Granola in a Different Bowl

ending 2011

2011-12-31T20:14:00.000-08:00

2011 was a year of new experiences, primarily picking up and leaving our home of Oregon. We spent many hours and sweat making our cookie-cutter starter home as much of our own as possible. We miss it on a near daily basis - the garden, the pond, the colorful walls that changed with other people's mistakes (Home Depot oops paint), our jobs, and friends. However, as stated before we are enjoying our new location. I look forward to more new experiences while maintaining the long-standing traditions.

Since Christmas the boys have discovered rock climbing. I kind of wish it happened before so we could have incorporated some equipment in the gift giving, but thankfully for Sierra Trading Post a couple harnesses and a couple pairs of shoes didn't put us out too much since I'm signed up to receive email deals. Climbing once a week for half a year will pay for itself. Obviously, Kim and I are pretty excited about this new sport and fully admit the purchase of gear for the kids is a bit presumptuous. Cedar has yet to show much interest.

We decided last minute to get out of town. We thought we were going into snow by going to Jackson, but it was in the 40s and raining when we arrived. Not a lot of snow, even on the mountains. The ski lifts weren't even running. Since we aren't skiers we weren't disappointed. We went to the Elk Refuge and Grand Teton National Park. While in the visitors center we made a New Year resolution (not really, but it's that time of year) to go hiking and backpacking in the Wind River Range, which is only between 1 and 2 hours from Rock Springs. But first, we need to find that book on Amazon. When the kids tired of the fascinating things at the visitor center (it didn't take long ... kids) we drove down Moose Road for the few miles it was plowed. Luckily, at the end there was a hill with enough snow and the kids were able play. Unluckily, I forgot my snow boots so I didn't last very long. In addition I was not able to use the snowshoes, which we did remember this time. Anyway, Ethan's snowball makers he got from cousin Max worked well. Kim was pretty ruthless with those things. :-)

small silhouette of bighorn sheep on rock at Elk Refuge, Jackson Hole, WY before going to Grand Teton Nation Park

The next day was beautiful with nearly clear skies and a couple inches of new snow. The ski lifts were operating. We went back to the Elk Refuge and saw the hundreds of elk again, but the bighorn sheep were closer to the road this time. Unfortunately, their heads were down foraging for food or their back sides were facing us.

On the way home we stopped to find some sledding in the mountains outside of Pinedale. I played hide-and-seek with Cedar in the car. Yes, I don't know she had fun, but she did. I was amused at how silly it was. The boys slid down a partially snowed on hill. The exposed dirt wasn't an issue.

The evening's New Year's Eve party was simple. Chips, dip, soda, cookies, and movies. Kim and I were asleep by 10:00 or so and the boys stayed up watching movies to who-knows-how-late. Happy New Year 2012!

Give. Serve. Love. Merry Christmas Memories

2011-12-25T19:50:00.000-08:00

Kim made us do a Christmas card this year. She said it's the rule when you move. Obviously we're not in it. Who would've made the kids smile and taken the picture?

After a couple hours of swimming and rock climbing at the gym the kids still had patience for "ginger bread" houses Friday night. They were so proud of their graham cracker houses - theses are maybe half the pictures they beckoned us to take. We debated forgoing this event because it just feels really messy and wasteful ... okay, I was tired and didn't want to do it. But, I'm glad Kim made us do it.

Looks like Myles heard something inside his house and got the side of his head stuck.

Confidence is key!

Got milk, er ... meringue frosting? You can always count on Myles to have something.

Ethan quickly changed construction methods after observing two crackers stacked vertically on each other hardly support themselves.

Christmas Eve morning was spent prepping and cooking food, cleaning, crafting, and getting ready to go to mass. Yes, a Catholic mass. We decided going to our own church Sunday morning was not going to fit in the day's plans. Christmas only falls on Sunday once every 6 or 7 years. Our first mass was interesting. We value new experiences and opportunities to learn about and from others and wish to pass that on to our kids. Now I know where the Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan's version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen comes from :-) ... or visa versa, either way, it was fun to sing, as were the other familiar Christmas hymns. We came home and opened our family drawing gifts that we made for each other. Kim will blog about that because that's her favorite part of Christmas.

Christmas morning began with Cedar crawling into our bed at some middle-of-the-night hour. She has a stuffy nose so her breathing made us all not sleep very well. At 6:00 she asked me if I could get the boogers out. I helped her get in the shower while Kim slept. Cedar thought she saw a bug or a spider. I poked my head in past the cold shower curtain and didn't see anything. I told her to sing The Eency Weency Spider. A few seconds later she started to scream and cry while still singing the words. She jumped out of the shower. She showed the "spider" to me. I told her it was a coffee ground from the body scrub she made (with Kim's help). The falling water made it jump around looking like a spider or insect ... and a VERY small one at that. Cedar was happier with the boogers out and crawled back into our bed. I took my shower since it was too late to go back to bed.

Fast forward - the rest of the kids made it downstairs to see what Santa brought and put in their stockings. I went upstairs to turn the heat on and found dog vomit in the family room where Christmas morning was to be spent. First things first .... then we made the kids wait even longer by making them eat a great huge breakfast that Kim made. We just know hungry children turn into monsters and ruin everything, so to prevent that Kim made French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon. With that the kids didn't seem to mind waiting a little longer. But enough was enough and very soon after breakfast they were ready. They put the presents into piles and Ethan complained (with control) that we always go from youngest to oldest. At last, the result of much work, thought, time, and energy of giving became noticeable as anticipation turned into smiles and exclamations of gratitude.

waiting for breakfast with an appetizer stocking orange in the sled Santa brought

warming up his bum over a heater vent

Her first Barbie - thanks Grandma Hendricks

Her first motorized kitten :-)

Kim proudly stated several times how she did not worry about the mess.

Oh, Christmas Tree

2011-12-10T21:03:00.001-08:00

We went on a Christmas tree hunt for our first Christmas in Wyoming. Now, Wyoming isn't known for trees, as you can clearly see in the first photo of Kim and Myles, but we didn't have to drive far. About an hour and a half later, just south of the Flaming Gorge resort store in Utah, we were in the thick of many choices. I wish we had taken more pictures. I wanted a family photo, but one of us wasn't very cooperative because he forgot his coat. When we actually got to the point of getting out to find a tree, Kim gave him an extra long-sleeve shirt she was wearing.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T20:11:00.001-08:00

Since going "home" - I don't know when I'm going to stop thinking of where I grew up and where my parents still live as home - wasn't an option for Thanksgiving we decided to take a trip a little closer to home. Thanksgiving Day was great because we went on a small hike up the mountains nearby and found a frozen waterfall. I'm pretty sure it's seasonal, but it was so neat to see the snow and ice in this large alcove in the side of the mountain. Too bad I didn't have the camera with me then. We'll have to go back. We spent the evening at the home of a coworker of mine. It was very kind of her to think of us and invite us for dinner with her husband and kids, and the food was wonderful.

Today we drove to Salt Lake City for our little vacation. After stretching out at Sugar House Park, where I nearly fell into the creek at least five times trying to photograph the kids, we made our way to the cheap movie theater and watched The Smurfs in 3D. It was the kids' first 3D movie, as the tickets were only $3.50, and we all enjoyed the movie. The kids did not want to recycle their glasses. My favorite part was when Cedar turned her head and looked at me for several seconds, then leaned over and whispered, "We look like spies!" Then we showed up to our hotel, the Plaza Hotel just west of Temple Square. As per the unwritten and annoying-to-parents rule the kids started bouncing off the walls. We left as soon as possible and walked down a few blocks to Settebello Pizzaria Nepaletana. Myles lost a tooth before the food came. It was soooo good and the kids ate well, even Myles with his freshly missing tooth. They shared the Nutella gelato between the three of them really well, too. After dinner we walked up to the lights at Temple Square and enjoyed walking around. The kids were cooperative with me trying to get a good picture of them. I thought it was too cold for my hand to be out of it's glove taking pictures, but I did it. :-) There was a point when the kids where a fair distance away up on the steps of the temple for a picture when a kind stranger told us that our daughter was a keeper and that she had big, beautiful eyes. He's right. :-) Since the kids were good and the air was cold we got them hot chocolate on the way back to the hotel. We aren't sure what tomorrow holds, but I'm sure we'll find something.

I Wanna Be ....

2011-11-19T13:48:00.001-08:00

Today was Cedar's first dance performance. It was in the mall in front of JC Penny. For the past couple months I have been taking her to dance class once a week. I'm not sure if she likes it or not. Kim and I aren't sure if we like it or not. But she appears to have fun and she did look pretty cute in her costume. This morning at 9:00 she was all ready to go - we didn't have to be at the mall until 12:30. At first we weren't sure how the head piece was going to go on her head, but thankfully, on the way there Payless Shoes had sequence headbands that we clipped it to. The video is nothing great. I wasn't sure where to sit. I guess there is a lot of uncertainty when experiencing something for the first time.

Not What It Seems Like ... Photos Are Great That Way

2011-10-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

Today was an awful day. Thankfully we took a little drive to the "pumpkin patch" then out to some rocks and had a picnic. Out of the 12+ hours of the day there were about 60 minutes combined that were great. I am so thankful for snapshots that I can share to give the impression everything is wonderful.

Our little "Adventure Girl" kept wanting to walk higher and higher.

Things get hot when we kiss! Look how beautiful she is!

I wish there were answers blowin' in the wind.

'Adventure Girl' leading the way back to the car.

Looking much more pensive than he really is.

Cedar Sees in Pink

2011-10-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

riding down the street

posing with her new fairy friend

getting used to steering

Cedar is 5. She loves pink. For her birthday we went swimming, ate a McDonald's, opened presents, devoured cake and ice cream, and had a Tinkerbell movie marathon (3 movies in a row! We almost couldn't handle it.). Cedar picked the Barbie bike over the Disney Princess bike. It snowed a lot of the weekend, though most of it didn't stick, and it was very cold, but Cedar was very determined to take her bike out, and take her Nut Fairy along for the ride.

On a somewhat related note, Kim recently read a book called Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein . I haven't read the book, but it does look like Cinderella has eaten my daughter. No doubt I have something to do with that. I can't blame it all on Disney and Barbie. I think I like to have her in pink and dresses because of her shaved head. Otherwise, nobody would know she's a girl. She knows she's a girl and I think it bothers her when people ask us what 'his' name is. I love her shaved head. I think I will miss it when the trichotillomania subsides. She is the most beautiful little girl when she smiles, skips down the sidewalk, and sees herself as capable and strong, whether she is wearing pink or not.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like ... Christmas?

2011-10-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

On October 6, 2011 it snowed most of the day here in Rock Springs, and this morning we woke up to some snow on the ground ... mostly the grass, cars, and roof. The long-time local folk are telling me this is not normal. Just a few days ago I thought the weather had been abnormally warm. Something doesn't feel right when the two extremes are experienced in the same week. Oh well, the snow falling is pretty, for now. Now if we could just figure out how to turn the heat on in this house. I left a message with the owners ....

The kids built a snowman with the new babysitter. They more or less happily submitted to my request to snap a photo of them with their work. They had me edit the photo with a cool tone to show they were cold. Cedar would like to point out her snowbaby, which appears to be camouflaging with some patches of snow. The snowman is sporting my top hat from a high school prom.

I hope it gets warm again before getting any colder.

White Mountain Petroglyphs

2011-09-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the White Mountain Petroglyphs. Unfortunately there appears to be a mixture of current markings with the old, but it was a neat place nonetheless.

Wyoming

2011-09-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

Wyoming is now home and here are pictures of some nearby places - Half Moon Lake and out-on-some-insanely-long-and-not-very-well-marked-dirt-road, which there are a lot of. It's pretty fun. Today we drove around Flaming Gorge Reservoir and saw some beautiful sights, but didn't have the camera, so we'll just have to go back there soon with the camera so that part can be shared also. Until then, enjoy these.

What is the phenomena called when you are alone in the middle of nowhere so you take off all your clothes to take a dip in a refreshingly cool mountain lake and then suddenly people show up from around the corner? um .... no reason, I'm just wondering if it has a name.

I'm Gonna Miss ... A Few Good Things from Boardman

2011-08-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going to miss the Columbia River, living a couple blocks from work and around the corner from church, many good people, being about 4 hours from home/parents, and my pond. Yes, my pond. I really love tinkering with it. I started the pond project a little over a year ago. And just the other day we went rock hunting in order to fix some problematic areas within the pond's edge and I finished the "tadpole pond" (there are no tadpoles). I will miss the kid's spontaneous play with the pond. I think I just might have to build a pond when we get into our own place in Wyoming.

knights fighting for the right to marry the princess

she seems more interested in her flower than marrying a winner

most recent addition - standing/sitting rocks

Knight Myles posing after victory

cuttings from the pond

Crescent Lake 2011

2011-08-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

The annual camping trip was great as usual. Lazily laying on the lakeside pumice beach, swimming in the refreshingly clear cool water, and unabashedly devouring some of the best food in the world. Pictures of these experiences are lacking from us. Maybe it's because we are so in-tune with the moment that we don't get distracted with recording it. The only pictures on our camera were of the aftermath of an accident I was involved in with a small "Hobie Cat" type boat. I got smacked in the kisser with the bow of the sail - hard, metal, pole thingy that holds the sail out. I don't know how it happened. But I tried to reenact the moment just before it knocked me over with the following picture.

