Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - Comfy

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This weeks theme is Comfy.

Now I was not going to participate this week. I just had no idea what to do for comfy. I guess I could have put something nice and warm on with a big warm smile or something but somehow I just was not feeling it. I did peek once and only saw a few peoples hunt entries and they were all very nice but somehow that did not help. And then I had an idea.



This picture is of my weather radio that I purchased earlier this year. What does it do? Well not much. Most of the time it sits on a dresser in my bedroom and just takes up space. It also needs to be dusted off. It uses a little electricity and needs the battery replaced from time to time. But it is the other thing that it does that makes me think comfy.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week it monitors NOAA radio for various conditions. I can set what those conditions are and also what areas, such as the county I live in and the one to my west and maybe south, that I wish to monitor. If anything happens the radio plays the plectron and then announces what the alert is. It then shuts up and goes back into monitor mode waiting for what ever is next. On the display it also tells you how what alert has occurred and how much longer before the alert is cleared.

I have mine set for fairly sever weather. I got this monitor because it was fairly often that something would sneak up on me. Once a tornado went practically over my house without me knowing about it until the sirens from the next county over went off. Also when you are sleeping at night, unless the alert sirens outside go off and you hear them, you have no idea that you should be going for cover. Most times it probably is fine but not always.

So this little box of wires and LCD and more makes me feel comfy, especially at night. Nighty, night weather radio.

MIA

I may be missing a little bit over the next few days. My cable modem bit the big one last night as far as I can tell. I will be talking to the cable company and most likely making a trip to the store. Until then I will peek in from time to time.

Editor: A few bucks later but I am back. Replaced the cable modem and I was straight in. This Internet/Blogger addiction is expensive.

The cable guy is missing in action. --The Cable Guy

It Happened Again

Have you ever had this happen to you? You are watching an older show, one you have seen before. All of a sudden you see someone or you hear someone and you just know who that person is. At the time you saw them before they were either no one or they were not at all the same person you have come to know ever since then. Kind of a classic example, although very old example, might be Larry Hagman. He was in I Dream of Jeannie and then latter in Dallas. Same person but very different character.

Well a couple of nights ago I was watch Stewart Little. Cute little story with Michael J Foxx doing the voice of Stewart Little. I was half paying attention as I often do with the TV. And then I heard the voice and I looked up. There was the face but ... where did I know the voice and the face from?

Well I brought up my buddy, the Internet Movie Data Base to look up Stewart Little and before I could get it open I just knew who it was.

Upon getting the page for the movie up on the screen I looked and sure enough, there it was. The same one that was playing the Dad on Stewart Little also had appeared in Flight of the Phoenix and as Doctor House and the show House.

I do not know what it is about House but I like that show. I am torn between hopping I never run into such a rude doctor in my life and between wanting him there if I ever have something wrong that no one else knows what it is. I had a mechanic like that. If you had an electrical problem in your car he is the one to take it to.

I got hooked on House toward the end of last season. I can not believe I missed the Season Opener. Oh well, I guess I enjoyed my Mexican dinner and the large margarita that accompanied it so I will call it even.

It sure is interesting, at least for me, when I notice a character in an older show like I did with the actor Hugh Laurie. I am so glad I have the Internet handy too. That would have drove me crazy until I could figure out who it was. Waiting for the credits, which half the time you can not see anyway, would have push me over the edge. Of course some say I have been there all along butt...

Happy hump day


Stacy Warner: God, you are such an idiot.
Dr. Gregory House: Actually, I thought I was more of a jerk. --House, M.D.

Crisis in the Making

You know, you think you have a nice normal family. No problems here, every one else has problems. Now I find out I am smack dab in the middle of a family crisis and I am not sure how I am going to make a difference.

I don’t want to talk to much about it but on the one hand there is my Mom and Dad that feel no one cares about them. No one ever visits. No one ever calls. On the other hand you have every ones busy life with lots going on. My Mom is ready to disown my Brother and my Sister. Somehow I am doing OK but I hate this.

I will try and fix things up but for how long? I guess I can start with myself and call more often and visit more often. But it feels so hopeless like the family just does not exist any more.

