Family

Shooting Skeet

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I have now shot skeet twice in my life. 🙂

The first time I shot skeet was also the first time I shot a real firearm (i.e. something powered by gunpowder, not CO2 or spring-air). It was a family vacation and my Dad took me skeet shooting. I forget how old I was, maybe 10? 13? Shot a 20 gauge shotgun. I don’t even remember how well I did, but I just remember that yeah… I got to shoot a real gun, and it was fun!

This past weekend was one of Wife’s side of the family’s reunions. One of Wife’s aunt’s shoots skeet competitively. I don’t recall how it all works, but she was showing us a pin she earned because she’s in the top 20 in the US in her class. She’s good. Since I’m not a shotgun guy at all, I asked if while we were out there for the reunion if she could take me and anyone else interested and go shoot some skeet. Have her teach me how to do it, since I just don’t know. She agreed, and off we went.

Aunt-in-law, shooting skeet and showing me how it's done.

At the range was her trainer and shooting buddy. A couple other family members came along as well. We shot 3 games, and I received good instruction on every shot: where to hold, where to look, how this clay is going to fly. For a true first time shooting skeet? I did better than I thought. Of course, the goal I set for myself was 1. have fun, 2. break one clay. So, I didn’t set the bar too high. 😉  But I actually broke a decent number of clays (truly, more than I expected I would), and certainly had a blast. And getting to see Wife’s aunt shoot? Yeah, she’s good and so is her trainer/shooting buddy.

A few things I learned:

  • I cannot shoot that Mossberg 500 bantam. I mean, I can shoot it, but it’s not ideal for me. It’s a youth-sized gun. I brought it because I thought Daughter might want to come out and shoot too, but she was more interested in the swimming pool at the hotel. 🙂  The stock is shorter, the curvature of the grip is more acute, it’s just meant for a smaller person. Then with my big shooting glasses on, I succeeded in slamming my right thumb knuckle into the glasses a few times and now I have a nice shiner under my right eye. 🙂  I’ve shot this shotgun in the past without problem, but didn’t have those big glasses on. After the first round, I was able to borrow an adult-sized 12 gauge (a gorgeous Beretta over-under), and now I just have a sore shoulder.
  • When you shoot skeet, of course you must lead the clay. A lot of it is just shooting more, learning the timing, the rhythm, and how much lead each clay out of each house at each position. Well, when I thought about leading, I would lead and I would break the clay. When I tried to just have a “zen mind” and not think about anything, I would revert to all my handgun and rifle shooting, where you generally want to shoot at the target, no leading. So, that’s something to work on.
  • I did get the hang of the basics, so really it’d just be a matter of shooting more to ingrain it all. I’m certainly open to more! I also wouldn’t mind trying out trap.
  • It’s a lot more pleasant to pick up a couple big plastic shotgun shell hulls off the ground than hundreds of little brass 9mm cases. 🙂

Had a blast. In fact, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. I knew I’d have fun, but gosh… it makes me want to do more shotgun shooting. In fact, I have recently had some changing thoughts on shotguns, but I’ll write on that later.

The next day I returned the favor to aunt-in-law. She’s a shotgun person, I’m a handgun person. She’s been looking at getting a handgun (personal protection and all that), so I let her shoot my carry gun and gave her some basic instruction.

It was a good weekend.

Flew the coop

/ hsoi

Was out of town for the weekend. Came back last night and saw this in our Carolina Wren nest box:

Looks like the babies are all grown up. 🙂

The thing is, we only saw 2 in there. We’re not sure what the deal was. Are these perhaps the younger 2 and the others already fledged and left? Just don’t know, as we were gone all weekend. The other thing is, you can see they are atop all the nesting materials… that’s not how it was before, so they obviously moved and tramped things down.

As of last night and still this morning, the box is empty and we don’t hear any of the wren chirping. Are they gone for good? Not sure. Going to wait a few days and keep watch on things. If they don’t come back, we’re going to crack open the box and take a look at things. We’re all very curious to learn about how they nest.

A Good Day

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

Watching the local morning news, weather report comes on. I see stuff about Fredericksburg, TX and say to Wife “Want to go there today?” Just on a whim. And off we went. I’ve been wanting to take the family out there for some time, just because. It’ll be good to go in a month or two when peach season kicks in. But hey… we had time today, so seize the day!

Drove out. Stopped at Whittington’s for some of their awesome jerky. Wanted to stop in Luckenbach but opted to save that for next time (we were getting hungry). I figured if we’re going to Fredericksburg, we need to eat German food. Yelp seemed to have mostly favorable reviews of Der Lindenbaum, so we gave it a try. I’ve had some German food in my life, but despite my ethnic heritage (look at my last name!) not a whole lot of it — when Mom is in charge of cooking well, that’s why I ate a lot of Korean food while growing up. 😉  So really, this was a “first experience” for the whole family.

Everyone was pleasantly surprised, even Oldest got adventurous. I had a beef sauerbraten (made with raisins), Wife had a jager schnitzel, Oldest had some bratwurst, Daughter a cheese-potato soup (can’t remember the German for it), Youngest had a wiener schnitzel. Very good stuff all around. I loved the cheese in the soup, very hearty flavor but not overpowering. I really liked how the raisins in the sauerbraten and this red kraut (which was both clove-sweet and sour) mixed together. But for my money, it the jager schnitzel was the winner — I’m having that next time. But of course, I think next time we ought to try one of the other German restaurants in town.

We perused the shops. Wife found some nice clothing. Kids all found some cute toys in a toy shop. Me? I was just happy to be with my family.

On the way home, stopped into a vineyard. Which? We just picked “the next one” along the road (and one that I hadn’t been into before). This one was Grape Creek Vineyards. Did a tasting, 6 wines apiece. Wife and I overlapped on a few wines, but for the most part we tasted different things because we have varying tastes: she likes lighter, sweeter stuff, whites more than reds; I like more robust, drier, reds more than whites but I also like a good port. Now, I’m no wine snob or even all that wine educated… I just know what my taste buds and my nose like and don’t like. So with that….

  • 2008 Cuvee Blanc — Nice, crisp. I could see having that with say a light pork cooked with fruit, or a light fish.
  • 2008 Pinot Grigio — Sorry, but neither Wife nor I are fans of Pinot Grigio. We try, but we just can’t get into it.
  • 2009 Viognier — Surprisingly good. Wife liked it, but not enough to want to buy it (given we could only buy so many bottles and we preferred some other things).
  • 2009 Riesling — This surprised me. I usually don’t like Reislings but enjoy trying them. This was very peach/apricot on the nose, and went down very nice. Stupid me forgot to buy a bottle, because I could see enjoying a glass of this on a hot summer night after dinner.
  • 2008 Grand Rouge — Wife liked this a lot, we bought a couple of bottles. I didn’t care much for it, but it could be because by the time I tried a sip I had so many strong reds on my tongue (even after crackers).
  • Port — I didn’t like it. I mean, it wasn’t bad, but it’s just not my style of port. I forgot all the details the guy told me as he was pouring it, but for instance it didn’t use sherry to fortify it and didn’t have as much sugars as other ports. It wasn’t bad for what it was, but just not my preference. Wife isn’t a port drinker.
  • 2007 Bellissimo — Wow. This was fantastic. Complex but not overly so. Robust, full. Just great overall. Picked up a couple of bottles of this.
  • 2007 Mosaic — Very strong, their strongest, fullest, “biggest” red. It was too much for my palette. It’s not bad, just a lot for my tongue. I could see maybe having a small glass of this with a fine cigar.
  • 2007 Merlot — Picked up a bottle of this. A “light” red, but a very good flavor and still “full” and “strong”, just lighter than ones like the Bellissimo and the Mosaic.

Not a bad place really. Certainly one of the better Texas wineries I’ve been to in recent years.