That's what I saw as the wind blew the sail around in my direction as I was helping maneuver the boat in the desired position on the shoreline. I turned around to walk back up on the beach right before it made contact with me. The blow knocked me down in the above-knee-length water. I stumbled toward the shore as family helped me out of the water and assessed the damage. It's nice having an ER nurse as a sister. My nose may have cushioned the impact on my lips, which cushioned the impact on my teeth. My nose is okay, just a little sore. I didn't loose any teeth. The impact just slightly loosened some and chipped one of the top middle ones. It felt like my face was crushed and I would be spitting out bloody teeth. Thankfully that was not the case. Thankfully it happened on the last day and we were packed up ready to make the drive home. I hung out on the beach just like I wanted, only with an icy soda gently pressed up against my lips.

a few hours after impact and constant icing

P.S. - Family, will you please e-mail me some pictures of the week? I need some other memories than this.

Annual Backpacking Trip

2011-07-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

Summer has been fun, even with getting the house ready to sell, getting ready to move, having to buy a second vehicle. We managed to get to the coast for a few days and visited friends and family. I also took a week long graduate class designed to help teachers bring agriculture into the classroom. The home location for that was in Cove, Oregon and it was a great week filled with new experiences. And since I was already further into Eastern Oregon than where we currently live, my family and I decided to go a bit further into Eastern Oregon and go backpacking around where Kim and I went on our first backpacking trip together 11 years ago. For the past 4 years or so, ever since our youngest was 1 or 2, we've gone backpacking with my parents and some combination of my sister's family. This year our schedules couldn't ever match up and we missed them. We went to an area called Indian Crossing and hiked a couple miles along the Imnaha River to Blue Hole. It was only disappointing because we thought it was a swimming hole. It's actually a fishing hole. Even though it was deep and leveled off, the river still moved swiftly through this part because it was compressed by walls of rock. We didn't starve because we had a nice meaty sandwich at the Joseph Saturday market for a late lunch before driving to the trail head. Thankfully we had plenty of food that didn't need cooking ... I left the fuel bottle in the van. Since we didn't have any definitive plans for anything on this trip we hiked back to the van the next morning. After driving up to the Hells Canyon Lookout and taking in the immense rugged view (deepest gorge in North America) we took Imnaha River Road (gravel, but well maintained) for about an hour and a half to Imnaha. Kim and I have fond memories of the Imnaha Tavern/General Store. That is an entertaining place. Kim and I weren't nearly as impressed as we were last time ... but, before our last visit we had hiked about 70 miles in 7 days along the High Bench Trail from Freeze Out Saddle to Dug Bar with some good friends. At times I wonder how we made it, but we did, and that tavern/general store had the best hamburgers and Henry Weinhard's root beer on tap in the world! This time was good, but not that good. Our tummies were full so we decided to check out Wallowa Lake. Luckily, there were some campsites open and we snagged one before they were all taken. That place was swarming with people. Aside from that it was beautiful. The whole weekend was beautiful because we were with each other in the outdoors, except when we kicked kids out of the car for gross misbehavior and neglecting the count to 3 ... that fresh air along the road really worked. :-)

Indian Crossing Trailhead

just below Blue Hole

camping at Blue Hole

Cedar's inchworm pet

Cedar crossing log bridges along trail

enjoying "a few drinks" at the Imnaha Tavern/General Store

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes ...

2011-05-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Since Spring Break I have been busy applying for teaching jobs, mostly in Oregon, but a couple in Wyoming. Geographically and topographically I don't want to be where I am. I don't mind small town. I don't mind the high desert climate. I do mind the flat land for miles and miles with nothing much to do but walk along the polluted beaches of the Columbia River. My job is not in jeopardy as many others in Oregon are. But, it is time for a change.

Against all odds I faced the daunting economic state of affairs as an Oregon educator. I applied for about 15 jobs across the state. Juggling late nights with my evening part time job and Kim's Speech Language Pathology Assistant program with Chemeketa Community College online turned me into a zombie many days and has left the bedroom looking like the ones you see on those reality TV shows ... before the cleaning and make-over. Most emails from districts state how I am 1 of the one-hundred-some-odd highly qualified applicants and to continue trying. A week ago I was finally selected for an interview by South Wasco County in Maupin, Oregon ... right by Mt. Hood with the Deschutes River raging through it. AAAAAWESOME! She told me I was 1 of 8 out of the 125 applicants selected to be interviewed for their 2 positions. I told her I would write that in my journal. We had a good conversation and found out that there was a round about personal connection between us. She has a niece who is the wife of a vice principal at a high school in my district. I made an appointment to visit and interview the following week. This was done the day before I was to leave on a job seeking adventure to Rock Springs, Wyoming in response to a job offer at an elementary school. I had some cards to play and things were exciting. In addition, my principal asked if I would be interested in an idea she had, if being part of her idea would keep me. I was feeling wanted and it felt great.

Long story short, the visit to Rock Springs was great. The administration spent a lot of time with me and made sure my family felt welcome. We went to a 6th grade culmination of a themed study presentation/event at the community college. I took the kids swimming at the family rec center. We drove above the city on the White Mountains and saw several groups of wild horses. One group walked right by the van. I was given a tour of the city. And the principal took my family out to breakfast, which is as much of a wine-and-dine experience I have ever heard of in public education. So, with a few restless nights and much conversation and pondering I accepted the job the night before we left. I slept much better that night ... until the fire alarm in the hotel went off at 4:45 am.

Today I called to cancel my interview with Maupin. It was bittersweet. My perception of the conversation was that most likely I would have been offered one of the positions. Even if it had come to pass like a dream come true I would have had to turn it down. Rock Springs feels right. It makes sense even though it's a days drive from family and not in my idea of an ideal location.

So, here's to change. We are excited for the future.

Sorry, the camera was left in the hotel so we did not have it on our wild horse scenic drive. Figures ....

A Few Thoughts On The Merits Of Using Play To Accomplish Great Things.

2011-05-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

A Few Thoughts On The Merits Of Using Play To Accomplish Great Things.

This is just an article I want to remember.

Spring Break

2011-03-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, by the way, this is an attempt at a family photo during the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope you all are keeping up with your resolutions.

This (the above) and the following two photos are the 'before' that I managed to scrounge up from the past year.

The interior architectural feature dividing the family and dinning rooms that I criticize because of it's bulk and lack of function for a small space was NOT torn down and replaced with a wall of open cubes. Rather, the columns and connecting arch were painted in a medium-light brown River Rock by Ralph Lauren. It's a secret how much I spent on that gallon. :-) It's a really neat paint. I love the sand texture. The bottom part of that is a custom Kevin creation of 'key-lime pie yogurt' as per Kim. It's a yellowy green and is also put on one wall of the entry wrapping around into the dinning.

The carpet was torn out and replaced with standard oak laminate planks in the dinning, family, and hallway.

The existing tile entry floor was tiled over and extended to a more natural place (the end of the entryway wall) with the tile and pattern of the kitchen, which was done a couple years back. I also designed a ramp transition to bring the height of the kitchen floor down. This was the result of discovering a regular transition would not be enough, as the kitchen was more than an inch higher than the dinning. I am very pleased with my tile ramp. It looks great. And the regular laminate transition bridging the two was engineered to be installed at an angle by my dad to match the angle of the tile ramp.

You can't see it in the picture, but instead of white the wall is a light brown - cafe con leche, eggshell, light wheat - kind of color. It is also a custom Kevin creation as the paint we bought was too light when applied. So, I added a cup or so of some brown 'oops' paint we had acquired previously. In fact, the only color I didn't create was the blue and the river rock. We applied that straight from the can. Oh, and of course the white, too.

hallway - those door transitions were a buger! The hallway was painted a bright white.

This is my favorite picture. I love how all the colors come together. There are five colors on the walls alone. There is an earthy clay red, wintermint or eggshell blue, light wheat, brown river rock, desert grass yellow green. And as an element of surprise there is a cantaloupe orange as you come around into the kitchen. I'm sure we're breaking all kinds of rules, but what do ya do when most of what you afford is oops paint a gallon or less at a time. :-)

Anyway, it was a full 7 days of hard work. My mom, dad, mother-in-law, and a sister-in-law were a big help. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

And that was my Spring Break.

My Hat

2011-03-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

This hat was my first checking account purchase in the ninth grade. It must have been 1991 or 1992. I ordered it from a J.Crew catalog for $12, if my memory serves me well. I think it's time to retire it. I loved it. I wore it the most of all my hats. And I have quite a few. I wore it to school, on weekends, and on vacations. It was like a part of my uniform, only the hat was the only variable that didn't change, like a good friend. It hid my insecurities. It was a socially acceptable security blanket. It was a part of my identity. It went with me to various countries in Europe. It spent two years in Argentina as I was a missionary for my church. I wore it whenever I could, like on personal days and during laborious service projects in the sweltering heat. It has been all over the Northwest as I have traveled, backpacked, camped, hiked, climbed, rafted, and swam. It has protected me from sun and rain, heat and cold. It has endured countless hours of academic, outdoor, and family pursuits these past 20 years. I'm sure it was there for the birth of my children. I doubt I will ever find a hat as good. I don't even know if J. Crew makes a hat like it anymore. Thank you J. Crew for creating such a quality head covering for any occasion. sigh ...

Creatively Creating Crescent Lake

2011-02-13T16:05:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy pursuing my creative interests. The other night Myles took the initiative to paint a small canvas of mine. The next morning was greeted with rays of sun blasting through the windows. I had that surge of creative energy and responded to it. I got out a canvas, paints, and a brush. I know my materials aren't high quality, but that's okay because with my experience I don't really know any different. The concept for the painting is Crescent Lake, Oregon a place that is much more than a beautiful geographic location that I visit for at least one week in the summer and long for the rest of the year. It's a place of numerous experiences. Above all it represents meaningful relationships with family and friends. However, I don't draw people, let alone paint them. So I focused on the lake itself. I felt like I was producing a decent image with my one and only sorry excuse for an artist's paintbrush, and I was having fun. But I didn't like how I was trying to make it look like there was the lake with sand and rocks in the foreground and tree covered mountains in the back. I made a mental shift and aligned it with my preference (quite possibly due to my lack of skill and experience) of simple shapes, lines, and colors and started painting a woven pattern in one corner by changing the direction of the paint. I continued to paint over what I had already done (it's just paint, no big deal) by using the paintbrush to create a woven, tiled, or quilted texture. Kim was encouraging with the new direction, which was nice. In the end I like the idea of what I created, but not necessarily the specific solution or outcome of the idea. The painting is titled Crescent Lake Quilt. Each square represents an experience and relationship at the lake. There are many more actual experiences as I have been going nearly every year of my life. The water isn't painted like the trees and sand because there are many more experiences and relationships yet to take shape. I now have lofty visions of presenting actual quilts sewn based on this idea to every member of the family ... maybe when I'm older and my grandkids are eating the mouth-watering Dutch oven dinners and salmon bake, digging in the pumice beach, and swimming in the clear, frigid, refreshing, youth inducing water. Anyone up for camping?

50 Dangerous Things:

2011-01-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

Myles playing in a hail storm: Dangerous Activity 02

Last year's resolution was to complete the activities in the book titled 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your kids do) by Gever Tulley. Well, that didn't happen, but I did document most of what we did. And there were several things we have already done or do as a part of life. This post is a conclusion to the specific goal I had with my kids last year, but not the end of doing dangerous things. It's pretty cute ... our children's expressions of their activities frequently sounds like this, "Look! I'm doing a dangerous thing!", for example, as they stand and roll on a 5-gallon bucket on it's side while holding on to the wall. So, here's the quick on the things we've done but didn't document last year.

03 - Master the Perfect Somersault: We signed the kids up for gymnastics as a Christmas gift and they are learning more about how to move their bodies.

08 - Throw a Spear: I think this is somewhat done with the kid-javelin when the kids participate in "kids track" that our high school sponsors every spring. I know we had pictures, but I can't find them.

11 - Throw Rocks: This is done nearly every time we go over to the Columbia River a few minutes away from our home.

14 - Put Strange Stuff in the Microwave: Cedar wanted to put a slice of bread in the microwave to "cook" it. We watched it burst into flames.

16 - Drop from High Places: They jump from the top bunk to the futon bed. They jump from the trampoline down to the lawn. It's not that high, but most trampolines these days come with safety nets which would prevent that from happening. Our trampoline's pads got blown away with the crazy wind we have here within a year of setting it up, so I suppose it's a dangerous trampoline. When we go to the coast they like to jump down cliffs of sand.

18 - Walk Home from School: Ethan and Myles have been doing this since first grade. This isn't a huge deal because we live between 2 and 3 blocks from the school. However, very few kids from our neighborhood walk alone to school. The parent walks them or they drive.

23 - Break Glass: This has happened in kitchen several times. Unintentionally, nevertheless it has been done. :-)

26 - Lean Dramatic Sword Fighting: We try to encourage stick sword fighting, but our kids have never really wanted to. It occurred in the mountains camping at a lake. They of course weren't wearing any protective gear, just swimming suits. They learned not to hit the other's hand real quickly.

28 - Climb a Tree: There really aren't many trees where we live, let alone ones that can be climbed. That said, Ethan has managed to find one or two he can climb on school grounds, when school is not in session of course.

29 - Perform on the Street: I have a scenario in my head where we go to the Portland Saturday Market and allow our kids to busk by the river. I think Myles should play his violin and Ethan should make balloon animals. Not too long ago we went to Portland and saw someone busking in front of the Pioneer mall entrance. He was covered in silver gray clothing and he painted his face to match. He was as still as a statue until Ethan put a dollar in his jar. He shook Ethan's hand then began his act. He manipulated up to four glass balls at the same time. It was rather mesmerizing and now the kids have a schema of what performing on the street looks like.

