As Promised

Time to write a bit, after another long break......  The main theme of this post will be "critter pictures", but will be sure include some recent news.

Great Falls National Park (June 2013)  Steve's Post - Birds on the Potomac River

New Hampshire (August 2013) - Starting with Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jack's kitty Dusty, then a gorgeous dragonfly picture.  Thank you, Steve!!

Lake Ganoga (September 2013) - Humingbirds, as seen and photographed (amazing pictures!!) by Steve from Uncle Dick and Aunt Ginny's deck.

Our Kitchen Cabinet  (Today)  After making my lunch @ 7 a.m., I went looking for a dish towel and discovered Tiger!

Latest Happenings

• Brock's 11th Birthday - We celebrated with Dirt !  .... yummy pudding mix, cool whip, crushed oreo cookies, and gummy worms.  I think your favorite gift was a replacement set of Sony earbuds (bright yellow).  We are still working on plans for birthday dinner at Uncle Bucks in Plymouth.  A kids "event" i.e., trip to Dorney Park is scheduled later this month.
• Sasha and LARP - Sasha, you have taken an interest in LARPing with friends Jarod and Matt.  When first mentioned to me, I thought it must be something completely inappropriate (like "twerking", for example, which we recently learned about from Miley Cyrus).  Turns out it's not X-rated - you can read more here  -->  Live Action Role-Playing   However, it is very important to carefully make weapons (such as bows out of PVC pipe), so as not to accidentally cut one's hand & end up in the Emergency Room getting stitches.  
• Teachers' Strike - Today was Day 11 of our local school district's 2013 strike.  Very bad news for all involved.  Brock is spending a couple mornings every week at his friend Stephen's house, which provides a break in routine.  Sasha has spent some time with his friend Robby.  We hope it is over soon, though seems unlikely as the parties are not negotiating.
• Allowances - Toward the end of the summer, you noticed that your allowances have not been paid in many weeks.  It's true.  I am delinquent, which happens quite regularly with allowance remittances.  I keep thinking about paying up, but not doing so 'cause it seems like a discount should be applied after many fun and somewhat expensive summer activities (like vacations, trips to Camelbeach & Knoebel's, Brock getting locked into the pool building at Nay Aug Park, etc.).  All month, I've had an "Allowance" sticky note up to remind that I must do something.  Ah yes, but what?!?  Brock, I think you are angling to get PS3 game Grand Theft Auto 5 instead of back-allowance...  but all the bleeding in that game is distressing.....  I'll let you know as soon as I decide what to do.  

Critter Finale - As you know, one of my childhood memories involves going with Grandad and Aunt Julie to get fresh chicken for dinner.  We lived in the Dominican Republic then, and trips to the chicken farm were quite memorable.  The "promise" referenced above is to write about this wonderful experience.  As I recollect, it went like this....  Scan the flock of chickens & pick out the one you want.  Then: 1) the chicken is caught, 2) head is cut off using a sharp knife, 3) the headless chicken sometimes escapes and runs around the chicken pen (fascinating to young girls!), 4) it's then placed upside down into a cone until blood drains out, gutted, boiled in water for several minutes, plucked by hand and finally wrapped in paper to bring home.  Very dramatic, for sure.  There are numerous YouTube videos about the process that I can't bring myself to insert here.  So, you'll have to make do with Mike the Headless Chicken.... Brock, thanks for telling me about him; you can see a picture and read more about Mike here:  Lucky Mike   

Mom'isms

This list could probably use many additions, but here's what I can think of for now:

• Upon getting up in the morning (sung) - "Good morning, Good morning, Good morning to you; Good morning, Good morning, and how do you do?"
• For general annoyance of young children (hands together, with fingers folded under) - "Here is the church, here is steeple (forefingers up), open the doors (separate thumbs), see all the people (wiggle finger tips).
• During bath time for very young Carroll boys (singing along with the floating tug boat) - "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; You make me happy when skies are gray;  You'll never know dear how much I love you, So please don't take my sunshine away."
• Upon arriving home (nursery rhyme) - "To market, to market, to buy a fat pig; home again, home again jiggety jig"
• "goop" - any creamy, sticky or otherwise gelatinous substance
• "rugbeater" - a 'wifebeater' as in undergarment
• "Gross!"  - Bugs on the floor, walls or ceiling..... especially at night.

Also, when traveling about:

• "The Avenue" - Wyoming Avenue i.e., Route 11
• "The Back Road" - You know..... Shoemaker Ave. W Wyoming; Main St. Swoyersville, etc.
• "The Bypass" - Pittston By-Pass
• "Tuntel" - Tunnel along the turnpike between Allentown and Lehighton exits (so named when I was 2 years old living in Allentown and going to visit my grandparents in Wilkes-Barre)
• "Turnpike" - The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike
• "East-West" - The regular Pennsylvania Turnpike 
• "Blue Route" - Ah Ha !!!  I found a description of the Blue Route (the name actually was not invented by the Rivers family ) -->   I -476

                                     

Summer Solstice

Yesterday was the longest day of 2013.....  appreciated for extra sunshine (no special rites were performed, unless cleaning up kitty litter upon return from vacation has significance).  What have you boys been up to?  Here's a recap: 

Birthday - In mid April, one of Sasha's friends turned 16.  As a surprise, you Sasha and another friend got a lovely gift.  The items below were well-received and probably enjoyed best by young sister Katie.

