I love this time of year! The weather is pleasant and the trees are colorful. (Well, the weather changed Thursday with colder temps and .75” of rain.) It seems such a shame to me that the trees only get to show their colorful side for just a few weeks of the year.
I am glad to say mowing season is over. Once the trees drop their leaves we’ll be able to wind up our yard work for the year. We spent some time raking Saturday of last weekend, but you can’t tell it now.
I MUST BRAG. With the return to school after fall break comes report cards. All three of our kids do well, but when we struggle so much to study spelling words or to get other things in their heads I always hold my breath to when it comes time to get their report cards.
I am proud to report that this time all three of our kids made straight As! Now if we can just get through the next grading period and make it to Christmas break.
Jenna’s school participates in the Josten’s Renaissance program which rewards students for good grades, good behavior, and good attendance. Thursday night we went to a ceremony where students who met the requirements for Renaissance last spring semester were recognized. Approximately half of the students at East Robertson met these requirements and get special perks in school life this semester (e.g. they have a special lunch at school today -- food brought in from outside). Jenna was happy to have her name drawn among all the 8th graders for the $15 prize.
WINE ON CAMPUS? While we arrived at the Renaissance ceremony Ben and I needed to find the restrooms. The only ones open were in the high school wing of the building. As we were walking down the hall he was expressing his fears about going to school there next year as a 6th grader (and Nate is not looking forward to being the only one from the family left at the elementary school). This wasn’t my experience because East Robertson was a K-12 school the whole time I went there, but I understand that everything looks big and scary to him. He was excited to see a vending machine in the hallway though.
Naturally, when we got back to the gym Nate, who didn’t need to go to the restroom the first time, needed to go. Since Ben knew the way we sent the boys off. The boys came back with eyes as big as saucers and said, “They’re selling cherry wine!” We thought this was very odd, but a few moments later the words “vending machine” came out.
Turns out they had seen Cheerwine which is a cherry flavored soft drink (and I think somewhat new to our market) -- a harmless drink with an unfortunate name for the middle of the Bible Belt.
CUB AND FAMILY. We went to the Cub and Family campout at Boxwell Reservation this weekend. It was our original intention for all of us to camp out Friday night and that the boys and I would stay on for Saturday night while Vicki and Jenna would head on home to be at church today. Then the cold, rainy weather moved in Thursday and no one was too excited about camping out in the wake of that so we didn’t do Friday night.
We did get up early yesterday to take part in the day’s activities. They had several craft and activity stations set up around the campground that we participated in. The most popular were the BB gun and archery ranges, of course. They also had had some really neat air bottle rockets set up. The rockets were 2 liter soft drink bottles. These were put on a nozzle on one end of a PVC pipe assembly. The other end had a tire stem in it. The fuel for the rocket was simply air from a bicycle pump. The bottles would go quite high.
We did brave the elements last night. My tent was filled with two boys, two bears, and me. My boys were worn out from playing all day and were out by 9:30. It got pretty cool as we woke to a heavy frost and heavy fog from Old Hickory Lake. Despite our discomfort I took two sad boys home today as they didn’t want the good times to end (or to go back to school tomorrow).
GHOST STORIES. It was about 8:00 this evening when Ben started calling for Nate to come upstairs. Nate didn’t want to go upstairs and told Ben as much. Ben kept insisting and with Nate ignoring him I jumped in because it was getting a bit annoying. In self-defense Ben said, “But you told us to get ready for bed.”
Neither Vicki nor I had told the boys to go to bed that early (9:00 is the usual time) so we defended Nate saying, “You can go to bed now if you wish, but he doesn’t have to go now if he doesn’t want to. We will send him up when it’s his bedtime”
We could tell this wasn’t the answer he wanted so we asked why he wanted Nate to come upstairs right then. When Ben dodged this question it finally hit Vicki that we had been watching some shows on Tennessee ghost stories on PBS and Ben was thinking about the Bell Witch. He was a little scared that Old Kate would pay him a visit when he was up there by himself. I’m pretty sure he did not stand in front of the mirror after turning out the light and say, “I hate the Bell Witch,” three times which, as the current form of the legend has it, will summon the spirit. I noticed the boys are sleeping with several lights on tonight.
Joe
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Getting Away
Wow! It’s already Wednesday.
As I mentioned last time, we took a short trip for the first half of our fall break. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed perfect weather.
LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES (LBL). If you've never heard of it LBL is a national recreation area located between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers run side by side for many miles before joining the Ohio. The area between the rivers was home to many farms and mining industry back in the 1800s, but area never really recovered from the Civil War. When TVA came along and built Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam this area was impounded for public use.