30 - Dam up a Creek: Since we don't have creeks nearby the boys have created their own in the backyard many times. They love to put on their swimsuits, go outside, turn on the hose, and make a fabulous mess in the mud.

37 - Fly Your Homemade Kite in a Gale: This had been several times and I know we have pictures, I just can't find them.

41 - Cross Town on Public Transit: This has been done on a few occasions when we go to Portland. Also, Corvallis has a free holiday trolley we have taken advantage of in the past. The kids love it!

42 - Break the Recipe Rule: Ethan did this when he broke his leg last year. The wheat berries gave it a nice crunch and it was disgusting. :-)

45 - Play with Fire: They get to play with fire anytime we build a fire in the backyard for a hot dog and s'mores roast. And when we go camping the fire always gets a lot of attention.

49 - Sleep in the Wild: We have slept on the trampoline a few times and whenever we go camping or backpacking we sleep out in the wild. Yes, in a tent, but that's to protect us from mosquitoes and the weather. I know the goal is to sleep without walls, but usually that's just not practical in Oregon. :-)

50 - Your Project: we have done various things on our own that aren't in the book that I have already blogged about. I found a picture of the boys in a fort they built from wood pallets, scraps of wood, blankets, and a folding table. It wasn't elevated like I've seen them do at Tinkering School, but it was neat to watch them create it just so they could watch a little movie.

So, there you have it. I made it closer the finishing all 50 dangerous activities than I thought.

A Hunting We Will Go, ...

2010-12-04T23:51:00.000-08:00

Today we drove through snow uphill both ways to hunt for a Christmas tree suitable for our religious and non-secular festivities. It is the first real tree we have had since living in Utah. Ten years ago we were faced with the choice between real vs fake and felt like we didn't want to afford an imported Christmas tree. So fake it was for 10 years. That thing was a steal. Kim liked to calculate the annual cost each year we pulled it out. It came down to $2.22 per year. The stand broke and a friend offered to fix it ... He still has the stand. I hope he didn't fix it! The fake bows have now been fashioned by Kim into an outdoor wreath to alleviate any guilt about being wasteful. I would like to note the circular frame that provides the skeleton of the wreath came from a broken tomato cage that I repurposed. Another one of our decoration additions was the upside-down tomato cage that I wrapped lights around to make a tree for our front entry area. I should write to Mother Earth News and get that little tip published! ...back to the mountain ... So, we started slipping on the mountain road and couldn't go any more. We decided that was the perfect place to start hunting for our tree. :-) The left side was too steep to walk up so we decided to go downhill. It didn't take long. I think we went the 50 feet away from the road that was required and nearly cut the first decent tree we saw. Dragging it up to the car was hard work, but no work is worth doing unless it's hard, right? Isn't that what they say? Anyway, we got it on the car, turned around without getting stuck, and drove to a nearby campground to have lunch and play in the snow. On the way down the mountain we picked up a hitchhiker and his two grandkids. They had gotten stuck and were walking the 17 miles back to Grandma's house to get her rig to pull them out. The day's adventures were shared with our kind neighbors and a Springer Spaniel that we were watching for some friends. The natural flocking on the tree didn't last long in the house, but our tree looks great. For some reason the kids initially went for a Mardi Gras look by decorating the tree with various plastic beaded necklaces. I think it looks better with the addition of Christmas ornaments. It smells great and it's the best looking tree we've had yet.

Merry Christmas

It Gets Better

2010-10-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

I feel the need to talk about the issue of suicides specific to LGBT youth. Here's just one of many news reports. I have mulled over for a least the last month on how to express my thoughts. The date on this post is when I first started typing. There are too many ways to express them. November 9th just before 11:00 pm is when I pressed 'publish post'. I can't seem to say what I want even with editing. So this is my attempt.

It may come as no surprise to some of you, but it will be news for most of you, that for about 7 years I was verbally abused by my peers. Go figure, it isn't something I have wanted to discuss. As I write this my heart beats faster and I am sweating a little. This is uncomfortable. I was tormented, taunted, harassed, embarrassed, labeled. I was filled with doubt, fear, shame, confusion, uncertainty. I was bullied for acting, looking, sounding, and otherwise being gay.

Just to be clear I wasn't nice to everyone either. In fact, I was down right mean to a few people. I have tried to remedy those in my post high-school years. Kids can be very mean. I'm sure they always have been and they will continue to be. I think most of it is the process of modeling adults and peers and learning from mistakes to be a socially acceptable person who builds instead of tears down. But I think what I'm talking about, the experience of being harassed for being gay is on a totally different level. It's not really something people can stop making fun of because you grew out of the awkward pre-teen self. It runs deeps along the lines of culture, language, religion, skin color, and ethnicity.

I have tried to figure out why everyone else thought I was gay. Now, when I say everyone else, I don't mean that literally. But the continuous torture made it feel that way. More realistically it may have been a group of ten or more guys. The reason I say that is because I have a memory in high school of walking by a big group of guys, the guys who made fun of me. To this day I'm sure I suffer from mild emotional and psychological issues related to the harassment.

So here's what I came up with. I was skinny. I had a pretty face and long dark eyelashes. Apparently it looked like I wore mascara and blush. I wasn't into sports. I really enjoyed dancing. I really enjoyed the arts in general: drawing, painting, photography, architecture. It may be an over simplified memory, but I remember being just ahead of the fashion curve. One year I altered my mom's overalls. The next year guys bought them in the store. I wore the vest from my dad's three piece suite. The next year guys wore vests. Interestingly, when I wore those things I was made fun of. I was (and still am) concerned about my looks from my balding hair to my ugly toes. I have two older sisters who enjoyed dressing me during my early teen years. Nothing against them, but that probably didn't help my situation because I was in 6th grade, not my junior or senior year of high school. The 80's music icons were fairly girly looking. Why? Why? Why? Anyway, moving on ... I was always good friends with girls. In junior high and high school girls weren't the ones harassing me about being gay. I believe I continue to have stronger friendships with women because I fear in some way that guys will reject me. I think people, possibly more so men, get confused when they meet a heterosexual who is stereotypically gay. Their brain can't handle the apparent mismatch. Maybe that's why I only had maybe two or three really good guy friends between middle and high school.

It doesn't really matter why people thought I was gay or if they still do. Nobody should be treated that way for seemingly being different. Nobody should be treated that way for really being different. I wonder how many other boys and men share my experience? I wonder if culture and society can socially condition stereotypically gay boys to be gay? It's one thing to question your sexuality on your own. It's another to be told over and over that you are gay for the way you are. I have more thoughts and questions related to religion but I am having a difficult time articulating them. Let's just say that with my LDS culture I'm glad I'm wasn't gay.

I think the nightmare started in 6th grade. A boy asked me everyday if I was gay. Over and over and over and over. One day I finally told him what he wanted to hear. He gasped, laughed, and pointed his finger at me. I didn't know what to do. I didn't tell anyone. I'm sure he told all his friends.

Thankfully I was never physically abused. I avoided being alone in bathrooms and locker rooms. I avoided those who I didn't want to associate with and when it wasn't possible I pretended I didn't hear them. Walking in the hallways at school was awful. I wonder how much of a better student I would have been if my brain hadn't been occupied dealing with this.

Also, thankfully I came from a stable family (I think we were in the range of "normal" disfunctionalities) and I had a small core group of guy friends, most of whom were from my church.

I don't remember a specific moment when I thought about ending my life. I know I thought about it. But I think it was more in generalities, a fascinating curiosity about death. I think I heard it's normal to ponder death during those years. And if you compare me to the spectrum of risky behaviors I probably wouldn't have even registered. Which is not to downplay the turmoil of the harassment. Maybe the strong family and friends were more of a support than I knew. In addition, as curious and confused as I was I didn't understand or totally identify with being gay.

It got better. It got way better after graduating. No, after the all night graduation party. I went to Europe by myself to visit a couple friends. Then in the fall I went to the University of Oregon where I had a bunch of fun and learned a ton. Then I went on a mission for my church to Buenos Aires where, with it's range of experiences was educative and worthwhile. Soon after the end of those 2 years my life crossed paths with an amazing smile, a strong ambition, a smart mind, a caring heart, a giving hand, and traveled feet. A real woman. We have been married 11 years. We have 3 kids. We are more in love than when we got married. Things are way better.

I understand that the heterosexual road to 'it gets better' is different and quite possibly easier. Though, that's like comparing apples to oranges. :-) But the destination, amid the roadblocks of inequalities placed by ideologies, manipulations, and misunderstandings, is the same.

My point with all this is that nobody should have to endure years of harassment for being gay, whether they really or not. Those years that are by nature awkward are uniquely compounded into awful when tormented. Don't be part of that. Don't let your kids be part of that. Don't let your friends be part of that. Be better than that. Even though I am not gay I want to add my voice of experience and empathy. I want to echo the reassuring hope-filled message aptly titled It Gets Better. Because it does.

I haven't been able to write about all the related issues, namely religion. I just want to say that I don't agree with my church getting politically involved in California's Prop 8. Separation of church and state. If you believe homosexuals are living in sin and therefore should not be allowed the rights and privileges I enjoy, congratulations, you can recognize sin in someone else! (John 8:2-11; and in the Book of Mormon Mosiah 29:12) ... The movie Lord, Save Me From Your Followers was very interesting (it's in Netflix). ... This article about the Boy Scouts of America and this follow up to that article (and people's comments) were interesting as well. ... This recent statement from the LDS church sounded hopeful. ... after the HRC's critique of some LDS leaders' words... and this is how It Gets Better all started as embedded on TED.com. ... and this is one viral example (Texas city councilman Joel Burns) of support for recognizing the error in bullying, marginalizing, suppressing, and legalizing limiting a person's right to pursue happiness.

50 Dangerous Things: 19 - Stand on the Roof

2010-09-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Summer appeared to have changed a few things, namely our family schedule and routines. Our focus on completing Gever Tulley's 50 Dangerous Things became hazy. Our Family Fun Nights weren't as organized or didn't happen to begin with because, well, it was summer. We did happen to travel quite a bit, too. Now that school has been in full swing for two weeks we are starting to get back into our daily rituals.

To start this dangerous activity we sat down on the couch and read the warnings, related history, and explanation. The kids could hardly be bothered with the reading and couldn't wait to get on the roof. Though we took a second and googled 'Chicago City Hall' and saw some wonderful pictures of their roof.

Ethan predicted, "it will feel like I'm a bird." We didn't formally revisit these predictions, but he didn't mention being disappointed, so, maybe he did. It's hard to tell how kids think and perceive things. :-) Myles predicted, "it will feel scratchy."

We encouraged taking up to the roof with us a few objects that roll and have a race with them. It didn't last very long. In the one or so second it took for the objects to roll down the roof it appeared Myles' basketball won, Ethan's basketball came in second, and my little foam ball was obviously last. They had fun rolling the balls down and I had fun knowing they were learning science. I can't help it. I'm a parent AND a teacher. Sometimes I think my kids are doomed because of it.

They were nervous about looking over the edge at the peak but they did it. I told them we should each get an egg, build a protective system for it, then drop them from the peak of our roof. They liked that idea.

Cedar did not want to get on the roof. She is a tad small yet. She enjoyed telling Kim to take pictures of her down below.

Can you guess what song I have stuck in my head since this activity?

50 Dangerous Things: 07 - Drive a Car

2010-08-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sometime back in May we took a little drive out to a pond by the river to catch some little fish with buckets to put in our pond. There is a bumpy dirt road to this pond and we thought that was a great place for the boys to take the wheel. Unfortunately, or not, they are just too small to have their feet reach the pedals. I thought we had pictures of Ethan, too, but I could only find these with Myles.

The only traffic out there were these guys.

Oh, What Do You Do In The Summertime?

2010-07-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

This post has evolved over the day. So if you managed to catch it in its first or second stage read it again and watch the video because it took forever. I don't understand how I can share things on my blog from Picasa. I don't understand why Picasa video messed up the music. I'm tired of trying to fix it. Maybe uploading it to YouTube and embedding it will work ... nope. This will have to do for now. Mute it if it gets skippy because the pictures are fun, though they are saved at low quality. I'll have to fix that. Anyway....

We enjoyed a week traveling to Wyoming and seeing the sights of Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. We mostly camped, except for July 4 when we stayed in The Hostel in Teton Village, (and on the ends when we stayed with my grandma in Meridian, ID and one of Kim's friends in Rigby, ID.) which wasn't fancy at all, but the cost felt like it should have been at least on par with a Comfort Inn. I guess it comes down to location, location, location - and they have it! Anyway, I liked the social feeling of the place even if we weren't real social. Oh well, as dingy and campy as it was, it was nice to have our own bathroom and shower ... and because hardly anyone else was down in the basement, a pool table, ping-pong table, shuffle board, foosball, library, den, video game room, board game room, freezer, refrigerator, retired phone booth, and ski wax station ... to ourselves for one night.

One afternoon the boys and I went white water rafting and the boys jumped in to go swimming during one of the calm parts. I was impressed. Two boys from Holland the same ages as Ethan and Myles jumped in with their dad. I didn't do it, but I already know what swimming in a cold river is like. They did it all on their own. They didn't need me in the river with them. I was proud of them. Ethan will gladly tell you the temperature of the water. I don't know how long the pictures will be there, but you can go to http://snakeriver.elevationimaging.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=799644 to see 8 pictures of us skillfully raging through a major rapid.

