covers.  I think I bring something to the OCD table too though.  I must have an even number of eggs in the egg carton and they must be distributed in a symmetric pattern in the carton.

Most mornings I cook eggs for Emily and Abigail.  They usually each eat 2 eggs which works in nicely with my OCD needs.  Sometimes, however, Emily will have used an odd number of eggs in something she cooks.  On those days, Emily and Abigail split 5 eggs instead of 4.  An odd number will not abide in my house!

It’s a little crazy but on odd eggs days, I will stop what I am doing and cook something to make it work.  I cannot sleep until it is made right.  Does anyone else share my egg issues?  Do you have anything even remotely similar about which you obsess?

I am a veggie-saurus

Food, Green, Thoughts

I haven’t said much about it but I decided to become a vegetarian as of June 1. I am not really interested in crusading for any causes, but I decided to become a vegetarian for a few reasons. Mainly I want to get my cholesterol under control. I am following a regimen of eating a low fat/low cholesterol vegetarian diet that has worked for some folks to control or regulate their health. I have no idea yet whether or not it will work for me. Still I expect to remain a vegetarian regardless. Again, I have no intent to crusade about this and the rest of my family still eats meat. For me though, I like the lower environmental impact that eating vegetarian requires. I have seen commentaries and debates one way and the other about the topic. I have no interest in debating the topic but this just works for me and I am all about “live and let live”.

I am not sure why I feel compelled to even talk about this subject with so many qualifiers but I suppose it’s because I am fully aware that food and environment and green topics often result in “religious” debates on the topics (that is, people hold their opinions on these topics somewhere very close to their hearts).

Anyhow, I was pretty worried at first. I like fruits and veggies and beans and grains and all, but could I live on those things? Would I lose a lot of weight? Would I lose all my strength? Would I be more gassy than the local Exxon? Yeah, just shooting straight here. Anyhow, I discovered that with some work, it’s not too difficult to eat a healthy, not overly processed, tasty vegetarian diet. I also get more protein now than I ever did when I ate meat. The stuff I eat often takes care of that very well. And that list I gave above…well, it’s a mixed bag, but I gotta tell you, it’s been well worth it. I never feel bloated or crampy or sick after I eat now. I have plenty of energy and I just plain feel better. Aside from the potential health and environmental impacts, I will remain a vegetarian because I flat out feel 10x better than I ever did when I ate meat!

So, just like the humble brontosaurus, I am now a veggie-saurus! I surely hope I fare better than my reptilian cousin!

Stuff…you know…things…

Nature, Thoughts,

I was looking over a bunch of pictures of stuff we’ve done/seen/enjoyed lately and I thought it might be fun to show the stuff…you know…the things…

Of course, the other day, I posted our score of grapes which we were planning to turn into jelly…real grape jelly.  We got that done.  Usually Emily and I work pretty hard together on that sort of stuff but for some reason, she did all the grape jelly this time.  She is a jelly-making fool!  I am just a plain old fool.  I was busy watching The Colony, a new show on the Discovery channel (cable is evil but that is a heck of a show…if you are into post-apocalyptic stuff)  while she did all the work.  Yeah…still paying for that.

Let’s see, we have seen lots of butterflies and moths around the house lately.  I don’t know why, but whenever I see turtles or butterflies, I like to make sure they are ok.  I stop and help turtles across the road and I always offer a frown when a butterfly gets tangled up with the car (yeah, I know…it’s not much but what can I say?)  Anyhow, we have had a good crop of butterflies around…and dang they are cool!  I am not sure I had ever seen a luna moth before but it was really cool…so beautiful!

Yeah, I guess snails fall into the same category as turtles too…snails are super cool to watch.  I love to see their antennae disappear into their bodies and I am always amazed at how they can stretch.  They’re a little chewy primitive I guess…like turtles.  I am just amazed at all the stuff that just seems to be everywhere if I look!

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!

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

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