Personally, I would not give a fig for any man’s religion whose horse, cat and dog do not feel its benefits.  Life in any form is our perpetual responsibility.  ~S. Parkes Cadman

Mom with her dog Fritz c. 1959

While Kyle was taking his Hunter’s Safety Course – Passed! last weekend, they gave the kids a short recess on Friday to stretch out their legs.  Kyle hung out with me during the break and we got to talking, actually screwing around.  After all, that was the first I saw Kyle since Monday night and I missed him terribly.  Well, it doesn’t seem weird talking about deer and animals in such as class, but this one may throw you for a loop.  Somehow we started talking about mom’s pet deer.  Yes!  Mom had a pet deer when she was little that lived on my Uncle Walter’s farm down over the hill. How she came about this pet, I have no idea.  Please note, my mom has lived in the same house since she was five.  My grandpap Chester and his brothers built the house on a section of the farm given to him by my great grandma.  Anyway, I’ve heard the stories about this deer.  Another side note, please keep in mind all my uncles and aunts who lived on the farm were big hunters.  Hunting is a lifestyle from both sides of the family.  Anyway, from what mom told me, during hunting season they would decorate the deer so no one would kill their unconventional pet.  Apparently, they placed a big red bow around its neck.  That was it, but this story became so much more.

Dad with one of his many deer

First Kyle didn’t know about the deer.  He was truly amazed.  He new about Rascals Raccoon or Cat? but we must not have talked about this deer.  Of course it wasn’t my pet, but I still enjoy the story.  For some reason this deer with its holiday decoration became the highlight of our conversation.  Kyle asked “How did they decorate it?” I told him, “They put ribbons and bows on its antlers.”  As that came out of my mouth, Kyle busted out laughing.  Then naturally following suit, I joined him.  I said, “Can you imagine this poor buck with ribbons and bows and glitter hanging off its horns?  Gigi probably decorated the deer with pink streamers that blew in the wind.”  We were dying!  Especially when I followed up with “Can you image being the hunter seeing that deer in your scope?  I think I would have to rub my eyes and take a second look.  Imagine if that was your first buck, Kyle?  What do you think pappy would say?”  We both lost it!

Mom with her brother, Uncle Denny at the Rolling Rock club, Ligonier c. 1957

I told Kyle that Gigi decorated the deer in hopes no one would shoot it during hunting season, which was true.  Kyle asked, “What happened to it?”  I bluntly responded, “I think someone shot it!”  Kyle gave me a gut-stretching laugh and I totally lost it.  Then I blurted out another fun fact between laughs, “Ya Gigi said she even put a wreath around its neck.”  This was too much for us.  I’m sure we were bringing attention to our corner of the room, but we didn’t care.

Ok, now we were out of control throwing out scenarios and embellishments to the story.  Kyle questioned the size of the wreath saying, “How did they get the wreath around its horns?  It would need to be this big.” as he held out his hands as far as they would stretch.  Only Kyle would think of the logistics to such an out of control story, but he did.  I said, “No wonder the deer was shot, it was probably weighed down with so many decorations it couldn’t pick up speed anymore.  It was probably dragging all decorations behind it.”  Kyle added, “Ya what if it was wearing a sign, property of…” as I interjected, “Rita Piper, actually Rita Olczak at the time.”  All I could picture was this perfect buck, wearing pink shimmery streamers, glitter and bows on its antlers, wearing a huge wreath with a large wooden name tag saying ‘Property of Rita Olczak.’  Our laughter took over our bodies as we stood there shaking and turning red from such an exaggerated story.

Really, can you imagine walking through the woods and seeing this deer dressed in couture?  That would have been so funny!  Especially to see it run through the woods with streamers hanging from its antlers, like a magical unicorn,  what a sight to see.  At this point, I’m liking my story better than the actual one mom tells.

Then we started to go dark, well I did, Kyle just joined in.  I said, “What do you think the deer thought when someone kill a deer and drug it back to the house to be skinned?”  Kyle looked at me with curiosity like, ‘Where is she going with this?’.  I said, “It could have been its uncle or neighbor.”  Kyle said, “Ya he’d say, ‘Aren’t you my uncle?’”  We were seriously so engrossed in our conversation; I truly have no idea who heard us.  I hope no one, because after you hear what I said next they would have seriously wondered about the two of us.  Going with the dead friend or dead family member angel I said, “What if Gigi fed the deer, deer meat?  Would he like it?”  That comment just shot us over the edge.  We could hardly talk at this point, but we didn’t want to stop.  I said, “It would be like feeding a pig, pork rinds.”  Kyle didn’t know what those were, nor did he get the reference to Designing Women when the character Julia Sugarbaker had a pet pig and that’s what she fed it; but Kyle got the idea.

Mom with her dogs, Duke & Fritz c.1958

I love it that Kyle and I can take any situation, any comment, at any time and turn it into a fun imaginary story to humor us.  Kyle is my buddy!  Even though he’s pretty logical and has very structured thinking, he also has an imagination and is a creative thinker.  I love it!

Good job passing your class!

Read More About Nothing
Laughing About Nothing

PS
When I was gathering pictures for this blog, Kyle looked at me and mom and said, “The pictures are in black and white?”  He laughed, I forget kids have a totally different lifestyle.  I mean, we didn’t have black and white photos either but I certainly knew what they were.

If dogs could talk, it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.  ~Andy Rooney

When did dogs start acting like two year olds? Scooby a blond Labrador Retriever of about six years and Seven, a black Labrador Retriever of about 2 and a half years have stepped back in the terms of maturity.  They always get in trouble, I believe that’s unavoidable, but recently they are completely out of control.  They live with my parents so it’s not like I have to deal with them everyday, however if that was the case, they would have no choice but to straighten up.  Over the last few weeks, we’ve been at our wits end with these defiant kids.

Now what could those adorable dogs have done that sparked this blog entry?  Let… me… tell… you!  But first, in order to really understand the stories, I have to explain each dog’s behavioral and characteristics physical.

Let’s start with the old hand of the household, Scooby.  He is a little bit chubby, slower moving by choice, except when there’s food around; very stubborn, yet a sensitive dog.  When he’s scolded, he looks like he’s ready to cry.  However, he will push the boundaries and break rules, especially when no one is looking.  He tries to get away with as much as possible.  Scooby is not a people person, ironic since he’s a Lab.  In fact, he hates anyone he doesn’t know and is particularly protective of Kyle.  Not so much now-a-days but years ago.  If I was chasing Kyle around the house or tickling him while Kyle screamed, Scooby’s hair would stand on end and the dog would give me this look like, ‘Keep going and I WILL take you down.’  I don’t think he’s particularly friendly to kids.  We’ve never wanted to test that theory out, even though Scooby’s been around Kyle since he was five years old or so.

If Scooby was a person, he would not be athletic and he’s certainly not agile.  He does however, have an iron stomach.  He can eat anything at any time including a stick of butter, silver wrapper and all.  True story!  Scooby’s never had very good eyesight or hearing, but like a true Lab he uses his olfactory senses to lead his way.

Now, the new pup we got from the pound about a year and a half ago when he was two.  Already named Seven when we picked him up, he slowly became a part of the household. I say slowly because Scooby wasn’t very welcoming of the addition and Pudd’in (rest in peace) hated him.  Seven is not very sensitive, he could care less if he runs into you, knocks you down and leaves a big bruise.  He will jump on your chest and kick the wind out of your lungs without so much as a second glance.  Seven is pretty obedient but he does manage to get in trouble.  Over the years, he’s been really following Scooby’s lead.

Seven is a very, very hyperactive dog, still running around like a little puppy, a puppy that is too big for the house and is as strong as an ox.  Seven is the athlete, he is agile and his body is longer than Scooby’s, allowing him to access additional areas out of reach from most dogs.  Seven has a more sensitive stomach.  If he eats too much of what he shouldn’t, then it takes a toll on his digestive track, which builds a smell in the house so potent you just want to die.  Also unlike Scooby, Seven’s senses are spot on.  His hearing, eyesight and smell are all every acute.

Within the last year, Seven has been a big bully to Scooby.  When they’re in the backyard running around and playing, Seven will wait on the opposite end of the yard and take a running charge toward Scooby to ram him and roll him on his back.  It’s horrible!  We yell at Seven, but we can’t always catch it quick enough.  Seven also bites Scooby, his legs, face, neck.  I mean sometimes he looks like a grizzly bear attacking a helpless chunky blond animal.  I’ve noticed Scooy has been loosing weight.  Well, there’s a very good reason, Seven has been snapping at him when he goes to eat.  What?  Seven has not been letting Scooby eat from his own bowl!  Again when we see this injustice, we address it immediately, the only problem is no one is home during the day.

