Barkers' Folly

Wiring

2012-01-14T16:57:00.004-05:00

The thing I've been spending most of my time on the for the past year or so is wiring. The track plan came with pretty detailed information, but the components are expensive. (As a friend said, "railway capital is always in short supply.") So I'd buy a couple of bits and install them, wait a couple of months, save, buy a couple more. Finally last fall I was able to buy some wire in bulk and had accumulated enough of the pieces to feel like I could begin wiring. At Thanksgiving I built that little shelf thing to hold the switching components and began attaching parts to it. With a little bit of Christmas money that came my way I was able to purchase the last couple of switches. So I think I have everything I need to finish wiring everything. (I did realize this afternoon that I need to change out one piece of plain track for a terminal section, but that should be a fairly inexpensive fix.)

I finally put something together today than had been puzzling me for several months. There are 12 sections of track in the layout each with its own power control. I have been able to spot in the plans where each was and understand how each was supposed to be wired, except for section 8. I couldn't find it anywhere. Finally today I found a lone "8" not-near-enough to the track in that section. Section 8 does not use a terminal track piece like in other sections but a pair of terminal joiners. Therefore, it looked different in the plan, with no clear link between the digit and the place where the terminal joiners go. I had never noticed the 8 positioned as it was, kind of orphaned from its track location. But today, finally, it all came together.

I have always been nervous working with electricity; the last time I messed with something around the house involving electricity, I called my dad to get him to talk me through it. Also I recently found a discussion board that includes a lengthy thread helping someone else who built this same layout. He encountered a problem and got lots of help, all of it in the discussion. That has been very helpful. The coolest thing I've got working is the turntable. I was able to get the electric control, so I can make it spin to each of the spurs by working a switch rather than using a hand crank.

Of course the big thing in model railroading is the transition over the past few years from direct electric modelling to digital. I'm definitely in the stone age camp. But digital does open up lots of possibilities. One obvious thing that some folks have encountered is the ability to have a locomotive equipped with a camera send a feed to a video monitor, so guests can get a "track-view" perspective of the layout. I've got no illusions. On top of everything else, the new stuff is very expensive. Maybe next time.

Layout

2012-01-09T13:48:00.004-05:00

Still in the catching-up mode with this post. In this image you can see the layout of track. It's pretty much what I had in Richmond. It's on a 4' x 8' plywood base, painted gray. You can probably see the seam indicating where it used to be in two long halves. I'll be trying to disguise that later with scenery. The only big difference is that the table is now much higher than it could be in the attic on Junaluska Drive. It was about 14-inches because of the short height in the attic, and now is about 36-inches. And the legs all have wheels, so I can re-position it fairly easily.

This layout is from a book I got years ago; the layout is called the "Eastern Grand Trunk." I've had all the track and all the cork roadbed for some time. A couple of features are the 2 loops on one and and three on the other. Right now the whole thing operates off a single power lead, so I can have a single engine going in one direction. Ultimately I'll be able to run one train clock-wise and a second counter-clockwise thanks to some fancy wiring. This layout also includes a turn-table and a small switching yard in the center plus a couple of spurs.

Once all the "stuff" is out of the middle of the layout there should be pretty good space to add some nice scenery. I'll post images of all that later.

The early years

2012-01-08T14:52:00.003-05:00

This is the train I got as a kid. It's a Lionel O-gauge train. I think these are all original pieces. There used to be a space satellite associated with the flatbed car, but it's long gone. Several years ago I had a shop clean up the loco and get it working again and got new (un-rusty) track and a new power supply. It works pretty well these days: it throws sparks just like it's supposed to. Even though the Christmas tree was up on a table this year (because of the new cat), we put the train underneath.

Model...

2012-01-01T21:50:00.004-05:00

...railroading, that is. I got an HO train when I was 10-11, along with some track. I got it going, but never did much with it. It got tucked away and moved about for years. I finally hauled it out when we lived in Richmond. I started putting together a layout in the attic of our house on Junaluska Drive. It never really got that far, though. I struck it and packed it all away and brought everything on the move to Black Mountain. Here at least we had a little bit of space to put the layout. I mentioned this year that I was ready to add some scenery to the thing, and stuff magically appeared under the Christmas tree! When I was showing Greg and Kristen the layout, Greg mentioned that I had never blogged about the set-up. So herewith the genesis.

This was the first set of four cars I got, a locomotive and three pieces of rolling stock. The first batch of track I had made a simple oval. I had no switches nor scenery. But it was easy to set up and get working. I did at one point buy a book of track plans and picked the one I wanted to work on. But it was years before I actually did anything with it. When I began working on the layout in Richmond, the locomotive was no longer running; I had to pay about $25 to get someone to work it over and get it back in shape (it is again no longer working and needs a bit of an overhaul). The access to the attic in Richmond was very narrow (I don't think I have a single picture of the set-up in Richmond). The layout I wanted to build required a 4 x 8 foot piece of plywood for the base; so I had to halve that length-wise in order to get it into the attic, and then fashion it back together once it was there. That took 2-3 years. Over the course of time I managed to gather all the cork roadbed and track needed to my layout and a few new pieces of rolling stock, as well as a second locomotive. All that took another 6-7 years. You get the idea. More later...

Mooresville, NC home re-discovered

2011-11-12T20:18:00.003-05:00

The boys, all three of them, had a day off from school for Veterans Day yesterday. I decided to take us all to Charlotte for the day. There were several possibilities but it became apparent that the NASCAR Hall of Fame was the crowd favorite, even if it wasn't my first choice. The boys had a great time there. When we finally left there we still had some time available before we needed to start back home. We decided to seek out the fire and rescue museum, which was purportedly only a few blocks away. It took us only once around the block to realize that the "for sale" sign on that block was for the old C.F.D. Station 4 facility, which had once contained the museum; no longer. We were kind of bummed.

I decided to head north on I-77 (we had come to Charlotte via US-321, Gastonia and I-85) and see if I could find the house we lived in for a few years when I was 10-13 or so. Despite all the development around Mooresville, NC, I found the right street right away. According to my mom, it didn't even have a name back when we lived there, it must have been a rural route. Now it's Deerwood Lane. The houses that had been there when we were there looked remarkably familiar; there were several newer homes too. I drove to the end of the street and found our house. My folks had had it built new. Yes, it did look smaller than I remembered it.

There was a man mowing the lawn on a riding mower as we pulled up. I stopped the car and got out and waved him down. I gave him a very brief introduction and mentioned that I had lived in the house nearly 40 years ago. He got a puzzled look and stared off for a second and said that his family had been living there for nearly 40 years. It didn't take long to confirm he and his wife were the ones who had bought the place from my parents when we moved to Durham. Incredible. We then started in on some serious catching-up. He has three sons, one about my age. I mentioned that my dad had died a couple of years ago. They had lived in Morganton, NC before coming to Mooresville (about 45 minutes from our home in Black Mountain).

Small world. I had forgotten the camera (and phone) in our mad dash out the door in the morning, else I would have gotten a picture. I intend to write to him and follow-up and see if I can coax him into taking a picture for us. Most of the pictures I have of that house are on slides that I have not ever tried to convert to digital images. I may have to get busy on that sooner rather than later.

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Tractor pull

2011-10-24T15:55:00.006-05:00

While Eli had a band event last weekend, Brigg and Calvin and I (and Faye too) went to a farm/tractor show at the ag center near the Asheville Airport. It wasn't quite as captivating as I thought it might be, but we had a fun time.

John Deere rules

Mighty big tires

Big red tractor!

In the band

2011-10-24T15:43:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures of Eli in band this fall...

The Warhorse Classic band competition on 10/22

Getting ready at the Avery High School competition.

Opening ceremonies at a OHS home game.

Apples

2011-09-30T18:28:00.008-05:00

First there are buds and flowers, sometimes with snow...

Then there are little green apples...

Then there are red apples...

Then there are picked apples in the bucket...

Then there is pie, preferably a la mode...

And it was good. We also made applesauce last week, but certain children didn't like the texture. I'm contemplating a food mill.

Poetry, part 2

2011-09-26T20:52:00.003-05:00

This evening Eli was working on the poetry project again. His assignment included writing an "I don't understand" poem. He wrote this without any help from anyone:

I do not understand
Why people don’t take the time
To look at the world around them.
To see what wrong things are happening.
To see the people who are hurting.
Why nobody helps anybody else.
Why there’s no more trust among friends.
All the bad decisions we’re making.
The wars over seas and on the home front.
I do not understand
How we can survive, let alone live
In the turmoil and the chaos
Spreading throughout our society.
But what I do not understand the most,
Is why nobody ever seems to care.
Why nothing ever gets done
To try and change things,
And how even if you told them to,
They still wouldn’t listen.
So what can we understand?

Talk among yourselves...

Poetry

2011-09-26T20:47:00.002-05:00

Eli has been trying to finish up a big unit on poetry at school. He's had to write in several styles/formats. One was a "poem to a person." He had a little help from me in tidying this up, but he chose to write to Briggs about the night Briggs was born:

This is a poem to my brother, Briggs.
I remember the night you were born.
Early in the evening my mom said, “It’s time!”
She called the midwife who came over pretty quickly.
Then we called my friend, Mrs. Prather, whose job was to keep me company.
Soon afterward my mom, my dad and the midwife
Went to the bedroom where you were born.
I talked with Mrs. Prather about what was going on and slept some.
Later, after everything had calmed down, early in the morning,
they let me into the room to see you.
You were really tiny, wrapped in a blanket, with a cap on your head;
Your eyes were closed.
I crawled onto the bed with mom and you.
She was tired but happy.
You were quiet. (That changed.)
Mom and dad made me sit on the bed in order to let me hold you.
I felt overwhelmed. I felt proud and excited and happy.
I felt like a big brother.
It was a big night for both of us.

