Thanksgiving in Kansas

Turkey stuffing.  Who says TR doesn't have a sense of humor?  And he is a mighty fine cook as well.

Halloween 2009

Alas another Halloween has come and gone in Pohick. It was a good year though. Last year we only had 27 Trick or Treaters. This year we more than doubled the number of ghoulies and ghosties with 66. There were two really large groups who came as a pack.  Safety in numbers I guess.

So what was new this year you may ask.  Well, First we added 7 new songs to the sound track.  These songs included:

• A Nightmare On My Street
  
• This Is Halloween
  (Nightmare Before Christmas)
• Ghostbusters (From "Ghostbusters")
  
• Thriller
  
• Werewolves Of London (LP Version)
  
• The Purple People Eater
  
• Love Potion Number 9 

Next we synchronized the light display with our updated soundtrack.  We also added a new fog machine.  The old one hadn't been working right for a couple of years.  We also added some plastic but realistic looking Jack-O-Lanterns.  Many of the folks who stopped by commented that Jake had the best decorated house in the neighborhood. This of course went straight to Jake's head and he is already trying to figure out what he can do next year to top this year's "Show". Hmmmm... Does anyone know if it is legal to import live vampire bats? Gonna have to think about that for a bit.

The view from my hotel room in denver.

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A River Runs Through It

When we first arrived in Alabama two years ago, the state was in the middle of an extended drought.  According to the US Drought Monitor, the drought in our area has been over officially for quite some time now.  After the rain we been having this month, we have decided to endorse the US Drought Monitor assessment.  The little trickle of a stream behind our house has been busting at it's seams the last while.  We considered going rafting in the stream, but there have been too many stories in the news lately about folks being sucked into drainage pipes.  We decided that as much fun as rafting in the stream would be, it would be awfully embarrassing to end up as a statistic on the nightly news.  I guess we really haven't hit the 40 days and 40 nights stage yet, but it is starting to feel like that. 

I'm with the Band

This may not be a surprise to those of you who have been members of a marching band or who have had children in a marching band, but marching band is very time consuming.  This was a surprise to Jake who was never in the marching band.  Marching band started in July with two four hour practices each day.  That's right.  Four hours in the morning and another four hours in the evening.  These practices were conducted before the school semester even began.  Once school was in session, band became even more intense with band class every day, rehearsals after school twice a week and a football game every Friday night. But wait, there's more.  The band also participates in parades and has three band competitions scheduled for the year.  Now we just found out that the band has been invited to participate in a college bowl game which is going to cost a not insignificant amount of money.  Of course the kids have been given to an opportunity to sell pecans to help pay for their trip.  Pecans?  Really?  Do you know how many pecans it takes to send a 200 member band plus staff to a college bowl game for a week?  But at least the football season will mercifully end in November right?  Wrong!  The football team has gone undefeated during their first 5 games and is likely to advance well into the playoffs if not all the way to the state championship.  And did I tell you that Jake and Mary are supporting the band by selling hot dogs and pop corn the in concession stand?  Yep.  There were 6000 people at the game last week.  Do you know how many hot dogs and boxes of pop corn 6000 people can consume?  Lots!  It's OK though, because Jake has always wanted to utter the phrase, "I'm with the band."   And now he gets to say it every week.  At least until the football season is over.  "Go Team!"

Green Tree Frog

We've had a large number of Green Tree Frogs hanging out on our house today.  This is something which we have not seen in the past.  We can only assume that the abnormally high rainfall we've experienced lately is causing them to move to the high ground.  Green treefrogs live primarily in the southeastern United States, from Delaware, south through eastern Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, southern Georgia, across all of Florida, west to eastern Texas and areas north along the Mississippi Valley to southern Illinois. In Alabama their distribution is essentially statewide.  Green treefrogs prefer wet or moist areas such as swamps, lake sides and the edges of streams. Occasionally they are found in brackish water. During the day they are often found on vegetation near water or in other moist shady areas sitting quietly with their feet folded neatly beneath them. Breeding in Alabama usually begins in April and extends into August. Green treefrogs tend to congregate in extremely large groups.  At night, males begin calling just before dark. The male’s call is a harsh, nasal “quank-quank-quank . . .” repeated about once per second. From a distance, these calls sometimes sound bell-like, which accounts for the local name “cowbell frog.”  Females are attracted to the male’s location in a swamp, pond, or other water source where they deposit their eggs, 10 to 20 at a time in a jelly like envelope that is attached to floating or submerged vegetation. Females may lay up to 400 eggs. Fertilization takes place externally. Calling and egg-laying are particularly frequent after rainstorms. Larvae hatch in about a week, with tadpoles metamorphosing into adults 55 to 63 days after hatching.