Vicki and I took a trip to LBL in April 2002, leaving Jenna and Ben with Pauline when she was living in Camden. We decided this was a great time to come back with the kids so we found a campground near Eddyville, Kentucky, that rents cabins and booked three nights.
ARE WE THERE YET? One thing different about this trip is that after two hours of driving we were there. This really threw the kids off because they are used to getting in the van and hunkering down for a drive that will last several hours as our goal is to get to our destination as quickly as possible making only the necessary stops. This time we felt more at ease to make side stops along the way.
We left Sunday morning (the 9th), having slept in enough to recover from the previous evening's concert. We ate lunch a Barkley Lodge (a Kentucky state park on the east side of LBL) where we enjoyed a really nice buffet. After lunch we spent some time exploring the lodge and then playing ping pong in the game room before leaving.
It was a short drive from Barkley Lodge to LBL's Golden Pond visitor center where we looked at exhibits on LBL's history and picked up information about activities in the area.
Our next stop was the Nature Center where we got to see rescued animals indigenous to this area that can no longer live in the wild. Some of these animals have been wounded too badly to live on their own while others were orphans who were picked up by people at an early age and never learned to live in the wild. We got to see the snakes at feeding time and several of the birds as they were put away for the night.
After the Nature Center we headed over to the Elk and Bison Prairie. This is a large pasture with a paved driving trail where you might catch a glimpse of the herds (about 40 or so of each animal). We drove the 3.5 mile loop twice and only caught one, fleeting glimpse of and elk. Then, just as we were about to drive out the gate we saw about half a dozen elk grazing near the road. They are big, impressive animals.
TRAINS, TRAINS, TRAINS. Back in July when I wrote about the Threshermen's Show I told of how much the boys enjoyed spending time with Mr. Wally Watts and his model steam engines. We've seen him there for several years and each time he's handed me his card and invited me to bring the boys up to see his model railroad. Since he lives near LBL we decided to take him up on his offer and Monday (the 10th) was devoted entirely to trains. He was delighted when I called.
This train layout is a joint venture between Mr. Watts and a friend of his. The O-scale layout fills the 30x60 foot basement of his friend's house. (O-scale is the size of the Lionel trains we normally associate with the train set that runs around a Christmas tree.) We were blown away by the sheer size of the track. The layout features three switching yards and has three main lines that run the perimeter of the basement. Everything is built on tables at about four feet high for easy viewing and operation. We estimated the layout has at least 1000 feet of track with hundreds of rail cars and dozens of locomotives.
To say that Ben and Nate were in heaven would be an understatement. Mr. Watts was so good with the boys -- basically there were three kids running the trains. He let them run any train they wanted to run and could tell them a lot about how the prototype locomotive worked and what it did in real life. Many of the trains made sounds as they chugged along and had prerecorded conductor calls when they stopped.
We took a break for lunch and also went to see some real trains switching in a local rail yard along with other points of interest in Mr. Watts' hometown. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day and we topped it off by having fun playing UNO Spin and Spoons when we got back to our cabin.
PATTI’S 1880s SETTLEMENT. Tuesday (the 11th) was our lazy day. We got up late. After breakfast we took the boys down to the dock so they could fish. No luck. Even the other fellow fishing off the dock wasn’t getting a nibble. I thought I was going to have to fish Ben out of the lake at one point when he stumbled near the edge of the dock.
When the boys got bored we headed up to Grand Rivers where we stopped to look at Kentucky Dam before eating lunch at Patti’s 1880s Settlement. Their 2” thick pork chops were really good! When lunch was over we played a game of miniature golf and strolled around all the shops before heading back to the cabin for another fun filled evening of cards and games. This time we introduced Nate to The Settlers of Catan which he says is his favorite game now.
HEADING HOME. We packed and headed out last Wednesday morning so we could do a couple of other things before leaving the area. The top of the agenda was to take in a planetarium show back at the visitor’s center. I’ve seen several planetarium shows over the years, but never one that used the facility to just show me what to see in the current night sky. This show did just that.
Our final stop was at the Homeplace which is a recreated farm from the 1850s. What you see at the Homeplace depends what time of year you visit as the interpreters are doing what an actual farm family of that time would be doing at any given time of year. The Homeplace is one of the most well done living museums of this type we’ve ever visited.
We were back in 2011 and back home before dark. It was a short trip but very fun and relaxing. Best of all, we had fun together.
