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Sports Likes His New Bed

Nice Butts

It was a very difficult morning in the house, having to take care of her and relive it a bit each time one of the kids woke up and we had to tell them. Our Boogie Chicken was with me for over 21 years (she was 22) and even though they only lived with her for a few months and knew her for only a few months longer than that, I know she had become as much family to Val and the kids as she was to me. Losing her hurt us all.  It’s always those little things that get to you the most – catching yourself thinking you should save some crust from your pizza for her, saving newspapers for her cage, hearing the kids next door whistling to her(they loved hearing her out the window next to her cage and didn’t know she had died) or the reflex to go put the cover on the cage when you’re heading for bed. So much for avoiding maudlin, but I’ll consider writing this therapy of some sort.

Congo

She was a very much loved Chicken and I think a very happy one herself. We will all miss you very much Congo Girl.

After a short night’s sleep we took it fairly easy on Thursday, stocking up on groceries for the weekend, enjoying the gorgeous day on the newly-improved deck (great job on the underside of the roof Peter & Crystal!). The kids even ventured out onto the pond in the canoe, dragging Val along for the first trip. Sport quickly got over any fear he had of the water once he saw the kids out on the canoe and practically dove in, then trying to swim out to them.  He had a ball running in & out of the water. We finished up with a pizza party and some Rock Band and managed to be awake when Andy got home, though we weren’t awake long after that!

On Friday we headed into Kittery to take in the outlets and make the inevitable run out to Nubble Light so Val and the kids could see what it feels like when it’s not 20 below zero.  Biggi did a great job not falling asleep on her 30th visit of 2009 to that lighthouse.

As we were driving home the clouds ahead of the remnants of Tropical Storm Danny started to build and we decided to call an audible and swap our plans for a bonfire from Saturday to Friday. Andy had mowed the yard while we were gone and had built up the makings of the bonfire.  Biggi made a killer noodle salad with pieces of kielbasa chopped up to go along with potatoes baked in foil in the fire and sausages (brats, italian sausages and cheddarwursts) cooked on sticks over the fire. We loaded up the feast into trailer on the back of the mower and headed to water’s edge to enjoy, and enjoy we most certainly did. Melissa enjoyed the fire to a frightening degree!

We enjoyed the sausages and accompaniments by the fire and when it was dark enough we fired off the fireworks Andy & I had made a run for late in the day.  They were great, except the “big” finally box was set a little too close to the water and wound up sliding in before it was finished, so they didn’t all fire and the last couple were far closer to the ground than they were designed to be after firing FROM the water.  Regardless, they were great and we’ll do better next time! We finished up just in time to avoid the rain as Danny arrived right about the time we had everything unloaded and put away. We spent the rest of the evening jamming out to Rock Band, of course.

The rain pounded on the house all night and off and on through Saturday as well but since we had stocked up for the weekend on Thursday we didn’t have to leave the house.  It made for a great lazy day until it came time to make schnitzel.  Melissa got to help Biggi so now she knows how and we’re going to torture her into making it for us for sure! Biggi’s friend Marissa and her dog Rita joined us that evening, Marissa for dinner and Rock Band, Rita to torture Sport. Sport was very good around her and seemed to just want to play but Rita, a German Shepard, is VERY protective of Marissa and didn’t want him anywhere near her.

After a short morning with coffee and making our requisite guest book entries we loaded up Joe’s Acadia and piled in for the trip home.  We saw TONS of Vettes when we got to I-84 down in Connecticut and again on I-78 in PA. They were all on the way home from the annual Corvettes at Carlisle event, which I have yet to make it to. It quickly reached the point that it wasn’t worth calling them out as they went by, there were just too many.  Other than some traffic on the Mass Turnpike we had a fairly uneventful but safe trip home so the recovery from another awesome weekend in NH could begin.

Thank you again to our fabulous friends Andy & Biggi.  You guys blow us away every time we visit with how welcome and at home we are made to feel there, even though we invade with 3 teens and a dog!  Unfortunately for you that just means you’ll see us again soon.

All of the pics we posted from the weekend can be found by clicking here.

]]> http://www.lazyassgeek.com/2009/09/18/sport-goes-to-summer-camp/feed/ 1 http://www.lazyassgeek.com/2009/06/01/vette-generations-lesson-for-melissa-robert/ http://www.lazyassgeek.com/2009/06/01/vette-generations-lesson-for-melissa-robert/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:41:16 +0000 geek http://www.lazyassgeek.com/?p=389 aka the Corvette Forum “Ridley Park Crew” annual BBQ

Saturday 5/30/2009 we packed up the convertible and the Mazda and headed to Ridley Creek State Park with Melissa, Robert and Sport (Michael was on a school trip) for the annual BBQ organized by a couple of guys via the Corvette Forum.  There’s a regular group of Vette owners that meets nearly every Sunday for breakfast and hanging out at the park and often a cruise afterwards.  I’ve attended quite  a few times but hadn’t made it to one this year, though Val & I did cruise with some of the guys to the Simeone Museum a few weeks back.

There was a very nice group of folks and cars there on Saturday, with quite a few hot-rodded old Fords, a couple of Mustangs, a Viper GTS and a Ford Model A in addition to the usual collection of Vettes.  All but the first generation (C1) of Corvette was represented, though with only 1 each of the 2nd & 3rd generations (C2 & C3).  Melissa & Robert seemed to both enjoy checking out all the cars and Val & I spent some time pointing out the differences in the generations and they’re both fairly proficient in not only spotting Vettes now but in identifying the generation.

The Ford Model A is owned by a guy I know through LMC.  He is a technician for Lance Co, the Haas Machine Tool sales & service arm in this part of the country.  Kevin has been in our shop more than a few times over the years servicing the many Haas machine we have in service.  He has a C4 as well, an 86 or 87 I think, but this was the first time I’d had a chance to see his Model A.  Apparently it was his dad’s car and they did a lot of work on it together, very cool that he still has it and continues to keep it running.  Aside from 30 year old paint showing the inevitable signs of age it’s in great shape.  Melissa had to be coaxed a bit, but she finally got up into the rumble seat and Kevin snapped this picture.

Melissa's Ready to Rumble

Kevin had to snap that pic for us because we had of course managed to yet again forget the camera!  So thanks Kevin, for the pic and for showing us your very cool old car.

The BBQ was quite good too, with a whole pig having been cooked up as well as burgers & dogs. I won’t post a bunch of pictures from somebody else’s gallery, so if you want to check out some pics of the folks & cars, click here.

Added:  Pics from James of County Corvette (just page 1)

]]> http://www.lazyassgeek.com/2009/06/01/vette-generations-lesson-for-melissa-robert/feed/ 0 http://www.lazyassgeek.com/2009/05/20/happy-birthday-michael/ http://www.lazyassgeek.com/2009/05/20/happy-birthday-michael/#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 12:21:11 +0000 geek http://www.lazyassgeek.com/?p=387 Michael is 17 today. Blackjack burger is on me!

Andy & Biggi graciously, if naively, invited the whole gang to spend President’s Day weekend at their place so Val, the kids and Sport could enjoy seeing some snow. We decided to rent a minivan from Enterprise to keep the wear & tear off of Val’s van. After getting it home Val noticed that the inside of the van was not that clean.  In the process of loading it I found out just how not clean, including a soda bottle, juice box, teething ring, some fries and a couple of chocolate chip cookies.  Enterprise will be hearing from me.

The drive was fairly uneventful, though we did hit traffic near Boston(again for me). Sport was very good in the car, except an incident where he notified us of his need to poop by doing a dead-on impersonation of Chewbacca.  Fortunately we’re conversant in Wookie so we figured it out and stopped to take care of that problem. We got to I-495 at just the wrong time again and lost nearly an hour sitting in very slow-moving Friday rush hour traffic. We got to their house close to 6:30, nearly 8 hours door-to-door.  After some pizza for dinner we settled in for an evening of Rock Band and we managed to break 1,000,000 points on a song for the first time under my profile, unlocking the achievement!

Rock On!

Saturday we had a relaxing morning as everyone recovered from the trip and figured out what we would do for the day.  Val & I decided to drag the kids, somewhat reluctantly on their part, out for some sight seeing as they had never been in that part of the country before while Andy & Biggi would head to the store to prepare for Val’s birthday Schnitzelfest. So we loaded up the rental minivan and after a quick stop at the NH Liquor Store for some schnapps and an 18 year old bottle of scotch (present for a retiring customer) it was off to Maine to check out Nubble Light!

I’d been to Nubble twice before this, but it’s still worth visiting. It’s a beautiful drive in on US 1A along the coast on Cape Neddick to the light even in winter. It was pretty cold out by the Light, so thank you Andy for the use of your jacket! I had managed to forget to pack one. The air temp wasn’t bad but the wind off the water was damn cold.  Still we had fun and the kids actually enjoyed it. Sport REALLY enjoyed it, getting to climb around on the rocks and scare off seagulls.

The Gang

The Poser

Ain't we cute?

Oh look, she's posing again

After we’d wandered around and taken pictures to the point where even the puppy was ready to get the hell out of the wind we retreated to the van.  After a short additional tour North on 1A we headed back to Dover. Val & Biggi spent (wasted?) some more time on Biggi’s online Mahjong game in the ongoing effort to get some “medal” for Biggi and we took it easy before heading to dinner. As it was Valentine’s Day we had decided to have a nice dinner at the restaurant owned by the realtor, Maureen, Andy & Biggi used to buy their home.  It’s called Ship to Shore and is in Newfields, NH. Dinner was excellent as it has been each time we’ve dined there, except of course we had WAY too much food so left with lots of bags of leftovers, and dessert to go!  More mahjong, Rock Band, beer, Mike’s Hard Lemonade finished up another great evening.

Sunday was Val’s birthday and it started with another nice lazy morning, if a bit hungover for some of us (Biggi). Melissa & Biggi were set to have a big day of shopping with their neighbor Amy and Amy’s daughter Sydney.  Amy called to see if they were ready and Biggi, um, generously told her to take her time.  Melissa was of course bangin’ off the chip and ready to go. They did eventually get out the door and Sunday morning returned to quiet, spent mostly again on mahjong! This more or less continued until it was sports time.  The Flyers & NBC gave Val a birthday gift of a network game so we watched the Flyers kick Ranger ass while Val wore her new Mike Richards jersey, which I gave her just before game time.  She had one more gift coming, but it seemed silly to not give that to her to wear for the game.

While we were watching hockey and the ladies were out shopping Andy started into part 1 of being a good bitch to prep for the birthday Schnitzel Fest by beating the holy living hell out of the boneless pork chops to make them patties. Michael helped me kill the time between the Flyers kickin’ ass and Daytona 500 green flag by playing an hour of Rock Band.  Amy’s husband Mark had arrived during the Flyers game along with their son Kyle and this was his first exposure to Rock Band. He of course was as blown away by Michael’s expert level awesomeness as we always are, while I struggle along trying to play hard level bass. If you haven’t guessed what Val was doing at this time you haven’t been paying attention.

Eventually the race got started, the ladies returned victorious from their shopping adventure and serious schnitzel & spaetzle prep got under way. Melissa had done some birthday shopping on behalf of all the kids and got Val a very cool new purse. Just as dinner was ready the race was red-flagged and eventually Matt Kenseth was declared the winner.  The food was awesome as always and after the initial “what the hell is this” reactions from the kids, EVERYBODY dove in and ate far more than they should because you just can’t help yourself! There are of course already plans for a Summer Schnitzel Fest.

As I mentioned previously, it was Val’s birthday and there were a couple of surprises left for her. The first was her birthday cake.  I had joked about putting this on there, but Andy & Biggi decided to go ahead and do it, much to the confusion of the folks at the bakery!

No Dear, you will NEVER live it down!

She got to open her other present from me, a set of Piloti Speedway driving shoes. She’s driven the Z06 now, but you have to have the right gear AND she has heel-toe lessons ahead of her!  There was one last surprise on the docket in honor of the day. Andy had some killer fireworks they’d purchased for New Year’s Eve but hadn’t been able to use because of high winds so he thought it would be a great opportunity.  It wasn’t exactly a windless evening, and it was DAMN cold standing out there watching, but it was calm enough to be safe to set them off.  Turned out to be WELL worth the cold as they’d bought two sets of pre-fused fireworks that ran about two minutes each and they were killer! Getting the sets ready-made is a great idea, you can light one fuse and stand back and enjoy.  They were really good aerial sets as well, going very high, secondary explosions, etc.  Great stuff!  The rest of the evening was pretty low key and we all turned in pretty early as we had to hit the road in the morning.

Andy & Biggi have a guest book that they insist you write in on each visit, and the kids weren’t let off the hook. If you ever visit check out what they wrote, I thought all three wrote great stuff and it was very cool to see that they had enjoyed the visit as much as Val & I had. The rest of the trip was pretty standard fare so I won’t regale you with the thrill of driving a loaded minivan from Dover, NH to Schwenksville, PA.  This has taken far too long for me to finish writing but I do want to send out one more thank you to our very good friends for hosting a spectacular weekend.  We look forward to many more!

This year’s crowd was Joe & Nat, Rich & Debbie, Jack & Katy, Rich & Christina, Rich’s brother Ed, Bill & Debbie and their neighbor Gina and Val & me. It was great to get everybody together and I’ll take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

The Guys end of the table

The Ladies end of the table

The Couples Section

It's my site, so here's a picture of my gorgeous girl.. and you have to look at me too

Requisite Wacky Billy Pic (better than the usual view)