I know this is mild compared to what some of you have went through. Heck probably most people have had to deal with much worse but I just have this feeling of being trapped in the middle and not knowing what to do.

Well sorry for being so uncharacteristic with this post. Everything just feels so hopeless at the moment.

Happy Fall or is that Spring?

It has felt like fall in my neck of the woods for most of September. Well it finally happened this past week. First I missed Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19. Now I discover that I missed the changing of the seasons (very late Friday) as yesterday ushered in our first full fall day in the northern hemisphere.

If it was not for the fact that winter is coming I really could not say a lot bad about fall. The temperatures are usually very nice. Often times you can have your home opened up at least some every day. The leaves turn a lovely shade and gently tumble to the ground. College football gets under way and hockey is not that far behind. Apple Cider is pouring and if you add in a cinnamon donuts, ahhh. The sun comes up a little later in the morning but the down side is it sets a little earlier too. There are hay rides which I have not been on in years. You can start making chilli again. In a little while the grass will stop growing and, for a small window, there will be no lawn to mow and no snow to shovel. Pumpkin and Apple pies, do I need to say more? Haunted houses ... I have not done that in years. I think I need to make the rounds this year.

My list is starting to run out but I am sure there is much to add to it and probably a few down sides like everything is dyeing, etc. Still I do love this time of year. So what is your favorite time of the year?


I do have a question kind of unrelated to anything. I am thinking of making the jump to Beta Blogger. There is one feature I really want to start using called label that allows you to attach labels to posts and pull up posts that have the same label. I think it would be outstanding to link all my photo hunt posts and meme posts and, I am sure there is more. So if you have any feedback about Beta Blogger I would really love to hear it.


Yes. In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again. –Being There

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - Eyes

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This weeks theme is Eyes.

I decided to buck what most people are doing for this weeks hunt. Now while I love the deep blue or grey/blue eyes I just don't have any that would fit the bill. So lets try this.


First I do believe potato's have eyes



Needles also have eyes



And finally just so I am not the odd man out on this weeks hunt, this horse head belongs to a horse that was working out at Churchil Downs several years ago.


Oh my, after I went to the store and everything for props, how could I forget the "eyes"?




Thank you so much for visiting my Saturday Photo Hunt. Have a great week.

Watch Out, I Almost Bit His Head Off

I do not know what my deal is but today I was not in the best of moods. I was upset about the stupid things people were doing on the drive in to work.

I managed to survive work and made it home only to discover 2 messages on the answering machine. One was a stupid political add which I immediately forwarded to the end and deleted it. The other one was from this morning. It was a call from a collection agency. Now if I deserved a call then that would be one thing but this call was for a loser and no I am not talking about me. The call said now that you have heard this you have be alerted and have to call us at this 866 number, or was that 886? Anyway I called and was placed on hold for 3 minutes. It is important we talk to you, do not hang up.

when the guy answered I went off on him. Now let me give you a little quick background. The dead beat in question had this house before me abandoned it but not before doing a bunch of damage to it. Of course I did get it cheaper because of that. Anyway the phone number I have is not connected to him. The house is in my name, not his but the people called a collection agency and gave them this phone number. I have been getting mail for almost 8 years now. At first I sent it back return to sender but now I do not think I should have to do that after so long. I shred the mail. I get calls every now and them similar to this one. Give me a break, this person has not existed at this address for probably 9 years. Why in the heck are they still going after him. WRITE IT OFF FOR GOSH SAKES!

Anyway the was very wrong of me to do. I am not happy with myself. I just hope I do not get any more calls from them. If I do I will turn them for prosecution under the National Do Not Call list. I just wish they would go away. I am not the dead beat. What am I getting punished. I know, poor, poor, pityful me.

I will try and put my fangs away tomorrow.


A mad man, your honor, a desperate fool at the end of his pitiful rope. --Liar Liar

My Investment

Recently I bought a piece of art. Now most people say, big deal or was it the Mona Lisa or something special? Well it was something special to me.

You see for some reason I have never done a lot with art. What stuff I have is either young kid's refrigerator art work or that mass produced stuff you can find at the store. What makes this so special to me?

The piece is something small, nothing all that major at least size wise. But there are a couple of things that make it special to me.