Both dogs love attention and love to be held; in fact they wish they were small enough to be lap dogs.  But Scooby’s 87 pounds and Seven’s 77 pounds pose a little problem to sit with comfortably in a chair.  Scooby is the one who seems to need attention and affection more.  Seven does as well, but his is more a need to show up Scooby.  Seven is the ‘If he gets it I want it’ type child.  Now don’t get me wrong, Scooby can act the same way, but Scooby is the cuddle type.  Both dogs love to chase birds from the yard, specifically wild turkeys and don’t get them near deer.  They will take off so fast, sometimes I swear they wearing capes.  Both dogs would be good hunting dogs, except Scooby is afraid of guns. Now Seven on the other hand, is the complete opposite, he loves to go out with us when we shoot in the guns.

Now let’s really discuss their eating habits.  Both beasts love to eat!  I know this is not unusual behavior for dogs, but they seriously don’t care what they are eating and how much.  I’ve seen them get into the garbage.  Not long ago Scooby got into the garbage and pulled out a contain of chicken livers.  No!  We don’t eat them, dad buys them to use a bait.  Scooby pulled this old container out of the trash and proceeded to enjoy his feast until we found out.  Gross!!  Dad said his breath was so rank, he couldn’t even stomach Scooby near him.  Now that the stage is set.  This is where my story begins.

Over the last couple weeks, the dogs have literally been eating us out of house and home.  It started with the tomatoes.  This is the best time to explain Scooby’s infatuation for tomatoes!  When we have a garden, Scooby has be kept out because he has been busted picking the tomatoes off of the plants and eating them.  Seven eats tomatoes too, but my guess is he’s following suit from Scooby.  Dad is a huge fan of the fruit stand, shopping there everyday in the summer.  A couple of weeks ago, dad bought an entire bag of tomatoes, probably around 20 to 30 nice sized tomatoes.  Did dad place them on the floor?  Nope!  He had them up on the bakers rack in the kitchen.  When mom and dad came home after work, the tomatoes were missing and there was a mess on the kitchen floor.  Upon closer inspection, the mess was not contained in the kitchen but went into the living-room where remnants of tomato seeds and juice were left.  This mess was all over the floor and their beds.  The dogs ate all the tomatoes!  Where they trying to promote diarrhea?

Now mom has been putting the tomatoes in the oven to store them out of sight.  Putting the tomatoes in the refrigerator takes the tastes away.  So that was the best immediate solution we could muster.  Trying to take the temptation away from them.  None of us like to yell at the dogs, and we certainly don’t like seeing them in trouble.

The tomato situation can almost be forgiven, considering Scooby’s craving for tomatoes.  But what happens next, is not excusable.  Last weekend, I bought about four loaves of bread for mom and dad.  Placing the bread on the bakers rack, where it has been stored for years, I never thought I was doing something wrong or enticing.  Wrong!  Last Monday; mom and dad came home to shredded plastic bread bags on the floor and not a crumb to be found.  They ate all four loaves of bread!  Are they preparing for a heavy weight championship?  What is up with these dogs?  The bread has been assigned to that location for a long time now, never to be disturbed until recently.  Now when you walk into the kitchen, the bread resides beside the tomatoes in the oven.

That’s not all, for the last few weeks, periodically when mom makes dad a sandwich, all mom has to do is turn her back for a second and the hounds engulf dad’s grub.  Well, let me be exact, all of it except for the hot pepper in the sandwich.  They apparently don’t like hot peppers, but that doesn’t stop them, the warriors manage to pick out the pepper and eat the rest of the goodies.

Here’s a good one that I would have completely lost it.  Mom bought her and dad dinner the one night, roast beef sandwiches.  Mom thought she could outsmart the dogs by placing the sandwiches, placed in the containers in the center of the kitchen table, surrounded by cans while she was preoccupied.  Would you believe they are so brazen to get all the way up on the table and take the containers to the floor and eat out of them like it was their dinner?  I shouldn’t be surprised.  Mom should have known better by now, but it’s still a shock.  We deduced that Seven and Scooby are working in tandem.  There is no way Scooby would be able to get up that high, but Seven would have no problem clearing the distance.

Both dogs are also jumping on all of us.  They are not allowed to jump on people.  They are not listening when we call them to come in from playing outside.  They are just acting out, worse than children.  Last week, I was off work in the middle of the week.  It was a beautiful day, so I thought I would take the boys out for a nice long hike, thinking that would help to the keep them out of trouble.  Would you believe as I opened my car door to retrieve my hat for the hike, both dogs stormed the small opening into the car and jumped in, muddy paws and all?  I was so ticked, I almost couldn’t yell!  They never just jump into my car.  Never!  They know I don’t allow it.

Then, later that very same day, I noticed Storms kitten food was licked clean out of her bowl.  Really?  Storm never licks her bowl clean.  Then I see her cat food bag was opened enough for a large head to stick his mouth in there and feed on kitten food.  Are you kidding me?  These dogs are not hungry!  And really?  Did they need to eat the kitten little nibbles, Meow mix?  Now, I had no proof, which one of the children did it, but it didn’t make me happy none-the-less.  They have their down Dad’s Trail Mix.

What has gotten into the boys?  Why are they lashing out like two-year old children all of a sudden?  The dogs are not ignored, neglected, or without privilege.  It’s also not like they are jealous of my kitten.  I got Storm months ago, so that didn’t change.  Mom told me she thinks it’s because her and dad have been working long hours.  Apparently in the eyes of Scooby and Seven, bad attention is still attention.  I’ve always noticed Dog Acting Like Kids.  I hope this phase ends soon or these dogs are going to get it!

Ryan always went with my dad hunting, even before he could hunt (photo courtesy of Steve Seminsky)

This past weekend, Kyle took his hunter’s safety course.  Memories…my family took the very same classes decades prior.  Nicole, Ryan and myself participated in the hunter’s safety program when we turned twelve or around that age.  Back then; even when I was of hunting age, taking the hunter’s safety course was not required, at least not in the state of Pennsylvania.  Dad took it because he was heading out to Colorado for a hunting trip and that state mandated the class.   Mom took it because she felt it was important, hence why she had all of us get certified.  Mom and dad thought it was a good course to go through, any extra education and safety is never a bad thing.

I know I’ve talked about Hunting – Survival or Sport? and Up a Tree, coming from a long line of hunters.  The Piper’s are and have always been avid and die hard hunters.  We have always cut up the deer meat and froze it or canned it to use all year.  In fact, most the meat consumed in our household is venison, supplied from the kills during hunting season.

Now-a-days taking this class is mandatory, in order to hunt.  So we signed Kyle up locally for his weekend cram session of hunting rules and regulations.  I do believe in this class, they go over everything from appropriate behavior in the woods with handling a rifle, to the amount of orange required, to the distance from the road the shot must be made, and so on.  They also go over the unspoken rules of hunting, covering topics such as littering and respect for landowners and fellow hunters.  It’s a very educational class, which I’m glad they require.

When I took mine, I had no idea mom signed me up.  Approaching my twelve birthday that December, I took my hunter’s safety course at the same facility as Kyle and all the Piper’s before me including mom, dad, Nicole and Ryan.  As I remember, I was the only girl or maybe one of two girls in the class and a handful of twelve-year-old boys and a few adults.  Ok, funny story.  All this time, I used to look at the older guys in my class like losers because they were taking a class with kids.  What I didn’t know at the time, they probably had to take the class to hunt in a different state like dad.  My perception of them?  They didn’t know anything about hunting.  I guess it just goes to show, never judge.  Anyway, Kyle’s class was maxed out at 50 seats, and they went fast!

Kyle passed his hunter’s safety course. It’s official! 9/23/12

Ok there is something I did and I need to call it out.  During the Friday night session, the instructor asked the class what’s a ‘Habit’ and a child raised his hand with a reply “Addiction”.  Without thinking, I laughed out loud.  Then a dad from across the room, turned to me to join me in my outburst.  I didn’t mean to, and I certainly didn’t mean to start a chorus of laughs from the sidelines, but I did.  So for that I am sorry, but it just struck me as funny!

During the short break, one of the instructors came up to me and Kyle and said, “He’s an alter boy, isn’t he?”  Kyle, using his best manners said, “Yes”.  Then the gentlemen said, “I know, I’ve seen him in church.  He does a good job.”  Kyle still using his manners replied, “Thank you.” while standing there awkwardly smiling.  I always told Kyle, “No matter where you’re at and no matter what you’re doing, people see and remember, good or bad behavior.  So always act like a responsible, respectful young man.”  He just nodded with a smile.  For the most part, I do believe he does!

Dad & Kyle riding the quad 11/18/03

Dad took Kyle on Saturday since I had the SpyRing Scavenger Hunt event for Thrill of the Hunt.  While I was organizing the kids I received a text message from mom.  I guess, ‘Kyle had dad get him an egg McMuffin sandwich.’  Evidently, Kyle didn’t want to eat the supplied hot dogs for lunch.  Are you kidding me?  First of all, why would Kyle think he deserved to eat something special and second, when did dad go out of his way for a silly special request?  If that were one of us as kids, asking dad for a special sandwich, he would have told us to go pound salt.  Actually, we would have never asked such a request.  Only Kyle!  And only dad would give in to that little bugger.  Boy, does Kyle have his pap pap wrapped around his finger.