Later in the evening I let Briggs read the poem. He was pretty proud. I think we all were.

Nutella: the gateway chocolate

2011-09-21T08:37:00.003-05:00

I bought a new tub of Nutella on Tuesday. I had a hankering for a toasted sesame bagel with Nutella. Our local grocery had both, though they only had a large-size tub of Nutella. They had the smaller size on sale a couple of weeks ago and still have not been able to restock.

Shannon came into the church kitchen while I was spreading the Nutella onto my bagel, and stirring my coffee. As she eyed my plate and analyzed that I was doing, it was obvious she was hungry too, and so I offered her a bagel and the option of some of the Nutella. She had heard about it but had never tried it. I later saw her walking around the office with a goofy grin on her face; and she talked about it all morning. She’s hooked.

Fast forward to the evening. I had brought the leftovers home and stowed the bagels, but inadvertently left the Nutella on the counter. Calvin and Libby got home; Libby went back out to a meeting. I was home with all three boys. The most one can hope for in this situation is quiet, which was finally achieved with Eli in the basement and Briggs drawing at the dining room table and Calvin playing with toy cars in the living room (not quite our three boys, three floors separation perfection, but good enough for Tuesday afternoon). But even then one has to be on guard that something nefarious is not afoot in the midst of the quiet. At one point I heard Calvin make his way to the laundry room, presumably to the toilet (sheepish departure from the living room, laundry room door closed). I didn’t think too much of it. In a few minutes I asked Briggs if Calvin was still in the toilet; he reported that he was and that the door was locked. Still it was fairly typical scenario. Calvin finally came out and walked through the living room back toward his cars. I noticed some sort of schmutz around his mouth. Thus:

Me: Calvin, did you eat something?
Calvin: No, Daddy.
Me: Did you eat a PopTart. (There had been some chocolate ones lying about.)
Calvin: Nope.
Me: Did you go poop?
Calvin: No.
Me: Did you go pee?
Calvin: No.
Me: What’s on your mouth? (By this point I was walking toward the laundry. I had Calvin by the hand.)
Calvin: blank stare
Me: Did you eat some chocolate? (Not that I had put anything together yet and I didn’t really think there was chocolate lying around.)
Calvin: No.
Me: Did you make a mess in my kitchen? (Even if he hadn’t eaten anything, he still could have made a mess with something and gotten it on himself.)
Calvin: Nope.
Me: Did you make a mess in the laundry room?
Calvin: No.

By this point Calvin was pretty sure he was off the hook because he had not done any of the big things that would get him in trouble and so he started walking away. But at the same moment I had arrived at the laundry room and seen the tub of Nutella, lid off, with a baby spoon sticking out of it. More than 1/3 gone. Libby and Calvin a couple of months ago had worked out that this was “chocolate peanut butter.” And I knew he liked it, even more than regular peanut butter. (I know, maybe he's not really my child, right?) So there wasn’t any way I could really punish him; he wasn’t really in trouble. But the whole scarfing-it-down-with-the-door-to-the-laundry-room-closed-with-a-sheepish-grin-on-his-face image has me just a little nervous. Note to self: Nutella needs to stay in the cupboard, even though Calvin knows where it is and knows how to move the trash can off the kitchen stool, and then move the kitchen stool into position beneath the correct cabinet and then climb up on the stool and then onto the counter to get it.

Pssst, hey kid…wanna try this?

Coast Guard

2011-08-29T12:18:00.002-05:00

My dad was in the Coast Guard for a while. That's about all most of us ever knew. He didn't talk about it much.

About six months ago Eli started asking questions. Had my dad not died a couple of years ago we could easily get the answers. Alas, it's now becoming detective work. My first step on Eli's behalf was to contact the National Personnel Records Center to get my dad's discharge paperwork from the USCG. We now know he served fro three years. He studied electronics at the Groton, CT training station. He was part of the Coast Guard's Fifth Office in Norfolk, VA. He had completed a half year at Guilford before enrolling (afterward he went to NCSU to finish his degree). His total stint was 3 years and three days, 1952-1955 (about 1/2 that time was in school and the other half was at sea). Following his service he was transferred to Reserve duty for 8 years.

The most tantalizing bit of information on the form is the fact that he served on the USCGC Conifer (WAGL-301). It was a 180-foot cutter. I have a feeling this may be the most interesting fact for Eli. I've had a few minutes to do a little exploring about the boat, and found some information on-line. I'll do another post after I've shared it with Eli.

One of a kind

2011-08-16T21:37:00.004-05:00

We took this picture of Briggs when he was just a few months old. We were at the city park near the Carillon in Richmond. Eli was roaming around exploring and we placed Briggs in this swing seat. "Kilroy was here," ran through our minds.

Then there's this version, fast-forward seven years or so. We're on a steam train at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. The image struck me as soon as I saw Briggs do it. Luckily the camera was on and I was ready. "Kilroy was here, too."

Ordination

2011-08-11T19:02:00.004-05:00

I just read that Scott Anderson will be re-ordained in the PC(USA):

The high court for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) early this month cleared the way for a re-ordination ceremony for Scott Anderson, who is executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches (and held a similar post in California). Anderson set aside his ordination in 1990 when a congregation revealed that he was a partnered gay man.

I'm all for the turn of events in the PC(USA) that have led to this action. But I wonder about "re-ordination."

I was ordained in 1986 a deacon in the United Methodist Church. I was also "credentialed" by my annual conference and appointed or assigned to continue divinity school. After I finished up divinity school I was appointed to serve first at Trinity, Durham and then Jefferson, Goldsboro. A year or so later it became apparent that I was not going to be a good fit for continuing as a United Methodist pastor in eastern NC. So I surrendered my credentials. But I did not end my ordination, at least to my thinking. I'm just orthodox enough or Catholic enough to think that ordination is a sacramental thing, something that one does not un-do. I doubt that's majority opinion among other Methodists, and it does not seem to be the case with Presbyterians. (And now, as I am editing myself, I recall that deacons and elders in the PC(USA) are not re-ordained if they rotate off a stint in those offices and then are selected again later in time; they are re-installed.)

I have no illusions about trying to pastor a congregation with the ordination that I hold. I fully recognize that a second component to filling the role of pastor at least in the United Methodist Church is to be credentialed.

But the whole Scott Anderson thing struck me not because a gay guy is being ordained. But rather than anyone is being "re-ordained." For me it's kind of like being re-baptised; you don't do that. Did he really get himself un-ordained a few years back; or is it really necessary that he be (or is it possible to be) re-ordained? I believe the answer is "no" to both questions.

I believe that something indelible and irrevocable and unrepeatable happened when I was ordained. As far as serving as a pastor in a UM church, there's another component required. But the fact of my ordination remains. I am living out my vocation not as a pastor but as a pastoral musician, so I feel okay about being faithful to my calling.

There's probably more to what Scott Anderson will go through in the next few weeks; for some reason the word "Byzantine" come to mind when I think of Presbyterian or Reformed polity. There are no doubt intricacies of which I am not aware. But just that language in the article struck me. And I needed to climb up on a soapbox.

I'll get down now.

Russia-love

2011-07-27T19:35:00.003-05:00

I just finished reading Ian Frazier's "Travels in Siberia." I tried "On the Rez" a few weeks ago and didn't get beyond page 4. (I had been in search of the former at the librarylast month, and didn't find it, so settled for the latter.) This book was a totally difference experience for me. I found myself, near the end, trying to gauge my progress so that I would end up with plenty to read right before bed-time, but not so much that I couldn't finish a chapter. Last night I mis-judged and wound up with a little left over this morning. But as it turns out there were notes and a bibliography and an index as well as thank-yous in the final pages. So I was able to finish the book this morning at breakfast and still get to my office not-too-late! It was kind of like planning the eating of a meal so that you have just the right amount of each, meat, veg, starch, so that you finish up everything at the same time, or like having your burger and fries and ketchup all finish up together. Once in a while my reading of a really good book elicits this same desire, for it to wind up when I'm ready for it, and not before. (Please be gentle in judging my eating and reading quirks.)

I realized as soon as I read the words that I share the "Russia-love" malady with Frazier. I'm not really sure when it set in. It could have been when I started collecting stamps, 40 years ago. It was definitely infesting my soul (though still un-named) by the time Libby and I hosted a charming pair of Russian girls (ages 9-10) as part of a mission-exchange when we lived in Richmond. The girls brought with them darling little trinkets that we (but mostly I) still have. The idealism I once imposed on that nation has now been tempered, but my desire to visit is no less strong.

I was struck by Frazier's experience of traveling across Siberia by van in comparison with our recent visit to Chattanooga. His experience of litter, restrooms, hotels and urban areas in generally was in marked contrast to what we, and pretty much any person traveling in the US can experience. I think he called the general tenor of the nation "incomplete grandiosity" near the end of the book; contrast that with what might be termed America's "adolescent swagger."

Don't get me wrong, I have no interest in traveling through Siberia. But a trip to western Russia is definitely on my bucket list. In the interim this book was a wonderful surrogate. I could have done without that mercifully short "telescoped" writing about 3/4 of the way through. But I haven't enjoyed a narrative travelogue so much since I devoured Robert Kaplan's oeuvre a few years ago. I'll have to try again with "On the Rez" and Frazier's other books here soon.

