Happy Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for this thanksgiving? We are most thankful for all of our friends and family. We are especially thankful for our friends the Frugenglagia family who drove all the way from Kansas to spend the holiday with us. Something we found out about the Yankees from Kansas is that they really do love their ranch dressing. Who knew?

Here are some additional photos from our visit with the Frugenglagia Family.

Salvation Army Credit Card Kettle

Since 1891, the Salvation Army and their Army of bell ringers have been collecting donations in a kettle. It is a Christmas tradition to hear the sound of ringing bells at the entrance to all of your Christmas shopping destinations. This year however, you may notice a small change in the tradition.

Not having cash is no longer a valid excuse for avoiding eye contact with the bell ringer. This year, a pilot program in several locations will allow donors to use their debit and credit cards to make their donations.

Mike Smith, who oversees kettle-based donations for the El Paso chapter, says one reason for the experiment is due to an increasing number of people carrying plastic instead of cash. Smith also cites slowing donations, which have decreased by 10 percent, and a 25 percent increase in demand for charitable services this year because of economic troubles.

"We're seeing people from middle-class neighborhoods who didn't used to need help now needing food, rent and utility assistance to get back on their feet," he told the Colorado Springs Gazette.

The locations where debit and credit card transactions are accepted will change during the campaign, which run until Dec. 24. U.S. Bank will oversee the transactions to monitor their security.

Some Salvation Army red kettle locations also accept used gift cards with balances for donations. The charity collects the cards, which can be from any retail store, and sends them to a Californian company that converts the balance into cash. If a location isn't handy, gift cards can be donated online too.

What do you think about this change? Is this taking technology too far or is this just the way things are done in 2008?

Snarly Kraut

A long standing tradition in the Pohick house is that when someone asks, "What's for Dinner", the wise guy response is, "Snarly Kraut and Reppy Snips". This tradition started with Molly's father, Mr. Boyardee. Jake however has taken this family tradition inherited from his father-in-law and carried it to the next level. Jake sings songs and injects "Snarly Kraut" any time he does not know the actual words to the song. Some folks use the word watermelon in a similar fashion. This word substitution drives Molly crazy for some reason which just encourages Jake to do it all the more. Molly has an uncanny ability to remember every word to every song. She routinely plays along with the show "Don't forget the Lyrics" and rarely misses a word. Jake sometimes pretends that he is a capable of playing along by searching the lyrics on the internet in the other room and calling over as if he actually knew the words to the song. Nobody actually believes that he knows the words though. In any event, Jake is ready for the upcomming Christmas season when he can loudly sing all of the old classics such as "Oh Snarly Kraut", "Deck the Halls with Snarly Kraut", and "Oh Little Town of Snarly Kraut".

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.

Brush With Insanity

This morning there was panic in the Pohick house. The girls could not find a single hair brush. Not one. This is amazing given that it is a rare day when Jake does have to police up a whole bunch of hair brushes that have been left around in a willy nilly fashion. Granted, Jake doesn't have a vested interest in hair brushes. As a matter of fact, it's been about 25 years since he actually combed or brushed his hair. But as a general rule, he is against drama first thing in the morning. So after the immediate crisis was solved, Jake took a quick tour of the house and managed to find an even dozen hair brushes of every conceivable design. Big Brushes, litte brushes, soft brushes and brushes that look like they would really hurt if you got them anywhere near your scalp. Now, what to do with these brushes Jake asked himself. The easy answer is to put the brushes back into the girls bath room where one would assume they should be in the first place. Using history of a guide though quickly rules this out as a feasible option. The brushes just wouldn't stay in the bath room. They have never remained there in the past at least. Perhaps Jake could keep all of the brushes and issue them out any time someone needs to spruce up their hairdo? No, this would probably turn into a full time job and make Jake grumpier than he already is. Maybe Jake could tie a string to the end of the brush so that it wouldn't stray too far from its rightful place. Hmmmm.... Well, I guess you are right. There is no real good answer to this dilema. Jake will just return the brushes and wait for the next cry of, "I can't find a hair brush!"

Pohick Park

CNN announced this week that scientists from Japan have produced clones of mice that have been dead and frozen for 16 years -- a feat that could lead researchers to one day resurrect long-extinct species, such as the mammoth.

Jake immediately got to thinking, if we can bring back long dead creatures, why stop with the mammoth. Why not get really old school and bring back some dinosaurs. As a matter of fact, if we brought back a bunch of dinosaurs, we could put them all in a park so that people can come and see them. Kind of like a dinosaur zoo.