Sunday was the final review and the test.  Kyle was rattling off all his new and reinforced knowledge to my dad before CCD class and church, being a little nervous.  He even ran out of church to get to his last hunter’s safety course to study before his test.  On our way there, Kyle told me the test consisted of 60 questions and he began to tell me how many questions he could miss and still pass.  Too funny!  The he said, “I’m going to pass, because I don’t want to have to go through this class again for an entire weekend.”  He even told me the number of hours I was there with him, how many hours dad sat in and how many total hours for the weekend.  I guess math never stops with Kyle- Round up the Math at Idlewild Park.

Uncle Sony & Kyle on his birthday. He was one step closer to hunting

During the review session in preparation for the test, the instructors were shooting out questions at rapid fire.  The kids with the knowledge and the confidence, shot up their hands and were begging to be called upon.  Kyle was among the mix.  I will admit, watching him totally cracks me up.  He is so much like my sister, raising his hand, promptly answering questions and being very attentive.  Very unlike me and Ryan, or at least me.  Ryan was never an over achiever and wanted nothing to do with attention.  I just couldn’t sit in my seat for too and forget about having an attention span.  Seeing the drive and focus on Kyle’s face, he wanted to correctly answer the questions.  Now this wasn’t the case with all kids, but no one failed the test, so I’m sure everyone did well.

These classes are good for reinforcement of good practices but they are not the end-all.  I’m really glad dad has always showed us how to shoot, load and unload guns, check the chamber, and know how to handle the weapon safely.  I’ve never been afraid of any firearm and I’ve always felt comfortable handling them. I believe every household has the responsibility to review all rules, regulations and safety procedures and not leave it up to a class such as this one, just makes good practice.  In my mind these classes are a great reinforcement but not a way to create good safety habits with hunters.  I was so young when I was first exposed to shooting, that it became second nature to me.  I really don’t remember the first time I shot a gun, actually I don’t even remember Nicole or Ryan shooting for the first time.  It just seemed like I always knew what to do.  Maybe it’s in my blood, it comes with the last name Piper.

Kyle passed his hunter’s safety class…. celebration with ice-cream! 9/23/12

Well, Kyle passed his hunter’s safety crash course weekend, only missing three out of 60.  Way to go buddy!  Having the privilege of taking him on Friday night and Sunday afternoon I’m sure meant a lot to Kyle, I know it meant a lot to me.  We tend to do everything together, especially events that are a big deal, such as this one.

We are all very proud of Kyle and hope he enjoys hunting as much as the rest of my family.  He’s a pretty good shot, so I hope this strengthens his confidence to reflect positively on his skills and opens up the opportunity for him to appreciate nature and animals like all the Piper’s before him.  Kyle is allowed to go mentor hunting this year, like last year, but he will not be allowed to hunt during the season until he’s twelve, less than a year from now!  Good luck buddy!

There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from.  ~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Rachel Berger-Gregg, Aaron Fish, Sarah Rosenbaum, Alaina Fisher 9/22/12

This past Saturday was the SpyRing Scavenger Hunt, hosted by Thrill of the Hunt in Latrobe Pennsylvania.  Not only were the proceeds donated to help rebuild Playland, but the event was to give the local children a fun activity through the reinforcement of scholastic subjects.

I am no stranger to working with munchkins on educational advancement, well really just Kyle.  Over the years I’ve helped to be an integral part of his learning process and I’ve helped to push him towards excellence.  Not to say he didn’t do a lot on his own, and let’s face it he’s a smart little man, but I’ve had to nudge him a time or two.

In addition to expecting good grades, I’ve also tried to reinforce the importance of community service.  Giving back to make a difference is a great and admirable quality.  Thinking of others and their well-being, especially if the recipients are children, is vital to oneself and our fellow neighbor. It’s a great feeling.  This type of volunteer involvement comes in all shapes and sizes, from money donations, to property or items, to giving time and even intellectual contributions. No matter how small or large the donation or how it came to be, it’s always appreciated and worth it.

The kids had a great time! SpyRing Scavenger Hunt presented by Thrill of the Hunt 9/22/12

My sister and I started the company Thrill of the Hunt based on this type thinking and behavior.  Please note we are a profit based business, not a not-for-profit, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of our situation and help out when the opportunity arises.  Also being apart of something potentially bigger, from its infancy stages is exciting.  Not only that, but also making the most of it and doing the best job or task given at hand.  Being apart of the something to help make a difference all while being apart of a new business, it’s a win, win.

Now, let me discuss the Thrill of the Hunt Team.  They were stellar!  I mean, a great group of kids!  Building the company on these values of having fun and community involvement are all qualities exemplified naturally by my team.  They truly care for children and the support of family.  I am excited to have them on board and look for good things to come from each of these young adults.  They were not only very attentive to the kids during the event, but they were very helpful and supportive.  This is my sincerest shout out to Alaina Fisher, Rachel Berger-Gregg, Aaron Fish, and Sarah Rosenbaum.  What a great group, whom I want to employ moving forward with all my scavenger hunt events!  You know, I also want to help them out however I can, either for networking, work experience, as a reference or just to help them out with a job.  They are all intelligent, good, honest kids.

Lovely day for a SpyRing Scavenger Hunt – presented by Thrill of the Hunt 9/22/12

Since Kyle couldn’t attend the event, due to his hunter’s safety class, he managed to call and check in.  He wanted to know how things were going at the time.  It’s funny talking to him makes me feel like I need to justify my actions, like he was my boss.  Kyle always seems to step into businessman mode, asking ‘How much money was made?’, ‘How many kids showed up?’, ‘Was everyone having fun?’.  My Kyle, there’s the reason we made him the consultant.  I will give him credit, no matter how pre-occupied or busy he is, he can still separate himself and go into business mode.

Success can be defined in a number of ways.  The SpyRing Scavenger Hunt was a success in terms of going through the process of putting it together and setting up the event.  That in and of itself, is a big task and knowing what to do the next time is invaluable.  Also getting the feedback from parents and the children who participated is extremely important to me.  With respect to the parents I really want to know if these events are favorable with them, if they agree with the layout and the focus of the scavenger hunts, to reinforce education and to get the kids out and moving around.  During the event, I was able to hear what the youngsters had to say about the challenges, and the game in general.  I went through the typical questions, ‘Are the questions too easy, too hard?’, ‘Was the game too short or too long?’, ‘Was it more fun to go through the game individually or as a team?’ and the list went on.  I made my notes and I’m ready for the next scavenger hunt, making it even better and exciting.

Rachel Berger-Gregg, me, Alaina Fisher, Sarah Rosenbaum, Aaron Fish, Nicole Piper… Thrill of the Hunt 9/22/12

As the day unfolded we were able to brainstorm with parents.  At this time, we tried to think of the next big event,  Halloween of course.  Nicole and I decided to look into this theme for the next scavenger hunt event.  So again please check back for this event and get your kids involved.  I am always open to suggestions and ideas.  After all, I want the kids to benefit.

www.ThrillScavengerHunt.com

Scavenger Hunt – It’s the Thrill of the Hunt!

Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.  ~Author Unknown

Tim & Ryan at my sister’s birthday. Chad is in the background.

Today is Ryan’s birthday!  He would have been 35 years old.  I still can’t believe he’s been enjoying heaven for the last 11 years!  Sometimes, I wonder what he would look like or what he would be doing.  I will never have those answers but they are fun to speculate.  There is one thing I know for sure, he would be very proud of his son, Kyle!  I can say that without the slightest bit of doubt.   He will always be missed and will forever be loved.  His memories are alive and well and slowing making their way to my blog for Kyle to read one day.

Ryan with his newborn baby, Kyle. 7/30/01

Happy Birthday Ryan, you are still missed as much today as from the day you left this world.

Happy Birthday!

About a year ago, right before Breaking Dawn part 1 was to be released in theaters, I thought it might be fun to participate in a Twilight themed scavenger hunt.  I did what most of us do,  I headed straight for Google to get my answer, without success.  I found there were no such scavenger hunts offered.  Really?  At least there wasn’t anything around my area.  Then I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be so much fun to have a Twilight themed scavenger hunt for fans?’  So, what do I do when I have a great idea?  I called my sister of course.  Dumping all my thoughts into words, I told Nicole about my idea.  She heard me out, and LOVED it!