Back when I was in High School I was a member of the band. Every November we had an event called Band-A-Rama. Basically at the end of the marching season we put on the extravaganza. We marched into the gymnasium, marched to and froe and played as we went. We did some of our routines from the football games. We also did our dance to one song, the song/dance for that year. We stood on the risers and simply played music. There was the High School, the Junior High and even the sixth graders. There also were skits, many direct from band camp in August … this one time … in band camp … There were also groups like the jazz band and even individuals that formed a small group on their own or even wrote their own music that would participate.

Well one such Band-A-Rama one very talented student plaid this song that I really loved and never forgot. It was Desiderata. Now I never really checked into the song any further although I knew it was not a song he had written. I did here if a little after then but that is that. That is until I saw this one special piece. What should it be but a person with a star and a tree and … it was Desiderata. I just knew I really wanted this.

Another thing that made it special is I know the artist. Now I have had this sort of thing happen several times in the past, most often with an audio CD (waves to GoGo) or a book (hi Deb). There is something that is just so much more special to know the artist. In this case, however, the artist is one of the most super people I know. Although I have never met her, I have talked a little in email and just left comments on blogs. I think she has a heart of gold and there is just something that really hits home with me. I also notice the people that she considers friends and that speaks volumes too. This person is fellow blogger, Old Hippie Chick.

Now I am not going to make a big deal about this because I get the feeling she would not want it that way. I am not sure if I want to post a picture of this special piece and I am not even sure exactly why but, ever since I received it I have just been itching to mention my new treasure.

I think I have said this before but thanks so much OHC.

Editors Note: I added in a picture of the piece. I hope hippie does not mind. This picture is from the auction she posted. The only thing you are missing is a lovely hanger she added for me.


You, sir, are the greatest artist whoever lived! --SpongeBob SquarePants

Prices are a Tumbling

This is just a quicky post but there is something that has been on my mind of late. What has happened with the gas prices? I mean in less than a month I believe I have seen prices fall about one dollar. I can understand some fluctuation but this seems a bit much, not that I am complaining.

I tried to imagine what is going on. First it is the end of the time when most people travel. There should be less demand on gas. But, the prices started to fall before Labor Day arrived. That makes no sense.

Another reason is the hurricane season has been very mild this year, especially compared to last year. But I would think that would stop the prices from going up, not cause them to fall.

I know I have heard others say they have lowered the price to influence the election, making things look good for the republicans. The only problem I have is this is to early. If they wanted to do that I would have thought they would have waited until October.

There was also an event that happened a little while ago where the pipeline in Alaska was shut down. I filled my tank quick because I expected the prices to sky-rocket. I think they barely went up and then fell some.

You would also think they would be converting the refinery production to home heating oil which would drive prices up but no. Of course, for that matter, I have not heard any talk about heating costs going crazy this winter like in winters past.

It just does not make sense to me. Of course, for now, I guess I will just need to be thankful the prices have dropped. It sure would be nice if the prices would stay down. Very doubtful as I have noticed that the gas prices and diesel prices somewhat fallow each other with the diesel being more stable. When I filled up at $2.25 a gallon yesterday I noticed that diesel was still just un three dollars. I think that is not a good sign. Well all this can only mean one thing...

ROAD TRIP


Okay, first rule of this carpool. No breaking wind in my car. The only gas that Bernie Mac want to be smelling is unleaded. –The Bernie Mac Show

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - Looking Up

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This weeks theme Looking Up.

OK we have a small variaty of pictures this week. I think this first picture is the best one for this weeks theme. It was taken at a Eucher Party while camping over Labor Day.


The second picture is over Christmas several years ago. The size present that she has makes it almost impossible for her not to look up.


This picture is another picture from around Christmas time. She seems to like Scooby Doo, just a little. Poor Scooby.


This last picture is, well this last picture is just sad. Last year I did a series of pictures acting out something for a friends birthday. Here we have Ted E. Bear, laying down, looking up after he has been shot. I told you it was sad. The interesting thing is my friend still talks to me.

Move: World Trade Center

I know a lot of people will not want to read this, others may be upset but I still felt I needed to post something. Now I am not going into many details out of respect to the movie and people that may still wish to see it and also for those that just do not want to hear it.