TN Vacation: Aquarium

2011-07-27T19:02:00.004-05:00

Since the schedule for Saturday got shot out of the water, we let a visit to the aquarium holdover until Sunday. It was well worth it, and well worth the near $100 for all of us to get in. There are actually two buildings, River Journey and Ocean Journey. I thought the River building was the more dramatic of the two: the seemingly endless descent through layers of river water was pretty cool. The attempt at "surround" in the Ocean building was nice, but not as all-enveloping as the Seattle Aquarium.

Saturday night we went back downtown to walk along the riverfront, hoping it would be calming and somewhat interesting. It was a lot more spacious than Richmond's riverfront and it's like they planned for people to be able to visit and park, with lots and meters and such. We arrived near the aquarium buildings and found a water cascade park area. One could begin at street level and descend a water ladder (a couple of hundred feet long, descending maybe 30 feet toward the river) of sorts and finally arrive at a very shallow, but graciously proportioned wading pool. The whole thing is an artistic installation celebrating Cherokee culture and mythology. People of all ages were there and our boys enjoyed it tremendously. And except for the $1 to park, it was free!

TN Vacation: Railroad Museum

2011-07-27T18:53:00.005-05:00

The plan was to ride this historic train at 1030AM and then drive downtown and catch the Incline Train, grab lunch and then visit the Aquarium. Sadly that was not to be. The TVRM oversold seating on the train. The only saving grace was that the tickets could be used any time that day and there were 4 other opportunities. When we finally got back after the longer-than-expected sojourn at the top of Lookout, the ride was nice. It didn't go far, but did include seeing the turntable spin the loco around and a visit to the shops. The so-called museum car didn't have a whole lot going for it, and was hot, hot, hot. We've now ridden historic trains in VA (several), WV (several), MD, NC (several) and TN.

TN Vacation: Incline Train

2011-07-27T18:46:00.004-05:00

View of 3 of the 6 (supposed) states (TN, NC, GA) one can see from the top of Lookout Mtn.

We took a weekend jaunt to Chattanooga last weekend. Friday when we arrived we dove into the pool then had supper, drove around (into GA, just to say we went there) and called it a night.

Saturday we went to the Incline Train which climbs Lookout Mountain and reaches a maximum grade of 72% near the top. It was hot at the bottom where we started, and we had to wait through three cycles of the train to get aboard. But the view up top was nice enough.

A new window

2011-07-21T20:31:00.003-05:00

The upper sash for one of the dining room windows was broken when we purchased the house. The upper pane of glass was totally gone. There was a storm window there, so we didn't worry too much about it. We had found a replacement window in the shed when we were looking at the house, presumably for this broken window. We made it part of the purchase agreement. But then once we got into the house, we hemmed and hawed about how to go about fixing the window. On the one hand we dreamed of being able to afford having someone repair the broken sash and replace the pane of glass. But we never got around to it. For the past 3 winters we've but plastic sheeting over the window to keep the worst of the cold air out, but with only so-so effect.

This spring Libby finally came around to my point of view (I had gotten to this point about a year ago). We agreed to go ahead and put the replacement window in. I saved the old window, including the lead weights for the sashes. (I had understood that usual experience was that these would be lost. But upon opening up to make the switch, the weights were right there in an open cavity.) Too, I learned just why the windows in this house are so drafty: the way things are put together at least on this window, there is a one-inch gap around the frame, nothing filling it, so nothing but exterior siding and interior paneling between us and the elements. I had fun-with-foam filling up those gaps.

The removal of the old window and putting the new in went smoothly. I spent today caulking and otherwise sealing the thing up and putting things back together (all of the trim was salvageable). Next is priming and painting. I'll be very interested in how this new window holds out the cold weather this winter, compared to the original windows on the house. Much as we like the look of the original windows, even with the storm windows over them, they are drafty in winter.

Day on the lake

2011-07-20T20:10:00.006-05:00

Eli, Briggs and I spent today at Lake James. We had borrowed a canoe and other equipment from my buddy Andy G. Andy's directions were spot on and we were on the water by 1030AM.

We headed for a large island in the middle of the lake. The island had several small coves; we pulled into three of them and ate at the third. After lunch we continued our circumnavigation of the island. Both Eli and Briggs helped with the paddling. Eli had earned the canoeing merit badge at Scout camp three weeks ago, and then had taken canoeing as one of his activities at Camp Rockmont. He's got the essentials down pat!

We saw some neat boats, including a dredging barge. We were able to work on the skill of turning the canoe so as not to get too wobbly from the wakes from the larger boats!

By then it was beginning to look a little bit cloudy. We headed in; luckily no storm. We drove around a little and explored the area, thinking of places we'd like to explore next time (a train trestle bridge, Catawba River, etc.)

Lake Lure

2011-07-10T18:32:00.006-05:00

We decided to make a run down to Lake Lure on Saturday. We had driven through the area right after we moved here, but had never gone to the beach at the lake. That was the plan for yesterday. We had a nice time. The beach is very clean. There is a small splash area with fountains, plus a couple of water slides. Briggs tried those out yesterday, his first time. The weather was okay: partly cloudy and not overly hot. We wondered if we would get rained on and run off. We had a picnic lunch under the shelter. Unfortunately all the tables were occupied by other families; most seemed to have staked claim to their table for the day, shutting them out for anyone else. That kind of blew. The rain held off there; it poured at home later in the evening. All in all a nice day trip.

Lake Lure is in the Hickory Nut Gorge in Rutherford County and is surrounded by Chimney Rock (soon to be an official state park) and Rumbling Bald Mountain. You drive through Bat Cave, NC, Chimney Rock, NC on the way south to Lake Lure.

ATL Braves #9998

2011-07-08T08:46:00.007-05:00

Briggs and I went to Atlanta Thursday to see his first MLB game. I purchased the tickets on-line and thought I had us in the shade. Section 325 at 115PM was smack dab in the middle of the sun and hotter 'n hell! The back of the second deck for us next time! Actually by 3PM it looked like our seats had been taken over by shade, but by then we had found seats in the 400's.

We watched innings 1-2 and then went walking during 3; came back and sat in the fourth level, in the shade, for innings 4-5-6. We walked around some more during 7 and sat for 8 and the top of the 9. The Braves were ahead coming into the 9th, so when Colorado failed to score again, the game was done after the first half of the inning. It was kind of cool because the team is homing in on win #10,000.

We parked on Pryor Street, in the YMCA lot which was only $8, and worked really well. it's a bit further to walk (about an extra block), but the guy seemed genuinely friendly and the lot was secure. I got a little rattled leaving town, but a straight shot all the way back up Courtland to JW Dobbs Avenue should work fine next time.

The main thing, though, was that Briggs had a blast. There were a couple of home runs, so he got to see some fireworks from the Coke bottle; he ran around in Sky Field; he threw some (24mph) pitches downstairs.

I never watched pro ball as a kid. But have now seen MN Twins, B'more Orioles and ATL play at home. Briggs is trying to claim the Twins game because he was in utero at the time!

It was about 215 miles from Black Mountain, and right at 3.5 hours driving the speed limit (Thank you, Alice P.). Fast food at Gainesville is not right of the highway, so we lost some time there; pick another place for a quick lunch. The game was done at 420PM; we were on the road by 440PM. Downtown was starting to pick up tempo (in a perverse, opposite kind of way). We added about 45 minutes to the return trip because of rush hour traffic.

Around the Folly July 2011

2011-07-08T08:40:00.005-05:00

A couple of random pictures from early summer. We have a purple martin family in this bird house. Libby took several pictures trying to get one of the occupants. This is the best. There are also blue birds in a house on the back fence. One of the young was struggling to learn to fly last week; I had to pick it up and put it back in the house a couple of times before it really took off and stayed out of the way of the lawn tractor! And a shot of two goofy boys rolling around in the grass.

Historic train in Buncombe County

2011-06-16T16:03:00.004-05:00

Working on clearing the right-of-way for the spur

Libby found information about the Craggy Mountain Line recently. Apparently a non-profit is seeking to restore 3.5 miles of a Southern Railroad spur and equip it with historic vehicles. The non-profit has been going since 2001. Last month they set one of the vintage passenger cars back on trucks for the first time in 75 years. The line is based in Woodfin which is a bedroom community north of Asheville.

Some history of this line: the Asheville and Craggy Mountain Railway was intended in 1889 to travel between the city and this mountain north of town; it was never completed.

The new non-profit group has some ambitious plans including a park and museum as well as rides on the restored cars. Late last year the group finished phase one of their plan, which was restoring track. It seems like the spur will run from the center of Woodfin to the French Broad River.

Matt Tate of the Weaverville Tribune has been documenting the group's progress. Rocky Hollifield seems to be the key player within the non-profit's organization. It looks like they have a slew of rolling stock in various stages of restoration. At least one car is from Asheville's old trolley system; another is a C&O caboose. I'll try to take the boys over one day this summer to see if there is anything to see yet.

Car 119, recently completed restoration

Composting

2011-06-14T08:53:00.004-05:00

We wound up with a couple of spare 55-gallon barrels recently. We're going to place one under a gutter down-spout. The other Libby wanted to turn into a compost container. I found a nice design for one that would rotate here. I took Briggs and bought the wood and hardware, and then got Eli to help me put it together. It took me about 3 hours to finish it. It works okay, even if there are some flaws in the construction (I would have preferred that crossing on the back side to be centered). Time to fill it up!

Raised bed

2011-05-24T09:13:00.006-05:00

One of a mere handful of berries this season

We have had strawberries in the front garden pretty much since we moved in. They have been crowded out, though, by other plants. We decided to put them and perhaps some other food plants in a raised bed. I built the frame over the weekend, and added the dirt yesterday. We put it down near the big vegetable garden near the apple trees and play set. I am going to fill in some dirt around the outside of the base, and amend the (store-bought{gasp}) top soil. More later...