Needless to say, my mind started to work into overdrive and do what I do best, plan.  I had so many great ideas for this scavenger hunt, I couldn’t contain myself, I was jumping out of my skin with excitement.  Ok so first things first, I wanted to do this the right.  Where do I start?  Copyright privileges!  Now, that’s not such an easy task.  It’s not like the movies are sitting around waiting on my phone call.  Searching high and low for a contact became a big challenge.  Eventually, I found an old online trail and followed it to success.  Kind of.  Believe it or not, I was able to get in touch with Summit Entertainment who owned the rights to the movies, the soundtrack and the photography.  Yes, I finally got a hold of someone internally in the copyright department!  We played phone tag and spoke on the phone a few nights, as well as corresponded through email.  Unfortunately, they did not give me permission to proceed using any of their copyrighted items.  Not that I blame them really.  Seriously, it’s not like I had any credentials or solid numbers to back up my abstract plans, it was just that, an idea.  And here I was talking to a major motion picture, a franchise worth billions of dollars, about my silly little concept with a bunch of unknown variables.  I will say they were very responsive and super nice!  And frankly, I’m surprised they entertained my free thinking dreams as long as they did.  I was crushed, but not ready to give up.

Next, I decided to contact the publisher, since I knew they owned the rights to the books and the covers.  It took me some time of reaching out to different publishers and several different companies, but finally I struck it rich, in the figurative sense.  I was able to get a hold of the right person, Stephanie Meyer’s agent.  Yep, I reached the top of the chain, second in line to Stephanie Myers herself.  I was so excited just to be conversing with this behind the scenes celebrity and sharing my ideas, again I thought I was going to explode with excitement.  We went back and forth via emails, playing phone tag, and voicemail tag, for a few weeks.  She loved my ideas, at least that’s what she claimed, even the details I shared with her about the scavenger hunt (which I will not divulge at this time, until I am able to execute my Twilight themed scavenger hunt).  Naturally, Nicole and I were declined copyright permission.  Again rightfully so, I really can’t blame Summit and the publisher; here we are two strange people with an idea, no business model, no concrete numbers, or solid plan of action and then asking a major franchise for copyright privileges.  Still it was a neat experience to go through.

*Please note with all of my correspondence between Summit Entertainment and the publishers, I chose to omit names out of respect.

Some may say, I was crazy but I still knew in my heart this was a fun idea and I could make it successful, I still do.  Personally I still really appreciate both parties for entertaining my request and taking the time out of their busy do to do so.  Getting a hold of Summit Entertainment and the publishers, was not an easy task, let me tell you.  Not that it should be, because if it were, then everyone under the sun would be bothering them.  God was on my side and guided me in the right direction through my entire investigation.  Please take my broad stroke statements and be aware, trying to get contact information for the decision makers of these major companies, when I had nothing to go off of, took persistence and a blessing from above.

Thanks to my sister, the idea of scavenger hunts was not a dead dog.  Nicole called me one evening and said, “You know what I think we should do?  I think we should start a company, which focuses on scavenger hunts.  We could do ones for businesses that are team builders or leadership scavenger hunts.” I never really thought about that angel, I stopped short on my idea of Twilight and never looked past it.  So, me being in marketing, I started to scope the potential competition.  I discovered no one was doing themed scavenger hunts, at least not on a large consistent scale.  Now this, I can work with and take somewhere.  Conversing with Nicole over the phone, we discussed the ideas of themed scavenger hunts, ones focusing on movies, books, singers, history events, pop culture etc.  Nicole loved the direction and so Thrill of the Hunt was born.

In order to get started we decided to hold a SpyRing themed scavenger hunt, which will be taking place this weekend at Legion Keener Park in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.  Click her for all the details.  Thrill of the Hunt was created not only to be educational and provide fun themed scavenger hunts for adults and children of all ages, but it was established on the foundation of community involvement and participation.  I want these events to not only hit major cities, but small towns as well.  At the SpyRing scavenger hunt, a percentage of the proceeds will be donated to help rebuild Playland.

Read a few articles below for more on the devastation of Playland.

This play area was really the best outdoor facility I’ve ever seen for children.  It was in a great location under trees at Legion Keener Park, entertaining kids of all ages.  It was really a project that involved the entire community.  I want to see it shine again and I want children to have the opportunity to have a safe place to play.

I usually don’t promote much on my blog, but I will give myself a little call out this time.  Please help support Thrill of the Hunt ( / ) and SpyRing ( / ), follow each company on Facebook and Twitter.  We are small town girls who want to set our dreams in motion through reinforcement of education for children and through the development of fun outlets such as a scavenger hunts, fun for the entire family.  Look for new scavenger hunt events near you or tell me where you want us to show up.  Thrill of the Hunt is a subsidiary of The Piper Corporation.

It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.  ~Deng Xiaoping

Cowboy Kyle…he loved that hat (courtesy of Uncle Sonny)

My disdain for mice is no secret!  I have no clue why I have such an aversion to those little rodents, but I do!  I’ve never really liked mice, but since a certain incidence occurred, when Pudd’in caught a live mouse and brought it into my bed to play with, while I was “asleep”, I can’t deal with the squirrelly rodents.  Let’s face it I don’t do mice!  Anyway, why am I rehashing my terror again?  Because I have another mouse!

First, I want to call out that I have no idea why the mice are picking on me.  Yes I believe they have a list of houses they want to infiltrate for one reason or another and my invasion has the goal to simply torture me!  Granted, I know everyone who has lived, has had a security breach with a mouse in their living quarters, at least most people.  And those who have not, AMEN!  Good for you!  I envy you, big time!  Being aware, that I have a pretty good life, I am also aware this single mouse spotting could be worse.  I don’t sleep on a dirt floor with flies swarming around my face and rats climbing over me as I sleep.  That would give me a complete meltdown.  But now my mouse saga continues.

This past week, as I stepped through my threshold of my castle, Storm didn’t greet me.  What?  She always runs to the door to see me, just like Scooby and Seven, but alas this time no Storm.  I called her and she was nowhere to be found, even after looking in the living-room and the kitchen.  Initially, I thought ‘She must be fast asleep’.  To be honest, I wanted to wake her up and surprise her.  Well, she got the last laugh when I walked into my bedroom, my private, secure, safe haven of a room, where I found Storm creeping low beneath the edge of the my dresser.  Instantly, I recognized the position of her body, and the flick of her tail, she was in hunting mode!  O crap!  Just then I saw the movement of something small under the dresser as Storm pounced side-to-side trapping the living squeaky animal.  Yikes!!  What to do?  I had to leave with her, but I didn’t want the mouse running around my house, but I didn’t want Storm to catch it alive, but I didn’t want a dead mouse in my house.  This is where I thought, ‘How can I train my cat to catch and kill a mouse without a mess and throw the deceased rodent in the trash and never speak of it again?”  I’m seriously working on that.

Did I mention, while I was trying to come up with an immediate solution, I heard the mouse squeaking?  Gross!  Storm must have sank her razor sharp claws into the large problem, which happens to came in the form of a tiny package.  Gross! Gross! Gross!

Chad holding a lion (Kyle). First Halloween – outfit courtesy of Aunt Nikki 10/2002

Well, until I train storm to be the terminator I needed to resolve this.  I retrieved a few of those sticky pads I had purchased from the last mouse incidence and strategized how this was going to work.  First, I put the one sticky pad down, while I was reaching for Storm.  I didn’t want her to get stuck in the gunk.  Then, as I was holding her, I placed another sticky pad down on the other side of the dresser, all while watching to make sure I wasn’t going to get jumped by the invader.  For a grande finally, I placed one in the hallway, leading out of the bedroom.  I was pretty sure I covered all bases.  Of course I didn’t have a choice in the matter, since I laid down all ammunition that I had on hand.

Storm and I exited stage right.  After I got situated in the car, I called my mom.  When a stressful situation like this one surfaces, always defer to mom.  As I was explaining the events that just unfolded, aside from wanting her to stop laughing at me and my phobia, I wanted her to come up to my house, once she got Kyle off of the bus, and defuse the situation.  Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough time.  Really?  Whatever!

Ok, so it looks like I’m going to have to face my fears and deal with it like an adult.  Even thought I did ponder the idea of asking friends of mine, I decided it was my problem.   When Kyle and I managed to get back to my house it was dark.  Incidentally, neither one of us can handle mice, we looked like the ‘geeked out’ leading the ‘grossed out’.  As we creeped inside, I realized I couldn’t let Storm run free, not with the sticky pads placed on the floor.  I barricaded her in my office with the closed door.  The entire time, she meowed and she exposed her paws out from under the threshold.  Kyle and I were both laughing.  We even started to play with her paws as they poked out and extended the width of the door.  Minor distraction before we got down to business.  We first checked the trap in the hallway, nothing.  Then we proceeded to move into my room.  At this point I was torn, I wanted to see a dead mouse in the trap, but then again I didn’t.  I just wanted to rid my house of mice FOREVER, if that’s even possible.