Anyway, just a damn good day with my family. Life can’t be all work. And I got to spend it with the people I love most. 🙂

From open children to open carry

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

It’s raining.

For whatever reason, that’s caused more ducks than usual to congregate around our house. More ducks means more distractions for the kids. 😉  Plus, one mother mallard has 6 chicks (hatched probably just a few days ago), so the cute is irresistible.

The kids were outside tending to the ducks. I was in my office working. Wife was in the kitchen. Kids come back in the house to tell us that an Austin Police Officer drove up, rolled down his window, asked them if they were where they were supposed to be, “We’re homeschooled.”, “Alright.” and off he drove. Will it amount to anything? I don’t know, but I doubt it. We did have another talk with the kids about how to handle such situations. But what got me was what I found myself saying.

You see, Wife was saying how one of our homeschooling mentors always avoided such issues by running her errands after normal school hours. I can understand. We’re doing nothing wrong, we’re doing nothing illegal, but we are doing something that most people aren’t familiar with and “breaks the norm” of what’s expected… thus it has potential to cause trouble and bring headaches and hassles into our lives. So mentor’s approach was to just avoid it because she didn’t want to hassle. Wife doesn’t do that, we don’t lock the kids away and only bring them out when children are supposed to be brought out, but certainly Wife prefers to avoid the hassle.

I found myself saying that no, we can’t do that; we can’t avoid the hassle. Not saying we should flaunt it and invite it, but that if the hassle comes, it comes. What we’re doing is fine, legal, normal; it may not be mainstream, but how are people ever going to get used to it, acknowledge it, accept it, and not flinch or find it strange if we always keep it hidden away? If we always work to avoid the hassle, no one will ever see or know. How does that help or improve the situation? If anything, it could serve to make the situation seem worse because it’s being hidden away and not just openly done.

And I found myself thinking about Open Carry.

It may not be mainstream today, but how else are you going to get it to be mainstream unless you make it so? To hide it away isn’t going to help. Look at any sort of “civil rights” be it homeschooling or gay rights or women’s rights or various ethnic groups. You don’t get to sit at the front of the bus by always hiding at the back of it (by force or by choice).

Still trying to figure out how I stand on open carry, but this little experience certainly has influenced me a bit.

I was inspired to write this due to a comment made by Linoge on Uncle’s website. Thanx, Linoge.

Family Campout – Buescher State Park

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The view from our cabin porch

The weather in Central Texas right now is perfect, so what better time than now to go camping.

Packed the family in the car and off we went to Buescher State Park in Smithville, Texas. We’ve been there before, on Cub Scout campouts, and due to that we knew we liked what the park had to offer. The scenery is beautiful, there’s a lake for fishing, and you can rent canoes too. Those were the two big things we wanted to do: canoe and fish.

Part of the cabin interior

The difference this time was no tent camping. The park has a few “mini-cabins”, and Wife wanted to give them a try. You see, Wife has little interest in camping, in the “roughing it” sense of the word. She loves being outdoors, she loves doing these sorts of things, but freezing to death on the cold, hard ground is not her idea of me. Me on the other hand, I grew up on a steady diet of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, so backpacking has fine appeal to me. I’d prefer to travel light, minimal stuff, minimal hassle. Just get out and enjoy and only bring what you need to get by. The sort of camping we just did? That’s a pain to me. So much gear the car is overflowing, lots to pack up, drive there, unpack, set up, then eventually you have to pack it all back up, drive it back home, unpack it all, clean it, stow it… oye! You spend more time dealing with the stuff than you did enjoying using it! Nevertheless, I’ll admit there’s something nice about this style of camping because sometimes comfort is good.

The children, practicing casting.

The mini-cabins were actually pretty neat. We only booked a single night for two reasons. First, I wasn’t sure if the kids would handle 3 days (I have no concerns about that now). Second, we had no idea what these cabins would be like. We’ve had some scary hotel experiences, thus due to that we were reserved about these cabins. So the plan was to try it once; if it was terrible, we didn’t invest a lot, but if it was good then we’d leave wanting more and would go back someday in the future.

