…in the middle of a pasture.
Here are some pictures I took when we were at my parents house for Rachel’s graduation in case anyone has every wondered in what kind of surroundings someone like me could come from.
Mass hysteria
So, I don’t always chit-chat about Sam the Cat and Edie the Dog, but I decided I should relay this story…mostly because I’ve only been posting videos recently, but also because it’s somewhat amusing how devious these two are…
Two nights ago (Sunday), I pulled the deer jerky bag off the top of the refrigerator (thanks Uncle Mike!) and had a few pieces. As usual, I gave a small amount to Edie and a little to Sam – yes, even the cat, that usually doesn’t eat “people-food,” does like to eat deer.
The next morning (Monday), Brooke wakes up first and finds the dog downstairs breaking into the deer jerky bag. After I find out about this, I retrace my steps from the previous night. “Did I put the jerky back on top of the fridge? Yes! I’m sure I did!” The only explanation is that Sam must have gotten up there and pushed it off…but that would be a new one, as Sam had never gotten on top of the fridge before (to our knowledge).
Well, last night (Monday…still…), Brooke and I are both upstairs and it’s quiet enough for me to hear something fall to the ground down in the kitchen. I rush downstairs, as I can’t see Edie anywhere, and sure enough: the jerky is on the floor next to the fridge…and the cat is jumping down from the counter.
We’ve long thought that the cat and dog, while not always getting along, cooperate for certain things. Apparently, deer jerky is one of them. Which is now housed inside the refrigerator (…and if those two can get in there, then I say they deserve the jerky…).
“Cats and dogs…living together…mass hysteria!”
Vacation Suggestions?
***EDIT***
Mom, what do you think about the Grand Canyon this summer? We could go down on mules and leave Dad and Andy up above…Andy says he’s afraid of heights, but I think he’s really just a wuss….
Just in case anyone still reads this, I’m trying to decide where we should go for vacation this year. I’d really like to go southwest at some point, but I’d like to rent a jeep and go down into Canyonlands for a few days and I’m not sure we can afford that this summer. So, Andy’s never been to Mesa Verde so we could just go down and do that kind of stuff (plus I’ve been reading a lot of Tony Hillerman lately, so Chaco Canyon could be a fun adventure) and maybe head up north for a day or so, too. Or, we could go to the Dakotas, because I haven’t been there in awhile and Wall is always fun. Or, we could head the other direction to the east coast. Maybe to Niagra Falls, since neither of us has been there. Any other suggestions or votes? Keep in mind we’ll camp at least part of the time, and try to be as cheap as possible the rest.
Grounded
Well, Grounded was last night… Since I haven’t mentioned this on el blog really, I’ll give a brief description:
We go to church at Webster Hills UMC win Webster Groves, MO… There are two “traditional” services and one “contemporary” service every Sunday, the latter of which Brooke and I play music for and/or set up the altar, make food, organize stuff, etc. Being there for over 2 years now, we’ve noticed that people our age (i.e. ages 20-30) are somewhat hard to come by. Therefore, we decided to try something along the lines of a “coffee house” on Saturdays at 6:30 and called it “Grounded.” Again, we wanted acoustic music, some eats, and some fellowship, so the format was essentially 30-40 min of music and no lyrics projected, so everyone could chit-chat with each other, or play some board games that we had dispersed amongst the tables. The idea is to be in a “worshipful environment” yet encourage interaction amongst the attendees, rather than sitting in a seat and following along with a service. This allows for everyone to get whatever they want from the experience, rather than have it spoon-fed to them. From my perspective, that general mentality seems to connect more with people of that age group moreso than sitting in rows, singing with the bouncing ball on the screen, and listening to a 20 min. sermon…
Well, we didn’t advertise all that much (but we’ve got some nice flyers, and a neato logo, designed by the little sister…thanks!), but we’ll get on that more for the next one (October 20th!). We’ll be having it once a month on the third Saturday, so this way, we can rotate musicians and activities as much as possible. Yanela and I did the music, which included about 40 minutes worth of Switchfoot, Waterdeep, Ginny Owens, Relient K, etc…songs that are a bit too complicated for Sunday morning, but work well in a “coffee house” feel. We’ve also got coffee, tea and cocoa from Latin America (Fair Trade, yo…), all of which are quite good!
Anyway, we ended up with a relatively decent turn-out of 14 for that hour period, three of which were from Hannibal and knew Brooke years ago…she invited them via Facebook, not really expecting them to come, but they did anyway… Nice people! Kinda funky how that worked out, but rather cool, just the same. Either way, once we get our advertising together, we expect to get more people there. We’ve already got a musician lined up to play next month, and I think I’ve got another one ready for November (after I call him… ;-).
So yeah, it was a good time. If you’re in the St. Louis area and wanna stop by next time, it’ll be 6:30 pm at Webster Hills UMC on October 20th. If you have questions, ask Brooke… 😛
A good weekend for one and all…
…well, hopefully… 😛
So yeah, Yanela was out of town at church this weekend (our Worship Leader), so I got to run the show this weekend…and as I got to be in charge, I got to recruit the people I wanted to…and Mom and Kristen got the call (Dad, you would have too, but you don’t play the recorder all that well…sorry! ;-)). Brooke played bass (of course), I played guitar, Mom played piano and Kristen sang. We did some old songs and some new ones, all of which seemed to turn out pretty well! Thanks, family!!