First I am glad I saw it. I had my doubts and was even having second thoughts before I headed out. One thing they did not show... you never saw the planes. At one point you saw a shadow but that was it. They did show the towers smoking however. This movie was from the point of view of the two first responders, their families and other survivors.

Now they did jerk at your heart a bit. Some of which I think they could have left out, but maybe not. People from New York that lived through this may find a little of it hard to take as you see familiar landmarks and also see more of what happened in the area, some of which you may be more personally attached to than many of the people in the United States were watching from a far.

When the movie was over every one walked out early, before most of the credits had run. There was hardly any talking going on also. That is pretty much the way I felt too.

Now when this comes out I will be getting the movie. Of course I do not believe I will watch it again. I think for me it is part of the always remembering.

My hats off to the early responders, not just on that day...


Let me close with a comment from a user of the IMDB database, Note to be fair there are also a lot of conspiracy theorists on there too:

I was afraid this movie would be over Hollywoodized like Pearl Harbor was. However, the movie was made in good taste and was very emotional. It was the first time i had ever teared up at a movie. It captured that period very well and it brought back a lot of memories of that day for me and the days that had followed. The acting was pretty good, especially Michael Pena, who seemed to actually be living the experience instead of acting it out in a movie. When the movie ended the audience was silent(pre screening)and didn't clap, not because they didn't like it but out of respect. I felt really in-touch with the characters and while i teared up in some parts I also smiled and even laughed at some parts as the characters tried to cheer each other up. Expect it to win some awards.



We prepared for everything. Not for this. Not for something this size. There's no plan. –World Trade Center

Lets Lighten Things up a Little...

BEER, FISHING, SEX &GOLF:

A man was walking down the street when he was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless man who asked him for a couple of dollars for dinner.

The man took out his wallet, extracted ten dollars and asked, "If I give you this money, will you buy some beer with it instead of dinner?"

"No, I had to stop drinking years ago," the homeless man replied.

"Will you use it to go fishing instead of buying food?" the man asked.

"No, I don't waste time fishing," the homeless man said. "I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive."
"Will you spend this on greens fees at a golf course instead of food?" the man asked.

"Are you NUTS!" replied the homeless man. "I haven't played golf in 20 years!"

"Will you spend the money on a woman in the red light district instead of food?" the man asked.

"What disease would I get for ten lousy bucks?" exclaimed the homeless man.

"Well," said the man, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you home for a terrific dinner cooked by my wife."

The homeless man was astounded. "Won't your wife be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting."

The man replied, "That's okay. It's important for her to see what a man looks like after he has given up beer, fishing, golf, and sex."




Why I Fired My Secretary...


Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very much like waking up that morning. I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my wife would be pleasant and say, "Happy Birthday!" and possibly have a present for me. As it turned out, she barely said good morning, let alone "Happy Birthday."

I Thought... well, that's marriage for you, but the kids will remember. My kids came to breakfast and didn't say a word. So when I left for the office I was feeling pretty low and somewhat disappointed.

As I walked into my office my secretary Donna said, "Good Morning, Boss, Happy Birthday!" It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered. I worked until one o'clock and then Donna knocked on my door and said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day outside, and it's your birthday, let's go out to lunch, just you and me."

I said, "Thanks Donna, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. We went to lunch, but we didn't go where we normally would go. We dined instead at a little place with a private table. We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously.

On the way back to the office, Donna said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day. We don't need to go back to the office, do we?"

I responded, "I guess not. What do you have in mind?"

She said, "Let's go to my apartment."

After arriving at her apartment Donna turned to me and said, "Boss, if you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom for a moment. I'll be right back."

"Ok." I nervously replied.

She went into the bedroom and after a couple of minutes she came out carrying a huge birthday cake...followed by my wife, kids, and dozens of my friends and co-workers; all singing "Happy Birthday."

And I just sat there...


On the couch...


Naked.


While I admit the universe does have a sense of humor, I doubt very much this is a joke. --Andromeda

I Remember

It started out like any normal day. I showed up to work a little earlier then normal and decided to turn on the radio since no one was around. As people showed up I turned it down but not off for some reason.