Joe
As I mentioned last time, we took a short trip for the first half of our fall break. It was very relaxing and we enjoyed perfect weather.
LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES (LBL). If you've never heard of it LBL is a national recreation area located between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. The Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers run side by side for many miles before joining the Ohio. The area between the rivers was home to many farms and mining industry back in the 1800s, but area never really recovered from the Civil War. When TVA came along and built Kentucky Dam and Barkley Dam this area was impounded for public use.
Vicki and I took a trip to LBL in April 2002, leaving Jenna and Ben with Pauline when she was living in Camden. We decided this was a great time to come back with the kids so we found a campground near Eddyville, Kentucky, that rents cabins and booked three nights.
ARE WE THERE YET? One thing different about this trip is that after two hours of driving we were there. This really threw the kids off because they are used to getting in the van and hunkering down for a drive that will last several hours as our goal is to get to our destination as quickly as possible making only the necessary stops. This time we felt more at ease to make side stops along the way.
We left Sunday morning (the 9th), having slept in enough to recover from the previous evening's concert. We ate lunch a Barkley Lodge (a Kentucky state park on the east side of LBL) where we enjoyed a really nice buffet. After lunch we spent some time exploring the lodge and then playing ping pong in the game room before leaving.
It was a short drive from Barkley Lodge to LBL's Golden Pond visitor center where we looked at exhibits on LBL's history and picked up information about activities in the area.
Our next stop was the Nature Center where we got to see rescued animals indigenous to this area that can no longer live in the wild. Some of these animals have been wounded too badly to live on their own while others were orphans who were picked up by people at an early age and never learned to live in the wild. We got to see the snakes at feeding time and several of the birds as they were put away for the night.
After the Nature Center we headed over to the Elk and Bison Prairie. This is a large pasture with a paved driving trail where you might catch a glimpse of the herds (about 40 or so of each animal). We drove the 3.5 mile loop twice and only caught one, fleeting glimpse of and elk. Then, just as we were about to drive out the gate we saw about half a dozen elk grazing near the road. They are big, impressive animals.
TRAINS, TRAINS, TRAINS. Back in July when I wrote about the Threshermen's Show I told of how much the boys enjoyed spending time with Mr. Wally Watts and his model steam engines. We've seen him there for several years and each time he's handed me his card and invited me to bring the boys up to see his model railroad. Since he lives near LBL we decided to take him up on his offer and Monday (the 10th) was devoted entirely to trains. He was delighted when I called.
This train layout is a joint venture between Mr. Watts and a friend of his. The O-scale layout fills the 30x60 foot basement of his friend's house. (O-scale is the size of the Lionel trains we normally associate with the train set that runs around a Christmas tree.) We were blown away by the sheer size of the track. The layout features three switching yards and has three main lines that run the perimeter of the basement. Everything is built on tables at about four feet high for easy viewing and operation. We estimated the layout has at least 1000 feet of track with hundreds of rail cars and dozens of locomotives.
To say that Ben and Nate were in heaven would be an understatement. Mr. Watts was so good with the boys -- basically there were three kids running the trains. He let them run any train they wanted to run and could tell them a lot about how the prototype locomotive worked and what it did in real life. Many of the trains made sounds as they chugged along and had prerecorded conductor calls when they stopped.
We took a break for lunch and also went to see some real trains switching in a local rail yard along with other points of interest in Mr. Watts' hometown. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day and we topped it off by having fun playing UNO Spin and Spoons when we got back to our cabin.
PATTI’S 1880s SETTLEMENT. Tuesday (the 11th) was our lazy day. We got up late. After breakfast we took the boys down to the dock so they could fish. No luck. Even the other fellow fishing off the dock wasn’t getting a nibble. I thought I was going to have to fish Ben out of the lake at one point when he stumbled near the edge of the dock.
When the boys got bored we headed up to Grand Rivers where we stopped to look at Kentucky Dam before eating lunch at Patti’s 1880s Settlement. Their 2” thick pork chops were really good! When lunch was over we played a game of miniature golf and strolled around all the shops before heading back to the cabin for another fun filled evening of cards and games. This time we introduced Nate to The Settlers of Catan which he says is his favorite game now.
HEADING HOME. We packed and headed out last Wednesday morning so we could do a couple of other things before leaving the area. The top of the agenda was to take in a planetarium show back at the visitor’s center. I’ve seen several planetarium shows over the years, but never one that used the facility to just show me what to see in the current night sky. This show did just that.
