Category Archives: Thoughts

Limerick Thursday

October 22, 2009Fun, ThoughtsFun, Thoughtswarren

So, I am sitting in Panera this morning contemplating life and enjoying a Cinnamon Crunch (™) bagel. I have to go finish fixing up an unfortunate pickle/kitchen drain incident but I need some motivation. I decided that a limerick might put me in the proper mood to do manual labor. Most limericks are crude, and although I typically appreciate such humor, I will not share any of those here. Instead, I will write an inspiring ditty to motivate and educate…

My house is so old that it creaks
Many of its pipes have clogs or leaks
so when disposing of food
check on his mood
for your husband’s blood pressure may peak!

Oh, oh…here’s another one I just came up with…

Never put pickles down the drain and cause the dispose-all to strain
better to feed to the dog
than to cause such a clog
and make you clean up a pickley rain!

By the way, this is a limerick that makes me laugh. Its author is unknown but hilarious I think:
There was a young man from Japan
Whose limericks never would scan.
When asked why this was,
He replied “It’s because
I always try to fit as many syllables into the last line as ever possibly I can.”

So, do you have any G or PG-rated limericks you care to share? Haikus are welcome too. Got any good plumbing stories to make me feel better? Want to buy my house?

Hallelujah!

October 19, 2009Thoughts, WVThoughts, WVwarren

We headed down to the Clay Center this weekend to check out the Lost Kingdoms of the Nile exhibit. From their website…

“The Clay Center is one of only two venues in the entire nation afforded an opportunity to present this exhibition. From the largest Nubian collection outside of Khartoum, Sudan, the exhibition includes more than 200 objects from the royal tombs of el Kurru, Nuri, and Meroë which date from the Prehistoric Period to the Roman era (3100 BCE to 246 CE).”

It was really incredible and I am so excited that Charleston has such an opportunity to see priceless artifacts from “back when God was a kid”. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures in the exhibit so I got nuthin’ to show you.

Outside, however, is another incredible object that I think Charleston is fortunate to possess. The new sculpture called Hallelujah! by Albert Paley was installed just a few weeks ago at the Clay Center. The McGee Foundation donated a bunch of money to add the 60 foot tall sculpture to the collection of the Center and I am so pleased that they did.

The new piece has apparently met with mixed reviews. In fact, when I first heard about it, I too thought, “Great, another pile of rusting metal in the city”, but I was wrong. When we drove upon the Clay Center, it was striking.

Sure, it’s rusty, but it is a beautiful piece and, when seen in person, is oddly moving to me. Not moving in an “I’m about to cry” way, but in a “I’m huge and awesome” kind of way. Come to think of it, it also feels like it is in motion… definitely moving! Isaac critiqued it thus, “Dad, this is an awesome weapon…probably something the Transformers would use.” Indeed.

My pictures don’t really do the piece justice, especially with the gray background. Even so, it’s a sight to behold. So, what do you think of modern art in general? Do you dislike it all or can you see awesomeness in some pieces? Do you think it looks like a Transformer’s weapon or do you see something else?

The Aporkalypse is now!

October 2, 2009Family, ThoughtsFamily, Lifewarren

The end is nigh! The end is nigh! The Aporkalypse has struck our house! Isaac was diagnosed with swine flu today. He started complaining of a headache and his fever really hit last night. He is a pitiful thing…and all the squeals and oinks in his sleep…it was such a rough night for all of us. Anyhow, he went to the doctor today and was diagnosed. All the doctor did to diagnose him was go to this site. I would definitely encourage you to diagnose yourself. If I had known how simple it was, I would have saved the co-pay. I believe they gave him some pills and some sort of oinkment. Hopefully that will clear things up and get him back on all 4 hooves again soon. Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to be extra cautious about hand-washing and so on.

I was studying up on the subject here since Emily told me of Isaac’s diagnosis and it turns out that the swine flu could be a threat to every single person in the United States. I am so glad I am married!

I think it is too late for Emily…she seems to have crossed over to the other part of the barn-yard!

Ok, so I don’t mean to make light of the bad things that have happened to folks who have contracted the swine flu. We’re going to keep an eye on each other and just do our best to get through the illness. Wash your hooves folks!

Wednesday Five

September 30, 2009Fun, ThoughtsFun, Thoughtswarren

I got this meme from Evil Twin’s Wife. I think it’s supposed to be a Friday thing, but she bucked the system and did it on Monday. I asked to play along and I’m going to also be a rebel and post it on Wednesday! You see, I am eccentric and weird (I’m bald, right…I must be eccentric!)