Yes, I guess someone already had that idea. In other news, writer Michael Crichton author of the best selling book Jurasic Park died this week. Is there any connection between the timing of these two events? Probably not, but it sure is coincidental.

Welcome To My House

Well, that's another halloween come and gone. As usual, Jake did a fair bit of decorating. This year Jake constructed a graveyard, lights, spider webs, creepy guy in the upstairs windows, fog machine, and creepy music. Those trick or treaters who stopped by seemed to enjoy the theatrics pretty well.

The number of trick or treaters this year was a little disappointing though. Halloween this year fell on a Friday Night and all of the High Schools had football games. Last year Jake counted approximately 50 ghosties and ghoalies. This year Jake kept track of the haunters and the count was exactly 27. Check below for the distribution of the visitors.

As always, Jake bought entirely too much candy just in case there was a large turn out. This of course will put a bit of a crimp in his diet plans. He is already planning to take the extra candy to work with him. He figures that if he is going to get fat (fatter?) he might as well take the rest of his office mates down with him.

The Maize

The Pohick gang headed out for a little adventure today. We visited The Maize in Brownsboro, Alabama. As we wondered thru the maze cut into the corn field, we happened to find a number of Disney characters including Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Tigger who had apparently become disoriented and hopelessly lost. We never realized that cartoon characters were so directionally challenged. In any event, we help the characters find their way to safety and it was a lovely day to take a stroll.

Armadillo Aerospace Wins Prize

Congratulations, Armadillo team! The Armadillo Aerospace team made space history as they won the first level of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge in Las Cruces, NM. The win not only puts the private company into the history books, but nets them the long-awaited $350,000 prize offered by the NASA Centennial Challenge fund.

The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge (often called simply the Lunar Lander Challenge) is a $2 million prize program funded by NASA's Centennial Challenges program. The Challenge offers a series of prizes for the teams that launch a Vertical Take Off, Vertical Landing (VTVL) rocket that achieves the total delta-v that would be equivalent to those needed for a vehicle to move between lunar orbit and the lunar surface. The multi-level competition is conducted by the X PRIZE Foundation, with sponsorship from the Northrop Grumman Corporation, with the prize purses paid by NASA. The competition is held annually at the X PRIZE Cup, making its debut at the 2006 Wirefly X PRIZE Cup in October, 2006.

The Challenge is divided into two levels of Competition, an easier Level 1 and a harder Level 2. Both levels require teams to demonstrating control of their vehicle by flying to an altitude of more than 50m, flying laterally for 100m, and landing on a pad. For Level 1, this pad is a simple 10m diameter circle; for Level 2, it is a simulated lunar surface, complete with craters and boulders. After completing this first flight, the vehicle can then be refueled, and must then fly a second leg back to the original starting point. Each flight must meet a required minimum flight time of 90 seconds for Level 1 and 180 seconds for level 2. For each Level, the two flights along with any necessary preparation must be accomplished within a short 150 minute time period.

Each Level offers a first and a second-place prize. Level 1 features a first place prize purse of $350,000 and a $150,000 purse for second place. The more difficult Level 2 offers a first place prize of $1 million and a $500,000 second place prize. 2006 was the first year of the competition.

The Eclairs Are Finished

The eclairs are finished, or as the French like to say, "Les éclairs sont finis." This was one of those projects that none of us will soon forget. It seemed like a simple enough project. All Scribbles had to do, was make 30 eclairs to share with her French Class. This was the follow up to the video she made last week. But as often happens in the Pohick House, simple projects take on a life of their own. Scribble's friend Caramelina volunteered to help her with the project. Jake didn't pay much attention to what was going on at first. Actually, he hid out in his man cave since the girls certainly didn't need his help preparing a few pastries. His first hint that something was amiss occurred about an hour into the project. He detected a hint of smoke in the air. Hmmm.... he wondered. "I guess they left a batch in a little too long." A short while later, Scribbles knocked on the door of the man cave. "Yes?", Jake said. Scribbles then requested that Jake go to the grocery store to purchase more supplies for eclair making. This didn't seem right to Jake. He had purchased eclair making supplies just that morning, and he was pretty sure that he hadn't forgetten anything. His shopping list had included 3 dozen eggs, a sack of flour, 4 boxes of butter. What could he have forgotten? So he asked Scribbles, "What did I forget to buy?" Scribbles stated, "You didn't forget anything, we need more eggs, flour and butter." "What?", Jake said. "I bought enough stuff to make a hundred eclairs." Scribbles then stated, "We've had a few set backs." "What?", Jake said again. "How many eclairs have you made so far?" Scribbles said, "Well, we haven't actually had a batch turn out yet. The eclairs just won't rise."