I was sitting at my workstation coding away. I was focused and was making nice progress but then I started to hear something strange on the radio. I started to listen and was having a hard time understanding what was being said so I went to the CNN news site to see if they had anything and, at least at that moment, they were not real helpful yet.

From what I could tell a plane had crashed but there just were no details and I was really wondering what was going on. I decided it was time to go see what was on the TV.

As I made my way to the TV I could see I was not alone, many others were doing the same thing. The real eery part is no one was talking, just watching. I joined them and what I saw was a large building with smoke coming from a section most of the way up the building. I was soon to learn this was one of the World Trade Center towers.

As I continued to watch I saw a replay of what had happened as a plane just flew right into the side of the tower but then it sunk in. This was not a replay, I had just witnessed the second plane hit the second tower.

The whole time this is happening I could not help but feel numb. None of this was real. It was much more like I was watching a movie then something live. I remember thinking they have to shut down all planes in the area to protect the building and the people and that is what they did. I remember speculation as to what was going on and I started to think they need to ground all the planes because who knows how wide spread this is. Amazingly that is exactly what happened. Then word came in about a plane hitting the Pentagon and I was sick in my stomach.

I continued to watch the news and it was the weirdest thing. I was most probably in shock the nearest I could tell. I was in shock and morning for at least a month before I forced myself to move on as best as I could. I have so many holes in my memory of what happened. Some things I will never forget, other things were just not important. Things like I think they allowed us to go home early but I can not remember. What I do remember is making plans to attend church that evening. I just needed to be around people. I also needed to get some sort of explanation, something that would make sense of everything. While I did not get that, I did feel better for going. I resisted giving blood because I could not see what they were going to do with so much blood. Instead I gave money that I hoped would be put to good use.

I went home and remember thinking how eery it was with no planes in the sky. I am near a approach path for the local airport and I was not hearing and seeing the planes that I am so accustom to. When I got home I put up my flag and flew it at half mast. I did this for sometime before returning it to full staff once again. All and all I flew the flag for 3 months straight before I had to take it down because it was badly tattered from the weather and the flag pole was heeling over from all the strong winds. That flag is still with me and I fly it every September 11 as I remember what happened that day. As I remember all that died, all the brave, heroic people that gave their lives for others. All the effort put forth to rescue people. All the patriotism shown by people. All the generosity of every one. How, for the most part people put aside their differences and came together for the common good.

I remember.

You Don't Have to go Home but...

This years theme was Christmas. Here are a few camp sites that were decorated.

Isn't Elmo cute...

Look, it's Frosty's younger brother.

Look, a camper that came gift wrapped.

A few pictures from the euchre tournament...

A view from a different perspective



Filling out the tally sheet. There were two separate groups. The group I was part of played 6 games, 8 hands each. The winner racked up 46 points. I only had 35. The other group had less points since they played less games.


We had a gift exchange for the kids. They each got a real gift. Nothing big but they enjoyed it.

The adults, well they enjoyed everything.

For the adults we did a white elephant exchange. Here you see one of the many gifts, a fish you hang on the wall. The sad thing is this is her third gift. Evey time she got a good gift, someone took it away. In the end she found a good home for the fish.


That brings to an end our Labor Day camping trip. I look forward to next year.



I got into this tournament for one reason: money. And now I have a new reason: kicking your ass! --Happy Gilmore

Marshmallows, Not Just for S'mores Anymore - 2

How about just a few more marshmallow pictures before the final post from camping that will follow later today.

Here we have someone that had some problems. First problem is that club is way to big for him. He just looks so awkward in that swing.



Dear old Dad to the rescue with a few golf pro tips. Well what ever he did his next swing was much better and he did manage to get the marshmallow away.


What golf even would be complete without a crowd watching. Here you will notice people have their golf ball marshmallow in hand ready to take their shot at fame. You will also notice they readily have their beverage of choice in hand. Hey it is camping, it's just what you do.


The next shot is a little hard to see but she managed to get a good swing and send the marshmallow my way. Luckily, at least for me, it did not make it all the way to me.


First swing and it was clean. If you look hard you can see the makeshift tee near the sandals on the left side of the screen. Nicely done...


Well here we have a different technique. He sure looks a little awkward but, hey he did just fine as you can see the marshmallow taking flight.


