Only One Word Is Needed....

Awwwww...... :)

Amelia and Sid were napping yesterday, so I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures before they woke up. Ain't they cute?

Unstuck

Amelia was out of town yesterday afternoon visiting with a friend up in Mansfield, so I took the opportunity to try, once again, to season our cast iron skillets. You might remember my previous attempt. Well, Amelia's uncle gave me a hint that I wanted to try out, and it seems to have worked! My problem with my previous attempt was the type of fat I was using. I had been using oil rather than shortening when doing the actual seasoning. So, after a trip through the self-cleaning cycle of the oven, I smeared shortening all over a couple of pans and tried again. Last night's dinner, "Kielbasa Surprise", didn't stick, but I rarely have trouble with that. This morning was the real test, the potato flip. It didn't stick! Yay! Thank you, Uncle David.

Hocking Hills: The Bald-Side View

So, before you read my post, go read Amelia's. It's much better than mine. Plus, it has lots of pretty pictures. Go ahead and read it, I'll wait...

You back? OK, then here goes.

As Amelia has already told you, we had a great day tromping around Hocking Hills. The leaves were all very pretty, the walks invigorating, the scenery breathtaking, the wonders of nature awe inspiring. There were so many wonderful memories made during our day in the parks, but one will stand out in my mind.

My wife fell on her ass. It was funny.

We had just explored Old Man's Cave, dropped down to view the lower falls, and then doubled back to the upper falls, and were going to head back to the car to do some caching. At the top of the upper falls, the water is very shallow and fairly slow moving, and there are a few small cascades that people were walking out onto. I started taking pictures, because it was very pretty, and Amelia started walking up the rocks to get into the picture. I got one or two with her there, and then as I was futzing with the camera, she decided to climb one more. I was setting up my shot when I heard a loud "THWAP" and I looked up to see Amelia ass-down, feet-up lying in a shallow pool of water on the rocks. My immediate reaction was concern for the well being of my wife (hence I missed a golden photo-op), but as soon as I realized she was OK, I was struggling to stifle a hellacious fit of the giggles. As we were walking away and I determined that she wasn't going to need medical attention, I burst out laughing. It certainly wasn't the best memory of the trip, but it certainly made the day brighter :)

Hocking Hills

A great midweek/birthday getaway to Hocking Hills in SE Ohio. Thanks Tom for a great time.


Ash Cave:




Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave :




On the way to the Lower Falls @ Old Man's Cave:

Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave

Question of the day

We had snow yesterday. It wasn’t enough to stick to the ground but enough to get the weatherman all excited. This change in the weather prompted me to add an extra blanket on the bed. The cats in true fashion were curious. What is this? What is she doing? Why is she doing this? Now you need to understand our cats, they love to help make a bed. They love to get under the covers while you are trying to straighten them, they move from corner to corner while you are working. They are a "big" help. This brings me to the question of this post. Who has trained whom? The cats taught me to make a bed with them on it or I taught the cat the importance of making hospital corners?

Fall Weekend

What a wonderful weekend. Tom and I spent the most of the weekend geocaching around town. The weather perfect- a great fall weekend. Geocaching is great sport/hobby. If you have, the opportunity- please try it or let us know and we will take you out for the day. Check out what we discovered this weekend on our adventures:

Who knew that just off a major road you could find some great city parks with such pretty scenery.

Thanks for a great weekend Tom.

PS - Finished the weekend off with a birthday dinner for Darrin- Hope you have a happy birthday!

Additional Weirdness from the Couch

Well, since Bec told me I had to, and since Amelia already did, I guess I'm obliged to confess five weird things about me...

1. I hate White Castle burgers. They make me nauseous and give me gas (like you wanted to know that). However, for some reason, I get a craving that can only be satisfied by eating a small handful of those gross little bundles of greasy fat-i-tude. I have no idea why.
2. I can neither play nor sing music from memory. It all stems from forgetting the words to the national anthem in front of 20000 people. As long as I have the words and/or chords in front of me, I'm fine.
3. I talk to myself aloud. Often. It's really the only way I can figure out how I'm doing and what's going on in my life. I try to do it when noone's around, but I'm always worried someone is listening in on me.
4. One of my most regular daydreams is that I'm a superhero. I'm not confessing to my super powers, however. A guy's gotta have his secrets :P
5. I hate wearing shoes. The worst part about winter is that I can't wear my sandals until spring. Of course, I only tolerate sandals because I don't want to step on anything pointy (well, that and my feet would really stink if I didn't wear anything). I walked around barefoot for an entire semester of college.

5 weird things about me...

At Bec's request I am adding my five "weird" facts about me...

1) I don't think it is weird but Tom does. When I buy something I will look at the one on top or in front, but will go to the bottom or back to get the one that I actually purchase. Tom just shakes his head. To me it makes sense. I can check out what I am getting but it isn't the one that everyone else has looked at/touched.

2) I love to sit outside and watching thunderstorms. Yeah I know it isn't "safe" with all that lightning but it it is pretty amazing.

3) I am terrified of deep water (aka anything over 5'7"). However I am fine if I am on a boat or any other flotation device. Odd I know - I guess trust them.

4) I still don't know what I want to be when I "grow up".

5) I am terrible at math. Example- how do I find the answer of 6+7= ? Well most people just have this memorized since 2nd grade. Not me- I have to do my "Amy math" One of the few math facts I know is that 6+6=12 so I go from there and add 1 more so in my head I literally have to do 6+6+1=13. You should see me trying to do percentages- that is a story all on it's own :)

It is your turn Tom...