Jake went into the kitchen and witnessed a scene reminiscent of Omaha Beach. Every pot, pan, cooking sheet, bowl, and spoon in the house was covered in a thick coating of eclair batter. The kitchen counter was overflowing with what could only generously be described as hockey pucks. A nice thick layer of smoke was eminating from the stove which was giving a very fair portrayal of an old fashioned franklin stove. Scribbles stated that maybe if she left the eclairs in long enough, they might rise a little. "No", Jake replied. "I'm pretty sure that once they get that nice charcoal briquette look, they aren't going to rise any more." Jake gave the girls instructions to clean up the kitchen and headed off to the grocery store for another round of supplies. Jake ended up with the same cashier he had earlier in the day as he paid for another 3 dozen eggs and various other supplies. "Did you run out of eggs already?", she asked him. Everybody is a comedian.

So here is what we learned from the experience:
1. Follow the recipe exactly. (Expecially when you are cooking fancy french food. If it says add the eggs one at a time, that is pretty much what you have to do.)
2. If what you are doing doesn't work, doing it over and over is not going to have a different result. (If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. Unless you actually need 100 eclair shaped charcoal briquettes.)
3. Never underestimate the time and materials for a project (ie., 30 eclairs = 6 dozen eggs, 2 bags of flour, 8 boxes of butter, and 7 hours of prep time)
4. French is harder than Spanish (All the kids in spanish class had to do was whip together a bowl of guacamole dip which took about 10 minutes)

Caramel Apples

Nothing says Fall like caramel apples. Scribbles and her friend Caramelina decided to whip up a batch of Caramel Apples. They were quite yummy.

Recipe from Kraft.com

Prep Time:
20 min

Total Time:
1 hr 30 min

Makes:
5 servings

What You Need

5 medium apples, washed, well dried

1 bag (14 oz.) KRAFT Caramels (about 50)

2 Tbsp. water

Make It

INSERT wooden pop sticks (from bag of caramels) into stem end of each apple. Cover large plate with waxed paper; grease paper with butter. Set aside.

PLACE caramels in large saucepan. Add water; cook on medium-low heat until caramels are completely melted, stirring constantly.

DIP apples into melted caramel until evenly coated, spooning caramel over apples if necessary. Allow excess caramel to drip off. Scrape bottoms of apples, then place on prepared plate. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until ready to serve. Remove from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature 15 min. before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Shortcut

Try our recipe for Easy Caramel Apples with our easy-to-use KRAFT Caramel Bits.

Cooking Know-How

Wash and dry apples thoroughly so that caramel adheres to the apple peel.

Special Extra

Prepare as directed, rolling bottom of each freshly dipped apple into one of the following: 10 coarsely chopped OREO Cookies; 1-1/2 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows mixed with 1/4 cup sprinkles; or 1/2 cup PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, chopped. Or, drizzle dipped apples with 2 melted squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate.

Morning Has Broken

The sunrise this morning was so awesome, it just begged to be photographed.

Jake is a morning person. This wasn't always the case. He can still how hard it was as a teenager to wake up before noon. Not any longer. Now the alarm clock is kind of superfluous. Jake just wakes up and heads outside for his early morning run through the countryside. Morning energizes him. Morning, which used to be a thing to be dreaded, has become like the return of a dear friend. Morning holds a promise of all of the great things that will happen throughout the day.

As the great Cat Stevens once said, "Morning has Broken".

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day

Boogie Shoes

Tonight was the Pohick High School Homecoming Dance. Scribbles and her posse went to dinner and then stopped by the house on the way to the big social event of the season.