Way to go Sis. Nice form and she managed to knock the marshmallow quite a distance. Not enough to win but definitely respectable.


Oh dear, he drive marshmallows like I drive gold balls. I wonder if that divot went further than the marshmallow did?


This one just looked to nice not to include.



As promised from the jelly bean series, here is my cuz again. He is usually pretty good at everything, especially sports. Of course who passes jelly beans and drive marshmallow in real life? His first swing he had nice form. Unfortunately it was a swing and a miss. No balls, one strike. Oh wait, that is baseball. Well you get the point.


On his second swing he did much better and even took first for a little while. Nicely done.


And lets end this with yet another successful drive.


All and all we have been doing this for at least 10 years and it always seems to go well with people having fun. Now you know what we do with marshmallows. You may never look at a marshmallow the same way again.



He's on his final hole. He's about 455 yards away, he's gonna hit about a 2 iron I think.

IT'S IN THE HOLE. -Caddyshack

Saturday's Photo Scavengar Hunt - Food

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This weeks theme FOOD.

I would love to have put up a Thanksgiving spread or something but seing as how that is not for a little while, how about we try something else.

Seeing as how I take a lot of pictures when I visit my best friends every year during the Kentucky Derby Festival it only figures that a lot of my hunt pictures will come from these.

My best friends son is attending college for the school of music. Ultimatly he will become a chior director most probably in a high school somewhere although he would love to be a profesor at a prestegous University. First up we have some finger food. This was at a reception after one of their sons recitals he must perform in order to graduate.


The remainder of the pictures are all of my favorite meal we have during the festival. My friend puts on this lovely cut of meat on the Webber and indirectly cooks it for several hours. The end result is simply the best prime rib I have ever had.


By the way, the best part of the meat it the ends. Everyone wants one. One of the advantages of being the one that buys the meat for this meal is I always get a part of one of the ends. Yum. As you can tell, well all love our meat.

A Word From Our Sponsors

What camping weekend would be complete without the consumption of various beverages.

Now a moment from our sponsors...








.... and finally, we are puching busch...



Peter, can I get you a beer? I've got Bush. --Family Guy

Marshmallows, Not Just for S'mores Anymore - 1

This is the game were everyone takes a turn driving a marshmallow for distance. Basically everyone gets a marshmallow. When their turn comes up they are handed a golf club (the driver) and they tee up the marshmallow on a make shift tee. Then, with you best golf moves, you take a swing and see what happens. Until you connect and the marshmallow actually moves you can keep trying.

Now there are some problems. First there is only one club. That club is not the right length, especially for kids. Second the club is a right handed clucb and, much ot my surprise, not everyone is right handed. So some of the people might have done better but... (see, I made an excuse for them. Isn't that part of golf?)


OK, first person up... we have the line up


... and the swing ...



Look at that shaft bend...


And then a nice follow through... Wait a minute. That looks like the marshmallow he was swinging at. Now see that is the problem. Just because you holf golfed before, even if you were pretty good, that is a darn marshmallow. They say golf if a mind game and how can you wrap your mind around a marshmallow?



OK, lets give this another try... The mighty swing...



And this time we get the marshmallow of clean.


He was the man to beat for about a third of the people. Moving on...

Lets try someone else. Notice I am not (foolishly) standing in front of the golfers now. Out of all the golfers only one person came close, and I mean real close. I heard and swear I even felt the marshmallow wiz past my left ear. Yikes!

We have a nice swing and a follow through ...



And once again we have a swing and a miss. She sure was a good sport about it as you will see.


Lets try this again. Get lined up and ... SWING



I think she drove the divit further than almost anyone.





Many, many pictures later and several swings later she did manage yo hit the marshmallow and drive it a ways. I think yet get the idea. I am going to do one more set with a viriaty of shots of to finish out the Marshmallow game.


Yeah, but now I have a serious marshmallow jones. --Red Dragon

The Jelly Bean Game

First let me appologize. I am to close to the pictures and the people in them. I started out with 81 pictures and and after 4 passes I only got the pictures down to 18. Oh well, here goes.

