Do You Believe?

As a homeschooler, I look for opportunity to teach things my child is interested in. We recently studied the Mariana Trench. The Bathyscaphe that explored the very bottom of the deepest spot on Earth is named the Trieste. In the articles I have read, it happened in 1959. It had a crew of two, and the dive has never been repeated.

More people have been to the moon than to the lowest point on Earth.


Since this is one of my favorite topic's, I was elucidating my information to a co-worker. He was very inquisitive and asked a lot of questions, which I answered. As our discussion continued, I realized he was skeptical to the point where he finally said, "I don't believe it, you must have misread it".

Later that day I printed the information, and took it to work. He was still skeptical, and said he was going to do his own research.

He returned the next day and told me that there is a following that hold to the belief that this is a hoax.

To which I replied, "you mean like the lunar landing?"

To which he replied, "exactly."

I was unable to find any solid info to support the theory that this is a subversive plot, except a few rants that stated it was not possible with 1959 technology to accomplish this feat. Plus, if it were able to be done, why has it not been repeated?

So I ask you, do you believe in the dive and/or the lunar landing?

After all, we are being asked to believe in things we have not seen by the people who launched the projects.

A new dive is planned in early 2009.

Maybe they can find my sunglasses I lost in Hawaii.

There ought to be a law!

This is my first rant! We moved into our house in 1980. It's an old neighborhood and the houses are on big lots and range in styles. Ours was built in 1926. When I moved in, the old man across the street, in conversation said, I have live here for 40 years. I was 25. He had lived in his house longer that I had been alive! We were the only ones in our immediate neighborhood that even had children!

The older couple that lived behind us has died and the house went up for sale. It was a sprawling ranch with a basement and a mother-in-law wing. Back in the day it had a small basketball court that was lit with a flood lite for the neighborhood youth activities. Our backyards are back to back and with the slope of our yards, I could just see the top of the roof over the fence.
I am hopeful that a new family would move in and have an 8 year old boy for my gson to play with. The house has been razed and several trees have been cut down.

After the re-working of the land and debris hauling, the foundation was poured and the building began. Here is the next phase of the project.

Notice the height above the fence line. I'm thinking, Ok, it's going to be a little taller than the previous home. But it's not too bad, I think I can live with this. I knew it was going to be two stories and more bedrooms than the old home.

I then discovered that this was actually the first level and that the garage was under the house and there was one more story to go! Here is what I see from my deck now!


Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that when the sold the old house, they subdivided it and they are going to build TWO HOUSES back there! I can hardly wait...NOT!

It seemed like a good idea...

After reading a deee-licious post from But I had a Tiara it reminded me of something I did as a teen.


My family was part of The Portland Dune Buggy Club and I spent many a long weekend at Sand Lake. We all had trucks and campers, and there were dozens of kids, and late summer nights around the campfires.

It was middle of the day on one of these trips that I was hungry between meals. I foraged around the camper and found Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup. Hot soup sounded good. It would have been better if someone were willing to cook it for me. No worries, since I intended to eat the entire can, why not just eat it out of the can? This is the day I learned the true meaning of "condensed". The intense flavor and thickness were very tasty. But now I was kinda thirsty. I drank water. Still thirsty. More water. I could not quench my thirst. I have now consumed 5 times the required cooking directions, still thirsty, and now I am as swollen as a fat bloated tick. But it seemed like a good idea at the time.

For real soup click the button below, you won't be disapointed.


Have you ever had an "it seemed like a good idea" episode? I would love to hear about them.

Boyz will be Boyz

I love being a boy. The world is full of adventure for boys. I'm sure that there are girls that feel the same, but I wouldn't know. Most boys don't grow up. There is a saying that goes, the only difference between boys and men is the size of their toys. Hopefully my female audience will get a little insight on what it means to be a boy from what I am about to illustrate.

The neighbor girls came to my door, they are 13 and 14. they only come to my house when they are looking for their little brothers, ages 9 and 11, who come to play with my 8 year old grandson. Today the 3 boys were outside playing somewhere and the teen girls came to give me a phone number that I requested. I asked them where the boys were and this is what they replied.

The 2 younger boys are hiding in the bushes across the street with a broken electronic device and are spying on people passing by, and the other is in the recycle bin reading and doing his home work.

I love being a boy.

Pranksters

I love a good practical joke. I love doing them and having them done to me. The more clever the better. Here are a couple of favorites:


I love it when someone is vacuuming, and I am out of sight. When the vacuumer is not in the same room as the plug, you wiggle it loose for just an instant and then plug it back in wait and then do it again. Now to be really effective you need to do it at different intervals and duration of off and on's. This is really good at work or if the victim is vacuuming the car. I did this at work in my warehouse once, and he had a 50' extension cord so I was far enough away to watch. He was convinced there was something wrong with the switch, because every time he clicked it off and on, I would plug it back in. Then I poured salt in the wound. I would unplug it, and as he reached for the switch I would plug it back in before he touched it. As his hand would pull back I would unplug. He is now just moving his hand to and from while the shop vac goes on and off. I laugh out loud, he looks up, smiles and hits his hand on his forehead. I left the scene.



My other fav is the time I got a sales call on the phone offering to have my windshield replaced. Here's how it went down. This was before caller ID or auto-dialing sales calls, they just went through the phone book name by name.


(phone rings) I answer, hello.

(Sales woman says) Hi, my name is Veronica, and I work for an auto glass company and we can replace your windshield for no cost to you by waving the deductible. Do you have any that need replacing?