The new bed...

Weather coverage

2011-05-24T08:07:00.004-05:00

Photo from Alabama, from Huffington Post

I was getting a little perturbed this morning by the coverage of recent weather. The storm that blew through Joplin, MO was called the "single deadliest storm in US history." I wondered, "whatever happened to the events in Alabama and other southern states in late April?" I also tried to keep in mind that coverage in the early days after such an event can sometimes tend toward the hyperbolic. On the surface it smacked of racism and disregard of the poor or of the South. I was wrong.

Alabama experienced a series of tornadoes. There were 312 reported, with 226 of those taking place in a single 24-hour period. The storm in Joplin was a single twister. The death toll in the Southern storms was 337 in 7 states. (That's second only to a weather disaster in 1925 when 747 people died.) There are reports of more than 100 deaths from the storm in Joplin.

Reporting of news sometimes worries me. Coverage of abducted white children getting more airtime than those of black kids; news from the 'burbs taking precedence over events downtown.

But in this case, I think I have to climb down off my high horse. And I'll be praying hard for those affected, and those involved in rescue and restoration.

Photo from Joplin, MO, from MSNBC.com

Stormy weather

2011-05-04T08:25:00.005-05:00

We knew it was coming. But at 5PM it was sunny. By 6PM it was black with cloud cover. Then suddenly the wind, then hail. We were in Richmond 14 years and experienced hail once; so far we're in Black Mountain 4 years and have had hail three times. It poured for about 15 minutes then switched to rain. The whole time with the wind. It was pretty incredible. At one point I asked Libby if what we were hearing was indeed a train moving through the area, or something more ominous; it was indeed a train. Ultimately the power went out and stayed out for about 6 hours. A tree snapped down the block. Because it affected only a small number of people we were slower getting power back. The family got to enjoy a very quiet evening at home while I had a rehearsal at church. According to Briggs it was the best-night-ever!

Camping

2011-04-16T08:00:00.004-05:00

After Scouts a couple of weeks ago, Eli, Briggs and I were talking about camping. Briggs' meeting had dealt with setting up a tent. We realized we had not been camping since getting to the mountains more than 4 years ago, and committed to a camping adventure. What I discovered a while back and quickly got reminded of is that in NC the State camping areas are all (at least all that I have looked at) primitive. That's different from Virginia, where the State parks and camping facilities are very, very nice. Here in NC the private campgrounds are the more refined. I suspect capitalism is involved; but that's another article. It was kind of nice in VA to know that the State Parks would be very nice. Here you really have to hunt down, research and vet camping facilities to know what you are getting. I finally found a camping facility that suited me: Bear Den Family Campground, nominally in Spruce Pine. They had drive-in tent sites and water and electricity available at each site. When we got there, it proved to be nicer than expected: the bath-house was very clean and the ancillary facilities (canoeing, swimming, basketball, etc.) were in very good shape.

We had a very nice time. Eli was especially helpful during set-up and striking camp. The past few years he has done more and more camping with Scouts and as part of his time at Rockmont. He knew what had to be done and was able to carry out jobs in ways I hadn't seen before. It was Briggs' first camping trip, and he managed to be helpful as best he could. He really enjoyed having basketball available.

The place was pretty deserted; there was a couple camping next to us, and that was pretty much it in our part of the grounds. The camp hosts were friendly but kept out of our hair. We spent the first evening exploring and trying out the pond and basketball court. We cooked over the campfire rather than gas; we took our own wood (which made loading the car tighter!). The weather cooperated, though we woke to cloudy weather. After breakfast and a little bit more exploring, we struck camp. We went gem mining at a place in Spruce Pine; the boys got some cool rocks. Then we stopped by the NPS mineral museum nearby. Finally we hit the road for home, via the Parkway. Since we had not other plans or schedule, we struck off for Mt. Mitchell when we got near it, even though it was quite evident that the view was socked in. For me and Eli that was the best part. We usually try to visit when the weather is nice and clear and you can enjoy the view. Briggs was very tired and had no interest. but toughed it out and made the ascent with us and discovered iced-up water at the summit. We got to experience it totally deserted and with 50 mph winds and zero-visibility fog.

We noticed that the Parkway between Mitchell and almost-Asheville had been repaved. A sign told us: "your recovery dollars at work." It was nice to enjoy that leg of the trip sans bumpiness.

There is a season

2011-03-05T16:00:00.004-05:00

Basketball finished up today with a pizza and awards ceremony. Such as it was. Libby reports that everyone got exactly one piece of pizza, and the coaches gave out the awards to their own team. Very low-key, in the extreme. Everyone got the same mini-trophy; it's all good as far as Briggs is concerned. He had a good time, though, and that's the main thing. They also received their team photos. He really liked his coach. They had sign-ups for baseball this morning too. Practice starts next Saturday. Reminds me of the line by Sinbad, "man, I won't sleep 'til June!" Last week Libby reported that Briggs commented on the lawn under the goal at home, "Mom, why is the grass missing here under the goal?" Go figure, son.

A car is born

2011-03-05T15:53:00.003-05:00

A pine wood derby car that is.

Pack 50 had its Pine Wood Derby last week. It went very well. Briggs asked that his car be designed like it was for both NC State (in honor of Bud and Greg) and Duke (iho Libby). He assisted all along the way. I weighed it at the church at 5.0 ounces; when we got to check-in, they registered 4.7 oz. Arrgh.

We were still in the midst of a lot of sickness around the Folly. Briggs had missed four days of school and his last basketball game on the morning of the derby. A flu-like bug had eased somewhat, only to give rise to some sort of eye infection that caused his eye to swell. Hence the odd features on his face. But he was determined.

In the first three of his heats, his car came in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. He blew by me at one point after the third race and stated quite certainly that in his next, and final heat, his car would place first. I wasn't holding out much hope. But Briggs was certain. And of course he wound up being correct. His last heat, his car came in first.

Birthday

2011-03-05T15:42:00.004-05:00

Calvin turned three last month. Everyone was busy and had been sick off and on for a week, so it was all we could do to mount an effort. We also managed to enjoy a version of Mid-Winter Love Festival : 14 February - Libby's Birthday). The theme this year was snacky treats from around the world, concluding with a bottle of chocolate wine. It's still sitting on the counter.

Really big snow

2010-12-27T09:16:00.004-05:00

The boys in the snow on Saturday afternoon.

Looking at the house from the intersection of Kerlee Heights and Old State Ten

The orange color is the lights on the deck stair handrail

We were warned. A week ahead of time word was out that snow was coming near Christmas Day. At church the big fear was that it would interfere with Christmas Eve services. We managed to avoid that scenario. But it started snowing about 7AM on Christmas Day and didn't take a break until Sunday. We did have ot cancel services on 12/26. We stopped counting at 8 inches. Plus, with the wind that kicked in on Sunday afternoon and evening, it was impossible to tell what was new snow accumulation and what was blow-off. These are some pics from Saturday. Today is supposed to be cold again with wind, but Tuesday should bring higher temps and a nice thaw.

The pecan tree and the intersection of Old 70 and Kerlee Heights

Seated one day at the organ

2010-12-20T18:51:00.004-05:00

It wasn't actually me at the organ, but rather Eli. I had to fix a badly out-of-tune pipe today. And while I had the casework opened up, and since I was already dust-covered, I decided to touch up the tuning of the reed ranks.

I took care of the one note myself in the early afternoon. I used a pencil to hold the key down while I climbed up and fixed it. To do the reed touch-up, though, I decided to wait until Eli arrived at church off the school bus and let him hold keys for me.

All that went just fine. The reeds had suffered as we have been alternating between seasonably cool weather and bitterly cold spells. They sound much better now. As I was finishing up, Briggs asked to see inside the casework. I don't think he ever had before. Briggs was the perfect size to maneuver around the casework; I just wish he could handle the tuning! Then it was Eli's turn, though it was not his first peek at the ranks of pipes.

As we were finishing, a choir member showed up, and she and I sat down to chit-chat. Briggs ran off to find a basketball. Eli sat on the organ bench and experimented. I wasn't listening too closely as he drew one stop and another to hear the highs and lows and so forth. But as a few minutes passed I realized he was picking out the tune New Britain (Amazing Grace). I kept my focus on my conversation, but eventually had to pause because Eli was playing the melody on the pedals! My chorister had noticed the same thing at about the same time. Eli had pretty much figured out the basic melody and was beginning to add the grace notes too, mostly in rhythm.

His pedal technique was awful but I was struck by the fact that he deliberately chose to create the melody using his feet instead of using a manual. I demonstrated a soft, sustained chord for his left hand to accompany the melody and let him play the whole thing again. It sounded pretty good to me and to the singer!

Today Eli's band was doing its goodwill concert tour around the local elementary schools. It seems at least one choral group was also in the mix (maybe they were singing at the mall where the band had lunch), because he says that was how the New Britain melody had gotten in his ear: a group sang it today.

Who knows what this little experience may lead to, if anything. But it certainly was a nice "aha" moment in the midst of an otherwise ho-hum day.

Famous first words

2010-12-18T19:00:00.003-05:00

Tonight at supper, we got talking about baby-talk. We circled around to early words the boys have created.

One of Eli's best was "dippit" which was his way of saying "ketchup." I remember the first time he used the word at the McDonalds in Ashland, VA.

Briggs' best new word was "wee-too." That was his version of "thank you." It was followed pretty quickly by "wel-tum" for "you're welcome."

Calvin hasn't got any really famous ones yet, but he is just on the cusp. Right now he's saying "buhmamma" for "banana." We're waiting for the really creative neologisms to start spewing forth.