The fireworks in Teton Village were fun. We took our blankets and sleeping bags from the car and laid them on the grass right in front of The Hostel. It was great that we were already in the thick of if it so we didn't have to drive in and out of the thick of it. It was a great show, but the enjoyment from the kids was the best part. Myles said, "I'm gonna remember this forever!" That night and throughout the next couple days they would swing things around as fast as they could to create the impression of flashing fireworks and talk about inventing their own fireworks.

On our way up to Yellowstone we drove through Grand Teton and took a beautiful and easy hike to a place called Taggart Lake. Those mountains are something else. The Grand Teton area is where we saw our first big game. Take a drive along Moose Creek Road, and sure enough you'll see a moose.

Yellowstone is simply amazing. And we only had time to do a portion of the things around the lower half. Before arriving I was pretty sure we would see bison and elk and some neat geological features. We saw hundreds of bison, herds of elk, a black bear, various birds, and more amazing geological features than I could have imagined. There are so many details. You just have to go and experience it for yourself. I do hope all my kids remember this forever.

50 Dangerous Things: 50.2 - Build a Backyard Pond

2010-06-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Since early spring I have been building a backyard water feature: a pond with a small waterfall. It's been quite the process, one that is almost finished. I just have to hide the waterfall with rocks. The pond is over 2 feet deep, which for some reason is not equivalent to the amount of digging I though I did. I kind of wish I had taken pictures of the different stages. It was neat to see the kids play in the sandy hole and make a bridge with a long board they drug over from the side of the house. They did the same thing after I put water in it. And today they did it again and I got a couple pictures of it. Aside from the simple bridge making the kids have enjoyed running around finding the fish they have given names to, soaking their feet, changing the path and sound of the waterfall with different rocks, observing plants and other wildlife like birds, dragonflies, other insects, and some ungrateful frogs who decided to only stay for one or two nights. It sounds like the happening place for frogs is down the street. The other day the kids also enjoyed testing the depth of the pond. In the case they do happen to fall in their brain will now have some sort of idea of what to expect. They've been taught that all they have to do is stand up. For myself, I have enjoyed coming home for lunch and watching the fish while I eat. Since putting in the waterfall I have also enjoyed several warm nights with my window open falling asleep to the soothing sound of rolling water and a choir of frogs.

I think building a pond constitutes as a dangerous activity because there is a risk of drowning. There is also risk of getting a hernia and/or throwing out your back while moving rocks. I'm almost surprised this did not happen to me with the size of some of those rocks. Oh, and fingers can and almost certainly will get pinched between other rocks. Ouch! So, back to the most serious concern - I think kids who are taught water safety and have regular and varied experiences with water are more likely to know the physical properties and characteristics of water, and be less likely to be harmed by it. They will develop their own level of comfort and risk to keep them as safe as they know how. Is it 100%? Nothing ever is. Gever Tulley, one of the authors of this book I'm going through with my kids wrote a little something on danger - basically that danger is relative and contextual. Would I have done this 2 years ago? No, my daughter would have been 1. If something horrible did happen with one of my children and my backyard pond I hope I won't become a backyard pond hater and live in fear of water. Living in fear is no way to live. (A little is okay. It's what keeps us alive sometimes, but because of the misuse of power I think there is too much fear manipulating the way we feel, think, and behave.)

50 Dangerous Things: 50.1 - Grow and Butcher Your Own Chicken

2010-06-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

In the book 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do the 50th activity is a create-your-own. We haven't finished each dangerous thing, but this is our first documentation of something dangerous not found in the book.

Several weeks ago we went to our friends' house and butchered some chickens they were raising for us. This was our first foray into killing our own food. I've even only been fishing a couple times and I never gutted a fish - I watched because I had no idea what to do. Our friends butchered their first chickens a day or two before they invited us over so they were new to this as well, though they have butchered their own cows. Not that I think those are related, I was just saying ...

We like the idea of growing our own food. We try and have a small garden every year. We want egg laying chickens in our backyard. It's been on the 'to do' for awhile, but I need to go around my neighborhood and get signatures supporting chickens in city limits, then go to the city and get that city law changed.

I don't like the imbalance of power that is created by current farming practices. Whoever controls food controls the people. It doesn't make sense to me that the government decides what is best for my children and the thousands of other school children to eat. Have you seen what most kids eat at most schools? It's fast-food. I haven't thought about it long enough to hash out the details but I think there are too many commonalities between public school systems and industrial farming systems. Jamie Oliver and Ann Cooper put things fairly well in the following TED talks.

Apparently there are people who think growing your own food is dangerous because it is "unsanitary" - what about the bugs, dirt, and germs? My wife and I don't have our food handlers permit, and I don't think our friends do either, but we used basic best practices for handling knives and raw meat :-). I think the most dangerous part of this new experience was using the hatchet to chop off the chicken heads.

The other day we watched the movie Food Inc. and I like how one of the farmers had metal cones to put the chickens in head first so that just the head was showing out the bottom. Maybe I'll help fashion some of those for next year.

Myles says that his favorite part was NOT when the head-less chicken chased him because it almost got blood on him. I thought that part was really funny. I know the chicken did not know where it was going. Obviously, it's head was in my hand. But it looked as if it knew it was chasing those boys!

Ethan's favorite part was plucking off the feathers. Interestingly, this was not my favorite part. Normally I can handle doing mindless, tedious activities. I suppose feather plucking is the exception. I love to just sit and do nothing. I guess I'm thinking while doing nothing, but not about anything focused.

For dinner our friends invited us to have a bowl of chicken-noodle soup. It was delicious!

50 Dangerous Things: 02 - Play in a Hailstorm

2010-06-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

I have been waiting for another hailstorm, but I'm tired of waiting. I think they mostly happen in the spring around here, a couple times a year at most. With spring coming to an end I should be happy with what I have. Several weeks ago, probably over a month, it hailed. I happened to be at the elementary school helping install a flower garden. I didn't even think about the "Dangerous" activity of playing in a hailstorm. At home, however, the kids were all over it. Though, by the time the kids got their metal mixing bowls, or in Cedar's case a plastic colander, and Kim was able to find the camera to capture the moment, the hail had stopped. It really didn't last very long. I'm not sure they ever do. Even though the hail didn't last the fun did. I'm not sure where the boys and their bowls were when Kim took the pictures, but Cedar was ready.

50 Dangerous Things: 06 - Drive a Nail

2010-05-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

The boys have hammered things together and even built a ladder together last year. Between then and now the boys have been given their own hand tools so they don't have to misplace mine. So, this activity wasn't anything new as much as it was good practice and a great related activity after a Family Home Evening, which our church asks us to have every Monday night - not to be confused with our own creation of Family Fun Night on Friday nights, which is when we usually try and do a Dangerous Thing or whatever the kids think is fun, and eat homemade pizza. And not that we don't have fun during Family Home Evening, or try to between the chaos of having a family meeting with a spiritual focus with 3 young children. :-) Anyway, the lesson was about how an ancient prophet had to have a tower built so that more people could hear his message. We talked about other ancient stories the kids were familiar with where prophets had to build things, i.e. Noah. Then we thought we better practice a basic skill of building and drive some nails into wood. It was fun, yet not without incident. Myles smashed his fingers a few times and we were all reminded it's not a good idea to grab things out of someone else's hands. Doing so scraped Cedar's wrist with the fork? of the hammer. Ethan won the hammering race. Myles hammered two nails at once. They were impressed that I could drive the nail in with three hits.

50 Dangerous Things: 46 - Super Glue Your Fingers Together

2010-03-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

This was an interesting 50 Dangerous Things activity. Fun for the first 5 minutes, then we weren't sure we wanted our fingers glued together anymore. We tried to do a few things with our newly formed digits, like eat ice cream. That made it better for approximately the duration of eating the ice cream. We experienced the frustration highlighted in the book, especially when we didn't think the nail polish remover was working as quickly as it should have. It was more difficult to pull the fingers apart than I thought. I was scared I was going to rip the skin, and it felt like it, but no harm was done. If you are a contact wearer I recommend taking those out before this activity, or glue some fingers you won't use in taking the contacts out.

Right after the glue had set Ethan said, "I don't like this."

Myles clearly stated, "I DON'T want to do this."

The neat thing about this is, "while your fingers are stuck together, your brain will start to build a new mental map of your hand and its new limitations. This process is performed continually throughout our lives as our bodies grow and age. However, since the mental map of your working thumb and forefinger has been developing since your birth, you will instantly remember how to use your whole hand as soon as your fingers come free" (Fifty Dangerous Things, page 92). I think my fingers were stuck together just long enough to experience this and it was pretty cool.

Collage

2010-03-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have been slacking on the documentation of my 50 Dangerous Things goal. We've actually experienced a lull. Ethan broke his tibia a couple weeks ago from a 50 pound-speeding- dog-attached-to-his-scooter accident, which Kim posted on her blog. I do have a couple things I could write about but I would have to find the pictures, etc.

I have come across some really great things lately that I want to remember. Some are just entertaining videos of music that is new to me. Some are talks or otherwise insights from different people. I think I'll just put them together in this post even though there is no obvious connection. Though every now and then I am known to connect some seemingly disparate ideas. So here it goes. Maybe you'll make some connections. Maybe you'll find something you like as well. Don't be scared by the length of some of these. This is good stuff!

This video wouldn't let me embed it so the link was as good as I could do...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA

These are links to articles about fear, safety, danger, the value of fooling or playing around, creativity and risk.
http://www.tinkeringschool.com/blog/2010/dangerism/

http://www.tinkeringschool.com/blog/2010/self-provocation/

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/surely-you-must-be-choking/

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201003/einstein-creative-thinking-music-and-the-intuitive-art-scientific-imagination

.. and this is a great talk about play that I just watched

The Birds and the Bees

2010-02-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

This morning as I walked to my meeting at church at 7:00 a.m. I noticed the birds were very happy. Then when we came home from church at 1:00 p.m. I noticed the willow bush was buzzing with honey bees. It was a neat sound that I tried to capture with the camera. I have wanted my own bee colony for several years now. I think it would go nicely next to the garden that is always smaller than my grand vision ... next to the 4 happy chickens and 1 guine, the guine which is specifcally there to each squash bugs ... next to the large pond with waterfall. Hmm, it appears we might need to consider some land the next time we move.

50 Dangerous Things: 20 - Squash Pennies on a Railroad Track

2010-02-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

I have to admit this stretched my limits as a relaxed, flexible, go-with-the-flow individual and parent. I feel I have always had the ideal that parenting is not about protecting my children from any kind of harm. The Free-Range movement articulated by Lenore Skenazy validates much of the way I feel, though, of course, there is always a spectrum. Rather, I think a lot of parenting is about creating and providing experiences that cause children to grow, to be more thoughtful, to be stronger, and to be confident and knowledgeable about who they are and the possibilities of what they can become. Philosophy aside, I couldn't help but imagine that one of my kids would do something "stupid" resulting in tragedy. I tried to be relaxed because my understanding is that anxiety can be a catalyst for accidents. Am I hyper-sensitive for having this "movie" play through my head and feeling this way? I explained a simple structure for safety, but I'm a teacher and I know that (sometimes to our detriment) experience is the best teacher. I was firm in reminding them when I felt they exhibited carelessness. Needless to say, I am thankful my kids have begun to have experiences around the tracks. About five minutes after we placed the pennies on the track a train rolled by. They got to experience the size and speed of the train from outside of the car at a close range. After we came home to show Kim the squished pennies Ethan was excited to point out that we didn't get a ticket, we didn't get hit by a projectile, and we didn't get hit by the train! - the three points of danger highlighted in the book. I was pretty pleased we came away unscathed as well. :-) "Whoa!" pretty much sums up the kids' comments on this activity. Though, part of me thinks I observed a little disappointment from the boys when the squished penny didn't end up with a printed image of some kind, like with the machines at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. They got over it soon enough. I don't know what they are going to do with a squished penny, but they think it's pretty cool. We went back later with Kim and took a nice walk along the tracks by the river.

Monkey Jumping Off the Bed

2010-02-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know if the boys coaxed her to jump, but they were excited to show us.

Oink Update

2010-02-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

The pig at our friend's place is bigger now. We had to move the pen. The video is one attempt to put it in the dog crate for holding while we moved the stakes and fence. That pig did not want to go in the crate, even with food. Joel got tired of it and tried to use brute force, but even he wasn't strong enough. I was the only one without boots so I didn't go in the pen, but in the end I pulled on the pig's ear to get it to backup in the crate. Don't think that I got off easy in this project. I wrapped the chain around the bottom of the stakes so Joel could pull them up and out with the tractor. The chain was dragged all over the ground through inches of pig poop and pee. Blah-yuck! I think it took at least a day and several washings before the odor left my fingers.

Stand for Something

2010-02-14T20:38:00.000-08:00

I loosely follow a blog called No Impact Man. We recently watched the documentary by the same name. It was entertaining. I liked how the guy, with whatever motive it was (self-promotion, etc.), lived various, if not most green practices as an experiment to see what was really feasible for eliminating or reducing his family's carbon footprint. I didn't understand why some people were so passionately against his experiment ... Anyway, he posted this video on his blog, which I wanted to share and remember.

I really appreciate the positive perspective in this video and how she articulates core values that resonate with my own and the way I try to live my life. I laughed at one point, not so much out loud, it was more of a smile, when she started talking about using your energy for standing for what is right. I thought she sounded like the late Gordon B. Hinckley, Prophet and President of the LDS Church and author of Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes. So, here's to using my energy to create more positive experiences for myself and the people around me.

