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Still remembering gastronomic delights in the City of Angels... Tasty succulent beach cactus (don't eat the yellow flowers!).   Escargot!  And (nnnnyyh... ) healthy vegetables.  On return to cave, Sas installed and connected Sasmom's Wii, and got it linked with Sascave wireless network (Sas' cave pretty upscale!). Sasmom has already pulled a muscle with her Wii Fit. No pain, no gain, I guess they say. Sas' mountain home has welcomed him back with a 6" or so blanketing of snow. Helps with the hunting! Skies promise warmer to come by next weekend, though, so Sas pretty busy, remembering old 'quatch saying: "Take prey where the snow lay." Sas has put Happiness on hold while beginning read of "Guns, Germs and Steel". Sounded more appropropriate to his nature. So far, Cro Magnon have killed off Neanderthal, Kangaroo, Dodo, Camels in Australia, Wooly Mammoth in Siberia, Giant sloths, and thousands of other. And that just for starters. Cool! Sas proud of cousins! Can't wait to see what they do in next chapter! More later - need to gather wood! Maybe find crittur to kill. Sas Tags: wii bring good things to light!
Current Location: Den
Current Mood:  relaxed
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Just a quick post, just in an attempt to re-establish the surmise of my existence (I think…I am), and in hope of it’s being the first of a more regular (even if less than exciting) posting habit. I kept waiting, hoping for some significant accomplishment to brag about, but have now given up on that apparently too-lofty goal, and will now report on just what I mostly think about accomplishing. I doubt that I’ve read more than a half-dozen pages of Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”. I have, however, purchased or ordered probably a half-dozen other books (see "lofty goals" above). One about 5 days ago was “CD and DVD Recording for Dummies”. Ordered that hoping to figure the intricacies of that operation so that I could 1) maybe actually record something using the DVD Recorder we bought 2 years ago, and 2) maybe have that be the PBS 7-part series “The War”. Bought two more books just today, at Costco: “Flight – The Complete History” by Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and “The War”, a book produced to accompany the PBS 7-part series “The War”. Also bought the PBS 7-part DVD series “The War” there at Costco. For $21.99. Let’s see, 7 blank DVD’s at $2/each = $14.00, the book “CD and DVD Recording for Dummies” at $21.99, hmmmmm. Am I proving my qualification for “Dummy” here perhaps??? Also finally got formal approval for phases 1, 2 and 3 of the St. Vincent Hospital Mother/Newborn department remodel. Those phases total a bit less than a half-million for electrical. SV still anticipates adding at least two Alternates, and eventually approving phases 4 and 5, but at reduced scope, to hold costs to within budget. Those could ultimately add another $300 to $400 thousand to the project. So, to help finance this St. Vincent project, Sasmom and I will be attending the big SV dinner party benefit, with theme “SUPERHEROES BALL”. My mom (Sasgram) wanted to know if that was supposed to be plural. I really tried to get us set up as Spiderman and his girlfriend Mary Jane (cause I knew someone we could pass the Mary Jane costume on to, who would be PERFECT in it! Besides, everyone was sold out of the Zorro costumes.), but instead Sasmom ordered a Batman costume for me, and BEFORE figuring out that she was unable to score on a BatGIRL costume. Trying to help, I checked out a couple of sites carrying adult costumes, and showed her a couple, but I guess she was afraid of chilling or something, and rejected all those. I suggested Robin, and pointed out the plethora of great lines that character can use, like “Holy cow, Batman”, but no, she has to go with Super Woman instead. Hope we manage to get home with the correct mis-matched super heroes and heroines. I have our next car picked out, but will save info on that as a surprise. It’s kind of a hybrid… I am working on the design for electrical for the planned Wet Lab building for Sasmom’s Conservation Education Center, out near the river. After finishing that (next week?), I hope to be able to begin pushing a bit to get this (YRPA) project off dead center. They’ve been thinking on it for over 5 years, I think. I’d hate to see it reach status of our new house! Speaking of which, I am working to breathe new life into. Sasmom and I did the “Parade of Homes” tour that ran the past two weekends, and probably in reality picked a builder. Will try to keep costs under the $2 million or so of a couple we looked at! I won’t speculate on just how much under. Did I mention that I actually bought a gas lawn mower (push type), and mowed the weeds on our new house lot about a month ago (just prior to my Labor Day trip to KS)? I almost feel as though I have begun construction! Frost on the whiskers again this morning here! Sas Current Location: the cave
Current Mood: good
Current Music: Sound Track from "Mask of Zorro", by James Horner
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I think Sasmom & the beast are going to set out for Bozeman tomorrow. Been a while since he has explored the Museum there. Saspop getting heavy into ancestory now: looking for kin. Plan to stay overnight and come back later Monday. Or maybe not. Maybe Tuesday. Who knows?
Recent and current reading:
"the five people you meet in heaven", by Mitch Albom. Pieces that caught -
pg. 93 - "You didn't get it. Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to."
pg. 104 - "All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair."
pg. 126 - "Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. The moments that used to define them--a mother's approval, a father's nod-- are covered by moments of their own accomplishments. It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives."
"A Short History of Nearly Everything", by Bill Bryson. This (book) was given to me by a moved on child, and I had read over half of it, but put it down (in a somewhat out-of-sight, out-of-mind spot), got distracted, and forgot about it. Until a couple days ago, after finishing "the 5 people...", and looking for what next and remembered. So, I'm back into it. Love it. It would justify multiple readings. We're finishing #1 for now.
Have >150miles on the Vino now. May take the H-D on a ride or two after Sasmom is back at school. Understand "Teasers" at Three Forks has a new Lingerie shop open. May need to check it out. Maybe kin there.
Sas
Tags: come, see my cave...
Current Location: The cave
Current Mood:  contemplative
Current Music: "The Cave", by Steve Reich, performed by Hugo Munday
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“Notes” from our July 2007 trip to North Bend Park WV for Oscar Smith Family Reunion, and then on to Blair NE for visit at Jenny & Terry’s. We began by flying into Pittsburg Sunday July 22, then drove as far as Fairmont WV and stayed the night at the Holiday Inn there. Next day we drove on to North Bend State Park (just east of Cairo, WV), and checked into our cabin there. Cabins are nice: 2 bedroom with full utilities and air conditioning, although temps were moderate enough that the AC never kicked on. This reunion was of the Oscar Richard and Ova Violet (Roberts) Smith family. Oscar was a son of Thomas Hugh Smith & Charlotta Jane (Pethtel). Thomas Hugh was a brother of my granddad Silas Barnes Smith. A little research confirms what my first cousin Jon Sneath said, namely, that he and I would be full second cousins to Fred and his sisters (see pdf below for my notes). [LiveJournal doesn't seem to like pdf files] At North Bend, we met Fred, two of his daughters and one son, three sisters, and miscellaneous of their kin. Fred and sisters were a kick! Following are pictures of (first) Fred, with Wanda and Jon Sneath, (second) his wife Mariam (“Mim”) with some relative, and (third) of the three sisters that were there, from photo left to right, Margaret (Mrs. Charles Raymond LeMasters), Betty (Mrs. Ralph Edward Duncan), and Mildred (“Mid”, or Mrs Don Courtright).    I have to add that these three sisters were much more animated and interesting than my photo suggests! Wednesday the 25th we went over to Parkersburg to visit Holl’s Swiss Chocolatier’s (Yumm!) with Jon, Wanda, Karl & Sarah and Josiah, and then Jean and I set off on our own up to Williamstown, where we visited the Fenton Glass Works. We took a tour of the plant floor and then spent about 3 hours shopping. In end, we only bought a lamp and a vase, but we have their website address! ( www.fentonartglass.com) Here’s a couple photos from that visit.   Jean and I rented bicycles Thursday the 26th and rode a 5-mile part of the 72-mile “Rail Trail” from the park over to the Ellenboro Dairy Queen and back. A very pretty ride, and with the trail built on old railroad bed, very level, and so, appropriate to our present level of physical condition. Here are 3 photos from that ride.     Saturday the 28th, we drove back to Pittsburg, but through Greene County, a hub of activity for the Smith Family going back several generations. We drove past the house that my granddad Silas lived in as a boy. It is still standing and occupied. It has obviously had a little work, but not all that much. I took a couple pictures of it while there, and then hiked up the hill southwest from the house and found a couple of headstones where Fred & Company had indicated there had been a cemetery. These two were the only stones obviously set to mark something. The first I saw was the largest, and clearly marked. I took a photo (or so I thought), but one photo later noted that my camera was informing me that my card was full. Apparently it had been full one photo previous, so I do not have the clear photo I thought I had taken of this stone. I had entered info into my Treo as I stood there, but what I thought I was reading and entered disagrees with some historical info I found on the internet. Namely, I thought I entered “ISHMAEL LEMLY”, but from the historical I found, it should have been “ISRAEL LEMLEY”. Historical agreed with the remaining entry of “DIED JUNE 23, 1845, 24YR, 6M, 11D'S”. Only text I could decipher on the second, smaller stone was in the very corners of the square end, and that text was deeply engraved and clear, and was simply a “1.” in the upper (?) left corner, and an “L.” in the upper (?) right corner. Other than that, I found 4 small (approximately 10” x 12”) sandstones edgewise in the ground, with no markings that I could discern. Following are photos of house, and from the cemetery.   After spending Saturday night at the Pittsburg home of Bill Smith (Fred’s son), we caught the 7:55AM Sunday (our 40th Anniversary!) UAL flight from Pittsburg (via Chicago) to Omaha, where Jenny, Terry, Katie and Jade picked us up. After lunch in Omaha, we returned to Blair where Terry and Jenny worked at construction of a new timber playground/swing set for 2 or 3 hours (see photos following).   We then all returned to Omaha for dinner at Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse. Very Yummy! We had a wonderful 3-day visit with Jenny, Terry and our granddaughters, including dinner at Fernando’s in Blair Tuesday evening (the 31st: see photo following).  Wednesday the first of August we returned to Omaha, and after an Imax show Deep Sea and gyro’s at the exotic King Kong restaurant, we finally flew back to Billings.
Happy 40th anniversary, sweetie!
Ronnie. Current Location: Dungeon
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: YPR "Strings & Things" (fiddlin' & pickin')
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