Tag Archives: Family

Making Apple Cider – part 1

October 13, 2008Family, Food, TinkeringFamily, Food, Tinkeringwarren

Last week I posted about making a cider press. We put it to the test this weekend. We took a lot of pics and learned a lot of lessons so I decided to spread it into two posts. In preparation for making cider,

I soaked the wooden plunger in mineral oil to seal the wood. Mineral oil is food safe, and if wiped off after soaking, will not perform its usual purpose (look it up if you are unsure what it’s usually used for). The plunger was made from 3-2x4s sandwiched between two pieces of plywood and it held together very nicely.

Anyhow, I was going to use our apples but the deer got a hold of many of them and I plan to make more jelly with those that remain.

We happened to swing by the farmer’s market on Saturday and a man there had “deer apples”. I asked him about them and he said they were apples from his usual bins that were either too small or slightly bruised. We got to talking and he mentioned that when he used to make cider, he used the very same sort of apples. I looked at them some and they were perfectly good apples so I decided to buy a bag – 53 pounds for $12. To buy them as “regular apples”, I would have spent $89.57. The added bonus is that they were a mix of varieties which makes the best cider (as compared to a single type of apple).

The kids and I dumped a bunch of apples into a food-safe plastic bucket and mashed them with a new sledge hammer. The mash smelled awesome which caught the attention of the yellow jackets also. They weren’t a problem but I was surprised at how quickly they found our spot.

Well, that’s about all there is to prepare for making apple cider. I’ll post more tomorrow about the actual pressing and taste testing!

Stick Man

October 10, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Abigail has been learning about shapes in kindergarten. I remember (somewhat) kindergarten where we learned about circles and squares and triangles. So we started talking about shapes and a plan she had to build a “shape man” for Halloween. She listed the shapes we needed, “1 triangle, 1 hexagon, 2 parallelograms and 2 trapezoids.” “Excuse me?”, I said. Yup, she had an entire plan worked out on paper with the shapes she named.

I had to follow through with this so we worked on how to use a straight-edge to make proper shapes and then I cut them out of cardboard. She drew most of the shapes so they weren’t perfect but we cut them out as she drew them. We glued sticks we found in the yard to the back of the cardboard to hold the pieces together properly. Sure enough, we had created a shape man (or, to credit my contribution, a stick man).

She painted him and has plans for another before Halloween. I am still amazed at her knowing about these exotic (for a kindergartner, anyhow) shapes. Kindergarten has changed a lot (and a lot for the better in most cases, I think), since I was in that position!

Introducing… the bottle opener

October 8, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Emily and Isaac were getting some stuff at the grocery store this weekend. As they walked past the Mexican-food section, Isaac noticed single bottles of coke. He asked Emily, “What is that?” He had never seen real Coke in a bottle. Of course, as a kid, I remember the carts of returnable bottles at the grocery store, hauling them back to get our deposit refunded, and getting to “pop the top”.

My poor kids had never experienced any of those things. Isaac asked if he could get a bottle and try it and Emily obliged. When they checked out, it rang up as “Mexican Coke”. We got to looking and the stuff was actually bottled in Mexico and was made with real sugar rather than corn syrup. Anyhow, they were pretty proud of the product as it cost $1.79 for a single 355ml (maybe 12 oz?) bottle.

Still, they brought one home and chilled it for several hours for the proper experience. We then brought forth the mystic bottle opener and gave them a quick lesson in mechanics and physics. It was pretty hilarious to watch Isaac “pop the top” and he certainly enjoyed the drink.

Most importantly, he approved of the burping experience produced by “Mexican Coke” in a bottle.

Fall Soccer

October 6, 2008Family, WVFamily, WVwarren

The kids have participated in soccer for the last few years and here we are, better than half way done with another season. I am the coach for Isaac’s team and an assistant for Abigail’s team so they are stuck with me.

Anyhow, both kids are pretty good and seem to really enjoy playing. I sort of dig being involved with the team as well.

Abigail has strep throat (it started this weekend…we went to the doc this morning) so did not play on Saturday.