The cabin is a small single room. Two sets of bunk beds, table and chairs for 4, mini-fridge, some counter space, microwave, heat/AC unit, lighting, and of course it’s shelter from the elements. I was surprised at how well it kept the temperature comfortable. There’s also a nice deck that wraps around, large windows, and a fantastic view. Really, they’re great and certainly I have no problems using a cabin again in the future.

Buescher State Park Lake

So we got there, unpacked, set things up. Had to make it clear to the kids that it was important to get all the necessary work done first because there’d be no way we’d want to do it later. So with a bit of a grumble, the kids pitched in and we got things set up in short order. I can understand tho… they were excited and wanted to get to fishing!

Oldest child, the dedicated fisherman.

Off to the lake we went. The weather was so nice, we walked over to the boat ramp area. Honestly, I didn’t expect we’d catch anything at this time of day, but that’s alright. There’s a difference between “fishing” and “catching” and while it’s a lot of fun to catch, sometimes the best fishing involves never catching a thing. So it’s good for the kids to learn the difference, and really the only way to learn it is to go fishing a lot.

We sat out for a while. I worked on teaching Oldest and Daughter how to tie some important knots, like the Trilene knot. How to get things rigged up, and helping them choose where they’d want to fish. Of course, the kids would cast, wait about 5 minutes, then want to reel it in and try again. That’s OK. I do understand why they want to do this, but I just repeat to them that if they want to catch a fish they have to keep the hook and the bait in the water. If the hook it out of the water, no way you’ll catch a fish; if it’s in the water, you might catch one. They understand, but still, I remember what it was like when I was a kid, so I didn’t give them too much grief. They’ll come to understand it all… just keep taking them fishing.

Oldest, patiently fishing. My favorite picture.

Oldest understands tho. He was quite the dedicated fisherman on this outing, and I’m proud of him for that. He was very patient and took it very seriously.

While out and about, we saw lots of animals. While walking to the lake, a coyote actually ran across our path about 25 yards ahead of us. It was a little odd to see a yote at that time of day, but there we go. Of course, lots of birds, lizards, fish, turtles. Saw some ducks, an egret or two, some rabbits, deer (later at night). The only thing that really bothered us? Cottonmouths. We saw numerous cottonmouths swimming in the lake, close to shore. Just leave them alone, chances are they could care less about us, and such was the case. Nevertheless, I was upset at myself for not packing my .38 with snake loads.

Yes, I went down the slide!

After an unsuccessful round of afternoon fishing, we headed back to the cabin to recharge. Some snacks, a little air-conditioning. We went over to the playground to let the kids play on the playscape. That lasted about 30 minutes. There was no question we were all tired and just had little interest in doing much of anything. So we drove back to our campsite. We tried to take the scenic detour down Park Road 1C to Bastrop State Park, but we were all just too pooped… especially Wife and myself. So we turned around, went back to the cabin. Wife took a nap. I started cooking dinner. Daughter and Youngest goofed off in the cabin, and Oldest went down to the water just below our cabin, threw some poles in the water, and waited. No bites, but that boy has patience.

Had a wonderful dinner of fajitas, despite forgetting to bring any salsa. Doh! As the sun was setting, it cooled off and we just enjoyed the weather, the stars, and listening to all the critters singing their night songs. You could tell it had been a good, long, and tiring day… we were all cranky and short with each other. 🙂  But, we all crawled into the bunk beds and settled in for a good sleep.

Morning over the lake. Can you find the mother duck and her babies?

I woke up the next morning about 5:30 AM. I know the routine. First thing after waking (and visiting a local tree) the first man up needs to get the water boiling and the coffee brewing. So of course, that was done. I just sat on the porch, looking at the lake in the moonlight, waiting for the sun to come up. Nice, peaceful.

