Drums, Piano and Karate

With lacrosse and track over, we can return to some of our normal routines, which have suffered accordingly. The main thing for me is karate, and for the kids, they can go back to JB and drums and piano. Not sure how thrilled they are about that, but I think they’re both very good at their respective instruments. Plus, they’re too young to realize this, but there’s a coolness factor to being musical, not to mention all the auxiliary benefits which I won’t go into.

At some point I think N will get a drum set, but I can’t say for sure how this will transpire. One has been offered, so if that works out, that would be cool. We’ve also been offered a number of free pianos, which I think would be great, but I’ve been vetoed on several occasions. I think it would just be nice to have a piano in the house, something we all could play, but I’ve been met with much skepticism, so that idea has been shelved... for now.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Phoenix House for the pic.

Installing the Go-Cart Hood, Seat and Back Axle

We are close to being ready to put the wheels on our go-cart, and it’s nice to see light at the end of the tunnel. While it takes time to cut, sand and attach the various parts, what seems to take the most time is painting. It generally takes two coats, and the drying time takes hours. If we were better organized we’d get things done during this time, but we’re not, so we don’t. Also, the kids seem to be on a mission to get this done, so we spent several hours on it yesterday, and by the end, I’d had enough.

A&N spent most of the morning painting the final details on the seat, and cutting the pieces for the front hood. We’ve had to adapt the final decision as we go along, because as we all know, what sounds great in theory doesn’t always work in real life. The side supports for the front hood took a little tweaking because there were clear design flaws, which we worked through with a few cuts with the miter saw. Once we had those in, we found some thin plywood and made the actual hood. A&N added a “blower” onto the hood, and suddenly their go-cart was starting to look like a hot rod. It also became clear that once everything is done, we’ll have to do some touch-up painting here and there.

The seat was a little more challenging because it really needs to be secured well to support someone sitting back on it. I ended up adding back supports in addition to the side supports that JM recommended. Probably over-kill, but it just goes to show you that I’m getting into it, as well. One complication of the back supports, however, was that we didn’t want to interfere with the logo that the kids designed, which is a very important consideration. They did a great job designing and painting their team logo on the back. We also have to leave space for the sponsors.

Once the seat was in, we screwed in the back axle with 3 1/2 wood screws, and we were close to being done. The last step will be to put in the brakes, and then the wheels. Then we’re ready to rock and roll. The plan is to ride the go-cart in the parade, but that’s too far in the future to think about. For now, we have other things to focus on, like finishing the go-cart.

Until then, thanks for reading.

The Long and Winding Roadtrip Weekend, Part 1

Boy, what a weekend. It was the grand finale to the lacrosse season, and I have to say, it’s nice to get a break. It was a bit of a time commitment for everyone. N’s lacrosse team played in this big lacrosse tournament up in Middlebury, which is about two hours away from here. It’s actually really beautiful up there, and the town is really nice because there is a fairly big university in town (Middlebury U), one of those expensive liberal arts colleges with a good reputation.

The tournament is the Green Mountain Shootout, and it’s a pretty big deal. You get to see the lacrosse community in all its grandeur, and in some ways, it rivals the hockey community. Lacrosse is a big deal up here. The tournament covers two days, and in a cruel twist of fate, we landed the first and last games of the weekend. That meant 8:00 on Saturday, and 4:00 on Sunday. This complicated our lives a bit. It was going to be difficult for N (and all of us) to get up at 5:00AM, drive for two hours, and then play two hours of lacrosse. I know a lot of his teammates did just that.

One of the parents told me that he was going up Friday and had a room in town, and I thought, what a great idea. Of course, we were way behind the curve, and we couldn’t get a room in town for the life of us. There was something going on in town, maybe graduation, and all the hotels were booked. We had to come up with an alternate plan, so R went to work in search of a place to stay. This was complicated by the fact that we didn’t know the area, and at some point, all these small towns look the same. She finally found a room at a B&B in Shoreham, which is about 20 mins out of Middlebury. We had no idea what it was like, but in the end, we just needed a place to sleep. We now had a plan.