Otherwise, Mom and Dad left on Sunday (after a lovely brunch at Norton’s…great place…we should go again sometime…), and then Kristen, Brooke and I tried going to Fast Eddie’s in Alton, IL. This place, apparently, Alton Brown went to in his “Feasting on Asphalt” show on the Food Network. Well, they’ve got really cheap eats and a nifty biker atmosphere (where I don’t exactly fit in, needless to say…). And, they were rather packed. As in, not a seat available in the house. And a long line for food. And lines of people watching for empty tables. We ended up leaving, unfortunately, so we’ll have to try going back some other time. We ended up just going to Joanie’s (after we tried going to Ferraro’s Pizza…which wasn’t open, dammit…).
We went to the zoo the next morning, saw the penguins (w00t!), and then Kristen went home… And today, of course, we’re back to the real world…
Guess I’d better prepare my lecture for this Friday… I’ve gotta shape young minds!
Edit: Oh yeah, and by the way, the Kansas City Royals have a better record than 9 other teams in Major League Baseball. Just wanted to throw that out there…. 😛
Sling Wing!!!
Ok, when we were kids, we played with these contraptions, thanks to my Uncle Bob’s brother. They’re called Sling Wings and until a few weeks ago, I thought everybody had them, but apparently, they weren’t that well known outside of the Poor family. Anyway, Mom found one in the garage and brought it to me when Rachel came to visit this weekend, so we headed to the park with the dog to show Andy how real kids have fun…here are the results of this outing:
If you look closely, you can see it in flight (it’s yellow…with red, blue, and silver stickers, in case you were wondering).
Me, imitating the Sling Wing.
Rachel. You use a rubber band to shoot the styrofoam piece like a sling shot.
Andy gives it a try.
Something was funny…
I shot myself and bled…I’m cool like that!
Last, but not least, Edie.
I’ll now take orders…I’m sure Bob will give me the patent…you know you all want some!!
Mallory’s First Beer
I’ve been transferring all of the home videos my parents took when we were little from VHS to DVD and came across this once, which is hIlarious (yeah, I meant to capitalize the I). To watch the video, you have to right click on the link and then “Save As” – it won’t just play if you click on the link. Enjoy!
Mallory Video
Edit: The file should work now!!! Try it again!!!
Mallory's First Beer
I’ve been transferring all of the home videos my parents took when we were little from VHS to DVD and came across this once, which is hIlarious (yeah, I meant to capitalize the I). To watch the video, you have to right click on the link and then “Save As” – it won’t just play if you click on the link. Enjoy!
Mallory Video
Edit: The file should work now!!! Try it again!!!
Happenings…
Brooke and I went and visited Kristen down in Springfield over the weekend… We hadn’t seen her apartment yet, nor had we really seen much of her since the summer, so it was a good opportunity to get out of town and see how she’s doing. We went out to dinner at her local hangout and then went to a piano bar (while the Cards won the World Series), both of which were quite fun. The piano bar largely involved dueling pianos (and a drummer) playing music mostly off of my parents Adult Contemporary radio station in Columbia, but it was still a good time… Thanks for hosting us, Little Sister!
Otherwise, we got back to St. Louis and had a message waiting on the machine from Lou Fusz Toyota… Our Scion xA arrive late-Friday night, so we can go pick it up on Monday. So, finally, I won’t have to drive Brooke’s Altima anymore and I can have my Elantra back… 😉 Now we just have to figure out how/when to get the Altima back up to Hannibal…
On another note, I had a doctor’s appointment on Friday, which was mostly uneventful…but he did notice my blood pressure is a bit high (145/82). The sad thing is that we’ve been learning about anti-hypertensive drugs in school (and I have a test over it tomorrow…that, and kidney function, which is quite related to blood pressure), so I generally have a good idea what high blood pressure means over the long-term. So yeah, I’ve made yet another resolution to try and work out more… I don’t think my eating habits are particularly terrible, especially compared with the national average, and I come in at or below 2000 calories per day… I just don’t exercise…ever… Therefore, I’m going to try and jog 3-4 times a week and bring that blood pressure down. That, and I’m gonna get some blood work done to check out my cholesterol levels, which I probably ought to do at this age anyway… Regardless, I jogged 20 min straight today, which was better than I thought I’d do after not really exercising much since summer. A good start, mehopes…
Time to get back to studying for tomorrow’s exam. Hopefully it doesn’t raise my blood pressure much more…
Ok, Ok…
…Here’s your update…
Two weeks ago, Mallory and Leland visited on Thursday night. We went to Blueberry Hill with them, then they went to a Carninals’ game and then came back to stay at our place. Of course, by the time they got there, I was asleep and I left for work before they were even thinking about getting up. Then, that Friday, Mom met me in St. Peters after work and Rachel came back home with me. We went mini-golfing, shopping at St. Louis Mills (where we bought too many matching things), to dinner at the Olive Garden for her birthday, and then Mom and Dad came for dinner on Sunday. As you’ve surely read in Sam’s blog, we also picked out new food for the cat and a new brush.
I’ve had 3 job interviews and 1 more to go in the past couple of weeks. So far, I’ve been offered the one that pays the least but might be the most fun, so we’re still waiting to hear back from the others before a decision is made, since I want a Yaris and to quickly pay back my student loans from last year.
That’s about all, except for some reason I have had an ear ache for the past few days which caused a slight mental breakdown that Andy is not very happy about….I just don’t want to get sick when I have so much going on right now! I’ll let you know more when I know more, myself!