Eventually the sun peeked just enough over the sky to light my way down to the water’s edge, so down I went with 2 fishing poles and a box of worms. Put the worms on the hook, put the poles in the water, and just waited. Saw numerous things, the neatest of which was hearing a big splash about 20 yards to my right. I look over and about 8 to 10 ducklings had hit the water. I saw Momma Duck too, and while I can’t be 100% positive on the identification, her silhouette was that of a wood duck. Later when we left the park and were checking out, there were some serious bird watchers also checking out of the park. We spoke to them briefly and they confirmed wood ducks live on this lake, and they were excited to hear about the ducklings. But back to fishing…. I had numerous nibbles. Something kept pecking at and stealing my worms. While I started playing something on the end of one rod, the other rod seriously took. Dang it. 🙂  Well, the one rod seemed to die down so I put it down, picked up the other and hauled in my catch. It was a small catfish! Had a stout body but not very long (kinda odd). Wasn’t worth keeping, but I took a picture and let him go. A little while later, more activity on the first rod. So I played the critter some more and eventually he took it. However, something felt different on the end of the line. Sure enough…. it was a fair-sized turtle. Oldest zipped down to help me. He held the turtle while I removed the hook, and gave Oldest quite a thrash and kick when the hook was removed. Given where I kept fishing with that first pole, while my first thought was pan fish pecking and bait stealing, I now am pretty sure it was the turtle the whole time.

Look Ma! I caught a fish!

Speaking of turtles, later that morning Oldest noticed a catfish had floated belly up. He thought it was the catfish I caught. A couple of minutes later, a turtle swam up to it and started eating. We then realized it was another catfish, no idea how long he’d been dead. A second turtle swam up and started to eat but the first turtle didn’t want to share. 🙂  He grabbed the catfish and started swimming hard and fast in the other direction taking the fish with him. Quite funny to see.

All the worms were used, so we called it a morning and came up for breakfast. What was on the menu? Why, eggs-in-a-bag, of course! The kids love it, and it’s simple camping food. Couple that with a little Spam on the side, and it makes for happy children. 🙂

Unfortunately, it was time to go… or at least, to check out of the cabin. So we packed up, cleaned up, reminded the kids to leave the place cleaner than we found it. Loaded up the car and headed to the park office to return the key. Our original plan was to go canoeing. Unfortunately, the canoes were being taken out for maintenance. Bummer! We were all looking forward that. Alas… it was not meant to be. So we decided to go ahead and head home.

But as we were pulling out, Wife had the idea to head into Smithville just to see what it was like. Smithville is a small town, probably best known as the town where they made the movie, Hope Floats. We drove up and down the main streets, seeing your typical small-town things. We figured that would be the end of it but no….

We saw a giant gingerbread man!

Run run, as fast as you can!

Apparently a few years ago the city decided to set the world’s record for the largest gingerbread man. Apparently they did succeed! And the specially made cookie sheet was later painted and erected in the town. We took a look at it, took pictures with it, visited the little train museum there… and that was a hoot.

For you see, while the museum may have been about trains, what caught the children’s eye? Why, this strange contraption that sorta looked like a computer, but there was no screen… just a keyboard.

A typewriter.

And an older kind, with the little “arms” that would fly up to strike the ribbon. Quite novel for the children, and I got to explain and show them how, where, and why the QWERTY layout came to be.

Nifty little history lesson. 🙂

After that, we piled back in the car, drove home, unpacked, and showered.

Quite a time, quite a couple of days. Yes we wish it could have lasted longer, but we’re thankful for what we got. The old expression is to always leave ’em wanting more, so that we did.

How To Train Your Dragon

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

I’m not really high on Dreamworks’ “animated children’s movies” because well… they’ve sucked and have a pretty poor track record.

My rule is simple. When you see the commercials/trailers for the movie, are they pitching the movie and the story? or do they work on promoting the “star power” of the “voice actors”? Pixar? They don’t advertise that so-and-so does the voices, even if they’re not really good voice actors and are just doing their normal voices. Pixar knows story is king, and that shows in their movies.

