Tag Archives: Fun

She’s a good kid

Family, , ,

We celebrated Abigail’s birthday last weekend.  It’s hard to believe she is 7 years old!  I think she is really much older.  You see, she asked everyone to bring things for the animal shelter instead of bringing presents for her.  We never suggested it or even mentioned that they need stuff at the shelter.  She decided completely on her own to ask for donations.  So, everyone who came to her party brought things for animals including leashes and collars, dog and cat food, cleaning products, and cat litter.  She was delighted as she delivered it to the shelter yesterday.  I am so proud of my big little girl!

Delivery time!

She still had a big time at her party too.  We rented a shelter at a local city park and she invited family and some  friends.  There was a playground nearby so they stormed the castle and launched off in space ships and taught school, all in the jungle gym.  We jump-roped and hula-hooped and played whiffle ball.  It was a great time and Abigail told me it was her best birthday ever!

My birthday is a ways off yet, but I think I may follow her lead…it’s hard to beat a good game of whiffle ball!

Thank you Mr Carnegie

Adventure, Family, Fun, , ,

I grew up in NW PA.  We lived about 2 hours north of Pittsburgh, somewhat near the NY and OH borders in a little town called Tionesta.  It was pretty much a sleepy town…except during hunting and fishing seasons.  You see, Tionesta is an outdoor destination among sportsmen.  The number of hunting camps out number the permanent residences 10-to-1.  A large portion of the folks who descended upon the town were from Pittsburgh and many were not respectful of our peace and quiet.  They didn’t really ever understand that we could not have cared less how things were done in Pittsburgh.  I always sort of laughed that Pittsburgh was down hill and down stream from Tionesta so we always sent them “our best”.  Needless to say, I always considered Pittsburgh a smoldering pile as a kid.

My wife is a school counselor, but also licensed as a community counselor.  Being licensed and official and all that, she is required to get a certain number of continuing education units to maintain her certification.  The National Counseling Association held its annual meeting in Pittsburgh this year so we had an opportunity to travel uphill and upstream from Charleston to Pittsburgh so she could participate.  Emily was in meetings all day last weekend, but she brought me to be her arm candy in the evenings.  During the days, the kids and I had to find things to do in Pittsburgh.

One of the icons in Pittsburgh is Point State Park.  PSP is located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers where they join to form the Ohio River.  Basically, it is a scenic overlook between the rivers and it has a really cool fountain.  So, our hotel was in the down-town area (or, as they say in Pittsburgh-pronounced Picksburgh – we stayed in the dahn tahn area).  It seemed like a short walk from our hotel to PSP when I looked at the map.  The kids and I grabbed some donuts from the convenience store and started our trek.

Isaac wanted to launch Abigail out of the torpedo tube...

It turned out that our walk was a good bit farther than I expected.  The kids were troopers though and we started toward PSP only to find it closed and nasty from the recent high water.  Just across the river though, we spied the new baseball and football venues so we decided to walk over and see what we could see.  On the way, the kids encountered their first homeless person and had all sorts of questions.  We talked as we walked and, before we knew it, we arrived at the Carnegie Science Museum.  We have a membership at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV which gives us access to many museums through out the country, including the Carnegie Science Museum.  It seemed like an offer I couldn’t refuse!

We crawled all over exhibits and saw a robot shooting hoops (with a pretty good average).  We explored the USS Requin, a WWII-era submarine (can you believe it, Pittsburgh has a submarine in one of the rivers?!), and learned about cells oceans and volcanoes and flight.  In one afternoon, the Carnegie Science Museum showed me a different Pittsburgh than I had known.  The kids and I had a delightful time and can’t wait to go back to Pittsburgh to see what else the city has for us to explore!

luv and such

Family, Fun, ,

So, I am a pretty practical guy.  It drives my fashion (I always wear sensible shoes), my politics and even my romantical side.  I understand that lots of things go into driving our economy so I am proud to do my part and participate in the Valentine’s day festivities…but my practical side kicks in too.

Emily and I have been buying small things the past month or so and calling them early Valentine’s day presents (there were some great after-Christmas sales, afterall).  Still, being ever-so-slightly brighter than a toaster oven (which I also got in an after-Christmas sale), I knew that I had better have something in hand for the Mrs. come Valentine’s morning.  The boy and I went to the local big-box purveyor of Chinese goods and I quickly spotted my prize.  You see, Emily has been complaining about having only one small non-stick pan in which to cook my eggs and sausage in the morning.

China-Mart had a super deal on 2 Farberware non-stick pans and their bases were even coated in red enamel…and folks think I don’t speak the language of love!  I proudly placed my take on the cashier’s stand and she looked at me funny.  I sort of figured she was a bit jealous of the catch my wife had found, but I usually can’t read women very well.  Anyhow, we headed home and I hid her present so she would be surprised!

Just like a kid on Christmas morning, I woke early and fetched my gift and woke Emily and presented her with her apron and the new red pans.  At that point, things get a little fuzzy.  I guess she must have slipped getting out of bed, or maybe she had a nerve twitch, but somehow, the pan handle must have fallen into her hand and as she swung her arm to catch her balance, the pans whacked me in the head.  I don’t remember much else except waking up in a hospital bed with IVs stuck in my arms.

So, while my Valentine’s day was somewhat unusual, I am sure Emily liked her new pans and I saved us some cold hard cash by pocketing the pudding cups and packs of crackers that came with my hospital meals…all in all, I’d say it was a pretty good Valentine’s day!

Gather round the old “fire”

Family, Fun, ,

I have gone on and on about our old house.  There are a hundred (or more) things wrong with this place and we are working, slowly but surely, through most of th big ticket items.  The house has a great fireplace with a huge chimney that is, unfortunately, not in great shape.  I don’t think it is going to fall down anytime super soon, but we’ve been told by chimney-folk that burning a fire would hasten its failure, what with the expansion and shrinkage and all from the temperature changes.

Speaking of shrinkage, I can’t say the word without thinking of this:

Anyhow, until we get around to fixing the chimney, we won’t be burning any fires. But gee whiz, on days such as these, sitting around a warm fire surely sounds nice. Our house is a little short on insulation so heat is pretty precious around here. In lieu, of a real fire though, we have devised a new scheme to allow us to enjoy our own little “fire”.

When we get a hunger for hotdogs, we fire up the portable utility heater.  It is mostly safe and makes for a mean wienie roast.  Marshmallows work pretty well too though they smell worse when they fall onto the heating coils.  The best part about it is that there is no smoke to contend with as we gather round…

When Emily feels like a cup of hot cocoa, we don’t have to fool with heating a pot on top of the wood stove.  Oh no, we simply break out the hair dryer and let it blow!  She can have lukewarm cocoa in a mere 18 minutes!

(tap, tap, tap)…is this thing on?

Family, Fun,

Gee whiz, here it is 2010 already!  I haven’t been too faithful about writing since last year!  We’ve had snows and melts and we are back to snow again.  The temperature is only like 12 or something so it’s too cold to even go outside and complain about how cold it is.  The good news is that I have decided not to complain any in 2010.

Now if only all the dang annoying people would just leave me alone, I’d be set!

Anyhow, in typical style, we welcomed in 2010!  Don’t tell anyone but I think Emily secretly slipped into the broom closet during the festivities to down a few martinis.  I have evidence too:

Don’t her eyes look a little odd to you?  Of course, there are these too:

So, now on to today…we got the early morning wake-up call telling us that school was cancelled today.  So, here I am sitting here in the cold, writing this before I go in to work.  Everyone else is sound asleep in the jammies dreaming of sugar-plums and Dinah Shore and grizzly bears on roller skates.  The snow is once again stacking up and the wind and cold don’t help…but remember, I am not going to complain in 2010!  Instead, I think I will try to catch a quick nap and see what dreams turn up on my drive in to work!