Visits to Wyncote - A weekend visit to Wyncote in early April provided Sasha an opportunity to kick off spring fishing with Mark.  Steve, Brock and I had time with Lucy touring the Eastern State Penitentiary, followed by playground fun.  On Sunday morning, we made it to church at St. Dunstan's with Grammie and Grandad.  In a return trip over Memorial Day weekend, we helped Grandad celebrate his 76th birthday.

Airsoft and Fishing!  Sasha, you are an active member of the Exeter Airsoft group.  Hours in the outdoors and fun with friends!  As to fishing.....  well, this is absolutely one of your favorite times of year.  Steve has also taken an interest in fishing, and now has 2 poles and multiple implements in his tackle box.  Frances Slocum park has been a good location for trying out new equipment, and catching fish plus the occasional turtle.  Brock, you and I have enjoyed playground time, walks, and "sparky" scooter rides including a fast, frightening ride down the steep hill toward turtle pond (brakes were not so great in steepest stretch, but worked OK toward the bottom).

Tiger - A few weeks ago, Tiger had his annual bath & "slenderizing" treatment i.e., extra fluff is shaved away for the summer.  His flabby paunch is quite noticeable and of no concern to Tiger - petting anywhere including his belly is wonderful.  Sasha has provided this list of his alternate names for Tiger:  Tigrero, Tigroog, Toiger, Fatty, Fat Cat, Chunks of Love, and Love Chunks.  Here is Tiger (pre-treatment) enjoying a moment with Steve's sneakers:

Additions to the Family - Over the winter, our latest batch of tropical fish suffered a premature demise due to hypothermia (secondary cause:  lack of attention to temperature in the fish tank).  Sasha immediately announced that we would introduce lake critters to the tank when spring came along.  So after a recent fishing trip to Frances Slocum, he brought home Flappy the Crappy, and 2 large snails - Dung and Pooh (as in "who flung....").  Next, Dung and Pooh had babies known as the Poohlets.  A couple weeks later after a fantastic job cleaning algae off the fish tank, Dung and Pooh went home to the turtle pond.  Here's a picture taken shortly after arrival:

Crappy seemed to be doing fine, until today that is.....  His favorite food - wax worms.  We has also gorged himself on guppies, but unfortunately didn't keep it all in his tummy (fish parts make a return trip into the tank, only to be cannibalized by other guppies).  This afternoon he passed on to the fish heaven, and will be missed.


Vacation in Washington DC - We got home yesterday from a few days in the Washington DC area.  My favorite was visiting with my cousin Annie, who lives near Bethesda.  Steve's was probably the Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport.  I'm not certain that you boys had a favorite, though Sasha you seemed to enjoy talking about fishing with Andrew from "Augie's Adventures" who was trying to photograph Capital Hill at sunset from a park near Reagan National Airport.  And Brock you seemed to especially like climbing on rocks at Great Falls National Park overlooking the Potomac River.


Steve's Mom - Sadly, Steve's mother died on June 7th after being hospitalized in Philadelphia.  It has been a difficult time for Steve and his brothers, as you can imagine.  It is quite an accomplishment for a Mom to raise four boys mostly on her own, and certainly it was not easy for her.  I am genuinely interested in older people, and would have liked to know her better.  Be sure to appreciate your family members - every one of them is important.

Winter is Wrapping Up

Winter is slowly turning to spring....!  The mourning doves came back a few weeks ago.  And today we switched back to daylight savings time, and now get to enjoy daylight past 7 pm.  Wonderful, especially for evening walks and other outings !

Some recent events......

• Visit with Uncle John & Aunt Fran, and rest of the Rivers family at Nockamixon State Park over President's Day weekend.  We, along with several other travelers, had difficulty locating the cabins - but eventually reached Aunt Julie to get directions.  Sasha, you hung out with the fishing guys (Uncle John and Mark).  And Brock, you spent time with Lucy & Noel.  We had a crazy game of charades - I got stuck with "aglet" (who ever heard of that??  turns out it's the plastic sheath at the end of a shoelace)....  In retrospect, I should asked for a different word.  Steve did a good job with "Italian sausage", and Brock remembers getting "transformers".  Sasha, you managed to convey "woodchurch" very successfully - though, Grandad said it was actually supposed to be woodchuck!  I brought along chocolate chip cookies and spice drop cakes, both of which were popular.  We have figured out that cabin time is reasonably comfortable with sleeping pads on top of the bunk mattresses, as well as a humidifier.  The Camry developed a practically-flat tire, but luckily Mark loaned us his "plug into the cigarette lighter" air compressor and we made it Pep Boys in Quakertown for repairs.  The highlight of our trip was a very nice lunch at the Vintage Grill restaurant.  Thank you so much, Steve, for taking pictures !!