But with Dragons, Dreamworks well…. now that I see WHO the people are that did the voices well, it’s not like it was massive star power there anyways. But that’s just fine! There was less focus on the glitz and more focus on making a good movie.

And good it was.

Sure it was a story you’ve heard/seen a thousand times. There’s really nothing new to the base story. It’s the telling that changes, and I think they told a good story. I found the movie most enjoyable. Comedy, action, suspense, just a hint of innocent romance, some emotional heart-tugging moments. Sure you know how things are going to go (tho I thought the end um…. thing that happened to Hiccup at the end of the movie, that was a cute touch), sure you know “happily ever after”. But still, I enjoyed myself.

Daughter approves as well.

Oldest and Youngest… well… fisticuffs in the morning meant no movie for them in the afternoon. *sigh*

Anyway, an enjoyable movie. I’m sure it means a “Dragson 2” is already brewing… not sure it should be done… sometimes I think it’s good to just let good things stay as they are, we don’t need to milk it to death. But you know how it is… there’s money to be made and ideas to run into the ground. 🙂

Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo

/ hsoi

Yesterday I took my family to the Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo. It’s an annual thing in Austin, but this is the first time we went. I’m so glad we did. Weather was perfect, time was right.

The Kid In Me

I went to county fairs and rodeos all the time when I was a kid. My Dad had to campaign in various counties in Nebraska, and county fairs were good places to meet with the public. So Dad would be there all day pressing the flesh, and we kids would get to run around and enjoy the fair all day. I’ve got lots of fond memories of those times, from all the midway games I’d play, to the rides (I still will not ride The Zipper… not into things that make me throw up), to even the people I’d meet. A lot of the same carnival groups would be at the various county fairs, so I got to see a lot of the same carnies over and over. I got to actually know a couple fairly well because hey… I loved the “pop gun” booth (little pump rifles that shot small corks out the end… you’d shoot the corks at these little wooden stands and when they flipped off the back of the rail you won the prize) and spending so much time at that booth I got to know the lady running it. I also recall that’s how I learned about the band Bad Company; talking with another carnie, he told me to check out their album (their self-titled) and eventually I did and glad I did.

And of course, growing up in Omaha, there was Peony Park.

So with many fond memories in my head, I always wanted to take the kids to some sort of fair. There’s frequently a fair running in town, but I can never find out when they’re here. It’s one of those where I’m driving in town, I see it in the distance, “OH man!” and then we can’t go for some reason. But now we had a plan!

The Joy of Mobile Internet

Of course, I look up the fair online and find out they even have an iPhone app just for the fair! The iPhone app had a few rough edges, but it was pretty useful. I thought the best part was how they used the GPS services on the map to say “here’s where you are, and here’s where you want to go” to help you get around the fairgrounds. Nice!

But the real treat? I found out you could buy a carnival wristband for $20 online, which included the gate entrance fee. Sounded like a winner to me. But when I got there, yes it was an online-only deal. If you bought at the fairgrounds, $7 for adults $4 children to get through the gate, and $25 for the carnival wristband. Man… that online deal is a deal. So I went back to the car, sat down, pulled out my iPhone and purchased online right there in the parking lot. 🙂 That saved some money… or so I thought. It’s only saving money if you’re going to ride a lot of rides. Most rides cost 3 tokens and each token was $1. So you’d need to ride 8 rides or so to make it worth it. Was it worth it? No, because we didn’t ride that many rides (more on that shortly). The thing was, I was under the impression you could only do the carnival if you had a wristband. That is not the case. The wristband is only good for carnival rides, and you can pay tokens for rides as well. So if you’re all about the rides and expect to ride a lot of rides, a wristband can be the way to go. Else, just pay tokens as you go. Live and learn.

The Rides

For me, a big part of a fair are the rides. I did not know what to expect with my kids… would they like these rides? Would they not? The first ride? The Tilt-a-Whirl. That’s one of my favorites. I have many fond memories of riding that at Peony Park with my Dad while growing up. All 4 of us climbed into a car and off we went, tilting and whirling. I saw nothing but smiles on the faces of my kids. We have a winner!

