What to do, what to do?

I know what I'll do. I'll leave school here in a little bit. I'll ride my bike home. I'll watch the boys play. Maybe I'll help out with supper. I'll definitely eat supper!  I'll  probably help out with kitchen clean up. I'll have changed into some more comfortable clothes by then. I'll read some books to the boys and sing them some songs for bed time. Then maybe we'll watch that DVD that came in the mail yesterday.

Tomorrow I have to be at school, but we don't have students, so I can afford to stay up later watching a movie.

The streets are all pretty well cleared of snow and ice now. My bike needs a cleaning. It probably needs a good overhauling, also. That will be a warmer weather job to do.

I guess I just don't have a lot to say today. I'm sure you're all celebrating.

Choking

Don't be alarmed. No one has choked literally in my family. The title of today's post is an example of figurative language at work. It's a comparison, I suppose, of the person who is under pressure to produce desirable results in a situation, then fails to do so. I'm unsure where the roots of this idiom were derived, but somehow it seems appropriate for performers.

I had a golden opportunity to shine on Saturday night. I was scheduled to play my electric guitar and harmonica and sing, along with another female performer, to the recognizable song "Brown Eyed Girl": a song I performed for the talent show last year with a friend of mine, which I've played dozens and dozens of times. A song with which I should be so familiar, were I to need to, I should be able to play in my sleep. You see where this is going.

Somehow, at one point during the song, I lost track of my guitar chord progression and faltered. The result was first an awkward guitar sound, muted partially by my hand, and secondly a silent pause in the music which lasted the length of a beat or so. A breakdown big enough for me to acknowledge it to the audience by smiling broadly like an idiot and apologizing to the audience in the microphone with a "sorry, that was me". We went on to finish the song relatively strongly.

It's probably no big deal to anyone else. I know, however, that if it were a competition for a prize, that would have been enough to keep me out of the winner's position. Who knows when I'll have that opportunity again. Something so easy, so familiar, and I let my nerves get the best of me and I fumbled in order to relieve my nerves. It's a mental thing I need to overcome.

Jack has been overcoming a fever and upset stomach lasting a few days. Leo has learned how to climb out of his crib. Both boys are a blast and full of personality. Things are going along. Marian's healthy and working hard as ever to keep the house in order. It must be tough for her to live in a house with three boys.

A fun full, love filled weekend

Friday night we had the boys in bed fairly early, after supper of course. Our friends text-ed inquiring of our plans and if we were up for company. So, about 10:30 the husband and wife combo came over for wine and conversation. Both are graduates of Pittsburg State, as are Mare and I. She is also an English teacher at the high school, and a colleague of mine. I met her while in Pittsburg and we became friends. I had a stack of game cards from a board game called "Tri-bond". The cards have categories, like many other games. What you'll find listed under the categories are three things which are related. Someone says the three things, the rest attempt to establish the common bond between the three. For example: Moses, Abraham, Noah. Answer: Old Testament characters. Of course most are not that obvious. We were kept entertained by reading those cards and guessing without the formality of playing the board game. They were good for prompting conversation and kept things interesting. They stayed clear until 1:30! We must have been having fun because we rarely stay up that late. It was nice to have company.

Saturday we slowly prepared to attend my cousin Shane's wedding to Rene in Coffeyville that evening. We didn't know whether we'd be staying at mom and dad's in Humboldt or not, so we packed for it. Clarie and family were attending the wedding also, and if they were returning to Oklahoma on Sunday, we'd have stayed. As it turns out, they planned to stay through Sunday night, so Mare, Leo, and I returned to Ottawa after the wedding. Jack rode to Humboldt with aunt Clarie and family to stay the night at grandma and grandpa's house.

The wedding was neat. It was held in a second story ballroom in downtown Coffeyville. The ballroom was big, but Shane and Rene are well liked by many friends and family, and the wedding utilized all the available space. Each table was provided with a simple, elegant "two story" round white wedding cake. We were directed to cut the cake when the bride and groom did and serve ourselves. It was a unique idea which eliminated a second long serving line. The first serving line was to feed the wedding guests good, hot barbecue chicken, baked beans, green beans, corn bread, scalloped potatoes, and dinner rolls: all good.

