They can all eat cake!

Christopher, after dinner: "Dad, can I have some cake?" (Suzanne made a halloween cake last night....Dad called 'dibs' on the bowl for the leftover cake batter, but, sadly, it accidentally ended up in the dishwater before the cake batter could be removed from it)

Dad: "No, we just ate dinner"

Cpher leaves, stage right. Dad continues to listen to the Spaniels "Goodnight, Sweatheart, Goodnight" with Matthew......after a quick tour through some oldies with Matthew, walk out to the kitchen, where, the Exhibit (Marked People's Exhibit #1 by the Prosecution) was in plain view.

Dad: "Christopher!" Stomps upstairs as he hears Cpher: "yeah?"

Dad: "Did you get some cake?!?"

Cpher: Sheepish look "yeah...."

Dad: "Did you eat it all?"

Cpher: "no...."

Dad: "Where is it?" Cpher points to other room....Wiley up on bed, eating leftover crumbs off of plate.

Dad: "Aaaaagh!" Wiley chased off, Christopher banished to his room.

Babenhausen

going, going, gone.

Weekend Update

Kevin: Book Report woes conquer all......

Christopher: Lots of hand-drawn pictures with the arrival of the desk in the boys room. Lost our final outdoor soccer game of the year (had a *ton* of chances to score, and didn't convert, and then finally the other team did).

Matthew: Flag football season ended today....a few stiff-arms, a pass completion, and some long runs......

Current Book(s): "Horizon Storms" by Kevin Anderson and "The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright". Horizon storms is a sci-fi epic, Looming Tower is the story of the Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11.

Poway 2005

So, two years ago I was in San Diego working for FEMA as the region recovered from weeks of torrential rains. These rains, after the Cedar Fire in 2004 had burnt off a lot of the vegetation, caused lots of erosion damage.

I took this picture at the top of Iron Mountain Peak; it's about a 90 minute hike from the trailhead on Highway 67 to the top.

The map is from the fires, October 2007....the top of Iron Mountain is in between the numbers 1191 and 1992 on the map (just east of Highway 67). The picture I took was looking, I think, northeast......that view's a lot different today, obviously.

Time to grow up

One nice thing about middle school is that many of Kevin's grades are posted online. While some teachers don't use this feature all that much, Kevin's math teacher uses it constantly. He had taken a math test last Monday, his second of the year. His first test was ok....he should have done a lot better so we made sure he studied for this one. So, by Friday, he hadn't received the results, and there, in the email, it came through. 102/100.

So, I pick him up from school, quizzed him to see if he had brought everything home from school that he need for the weekend, and told him we'd be going to Starbucks for some hot chocolate.

D: "do you know why?"
K: "because I remembered all of my items"
D: "Noooo"
K: "Oh, my math test. How did you know?!?"
blah blah blah
D: "See what happens when you study? You'll have to make sure to study for all your tests from now on"
K: "Why??? Waaah"
D: "It's not elementary school....time to grow up now"

Saturday update: Kevin soccer. Goal posted here if you're interested.....

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=3eb3faa429a341aa2c55d7&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=email

Went to Uncle John's Cider Mill.....pumpkins procured, fruit flung (really! by slingshot even..), apple cider swallowed.

Penn State wins. Good. Penn State FB players arrested. Bad. Joepa "road rage"? Hilarious....

The start of a blog

Why not? We'll see how long I do it before the family figures out I've started one. Or if I can find the time to keep adding to it.

Dad update: had lunch at Bennett Woods with the boys today. Volunteered to help with the tickets for the upcoming musical, had a meeting about that. Came home to find a letter in the mail from my Dad....quite a shock (but quite harmless in the end...just some clippings of a Steeler article in last Sunday's Post-Gazette)

Song o' the day: "Our Life is Not a Movie But Maybe" - Okkervil River

Book o' the day: Have bookmarks planted in two of them currently, "The Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam" by Stephen Sears and "A Forest of Stars" by Kevin Anderson

Cpher update: Stung by a bee at recess today, did well on his spelling test

Matthew update: hit his head at school today (bad day at Bennett Woods for the boys!); totally engrossed in Backyard Football on the PC

Kevin update: No homework today. Really. oOff at the 6th grade Haunted Hay ride.