I saw on the other side was a “scrambler”, tho this one was called The Scorcher. We climbed into that one, Youngest and I in one car, and Oldest and Daughter in another. Off it went. This one went a bit faster than I remember them going, so the G-forces were pretty strong. It was fun, we all enjoyed it, but we all also had the same thought: geez… this is getting boring, can you stop now? It just got old because it ran for quite a while. But I was happy the kids enjoyed it…. tho Oldest didn’t like it as much as he would have because well… I told him to sit on the out-side of the car so he had his sister squished into him the whole time. 🙂

Then… the bumper cars.

I’m glad this wasn’t a “modern” bumper cars where everyone was told to just drive in a circle and not run into each other. Yes, I’ve encountered those and what fun are those? The whole fun about this is to bump into each other. Head-on collisions are what makes bumper cars fun. 🙂 Daughter climbed into a car, Oldest into a car, and I took Youngest in a car with me. I gave them a briefing on how they work (e.g. press the pedal down and don’t let go, if you turn the steering wheel all the way around you’ll go in reverse), and off we went.

So while the kids and I were having fun bumping into each other, Wife was standing at the railing taking pictures. And boy, was Wife taking a lot of pictures. She was heavily interested in taking lots of pictures. Why? Because the carnie working the bumper cars was being very friendly with her. Not too friendly, but friendly enough that Wife did her best to be polite yet tried her best to make it clear she was more interested in her big husband than him. Oldest got mad that some other man was trying to hit on his Mom but he saw me laughing and not worried about it… but I can’t argue with my son’s desire to defend his mother. That’s a Good Thing.

Of course, what trip to a fair would be complete if there wasn’t a ride that was a little too much. There was a ride called The Orbiter. Didn’t get a picture of it, but this Wikipedia entry is close. The cars were more enclosed cars and it didn’t go 90º (maybe 45º??). The thing was, when we saw it earlier it seemed somewhat gentle, so Daughter and I went on it. Youngest wanted to go but Oldest didn’t and you couldn’t have single riders, so only Daughter and I went. Well… that was a mistake. The sensation was really weird and the G-forces very strong… because of the angles you were put at, the resulting angle of the G-forces just did not sit well with Daughter and she was most unhappy. I just cradled her to keep her from banging into the car, and eventually the ride ended. Cross that one off the list for the future. Me? I thought the ride was OK… it did mess with my equilibrium a bit (I had “sea legs” for a short while after getting off the ride), but how could I enjoy a ride while my child was hurting? Ah well… it was a good experience no matter how you slice it.

The Food

What can you say? If you can fry it and put it on a stick, it’s carnival food. Oh, and expensive too.

Actually the food was pretty good. Of course fried, greasy, salty, huge portions, and just horrible for you… but no question it was delicious. If it wasn’t so darn expensive we would have eaten more.

The one bummer? I didn’t get a funnel cake. I love funnel cakes. But at $7 a cake? Sorry… my wallet was hurting. I had to pass this time around. *sigh*

Attractions

There were a lot of cool fair attractions.

They had some small bands playing free shows on a back stage. There was a ZZ Top cover band called Cheap Sunglasses that were playing when we arrived. They were actually pretty good! I enjoyed them a whole lot. Later that evening another band was playing… I don’t know who they were, but they were doing a horrible job butchering Bon Jovi’s “Bad Medicine” and I couldn’t stand it.

We wandered through the livestock barn. Lots of cattle and pigs, a few goats and rabbits. Spent a little time watching the judging of a youth cattle show. All I could think to myself was how much tasty beef was out there. Eventually we had to leave as the smell was overwhelming everyone.

Of course, there was a petting zoo with llamas, goats, sheep, some sort of deer… and again, I just kept staring at those deer, finding that kill zone. Now that I think about it, I should have used that as a time to talk kill zones with the kids! I mean, I had a live sample right there and could have walked right up to it and pointed everything out! Missed opportunity.