The ceremony was presided over by pastor, or preacher, or minister D.J. Dangerfield from Humboldt. He seems to be a very genuine, passionate individual. He is, in fact, a funny, entertaining guy. He kept the ceremony brief, upon the bride and groom's direction. He spoke flatteringly of the two of them, and it was clear he thought highly of both of them.

Each place setting at all the tables also came with a unique looking lollipop, or sucker, or whatever the correct terminology is for candy on a stick. This kept our two boys pacified through the quiet times, and kept them pretty satisfied until supper time.

Then the lights were lowered and an assortment of wedding dance rituals began. The dollar dance for the bride and groom; the mother/son dance, and the father/daughter dance. Then, they wedding party really got down to boogie. They looked like they were having a blast. Sadly, it was time for us to depart. We had a two hour drive ahead of us and we were tired from staying up late the night before.

We returned to Humboldt on Sunday, just in time for lunch. We ate pizza from the hut in town. We spent the afternoon alternating between playing with the kids outside in the snow and watching kids movies. Jack was finally able to build a snowman. He'd been wanting to all week, but the snow was too light and didn't "stick". He was thrilled! It was a good one, too because he got help from his older cousins from Oklahoma.

I played the electric guitar a little bit and sang a few songs; dad played and sang along for some, too. We ate. Again. Tuker didn't feel well, so he rested quite a bit. Then, eventually, when the boys' fatigue level was way up there, we decided it was time to call it a game. Mare and I and the boys stayed at Grandma Irene's. It's always fun to stay there. She made a nice breakfast for us the next morning and confirmed my suspicion that we are more or less obliged to eat anytime we are in each others' presence.

 We left around noon. Jack didn't want to go. He wanted to stay at his grandma Terry's, and Papa David's house.

We went home and tried to recover. It's hard work having this much fun. The week went on as usual, except Wednesday it began snowing and placed enough on the ground to cancel school on Thursday. I played with Jack in it quite a bit and shoveled snow at our house, our neighbors, and the neighbor across the street. I attended a rehearsal for the group of singers I'm joining as the entertainment for a chamber of commerce awards banquet. I'll be playing my electric guitar, my harmonica and singing Brown Eyed Girl with another, female singer. I'll also be joining three other singers and a percussionist to sing Some Enchanted Evening, and Lean on Me. This performance will be tomorrow, Saturday Jan. 22.

Snow is in the forecast for Sunday, so maybe there will be no school due to snow on Monday. We can only hope.

Did I mention I'm ready for spring?

The short version of this story is that my water pipes froze. I stayed at home to thaw them and repair them if necessary. I was fortunate that I observed no damage to the pipes once the water was flowing again. Of course I had expected the worst: lying on my back in the crawl space of my house trying to repair a section of copper or galvanized pipe, or disassembling a connection to replace a fitting. Either scenario would not be ideal.

When I opened the valve on the bathtub and nothing came out, I muttered an unprintable expletive and berated myself for not remembering to let my faucets drip. I had even thought of it the night before at supper time, yet failed to follow through with that action.

Staying home for the remainder of the day allowed me to salvage some good out of it: I ate lunch with my family and helped out with chores around the house, then played with the boys outside in the snow. We ran our big Tonka trucks around on snow roads, then I pulled the boys around the block in their red wagon.

This has been a short week of school for me. Monday and Tuesday school was canceled due to snow. I attended Wednesday. Thursday, yesterday, was the big frozen water pipes situation, so I didn't attend. I went the whole day today. Just in time for a three day weekend. No school Monday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Despite his unpopularity in southeast Kansas, Dr. King was a brave individual worthy of admiration. He wanted to be treated equally. He wanted people of similar physical appearance to be treated equally. That seems to me like a good thing. It was certainly a brave act to demand equal treatment of black people. I find it hard to imagine attending a separate, inferior, school simply because my skin is pink; or being told where I may or may not sit, while others who look different than I do have the option of taking my seat if they so desire simply because of their physical appearance. None of my friends or family has done anything remotely as brave or progressive as this man. If all of us could contribute to this nation in such positive ways as Dr. King, we'd truly have lived a life worth living.

I don't know what to make of that killing business down there in Arizona. Knowing why a person does something like that is truly the million dollar question. I feel better knowing the suspect was apprehended and is in custody, rather than dead. Other similar situations has resulted in the gunman killing himself. First of all, death seems like such an easy way out for the killer. They don't have to live with guilt. They aren't really punished in any way when they kill themselves after killing others.Secondly, we have the chance to hopefully learn from this man what drives a person to do these things, with the hope that it may be prevented in the future.