N had his final practice on Friday, followed by a BBQ and party. We got home around 7:00, grabbed our toothbrushes, and hit the road. There are several ways to get to Middlebury, but we had to go a roundabout way since we were actually staying in Shoreham, so it took us a little longer. We arrived at the Shoreham Inn around 9:30, brushed out teeth, and went immediately to sleep. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t get more out of our visit, but we had to get some sleep. One thing was for certain, you could tell we were in farm country.

We woke up around 6:30, grabbed a bite, and hit the road. We missed out on breakfast at the B&B, which is a bummer because I love breakfast in hotels/B&Bs, but what are you going to do? We had to also find the darn field in Middlebury, which was unfamiliar territory for us, so I had a little bit of anxiety with my morning coffee. Luckily, they had a lot of signs out in town, and we found the field. You couldn’t miss it, the place is huge, and there were lacrosse people everywhere.

The games were great, N’s team won both. N didn’t score, but he played a lot at attacker and the coach even put him in at midfield, which is cool, because I think he’s the only one that young to play midi. You can definitely feel the excitement of the games, and people take lacrosse seriously. Now as difficult as it was getting up early, the benefit of playing in the early AM was that it was nice and cool. By the end of the game, you could tell it was going to be hot. Afterward, we went back to the B&B and packed up our things to leave.

The Shoreham Inn was nice and cozy, but of course, I had a couple of issues. First off, they didn’t seem very flexible with breakfast. I can’t say I blame them since there weren’t many guests, but the window for food was small (7:30-9:30), and they didn’t have too much in the way of choices. I personally like a bit of a spread and some variety, but I should be more understanding. The other issue I had was that when I asked for a later checkout, she said it would be better if we checked out at 11:00. Again, I understand if you have a cleaning person coming at a set time, but a little flexibility is appreciated, especially since we were running about. On the whole, the place was nice, there were just a couple of minor issues.

Anyway, we checked out, and we figured that since we were up there, we should make a trip out of it. We decided to drive over to Lake Champlain and take the ferry over to New York and see Fort Ticonderoga. That was fun, not to mention educational. The fort is huge, covering thousands of acres, and we spent a few hours there. We had lunch at the cafe, which totally threw off our healthy eating plan, but that’s what happens when you travel. By about 3:00 we decided it was time to head home, because we not only had the long drive, but we had to factor in time on the ferry.

We got home by early evening, and I for one, was exhausted. We still had one more day of lacrosse to go to, and in retrospect, it would have made more sense to have spent Saturday night up there, but that chews up the weekend, and we had things to do on the home front.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Seth Oliver Photographic Art, uZer42, and rbglasson for the pics.

To Coach or Not to Coach

As if that were even a question. When it comes to hockey, duty calls, and you have little to no choice but to submit. I helped out last year coaching N’s team, and it was easy because being the hockey neophyte, the expectations were low enough to make it pretty stress free. Just lace up your skates and stand around. This time around, if I choose to do so (as if I had a choice), it might be in more of an official capacity, which means that I’ll have to register and stand up and be counted.

In certain ways, this is a good thing, because it’s good to get up off your rear end and be involved. Make a difference in your kid’s lives, right? On the other hand, I’d rather lay on the couch and read a good book. Is that too much to ask? Clearly it is. Hockey is an unusual sport because it requires a certain level of committment above and beyond most other sports. As a result, being a coach is no simple thing, and you see it in at practice. The coaches are so dedicated, and the practices are pretty serious. Not in a bad way, because the kids have fun and love it, and they’re learning a lot about hard work and dedication, but from a parent’s POV, it’s pretty impressive, if not intimidating. I, for one, sit on the sidelines and am in awe at how hard they work.

In fact, it’s this level of intensity that makes me feel bad when I just sit around and watch. How can you not want to help? It’s a lot of fun, but the time needed to be there is difficult, especially when you have two kids playing. I’m thinking I’m going to do it, but it will probably result in a certain level of whining on my part, much of which will be expressed in this blog. Then again, what else is new?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to striatic for the pic.