50 dangerous Things: 10- Play with the Vacuum Cleaner

2010-02-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

There were two parts to this activity suggested in the book. The Siren Jar and The Buzz Ribbon. I'm not sure we had the right size or type of jar because, although we achieved an annoying sound with the plastic water bottle I'm not sure it made the sound described. It was a little difficult for the boys to hold and keep the bottle in the spot that made the loudest sound. Ethan's observation was that it sounded like a recorder (the instrument). Myles said, "I think it's doing it because it's not blocking much air."

Cedar was already asleep when we did all this. She fell asleep on our bed around 4:30 pm. I woke her up at about 6:00 for dinner. We usually make pizza on Friday as part of our Family Fun Night. Okay, I just have to brag about Kim's pizza - freshly ground wheat, sauce made from our garden tomatoes canned in the summer, homemade pesto ... yum! yum! yum! In a few months we'll be able to add sausage from our first pig ... sorry, I got distracted. So, Cedar didn't even eat dinner. She put herself back to bed and we didn't see her until 6:30 this morning. I'm sure she would have enjoyed this part of the activity. I think the Buzz Ribbon was the favorite of the boys. Laughing hysterically, Ethan noticed, "It sounds like air coming out of a balloon!" Myles noticed the paper strip had frayed edges and was getting smaller and exclaimed, "It couldn't hold it! It got broke! It got broke!"

Cautiously, because we've never had such a long relationship with a vacuum before, and we didn't want Mr. Dyson's work to end with the boy's curiousity, I asked them if there was anything else they could think of to hold in the tube. Myles put in a platic sandwich bag. We found that was too big, so he decided to tear it in half and it worked okay. It made a more bubbly/popping sound. Ethan found green tissue paper. It didn't really make any fun sound, but we were able to see green specks fly into the canister. After Kleenex sarted filling the canister we ended the activity.

If you want to do this the book warns against putting the vacuum hose near the face because "the intense suction could do serious damage to your eyes." Since we have curious little boys we added that they shouldn't put ANY body part in the hose. :-)

Ladder Golf

2010-01-27T17:00:00.001-08:00

My dad made ladder golf games to give to us kids for Christmas. We didn't realize it could be an inside game as well as outside. This made for some good fun when it was too cold to want to go outside. It's challenging, but fun. I hate it when it spins around the bar and then spins off. I like how the balls can bounce off the ground onto the bars if played on a hard surface. I don't know what the rules say about that, but we play it that way. Our dog Jenny hates it when we play because we won't let her participate - she loves tennis balls! Anyway, thanks Dad!

50 Dangerous Things: 34 - Deconstruct an Appliance

2010-01-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

For our Family Fun Night we decided to end the evening by completing "dangerous" item number 34. We all really enjoyed it. Myles got to use his new tools he got from Grandpa and Grandma Hendricks for Christmas.

My job was to hold the toaster and make guiding remarks if needed. Kim's job was to to take pictures and observe the kids and record their comments. Of course, the kids' job was the deconstruction of the toaster, as opposed to destruction, as pointed out in the book.

There was a lot of excitement when it first started coming apart. It was like Christmas, only more exciting because it was a real surprise. "WHOA!" is how the comments began.

Ethan, "This one's getting loose ... ooops."

Myles, "I get to do that one next ... whoa, that was cool."

Cedar, "One, two, three, four, ..." (counting loose screws)

Ethan, "There's words inside!!!" "Where's the circuit board?"

Cedar, "I like the screwdriver."

Ethan called Grandpa Harper on the phone to test him on the meaning of the colored rings on the resistors. We'll keep his grade confidential. We wouldn't want to embarass a retired electrical engineer. :-)

50 dangerous Things: 04 - Kiss Hello Like the French

2010-01-18T20:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this isn't dangerous in the way most people think, but it is defined as something difficult for most of us North Americans. If we know how to give and receive a social greeting kiss then we have overcome a certain fear. Learning about that which we do not know, because culturally and/or socially more things are seen as hazardous for our children to do, is pretty much the premise of this book. Warning: don't be surprised if you get slapped if you misuse or do this incorrectly. This is an in-progress thing as we reside in North America in a culture with the biggest personal space requirements in the world. We will only be practicing on family. (The buzzed head is Cedar. We shaved it again so she wouldn't pull it out. She said in a happy voice, "I look like Grandpa!")

Moving Memories

2010-01-18T19:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was the funeral of Kim's grandmother. It was a really nice service. To sum it up, it was a wonderful celebration of her life and the importance of family relations. I could not believe how many people - family - were there. Throughout the night before and the day of the services there were loud happy moments when the whole family was enjoying each other's company catching up with one another (like the hula hoop contest ... I won) and there were silent moments quietly remembering Grandma.

Kim, being the oldest child in her family, was a pall bearer with 6 other cousins. They were also the oldest in their respective families, though they all happen to be men. She did a great job and I'm glad she did it even though she was the only lady.

50 Dangerous Things: 01 - Lick a 9-volt Battery

2010-01-11T11:46:00.000-08:00

Have you ever tasted electricity? The beginning of a resolution began last night with reciting the oath/creed/motto thingy in the front of this new book I got, 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your kids do) by Gever Tulley. To make it official we signed and dated the event on a piece of paper. Cedar was already asleep when this happened, but I'm sure we'll be able to catch her up.

Have you ever stuck your tongue to a 9-volt battery? It's scary!! But there isn't anything to be scared of, other than that you get a little shock. We had a fun time psyching ourselves out. I was the first one to do it and I needed a lot of help. It took several times before I actually did it (note picture of Myles gladly helping), which explains why there are more picture of me. The sensation is difficult to explain. If you leave it on for a full second the muscles in your tongue convulse, maybe like a tazer to the body on a small scale. It feels really weird. If you try this yourself the book cautions not to leave the battery on for more than a few seconds at a time.

Myles said, "Whoa! It just shocked me!" Kim said, "It has a weird aftertaste." Ethan said, "I don't want to do it." I said, "AHHHH!" :-)

What will you say?

Jenny the Dog

2010-01-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

Our dog is adjusting fine to the chaos of our family. We are very impressed with her. We feel lucky to have found her, and thankful to the people who trusted us to give her a good home. The kids play hide-n-go-seek with her. They sleep with her. Cedar even fell asleep with her in her kennel the other day.

50 Dangerous Things: A New Year's Resolution

2010-01-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

One of the things I came upon while browsing the inspiring talks last year at www.ted.com was a summer camp program for kids called Tinkering School by Gever Tulley. Pretty cool stuff. There's talk the next camp will be in Seattle this summer. I think it would be so cool if Ethan could go. We went to their blog and watched some of the things they've done and it looks neat. Until then, my goal is to focus on the book that I just got in the mail titled Fifty Dangerous Things (you should let your children do) by Gever Tulley with Julie Spiegler. It outlines in a parent and kid-friendly way how to engage in dangerous or scary activities in a safe way. Some deal with social realms like, "Kiss Hello Like the French", while others cause you to observe and experience the physical world such as, "Throw Things from a Moving Car". There are reasons and related information for each activity.

So, as I do these activities with my kids I plan on taking pictures and blogging about each one. I don't know if we can get to all fifty, but some are easier than others and some we have already done prior to knowing they were "dangerous". And I got off to a great start today by letting Cedar steer the car. She did great even with the snow!

Signs of Winter

2009-12-11T19:56:00.000-08:00

This morning was very, very frosty. It was really cool.

"Gingerbread" houses decorated the other day

The school Winter concert was last Tuesday.

Christmas lights - These lights were at some garden in the Seattle area. It was free and fun because we got to find a list of animals made out of lights (a frog, parrot, spider, dragon fly, jelly fish, etc.)

Decorating our artificial tree right after Thanksgiving.

And ... a pig in a dog crate in our van pretending we don't exist. Yes, a Christmas pig. I'll let Kim tell you about that one.

Hot, Hot, Hot! Home Depot

2009-11-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, three posts in a row ...

I think these trivets have been the most functional kid workshop project that we have ever attended at Home Depot. The project didn't include the tile so we went down to the tile section and sort of let the kids choose what they wanted. The plan is to use them for the Thanksgiving dinner. We'll just have to remember to pack them in the car!

Mr. Potato Head?

2009-11-19T15:25:00.000-08:00

I tried to show Myles and Ethan and duplicate something my siblings and I did when we were kids. It doesn't seem the same to me, but I can't really remember exactly how we did it when we were younger either. Though, I still think it turned out funny.

Shshsh ... They're Asleep

2009-11-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

When I checked on the kids the other night I couldn't help but smile.

Read to Kids

2009-11-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

I read this funny satire called 7 Things Good Parents Do That Screw Kids Up For Life on cracked.com. There's some foul language, so if that bothers you then you've had fair warning. I liked number 7 about "educational videos". It's funny because I like educational videos. Not Baby Einstein, though we almost bought a set at Costco when Ethan was little. That desire was short-lived. We saw the error of being sucked into good marketing. I do like Little Einsteins, most all the shows on PBS, and a couple others on Nickelodeon and Disney, which we would only watch when we went to my parents' house. Anyway, even though I like some educational videos I'm glad I know the value of cuddling, laughing, and interacting with while reading to my kids.

BOO!!!

2009-10-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

Trunk-er-treating at the church parking lot was fun. Lots of cars decorated nicely. There was even a haunted horse trailer that we got to walk through. Fried bread on the spot, hot chocolate, and of course the candy being passed out at each car. I actually "dressed" up. A little make-up and my top-hat from high school prom made for a decent look. Myles was a monkey, Cedar was a 50's girl, and Ethan was a wizard. When getting ready for bed the funniest thing was Cedar brushing her teeth and eating a sucker at the same time. She actually scrubbed her teeth with the sucker at one point. Pretty funny stuff ...

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

We had our Family Fun Night a little early this week (Kim and I will abandon the kids with family Friday and Saturday so that we can go to the Ani DiFranco concert in Portland.) All the kids were well enough to go out into public so we went to Hermiston to select the family pumpkin. The kids were so excited to have a reason to wear their rubber boots.

Kim's New Crush: Mo Willems

2009-10-11T20:13:00.001-07:00

Kim started following the blog of Mo Willems, author of the "pigeon" books. She admitted she has a crush on him. I'll have to keep an eye on her. :-) Mo is having a contest, a pigeon drawing contest. Luckily, we have an eligible contestant in our family, so for our family fun night we got out all the art supplies and drew, painted, or otherwise created pigeons. I will not be sending in my creations because I am not the eligible contestant, but I must show the world what I can do! The boys and I talked about what a Pablo Picasso-Mo Williams pigeon, a Vincent Van Gogh-Mo Williams pigeon, or an Eric Carle-Mo Williams pigeon might look like, etc. So, here's my pigeon debut thanks to my wife's new crush. (I like the googly eye. It was Ethan's idea to bring those out.)

A Pink Party

2009-10-09T20:09:00.002-07:00

I can't believe my little girl is 3. She has really gotten into the color pink. "My pink," she used to say about anything she saw that was pink, whether it was hers or not. Just a couple weeks ago she wouldn't let anything but the pink hair clipper attachment touch her head ... at least it's even.

So, a pink party was in order. Initially, we had ideas of a Pinkalicious (story by Victoria Kann) party but soon realized we didn't want to create the likes of elaborate Pinkalicious parties we found on the Internet. A loose pink color theme was enough for this 3 year old. She had a party with her home school preschool friends. Kim made pink "play-dough" for everyone as well as cupcakes that the kids got to frost themselves with pink frosting. They read Pinkalicious, learned about colors of the rainbow, went outside and saw a rainbow that Kim had made with water and the sunlight, and painted colors of the rainbow on leaves to make leaf prints. Myles was devastated that Cedar was having a party while he was at school. We had to reassure him too many times that we were going to have a family party as well. We had half of it one day - opening presents - right before I had to go to my other job, and the other half - lunch with fancy pink napkins and pink cake - on another day.

Highlights according to me were: Kim's newly-made celebration banner, lunch with the fancy pink napkins, the pink pedal-less bike (thanks sis for the inspiration!), seeing Cedar in her new pink shoes and rain boots (they were a steal at www.sierratradingpost.com), and catching her dancing after I noticed she snuck away from eating her cake. ... salsa tunes are always more tempting than cake

Conference Food

2009-10-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

Growing up I would go with my family to Grandma Norma's house every Fall and Spring for the LDS General Conference, otherwise known as 'going over to Grandma's and watching church on TV' day. Admittedly, most of my memories are of coloring, drawing ... pretty much anything to keep us kids quiet. But the best part of this day was the food. To this day my mind registers certain food with the sound of that huge organ playing hymns and the sleep-inducing tone of old men speaking. I am craving chicken chalupas, pink jello salad, deviled eggs, and Grandma's desserts like carrot cake or chocolate crazy cake and freshly baked variety of cookies, namely peanut butter, snicker doodle, and chocolate chip. So, it's been years since I've gone to Grandma Norma's for Conference, but I still want that food! I guess we'll just have to plan better next time.

Sinead O'Cedar

2009-09-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

I decided to shave Cedar's head last week. She pulls her hair out for some reason. We really should probably research it to figure out if there are ways we can help her stop. In the meantime, she will have a buzz cut. It sounds mean to do that to a little girl. Though, I think it's better looking than half her head with short hair and the other half with really short hair. I don't know ... this way she looks like she's recovering from cancer. The other way it looked like she had some other disease that wouldn't allow her hair to grow in normally. I wasn't planning on shaving it so short, but she insisted on having the pink attachment, which is second to the shortest. "The pink one! The pink one!" Hair or no hair, she is a beauty.