Concealment, not cover.

There was a cowboy shootout. Not a lot of action, but the comedy was funny with 3 bumbling robbers and eventually the sheriff coming to break up the party. They shot blanks, which were pretty loud so everyone would jump when they shot. I did think it was cool how they ended it tho: having all the “dead” robbers get up to show that no one was really hurt. But they also talked about how they used blanks and that blanks can still be dangerous (they shot an empty soda can pointblank and you got to see it blown apart). Then saying to be thankful for the police so we can live our lives today without us each having to carry around 6-shooters ourselves. Uh huh. 😉

One more thing on the shootout. Those guys had terrible trigger discipline. But I’ll chalk it up to old-time realism because Jeff Cooper wasn’t invented yet. 😉

We missed the “Swine Sprints”, but we did catch Whiplash. Whiplash is a little money dressed up like a cowboy that rides on the back of a dog. The show actually started off with a young man doing roping tricks, which was pretty impressive. Then onto the show. A little money, in a cowboy suit, on the back of… a border collie. That’s important. What was the show? Three sheep were released into the area and Whiplash the monkey cowboy (or is it cowboy monkey?) herded them around. But the reality? The monkey was just the attraction that put the butts in the seats. The real work was the dog, and the dog was on. The moment those sheep were let out of the carrier, the dog was locked onto them. It was so cool to watch how tuned in he was. And the sheep were huddling together, because they knew there was something out there with fangs. And the dog went to work, and the monkey just held on. Wife and I didn’t care about the monkey, just the dog. He was awesome.

Heading Home

So a long afternoon and evening spent at the fair. No, we didn’t get to see any actual rodeo, because that cost a lot more money. Apparently there’s a rodeo in Marble Falls in July and we may go check that out.

But still, we had a good time. Got to see animals, got to see some shows, got to ride rides, got to learn all about carnies, got to eat terrible but delicious food. The kids had a great time, and Wife did too (tho she wishes she had worn her Ariats and not her Luccheses). For me? Reliving some childhood family memories and making some new ones with my own family? All worth it.

To Daddy, from Daughter

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Daughter wrote me a poem last night.

When the clouds become dark,
And when the dog doesn’t bark,
I become very, very sad.
The only way
For me to be gay
is sunshine, a treat, and Dad.

🙂

Note: this poem comes from the innocent and loving heart of my Little Girl. Don’t twist it around (e.g. “gay”).

Something in my eye

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Today has been bittersweet for me.

I took Oldest to the dentist to get braces installed on his teeth. Braces: a rite of passage in modern teenager-life. This milestone has been achieved! Now it will be what? two or so years before they’re removed. I took a picture just before he sat down in the chair. I know when I next see him with clean teeth he’s going to look really different from this picture.

First we had to get a cleaning done. Originally he was to get that done last week but some jackass flew a plane into a building and so the roads were closed and we’d never get through. (Aside: we drove by the building today… that was crazy to see). So we got the cleaning done, then had a couple hour break, then back for the braces. During the break we had lunch then had time to kill. Some weeks ago Wife uncovered a Toys R Us gift card Oldest had received as a gift a couple years ago and still had a fair balance on it. During the break we headed over to a Toys R Us and Oldest bought some LEGO.

While walking through the store I passed the infant section. It brought back memories of infant-times and little inside jokes Wife and I share. And there I was… with Oldest. I don’t feel my age; I feel like a kid in so many ways. I still find it hard to believe I’m a father, that I have 3 kids, and that the first one of those kids came along oh so long ago. It was just yesterday I brought him home from the hospital; cliché to say, I know, but the feeling is genuine. And here I am… with a teenager… my teenager, progressing through one of those teenager milestones by getting braces.

I’m happy to see him grow up. In fact, seeing how he handled himself today? I’m quite proud of him. I can see the man this boy is growing into. But seeing him grow up also makes me sad. Not that I want him to be an infant again, but knowing the day is coming when he’s going to leave the house… and damn, I’m going to miss him something awful.