October 2022

 October
is one of my favorite months,
right up there with September and July. And it
always goes so fast. This October went by quickly, too... 

During many of the dry days in October I went to Mt Trashmore after work (and on Saturdays) to pedal the grueling climb to the top and race back down on the MTB trail. It's crazy how fast some people can pedal to the top. I'm not one of those people and I count myself lucky that I'm still alive each time I get to the trailhead at the top. But if I keep working on it maybe I can improve my pace.

Our kitchen is finally finished!

Senior recognition night at the Warrior's game at Kingston:

It's wild that this is Rose's last year of cheer/high school/being a kid. It all goes so fast.

And then there's Emily who is kicking butt her first year in high school and is rocking marching band. She also does whatever is going on here:

When she's not doing that she hangs out with all her cool band friends, plus her best friend Cora. Cora kind of lives with us part of the time and the two of them walk down to Family Dollar a lot to get snacks.

I picked up this virtually unused Kodak Ektralite camera at an antique store, which was the same camera my grandma gave me for my 9th birthday and the first camera I ever had. It even has the original instructions inside and the receipt from Pamida in Independence, Iowa, on December 24, 1984. Apparently it was a last-minute Christmas gift for someone.

Kodak no longer makes film for it, but luckily Fukkatsu does, so I ordered a couple rolls of 110 film to try it out. I fully expect marginal results, but it's a fun experiment anyway.

I went on a photo walk with Rose to try it out:

It was a great day for a walk:

Two days before Halloween we went to see Judas Priest in Moline. It was an awesome show and the first (and likely only) time I've been able to see them. Queensryche opened and they were OK... I think their heyday sorta came and went. Their set was short and they didn't even play "Silent Lucidity"! I mean, come on...

But yeah... Judas Priest was great. Rob even rode his motorcycle out onto the stage just like he did back in the day.

Halloween! We grew our own pumpkins this year, carved 'em, then burned 'em!

Cynthia's pumpkin:

Mine:

It was super windy, so the flames were not as dramatic this time, but it was satisfying nonetheless:

Rose and Fern put together their own Five Nights at Freddie's costumes:

Happy Halloween!

September 2022

Welcome to fall, with warm September days and chilly nights. Good for sleeping with the windows open, for sure. The pumpkins in the garden have been harvested and are chilling in the basement waiting for Halloween and the rest of the garden is slowly being cleared out. We already have next year's garden partially planned out. Maybe fewer tomatoes next time...

Also: gettin' mah hairs did while I watched mah stories:

They were disappointed that my hair wasn't long enough for liberty spikes.

Emily and Vanessa spotted me taking their picture before the homecoming game halftime performance:

Rose with the help of her cheer squad cleverly spelling out a message asking Fern to the homecoming dance:

And Mr. Ballard leading a cheer. Remember, it's always a great day to be a Warrior:

This is Rose's last year of cheering at Wash. It's all going so fast! More pictures from the homecoming game:

Friday night lights:

Leaving for the homecoming dance:

Cool siblings pose:

Cynthia picked up an old Fisher Price Little People house and began working on turning it into a haunted house:

After a coat of black primer and a coat of dark grayish brown paint leftover from the ceiling fan, Cynthia started painting around the raised details:

Some Family Dollar skulls were added:

Last coat of weathering paint done and painting in the small details:

Popsicle sticks were used to board up the windows and make window boxes. Dried moss was added, too:

If there was actually a spider on your house that size I think you would hear it before you saw it:

Speaking of haunted houses, the girls picked up a couple of haunted house cookie kits:

We tried eating some of the cookies and stuff used to decorate the houses, but they were not great. Not really intended for eating, just for looks, yo.

Rose and Fern's house is on the right:

We put the finishing touches on the kitchen, adding a glass mosaic backsplash, baseboards, and a range hood. The kitchen looks so friggin' awesome almost like it doesn't even belong in our house.

Working on the backsplash:

Backsplash done, range hood installed, microwave moved into the kitchen:

Baseboards installed:

Now we just have to wait for the window guy to come out and replace the two kitchen windows in October and we will be DONE.

When Halloween stuff started appearing on store shelves we picked up a life-size skeleton, which then began showing up in random places around the house to scare people. This time he's waiting for Rose to come home from work:

Cynthia and I spent a Saturday in Des Moines visiting some of our favorite places. We had lunch at the Drake Diner, which still looks exactly the way it did the first time I went there. The food was awesome:

In my day you wouldn't be caught dead wearing your jammies to school. That's the kind of thing kids used to have nightmares about. Also, if you and your crew all showed up and you're obviously all wearing the same pants. Times have changed: