The Chronicles

The Chronicles - August - September 2003

So you might be wondering why this shot of an iridescence blue butterfly is here, when in fact it's another memory of our vacation in July. It's mostly 'cause I thought it was cool. This was actually shot with the Camcorder (I took roughly two hundred billion shots with the still camera and was fairly successful in that they were pictures, albeit of random patches of vegetation or a kind of blurry fuzzy thing that kind of looked like a butterfly that had hit the windshield of a Ferrari going WAY over the speed limit).

But I know you're asking yourself, what about the last couple of months? What fascinating things have been occurring in Dickieville?

I and the kids did a little miniature golfing and "bumper boats" at Kimball's farm. Will, remembering the time in the bumper boats when someone trapped him under the waterfall and soaked him, carefully made sure he had an escape route while, of course, trying to shove everyone else into the waterfall. Brie was into more innocent fun, that is, cranking up her speed to the max, finding someone else doing the same, and slamming into each other in a head-on collision, something that has set back the age at which I will let her drive one of our cars to, say, 30 or 40.

Oh, and here's the next iteration of my "squirrel proof" birdfeeder. It took the squirrels less than a day to realize they could jump from the ground to the bottom of the long birdfeeder wrapped in a wire frame, run up it, across the arm, and chow down on the two feeders on the far end.

Little buggers.

Kate turned a little older but doesn't look it Her birthday present was a trip to the U.S. Open with her friend, Stacy O'Neill.

Robert Hendrie stopped by for a visit. It's not surprising it's been more than a year since his last visit, given how far away he lives... a half a mile or so of the most treacherous roads you can have in a suburban community. Well, at least, there is a traffic light at one of the intersections. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much I could take of Lime Green Polo shirts, so maybe it's for the best.

We finally visited Ruggle's Mine, which has been a tourist attraction since before I was born and which I remember visiting as a kid. After driving up the entrance road (also called the axle-breaking, shock destroying, teeth jarring rutted dirt road straight up the side of a mountain) you pay an entrance fee and go in with hand held pick axes. Then you whack and whack and whack at the rock walls to chip out pieces of mica and quartz that are distinguishable from the pieces on the ground as long as you don't blink when you finally knock one out. It was a beautiful day, and the mine looked really cool, albeit not quite as awesome as my childhood memories suggested. But we all had fun.

The annual canoe trip on the Concord River was fun too. This time, we saw four or five blue herons as well as the more common ducks and turtles from our last visit.

The kids are back in school, of course. Here are some shots from Brie's after school sport activity, Cross Country Track. This is fun because she and I run together at times now, which is fun because she can't beat me. Yet.

Brie is in Junior High (7th grade) and seems to been enjoying it, other than the 6:45 pickup time for the bus. She certainly adapted quickly enough.

Will is in fifth grade and it seems pretty much like last year.

And finally, there's always computer games. Congratulations to Serious Sam II for one of the most awesome levels I've seen in a FPS... you're crossing a field to a church when suddenly clouds come roiling through, lighting flashes, and meteors come pouring out of the sky while you get attacked by hundreds of critters. Beautifully rendered.