Some will try to make this an issue about firearms. The killer could have chosen to drive a vehicle into a dense crowd of people and possibly have achieved more damage. There likely would not be a debate about outlawing vehicles then. One discernible difference is that a firearm is made to kill something: big game, fowls, rodents, intruders, enemies. Though a vehicle can be effectively used to kill, a firearm really can't be used effectively for any purpose other than to kill; except, I'll concede, for targets. I'm not sure the point I'm feeling, except I don't want decreased personal freedom for the vast majority of us, the responsible ones. Yet, I don't like that a mentally imbalanced person gained access to a item whose sole purpose is to kill.

The long and the short of it is we need to be aware of how we treat others. Choose to be an advocate and to build up a person, and to support a person. Choose not to be a hindrance to others, to not tear down others, to not compromise others.

I'm ready for spring; for green grass, for warm breezes, and for an end to our cold, bitter winter.

Thanks mom and dad

Wednesday was my birthday. I turned 36. So, thanks mom and dad for finding each other through destiny and, I guess, creating the right mood for love way back in approximately middle to late March of 1974. I couldn't be here without you!

For my birthday, when I arrived home for work, Jack and Leo met me at the door and sang me Happy Birthday and played along with their singing on their new home made musical instruments Mare had helped them make: a pair of sanding blocks for Jack, a rain stick like a maraca for Leo.Jack had colored a birthday card for me and had dictated a couple of stories for Mare while she typed them. Mare made me a nice enchilada dinner and a German chocolate cake. She had the house all cleaned up and smelling nice and she gave me a brand new pillow for my birthday. Mom and dad called to sing happy birthday, too. Grandma Irene gave me a call, too. What a great day!

Now, I'd like to share Jack's stories he made up for Marian to record.

Two Wolf Stories
by
Jack N. Broyles
1/5/2011

Once upon a time there was a wolf, and a wolf, and a wolf ate a wolf, and a wolf ate a wolf, then they were full.
The End.

Once upon a time there was a wolf, and a kid, and a baby, and a mommy, and a dad, and a brother, and a sister, and the wolf ate a dirty sandwich.
The End.

Much love to all of you for making my birthday a special day.You are all the special ones.

The Holidays, what a rush!

A very happy new year to all! Please forgive my absence from posting updates while I was on Christmas break. I took it to mean a literal Christmas break and did not blog for the entire two weeks. As you may imagine, much has happened in those two weeks.

Foremost, I spent a great deal of my time at home with my family. What a novel concept! I don't believe I was away from home for a single evening over the entire break, with the exception of a Friday and Saturday night for the closing of It's a Wonderful Life which, by the way, was a great success. I had a good deal of fun and derived a great amount of satisfaction from that production. We had a hit! The Sunday matinee was good too, and I did stay to strike the set until upwards of 8:30-9:00 p.m., but that was okay. We were to celebrate at a cast party after the strike, but postponed it until the following Monday at our co-director's house. So, the cast party on the first Monday night of Christmas break was our first family outing. We all went and I played my guitar a little and harmonica some, and sang a bit too. Early that morning Marian and I arose at the alarm's sound around 1:15 to view the lunar eclipse. We watched for a while, but it was cold and we only stayed out to watch for a half hour or less.

The days I spent playing with Jack and Leo and generally trying to herd them away from Mare to give her a break from them. I think, perhaps, Marian ended up taking care of three boys, rather than me giving her a break and making her life a little easier.

Together over the break we worked together to make over 10 dozen cookies and close to 40 quarts of caramel popcorn. Marian and her mother worked together to make a number of dozens of sugar cookies in the shape of stars, candy canes, and bells.

The house received a thorough cleaning from floor to ceiling and all the laundry was, well, laundered. I used some hardwood flooring pieces I removed from our old bathroom to use as a coat hanger hook in Jack's room; a towel hanging bar in the kitchen above the sink; and as an apron hanger in the kitchen opposite the kitchen window. They're nothing fancy, but I made and installed them for the price of a few aged, and weathered pieces of oak hardwood flooring I had laying in a small pile outside wanting for a use, and a few dozen drywall screws of varying lengths. I think some people might actually pay big money for the aged, weathered look found in these pieces. It gives them character. The screws, I guess, could have been improved upon, but I maintain it gives them character; and they're easily removed and replaced for any length.