Our final stop was at the Homeplace which is a recreated farm from the 1850s. What you see at the Homeplace depends what time of year you visit as the interpreters are doing what an actual farm family of that time would be doing at any given time of year. The Homeplace is one of the most well done living museums of this type we’ve ever visited.
We were back in 2011 and back home before dark. It was a short trip but very fun and relaxing. Best of all, we had fun together.
Joe
Friday, October 14, 2011
One Crazy Week
With fall comes tobacco firing season and the smell of smoke fills the air. The Pinsons have shelled Mom's corn now and I'm sure they are about to turn their attention to soybeans pretty soon.
This edition of our newsletter is later than I meant for it to be. My intentions were to send this out last Saturday but that didn't happen. My whole routine was out of whack because I had to commute to Murfreesboro every day for training on new software and a conference, and we got so busy over the weekend that I never had time to sit down and write anything. Then we left home for a short vacation for fall break. Given how all this played out I'll write about last week now (backdating this edition) and pick up with our trip next time.
COURAGEOUS. As you have probably heard the folks who produced Facing the Giants and Fireproof released a new film, Courageous. A large group of us from church went to see it a week ago Saturday night (the 1st). I think this film was their best yet. The point of the movie is to call men to be real men in their roles as husbands and fathers. I highly recommend getting to the theater to see it if you haven't done so yet.
NEW REFRIGERATOR. Probably the biggest news of the week is that we have a new fridge. I had noticed a couple of mornings that my orange juice didn't seem as cold as it should be, but when I took a second sip I decided my mind was playing tricks on me. Then one morning Vicki asked me if I thought things from the fridge weren't as cold as normal. She had been like me and thought her mind was playing tricks on her too. The soupy ice cream proved our suspicions were correct.
We decided it was best to replace our 16 year old fridge rather than repair it. Delivery turned out to be an unpleasant experience and by the time it got here almost all of our food had spoiled. The rest of the details about this saga are best forgotten.
STOMACH VIRUS. Mom and Aunt Mar have been two sick women. There's a stomach virus going around and they caught it. Aunt Mar was so sick we took her to the ER by ambulance late Wednesday night (the 5th). Mom came down with it by Friday. They are feeling better now, though it's taking Aunt Mar longer to recover than Mom. (Mom said today she knew she was over it because she felt like having dessert.)
SCHOOL PICTURES. We all remember taking the school mug shots. The boys came home with their proofs last week. Nate's picture looks really good. He had a great smile and his hair was behaving. A parent can't ask for more.
Ben, on the other hand, knew his picture was bad. He sheepishly handed it to Vicki telling her it wasn’t good. She quizzed him about having a goofy smile on his face before taking a look.
Ben had a great smile on his face, but his class had been allowed to have recess before sitting for their pictures. He was ringing wet with sweat and his hair is plastered to his head. What was funny was that he told us Mrs. Stroud had told all the boys to fan themselves. Ben obviously needed a towel to dry off at a minimum (a shower would have been better). So, this year’s annual will have a nice picture of a sweat drenched Benton. We are not ordering his pictures, unlike Pauline who ordered pictures of her sweat drenched boy many years ago.
BIRTHDAY DINNER. Friday evening we were invited out to dinner. Luke, one of Nate’s friends from church, was celebrating his birthday so he invited Nate over to spend the night. His mom decided to have us over for supper. Hey, when you’re used to feeding a family of eight what’s another five people! We had a lot of fun just visiting and enjoying each other’s company which I think is one of the most important things we can do in life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLOYD POPE. Floyd Pope Hancock is Aunt Mar's first cousin. His family had a really nice party to celebrate his 90th birthday on Saturday. Mom and Aunt Mar we're still under the weather but the rest of us took in the festivities.
The party was held outside at his home and the weather was perfect. I had never been back to Pope and Evelyn's house before so I was looking forward to seeing it. Their place is way back on their farm and offers an idyllic setting for country living. The food was great and we all had a good time catching up with relatives we don't see very much.
ROCKIN' OUT. We decided on the spur of the moment Saturday morning to go to a concert scheduled for that evening. Matt Maher, a Christian music artist, was beginning his The Love In Between tour in Hendersonville. Laura Story is touring with him. The tickets were at a good price so we loaded up and enjoyed the music.
Nate was tired from spending the night with his friend so he slept through about a half hour of the music. At one point he was in a deep sleep snuggled up next to Vicki. The music was loud but it wasn't phasing him at all, however, when the song was over and the audience began to clap his whole body shook and he started clapping his hands.