You can still hear any of us using "dippt" and "wee-too" in conversations amongst ourselves. Luckily for us, the two older boys still find remembering, talking about and laughing over this sort of thing funny. Eli was slightly embarrassed, but managed to see the humor in it all.

This one did not

2010-12-18T17:23:00.004-05:00

The second weekend in December was predicted to be messy weather-wise. We tried to prepare ourselves for it. It was a "big" weekend at church with special music in the morning and our big dinner theater in the evening. The weather was supposed to be rainy Saturday evening changing to snow and freezing rain at some point on Sunday. We figured we'd have church but would have to take a wait-and-see attitude with the evening event.

We woke up Sunday morning to 4 inches of SNOW! First service and Sunday School and the dinner theater got canceled right away. It was bitterly cold. The snow kept falling and we ultimately canceled our second service also. (Though at 11AM when I awoke from a mid-morning nap, it was SUNNY! Blue sky sunny, and the snow was melting!) Luckily, for the sake of my guilty conscience, it started snowing and sleeting again in the late afternoon.

It was supposed to be rain, but this was the scene early on Sunday morning. Two-thirds of the boys decided to make the most of it. While we missed the worst of the winter weather the first weekend of the month, we got slammed the second weekend!

Later that day

2010-12-17T17:17:00.000-05:00

Later on the day we got our Christmas tree was the Black Mountain Town parade. We encountered clear and sunny skies, snow, rain and sleet, all of them, on the 60 minute ride back to Black Mountain!

This year for the first time we had two boys marching in the parade: Eli with Scouts and Briggs with Cubs. Because the two units are associated with the same church, they linked up on their parade float. Briggs got to ride on the float; Eli carried a flag. (You can almost make him out in the lower right corner of the photo above.) It snowed and rained (freezing rain) the whole time. This snow storm took it easy on us.

The famous tree hunt of 2010

2010-12-16T17:06:00.000-05:00

A couple of years ago we went to Yancey County for a live Christmas tree. We had a lot of fun: the weather was sunny and nearly 60 degrees. Libby wanted to do the same thing this year. The weather was snowy and 25 degrees.

We set off anyway. We got to Burnsville just as their Christmas parade was finishing up: got stuck in traffic and everyone was doubly anxious because snow was falling like crazy and sticking everywhere. We stopped for lunch to mull it over. We decided to persevere on, with the proviso that we would turn around if there were any driving issues. We started up (UP) Highway 197 to get to the farm we wanted to revisit. About a mile in the road was slicked up and a couple of cars ahead of us had stopped, dead in the road. We slid around a little also and ground to a halt. A salt truck came by and salted the other lane; didn't help us a bit. We sat for about 20 minutes until volunteer fire fighters pushed us off our snowy spot. We turned right around and crept back down the hill.

We stopped for a tree at another farm near town, in the valley. We'll try to get back to our first choice farm another year. When it's warm; and when it's sunny.

Cousin Martha

2010-11-11T11:04:00.002-05:00

Libby's cousin Martha and her friend Russ got written up on an information page for MerleFest. Awesome!

Funny and ever-so-slightly unnerving

2010-11-09T06:36:00.003-05:00

Calvin has enjoyed the "what does the _____ say" game for quite some time. But for that reason, it seems to have become slightly old hat for the three brothers. It seems that E and B have devised a way to keep the spark in the game. Heard this weekend:

Eli: What does the dog say?
Calvin: Woof.

Briggs: What does the kitty say?
Calvin: Meow.

Eli: What does the duck say?
Calvin: Quack, quack.

Briggs: What does the dinosaur say?
Calvin: RAWR!

Eli: What does the cow say?
Calvin: Eat more chicken.

Reading

2010-11-02T21:08:00.002-05:00

I grabbed the wrong book at the library recently. I have been enjoying reading books by Lee Child. Especially his "Jack Reacher" novels. Last time I was the library though, I got a book by Lincoln Child instead. Didn't look very carefully obviously. "Deep Storm" was okay; enough so that I got a second book my most recent trip. Not quite a good as Lee Child in my opinion, but good enough to fall asleep to.

PARI

2010-09-30T16:45:00.005-05:00

Eli has been working on the astronomy merit badge. He's also had an interest in things astronomical and meteorological for some time, thanks in no small part to his mother. And we've heard several folks talk about PARI. So for yesterday's school holiday (a teacher workday) we decided to make the jaunt.

PARI is 75 minutes from Black Mountain, on the other side of Brevard. The scheduled tour was billed for 2PM; we got there about 1230PM and the docent was kind enough to begin with us then rather than make us bide out time. We did the galaxy walk. (If our Sun is four inches in diameter the next nearest star is in Arizona!!) We also got to poke around in most of the buildings. One of the highlights was the 950' tunnel from one building to one of the satellites. We didn't walk the whole thing, but it was awesome.

We spent a lot of time looking at old glass slides of outer space and learned about how they are being digitized (by a fellow named Thurman Barker!). The site has two 26-meter radio telescopes that are fun to see; we missed by minutes seeing one move. But all-in-all it was a nice visit.

Cake thieves

2010-09-29T20:34:00.004-05:00

One birthday; two mooches.

Yes, that piece of cake is indeed about three times the size of his mouth.

Later in the evening, Calvin went back for more. He pulled the cake off the counter. It stayed in the box, but was upside down. Didn't seem to bother Calvin.

Thirteen

2010-09-29T20:29:00.003-05:00

Eli hit a milestone last weekend, turning thirteen. He was born at JW in Richmond, a little before one in the morning, lo these many years ago. I remember the nurse remarking as his head was starting to poke out, "Wow, look at that red hair." Little did I know.

Biker

2010-09-06T18:47:00.002-05:00

We've had a bag full of costume pieces for some time. Briggs gets it out now and again. This weekend he discovered this green bandana. Today he put it on and ultimately almost never took it off the whole day. Between the bandana, the two missing teeth and his general grubbiness, he looked like he was ready to get on his hawg after leaving a bar brawl. The first one of you moops who suggests a tat had better just watch out!

Show me your belt

2010-09-06T18:42:00.002-05:00

Briggs recently got a belt to wear with his Tiger Cub Scout uniform. So he and Calvin have been big into the whole concept of belts this week. Today Calvin slipped on an old belt (the shorts have no belt loops, mind you). At our first stop on the Parkway I noticed it and asked him to show it to me. He preferred showing me his belly, his shoes, his knees, looking at the belt himself: anything except the belt. Finally, he showed Granny.

A simple comparison

2010-09-02T10:31:00.003-05:00

I don't want to hear any complaining about the hardship of leaving the Outer Banks of North Carolina because of Hurricane Earl. Or having to loose a couple of days of vacation. Or about how horrible the traffic is. Just shut up.

Moore Cove Falls

2010-08-22T20:54:00.003-05:00

We hiked to Moore Cove Falls this afternoon (me, Eli and Briggs). I saw an article in Mountain Express this week that mentioned it.

To get to US276 near Brevard using NC280 is about an hour. Moore Cove Falls is about 6.5 miles up 276 from 280. It's not got a prominent sign, so we drove by it first time; it was easy enough to turn around and get back. The river passes under 276 at this particular point in the road, so there was that to enjoy after the hike to the falls itself.

The first 200 yards were the toughtest: a pretty decent hill to begin with. After that it was a breeze. Because of rain yesterday there was plenty of mud. There are some places where they have had to construct elevated wooden walkways, but nothing much more remarkable.

The falls are pretty nice. The best part is that one can walk behind them. There is a nice-sized crevice with lots of head-room. The falls were a little slick (none of us fell, once we got respect for the rocks). There are un-official trails to the top of the falls, but a boy fell and died from there in 2007; that was enough for even Briggs and Eli to consent to remain at ground level. There were plenty of places to sit and enjoy, and obviously one can dress for the ocassion and let the falls rain down on oneself. Briggs enjoyed that immensely. Obviously, when the weather has been dry, the falls will be minimal; today they were respectable, if not gushing.

We made a journey of it and came back via the Parkway: another 8 miles up 276 to the Parkway and then 30 or so to get back to Asheville. The Parkway is now re-opened through the Mt. Pisgah area, though there is a section of one-lane road, with a traffic light controlling the flow (on a busy day it could lead to traffic backup). Not bad at all today.

Spencer Shops

2010-08-15T19:41:00.004-05:00

We went to the NC Transportation Museum today.

Sure, we rode the train. Sure, we had a picnic lunch the midst of a thunderstorm. Sure, we rode the turntable. Sure we got to see more than 30 train locos and rolling stock. Sure we got to watch them working on an old passenger car.

But nothing, Nothing, NOTHING compares to see the collection of die-cast models of fire and police and rescue vehicles in the "Bumper-to-Bumper" exhibit. Eli especially was in total bliss. Sure, we have more: at least a hundred as reported in Briggs' quest for 100-something in K-garten. But these were in pristine condition, artfully displayed. The boys were in awe!

K-ville

2010-08-15T19:06:00.007-05:00

We spent the day in Knoxville, TN Saturday. We stopped by the Ijams Nature Center, rode the TN Riverboat, played in the fountains at the World's Fair plaza and went to the top of the Sunsphere. Not too shabby for 7 hours.

We were in town while an anti-immigration rally of some type was going on. Apparently Neo-Nazis from Wisconsin decided to drop in. Law enforcement was present in spades! Cars, bikes, special ops vehicles: all over downtown. Plus a helicopter buzzing overhead the whole time we were there.

There were no apparent food options near Ijams; we had to fortify ourselves with chips and water and caught a late lunch on the way back downtown. We were on the TN River while a "wakeboarding" event sponsored by MasterCraft was being run and taped for later television broadcast. There's nothing like a thunderstorm to clear out the fountain area. People were leaving in droves as we pulled up. We waited a few minutes and had the place nearly to ourselves. Same with the Sunsphere.