Kyle’s first Halloween outfit. I was the lion tamer. 10/2002

Immediately, I saw one sticky trap, which contained a bug but no mouse.  Ok, so in my mind the last sticky tab contained the mouse and it was under my dresser.  Good?  I guess, again in my mind I just wanted to end this.  I grabbed the flashlight and headed back to the bedroom.  At that point I asked Kyle to get down and look under the dresser.  He just gave me a look of ‘Ya right’ and then said, “Umm why don’t you?”  I responded, “Cause you need to help me.  Nothing is going to jump out and get you.”  I must have been convincing because he approached the dresser with the flashlight in hand before turning back to me saying, “I just can’t!”  Logic must have taken over Kyle and he realized, I could be doing this and not him, so I did.  What do you think I saw?  Nothing!  Well that’s not entirely true, I found a photograph that somehow found its home under my dresser but nothing else.  No mouse, but also no sticky tab.  What?

Now at this point, fear and disgust was replaced by frustration and curiosity.  Where did the other sticky pad go?  Then Kyle and I went on the search.  One, because I didn’t want a dead mouse lying around somewhere, and two, I didn’t want Storm to find the sticky pad.  Kyle and I searched high and low.  Nothing!  We literally searched the entire house, under furniture, behind things, in closets.  Nothing!  I went even as far as to go to my basement and inspect everything.  Nadda!  No mouse, dead or alive and no black sticky pad.  Are you kidding?  My nightmare just went into limbo, into something worse…the unknown.  This is killing me!

I seriously must have the smartest mice ever!  This one pulled a Houdini on all of us.  No traces of a mouse, anywhere!  Once I got over my shock, I started to second guess myself, thinking I only put out two traps, when I knew very well I put out three.  While Kyle was there I didn’t make the missing trap into a big deal, only because I didn’t want Kyle to worry.  He would stress about Storm’s safety and I didn’t want the kid to feel afraid to walk around my house.  But the truth is, I was concerned!  Did the mouse pick up the trap and exit the house never to return?  Did it place the pad somewhere to catch me?  Was it waiting till I was fast asleep ready to place the sticky side down on my face all in the name of revenge?

I tried to put those thoughts out of my head and focus on my little man, not my little problem.  Kyle is too funny.  After we gave up, I gathered my trash to take out to the curb.  As I was heading outside, Kyle stopped me and said, “Aunt Heather where are you going?” with a very stressed out voice.  I told him, “To take the garbage out.”, while I displaying the overly stuffed trash bag.  He said, “You’re just going to leave me in here?”  He was mortified and I couldn’t help but laugh.  I will admit I would have been leery too, if I was alone after that anti climatic mystery ending to this story, but he is just so funny.  I said, “Kyle, nothing is going to come out charging you, besides you have the best weapon, Storm and her razor sharp claws.”  Immediately as the words fell from my mouth, he looked toward Storm and made the motion to pick her up, before she ran away from him.

After the evening settled down, my next biggest concern was sleeping.  I have a fear of Storm (any cat really) bringing a mouse, dead or alive and placing it in bed with me while I sleep.  Some may say my imagination is going a rye.  Not really, it actually happened!  I lived to tell the tale and I have never recovered from that nightmare.  I understand that, that’s the greatest honor for a cat, to bring their owner a live mouse, but I’m good.  I don’t need presents.  I don’t need the cat to prove themselves to me.  I don’t need to know they killed the enemy, as long as I don’t see it.

Believe it or not, the mystery is unsolved.  I started to clean out corners of the house, searching everywhere, but have found nothing.  If anyone would find the missing weapon, I would think it would be Storm, but she’s come up empty too.  On a side note, to make me feel better, I want to call out that my house is spotless.  Aside from getting behind on dusting, it is clean!  In fact, I haven’t really had any food in the house.  My refrigerator is bare, and I mean empty!  I’ve been meaning to hit up the grocery store, but haven’t had the chance.  So what is so interesting about my house?  How are they coming in?  What else can I do to keep mice out?  HELP!

Read more on my encounters with mice
Of Mice and Me…
Of Mice and Me…Part 2

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.  ~Aristotle

Kyle sporting his SpyRing Gear c. 2011

Kyle, my nephew has always had good grades for the most part, specifically having a fascination and an attachment for math. When he was a little tike, around three years old, I bought him addition and subtraction flash cards. My thinking was, “What’s the harm? So he might learn something”. He did! Kyle loved those flash cards and he loved to learn.  He wanted to push his knowledge and show it off. Subtraction was a little more challenging but he certainly enjoyed the attention he was receiving from me and the idea of learning. What a little a sponge! I know I’m probably being bias, but Kyle was always pretty bright. He’s a logical thinker, which I still see to this day.

When Kyle was in second grade, his report card grades dropped across the board one quarter. I knew he was smarter than that, and I was not going to stand back and let this situation become his new standard, nor was I going to idly stand-by while his future education was being compromised.  Really?  Did anyone think I was going to accept his grades as they stood?  Did Kyle really think he could fool me when he said he was “Trying his hardest?”  Nope, nope and heck no!  I knew better and I believed in Kyle! Unfortunately, being Kyle’s aunt I don’t have complete privilege to his teachers or daily homework, only once a week and on the weekends.  Roadblock!

To be honest, I was utterly sick over the situation. It was that bad! Not to mention I had no idea why. There had to be a reason for such a sudden change. I asked Kyle if things were good in school, or if there was bullying going on, or anything. He really had no idea what I was talking about.  He felt bad that I was really upset over his grades but he was also basically saying “O well, I tried my hardest.”  That is until I grounded him.  Boy did he change his tone.  It’s amazing what taking away video games and TV time will do to an attitude.  I never did find the reason for the sudden downward spike in grades, but we did get past it.

Me at the CA Baby & Kids Expo, LA CA 1/21/12

Granted I know the days of Kyle learning for fun were over, or wore they?  Now me being me, I decided to take this upon myself and help this child out. I’ve always purchased workbooks for Kyle and helped him uncover the knowledge in the pages.  He used to love them, but the times-were-a-changing, he was giving me resistance with workbooks and flash cards. Yikes! It started to build up fights between us, unnecessary ones.  The last thing I wanted was for Kyle to really hate school and learning.  I also didn’t want there to be constant struggles with our time together, which was a huge concern of my mom’s.  Mom was the one who kept saying, “You need to make it more fun for him.”

Since Kyle is a logical thinker, usually explaining things to him helps to turn on his light bulb.  Not this time.  I explained why I was requiring him to do the extra work.  I even threatened him saying the school was going to hold him back if his grades didn’t improve by the next quarter. And to be honest, if his grades kept up in that direction, it could have happened, especially since he was the youngest in his grade.  For the school, that would have been a logical step.  Nope!  Not on my watch. He was bright and he certainly could do the work without much effort.  I will admit Kyle was lazy when it comes to school work, only doing what is needed and going through it half way. I’m guessing he’s not alone in that manner, but I’m not responsible for other children, or so I thought initially.

Nicole at the CA Baby & Kids Expo LA, CA 1/21/12

During this time, we went to visit my sister, who lives in the D.C. Metro area. Like every visit, we always do something new in Washington, D.C. This time we decided to go into the Spy Museum. Wow, that was cool! I really enjoyed reading about the spies and seeing the spy “tools” or what I like to call them, spy toys. My sister, dad and my mom walked through, reading and taking in the knowledge displayed everywhere, while Kyle and I acted like spies ourselves. The museum had an air-duct type of display, allowing visitors to climb in and spy on the people below.  We had a field day!  When possible, I would read the information displayed on the walls.  Sometimes Kyle would stand still long enough for me to read to him and explain the story at hand.  I must say Kyle made the museum more exciting.

Well, needless to say that visit sparked an idea, unbeknownst to me at the time, that would turn into something a lot bigger.  From that moment on, the wheels were in motion for the birth of SpyRing.

SpyRing was originally created as a scavenger hunt for Kyle.  I designed it to reinforce school subjects in a fun and interactive way.  Kyle and I would take Scooby up in the woods, (Seven was not apart of the family yet) and we packed our book bags with the spy essentials and headed out on our missions.  We would make our way through the woods and track our progress by creating a map of our travels.  Along the way, I made up questions that led to other questions.  Kyle answered the trivia and occasionally he would pull out his binoculars or something he brought along to really play out the spy story.  We both had a blast!  The scavenger hunt not only reinforced what was being taught in school, but it also got Kyle off his backside to stretch his legs.  This relatively simple action with a little effort, not only helped  to create the SpyRing scavenger hunt, but it helped to build our bond.  I was no more, ‘Mean Aunt Heather making me do all this extra work’.  I was ‘Fun Aunt Heather who loved hanging out and learning was something fun’.

Ethan & Kyle playing with the SpyRing cards 2011

It wasn’t until my cousin Casey and I took Kyle snowboarding that the idea to take SpyRing to the marketplace really became a serious thought.  I remember distinctly Casey saying, “Why don’t you sell the game?” At that point it was a custom scavenger hunt made specifically for Kyle. I knew I needed to develop it into a game for all kids no matter where they lived. My goal was to allow other kids to reap in the benefits of learning in a fun and interactive way.  During this time, it was interesting to run into other parents and listen to them discuss their child’s struggles and challenges in school.  This is when I knew I could help.