• Grammie's book Colors of the Universe has been published.  It's a collection of interesting and lovely poems.  Sasha, this is very timely because your 10th grade English class is about to start work on poetry (you've mentioned that you might get 'brownie points" since your grandmother is a published poet!).  I hope you continue to expand your own poetry writing skills - I've suggested you could write one about airsoft.  In the meantime, here is very simple poem co-written by you and Steve:

                            Tigey Whygee was a cat
                            Tigey Whygee was very fat
                            Tigey Whygee was so lazy *
                            Tigey Whygee could get crazy.

*  As evidence, a disgusting centipede (think miniature dust mop) appeared from under the stove and scurried along the base of the kitchen cabinets.  It arrived next to the kitty bowls as Tiger was having a snack.  Tiger completely ignored the creepy bug, flying legs and all.  At my insistence, you Sasha were trying to "Do something!!" when it scooted back under the stove.  Thankfully, it has not come back (we're wondering if it has visited Sadie's house?).

• In other news, you Sasha has been taking an evening class on making i.e., "tying" fly-fishing flies.  The teacher is your 9th grade algebra teacher (and fellow fly-fisherman) Mr. Romanowski.  We've been introduced to the Vo-Tech high school in Pringle, and get to enjoy the spectacular view of Wyoming Valley on Monday nights.  Also - after much discussion, planning, and gear-purchasing, Sasha is finally playing airsoft with a group of Exeter Township enthusiasts. We've had several weekend jaunts back-n-forth to a park long the Susquehanna River in Harding.  Meanwhile, Brock has been playing with Sean who is staying at Sadie's house during the week.  We made it to the Cub Scout winter fun day at Kirby Park.  Plus, last Saturday Brock and Ben went snow tubing up at Sno Mountain - and then spent the following afternoon together at Ben's house (including trek to Chuck E Cheese).  We've managed to stay pretty busy through the winter months.

• And last, but not least.....  Sasha, yesterday you were laughing hard at the 2 YouTube videos below (and a few others by the same "chef").  Just don't plan to try this at my house!!

I feel it in my fingers

For the first time in weeks, I feel like writing a bit (I have been doing too much Prudential work lately).  A few things worth mentioning......

• Snow Storm - Blizard "Nemo" is finishing a run at the Northeast Coast today.  Here in Wyoming, we got @ 5 inches of snow, it's in the mid 20's and windy.  Sasha, Brock and I got shoveling time in this morning.  Meanwhile, Jon Dodge posted on Facebook that as of 6:45 a.m, it was still snowing at the Walker-McCausland abode on Hill Street, Webster.  Had @30 inches of snow on the ground with lots of drifting.  Plus snow was forecast to continue into the afternoon.  Recently, northeast Pennsylvania has been a great place for avoiding nasty coastal storms.

• Trip to Grooming Cottage - Tiger had gotten smelly, as his excessive fluff can create hygiene issues.  So, we hit the snowy streets of Wyoming this morning and delivered him to Jim's place.  As usual, he meowed pitifully from the moment he went into the cat carrier.  Now he is home, had some kibble to take his mind off the stress, and has disappeared to take a nap.  Might even be using his own kitty bed, which he rediscovered this past week after being banned from people bedrooms.  No bandanna or bow this time....  but here is a picture of Tiger from Christmas Day, followed by a picture of Jean Luc having fun in his kitty condo (thanks to photographer Steve).

• 10-Year Olds Do Not Have Baths - Brock and I have an agreement that I must pay 25 cents every time I refer to evening bathroom time as "Bath" instead of "Shower".  In fact, we generally use Steve Albert jargon and discuss having a "sit-down" or a "stand-up".  Brock, we have decided that I currently owe you close to $5.  Plus we had a dispute last Wednesday after I said "Ba", but never finished the word.  You claim that I owe you 25 cents, while I believe it's only 12.5 cents.  I'm not sure how I would pay the half cent, but perhaps we should round it down and it will end up being 12 cents even.  The outcome is still under debate.

• The Troggs - In the news this week....  Reg Presley, an English singer & songwriter, died this past week.  After hearing about this on the news, I looked up information about his band "The Troggs" and realized that I especially like their song "Love is All Around".  It's been playing in my head for several days.  Sasha, I can tell you don't appreciate this much and you are waiting very patiently to get the computer back.  Here is a nice rendition - simple and sweet (although I admit the characters appearing at the end of this clip are just plain weird).

Next Up - Valentine's Day!!  You boys aren't admitting to having sweet hearts, but my offer to take you card shopping is still out there!