"Lost" Photos of Summer

2009-09-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

As I was looking for a certain photo I came across several that I forgot about. Kim coincidentally just posted a couple of them. Though, I didn't notice because she made three postings in the same day (I failed to scroll down below her post titled "Worms"). But, I still want to put it here.

Picture 1: I think there was some thin cardboard from a package we received. They made great masks.

Picture 2: Before we knew it we had a cabbage patch kid in our garden. (This was the one Kim posted the other day)

Picture 3: John Deer on the dairy farm

Picture 4: Seeking shelter just for fun at Smith Rock

Surprise! A Great Evening with Kids

2009-09-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

For all the "bad" times with which children grieve us adults it sometimes seems shocking when we experience wonderful moments with them, especially in public. At least that is how I feel. I get very anxious at times when the children accompany me and my wife because kids can be somewhat unpredictable and decide to misbehave in moments when you need them to behave the most.

This evening started out no different. We were beginning our semi-consistent Family Fun Night ritual. We decided to go to a sit-down restaurant in the bustling town of Hermiston. A certain individual of the family wanted Mexican. The certain individuals paying for the evening wanted Thai. We tried to talk it up by highlighting the unique, rustic, tavern ambiance and the sweet, sugary orange chicken of the Thia restaurant . Apparently we weren't convincing enough, the protest was actually very tame, and we decided to go to the Thai place anyway.

Side note: we don't normally pillage, but along the way to eat we couldn't pass up the opportunity to free up the side of the highway from bag fulls of fresh yellow onions. Now they won't go to waste on the side of the road and we don't have to make a trip to the store and buy some. Is dumpster diving next?

The kids were great in the restaurant. They liked some things we ordered and didn't like others - but they tried new things! They were intrigued with the decor and the fancily displayed pink napkins. They didn't ask for anything other than water to drink. They used appropriate voice levels and conversation topics, meaning, no "potty" sounds. I'm sure the people around us appreciated that, even without knowing it. They didn't draw attention to our table when told we weren't getting dessert. They were patient even while expressing concerns about the amount of time things were taking.

We went to the park afterward to play. They were enjoying themselves, but got in the car when we told them it was time to go.

We decided to end the evening with ice cream from our local grocer to be enjoyed in the comfort of our own home. Aside from spitting out the cookie dough chunks to be saved for the end, it was great. Mostly because they didn't clamor for seconds.

So, I'm glad we had a great evening with kids.

Progress

2009-08-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how interesting this really is to very many people, but I thought a progression of pictures of my recovery would be interesting to see. Surgery was Wednesday Aug 19. There is some dispute between Kim and I which day is which. However, for sure day one (Wed the 19th) is found on her blog. She says the pain meds confused me. So, here we go ... captions should be below the pics, but they kinda sorta are and aren't. I swear, what's with the lack of basic layout features (body text, pic, caption) with Blogger?!

day 2
Thursday

day 2

day 3
Friday

day 4

Saturday

Fast forward one week ...

Pictures weren't a priority with everyone but me puking

The bruising got worse - it spread over my eyelids

day 11

Saturday

I'm actually smiling!

A couple days ago I went back to the doctor to get the splints out and have the cast taken off. Apparently, my nose was wanting to go back to where it remembered being. I could have massaged it into place periodically throughout each day, but I'm glad the doctor played it safe and put a new cast on. He'll take it off next week.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

2009-08-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of my skydiving desires after talking with a coworker who did it this last June. It was perfect timing. Kim and I will have been married for 10 years this September. So, that became the reason we jumped out of a plane together, er, I mean, individually on the same trip. So, no, it wasn't all that romantic as one would assume from such a milestone as 10 years of heaven and ... not-so-heaven together. (Note: Kim was only humoring me in the beginning of this idea. She didn't think I was really going to follow through. Maybe I was extra determined because I wasn't sure about her excitement of the whole thing.)

Anyway, the premise of the jump was to show and remind us that we are still learning and growing, keeping things exciting and fresh, even after 10 years. 'Wow, that's a long time' commented my "guy", the person I was to be strapped to. He was only 23, so I'm sure I had similar thoughts at his age.

It was awesome. It was not scary. The anticipation was the worst part. We drove over three hours to Skydive Oregon in Molalla. We left our kids with both sets of grandparents in the picnic area. I'm so glad they were able to come and watch the experience. We took 20 minutes to sign our lives and any liability away. Took a short 10 minute instructional class. They strapped us up. We walked out, got on the plane, hooked up to our "guy", had a wonderful fall for about 7 minutes, went out to eat, then drove back home. It took a couple of hours from when we arrived to when we left and it was worth it even though less than 10 minutes of it was falling through the sky. It was short, but unbelievable. It was just so cool!

One of the cutest things was watching our three little kids and two of their little cousins jump off picnic tables practicing skydiving. Cedar keeps talking about how she is going to go up in a plane and put on a parachute - "a pink one just like daddy's."

Kim and I before preregistration

after strapping up

walking out to wait for the plane

Suddenly, I had to pee. J/K

It's a bird! ... It's Kim (yellow) and Kevin (pink)

Apparently, Kim pulled several serious stunt moves.

The rest of us were jealous. She didnt even want to go in the first place!

Assume landing position!

TOUCHDOWN!

I think we look totally tough walking back, like we saved the day.

"No Impact Man"

2009-07-31T21:01:00.000-07:00

I just read my Sierra Trading Post blog - speaking of Seirra Trading Post, I think they should pay me some sort of little stipend. That's where I buy nearly all my clothing and then some. It's where Kim and the kids get a lot of their clothing. I keep up on their blog. I tell everyone about how wonderful the company is because of the quality and low price of clothing. I feel like an enthusiastic employee. Yeah, so, I think they could cut me a little check for word of mouth marketing.

Anyway, I enjoyed this video trailer on Sierra's blog today and thought I would share. It's extreeme, but then it wouldn't be entertaining if it wasn't.

Family Backpacking Trip #2

2009-07-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

(Last year we went on our first family backpacking trip. It was just a one nighter and the kids were ages 6, 4, and almost 2. We went with my parents and a nephew who was 5. It was a couple miles in and a couple miles out.)

NOTE: pictures are more or less in chronological order and may or may not relate to text which is near it. I'm not sure I like the publishing features of Blogger, or I don't know how to use them. So, I guess this is a game - match the captions to the pictures!
- weigh in
- trail head
- on the trail still looking clean and happy
- skinny dipping in glacier pond near summit
- family photo on summit
- S. Sister from base camp at Moraine Lake

This year we had bigger things in mind. We just got home from spending 2 nights at Moraine Lake at the base of South Sister in the Cascade Mountain range in central Oregon.

This time everyone was a year older and my sister was able to come along with her son (the nephew). Again, it was a short hike in, about 2.5 miles. The boys had their own backpacking packs and carried their own sleeping gear, clothes, food, and water. Myles actually borrowed the same pack that my youngest brother used 21? years ago when he was about the same age for his first backpacking trip, which my mother held on to for some unknown reason. Cedar was too big for the kid carrier pack this year so we brought the jogger and it actually worked out great. Though, carrying 40 lbs. and pushing 40 lbs. was difficult at times. Highlights of the first day were sliding down and playing on snow patches, splashing around in the lake and creek, and cheesy potato soup with slices of hot dog. Why my mom thought to bring and add barbecued hot dogs to the soup is beyond me, but it was surprisingly tasty and a real hit with the kids. Unfortunately, the kids didn't want anything to do with the macaroni and cheese that was prepared for them. It's a good thing the adults weren't picky eaters.

The next day we went on a very popular, yet challenging hike. Ethan, Myles, and Kim strapped on day packs and I strapped on Cedar. I actually improvised carrying her with 2 neon green strips of rubber exercise bands that I used to strap my sleeping bag to my pack. Thanks to my sister, Cedar had a reasonably comfortable ride; a ride that lasted approximately half the day. Yes, literally. Well, 9:30 am to 9:30 pm is, yep, as in 12 hours. The terrain was too steep and loose for most of the way for Cedar to walk so she just stayed on my back. Thankfully my sister took a turn on the way up so I could take a break.

So, in our minds we were flexible with what would become of the day hike because we were hiking with kids. In our hearts we were determined to summit (10, 300 ft) and get a family picture and the bragging rights that go along with having 3 generations age 62 down to almost 3 on top of a mountain where we gained 4,000 feet in 3.7 miles. I don't think we broke any records and it wasn't Everest or even McKinley, but it was challenging, even a little dangerous, and I'm looking forward to more backpacking with my family. Maybe in 30 years Kim and I will be backpacking with our grandchildren.

Highlights of day 3: walking back over the log bridge and Dairy Queen in Madras on the way home.

Be Creative @ Your Library: Boardman Report

2009-07-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

We took the opportunity to attend a children's music concert this morning at our library as part of the state wide reading program themed Be Creative @ Your Library. Each week the library provides storytime for elementary aged kids that go along with the theme. This morning was a special program performed by Eric Herman (or Hermit as one of my children pronounced it) in addition to yesterday's story time. It was fun! We all sang and danced. There was a dance contest. Audience members (one was a lucky mom) who performed a bike bell and bike horns with Eric. At one point he made a joke about putting something on YouTube.com. I thought he was kidding until we came home and saw that he actually has a few videos posted there. This was one of the kid's favorites.

New Blog I Follow: TED

2009-07-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

I don't remember how, but I was reminded recently of the really cool site TED. Lo and behold (no surprise) they have a blog to follow. The information and topics shared from experts in a variety of fields through short videos are inspiring and thought provoking. Here's one I watched this morning that I liked and thought was well suited for a general audience. My favorite part is when he connects to "experience". John Dewey, anyone?

Another title I thought interesting was Exploring the Mind of a Killer: Jim Fallon, but I haven't watched that yet.

I love omlets!

2009-07-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

About a month or so ago I went to a city council meeting to request that the city change the ordinance about chickens inside city limits. I thought if Portland can have chickens why can't we? I haven't heard back from the city on the issue. I keep forgetting to contact the city myself and follow up. There also might be an issue with my neighborhood development rules that would have to be overcome. All I want are 3 to 5 chickens in my backyard so I can have fresh eggs. I see the chickens as an extension of the garden. I see them as a learning and growing experience for me and my family. I also see them as way less of a pest than my dog. Why don't people have to get a permit to have a dog in the city. I swear, the crap ....

... Back to chickens. Kim is currently reading Coop by Michael Perry, (click the link for a news interview on his book from his website) which is not how to take care of chickens but a narrative of his life, which involves chickens. . HarperCollins also has a video of him promoting Coop.

A friend of mine has discussed and shared chicken coop design plans. We are a little jealous becuase they live more in the country than we do (of a neighboring town) and got chickens this last spring. Anyway, I had to share this product for keeping chickens. It's kind of cool in a funny way, or kind of funny in a cool way. I'm not sure which. Click the link or the picture for a short article from Dwell on this product.

Staying Cool In the Pool

2009-07-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

We bought a pool we found on Craigslist.org several weeks ago. I was against the idea, but I knew Kim really wanted to take on this new experience. She researched things inside and out and talked with people who had pools to get their feedback and opinions. Now, I love it. I'm glad she stuck to her guns and found a pool. It doesn't really jive with our consumerism ideals, however, we did buy it used. And driving in to Hermiston every day to swim with a bunch of other people sounded less than desirable and cost prohibitive. And it does support our family ideals. The more things we find that we like to do together the better. And even though we aren't hiking in amongst the trees along a river to a swimming hole like Kim and I would love, it does coincide with our desire to be physically active as a family.

Okay, so it might sound that I'm justifying the purchase of the pool. I suppose this my way of thinking it through and reminding myself we did a good thing.

I read recently on my psychology blog that to be happy you should spend money on experiences, not things. This is the way we see the pool. Although it is a "thing" the experiences will presumably outweigh the "thing"ness of it all. And even though we enjoy being in the pool as a family we also like to share. Most of the summer has been spent in the pool friends and family. I can tell the rest of the summer will be spent in the pool with friends and family. You should see the tan lines on the boys already. Yikes!

July 4th

2009-07-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

As little and out in the middle of nowhere as our town is they do a decent 4th of July. This morning we went the to Scout breakfast. You can't beat all-you-can-eat pancakes with bacon and scrambled eggs. I smiled as we drove past the 5k runners. I used to run and sometimes I still think I do, but my lame excuses were that I have 3 little kids and it was nearing 80 degrees by 8:00 a.m.

The parade was fun and Ethan and Myles were in it. They were on the Funtastic Kids summer program float. One of my favorite was the mariachi band followed by the Mexican horse riders, sombreros and all. They looked sharp and several of the horses danced for us.

The kids are back at the park for kid activities like the jumping castle, water slide, etc... There is a talent show and several other things going on at the Maria. Of course, the day will end with a firework show. In the meantime, I'm at home watching the home made ice cream and helping getting ready for a last minute BBQ at our house. It should be fun. There's nothing like a BBQ, ice cream, friends and family.

A Father's Day

2009-06-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

I'm going to share my day. Depending on how you read this it may appear braggy or annoying, like, who really cares about how wonderful my day was? Keep in mind this is just one day, not my whole life, every day. It was a great day so I'm going to write about it, dang it, whether it sounds annoying or not.

My day began with sleeping in until 7:00 am. I knew I was going to skip my first morning church meeting, so this wasn't a surprise. I normally wake up to an awful sound at 6:00 am. I got out of the shower and the aroma of bacon filled the house. I sat down to a nice family breakfast of English muffin fried egg and bacon sandwiches, kiwi fruit, cocoa puffs, and a smoothie. The kids must have thought I would like the puffs. And I most certainly did this morning. Before school got out for summer Ethan made me a Father's Day place mat, which I enjoyed with breakfast, as well. Myles made a card and inside drew a lovely picture of me. After breakfast another gift was presented. I got another big canvas to paint! I'm thinking I'll apply a cool blue color scheme this time. It should look good against an orange wall, which is another home improvement project that hasn't happened yet.