Suddenly it hit me like a ton bricks! I woke up one morning and I knew how to make the game assessable for all children with a reasonably low cost investment. God must have been working overtime to plant these ideas in my head.  Knowing initially it was going to be a card game, I went to work on actually developing the structure, build the contents and establish the design.  Kyle worked with me on the development of the game, even helping to create some of the questions.  Throughout the process I tested Kyle’s skills on ALL the information.  Pretty amazing, I set out to help Kyle with his schoolwork and we were doing just that, intensified.  I must say it was a fun process.  Kyle was apart of something bigger.  He knew it and he loved it every step of the way.  This is when Kyle’s business side of the brain was revealed.

By the next report card, Kyle’s grades had jumped.  Some grades where back to where they began and others were slowing moving up.  Kyle was proud of himself and now understood what needed to be done and how to do it.  Or least what I expected from him.  I believe without setting expectations, children will not know what to strive for and the right direction they need to move towards.  You see I believe parents are like coaches.  They know how to push their players to get them to strive for excellence.  That is their job as coach, to never settle for average or ‘just ok’.  They need to know the limitations of their players, but also know how to overcome them.  However, coaches also know how to work with their players and set them up for success.  It certainly takes effort from both parties to make this happen but when the game has been won, everyone benefits.  Children should be respected and shown they are important and smart.  They should also be given the opportunity to learn, excel and shine in this world.

Sometime during the developmental stage of SpyRing, I was discussing the game with my sister.  She instantly loved the idea and believed in the goal, to help reinforce education for children. She went to work and started The Piper Corporation with the flagship product being SpyRing. As of now SpyRing is an interactive card game of questions and answers, however we are now developing the SpyRing scavenger hunt, as it was originally created.  Thrill of the Hunt, another division of The Piper Corporation will be hosting a SpyRing scavenger hunt called Your Passport to Education this Saturday at Legion Keener Park in Latrobe, PA.  A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to help rebuild Playland!  Stop by!

I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.  ~Edgar Allan Poe

Me & Rascals. My raccoon loved the kazoo! c.1993

It has been about four months since I brought home a little kitten called Storm.  In that time, her actions have flashed me back to my former self.  I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve always had cats.  My pappy used to call me old cat women.  So the true nature of a cat is not foreign to me, but some of the things Storm does reminds me of another pet I had, Rascals.

Rascals was our raccoon.  Yes I said raccoon!  She was amazing!  Is it legal to have a raccoon as a pet?  No, but it’s not like we went out in the woods and stole a baby raccoon from its mother.  My dad was a woodsman for most of his life.  He was the guy who cut down timber and hauled the logs back to the sawmill or wherever they needed to go.  Throughout his life he’s run into his share of animals, wild and domestic.  Yep, dad would come across cats that were starving in the woods because their owners would abandon them, so he would bring them home to give them a fighting chance at life.  Dad did the same with abandoned or injured wild animals, one happened to be a raccoon.

This bundle of helplessness came as a package of three newborn raccoons to be exact.  Unbeknownst to dad, he took down a tree with the babies, who were so little, their eyes weren’t even open yet.  Dad would never let these little babies lay there to die.  I mean who could?  They would have never had a fighting chance.  Ever!  They were just babies!

Rascals loved Nilla Wafers c. 1993

I’ll never forget, this happened the day of my junior prom.  When I got home that night, well actually the next morning, there they were three little tiny critters, who needed to be bottle fed.  Unfortunately, two of the them died shortly after arriving at the Piper household.  They were also the two runts of the bunch.  Dad said they could have had internal injuries that we didn’t know about, or they could have already been sick.  Regardless, we did our best and with that, Rascals survived!

Trying to be responsible, we called the vet and asked if we could bring her in to get her shots, specifically rabies shots.  They told us, we are suppose to release Rascals back in the wild, even after we informed the vet of her age.  They informed us that she was not a domestic animal.  Really?  We had no idea! (sarcasm) Again, who would release a helpless baby and set her on the course for sure death?  Not my family. Especially after we bottle fed the animal to health.  Still denied!

Anyway, Rascals grew up fast and bad, she was a little stinker.  Little known fact to some, but raccoons are very intelligent creatures.  Almost too smart for their own good.  Just to share a few examples, if Rascals was out  in the garage, she would stand on a pile of boxes by the door leading into the kitchen.  She knew how to turn the door knob and push it open to let herself in, believe it or not!  I’ve seen it first hand.  Eventually, when she got to be too big for the house, mom actually had to lock the door to keep her out.  I felt so bad, I would sometimes unlock the door and let her find her way back in.

Rascals favorite place to hang out was onto of dad’s gun cabinet.

In our bathroom at my parents house, we have a tub with a shower as well as a shower stall shielded with a plastic curtain.  We would leave the door slightly ajar when taking a shower so Rascals could “sneak” in to play with the water running down the drain.  Can you imagine showering and all of a sudden you see these little feet peeking out from under the shower curtain trying to catch the water going down the drain?  It was too funny!  The first time she did it, I nearly shot out of the shower with surprise.  Considering I had my eyes closed, washing my hair and then feeling something grabbing at my feet!  It was kinda freaky.  But eventually it became a game and I looked forward to Rascals playing in the water while I showered.

Ok those are true raccoon traits, almost human like intelligence and logic, and the love of water.  Neither of which are Storm.  However, if I was talking about obsession with my hair and hair ties, that describes both of them to a tee.  Sometimes Storm likes to lay across the back of my neck while I’m standing or sitting.  She did it when we were at the vet, I stood and she was anchored between my neck and the wall.  She also did that when we were driving, between my neck and the seat.  Very Rascals like!

The litter of raccoons, only one made it…Rascals c. 1993

Rascals loved being up by my neck, usually to play with my hair.  When I was in high school my hair length would vary from a little past my shoulders to boy cut short.  When we first got Rascals my hair was down to my shoulders.  Then at one point, I got my brown locks cut up to my ear lobes.  Needless to say she was upset.  Rascals would sit on my shoulder grabbing the empty space that used to contain my hair, and she would snort.  Apparently showing her feelings toward my new do, showing me that she didn’t like this change.  Storm doesn’t seem to care if my hair is up or down, but there were a few times already, I would wake up with Storm in my hair!  Yes, she would nestle her face and front paws among all of my curls on the pillow, either to sleep or I to play among my knots.  Believe it or not, it’s kind of relaxing.

Let’s not even discuss hair ties and such.  In high school I could never find my hair things.  They would always go missing, even while I was wearing them.  Sometimes as I sat on the couch, Rascals would creep up on the back of the furniture to play in my hair.  But then she would slowly move her paws up to the top of my head where my headband was resting.  She was quick, because before I could even read her mind, she grabbed the hair accessory off my head and was running away with it.  I would find my hair things in the 10lb bag of dog food, under the couches and in corners tucked away.  Recently, this same occurrence was happening again.  The other day, I saw something peeking out from under my bed.  When I got down on all fours to better examine the space, I found a big pile of hair ties!  Mystery solved.  My raccoon has been reincarnated into my cat.  I couldn’t believe my eyes!

Rascals needed a nap. Spring 1993

The similarities don’t just stop there.  With both of those fur balls, my closet doors have to remain shut.  When Storm hears me getting ready in the morning, she will ambush me and run at mock speeds to get into my closet.  I don’t know if she thinks its a secret play land for her, but I don’t want her using my cloths, which are resting on hangers, to be her rock climbing wall.  Rascals used to do the same thing, except I would also lock her out of my room.  She would get into everything, even destroying my red lipstick.  I will admit, after I got over being mad at the pulverized new red lipstick, I did laugh at the raccoon wearing it all over her face.  It’s silly to say that I have to lock these creatures out of certain areas.  But I did with Rascals and I do with Storm.

Did I mention that Storm is a stripped kitten?  As she gets older patches of red/pink are showing up between the stripes, but her tail is dark and patterned with lines.  When she puffs up her tail, let me tell you, I feel like I’m staring at Rascals.  Even their fur is the same, course yet soft.

As the similarities unfold between Rascals and Storm, I’m sure I’ll be reporting on them.  It’s funny, I’ve known others who’ve had raccoons as pets.  Yep, I’m not the only one.  All the stories are very similar, the love of dog food and Nilla wafers,  the intelligence, the orneriness, as well as the realization of how amazingly smart raccoons are and how much fun they had with the creatures as pets.  Anyone who had the privilege of raising such a little critter loved their time with their raccoon, at least until they got older.  Although, that’s a separate blog post.  I’m not saying everyone should run out and get a raccoon.  Absolutely not!   And no one should ever approach a wild animal, but to have had the opportunity to really appreciate such a living thing was a blessing.  Rascals was an experience, one I would never have traded for anything, she is apart of me and who I am.  I love it that Storm brings back those memories.

