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 2021

 The summer went fast and our garden started producing kinda late. But once it caught up it did so with a vengeance. After this initial harvest of a pepper and tomatoes we had no idea the buckets of tomatoes that were coming along. We couldn't keep up. Next year... fewer tomato plants.

Emily's school picture:

Can you tell which one is Emily?

The view from the top of Mt Trashmore one Saturday morning. It was a beautiful day:

On one side of Mt Trashmore the composting plant could be seen where they were taking derecho tree debris and turning it into soil:

Every year during September I take off every Friday (and a couple other days as well) to go on bike rides while the weather is mild. The County Home Rd trailhead, newly paved:

Mt Trashmore

The city hired a contractor to develop hiking and biking trails on Mount Trashmore and we checked out the progress this morning... they have a lot of work left to do. Hurry up! We are impatient and summer won't last forever. It was scheduled to be finished in late June/early July, but I'm not sure if it'll be open before August unless they pick up the pace. It's just bike trails, come on!