Black Racer Snake

So, a few days ago, Molly came into the house at about 10:30 at night in a bit of a panic. She had been out picking tomatoes in the garden by flashlight. (WHO PICKS TOMATOES BY FLASHLIGHT) Anyway, she noticed that a snake had gotten twisted up and died in some garden netting. She made Jake promise to go get the dead snake out of the garden. And then she nagged him hourly for a couple of days until he finally went down to the garden to retrieve the dead snake. At first glance, Jake thought. Wow, that's a pretty big dead snake. I wonder how come he hasn't begun to decompose yet. After a minute or two of net cutting, the reason the snake hadn't begun to decompose became readily apparent. The Snake turned and looked Jake dead in the eye. As a general rule, Jake does not appreciate when dead things spring back to life. It gave him a bit of a start. Now, Jake was faced with a dilemma. How do you cut loose the big black snake without becoming a big black snake snack. (Try to say that ten times fast)

Jake enlisted Scribbles to help in the effort. She held down the snake's head while Jake carefully over the period of hour cut away the netting loop by loop from the snake. When the snake was finally freed, it rose about a foot up into the air, opened it's mouth about as wide as your hand, and attempted to eat Jake's face. So much for gratitude. The snake then quickly headed off into the brush pile behind the house.

Jake consulted a friend who is a snake expert. His friend believes that the snake is a Black Racer. Black Racer's eat lots of things and are good at keeping the rodent population down. I wish we had a few of these snakes around our house in Virginia during our war with the rodent population.

According to OutdoorAlabama.com, The Black Racer is Common statewide, but declining in many areas. A familiar diurnal species that occurs in virtually all terrestrial habitats. Most frequently encountered in open forest and forest edges, and along brushy margins of aquatic habitats.

According to the University of Georgia, Black Racers are only active during the daytime and are most active in warm weather. At night and during cool weather they take refuge in burrows or under cover such as boards or tin. Racers hunt by sight and are often observed actively foraging during the day. They are not active at night. They eat a wide variety of prey including insects, lizards, snakes, birds, rodents, and amphibians. In turn, they are preyed upon by a variety of predatory birds, mammals and snakes such as kingsnakes and larger Racers. When captured, prey are not constricted and are consumed alive. Racers are faster than most other snakes, very agile, and generally flee when approached, often climbing into small trees or shrubs. If cornered, however, they do not hesitate to bite. Although primarily terrestrial, they climb well and are occasionally observed sleeping in vegetation at night. Racers mate in the spring, and females lay up to 36 eggs in early summer. Eggs hatch in late summer or early fall.

French Cooking

Scribbles was given a french class assignment of translating a recipe into French and then creating a video as she prepares the recipe. Escargot anyone? Actually, for her assignment she prepared eclairs. They didn't turn out exactly like the picture on the recipe, but they were quite tasty and hopefully she will get a good grade on her assignment. Scribbles sure has come a long way from the last time she tried to cook something. Bon appetit!

Text Messaging: The World in the Palm of Your Hand

On the way home from dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Pohick family is stuffed, sleepy, and relatively quiet.
That is, except for the CLICK CLICK CLICK clack CLICK clack clack CLICK that's coming from the back seat.
"Who are you talking to?" Jake inquires.
None of your business, I want to answer. But then again, he could get violent. I could end up in one of his beloved mousetraps. So instead, I give him a vague "My friends."
I, Scribbles of the Pohick Clan, thoroughly enjoy texting people. If I can send someone a text message instead of calling them, you can bet your hat that I will. It's easier, in a way. How is taking five minutes to type in a bunch of letters easier than just making a dang phone call? ...I don't know. It just is.
Texting is also a useful means of mass communication. For example, if you're stuck with your family on yet another road trip to see some historical museum or whatever, you send one message to all your friends who have cell phones. "Help! I'm going to die of boredom!" Almost immediately, you get several replies that are chock full of sympathy. "So sorry!" "Another trip???" "Where are you going now?" "*hug!*"
Another example: "Band practice today! Don't be late!" Send it to the entire band- they'll all show up. It's like magic.
Oh, this is a good one: "My dad just got fired from being the king... Can I stay at your castle?"
And you don't even have to use complete sentences. Many texters opt to use the IM language that has developed over the past years. "ctrn... pos! ttyl, ok? ily- cu l8r"
Text messaging is a misunderstood art. The younger generations are catching on quickly to the texting wave, but there are still adults who like to tease and complain. Just learn to live with it. You don't have to like it. You don't even have to use it- you can go on having vocal conversations all your life. Let us go on in our text mania. It could be much, much worse... Trust me on this one.
"Fingers of Fury" Scribbles signing off.

Bigfoot is Real

It has been widely reported today in all of the major media outlets that two men from Georgia have for the first time ever recovered the body of a deceased bigfoot. Seriously?

I say what is the big deal? In Alabama, we see big foot all the time. He works in the 7-11 down the street. He's not the friendliest fellow, but I can't say anything bad about him. And come to mention it, I've never once heard him mention any kin folk from over in Georgia.