I’m not an amazing cook. But I can follow a recipe!  ~Rachel McAdams

Some may know what Pinterest is and some may have heard of it, while others have absolutely no idea.  With the booming age of social media, there are sites popping up all the time.  For the most part I really don’t pay attention to every little change and introduction into the social world.  If I did I wouldn’t have any time to blog and use the social tools that I do enjoy using.  However, there is one that has struck my fancy and I have really adapted into my daily routine.  Pinterest!  It’s simply a social sight of pinning pictures and videos to your digital cork boards, just like being a kid again.

As a child and even into my high school years, I would go through magazines and tear out pictures of dresses or shoes and pin them to my cork board hanging on my bedroom wall.  I would also pin recipes and ‘how to’ instructions.  Pinterest is the same concept, except you can have multiple themed boards, as many as you want named however creative you can get, and it’s all digital.  Not to mention instead of a single magazine, the entire internet is your magazine.  Plus you have the option of uploading and linking your very own pins.  Love it!  As with a social site, the ability to ‘share’, ‘re-pin’, ‘comment’ and ‘like’ is available.  Not to mention you can follow others of like interests and its linked to other social sites for distributing information.

Kyle wanted to make his own hero sandwich 2012

Being in marketing, I tend to see trends early and I will admit I do partake, sometimes on the latest and greatest.  This time I did.  Statistics change, now-a-days more rapidly than ever, but I still like to read the analyzed data.   After all numbers never lie and with summarized data, it’s sometimes easier to understand the focus of the social tool or the particular direction it’s moving toward.  When it comes to my clients, I do try to practice what I preach.  Pinterest is, as least as per the most recent numbers, 80%-90% women.  However, a majority of the purchases made on there are from men.  Not that I want to keep throwing numbers out there, but I find this fascinating, “66% of Pinterest users are aged 35 and older, compared to 64% of the US internet audience.” according to Marketing Charts.  Pinterest themselves stated, there are 20,000 items pinned on Pinterest every day.  Estimated numbers from AppData.com, state the two-year-old site has 11.7 million active registered users.  Wow!

So how did this almost too simple idea of themed digital cork boards come to fruition?  According to my “trust worthy” site Wikipedia, Pinterest was developed in December of 2009, then went into a closed beta test in March 2010, and in March of 2011 they launched their app.  Needless to say, Pinterest is pretty new to the scene, but growing leaps and bounds thanks to Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp, the founders.

Now why this dissertation on Pinterest?  Thanks to an article I read on Mashable, according to RJ Metrics, “17.2% of all pinboards are categorized under Home, followed by Arts and Crafts (12.4%), Style/Fashion (11.7%), Food (10.5%) and Inspiration/Education (9.0%). Of those, food is the fastest-growing category.”  I did read another article that stated recipes have clearly taken the top spot on the Pinterest pins but unfortunately when I went to look for it, I couldn’t find the article to back up that claim.

As with all things on AuntHeather.com all roads lead back to Kyle.  I want to tell and story about the impact of Pinterest and naturally it involves one little 11 year old.  I know I’ve mentioned it, that I used to have Kyle pick out recipes in the cookbooks and we’d make whatever he wanted.  The only catch, was he had to read me the recipe and measure out all the ingredients.  This was one way to reinforce reading with Kyle, especially when he went through a spurt of I HATE READING!.  Not to mention it was great practice with measuring and math, always Kyle’s favorite subject.  Who am I kidding?  I love to cook too and hang out with Kyle, so that was a win win for me.  Little did I know, that Kyle would develop a love for cooking AND enjoy it!  I guess that’s a win win for him too!

Now I’m getting to the meat and potatoes of the story.  Recently, a friend of mine, Kelly, was talking about making recipes that she found on Pinterest.  Last weekend she was sending me some good ones to try and she said she wanted to start making different recipes.  This conversation reminded me of Kyle, because we started to do the same thing.  In fact, Kyle has steered away from the old fashioned hardbound cookbooks and tends to jump on my Pinterest account for recipes.  Yes, I said he goes on my Pinterest, and yes he has the password to log in.  What can I say, the kid owns me!  Not that I mind in the slightest.  Kyle knows to go to  board, and scroll through the pictures of the deliciousness.  It’s funny how our way of cooking has changed from even a year ago.  We still pretty much follow the same system of Kyle reading off the ingredients and directions and I assist him with measuring and mixing and he still gets to pick out what he wants to make.

Homemade Oatmeal Creme Pies, courtesy of Pinterest

Sometimes, Kyle uses my phone and jumps on the Pinterest app to search for different recipes he wants to try.  He is too much!  Usually the re-pins are sweet treats although he surprises me with casseroles and pointing out low calorie, or natural fruit dishes.  I’m not saying I’m any better than Kyle when it comes to a sweet tooth, but I do try and limit the dessert recipes made.

It’s amazing how our daily lives have changed, children are no longer pulling out the old cookbooks from generations past.  They are downloading them and cooking other family recipes online.  In one respect, I miss the use of a good old fashioned cookbooks, but then again how can you beat the wealth of information and options at your fingertips.  I guess it doesn’t matter as long as the traditions are passed down, new traditions are started and shared, and cooking brings the family together.

See the recipe for the Oatmeal Creme Pies- Puppy Problem Called Seven.

The response was overwhelming.  I like to share what I have learned with others about everyday happenings as well as issues that make a difference in the world of business.  ~Bob Parsons

This past Monday, in the middle of the day, I noticed all my websites were down.  Yep, that means good old AuntHeather.com was down.  At first I thought it was something I did while making updates the night prior.  In disbelief over this outage, I turned to Facebook to see if others were experiencing issues.  I first saw the breaking news on Mashable – GoDaddy’s DNS Servers Go Down, Along With Thousands of Sites.   Evidently, anyone who had web hosting and domain names pointed from GoDaddy, were all down due to a hacker issue.

Monday night I had Kyle for his piano lessons.  During dinner I flipped on Channel 4 news, a bad habit while eating, and among other stories, I caught the one about GoDaddy going down.  As I was listening to the news, Kyle was half paying attention, strumming his guitar and playing with Storm.  I did make a comment on the GoDaddy situation, but again it didn’t seem to mean anything to Kyle and I didn’t think much of it until later that evening.

As Kyle and I were heading to his music lesson, a friend of mine was texting me, letting me know GoDaddy was back up again.  Naturally, Kyle checked my text messages while I was driving and read me the contents.  All of a sudden, he got this look on his face of complete fear and disbelief.  He asked me, “Aunt Heather does that mean our sites are down?  Even SpyRing?”  I said, “Yep, but Kelly said her sites are back up, which means ours should be too.  I’m going to look when we get inside.”  Spoken like a true business man, he said, “So how does anybody know about our stuff, if they don’t see it on our websites?”  Answering him, I said, “They won’t, that’s why it’s such a big deal, everyone associated with GoDaddy is down.”  Still in business mode, Kyle requested that I check our sites immediately when we get in the building.  He makes me laugh out loud!  I was planning on it, but it’s funny to see that Kyle feels the need to manage and direct me.

Upon conclusion of his piano lesson, he immediately went back into businessman mode and asked me about our sites.  “Aunt Heather, how’s SpyRing? and Thrill of the Hunt?”  I said, “All looks good, Piper Corporation and Aunt Heather are all back up.”  Naturally he didn’t care about my blog but it was neat to see his understanding for the value and importance of the company websites and his sense of urgency.

The next morning I read a story from CNN Tech – Hacker claims responsibility for GoDaddy outage.  The article claimed

“A person affiliated with the hacking collective Anonymous — named @AnonymousOwn3r on Twitter — claimed responsibility for the outage.”

Really?  Was that necessary?  If hackers need something to do, then I have a laundry list to put them to work.  There is no doubt, these hackers are a brilliant bunch and very intelligent, but they claimed to want to check the security of GoDaddy.  Really?  Was there act so selfless?  If that was the case, then don’t take down the company who in turn effects a large part of the population and their businesses, and not certainly for a better part of the day.  But then again, I’m no hacker, so what do I know.  Putting a positive spin on the situation, maybe GoDaddy has beefed up their security.

I can honestly say, I am a customer of GoDaddy’s and this situation has not changed my view of the company.  In fact, I thought they did a pretty good job returning things to their original state.  Personally I think GoDaddy is reasonably priced and they have GREAT customer service.  In the years that I’ve been a patron of GoDaddy, I’ve never had an issue.  I know I’m not the only one in this camp.  GoDaddy!

Also, thank you GoDaddy for the credit I received today because of the mishap.  That really helped to strengthen my view of your customer service.  I know you value and appreciate my patronage.