(Me) No, I,m sorry I don't.

(Veronica) Ok, thank you for your time.

We hang up.

5 seconds later my daughters phone rings. Their name is next in the phone book.

I pick up the receiver and instead of just saying hello, I say, (in a dark and Omanis voice) "Hello veronica, I've been waiting for you to call". I wait for her response.

There is now absolute silence from her end. I continue to wait without speaking. The seconds tick by and after about 20 real seconds, she finally says in a hushed and apprehensive voice, "how did you know it was me?"

I brighted up and told her she had just called my other line. She laughed and said something to the effect of, way to freak me out. We laughed again, she thanked me for my time and we hung up.

I would love to hear her tell the same story.


Today it was my turn to be the victim. My grandson is a funny boy. He's still learning, but coming along nicely.


My wife and her sister and my grandson and I had gone into the basement. We were looking at a giant projection tv that a friend had given me. It's not very good but I am trying to make a man cave on a limited budget. Anyway...after a short time he goes to the top of the stairs. Bored with adult conversation he requests to go to the neighbors house to play. We say ok, and the door at the top of the stairs closes and we hear the backdoor close on his way out. After a bit we head up the stairs to discover he has locked the door and we are trapped in the basement. We bang on the door and wait. The three of us standing on the stairs looking like a phone commercial for more bars. No response. He really did go to the neighbors. I had to crawl out one of the little swing up windows that were so popular in houses built in the late 1920's.

I am glad he has a great sense of humor. He is learning from the master! We just need to work on delivery.

For more practical jokes go to Absolutely Fabulous and ask about camping with her new husband at Flying M Ranch. I still feel "kinda" guilty.

Adventure VS Common Sense?

We as a family decided to take an adventure. We considered many different options and finally settled on the Mt. Hood railroad train ride. This turned out to be great fun on a summer afternoon. The train was moderately occupied and we watched out the window at the passing farms and orchards. we wondered from one end of train to the other, making the daring leap of death across the gated openings where you go from one car to the other. The constant clacking of the tracks and the swaying of the cars was delicious and new. We even went upstairs and stuck our heads out the window to feel the wind and smell the smells.Eventually the train pulled into the station and we headed home.

We decided to continue our adventure and took the back roads towards home. This should be where the red flags go up.

We turned onto a winding lane and it soon turned into a gravel road. There were quite a few mountain bike riders and a few cars and trucks going both directions. We kept going and were greeted by small streams and vistas to die for.

By now we had driven for about an hour and the road had split and forked many times. There were now no more riders or other vehicles. We were now on roads that were meant for trucks with 4WD. Good thing we had new tires on the Minivan. Convinced that the main road had to be close, we drove on.

Finally, we decided to abandon ship and turn around. Funny thing about gravel roads, they look exactly alike. Exactly. EXACTLY.



Have you ever been lost? I mean really lost? Not just misplaced, lost. We were to the point that our dialog had alerted our 7 year old that something was wrong. Maybe it was the fact that we were comparing cell phones to see who had bars and who didn't. Or maybe it was hushed statements like "ok, we still have over half a tank of gas and it will be light for at least 4 more hours.

My spouse was especially concerned about having to "make the call to 911." Because that's where she works. We imagined news broadcasts like, 911 dispatcher calls herself for rescue. Co-workers laughing in the background.

We finally see a truck going the opposite way, and the look on his face said it all. He pulls up next to our dust coated mini van, stopped in the middle of God's country and says, "you don't have a clue where you are, do you." I mustered up my man voice and replied back, firmly and directly. No.

He smiled and said, you can keep going that way but I don't think your car will make it, and it's about 3 hours to town. Or if you turn around you can go back, just turn at the rock that looks like a bear, go 2 miles and turn left at the bear that looks like a rock, head towards the second star on the right and straight on till morning. Well that's what it sounded like. I replied, uuhhh...

He said, or you can just follow me.

We look back with fond memories of that day. My Grandson refers to it as "get lost Mountain." He wants to go back.

Uuuhh...

Want to play a game?

This is a stolen line from the movie, War games. No one under 40 will remember it. I toyed with, here's an easy thing to say, here's an easy game to play, as an alternate title. No one over 4 will know it, because this is stolen from the Dr. Seuess book, Fox in Sox. But I am staying from my game.

DotBlogger and I have played this off and on. We find it quite interesting.

Here's how it works:

I will give a word, and you post a comment with a simple sentence using the designated word.

Easy?
Easy.

Don't read others comments before you post your sentence. Here's an example.

Word: Fire.

Possible sentences:

The boss is going to fire me. (Termination)
The house is on fire. (Flames)
Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes. (Shoot)

So, want to play?

Let's use:

Wind.

Go.

PS: I am not just using this as a way disguise for begging for comments...uuuhhh.

Kid logic, or obvious solution?

I went into my grandson's bedroom and he had abandoned a wrapper from pop tart and a small pile of crumbs.

I pointed out the offending debris, and waited for the clean-up.

He came right over and proceded to brush the crumbs onto the carpet. As any good parent would do, I said, STOP!

He immediatley froze in mid brush.

I asked the obvious question, "who is going to pick them up off the floor?"

Without making a sound or moving any part of his body except his hand from the wrist down, he points to our dog. I hadn't noticed her sitting patiently at his side with her eyes gleaming and tail wagging.

I hesitated only for a second or two, while pondering 8 year old boy logic.

What would you have done next?