Brush With Insanity: The Truth

Jake is a nice guy. I, the artist formerly known as Princess Scribbles, will admit that. He works hard all day, deals with last-minute crises, and only locks me in the tower on rare occasions.
However, Jake doesn't know all the things that go on in his humble abode while he isn't looking.
Hairbrush crisis? How can one not find a single hairbrush when one owns twelve? That is Jake's argument. Oh, it was so easy to track down all those hairbrushes. Those silly Pohick girls, not being able to find a brush! Even sillier than those little kittens who lost their mittens! Why, just round all those hairbrushes up, and BAM: Crisis avoided. Now, if those girls would just keep those brushes in the bathroom, life would be so easy!
Not the case.
A hairbrush is a devious instrument. It is, however, very useful and a great necessity for those like me who have long, beast-like hair. The brush uses this fact to its advantage and schemes against its owners in a repeated and predictable pattern:
1) In a calm, unstressed time, the hairbrush will allow itself to be found, used, and put away.
2) When no one is looking, the hairbrush will sneak out of its drawer and hide itself away. Some hiding places are good, while others are so bad they don't even count as hiding places.
3) A stressful time, such as a morning, will come about, and someone will need a hairbrush. But where have they all gone? A search ensues. The dastardly hairbrush will sneak around, slipping into nooks and crannies so that, even though a person may search for hours, the hairbrush will never be found.
4) When the hairbrush is needed least (as in, two weeks after somebody actually needed it), it will come out of hiding, chuckling malevolently, and allow itself to be found. The vicious cycle starts all over again.
It's the truth!
Haven't you ever heard the sad lament of Larry the Cucumber? "Oh, where is my hairbrush? Oh where is my hairbrush? Oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where, oh where is my hairbrush?"
"Hairbrush Matador" Scribbles signing off.

Habitat For Humanity

Jake had an opportunity today to give back a little bit to the community. He participated in building a Habitat For Humanity house.

Habitat For Humanity is an international, ecumenical Christian, non-governmental, non-profit organization devoted to building "simple, decent, and affordable" housing. Homes are built using volunteer labor and are sold at no profit, with no interest charged on the mortgage. Homeowner families are chosen according to their need; their ability to repay the no-profit, no-interest mortgage; and their willingness to work in partnership with Habitat. Homeowners are usually expected to put approximately 500 hours of "sweat equity" into their own or other project homes.

This of course wouldn't be a good Pohick story, without telling you about the details of Jake's adventure (or should we say misadventure). This was the first time that Jake has participated in a habitat project. He was invited to do so by members of his church. When Jake showed up at the work site, he saw a big sign that said, "Habitat For Humanity" and it listed a bunch of churches that are supporting the project. Jake reported to the site foreman and was given a job painting walls. After about two hours, Jake noticed that he had not seen anyone else from his church. He had met and chatted with a bunch of other really nice folks though. Jake was surprised that no one else from his church was participating that day since they had all been talking so much about the project. Finally, during a break, Jake looked at the sign-in list and came to a realization. He was at the WRONG work site. He looked up the street and saw another house under construction. Sure enough, that was the house he was supposed to be at. So, Jake went to the correct house and after a little (well, more than a little) good natured ribbing, Jake was put to work putting the roof on the house. All is well that ends well!

If you have the opportunity to work on a habitat project in your area, I recommend that you do so. You don't need any special skills except a willingness to help. You may even pick up a new trick or two on how to fix things in your own home. Just like those classes at Home Depot, except it won't cost you anything except a little bit of time.

If you would like to read a nuts and bolts book on the process Habitat For Humanity uses to build its houses, check out Habitat for Humanity: How to Build a House. It is written by Larry Haun, a veteran crew leader who has led the construction of hundreds of habitat for humanity homes.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

Jake violated two of his most basic rules today. His rules are; 1) Never venture out to see the sights while on a business trip and 2) Never exercise unless someone is chasing after you.

While on a business trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, Jake's boss Mr. Peabody badgered him into going for a "short run". The weather is so nice Mr. Peabody stated. Jake finally acquiesced and figured that a short run couldn't possibly do too much damage. After all, Mr. Peabody is 10 years older than Jake. So they loaded into the car to drive to a nice little running path that Mr. Peabody knew about.