Adams…Grizzly Adams

Fun

With the holidays, I have been pretty absent from all things Internet.  We’ve had family in town and really enjoyed our Christmas celebrations.  Last week, I mentioned one of my Brother’s traditions in which I participated this year.  We grew beards from Thanksgiving to Christmas, then shaved them off in pieces.  I had never grown a beard before so this was a new adventure for me.

So, without further adieu, here is a pictorial record of the transition:

Where I started...December 20, 2009
Gee whiz, my chin was cold!
Check out the handsome guy on my brother's left!
Perhaps a future in pro wrestling?
Yeah, I can't explain it either...

So, when Abigail finally saw me clean shaven, she told me she liked me better the other way.  Lots of people did in fact and that sort of gave me a complex…don’t you like the “real” me?  Do I need to hide my face under a beard?  Oh, the blow to my psyche!

Hair? On Warren?

Fun, Thoughts,

I haven’t needed a haircut since 1996. I hadn’t paid for one for several years prior to that but, in 1996, I shaved my head and started to build the empire that is “Warren” today.  Hair and the idea of hair have both always sort of eluded me and been a bit of a question in my atrophied brain…what is the point of hair anyhow? I get by without it quite nicely. In fact, I am more aerodynamic that most hair-endowed folks (I like to call that a hair disability). Hair is just such a nuisance…you have to style it and dry it and cut it and if you wear a crash helmet, you have to worry about helmet head. I just don’t get hair.

December 20, 2009
December 6, 2009
November 30, 2009

Although I don’t get hair, I do get people – and that, friends, is why I program computers. Anyhow, my dear brother, who always had a full mop of hair, has a tradition where he doesn’t shave between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day, he shaves his face-mane in parts, each day leaving an interesting facial-hair style (see some of the possibilities).  Since I get people, I know that he must feel conspicuous being the only one in our family to participate.  This year, being the kind and gentle brother that I am, I have decided to take part in the tradition as well.  I stopped shaving on Thanksgiving and have been growing this luxurious  set of whiskers since.  You can see the reverse progression up through yesterday.  The white stuff you see on my chin is not gray hair…no, no, friends, that is snow that got stuck in my beard while I was sled riding with the kids.  I am nowhere near old enough to have gray hair…losing my hair is one thing, but gray hair?  I think not!

So, what about it folks?  Do you have funny traditions?  Do you grow a beard?

Our first indoor allergy-maker!

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

Tomorrow is my birthday…it’s not a big one…not a decade mark, but I am pretty happy to celebrate another year.  Both Emily and I have been around the sun a few times though and had never experienced a live Christmas tree.  We never had live trees growing up because I am allergic to everything.  Of course, I grew up in the woods so I was surrounded by evergreen trees, but they were never in the house.  Anyhow, since I have been so sick the last month or so, I decided that a new tree can’t possibly make me feel any worse than I already do.

11_30_2009 050

We loaded up the kids in the van and headed to the Capitol Market in Charleston, one of WV’s best farmer’s markets.  This time of year, the sell only one thing…Christmas trees!  We wandered through hundreds of trees looking for the cheapest price….erm..I mean the best shaped tree.  About 2/3 of the way down the market, we happened upon the cheapest…erm…best shaped…trees.  We talked to the folks working there and they told us where their trees were grown (locally) and their price was good so we picked out a tree.

11_30_2009 053

The guy working there ran our tree through the wrapping machine and offered to run Isaac through as well.  I told him I would pay him $10 extra to run both kids through but we measured and his machine would not quite handle their size.  I bet for $20 he would have made it work.

11_30_2009 054 11_30_2009 061

Anyhow, we tied the tree atop the van and proceeded to cruise over all of the hills and curves back to the house.  Neither of us wanted to look back fearing we’d see our tree rolling down the hill towards the next car in line.