These pics are from last week’s game. I played in high school, but I don’t think I ever had as much fun as the kids are having this year! Isaac’s age group is the first to have goalies and to use refs. I really enjoy having the refs run the game. Mostly the refs are 9th(?) graders but they are very professional and really great.

Coaches still run Abigail’s age group which its own sort of fun…just like herding cats! Either way, the most important part of the game is snack time at the end! I remember playing baseball as a kid. I mostly did not enjoy baseball but I absolutely loved riding in the back of someone’s pickup truck, hair (when I still had some) blowing in the breeze on the way to the tastee-freeze. I still love a good twist ice cream cone!

We don’t ride in the back of trucks anymore but snack time is just as big a deal!

Bigfoot sighting!

October 2, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Isaac seems to have a way of destroying shoes. I don’t really know what it is about him. My Dad used to fuss at me for dragging my feet, “When you’re buying shoes, you can walk how you want…until then, pick up you feet!” I was all prepared to fuss at my kids in the same fatherly way…but Isaac doesn’t drag his feet. Still, he destroys his shoes. On Monday, Emily took Isaac to get new shoes. She started off at a local department store. It turns out my 8-year old son wears an adult size 8 1/2 shoe. Emily asked the attendant to bring forth their very cheapest 8.5 sneaker. In response, they brought out a pair of shoes valued at $145. Obviously they valued them more than we did. He’ll need a new pair in 3-6 months no matter what they cost. My crew finally ended up at a chain store and found a pair that were reasonably priced and stylish.

Ok, but seriously, an adult size 8.5 shoe on an 8-year old…he clears a path…mothers grab small children out of the way when he walks by. The US Geological survey calls when he jumps rope. It’s crazy. My son is Sasquatch!

Something fowl at Cookskin Park

September 25, 2008Adventure, Family, Nature, WVAdventure, Family, Nature, WVwarren

This past Sunday, we decided to clear our house of some extra bread that was going stale. Coonskin Park has a pond that we knew would have ducks and geese so we packed up the van for a ride. We grabbed a quick lunch and took a short turn on the playground near the lake. By the way, the Cookskin playground is pretty awesome. It has little or no wood (translate: little or no chance of splinters) and has tons of tunnels and bridges and things to climb and swing on. Anyhow, I got itchy to feed the ducks.

I felt a little like a target carrying around a bag full of killer geese treats. At first, the birds were pretty well spaced around the pond but the smell of bread brought them to us quickly. They came from all sides. A flight of ducks and geese came in from overhead, all the time dropping bombs (luckily, they missed!) before they landed. We were overrun with fowl at the park but we all had a lot of fun feeding them. One goose in particular kept sticking his tongue out at us. I fed him every time he did it so we trained each other a little I suppose.

Anyhow, it was an absolute blast to watch them interact and swim and fly.

We used to live in Bowling Green, KY and Emily and I would go to a nearby park a lot during the summer to walk and talk. There was a big pond there too and we used to feed the ducks frequently. We were so poor that it was a stretch to throw even stale bread to the birds.

Anyhow, this was before kids and I really enjoyed feeding the ducks. I have to tell you, as fun as that was then, it is so much more fun seeing the kids getting into it. They had favorites, but tried to be fair. Abigail talked to them like they were unruly children. It was an absolute blast! We’ll definitely go again!

Does it get any better than this?

September 23, 2008Family, ThoughtsFamily, Thoughtswarren

Isaac has been a great reader since he learned how a few years ago. Even as a toddler, he loved for us to read to him. He memorized lots of books and knew when we left words out. His memory remains phenomenal and he is really great with words, spelling, reading, etc. This summer, he read almost constantly. We frequently have to fuss at him to stop reading so he will eat. Even then, he prefers to read while he is eating. He is currently reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, Inkheart and The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling, and a StarWars Jedi novel he checked out of the school library.