Mr. Peabody ended up driving to the Garden of the Gods which is a public park in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It contains numerous trails for hiking, walking, biking and horseback riding. As soon as they started running, Jake knew that he had made a rather large mistake. Apparently, Colorado Springs is at a slightly higher elevation than Alabama where Jake is from. And apparently, the air is just a little thinner as you go up in elevation. Jake discovered these laws of physics the hard way. They hadn't been running for more than two minutes when Jake discovered that his hands were all tingly and he was having a harder than normal time breathing. Jake's first thought was to use the old, "Ouch, I twisted my ankle" trick. Mr. Peabody was watching him pretty closely though, so Jake had no choice but to keep running.

Did I mention that the multi-use trails are also used for horseback riding? Apparently horse owners are not held to the same standard as dog owners and several incidents occurred during the trail running. An hour later when the run was nearly finished, it was all that Jake could do to crawl on his hands and knees back to the car. As he slowly made his way back to the car, Jake did however take a moment to notice the beauty of the Garden of the Gods. The beauty and wonder of the moment was only somewhat dulled by the incessant encouragement that Mr. Peabody shouted at Jake to continue running. Yes, Jake has learned his lesson and will go back to following his normal rules. Sometimes we just need a gentle little reminder of why we made the rules in the first place.

If you would like to visit the Garden of the Gods (Hopefully at a leisurely pace), here is the official website.

Check out the location of the Garden of the Gods on this map of places we've been.

Other Colorado Springs Attractions

• Mount Manitou Scenic Incline Railway (Colorado Springs)
• Garden Of The Gods (Colorado Springs)
  
• Manitou Springs (Manitou Springs)
  
• Mount Cutler Hiking Trail (Colorado Springs)
• Pikes Peak (Colorado Springs)
• Ghost Town Museum (Colorado Springs)
  
• Helen Hunt Falls (Colorado Springs)
• Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Colorado Springs)
  

Alone In The Wild

You're in rural Alabama on a Saturday evening thirty miles from your home. Your daughter has to get to a district honor band in thirty minutes. You're car gets a flat tire. Not just a leak or a nail, but a big old slash in the side wall. You change the tire using the stupid little doughnut tire that serves as a spare . Skinning your knuckles in the process. Then you discover that the spare tire isn't holding air either. The valve stem is broken. Did I mention that it's Saturday evening in rural Alabama. Triple AAA asks, "What would you like to do." You respond, "I would like you to take my daughter to her concert and then fix my flat tire." There is silence on the phone. Then the triple A rep asks, "Do you know that you're in rural Alabama?" I don't think you are going to find someone to fix your tire on a Saturday evening down there. When the tow truck driver showed up, he asked, "What would you like to do?" Well, can we take my daughter to her concert and then get my tire fixed?" Silence..... "Did you know that this is rural Alabama?", the driver asked.

Scribbles got one of her friends to drive her to the concert. The tow truck driver called in a favor and got a buddy to stay open late at the Sears Automotive store. Jake spent lots of money getting the tire fixed. But alls well that ends well.

What's Buggin You?

The craziest thing happened to Jake at church this week. The Pohick clan was sitting in the front row, because Jake is a creature of habit and hates change. The service started and everyone began singing one of those uplifting contemporary Christian hits. Just as the singing started, a vicious fly started circling Jake's head. Jake thought that this was quite unusual given the fact that you don't normally see many flies in January.

Jake was very disturbed by the fact that the fly wasn't bothering anyone else, but would not leave him alone. Jake began swinging wildly at the annoying insect. Everyone in church assumed that Jake, who was sitting in the first row, was really being moved by the holy spirit. This went on for some time until Molly began poking Jake in the ribs and telling him to cut it out. At about this moment, Jake who was still trying to sing, took a deep breath, and I kid you not, inhaled the fly. The fly was lodged in the back of Jake's throat. Jake turned Red, then Blue, then Purple while trying to dislodge the bug from his throat. He finally managed to dislodge the insect and spat the fly to the floor in the front of the congregation. It's amazing how uncomfortable you will feel when spitting on the floor of a church in front of 300 people.

Amazingly enough, the sermon for the day was how Jesus commanded demons to leave people's bodies. Jake thinks it's possible that the fly he swallowed might have been a demon. He is absolutely certain though that flies taste nasty and leave a terrible after-taste in your mouth. He has never been so thankful to get a cup of communion wine.

Have you ever eaten a bug on purpose or otherwise?
.