Adults are opportunistic feeders, eating a variety of insects and small arthropods. They are often seen on houses around windows or exterior lights searching for insects. Tadpoles feed on algae.

Other wildlife we've seen in around our house:

• Green Tree Frog
• American Toad (Bufo Americanus)
• Black Racer Snake 
• Rough Green Snake 
• Crazy Red Cardinal

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Well shiver me timbers.  It be September 19th.  Did you know that September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day?

Other great things that have happened on September 19th:
1778 – The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.
1961 – Betty and Barney Hill claim that they saw a mysterious craft in the sky and that it tried to abduct them.
1959 – Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland.

But the best thing that ever happened on September 19th was Jake and Molly getting hitched.  When they got engaged, Jake didn't come up with the most romantic proposal.  He basically said to Molly, "If you aren't doing anything for the next 20 years or so would you like to get married?"  For whatever reason, despite that lame proposal, Molly agreed to marry Jake, and this year marked their 20th anniversary.  So since Jake had technically only asked Molly to marry him for 20 years, this year marked the end of the contract.  Jake took Molly out to a nice dinner and asked for a 20 year contract extension.  Did Molly agree to the contract extension????  Yes. 

So, what do Jake and Molly have planned for the next 20 years?  Jake is trying to get Molly to agree to incorporate Talking Like a Pirate into their anniversary celebrations.  Molly hasn't agreed to that yet, but Jake is still trying.  Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate's life for me.

Walk to Defeat ALS

Today, the Pohick familiy joined over 700 people from the local area to participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS.

According to the ALS Association there are 30,000 cases across the county and every 90 seconds someone dies from ALS, a disease that has no treatment, no cure and the cause is unknown.

Many people in the community hope that won't be the case for long as they participated in the annual ALS Walk in Huntsville.

"ALS is a neuromuscular disease that affects the voluntary muscles. What happens is basically all your muscles die off and you become trapped within your body so your mind remains in tact the whole time," said Janet Wright the ALS Association Director.

Walk to defeat ALS

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We are Borg

The Borg are a fictional pseudo-race of cybernetic organisms depicted in the Star Trek universe. The Borg are cybernetically enhanced humanoid drones who are linked together against their will with a bunch of technology and wires. Much like the gentleman in this picture. The Borg have become a symbol in popular culture for any juggernaut against which "resistance is futile".

For years, Molly has berated Jake for what she considers to be his extremely loud snoring. Jake tried to explain to her that everyone snores, but like the saying goes, "Resistance is Futile." Jake finally acquiesced and asked his doctor if there was anything that could be done about his snoring. Jake's doctor referred him to a specialist who explained that he may be suffering from something called sleep apnea in which the snoring becomes extreme enough to have an impact on restful sleep. In order to determine if Jake actually has sleep apnea, he would have to undergo a series of tests to evaluate what is going on while he sleeps. Jake agreed to the tests without really knowing what he was getting himself into. The tests are conducted in what is euphemistically called a sleep center. I say euphemistically, because the first night Jake spent there, he did not sleep even a wink. Perhaps it was the weirdness of being wired up with all of the latest technology including a EKG, EEG, Pulse oximeter, microphones, airflow meters that kept Jake from being able to turn his brain off. Or perhaps it was the fact that he could not relax because he was thinking about the people who were starring at him all night using night vision cameras. In any event the first night was a total bust and Jake was feeling a little loseresque as he lamented that he couldn't even sleep right. Jake has now done three nights at the sleep center and has gotten much better about actually sleeping at the sleep clinic. It is much easier to sleep there when you just think of it as a hotel room which is indeed what it looks like. It is also easier to sleep there when you know what to expect. He also know all of the techs on a first name basis and could probably hook up and install all of the monitoring equipment himself if he was pressed to do so. Jake took along his own pillows, a good book, watched some TV and slipped into a blissful slumber. We must now wait for a diagnosis from the doctor, but we'll let you know how that goes. In the mean time, just remember, "Resistance is Futile"!

Friday night lights

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More garden

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More garden of he gods

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Garden of the Gods

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Once more up the big scary hill. Or as Jack likes to call it: 1:15 on the ultimate stairmaster while in a vacuum chamber.