Well, I was a little late in getting out the door to the 8:00 meeting, so I stayed with my family and helped them get ready for church. At church I got my own little bag of delicious homemade cookies from the Relief Society presidency. I didn't have any small children with me so I got to have it all to myself. Though, I would have been happy to share. During the Sunday school lesson the teacher passed around taffy, so I took three for my kids to make up for hogging the cookies.

After church Kim put together a quick, simple, and tasty lunch of turkey multi-grain wraps loaded with spinach. After, I was surprised with my own special dessert of a Twix and Henry Weinhard's gourmet root beer. This treat was shared with the kids even though I didn't really want to. Don't worry, there aren't any hard feelings. Jack Johnson is right - It's always more fun to share with everyone.

Then on the couch I napped, and napped, and napped. I came in and out of consciousness with children's voices and loving reminders to whisper because "Daddy's sleeping". I finally opened my eyes and saw another surprise. I don't think it was actually for me, but I enjoyed it. Kim and the kids painted a lovely nature scene of flowers, trees, clouds, birds, and the sun on the outside of the sliding glass door with tempera paint. I think we'll make this a regular event.

Then came dinner: wild salmon glazed with a homemade pineapple apricot jam (We feel like we can afford this luxury for special occasions because we have discovered the kids don't like salmon. Sorry, Grandpa. Your age-old salmon baking skills passed on through generations don't show much potential to be used by these grandchildren of yours at this time. Though, I'm sure things will change.); a fresh garden salad (I love having a garden!) with feta cheese and dried cranberries ; hot-out-of-the-oven-fresh baked crusty bread; and dark chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream for desert.

I don't know what it is, but my senses have been heightened and I am filled with gratitude for all my blessings, from the simplest things, like how the blue-green wall in the kitchen interacted with the orange salmon, to the children's laughter, to my love for my wife and kids. The whole day has just been very simple and romantic.

I think being thoughtful leads to being grateful. I guess it's a good thing we have special occasions to help us to be thoughtful, even if they are commercialized. Too bad we aren't always as thoughtful as days like this. It just might make the world a better place for everyone.

Myles Is Still All Smiles!

2009-06-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

There it is folks. The result of the collision Myles experienced earlier this week. It was worth a dollar. Right, Myles? I heard he was a champ while the dentist worked on him. The personal TV and movie probably helped a little. Life is back to normal just in time to celebrate his birthday

I just got to thinking. Between Ethan and Myles they have had about 4 teeth pulled in the last year. Zero have naturally come out on their own.

JUMP!?

2009-06-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, they say that if you verbalize and tell other people of your goals then you are more likely to accomplish them. Well, while saving for a trip to Puerto Rico or Mexico is still in the back of our minds it is a long ways down the road and therefore has been difficult to put $100 or more away every month.

Here is another goal that is more likely to happen. This is a special year. Kim and I will be celebrating 10 years of marriage this September. And what better way to celebrate 10 years of happiness and struggle than to jump out of an airplane! AAAHHHH!

Nothing is official, but I would like to go with Skydive Oregon out of Molalla. A group of six would get a $20 discount per person if paid in cash. WHO WANTS TO CELEBRATE!? Goodness gracious, my heart is racing just thinking about it.

Where In The World...?

2009-06-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

A month or two ago I noticed a little red dot on my little map indicating that a computer in Sweden had made connection with my blog. Presumably there was a person involved and they actually read something. I thought it was kind of cool. For some reason I have always had a place in my heart for Sweden.

Then today I noticed more little red dots on the little map. It looks like a couple hits from the same spot in Mexico, Australia, and Malaysia. I'm not sure what to think of it. How did they get there? I have tried to google my blog in the past and for the life of me could not find it. My blog is open to the world for anyone happens to find it and who wishes to read it. I'd like to think my writing is so wonderful that people are on the edge of their seats waiting for the next post and sharing it with family and friends, who then share it with family and friends, and so on. However, I doubt this is the reason for the recent meager accumulation of red dots from around the world. I know my mom and dad and a few friends read my blog regularly, as shown by the bigger dots. A sibling or two may read it every now and then.

Anyway, even though I don't know who is behind the dots I like to see them pop up. So, for those who read my blog, if you are traveling a fair distance from your regular computer location I want you to find a computer and visit my blog. Maybe you could leave a comment on the most recent post. Something like, "Hello from Costa Rica!" or wherever you happen to be.

Better Late Than Never

2009-06-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write about fighting allergies with rinsing your nasal passages, but Kim vetoed that one when she saw me trying to take pictures of the procedure on myself. It's really great, but I have chosen to write about our garden instead.

I really like the wood frames we put in. Though, I'm not sure they can be called "raised beds" yet because we didn't fill them with any dirt. Maybe next year. We did throw in a few bags of steer manure, but other than that the soil is the original goat-head infested sandy stuff with last year's sunflower jungle seeds everywhere.

Generally, we try to grow things that can't be found in a standard grocery store. Okay, that might sound a little snobbish. We try to make it as exciting as possible for as much labor we are required to put in it. In the end, we are happy with what the Earth gives us. So, we have some purple potatoes, rainbow carrots, yellow watermelon, and a few varieties of heirloom tomatoes mixed with your standard pumpkin, yellow squash, beans, and peas.

Anyway, as usual we planted things late and the garden is very young. As the saying goes, better late than never. We could have been enjoying the fruits of our labor by now if we had been on the stick. The more delicate spring plants will just have to toughen up if they want to be part of a Kim and Kevin family garden. Because the plants are so small I tried to get really close to make them look bigger, but since I told you that I guess there will be no illusion.

Hope your gardens are doing well!

over 250 sq ft of growing space doesn't look like much when the plants are tiny

sunflower

tomato

lettuce

peas

purple potato

bush bean

Yes, A Toilet Seat

2009-05-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

As a person who is intrigued with form and function, seemingly silly things can excite me. For example, a toilet seat. As simple of an object as it may seem there is a lot of thought and work that goes into creating one. Who would have thought someone could improve upon the padded seat or elongated contour? I love the toilet seat I now have. It defies the laws of gravity with a spring or tension or something, I really don't care, and slowly closes ending it's trick with a quiet gentle tap. If you have or have had kids you know why this is so cool. You just might not be as excited as I am. Kim seems to recall having spent a small fortune on this thing. I swear we didn't spend that much more than a nice regular seat. My only disappointment is that I didn't install it sooner and we don't have one in the kid's bathroom.

I've Heard of Urban Hiking ...

2009-05-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

... but, is there such a thing as rural hiking? I've never heard of it, but if there is such a thing I think we just did it. Background info - Last Christmas Ethan got a kid-sized backpacking backpack from his backpacking enthusiast Grandma Harper. (Myles would have gotten one too, but they don't really make them that small. Though, he did get a very special backpack for such adventures.) So, they boys got to test out their new equipment on our first backpacking trip of the year.

Friday afternoon Ethan, Myles, and I set out the front door with our gear and ventured off through our town to join our church ward's annual father-and-son camp out. We hiked a mile or two over to the river and slept over night at the campground. Though, the minute we started hiking the boys began panting. They were being silly of course, but they didn't realize it. They carried their sleeping bag, clothes, water, and stuffed animals. They certainly were not packed down like pack animals, so the panting was definitely a child's dramatic interpretation of what backpacking is supposed to look like. There was only one minor flesh wound after Myles misstepped while "practicing balancing for kindergarten" on a section of curb between the City Hall and grocery store. We rested at the library. A little while later we stopped at the hamburger joint and had dinner. They loved it, especially the cream-filled chocolate covered donut for dessert. Then we went into the gas station to buy some candy to eat later that night in the tent. We slept great. In the morning we enjoyed breakfast, which was provided by the Bishop and his councilors. We headed home at about 11:00 am. The funniest part on the way home was when I got down to tie Ethan's shoe in front of Banner Bank. He had been a bit grumpy from the get-go, and keep in mind we were on the main road, which was surprisingly busy. I tied his shoe, got up, and started walking with Myles on our merry way. Next thing I know Ethan was screaming and yelling while down on the sidewalk, "I can't get up! I CAN'T GET UP!" He was lying face up, fists clenched, and eyes shut tight to block the blinding sun, unable to get up as he was weighted down by his backpack. I know he was mad, but I laughed. Stopping at the grocery store to get candy and cold drinks helped make things better. We sat down in the shade at the front of the store and watched dozens of volunteers spread bark mulch while we relaxed. I was kind of glad I forgot about the city clean-up day. We eventually made it home. Even though I'm sure we looked rather odd walking around our little town, across the freeway to the river and back, I'm glad we did it. Lot's of waves and friendly smiles from passing cars. I can't wait to go "real" backpacking this summer.

P.S. - I thought the fuzzy center of this picture looked familiar. Alas, a fingerprint on the camera lens that I will blame on my little budding photographers. Just looking at the previous picture from Spring S'mores I thought it was the smoke creating that hazy effect. Come to think of it, it looks just like the computer and TV screens. Oh well.

Spring S'mores

2009-05-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. I took those stinking rocks I've collected over the past 4 years and made my fire pit. I dug out several buckets full of dirt because I wanted the rocks to be level with the grass in hopes that it would ease maintenance when mowing. I was so excited for having done something productive that I wanted to have a marshmallow roast to celebrate. I figured I deserved it after a blister and an afternoon of hard work. Nobody argued with the idea so we set off to the store, called the number on our burn permit, and then I threw away a dead mouse from the garage so that Kim could get to the bin with the roasting sticks. Although, finding something to start the fire with was an adventure. We even tried asking the neighbors. Thankfully, after the 5th house someone was finally home and they were able to help. Yes, we were determined and it paid off. And it was a miracle that there was no wind. We had a great time!

P.S. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were a fun substitute for chocolate bars.

What Not to Say to Kids About Food

2009-04-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

I am really enjoying the weekends when I make more time to read - blogs, that is. I've never been much for novels of any kind. I much prefer academic journals or articles related to education, culture, or health, or things with an emphasis on design, whether it be landscaping, architecture, interior design, photography, painting, product design, graphic design, or the like. Above all, it has to be short.

Anyway, I was reading a Psychology Today blog after putting the kids down. I had to laugh at myself because I have said ALL the things the author says not to say to children about food. Interestingly, I seem to remember a parent or two saying the exact same things to me. They are:

"Don't play with your food!" The picture above was taken today before I read the blog. Ethan and Myles were playing with their food. I'm all about this kind of play. However, I don't like tossing, flicking, flooding, or submerging. I guess if they cleaned it up, more power to them. So maybe I should say, Don't make a mess with your food unless you eat it...? Note: Ethan said the apples are the dimples of the banana smile

"No dessert until you finish your meal!"

"Finish everything on your plate!"

"No laughing at the dinner table!"

"Feel bad? Let's go for ice cream."

"If you're good, you get a treat!"

"Don't you realize that kids in Africa are starving? You should feel thankful to eat!"

Click here or the link above to get the article, which explains why we shouldn't say those things.

Cheers!

Reality TV is as Old as Shakespeare and the Romans?

2009-04-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have begun to follow Psychology Today blogs (in addition to friend's blogs - my family has yet to jump on the blogging bandwagon) as a result of attending a webinar featuring neuoroscientist and middle school teacher Judy Willis. From my understanding neuroscience (a.k.a. brain research) is a relatively new field with fascinating implications for just about everything: parenting, education, social work, television, etc. I came upon this article about Susan Boyle, the newest international sensation from Scotland who has been viewed by over 40 million people on You Tube for her, uh, voice. Don't get me wrong. Her voice is great. Although, this article gives some insight as to why she might be so famous. Click the link below and at least skim the article. It's short, but too long to copy and paste for this post.

http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-literary-mind/200904/the-staging-susan-boyle

For more interesting reads you can click The Essential Read from my blog list.

"We don't do that" and Easter Morning Traditions

2009-04-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, this morning at one of my church meetings someone was sharing Easter memories they do not look fondly upon. It was the whole Sunday-Easter-outfit-and-family-photo tradition that this person was recounting, which I have heard grumbling musings about from many different people on this very thing. I have memories of an Easter outfit, believe it or not, which I felt embarrassed about. Sorry, Mom. I am grateful for everything you've done for me, but I felt like the biggest dork for having such a coordinated spring outfit. Fortunately, I don't have a picture. This is what I remember - pastel yellow pants, matching socks to be worn with my leather stitched boat shoes and matching belt, a pastel yellow knitted tie, and short-sleeved, spring-colored madras pattern button-up shirt. Apparently, that was cool ... at least the knitted tie.

Thinking I have been a better parent for not making my family participate in such a seemingly high priority of family bonding I commented something like, "Oh, yeah, we don't do that", implying that my wife and I have learned from other people's mistakes. I was surprised by what my eyes saw when I walked in the door of my house upon returning from my meeting. I froze as I saw Kim frustratingly trying to compose the equally frustrated and uncooperative kids to capture the Kodak moment. I even started helping by opening up the blinds and curtains to let in the natural light! What was I thinking? At least the lighting will be good. Admittedly, we bought the boys new Sunday clothes (white shirt, tie, khakis) for the occasion, which they needed anyway. Pretty standard, no pastels. Kim made Cedar a dress, which, although made for Easter, is highly functional in just about any setting. No pastel colors either, just standard pink with polka-dots. Plus, Kim made it and that's pretty cool. But the photo session - that was a surprise and ironically timely considering my comment without her knowledge. So, here's to a tradition that must be hard wired somehow in our genetic makeup. (In case you're wondering, Cedar is drinking from her new water bottle she got in her Easter basket this morning. Each of the kids got one and she was particularly attached to it at the moment.)