Knoxville felt a lot like Richmond: the riverfront, the humidity, the big-city vibe, the humidity, the history, the humidity. There are a lot more things to do there, so I feel certain we'll head back to enjoy the humidity.

When planning the day, I noted that there is a steam train in Knoxville. This particular weekend was their rail-fest. Tickets for the event were way out of our league. However, we espied a couple of the locos tanking up on water. That was a nice serendipity while we waited for our cruise to depart.

Gap-acious!

2010-08-15T19:01:00.001-05:00

Briggs lost the other front tooth today. He looks pretty goofy.

Briggs is in the top of one of the cabooses at the NC Transportation Museum. That thing on the right that looks like an eye is actually a light fixture inside the caboose!

Summer Conference Reflections

2010-08-13T14:08:00.001-05:00

I've been attending the "Church Unbound" conference in Montreat for these couple of days. I actually led a seminar last year at the same event. I went just to listen this year.

Every few years I have realized it's a good thing to use continuing education time and funding for something other than music events. This year my registration for the PAM Worship and Music conference in Montreat was gratis because we loaned them handbells. So I had some spare funds.

The speaker this year was Brian McLaren, about whom I've heard a lot, but whom I've never heard or read. It's been very nice and enlightening. The only singing has been an ice-breaker at the beginning of the plenary sessions. They have offered a seminar on "unbound worship" which was interesting. The leadership for that came from the Covenant Community.

Last year when I was teaching, I also took in the plenary sessions. They were led by Shane Claiborne. They were very exciting also, and totally unrelated to music.

A colleague asked via Facebook who I would recommend to seek to hear, were she to try to engage in this sort of non-musical education event. My best answer is that it doesn't really matter. What matters most is that we church music professionals recognize the need for growth in our non-musical/spiritual/theological lives. Like many of us I attend a huge national event, teach once or twice for a local or regional event, and very quickly can be drained by all that leadership. That is unless I take commensurate time to get refueled at an event in which I can think in other ways than notes and rests and sharps and flats and toe and heel.

I suppose I'm a little unique in that I hold an MDiv degree. That may make it for likely that I get a kick out of non-musical and theology-related seminars. But I think any church professional would be well-suited to take in a similar event, outside of their usual area of expertise. This began years ago for me by taking in a retreat led by Richard Foster, who was big into spiritual disciplines and the contemplative life.

And for the record, I don't attend every session when I enroll in these events. It's not my personality style (as SJK has rightly noted). I pick and choose and spend plenty of time reading and watching hummingbirds.

Guitar Calvin

2010-08-08T18:43:00.003-05:00

He doesn't know many chords,

but he can bust a move!

Erudite Calvin

2010-08-08T17:32:00.004-05:00

Libby caught Calvin perusing the paper while waiting for his lunch today.

Last week the church nursery worker commented that Calvin said barely two words to her the whole time he was there. She was certain he knew a whole lot more than he was letting on. We assured her that, with chatterboxes like Eli and Briggs, Calvin does indeed know many, many words. He was just shining her on for effect.

Other veggies

2010-08-08T16:59:00.003-05:00

This was this week's tomato haul. Libby fussed at me for picking before they were red. My argument is they they have been splitting badly on the vine.

There are two of these melons. We still are not sure what they will ultimately be.

Carrots

2010-08-08T16:51:00.004-05:00

We planted two rows of carrots. We checked them at the beginning of July and they were not much at all. This weekend they look very nice.

This is the remaining row in the garden (getting a little weedy).

This is how they look straight out of the ground (hard to tell without pulling them up whether we'll get a nub or a 5-inch specimen).

This is how the first row cleaned up.

Here they are waiting to be cooked.

All that remained...

Cover with chicken stock, simmer for 60 minutes; add 1/4 cup of cream and a tablespoon of sugar and return to temperature. Righteous.

Briggs' awesome summer

2010-07-25T17:48:00.006-05:00

This week Briggs lost another tooth...

learned to swim better...

and learned to ride on two wheels.

Not a bad week for a six-year-old.

Two- (or four-) wheeling fun

2010-07-21T18:57:00.005-05:00

One of the nice things about "no-TV" days the past couple of weeks has been that the boys have gotten reacquainted with some old friend-toys. This evening it was bikes.

You can't enjoy the best part of this image: Calvin making his own sound effects!

Briggs started working on riding without training wheels a couple of months ago, but claimed he wasn't quite ready. Tonight it all came together for him. A few times around the yard built up his confidence to add his helmet and move onto the street.

Eli was very nice and sacrificed his own riding (for a while) and pushed Calvin around the yard.

What a difference a haircut makes.

2010-07-18T18:52:00.006-05:00

Everyone got haircuts this weekend; here's one example of the improvement!

Thursday evening................................................

Sunday evening....................................................

Doing what boys do...

2010-07-15T20:22:00.002-05:00

Three boys...

Quarters everywhere

2010-07-12T06:43:00.004-05:00

I finally have 99% of the state quarter that I wanted. I have one complete set issued from the Philadelphia mint. I have 49 of a second set that I hope to trade somehow for a complete set of Denver mint quarters. (All I need is an Arizona (P) coin to complete the second set.) Along the way I've managed to pick up on my own 3-4 Denver mint examples.

Then late last year I encountered an American Samoa quarter, and learned that there was an additional set of six quarters for DC and five US territories. Checking just now I have two of those (including US Virgin Islands).

Now, over the weekend I encountered something else new: the obverse of the quarter reads "Hot Springs." I thought I had been gypped with some sort of token. But no: come to find out beginning this year there is a new set of 56 quarters commemorating National Parks and Historic Sites. One each from the 50 states, plus DC and plus the five US territories. It's a multi-year project, much like the state quarter series. NC will have its issued in 2015, noting the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Quick trip to SC

2010-07-11T17:04:00.003-05:00

While Eli was at Massanetta this week, the rest of us scooted to Columbia, SC overnight. (Eli's been before, so he didn't miss anything.)

We got a nice deal on a room with dinner included, plus two free passes for the zoo. (I figured since it was a family package, they'd comp us one child and one adult, but they comped us two adults, saving us $24; we of course spent the savings on souvenirs, something we usually forego save for a magnet.)

We went to Edventure on Saturday evening. Calvin found it overwhelming and only wanted to watch. It was a little young for Briggs. So, not the greatest experience, but okay.

We were at the Radisson, and the restaurant was Columbo's. Not the most family-oriented place, but they were nice enough. The pool was a big hit with the boys.

Sunday we went to Riverbanks Zoo before it got too hot. Lots of fun for all. Above, Briggs is milking a pretend cow in the petting farm area.

We finished the trip with Libby's friend Meg and 2/3 of her family for lunch. We bolted when a crowd of Spaniards descended on the place (compete with vevuzulas) to watch the World Cup final game.

Drive time from Black Mountain was 3 hours going down and 2:45 coming back (via Interstates), mostly because I dared to go faster on the way home.

Diary of a green bean

2010-07-07T18:15:00.006-05:00

Growing verdantly in the garden...

Having been cleaned and sorted...

Having been tipped...

Having been cut into delectable bite-sized pieces...

Eli engaged in said cutting...(we know: they're "snap beans" and you're supposed to snap them into pieces. Well, Eli had a lot to do, and needed to work on his vegetable prep skills. And he's a Scout after all. Scouts must use equipment.)

Simmering fragrantly in the pot along with bacon (of course), salt, pepper, onion, sugar, water and vinegar...

After one hour of cooking, with some diced potatoes added...

Having been eaten by bean-boy...

A short but happy and fulfilling life.

Photo op

2010-07-01T06:38:00.002-05:00

Eli's middle school was awarded a grant for a solar power installation by our electric utility. The system was installed at the end of the year. On their last Saturday-make-up day the school had a celebration. The press was there and took this photo to accompany the article. The caption in the paper mentioned Eli discussing "the intricacies of solar energy" with his teacher. That's one way to describe it!

Don't tell mom

2010-06-30T19:46:00.004-05:00

Scout Camp 2010

2010-06-30T19:07:00.006-05:00

Eli's at Scout camp this week. They are not at our Council camp in Canton, but rather in Dysartsville, at the Meckenberg Council camp, Camp Grimes.

All the dads were encouraged to take a day and spend an overnight with the troop to share the burden of providing leadership for the troop at camp. I was there TU-WE. As luck would have it, I needed to take Briggs in order not to upset the child care apple cart completely.

At the end of each they everyone has a free period where they can check out several of the cooler merit badge sites "for free" or just for fun. It rained TU afternoon and a couple of things got washed out, including the rifle range. Eli had hoped to try it. He went and waited out the rain and was rewarded for his patience.

When Briggs and I caught up with Eli has was at the archery area. When the rain began, we went back there because it was sheltered. Briggs didn't mind the rain at all. But he really liked being near the cool archery stuff!

This is Eli at the end of his appointed archery session, plucking out his arrows. He liked it a lot, and it was a two-hour session (instead of the usual 50-minute session).

There are a lot more pictures and a slide show and a few words about camp at the Troop 50 blog.

Here are some other random pictures from my 24 hours at the camp. Click anywhere on the slideshow and go to the source and read the captions for each picture.

Easter Lilies

2010-06-19T10:25:00.003-05:00

We all know you have to push lilies to get them to bloom at Easter. But even planting them in the ground, we've never had them bloom. Until we moved to the hills. We got this plant our first year here. It seems to enjoy its spot in the garden. Above is about two weeks ago; below is last night.