I think the music made a big impression on the boys. We've heard them singing several songs from the concert since. I once heard Ben singing Indescribable (Laura Story). He was horribly off key, but full of gusto. Then he and Nate were singing You're Grace Is Enough (Matt Maher) which somehow segued into Pat Benatars's Hit Me With Your Best Shot. We haven't figured out where that came from, but it was funny at the time.
Joe
This edition of our newsletter is later than I meant for it to be. My intentions were to send this out last Saturday but that didn't happen. My whole routine was out of whack because I had to commute to Murfreesboro every day for training on new software and a conference, and we got so busy over the weekend that I never had time to sit down and write anything. Then we left home for a short vacation for fall break. Given how all this played out I'll write about last week now (backdating this edition) and pick up with our trip next time.
COURAGEOUS. As you have probably heard the folks who produced Facing the Giants and Fireproof released a new film, Courageous. A large group of us from church went to see it a week ago Saturday night (the 1st). I think this film was their best yet. The point of the movie is to call men to be real men in their roles as husbands and fathers. I highly recommend getting to the theater to see it if you haven't done so yet.
NEW REFRIGERATOR. Probably the biggest news of the week is that we have a new fridge. I had noticed a couple of mornings that my orange juice didn't seem as cold as it should be, but when I took a second sip I decided my mind was playing tricks on me. Then one morning Vicki asked me if I thought things from the fridge weren't as cold as normal. She had been like me and thought her mind was playing tricks on her too. The soupy ice cream proved our suspicions were correct.
We decided it was best to replace our 16 year old fridge rather than repair it. Delivery turned out to be an unpleasant experience and by the time it got here almost all of our food had spoiled. The rest of the details about this saga are best forgotten.
STOMACH VIRUS. Mom and Aunt Mar have been two sick women. There's a stomach virus going around and they caught it. Aunt Mar was so sick we took her to the ER by ambulance late Wednesday night (the 5th). Mom came down with it by Friday. They are feeling better now, though it's taking Aunt Mar longer to recover than Mom. (Mom said today she knew she was over it because she felt like having dessert.)
SCHOOL PICTURES. We all remember taking the school mug shots. The boys came home with their proofs last week. Nate's picture looks really good. He had a great smile and his hair was behaving. A parent can't ask for more.
Ben, on the other hand, knew his picture was bad. He sheepishly handed it to Vicki telling her it wasn’t good. She quizzed him about having a goofy smile on his face before taking a look.
Ben had a great smile on his face, but his class had been allowed to have recess before sitting for their pictures. He was ringing wet with sweat and his hair is plastered to his head. What was funny was that he told us Mrs. Stroud had told all the boys to fan themselves. Ben obviously needed a towel to dry off at a minimum (a shower would have been better). So, this year’s annual will have a nice picture of a sweat drenched Benton. We are not ordering his pictures, unlike Pauline who ordered pictures of her sweat drenched boy many years ago.
BIRTHDAY DINNER. Friday evening we were invited out to dinner. Luke, one of Nate’s friends from church, was celebrating his birthday so he invited Nate over to spend the night. His mom decided to have us over for supper. Hey, when you’re used to feeding a family of eight what’s another five people! We had a lot of fun just visiting and enjoying each other’s company which I think is one of the most important things we can do in life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLOYD POPE. Floyd Pope Hancock is Aunt Mar's first cousin. His family had a really nice party to celebrate his 90th birthday on Saturday. Mom and Aunt Mar we're still under the weather but the rest of us took in the festivities.
The party was held outside at his home and the weather was perfect. I had never been back to Pope and Evelyn's house before so I was looking forward to seeing it. Their place is way back on their farm and offers an idyllic setting for country living. The food was great and we all had a good time catching up with relatives we don't see very much.
ROCKIN' OUT. We decided on the spur of the moment Saturday morning to go to a concert scheduled for that evening. Matt Maher, a Christian music artist, was beginning his The Love In Between tour in Hendersonville. Laura Story is touring with him. The tickets were at a good price so we loaded up and enjoyed the music.
Nate was tired from spending the night with his friend so he slept through about a half hour of the music. At one point he was in a deep sleep snuggled up next to Vicki. The music was loud but it wasn't phasing him at all, however, when the song was over and the audience began to clap his whole body shook and he started clapping his hands.
I think the music made a big impression on the boys. We've heard them singing several songs from the concert since. I once heard Ben singing Indescribable (Laura Story). He was horribly off key, but full of gusto. Then he and Nate were singing You're Grace Is Enough (Matt Maher) which somehow segued into Pat Benatars's Hit Me With Your Best Shot. We haven't figured out where that came from, but it was funny at the time.
Joe
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