The jelly bean game is ment to promote teamwork. You gather around in a circle and everyone has a spoon. The object is to take a jelly bean on a spoon and pass it to the person next to you. Now you need to work together to pass it. The way I like to play the game is if the passer drops the jelly bean then they are out. Of the passee drops the jelly bean they are out. Otherwise they are both out. In this first picture we have one method. The passee is down low to allow the passer to drop the bean off. Of course I liked this picture because of the volleyball net and the out houses in the background. By the way, we also have a regular bathroom so we never need to use the outhouse, thank goodness.


OK, how about we see a successfull passing of the jelly bean




And now we include this because ... well these guys are just cute. What can I say.




This game cane be played by young and old alike.



Here is a different tecnique for passing the bean


And now a daddy daughter pass


You always have a wise guy in the crowd



Once you have made it around the the crowd once, then you add on a second jelly bean and eventually a third and so on until you come down to just one person left.


I just like this picture. Look the out houses again. Actually the guy on the right was one of the life of the party type people who goes along with anything. I had to get a picture of that.


This shot somehow just reminds me of what someone in a drama class might be like when passing the bean. I know, I am weird. I am sure you knew that too if you have read any of my blog.


A nice close up of my cousin and his son. You will see him again in the marshmallow game pictures.


And that is the jelly bean game. And no, this red wing fan was not the winner ... or rather we were all winners as everyone had a fun time.


Five hour drive to find out mommy had a jelly bean removed from her nose... Glad I missed work. Can we eat now? --Anger Management

Intro to Camping

Well this weekend was a success. We had about 40 people show up in all. Some of the people that always are there were not there this year. You miss it when they are not but life does go on.

The weather turned out great. Some sunshine, lots of clouds. Temperatures from the 50s to the low 70s. It misted a little bit on Sunday morning but other than that, no rain. The wind kicked up a little on Sunday too but nothing that caused problems.

I had to work on Friday and ended up not getting to the camp ground until about 6:00. I usually like to get there at 11:00 or so. I dumped off the firewood I managed to bring along and unpacked the stuff I just had to bring along. It was a light packing year and things still turned out well.



After eating a quick little meal it was time to go around the campfire. That is always the best part. Pretty much everyone sits around the campfire at least for a little while. Of course the kids split off and just have a ball walking about, playing in the trailers and probably getting into a little trouble that we will never know about. I am sure there are a few beers snuck here and there. For the most part however they are good kids.

There are always the hams. You know people that are usually the life of the party. They get in front of the group and just grab all the attention but you know what, it is fun having them around. Half the camp site was the "Lick" clan. They are always good for a laugh as there is bound to be someone that has had a beer or two or five to many plus they always have something fun to share. By the way, one thing that happens in the group is you pick up nick names. If you are lucky they don't stick. Well in the case of the "Lick" clan, that nick name has banded them for longer than I know them, probably over 20 years.



After many a person stayed up past 2:00 am we were a little slow starting the next day. Saturday is traditionally game day. There was balloon toss, we skipped the egg toss this year. We did a game I brought to the camp years ago that is meant to be a team building exercise. You pass a jelly bean between your spoon in you mouth to the persons spoon next to you. In order for that to happen you both have to work together. Once it make it around you pass two until you only have one person left. There was the marshmallow drive. You place a marshmallow on a make shift tee and see who can drive it the furthest. So I, as your roving reporter decided to go into the danger zone to get the action. I stood in front of the people driving the marshmallows and snapped pictures. For the most part all went well until someone drove a marshmallow whizzing past my ear. Still I managed not to get hit. I will make my way through the pictures and post a few tomorrow. We were suppose to have volleyball playoffs but ran out of time. There were also some games just for the kids but I missed that as I drove home to pick up the rest of the firewood I had to bring. Yea, I know have gotten rid of all that firewood. It was blocking my window and well it just needed to go. Oh, each step of the way there were prizes for the winners.



Saturday night was the dance which the teens attend and there was a euchre tournament. We played 8 hands with a partner and then moved on to the next game with a new partner. Because there was so many people we did not play with everyone. I could not stop getting 9s and 10s. One hand was three 9s, a 10 and probably a queen and I was 4 suited. I lost one game 8 to 2 and the I was very lucky to get the two. I did managed to have a lone hand and actually get 4 points but the other team answered that by a lone hand of their own. On our group of 24 people, one person had 46 points and won. I cam in with 35 points and thought I did OK considering. Besides, I play very conservative and always get my butt beat by someone that plays more risky.