More veg update

2010-06-15T19:50:00.005-05:00

These are the first blossoms on the cucumber plants. They are gaining some height also. We had to water Sunday evening, but this evening got a so-so shower.

The beans have really taken off, with lots of flowers. We strung line for them to grab onto, but I am worried they are going to overwhelm what we came up with. We spent a good deal of time on Sunday evening weeding.

This is one of six cabbage plants. We harvested one and enjoyed it. I grabbed the rest today. I split most of them in half and put them in bags and took them to my co-workers at the office. I kept a couple for us. The slugs got after them, but after peeling off just a few leaves, one got to nice plants. We tried putting a bowl of beer next to their row, but that didn't seem to help much (we didn't try to put beer next to each plant, which would probably have been the best methodology.) The split heads looked very nice.

I harvested blueberries off two bushes this morning. We're planning on blueberry pancakes in the morning!

Kindergarten Kommencement

2010-06-15T19:31:00.006-05:00

Briggs made it through kindergarten. He had a commencement ceremony last Friday. He looked kind of worried as he processed in. But he got into the groove of his class song during the ceremony. Way to go Briggs! We celebrated by spending the afternoon at the Montreat park.

Fruit update

2010-06-10T19:24:00.003-05:00

The pear tree is getting very weighed down with fruit. No color on them yet, but the tree is covered, including the broken branch that didn't completely sever from the tree.

The blueberries arrived seemingly overnight. One day there were some fruit nubs and yesterday I noticed bright blue berries. Pretty cool. The birds have not yet set on them, so I know they aren't ready to eat yet. And I know I have just a few short days to get the bushes covered with netting. I'm going to try to pick up some stakes to support the net, rather than just throw it over the bushes like last year. We'll see.

The apples are starting to show a little bit of color. They tend to grow in bunches which leads to crowding later on. I might try to thin them, but I can only reach a relatively small portion of the tree, so it seems rather a lot of work for not all that much gain. I may try it on a few branches, though, just to see what effect thinning the fruits has on their development.

Veggie update

2010-06-10T18:23:00.004-05:00

This is the (almost) last of the lettuce. The plants have gotten very leggy, and they are trying to flower. But we had several good salads from them, including a large salad of greens,

strawberries, walnuts and blue cheese, topped off with a dressing made by my brother, Greg and my mom. We assembled it for a Memorial Day gathering of the church staff at our house. You can also see some of the nasturtiums Libby planted along the garden fence. So far no critters (other than slugs) seem to have invaded the garden. Tonight we had corned beef and cabbage, the cabbage coming from the garden. It was quite good considering that we made it authentic peasant -style, with canned meat!

Wounded (again)

2010-06-10T18:16:00.003-05:00

This time it was Calvin. He was playing with the fire extinguisher (of course). He had pulled it off the wall rack it's mounted on. That went fine. But then he took it over to Libby to show it to her. After that I didn't see exactly what transpired. But somehow it managed to smack him, but good, on the chin. Double bruise, but no real bleeding. But plenty of screaming. He's fine, and just a little proud of his battle wound. But you can imagine the incredulous looks I get when I explain, "he got hit with a fire extinguisher." Kind of had to be there, and kind of have to know the Barker boys.

The picture is several days later at breakfast when I asked him to show me his chin.

Wounded

2010-05-25T21:03:00.004-05:00

Briggs has discovered the thrill of riding down the cross street and slewing into Old State Ten on his scooter. Last Sunday he wiped out. He drug the scooter into the yard and then started crying and limped inside. We cleaned him up easily enough: nothing but a couple of scrapes. But they hurt, and he really, Really, REALLY wanted bandages to make them stop hurting. (He's had a bandage fetish for years.) But I told him "no," that the wounds need to be able to breathe, and that bandages would not take away the pain. He was thoroughly ragged out by the whole experience and by 715PM, this was him. Please notice how the elbow and knee are positioned so that they won't get "re-injured!"

Lettuce

2010-05-25T20:58:00.003-05:00

We planted six lettuce plants about 6 weeks ago. We've been able to have many salads off of them. About 10 days ago I picked all the junk off the base of the plants. Tonight I noticed they had all shot up and had many, many small tender leaves on them. Salads for lunch again this week! We've also got folks coming over for a pot-luck this weekend, with us signed up to provide a big green salad. Hope the lettuce holds up so we can use it for that meal also!

Our weekend

2010-05-24T10:59:00.005-05:00

I've been sleeping and breathing songs and dialog from the children's musical The Troubabble of Zerubbabel for months. Our performance of it on Sunday evening went really, really well. The kids nailed their songs and their lines; the band was awesome. The crew did great with set changes and props. Our costumes were stunning; our "Adversaries" brought the house down! Here's one picture, but you can view a slideshow of the dress rehearsal and reception following the performance at the church's music blog. Thanks to all the kids, all the parents and everyone who helped make it happen.

Briggs knows most of the music and dialog because he had to be at the last five (long, intense) rehearsals leading up to the show. He brought a copy of the score home last night, and even carried it to school today to share with his chums. This morning at breakfast he reported that he couldn't get the music out of his head.

FWIW: Libby played flute in the band and Eli was one of the crew. If it wouldn't have offended a bunch of other siblings I probably would have stuck a keffiyah on Briggs and let him do the show. As it was, he watched with Calvin in the audience. But it won't be long.

Obama visit

2010-05-24T08:50:00.001-05:00

President Obama and the First Lady vacationed in Asheville a few weeks ago. One of the things they did while in the area was visit Billy Graham at his home in Montreat. This took place on a Sunday morning. The motorcade was due by the church right at the end of church. We had a nice crowd of church folks lining the block in town. This is a pic of Briggs that afternoon.

Bird latest

2010-05-22T19:23:00.005-05:00

Thursday evening I took Calvin to see the babies. He hadn't seen them up close. All fine. After a quick peek, I put him in his swing. As he was swinging the baby robins bailed out of the nest. They had apparently had enough of our being so close. They fluttered to the ground and did kind of a hop-fly action across the grass. Every other (adult) robin in the neighborhood starting screaming and dive-bombing us! It was amazing how much noise they could make. And the feathers on top of their heads flew up. Pretty cool if it weren't so unnerving. I got Calvin out of the swing and went to scoop up the babies and put them in their nest. They each tried to nibble on my hand, but I got them back in the nest. Today the nest was empty, but I am pretty sure I saw them lurking in the apple trees. I'm going to check right before sundown and see if they are still keeping residence.

Awesome stamp

2010-05-22T08:53:00.005-05:00

I was going through some stamps I got from a friend this week and found this.

It was issued by Belgium in 1986 to mark "100 years of the beer." Or more accurately an anniversary of the nation's beer industry. Nice.

Funny, I can look at this over and again and not feel the need to run out and drink a beer. But you won't ever see anything similar on a US stamp. Pity that. Come to think of it though, I think there was a stamp depicting a cask being destroyed on a stamp commemorating the prohibition era. Spilled alcohol we can put on a stamp. More's the pity.

Prost!

Science art

2010-05-22T08:47:00.003-05:00

Eli has been studying various systems of the human body this month: circulatory, cardiovascular, muscular, etc. Somehow he had some free time at school this week and came up with this.

He says it consists of the cardiovascular system, the circulatory system, the respiratory system and the nervous system.

The green thing at the bottom is a little robot-thingy that he drew as a bonus.

Beans and peas and carrots! Oh my!

2010-05-21T11:31:00.003-05:00

Nine days later everything has popped through the surface! Above are peas, and below are beans. The carrots are also up, but the sprouts are so fine it's hard to see them against the dirt. But they are there, as are the melon sprouts. We'll string line this weekend so all the bean and pea plants will have places to climb. Libby also planted some nasturtium seed along the chicken wire fence. Those will be coming along soon. More later...

Bird update

2010-05-20T12:01:00.003-05:00

The nestlings are covered with feathers. They puffed up when they saw me invade their space just now. Momma is still keeping guard. They seem to be doing well. I found this nifty site that describes baby bird development using robins as examples. Wish I had thought to get more pictures earlier on.

Rainy weather

2010-05-17T19:33:00.005-05:00

We've had rainy weather the past few days, mostly short, strong storms in the evenings. Today it rained off-and-on for most of the day. By late afternoon, though, it looked like things were going to clear off.

I was leaving to pick-up Eli from Scouts when I noticed this portion of the sky. This hill is south of Interstate 40 from us, and a couple of friends live up there. It's no more than 1/2 mile away. Also, there is a water tank about halfway up the hill. It's hard to tell but fog has settled over the topmost portion of the hill, lopping off maybe 50 feet of elevation. With clear blue skies, just a little further up. The big tree on the left is in our yard.

Eli's Scout troop meets in Montreat, a mere 2 minutes up the valley. By the time I got back, this was the view of the same spot. The clear sky is gone, and the hill across the way is completely socked in. The temperature has dropped quite a bit also. The same tree from our yard, but to give a sense of perspective, the line of trees that borders State Street as it heads toward Ridgecrest. That tree line is about 100 feet from the house. So, as you can tell, the mountain is gone!

I'll try to remember to get a picture in the morning if, as I guess, things are even more thoroughly shrouded in fog.

Click on the images to get a closer look; you should also be able to zoom in. This will help see the detail of the fog on the mountain-top in the first picture.

Cutey

2010-05-14T13:06:00.003-05:00

Calvin was heading out into the yard to play a few days ago. It was cloudy, and damp after a shower, I think. Anyway, he came to the door attired thusly. That's Eli's cap on his head and my sandals on his feet (on the wrong feet). But Calvin thought he was something else!