Matt Whitton and Rick Dyer say they stumbled across the 2.3m-high (7ft 7in), 226kg (500 pound) corpse in a wood in the north of the state in June.

A photograph on the men's website shows what appears to be the body of a large, hairy creature with an ape-like face. Bigfoot experts reacted suspiciously to the men's press conference claims. I'm not sure what surprises me more, the fact there are bigfoot experts or the fact that reputable news organizations are falling all over themselves to interview these folks. I guess that everyone has a reasonable expectation to 15 minutes of fame, but I think these guys are getting just a bit more than their fair share.

Anyway, I need to get on down to the 7-11 and ask BF what he thinks about all this.

Other Articles about Legends and Conspiracy Theories.

• Big Foot is Real
• Moon Landing Hoax
• Atlantis Found ... Maybe

Mythbusters Lunar Landing Hoax

Update: This episode of Mythbusters originally aired on August 27th, 2008 at 9Pm.

The Huntsville Times is reporting today that an upcoming episode of the popular TV show Mythbusters will explore the conspiracy theory that NASA faked the moon landings. The episode will be broadcast on the Discovery Channel. Portions of the episode were filmed on location at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. This episode will broadcast on August 27, 2008 at 9PM. For years, conspiracy theorists have said that the U.S. government, the Apollo astronauts and thousands of NASA employees faked the lunar landing in order to win the space race to the moon.

The idea that the moon landing was faked first came from Bill Kaysing's book "We Never Went to the Moon: America's Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle," released in 1974.

Four years later, the movie "Capricorn One" (which depicted a fake Mars landing) added to the conspiracy's popularity.

Facts cited by conspiracy theorist's that the landings were faked include:

• Blueprints and design and development drawings of the machines involved are missing.
• Apollo 11 data tapes containing telemetry and the high quality video (before scan conversion) of the first moonwalk are missing.
• Crosshairs in photographs appear to be behind objects.
• There are no stars in any of the photos. The Apollo 11 astronauts also claimed in a press conference after the event to have not remembered seeing any of the stars.
• The color and angle of shadows and light are inconsistent.
• Identical backgrounds in photos are listed as taken miles apart.
• The number of photographs taken is implausibly high. Up to one photo per 50 seconds.
• The flag placed on the surface by the astronauts flapped despite there being no wind on the Moon
• The Lander weighed 17 tons and sat on top of the sand making no impression but directly next to it footprints can be seen in the sand.

To learn more about the Moon Landing Hoax Theories, check out these resources.

Here are some video clips of the episode Mythbusters episode.

Part 1


Part 2


Other Articles about Legends and Conspiracy Theories.

• Big Foot is Real
• Moon Landing Hoax
• Atlantis Found ... Maybe

Cowan Railroad Museum

While returning from a trip to North Carolina, the Pohick family ended up traveling slightly off their nominally planned route. This is another way of saying that they made a wrong turn. Sometimes though, making a wrong turn can lead to interesting discoveries such as the Cowan Railroad Museum. This museum represents the railroad that has been an integral part of the city of Cowan, Tennessee since 1849 when construction began on boring a railroad tunnel through the mountain two miles southeast of town. The Cumberland Mountain Tunnel was finished in 1852 before the railroad actually made it to Cowan from Nashville. The town, the railroad and the tunnel still exist today. In support of that endeavor and later frequent trains through this region, a substantial frame depot was built in 1904, and that building is where the museum now houses its collection for your enjoyment.

Visitor information

The Museum is open from May through October, Thursday through Saturday 10 AM ‘till 4 PM and Sundays 1-4 PM. Other times can be arranged in advance by calling the museum and leaving a message: (931) 967-3078. Or you can call the nearby Cowan Welcome Center (931) 968-9877.

Admission is free! (But donations are greatly appreciated!) Volunteers, new members and other donations are always welcome. The museum is recognized as an official railroad museum by the State of Tennessee, but sustains itself by gifts, dues and contributions.

Indian Creek Greenway

Today we went hiking along the Indian Creek Greenway in Huntsville, Alabama. The section of the greenway that we hiked is two miles long, so we did four miles out and back. The greenway appears to be very well maintained and is a very easy hike. The section we hiked was 100% paved with cut grass on both sides of the trail. It is very scenic and crosses a creek several times. In typical southern fashion, all of the folks we met along the hike were very friendly. There are plans to extend the greenway in the future.

Here is a map of the Greenway.