We drove to Humboldt one of the days to visit with my two grandmas. We spent the afternoon with them and then we spent part of the evening with my mom and dad. Of course, it was a pleasant experience to get to sit and visit with my grandmas. They're truly special people. They had Christmas presents for all of us and that made it a fun visit, seeing the excitement in the boys. Since we were unable to be present for Christmas day, this was a good second option.

One day after Christmas we loaded up and drove to Pomona Lake to Wolf Creek Campground. The temperature was fairly mild for a December day, and the sun was out. We took along provisions: snacks, drinks, blankets, warm clothes, one big dump truck, a tricycle type thing, and a red wagon. The campground was in its off-season mode and we were the only ones present. Wolf Creek Campground had installed two new playgrounds, so the boys had a ball exploring that and climbing all over it. Mare and I sat nearby at a camp spot and watched. We kept a cheery camp fire going from the sticks we could gather on the ground easily while we played Yahtzee. The lake was still frozen on the surface so we all walked down near the edge to get a better look. I showed the boys how the rocks stayed up on top of the ice when they were thrown. Jack loved walking in the mud lakeside.

On another day I arranged to rake leaves from the yard of a nice elderly widow. It was windy as all get out that day, but I mowed her yard to cut down a great deal of them. Then, with the help of Jack, Leo, and especially Marian, I bagged about a dozen 55 gallon sacks full of leaves from around her porch and flower beds.

I managed to get out on my bicycle three times over the break. The first was to fetch a free pizza from Casey's as we'd saved 10 proofs of purchases from previous pizzas, which entitled us to one free large. I pedaled fast so it would not get cold on the way home. The next ride I took Jack and Leo with me to the Dollar General Store to fetch a few small items. Don't worry, they were bundled and comfy with blankets too.  Lastly, I rode again to the DG ( $ Gen.) but, before I went there I rode a familiar circuit out northwest of town to the train via duct; then due West of town to watch the Marais de Cygne flow over its dam; from there I thought "what the heck!" and I went ahead and pedaled by the aforementioned elderly widow's house to see how the yard looked. They weren't big rides, but it felt good to be out and active.

Speaking of bicycles, I spent one late evening over break applying reflective tape to my bicycle. Yes, it took all evening because I was trying to stretch my six feet of reflective tape as far as it could go. This meant I cut the tape into eighth inch strips and applied it over almost all the surfaces in about one inch intervals. I think it kind of looks cool and sporty. Marian thinks it looks home made.

For Christmas day we were joined by Marian's mother, father, and brother. We ate a wonderful lunch of lasagna the girls made. We had a great time eating, talking and opening presents. I think I've got about the best in-laws around (except of course for Marian's in-laws).

We also drove to Lawrence to pay  a visit to Marian's granddad, her dad's dad. Rick and Sharon joined us for a lunch of pizza there, and Rick's brother and his nine year old daughter too. It was a short visit, but pleasant. Following that, we retired to Rick and Sharon's house for darts and conversation.

For new year's eve, the nine year old cousin of Marian's stayed the night. Now that was fun! There's quite a bit of difference between a nine year old girl and a three year old and one year old boy. Luckily, there was still some overlap of interest and the three of them had a blast, and Marian and I found it quite enjoyable as well. They ate spaghetti, popcorn, made smores on the oven, and drank hot chocolate. They played trains, played hide and seek, and watched cartoon videos. After the boys crashed, she stayed up with us to play Yahtzee until eleven o'clock. We hope she enjoyed herself as much as we enjoyed having her visit.

We made a second trip to Humboldt to see the grandmas and my mom and dad again. This was a shorter trip, but still enjoyable. The end of break was looming before us. We spent the last day, Sunday, slowly picking up the house. We'd picked up the house about three or four times over break, and each time it only took about one hour to get it back into a condition we refer to as "wrecked". I spent the Sunday mentally preparing myself for a return to school and to reality. I must have been successful, because I made it through my first day back already.

I'm thankful for the time I was able to spend with my family. Time is precious. It is fleeting. These years will be gone before I want them to be. I made a conscious decision to try to spend time with my family to make memories. I love them all, and they're all dear to me. Family is what made the holidays special. Here's to a great year in 2011. Let's make this the best year of our lives to date!