Needless to say, I love to see him enjoy reading so much but occasionally he needs to get nourishment and a bath. Anyhow, he loves to read and I really enjoy these pictures of him. I really think that his Mother would read like this if I didn’t make her do other things occasionally. I really love to watch the two of them read together. Emily make excellent voices for each character and Isaac hears nothing else but her voice. Isaac reads to his sister some also. We have a couple of wing backed chairs and they curl up together (somehow) on one of them and will read all sorts of books. The imaginations in our house are sometimes crazy but always awesome to behold. The kids have no problem visualizing other worlds and amazing creatures in their play. They don’t mind running around outside together reenacting scenes from their books, fighting off villians or embarking on a galactic voyage to save the Universe. It just doesn’t get any better than this!

Mohinder

September 22, 2008Adventure, Audio, FamilyAdventure, Audio, Familywarren

Emily and I watch very little tv (esp since we don’t have cable) but one show we typically watch is Heroes on nbc. I am typically even less likely to recommend a program than I am to watch one, but if you are prone to sci-fi, check out Heroes. Anyhow, one of the characters on the show is named Mohinder. He’s a scientist that holds the promise of saving humanity…you know, typical sci-fi fare. Anyhow, we really liked the name and decided that the next critter we got would be named Mohinder.

So, the next part of the story…We have a huge problem with stray cats on our hill and they seem to breed faster than rabbits. Another neighbor periodically gathers them all up and takes them to the humane society. Most are pretty wild and unfriendly but one was quite the opposite. We could always pick him out of the crowd as he is missing half of his tail. He is super loving and has a great purr. I am pretty sure the neighbor girls have tamed him and maybe even put him in a dress and makeup. Anyhow, on Friday evening, Emily brought him into the house. We spent vet-money on him over the weekend so he is our new inside-only cat. In Nashville, we had another all black cat named Baptist. He was missing his hind leg. I think we have a thing with parts-missing black cats.

Mo and Madeline (our other cat) aren’t exactly friends yet. In fact, if you look at the pic of our fat tabby, you can somewhat make out the silhouette of her middle finger, extended for me, as I took the picture.

I was able to record a short snippet of Mo’s purr. He is a champion loving, purring cat!

[audio:https://myhomeamongthehills.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/mohinderpurr092208.mp3]

Abigail

September 18, 2008FamilyFamilywarren

Abigail has been complaining about headaches a lot lately. We initially thought it was a game she was playing as she was never too upset about it during play time. Still, something wasn’t right, so after school yesterday, Emily decided to take her to get her eyes checked. It turns out, she needed glasses. For now, they are for reading/classroom time though we’ll see what happens. Being a picky child (and that’s ok by me, really), they spent a good while finding the right glasses for her. She settled on pink frames with tiny butterflies at the hinge. She also chose a blue and gold case (“Like WVU, Dad!”). She is the only one in our house that wears glasses so she gets to be the trail-blazer. Apparently she was really excited and told Emily, “I finally get to wear glasses, it’s my dream come true!” It looks like Emily gets to live out her childhood dream through Abigail as well. Emily wanted to have glasses as a child but her durn eyes just wouldn’t fail!

Monkeys?

September 15, 2008Family, WVFamily, WVwarren

We had a family reunion last weekend and apparently we are descended from monkeys…My kids and their uncle shimmied up and down the lally columns in the basement of the house in which we met. Isaac has always been a climber so he had no trouble.

Abigail is definitely more hesitant but that’s her nature. I am not sure about uncle though. He looks natural in the picture but I can’t speak to his pole climbing experience. Anyhow, we had a lot of fun at the reunion. I am not sure if families do this much any more.

My grandpa’s people (there were 8 brothers and sisters that survived into adulthood) used to get together once a year. All 200 or so cousins would goof around on the farm, swim in the pool, drink way too much pop from the fountain machine…you know, kids’ stuff. Anyow, as the number of original brothers and sisters dwindled (my grandpa is the last at 94!), the reunion shrank significantly. I am partly to blame as I didn’t make the trip back home. Still, I wonder if it is a fading tradition. Well, this new reunion is going strong and we surely enjoy attending. My kids get to be monkeys just like I used to be. I have learned though…no free soda fountain!

My Home Among The Hills

Life in WV!