This night was also hobo pie night. "Lick" was not there, just the rest of the clan and they did their best to get the hobo pie thing going but they really never did get it. It is not as easy as Lick makes it look. The other cookers has a problem with her arms and was not able to participate either.



Besides people we were also missing some things. There were NO jell-O shots in the camp. We went from having between 80 and 100 dozen (yes we are talking about well over 1000 jell-O shots) to nada, not one jell-O shot and that was without people talking about it. It just was not a priority this year. There also were no evil spirits where we place some ice, fruit and alcohol into a jug, wrap it in a towel tightly and pass it around to rock for a while before we partake in the evil spirits. Our typical resident pyros where missing. We still managed to go through a lot of wood but it just was not the same. By the way, the position of resident pyro is open if we have any takers. WMY comes to mind I believe. Well not her but the SO.



Sunday was dish to pass night and that went well. We had plenty to eat. I made 3 dozen corn and that went over well. There was main dishes, salads, deserts... basically we were all able to eat and not have to make anything other than that dish to pass. This is something that grew out of the milk can stew I used to make and the meat the Lick clan used to smoke and share. I like were it has headed.


We had a side event this year. One of the campers, who has always seemed fairly short by the way, said she was 5'6". Now I found that a little hard to believe but I let it go. But then it kept being brought up. Since no one was producing a tape measure I decided to go into town on Sunday and get a few supplies. I put together a make shift measure kind of like what you fill out as your kids grow inches every year. Well surprise, surprise she was indeed 5'6". She claims she is going to grow to be 6'2" or 3" but I don't think so. She is 22. I think she is done with growth spurts. It is funny, we have many others lining up and measuring themselfs. Maybe this needs to be turned into an event.



We had our drama as Mr Ranger was not happy with us on Saturday. We were to loud. What a shook. I think he was just a little more strict then usual as he was with the new owner of the camp ground. So we needed to be a little more in control than usual. Or at least try to be more in control. I pity the people that camp around us. The fun thing is the camp owner snuck up on us the last night by himself on a golf cart and said he really enjoyed having us there. That was nice and I here thought we were about to get in trouble again.

Here is a picture of Mr Ranger (Joe) from several years ago since I did not get any of him this year. Not that since that time he has a much nicer and quieter golf cart now but he still has that hat. It is his trademark.


Well I have made this post way to long. Just know that if you ever find yourself in Michigan over the Labor Day weekend you will always be welcome to come join us at Camp Walnut Hills in Durand Michigan. There will be a spot for you and I just know you will fit right in... well that is unless you expect to get some sleep.

Here is a picture of the gang. All but the day campers I believe.

I could not resist the following two for Crabby.

I will post some more pictures tomorrow morning or tonight on a seperate post. Don't look for me however. The only picture I am in is the top picture above.



When a black person has no electricity, no water, they call it the ghetto. When white people have no electricity and no water, they call it camping. --Mind of Mencia

Off Camping

I will be out of here soon. First I have to work at least until noon when they can get something out the door than I am going to try and scoot out the door to get a leap on...


camping. Now I am not going camping at a Jellystone Park campground actually. I am heading to Walnut Hills Campground. There is a group of between 40 and 60 people going. It is always a good time on spill lot C where we end up every year. They have neem doing this for probably 20 years, most of which has been at this campground.

It is a fun weekend filled with lots of family fun. This year we have a theme of Christmas. Now most of what we do is all our groups doings but the campground does have lots for everyone to do like Jello Shot bingo. OK, so maybe they only have bingo and we twist it with Jello Shots. Anyway it is always a fun time.

Once I get there I am more or less out of touch with everything for a weekend. That is nice. Then we come home Monday morning. So I probably will not be around. I thought I would post this to wish everyone, at least from the good old USA, a happy and safe Labor Day Holiday. Bring back lots of fun storries. I hope none of them are about that wild camp site that almost burned down the whole campground. Been there, done that, not doing it again.


I've got to go find a Pic-a-nic Basket --Yogi Bear