The way this works is that she gives me five words, upon which I am supposed to ponder and delight you with my expositions on the meaning to life as related to said words…
If you want to play along, leave a comment and I’ll flip thru a dictionary and send you five words. Of course, you can leave a comment even if you don’t want to play…

Salt – We have our garden in Malden, WV which used to be especially famous for its salt mines. It is still known by some as Kanawha Salines after the most important mine in the area. The other cool thing about the area is that Booker T Washington spent several years of his early life in the area (which was, of course, popular because of its mines).

Ballad – I can’t improve on the words of my favorite ballad (which is PG by the way):

Football – by football, I think you must be thinking of “real” football like they play in Europe. My high school didn’t have that barbaric sport that is so popular in the United States. Anyhow, I played real football in high school. I don’t know that I was ever great at soccer but I had a lot of fun smashing into other people. My kids both play soccer now and I coach my son’s team…it’s a huge part of our life now.

Tube – I guess you can say I got my start in a tube, but we’ll leave my mother’s anatomy out of this. Probably more interesting is the fact that we don’t have cable tv in our house so we spend very little time watching the tube, though we do have a pretty big tv. When we were first married, we couldn’t afford cable. We had to come up with other things to do with our time…you know, like talk. Of course, that has gotten old, but we have found other hobbies to occupy our time. So…not much tube in our house

Escape – Escape is one of those funny words that I always chuckle when I hear. There is a part in Finding Nemo when Dory reads the word “escape” on a submarine hatch…but she reads it “es-skap-eh”. So now, every time I see a Ford Escape, I feel compelled to say out loud, “Es-skap-eh” in my best Dory voice. I couldn’t find that clip but I like this one too so you’ll have to cope:

There is a resemblance…

September 24, 2009Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

I was looking back at some old pics I had of various members of the family and I found two that sort of made me double-take. I had to ask my Mom about it and she straightened me out. I found an old photo of my Grandma in 1928 when she was 13. I saw another picture of my Mom in 1952 when she was 6. Before I knew the dates, I figured they were the same person spaced only by a few years. They are old pics…I mean really really old pics. Who could tell?!

(My Mom)

Anyhow, even more than the similarities between these pictures, I think both pictures look like my Mom as I remember her when she was younger (but that was a looong time ago). I don’t really know what my point is other than to say it’s weird to see old pictures of people. As long as I can remember, my Grandparents were old. They both had gray hair and wrinkles and all of the old Grandma/Grandpa sorts of things. I love my Grandma tremendously and miss her indeed. My Grandpa is 95 and still a riot. I guess he probably has been old for as long as I can remember.

(My Grandma)

But it is strange to look back at these pictures and think that my Grandparents were young and frisky and aggravating to their parents. They rode scooters and climbed trees and played kickball and talked too much in class. They became teens and twenty-somethings and parents and went through all of the same things we are going through raising our kids.

Does anyone else have a hard time seeing their elders as…well…regular people? As I age (but I am still dang young!), I think I am starting to understand. I see a resemblance between those pictures for sure, but I believe I am beginning to see a resemblance between our lives as well…and it’s a lovely picture.

Oh the West Virginia hills, how majestic and how grand

September 23, 2009Thoughts, WVWVwarren

I have told people that we are hilly here in WV. I think most people don’t really understand what I mean when I say hilly. You see, there are very few spots of flat land in Charleston, WV and most of those are either in a bad flood plain or are underneath some business. The rest of the area is hilly. Some say you need a longer leg on one side to walk the hills and it’s true. We take our hills seriously in WV. I decided to take a video of my ride home from work one day. There are a couple ways I could go but this is my typical route. I am not sure that this video even does the trip justice, but I think you’ll get the idea…

(please holler/leave a comment if this video doesn’t work for you…some folks have had trouble…I can reset the webserver which may help)

I love the WV hills for sure and so did the author of our state song…an atrocious song, but one that honors our hills. Ok, promise me you’ll listen to that song and then I’ll share with you a few more WV songs…go on…have a listen…

(stop it at around 5:15 if you are easily offended…this is the only version I could find)

See what I mean? It’s a bit painful isn’t it?

Most people are familiar with the John Denver song, Country Roads. Have a listen to it:

Some folks fuss about this song but I don’t pay much attention to them. This is a great song and, for me anyhow, a real WV song.