Bonus plants

2010-05-14T12:57:00.004-05:00

The whole yard was a mess when we moved in. Two years ago I finally conquered the back corner where these roses are. They had been covered over by all kinds of junk. I mulched the whole area, and thinned out the junky weeds. Last year these little roses said, "thank you." This year they screamed it. I may have to go back in here and thin them down. The aroma, though, is divine.

There are a few of these toadstools in the mulched area of the back yard. This area is more open and tree-shaded. There are a couple of these at the moment, but I could see more ready to pop through the mulch.

Just a few feet away are these, next to a dead limb. I'm not sure what prompted their development, but they seem to like where they are!

Vegetable Garden

2010-05-14T12:46:00.005-05:00

In 2008 we started with a space about 10x10. Last year we went to 20x16 and under-utilized the space. This year we staying with the same square footage, but are committed to using it better.

Last week I tried to come up with fencing that would thwart animals, but not necessitate a gate. So far so good. I haven't seen the groundhog that lives under the barn yet this year. We suspect him the in the great broccoli raid of 2009. Last week we added peas, beans and carrots by seed. We also planted 4 cucumber seedlings and a tomato plant.

Libby got lettuce and cabbage in the ground early. We've enjoyed several tasty salads.

Fruits

2010-05-14T12:37:00.004-05:00

In addition to the strawberries in the perennial bed we have these:

There are a couple of apple trees in the back. They produce a red apple that's pretty mild. Not much flavor raw, but they cook very well.

There are four blueberry bushes. I really meant to prune them back in February, but the moment got away from me. I tried to root cuttings back in the fall, but that failed. If we want more, I reckon we'll have to buy them like other folks. We'll have to cover these soon with mesh to keep the birds away from them.

Then there is the pear tree in the front. The first couple of years it didn't do anything. Last year it was full of fruit, and we couldn't keep up. Looks like this will be a good year also. A branch near the top of the tree that snapped during one of the winter storms, but I don't have a ladder tall enough to get at it and cut it out. There are couple of previous broken limbs also, that have kept on bearing fruit. But I think the tree would enjoy getting rid of the limbs that grow upside down!

Perennial Bed

2010-05-14T12:10:00.013-05:00

This is the perennial bed at the front of the lawn. There was a huge rosemary shrub in here, but it died in the harsh winter.

The strawberries made it though, if somewhat reduced in vigor.

We put this rose bush in last year.

The peonies were gifts from Charlotte S. and Betty H. They are doing really well.

Libby's put herbs in a container on the side of the house.

There's also this orange bush. I forget exactly what it's called; we brought it with us from Richmond.

Birds

2010-05-14T12:02:00.003-05:00

We've seen a lot of bird activity this spring. Mostly pigeons, grackles and robins.

A robin built a nest in a storage bin attached to the boys' play set last month. I got rid of a lot of it, knowing that because the boys were out there a lot, the birds would be sorely disturbed. Sadly the parents re-built the nest in a matter of hours. And I missed it. Next time I looked there were three eggs.

They hatched throughout last week. On Tuesday one of the babies fell out into the sandbox and died. These two are holding their own, though. The momma flies away every time someone comes near, trying to lure them away. The boys have taken it upon themselves to cut back some on the amount of time they spend near the nest area, to give the babes a chance to thrive.

In memory of Bud

2010-05-14T12:01:00.003-05:00

My dad always got a kick out of ferns as they opened up in the spring. Here's one around our shed.

Painting

2010-05-10T09:25:00.003-05:00

Briggs made this last week at school. It reminded me of stained glass. I turned it into a puzzle here. It had 10 solves and a positive comment within 10 minutes!

B'ball Briggs

2010-04-25T18:16:00.004-05:00

Briggs has really taken to basketball recently. The ACC and NCAA men's competitions last month helped pique his interest. The Folly came with a pole and a shabby backboard. The old backboard is long gone but the pole is very sturdy. Uncle David and Aunt Brenda provided the new backboard and rim; Briggs got a new ball from the Easter Bunny, and we got a new installation kit on-line this week. It all came together this evening. We left the rim at about 6 1/2 feet. Not nearly regulation, but higher than what Briggs is accustomed to. He can make a shot with concentration, but has to work at it. Seems like a pretty good set-up for the time being.

Organs

2010-04-13T20:04:00.002-05:00

As one might expect, with three kids under foot, international travel is pretty much out of the question for me for any number of reasons. So I have to travel vicariously through family and friends. Jane C. from choir was in Spain over Holy Week. Mindful of her home-bound choir director, she took a picture of this instrument. She thinks it's Barcelona, but can't quite remember. (Anyone know for sure?) Jane didn't hear anyone play this organ and was appropriately bummed about that. Thanks Jane for the photo, and also the post card with the pretty stamp!

Quintessential hymns

2010-03-17T20:15:00.002-05:00

"So," I asked the choir tonight, "for what denomination is "Lift high the cross" (CRUCIFER) the quintessential hymn?" (It's one of our hymns for this coming Sunday.) Once they figured out what I was asking, they put it together and responded, "Lutherans."

Exactly.

I went on...the quintessential Presbyterian hymn is "Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty" (LOBE DEN HERREN).

For United Methodists, AZMON, "O for a thousand tongues to sing." By that point we were off.

I proposed that the Baptist equivalent would be "Praise Him! Praise Him!" (...Jesus our blessed Redeemer...). Our resident Baptist wasn't convinced, but also didn't think, as a third person suggested, that "Just as I am" really summed up Baptist hymnody quite right either.

The way I further explained it was, "what hymn gets a group of whomever we're speaking of singing with everything they've got?" What song would compel a member of said denomination to stand up and join in singing?

For Moravians we decided "Ten thousand times ten thousand." The lyrics rival "For all the saints" (SINE NOMINE) in their beauty to my thinking.

One of the other mainline denominations we've failed to mention to this point is the Episcopal Church in the US. What, the choir singers and I pondered together, would be the Episcopal "signature tune?" I'm still wondering. "O God our help in ages past?" (As I am putting the final edit on this, I now wonder if maybe it's "For all the saints?")

This got going in my head because a friend and colleague recently gave me a new hymnal, the new Celebrating Grace Hymnal, published by Celebrating Grace Ministries, which seems to be of the Baptist persuasion. It had a delightfully comprehensive and inclusive, if somewhat Baptist-weighted, corpus of hymnody and congregational song: KING'S WESTON to Chris Tomlin and DIVINUM MYSTERIUM to Fred Pratt Green.

Of course then one has to ask, "would other groups (Episcopalians, Unitarians, Congregationalists, etc.) be caught singing their hearts out on any song at all?!?" For some this abiding joy and fervor over congregational singing may be an alien thing.

So weigh in. Got a suggestions for AME Zionists? Or National Baptists? Members of the Christian Reformed Church? Care to argue any of the choices I named at the outset?

Maryville Pics

2010-03-15T10:38:00.001-05:00

Pictures from our concert event last Friday.

Epic Fail

2010-03-01T19:59:00.004-05:00

Pit bull versus porcupine. I've sent it to Failblog. Click "vote" and look for it. I found it here. Jeez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday 3/1/2010

2010-03-01T17:43:00.003-05:00

Been busy...aint' had time to update much...

Briggs' team won again...

had a nice personal note from New Zealand (thanks LG)...

great music Sunday...

file server issues this morning: had to drop out of hyper-drive (yeah, whatever)...

fashioned bits and pieces into a coherent concert poster (Maryville College Choir: 3/12/10 at 7PM...y'all come!!)...

trying to find a flutist and three subs for bells next Sunday...

got a royalty check from Cokesbury ($7.12, woo-hoo)...

find pictures to illustrate the people and culture of 5 regions of Africa...

make supper (meat loaf, mash, peas and biscuits...yum)...

home visit from the day care teacher (put everything away and DON'T DROP ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!)...

Scouts...

Places I've been

2010-02-26T17:39:00.003-05:00

Some with the fam, some alone, some related to school. Got plenty of gaps. And no money. Bleh.

Create your own travel map or travel blog

Find the best vacation rentals at TripAdvisor

Art Show

2010-02-26T13:37:00.005-05:00

The art center where Eli has been taking drawing lessons will be having an exhibit soon. Eli probably will have a picture of a Great Dane dog (white with black spots) on display. But the teacher has had some award winning students in the past. The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located on State Street in the heart of Black Mountain. Drop by next month and see what some of Bob Travers' students have been up to. Thanks again to Lucy D. who is subsidizing Eli's classes!

Manna Food Bank on "The Biggest Loser"

2010-02-24T09:39:00.004-05:00

Manna Foodbank was selected to be featured on an upcoming episode of The Biggest Loser. The partnerships are numerous but involve Manna, General Foods, Mission Hospital plus the programs, Pound for Pound Challenge and Lighten Up 4 Life. Proceeds go to Feeding America which filters money down to local food banks based on the locations of the participants. Manna was filmed Tuesday as part of the project. The mayor of Asheville was present (that's Terry Bellamy in the photo above) and they shot segments throughout the day. Libby was on the ground for the whole thing, but they didn't get her in front of the camera. The Hendersonville paper (among others) picked up the story.

Recently seen on the web

2010-02-22T05:56:00.004-05:00

Because I maintain a couple of blogs, I tend to surf around and look at other peoples' blogs. It's mostly boring, but every now and again I see something interesting or entertaining. And once in a while I see something really dumb. Spelling-wise.

pollups= polyps

knaw= gnaw

snoops= Snopes (the urban legend, fact-checking site)

I don't even bother with the common mis-uses of they're, their and there. And the whole hear/here thing. But funny mistakes are out there. From people who ought to know better! I know I've made my share of mistakes (my mom points them out to me). But these are the most recent crop that had me chuckling.