11_30_2009 064

We made it home and I manhandled the tree into the house and set it into the new tree stand we bought.  The kids cut the tree-wrap into hundreds of tiny pieces that were left strewn about the house.  Emily cut the last bit of the wrap as the kids and I cowered in fear of the tree’s opening.

11_30_2009 068

We put lights on the tree and, of course, the kids started to fight.  The good news is, they seemed to fight in rhythm with the Christmas carols we had playing so it felt like Christmas indeed!

So far, allergies have not been a factor and I have not yet keeled over dead.  I am not any better, but I am not much worse either!

So, do you set up a tree?  Live or artificial?

Flight Lessons

Fun

A few years ago, we were feeling sort of goofy at the office so we decided to have a paper airplane flying contest around Thanksgiving.  Our office is on the top floor of our building so we have a lot of potential to fly a plane quite a distance.  At the time, we decided that the contest would be an annual tradition.  Three years later, we decided to have the 2nd annual paper airplane flying contest…

11_30_2009 002 11_30_2009 003

11_30_2009 004 11_30_2009 005

11_30_2009 006 11_30_2009 007

In the first contest, I had a superior design but was adversely affected by wind currents and unexpected air inversions.  My plane landed in a tree that grows right beside the building.  Another fella with a primitive design fly his plane nearly to the river…the Mississippi River that is.  Anyhow, a week or so ago, we decided to have a pre-contest practice run where I once again flew my superior design directly into the same dang tree.  The pre-contest drove me nuts…first place was won by the new girl in the office…again with a primitive design.  Second place was taken by another guy who threw a box lid off the roof.  You see, the only rule was that the plane had to contain some paper product.

11_30_2009 012

11_30_2009 016

11_30_2009 027

Since my superior design didn’t even really show for the fight…I mean flight, I declared the contest to be void.  We had the “real” contest on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  This time, I decided I was absolutely going to win…I brought a special plane:

11_30_2009 017

11_30_2009 018

11_30_2009 019

Guess what…we had the trim on the control wrong and this plane flew right into the same dang tree…how can I lose with a powered plane?  Soon, that tree will meet its end!

11_30_2009 030 11_30_2009 031

11_30_2009 034

Anyhow, the box-lid thrower this time threw a roll of toilet paper off the roof…and it did very well.  I think next year I will go simple rather than superior!

My wife has CDO

Family, Fun,

I know that mental health issues are no laughing matter, but I have to tell you about Emily’s OCD, or, as she likes to describe it, her CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order).  She has all sorts of quirks, but one in particular is especially funny and evident throughout our house.

We’ve been doing some home repairs and replacing stuff that just plain needs replaced.  One of those things is the switch and receptacle covers.  It’s really a trivial matter unscrewing one or two screws, pulling off the old cover, adding the new, and replacing the screws, right?

Well, it’s a different story in our household with Emily around.  I can do the first 3 steps of the process, but Emily insists on putting the screws in place.  You see, in our house, the screws can’t simply be replaced….oh, no…they must be installed such that the slot of the screw is perfectly vertical.  People are pretty good at determining whether  something is vertical.  By no means are we perfect, but one would think that “eyeball vertical” would be vertical enough to satisfy Emily’s screw-vertical-slot-OCD.  You’d be wrong…

We have outfitted a flathead screwdriver with a small torpedo level so she can be certain that the screws are vertical, “as God intended them to be.”  I understand when folks are particular about things.  I really do get it.  But I also like to have a little fun now and then as well.

So, here’s my experiment.  I am about to loosen one of the screws in the switch cover in our bedroom.  I’ll time how long it takes her to find and fix the “problem”.
11_20_2009 001
Let’s see, it’s 9:52pm…
11_20_2009 002

11_20_2009 003

11_20_2009 004

HA!  10:19 and the “problem” is fixed!  The best part is that she spent 20 minutes going through the rest of the house seeing if I had messed with any other screws!