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I Think I Married Kristy McNichol

Ok, so Jake had one of those ah-ha moments just now. When he was a pre-teen, he had a crush on the actress Kristy McNichol. Just one of those innocent pre-teen sorts of things. But years later, he met and fell deeply in love with Molly, the girl of his dreams. As he was flipping through a box of old pictures today, he found a picture of Molly. Or was it Kristy? I don't know. You decide. What does this mean?

Rough Green Snake

Today in honor of Molly's Birthday, Jake took the day off and took Molly on a hike along the Tennessee River. We started off at Ditto Landing and hike North along the Aldridge Creek Greenway.

Along the hiked, Molly found a new friend. It was a little green snake who was certainly more friendly than the Black Racer Snake that she found last year. Molly was afraid that the snake would be stepped on or run over by a bicycle, so she was determined to scoot the snake off of the trail. He wasn't inclined to move out of the way though so we just went about our business.


Rough Green Snakes are fairly long – to 32 in (81 cm) – slender, bright green snakes with yellow or whitish bellies that spend much of their time climbing in vegetation. Their bright green color easily distinguishes them from all other snakes in Georgia and South Carolina but the similar Smooth Green Snake replaces this species in the Appalachian Mountains and the Northeast. Rough Green Snakes have keeled scales and large eyes. After death the color of green snakes fades to blue or black and dead individuals may resemble small black racers. Young Green Snakes resemble adults.

Range and Habitat: Rough Green Snakes are found throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey west to central Texas and south throughout Florida . They are common in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain but are absent from the higher elevations of the mountains.

Rough green snakes can be found in a variety of habitats but are most common in open forests and edge habitats. They can be particularly abundant along the margins of wetlands and rivers, where they search overhanging vegetation for insects.

Habits: Rough Green Snakes are probably the most arboreal snakes in our region and spend the majority of their time hunting for insects, spiders, and other invertebrates in vegetation well above the ground. When encountered, green snakes often freeze, relying on their green coloration for camouflage. At night, Green Snakes can often be found sleeping coiled in shrubs, vine tangles, or thick vegetation. During cool weather Green Snakes often take refuge on the ground and can sometimes be found hiding beneath logs, rocks, or debris. They mate in the spring and females lay 3 – 12 eggs in the early summer.

Conservation Status: Rough Green Snakes are generally common and are not protected. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that this species may be declining in some areas, particularly southern Florida.

Le Pew

Jake got a little surprise this morning when he was out for his morning run. He always greets the people and creatures that he meets along his running route. He greets the people and dogs. He greets the cats and cows and horses. This morning he saw what he thought was a little cat. Just to be neighborly, he greeted the cat with his customary, "Good Morning Kitty Kitty Kitty." The cat upon hearing this, came running over to Jake, which Jake thought was very friendly and he prepared to pet the kitty. That was until he noticed that the kitty had an unusual white stripe down his back. Jake started backing up rapidly, but the kitty kept coming towards him. Jake had called to the kitty after all. By this point Jake was madly running down the street screaming. "LE PEW! LE PEW!"

The morale to this story is that you should use a certain degree of caution when petting black and white cats in the twilight hours.

Cirque Du Soleil

Who say's you can't have fun after 40? Certainly not Jake and Molly as they rehearse for their new Cirque Du Soleil act.

Cirque du Soleil (French for "Circus of the Sun,") is a Canadian entertainment company. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier.

Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. They draw the audience into the performance through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props. After critical and financial successes (Los Angeles Arts Festival) and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created – with the direction of Franco Dragone – which not only made Cirque profitable by 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.

Cirque expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to approximately 3,500 employees from over 40 countries producing 15 shows over every continent except Africa and Antarctica, with an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$600 million.The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, 5% of the city's visitors, adding to the 70+ million people who have experienced Cirque. In 2000, Laliberté bought out Gauthier, and with 95% ownership, has continued to expand the brand. Several more shows are in development around the world, along with a television deal, women's clothing line and the possible venture into other mediums such as spas, restaurants and nightclubs.

Cirque's creations have been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including Bambi, Rose d'Or, three Gemini Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

This May Hurt A Bit

When Nurse McGillicuddy prepares to perform a procedure, we all get just a little bit frightened.

Actually Molly is preparing her world famous Chicken Pot Pie. This is a bit of a misnomer, because it isn't actually a pie at all. It's more of a chicken stew with big flat homemade noodles floating around in it. Though it isn't pie, it is quite yummy with all of it's rich chickeny hot and steamy deliciousness.