So, John Denver’s song is a WV song, but in my mind, the WV song is this one:

(here’s an audio only version which may be clearer)

Emily and I went to college at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where this song was first introduced to me. Dang, it brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it.

So, I love my WV hills. My wife says they wrap her up and hug her every day as she looks out on them. I can’t think of a better way of putting it. I love my home among the hills!

My sunny disposition

September 16, 2009Garden, ThoughtsGarden, Thoughtswarren

Even though I don’t care much for fall and winter, the sunflowers in the garden certainly do a lot to brighten my day during this time of the year. Initially, it’s hard to get over their size. Sunflowers are huge. Maybe they are too huge to even really hold themselves up, but, as I have said before, I love the optimism that they seem to symbolize. I suppose in the wild economic world in which we live, their bold yet simple existence is just what I need.

(sorry to the box-elder bugs that I caught in a private moment)

Anyhow, enough of that philosophical stuff…I also am fascinated by the pattern of the seeds in their head and the apparently sweet nectar that draws so many bees and other bugs. It seems like every time that I look at the sunflowers, they have a new bug climbing on them. In addition to bouying my mood, they sustain insects in a typically difficult part of the year when most nectar sources dry up.

I love sunflowers…not like I love Edward Cullen or Mountain Dew, but as far as natural things go, they are the tops in my book!

Falling

September 15, 2009Nature, ThoughtsNature, Thoughtswarren

Just as Summer felt like it got started in the last few weeks, here it is falling into Fall already. We’re winding up the garden and lots of things are starting to just get that look. I sort of hate that look. I am a Spring and Summer creature. I don’t really have the time of day for Fall or Winter. I get the Winter blues and cabin fever and the croup and the grumps and the uglies in the Winter.

I am not exactly sure what it is that signals Fall to me. As I walked around the garden and yard this weekend, a few things just sort of struck me as Fall, but there is more to it than wooly worms (holy cow! he’s all black…that means a bad Winter!), and corn husks.

And why exactly does a grasshopper feel like Fall to me? I suppose that is from the movie “A Bug’s Life” where the grasshoppers come in the Fall to steal the bounty of the ants. Well, this grasshopper was huge. I sort of had a tingle in the non-existent hairs on the back of my neck thinking he might be able to take me too.

Anyhow, I suppose Fall is here and I will have to return to knitting and eating lots of soup to get me through the Winter. Does it feel like Fall where you are? What sorts of things make it feel as though Fall has fallen for you?

Hats off!

September 4, 2009Fun, ThoughtsFun, Thoughtswarren

I was browsing through the old pictures and I found a few from our beach visit this summer. First of all, I have this thing for licking bells. I am not proud of it, but it’s my vice. I am slowly dragging my family into my addiction as well. The kids will occasionally join me in the…uh…culinary experience. Add more ketchup and Isaac will lick anything.

Anyhow, we went to the beach at Tybee Island, GA this summer and we always visit the Tybee Island light house. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I spotted my new friend!

Part of what makes this so fun for me is the opportunity to embarrass Emily. Well, that day, I had the opportunity. You see, there was a troop of Girl Scouts who had just unloaded ahead of our arrival. I walked right up and planted a big one on the bell, right in front of them. I undoubtedly gave the leaders a topic for discussion around the evening campfire so it was a pretty good day in my book!

On the way back from the lighthouse, we spotted this sign which struck us as really funny…I am not sure that folks want to think of their congregation as “the slow church” in most cases, but one church, at least, was proud of it!

I say hats off to people who do whatever it is that suits them, be it licking a bell or going to slow church!

I wanna talk about me, I wanna talk about I…

September 3, 2009ThoughtsThoughtswarren

I am writing a post over at Not Dabbling in Normal today. I’ll be posting there the first and third Thursday of every month. If you can’t think of another way to waste some time, come on over and have a read. It’s all about me this time. I am my own favorite subject matter afterall.

In the meantime, I took a survey on facebook about me last night:

I have 117 friends, 3 less than average. 45% are male, 55% are female. 10 are single, 85 are dating or married. If I contracted a deadly variant of flu, I would likely infect 9 people, 1 of whom would die. If I died today, an estimated 358 people would try to attend my funeral. Based on my Facebook profile, I have a 89% probability of getting married. I am likely to earn US$4.5 million and have 2.1 children over my lifetime.

And before anyone says anything about it, I am not the only one who wants to talk about me:

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!