Chickens and Lions

2009-04-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ethan and Myles have been playing all day in the dining room. They have taken a few eggs and put them in a scrap fabric nest, rearranged the chairs, and added some yarn and tape in there too. I have heard them refer to this creation as the 'chicken yard'. They take turns being the rooster and farmer. The rooster cock-a-doodle-doos and wakes up the farmer, who then takes the basket to collect the eggs. More recently this afternoon Cedar put on the lion costume and roared at the chicken and farmer. I thought it was a fairly funny event.

Living with Others in Peace and Harmony

2009-03-17T20:59:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I am active in the LDS church. One of my Sunday classes I attend is called Elders Quorum. For many men this is an infamous hour of forced dialogue. Teaching a lesson in Elders Quorum can be challenging. Most men are happy to give short answers, not willing to expound or share too much insight. For that would show spiritual aptitude, which is darn near close to being in touch with one's feelings.

However, last Sunday was actually exciting. The lesson, chapter 29 highlighted examples of how Joseph Smith followed the teachings of the Savior Jesus Christ in being a peacemaker, trying to cultivate harmony and respect with other faiths and people who persecuted him and the general population of the Church.

A question that challenged some people's assumptions, ideologies, and mortal thinking was, what about Muslims? What I came away with was a greater insight about my relationships with people. I cannot allow my negative past experiences or relationships with people belonging to a certain group to take away potential positive experiences or relationships with people belonging to that same group. (I don't have negative experiences with Muslims, but some people in the group did. Therefor, it was difficult for them not to group all Muslims in the same awful group based on their lenses.)

Some thoughts:

Muslims want everyone else to be Muslim. Guess what? Christians want everyone else to be Christian. Well, and generally each Christian group wants everyone else to be that specific Christan group. People do some pretty insane stuff in the name of Christianity. I'm not a history buff, but what about Holy Wars? Was that really very Christian? So, I think we are more the same than we are different. Do I want to be seen as being the same as those wacky, violent Christians? No!
It takes a sound and in-depth understanding of who you are and what you stand for to be a peacemaker and respect opposing views, especially when those views seek to harm or destroy you.
The Atonement can heal pejudice
Bringing it back home: I cannot allow my negative past experiences or relationships with rednecks to take away potential positive experiences or relationships with people belonging to that same group.

For Evelyn In Memory of Loyal

2009-03-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa Loyal Harper's birthday is coming up at the end of this month and Memorial Day is not far after. He died at the age of 80 about a week before Memorial Day in 2005. He was fishing on the Rogue River and reeled in a really nice big salmon (with the help of a fishing buddy) for my parent's annual Crescent Lake camping salmon bake. It wore him out so he sat down to rest and then passed away. It sounds like a movie scene to me and if I were a writer I might attempt to write the script. The movie would be about life and love.

Anyway, he served in the Navy. I was talking with my Grandma Harper around Labor Day last September 2008 letting her know that my son Ethan had taken Grandpa Harper's "whites" to school to share with his classmates. Before this conversation I had put on my late Grandpa's gift to me. It sounds kind of silly, but it was neat to put them on. He was obviously shorter and more muscular than me. Well, and even though there's about 10 years difference in age ... The clothing was made for his 20 or so year old body. I'm 32 and haven't changed much since high school, but that's for another day. So, my grandmother, upon discovering this bit of information about me in his whites, decided she wanted a picture. I'm not as sharp looking as my grandpa was and I have had 10 plus more years to develop a nice hairy chest.

In loving memory of my Grandpa Loyal Harper, who took me fishing (at my request at a young age) even though he knew we wouldn't catch anything in that Crescent Lake.

Twitter.com/kevharp

2009-03-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

This is especially funny because I just created a Twitter account. To be honest, I don't get it. I might have to deactivate it just like I did with Facebook after trying it out for a month. No offense to anyone who finds these "tools" as useful. I think they're ... interesting, or something.

This is a short podcast on NPR by Brian Unger sharing his thoughts about Twitter. Click the link below. That will take you to the main page. Then just click Listen Now for your laugh. Yeah, I will have to get rid of my Twitter account because I totally agree with him!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101619832

OMSI in Boardman

2009-03-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

OMSI came through Boardman last Friday and we enjoyed it. Cedar touched a real snake (with Dad) and experimented with a wind machine and a balloon. She also enjoyed the magnets. I had a quick conversation with the librarian about free energy and satellite ladders. He was interesting to talk to and I think would really enjoy conversations with my dad.

The boys appeared to really enjoy the whole thing as well. There were so many fun puzzles - hands-on, open-ended science and math puzzles. The picture of them is experimenting with color/light and motion. They liked spinning those discs around to make the colors change (a yellow and red disc turned orange, etc.) I would love a grandparent to make some of these puzzles and give them to their grandchildren (my kids) for birthdays and Christmas. Good idea, right, Dad?

Smoothie Recipies?

2009-03-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, two posts in one day. I must have nothing better to do. :-)

This last week was Oregon Classified Teacher Appreciation Week. In my building it is usually a week where the certified staff (a.k.a teachers or most anyone else licensed with the infamous organization TSPC) expresses appreciation to all the educational aids, office staff, and custodians for their work in making the school function better for us and the students. So, us teachers frantically planned the week before in selecting a theme and what we would do.

I was on the Smooth(ie) Sailing Social for Wednesday afternoon. Apparently, nobody but me and the music teacher (who wasn't going to be there that day) knew how to make a smoothie. They knew that smoothies were fruity, cold, and refreshingly thick drinks made in a blender, but they didn't know how to make one. I was amazed. I reassured them that it really wasn't that difficult. Throw in whatever you think will taste good together and blend. No, literally. No, finding a recipe would be a waste of our time. I ended up making very specific assignments of things to bring.

I'm glad I ended up skipping out of something else to help make the smoothies because I'm not sure what would have happened. Even after all the ingredients were on the table and I suggested throwing in a banana, a handful of each of the other ingredients, a couple spoonfuls of orange juice concentrate, and water they were still unsure. So, I showed them. I was amazed with how amazed one teacher was. She wanted to take notes! She told me to wait so she could see better and she looked intensely at the pomegranate juice to make sure she knew exactly what it was. Simply knowing it was pomegranate juice was not enough. She studied the bottle. I hope she doesn't freak out at the grocery store when she can't find that exact bottle. I hope she understands that any pomegranate juice will do, no matter what kind of bottle it comes in. I think the idea that any fruit juice will do was a little too hazy for her. They were a little shocked about carrots going in the mix. I figure carrots are relatively sweet so you might as well throw some in and get your vegetables. If V8 can do it then so can I. Granted, some of my personal smoothie tastes might be seen as odd. Anyway, the simple raspberry, blackberry, and strawberry fruit smoothies we made were delicious. I feel proud to have stretched one's palate and imagination.

So this post is dedicated to sharing smoothie ideas. In no particular order my preferred standard ingredients upon availability are: banana, berries (cranberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry), other fruit (like peaches, mangoes, cherries), carrots, ginger root, fruit juice (apple or orange from concentrate), plain yogurt, and liquid (milk or water).

I have also been known to include red pepper (they're not as sweet as carrots, but just a little will add an intriguing flavor, not to mention some veggie vitamins), ground flax seed (for the omega 3s), tofu (for the protein), avocado (good fat), wheat germ, honey (but only if the fruit isn't as ripe and sweet), and even more occasionally cayenne pepper for a spicy kick (which goes well in hot chocolate too), ... I think that's about it.

Sometimes my smoothies are a simple treat like an orange julius. Most of the time they are jam packed with earth-muffin-crunchy-granola goodness.

I Love My Students

2009-03-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

As many of you know I am a teacher in a K-3 building. I teach English language development to children whose first language is not English. In my school about 65% of students are learning English and their first language is Spanish. Anyway, yesterday one of my kinders walked in, gave me a big hug, and said, "Mr. Harper, I"m so proud of you! These computers are great!" I love my students.

Art is Great

2009-03-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

One of Kim's friends sent this along. I know nothing about it, other than that I like it and wanted to share it. I know any person with any ounce of creativity will appreciate it. I think it also resonates with the philosopher in me. I tend to think about things, like the meaning, value, or importance of things like art, design, nature, power, intelligence, truth, education, and learning. Sorry, didn't mean to bore anyone with that last sentence. Enjoy the show.

The Farm Cafe

2009-02-24T17:29:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday night I went out to dinner with my oldest sister and her significant other. (I was in Portland attending a technology conference for a couple days.) We went to The Farm Cafe and I loved it. I had the best veggie burger I have ever had. I'm pretty sure they didn't pull this out of the freezer and make it look fancy. I'm not sure how to describe it other than it was a thick patty with slices of red pepper on toasted ciabatta bread. Yum! It's my new favorite place to eat.

Why is there water everywhere!?

2009-02-16T11:44:00.000-08:00

Home maintenance is a part of buying a home. That doesn't make it any more fun. Especially at 8:00 pm. Actually, my idea of home maintenance is more about painting, upgrading light fixtures or faucets, putting in tile floors, landscaping, or the like. Crawling (on my stomach, literally) under the house to investigate is about as fun as... well, something not very enjoyable. Thankfully I know someone who knows a few things who helped pinpoint the problem and fix it. Since handyman work is somewhat of a novelty for me I had Kim take a couple pictures. Thankfully the problem was with an outside faucet whose hose was acidentally left screwed on. The water in the hose froze and pushed its way back into the pipe in the house busting the metal pipe open. We fixed it making a hole in the master bathroom. Exciting stuff.

Faith and Finding Strength in Others

2009-02-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

I received an e-mail from my mom who received an e-mail from her friend with a link to this really neat video clip about the LDS faith. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I was very impressed with how the girl in the video communicated and shared her testimony. It was intelligent, honest, and sincere. Take a moment to check it out.

Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo.

Response to Title Explained

2009-02-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post my comment to the previous posting's comments. Huh? If this posting doesn't make sense then read the previous post and comments.

okay, so I feel the love.

A couple of things - I know there are all types of people no matter where you go. With time you will associate with the ones you identify and have common values with.
The other, I hope nobody feels I was singling them out. I know at least 3 people have read my blog (yeah!) and thank you for your kind comments.

I think I understand teasing. What I don't understand is the repetitious pattern. I think when you meet someone new or discover something new about someone it is normal to find the humor, notice the differences, and tease them a few times about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention the stranger who asked if I was a tree hugger. I was in Pendleton working at the ESD last year, shared some small talk with some lady and she asked me if I was a tree hugger. How do you respond to that? I was perplexed. I think we should allow fires to burn naturally to clean the forest floor (otherwise too much fuel will be allowed to grow and when a fire does come through it will cause a raging hot fire and kill the trees, too, instead of just the underbrush.) And I don't think we should clear cut or slash and burn. If I understand the science correctly, trees are the reason we have the air we breathe.

So, maybe I take people's comments of being a granola, hippie, or tree hugger more seriously because, well, I'm not a big teaser, but because I take seriously comments and attitudes that don't serve to help or educate - in anything, not just the environment. Again, I have my own areas of inconsistencies and apologize in advance if you catch me taking a long hot shower. I know it's wasteful. I don't think I even have a low flow shower head. Anyway ... Unfortunately, people really believe environmental issues are a bunch of hogwash. So, that may be why I automatically put up the defense and interpret comments as negative.

What we say and do individually has a collective impact on this world.

Title Explained

2009-02-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

I am staying home from church with my sick daughter today so I have a little time on my hands. I thought I should explain my blog title.

Ever since moving to this small Eastern Oregon town I have been called a hippie by youth and adults alike. Not every day, but enough. Apparently I stick out like a sore thumb. Any real hippie would laugh because I am far from what I know a hippie to be. Being called a hippie actually makes me laugh, too, but out of confusion. What do they mean? So, what if I really am a hippie? What do I do to deserve being called a name they seemingly understand as a person's physical characteristics or way of life and acceptable to make fun of? It didn't take long for some of Eastern Oregon's stereotypes to reveal themselves. Anyway, then someone admitted that I wasn't really a hippie, but that I was more of a granola. (Would hippie and granola be proper nouns?) Personally, I identify with the term granola more than hippie so I guess that's an improvement. I still can't help but wonder why or how that's how people see me. Why is it seen as a point of difference? What is it that they think they know about me? Yeah, I enjoy quality outdoor clothing and gear. I camp and hike. I don't hunt or fish. I wouldn't mind fishing for salmon but I don't have the gear. I like to eat quality and healthy food, including food from a garden or farmer's market or food from different countries. I believe in the medicinal power of common things in their more or less untouched state. There is nothing better than being able to grind your own wheat and bake bread with it, especially when it turns out right. I don't like being a consumer or being wasteful. I want to recycle and be a good steward of Earth. I don't believe in a whitewashed truth from any country or culture. I hope for equity and justice for all, not just those who are like me. On top of that I may be inconsistent and hypocritical at times. If that's what makes a hippie or granola then so be it. I don't see what is so funny or peculiar about those things. I wonder if it doesn't come from a deeper root of intolerance. Sheesh, sorry to get so serious.

So, the title of this blog is now Granola in a Different Bowl because of my experiences of feeling out of place here in Eastern Oregon.