Howard and Eunice vs. The Rock

The Rock won.

The plan was for Howard to help me dig out some grass for a flower bed.  About ten minutes into it, Howard glanced over at the mysterious 'lawn rock' that we've been eying with disdain for almost three years now.  He said, "I wonder if I could dig out THAT rock."  And off he went.

I like a good challenge, so I followed him.  We dug and pried with the shovel that dad bequeathed to us.  It creaked and moaned and threatened to snap in two.  I kept warning Howard that he better not break that shovel that has probably been in the family for six decades.  We continued to pull and push and tug and grunt and grimace and kick and hurt ourselves, but that rock did not budge.  Not even one millimeter.

When you work in your yard around here, your life is an open book.  Sometimes that can be a good thing.  Charles (our across-the-street neighbor) walked over and said, "Whatcha y'all doin'?"  I said something like, "We're supposed to be digging out a flower bed, but this rock distracted us."  Charles says, "I have some tools that might help out."  He came back a few minutes later with a big heavy iron rod and two picks.  I could barely pick up the iron rod so Howard took over.

Here we see that after almost two hours the battle is over and the exhausted opponents are strewn about the lawn.

This is an after picture but really could have been the before picture too, because grass does not grow well around this rock.  See how it just lies there, laughing at us.

We are planning our revenge.  We have been working out - on smaller rocks in the flower bed.  With Charles' pick and iron rod and our new leverage technology (devised by Howard the physicist), we will be victorious!

Unicorns and Stuff

This is what I did last Wednesday.

Amish Country

I love that I'm only about 1.5 hours from Amish Country.  Mar was visiting a few weeks ago and we spent the day there.  We bought all kinds of yummy pastries, candies and jams.  We demolished a delicious loaf of freshly made bread and were especially smitten with the peanut brittle.  We saw lots of beautiful countryside dotted with Amish homes and 'English' homes.  We saw lots of cute Amish kids doing their chores.  They were so calm and confident in what they were doing.  We smelled lots of cow manure, fires and stoves burning, and people who work hard but don't bathe often.

One of the highlights for me was to discover that there was an Amish 'fabric' shop.  We followed the verbal directions we had gotten and read all the hand-painted signs and eventually found it - a very small shop full of durable denims and other durable cloth in blacks, blues and whites.  The small thread section had only black, blue and white threads.  I found a random bolt of navy corduroy (they don't use corduroy) with about 10 yards on it.  It was only $2 a yard.  I had to get it, the whole bolt.  We'll use it for next year's smile bags.  I also bought 10 yards of muslin for only $1.75 a yard.

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I was looking for and found an upholsterer, Moses Yoder.  His work is amazing and he charges next to nothing.  We happened to be there when one of his customers was picking up some reupholstered boat seats.  The captain's seat was particularly stunning.  It was blue and off-white and had curved piecing like the 'premium pontoon' above.  It had way more pieces and piping than the 'designer series'.  I always wonder what goes through an Amish tarp maker or upholsterers mind when he works on projects for vehicles that he's never been in and maybe never even seen in action.  Once I find the 'perfect' craigslist chair, I'm totally taking it to Moses.  It will be an adventure.  I'd much rather have cheap furniture with character and a story than expensive furniture from a fancy schmancy shop.

Mar and I went to the Lawrenceburg Walmart to soak up some local color.  I squealed with delight when we came across this special parking area for buggies with a sign that read "Reserved for Horse-drawn Vehicles Only".  We saw a few Amish shoppers in the store.  Of course, we had to peak into their fairly empty carts and see what they were buying - socks, peanut butter (interesting because some of them sell home-made peanut butter), coffee, cereal.

Here's a Google satellite picture of the Lawrenceburg Walmart.  You can see the buggy parking area at the bottom of the picture in the center, at the end of Manor Drive.  It's the unpaved area surrounded by some trees.

What a fantastic day!  I loved spending the day with Mar and visiting the Amish.  I often wish I could live in an Amish household for a week or so, to get a feel for life without modern conveniences.  I'd love to hang out and quilt with the women.  By the way, they charge about $.60 per yard of thread if you want to have them hand quilt your quilt.  Just thought I'd mention that.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Christmas of 1963

The only toy I remember is the clock on the left, 

but I look pretty excited about getting those dishes.

Now there's a very happy student, a future teacher.

Mom has always enjoyed spoiling us at Christmas.

 Posing in front of the fireplace that dad built,

in the house that dad built.

We had those stockings forever!

I wish I could actually remember this day, but I can't.  Howard has lots of memories of when he was this big.  He can even remember what he was thinking when he was this big.  I would have very few visual images of what my childhood was like if my parents hadn't take pictures like these when we were little.  Thanks mom and dad.

Homecoming

It's been many decades since I've experienced high school homecoming festivities.  We tried to learn some Spanish amidst Hat Day, Holiday Day, Dynamic Duo Day, but I finally had to succumb to the chaos on Friday, Parade Day.  We just 'chilled' in 1st and 2nd period.  And after attendance in 3rd period, who knows where everyone really went.  Most of us loaded up on buses for a quick trip to downtown Franklin for the homecoming parade.

The JROTC kicked off the parade.  I remember my astonishment at seeing all the JROTC groups when I stumbled upon the Veteran's Day Parade a few years ago.

Then the band came by.  When I enter the high school each morning, this kid is always leaning against the wall with drumsticks in motion.  The drummers stopped right in front of me and I couldn't believe the energy coming off those drums.  The rhythm was seriously messing with my heartbeat.

One of those tuba players is in my 7th period class.  He always tells me he's a bad tuba player.  When I look at him with doubting expressions, his fellow band members assure me that it's true.

The physics teacher has an after-school robotics class.  This robot zipped around the parade and stole the show at times.

Each class worked all week on a float.  I'm not sure who did this one or why Batman was the theme.

I love this float and their disclaimer sign.

When I was in high school, I joined the swim team one year.  It was very strange behavior for me.  I was probably the slowest swimmer on the team but was so proud of myself for surviving the rigorous workouts and hanging in there.  So, swimmers have a special place in my heart.

This was my favorite float, the Junior Float.  It's pretty awesome for high school, right?

I like this picture even though you can't see anyone's faces.

What's a homecoming parade without cheerleaders...

and a football team?  It was a fun and exciting day.