Go-Cart Seat Creation

We have the front axle installed, and the next steps will be to install the seat and back axle. After that, the front hood and the brakes, and then we can get the wheels from JM, and we should be good to go. The kids had chosen a color scheme for the seat housing and we borrowed some paint from JM, but one of them ended up being an oil based red. I wanted to avoid oil based stuff, it’s a bear to clean and dispose of, so I told them to switch over to a latex red. The one we had, however, was dull and lifeless, and not nearly as nice as the oil paint, which really looked nice. I told them to switch back, and we’ll just deal with the harder disposal.

While they were going that, I cut out the side panels for the front hood, which was a little tricky because I had to trim the hardwood plate that holds in the front axle bearing. The plate extended too far, so I had to trim the tip. On JM’s model, he cut off the front end entirely, and then had the hood extend over it to form the tip. We might try something similar, though entirely the same.

Once the side panels were done, A&N painted them and we took them into the barn to dry, because the rain clouds were rolling in, and we had places to be. I have to say, what seemed like insurmountable obstacles in building this thing have been manageable because we’ve been taking small steps and haven’t felt overwhelmed.

The most important thing, however, has been the kid’s enthusiasm. The fact that A&N are having fun and can’t wait to work on it has inspired me to make time to do it, and that has been the single biggest factor in moving forward. Thus far, it’s been a great project, for kids and adults alike.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Busy Day and Final Lacrosse Practice

The other day was a bit nutty, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way certain things get done is when you, every now and then, bite off more than you can chew. You just have to chew faster.

N had his final lacrosse practice, but before that, we had plenty of other things to do. First off, we are working on the go-cart, chipping slowly away at the stone, and it’s been going well. I have been cutting wood in the mornings, and I had to run to the store to get food for the weekend. We also cleaned out the barn a bit because it was a little unruly (funny how that works out).

After lunch, we headed over to Pro Optical to get A’s glasses fixed. There was a permanent smudge on the lens that we couldn’t clean off, and they honored the warranty on the lenses even though it had expired, which I thought was really cool. Afterward, we headed over to the farmer’s market to help B set up, because again, she’s all alone, and it’s a horrendous job for one person. I had a moment to check out our garden plot, then the kids took off and hung out with friends while I got ready for the practice/BBQ.

There were some serious clouds rolling in by the time we headed over to lacrosse, but fortunately the weather was nice over the hill. In fact, the sun came out and it even got a little warm. They had a fun last practice while the parents set up the BBQ, then the kids chowed on hot dogs, sugar sweetened drinks, and cake. The ultimate antithesis of our healthy eating plan, but sometimes you have to deviate from protocol, especially around your peers.

We headed home and saw mom after a long day out. Even though it was a bit crazy, it was only a precursor to an even crazier weekend. There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel, because after this weekend, lacrosse is over, and we can focus on other things, like karate and building a barn.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to imgacademy for the pic.

More Wild Kingdom

Life in the wild, you can’t beat it. I feel like Davey Crockett sometimes. Last week we caught a fierce chipmunk in our mudroom with teeth the size of bayonets. It took all I had to control him in the Have a Heart before letting him go.

Well, just on the heels of recovering from that fiasco, this past week, we saw a fox walking through our backyard in broad daylight. It was beautiful, they’re such cool animals, though it makes you wary when you have cats running around out there. I used to think our cats could handle themselves with a fox, but this one seemed fairly big. Either way, we have been hearing strange noises coming from the woods at night, an eery crying sound that we can’t quite place. It doesn’t quite sound like a coyote, though it was somewhat redolent of a human crying. Really interesting, if not a little spooky, and I’m guessing it was coming from the foxes. There might be a den nearby, because we have been seeing and hearing them fairly regularly.

I’ll tell you this, we aren’t in New York City anymore. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to jans canon for the pic.