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.  ~Clint Eastwood

Respect is something earned and should be expected at the sames time.  I’ve always taught Kyle to respect others, that includes their property and how he addresses them.  Not only elders and authority figures, but also other children, pets, nature etc.  However, I have also taught Kyle that respect is a two way street.  Both parties need to walk down that street, it’s not just one sided.  As with everything I expect from Kyle,  I try to set by example.

Kyle really impresses me sometimes.  This weekend we were back at Giant Eagle and Kyle started to help bag the groceries for the cashier.  When our cashier would hand Kyle a bag of groceries to add to our cart (I Don’t Like to Push a Shopping Cart!), Kyle would look at the young man and say, “Thank you!”  He said it with such confidence and almost second nature that it really made me open my eyes. Is this my little man?  You know what?  It is!  He uses his manners, especially ‘Excuse Me’, when he passes someone or a group of people, ‘Yes Please’ when responding to a question, and naturally the ‘Thank You’.  I’m not saying Kyle’s perfect, I do have to reinforce these with him periodically, but for the most part, he is a good little man!

In remembrance of September 11th, I wanted to share a cute little story about the tomb of the unknown soldier.  For years now, since my sister moved into the D.C. Metro area, we have been going back and worth to Washington D.C. to visit her and to visit our nation’s capital.  I know I’ve mentioned with every trip to Washington D.C., we manage to discover something new to explore, not taking in all the sights at once.  On one of our trips, we toured Arlington Cemetery and witnessed the changing of the guards.  Kyle was around four or five, so he was just a little tyke.  Before we went to the tomb of the unknown soldier, we told Kyle that he needs to be quite and respectful.  I remember thinking, ‘If Kyle was disturbing the crowd, then I would take him out of the area and we would go for a walk’.  I also thought, ‘He would be so grounded for acting up in such an honorable place’.  As a family, we discussed Kyle going to the ceremony and we believed it was an experience that he should be apart of, he just needed to be taught the correct way to behave.  You know what?  Kyle was an absolute perfect angel during the entire demonstration.  He stood and watched the guards attentively.  He was such a respectful little man, who made us all proud!

In honor of those how have survived, the families of the fallen and those who have perished during the tragedies of 9/11, may peace be with you.  And to our soldiers who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom over the years, THANK YOU!  You have my utmost respect and prayers.  God Speed!

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.  ~Mark Twain

Yep those are the porcupine quills, I wish I could have gotten a shot of his lower lip, that’s where most of the quills stuck.

As I was writing about Love of Animals, Even Fictitious Pets, I realized I never addressed the incidence with Scooby and the porcupine.  Usually I have Kyle on Wednesdays, but he was on vacation with my sister, for ‘Aunt Nikki and Kyle’s Week of Fun’ during the second week of July.  Being at a loss for my little man, I went for a run with my friend Holsters in the evening.  Afterwards, I made my way to my parents house to see how the old folks were doing.  Since I was already sweaty and warmed up, I thought I’d treat the dogs to a hike in the middle of the week.  We did our usual route of three miles, however by the time we were heading back nightfall was upon us, not that it bothered me.  As kids, we used to run through these woods at night without flashlights, chasing each other and plotting strategies of attack at Halloween.  My only concern was twisting an ankle, on the over abundance of loose rocks covering the trail.  No problem, I took my time and really paid attention to my steps, while the dogs continued to run around.  They were having a blast!

As we were within the last half a mile from the house, Scooby who was a good fifty feet ahead of me yelped in a painful cry.  What the heck?  I saw him pretty clearly and he kept pawing at his face.  At that moment, I thought that knucklehead found a nest of bees!  He likes to snap at bees, don’t ask me why!  O great, I thought here I am allergic to bees and it’s dark and I’m in the woods.  How am I going to make my way around them?  I actually contemplated turning around and hiking back where I came from, another two miles to the main road and have mom pick me up.  Then, as I approached the area where Scooby was pawing at his face and shaking it violently, I had another thought.  For some reason I was convinced it was a snake!  I have no idea where that came from, but I thought a copper head bit Scooby in the jaw, since I saw some white around his mouth.  Common sense told me that it couldn’t have been a rattle snake because I didn’t hear the warning noise from its tail.  At that moment, my mind was racing, thinking that if it was a snake, I really would never be able to see it in the dark.  Yikes! Run!

As I scooted the dogs down the trail, I noticed Seven kept staring over the hill and was ready to take off for whatever started this situation.  He listened to me, thank goodness, when I called him to join us, but he was still on alert.  As I approached the opening of the woods and my feet hit the pavement, I looked down at Scooby who kept shaking his head,  It was at that moment I noticed he had porcupine quills in his face!  What?  I didn’t even know we had porcupines in the area!  My only thought was, ‘Well I guess I have to get them out’.  While we made our way down through the yard, Scooby took that as an opportunity to roll around in the orchard.  Then I heard a really loud yelp.  He must have rolled onto his face and hit the quills.  For some reason, Scooby didn’t want to go in the house, he wanted to stay in the yard.  That is until I really yell at him.

All three of us stormed through the front door into the kitchen, and I yelled for mom to get tweezers.  She jumped up off the couch, apparently reading the sense of urgency in my voice.  She came around the corner and wanted to know what the heck was going on?  I told her that Scooby had an encounter with a porcupine.  Then she saw the quills stuck in his face.  Mom looked at me and said, “We have porcupines?”  I said, “I guess so.”  Mom was still really confused and said, “Heather I have never seen a porcupine around here, ever!  I’ve never even heard of a neighbor’s dog coming across one! Ever!”  So in the sixty plus years mom has lived in the house, she never encountered a porcupine.  Then I was thinking, am I really looking at porcupine quills?  Neither one of us were experts in porcupines, but we both agreed, that’s what Scooby ran into, literally.  It looked like Scooby stuck his face directly into the rear end of the spiky critter.

As we brought Scooby into the living-room so mom could sit there and hold him while I plucked the quills out, I saw Seven.  He had a few in his face too!  What the heck?  I took care of Seven first, since there were only a few quills and he just wanted to jump around.  Then, I locked him in his cage, to keep him from getting in my way while I evaluated the situation with Scooby.

Just as I got a really good look I was mortified!  His entire bottom lip was COVERED in quills to the point it actually looked like a beard!  I needed to get these things out and fast.  Well, my inexperience with porcupines was showing when I tried to use the tweezers.  They didn’t work at all!  Next I tried using my fingers, and I did manage to get a few out, but they were so smooth it made it difficult to get a grip.  Then, I grabbed a paper towel, which assisted me with extracting a few more quills but didn’t allow for a really good grip on the others.  Once the upper lip was clear and I felt like I was getting somewhere, I moved to the polluted lower lip.  The paper towel method work for a few, but even that wasn’t cutting it anymore.  I was at loss, I didn’t know what to do?

Think!  Yes, pliers!  I went in the garage and pulled out a set of my dad’s pliers, allowing me to evacuate a few more.  As I continued, Scooby yelped.  Instantly, I stopped to take a serious look at his mouth.  With a double take, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me, I saw the real damage on his face.  The quills went the entire way through his lower lip!  O my poor, poor Scooby!  What to do?  Knowing the vet retired for the day, mom called to see if there might be an emergency number to reach someone.  It was a number to a pet hospital in Monroeville.  Monroeville?  That would take us at least an hour to get down there.  I wasn’t going to have Scooby wait in the car for over an hour with these things puncturing his face, and then, who knows how long it would take them to alleviate his discomfort.  No way!

Back to the drawing board.  Let me tell you, approaching a dog in pain with a pair of pliers is a little surreal.  Mom tried to hold him, while I moved in on Scooby’s face with the clamps of pain. He caught on to me and kept turning his head every time I came near.  He would look at me and give me the sense that I had his permission to yank those darn things out, but then at the last second, he would turn his head away.  Come on! I get it he was scared and in pain.  I felt like I had no choice but to be a little more aggressive with the embedded quills.

Scooby was a trooper!  As the process of yanking the foreign objects out, blood began  just dripping from Scooby’s chin.  It was sprayed across my white T-shirt, my arms, on mom and all over the hardwood floor.  At one point mom stopped me and said, “What what if he bites you?”  Remaining focused on my mission, I said, “Well, I’ll deal with it if he does.”  Only twice did Scooby growl at me and snap at the pliers.  He didn’t snap at me, he directed his pain and fear towards the pliers!  What a good dog!  Every now and then, mom would interject, “He doesn’t mean to growl.  He’s just scared and it hurts him.”  I certainly was not holding Scooby’s hostility to heart and I didn’t want those things to stay in his skin any longer.

While all this was going on, Seven was in his cage, crying and wanting out.  No doubt, he thought he was missing out on something, all while Storm hid under the recliner and was trying to play with Scooby’s feet.  She apparently didn’t realize the tense look in the dog’s eyes.  I had to try and keep her away from him, to give Scooby a break.  I’m sure playing with Storm was the last thing on his mind.  Not to mention I didn’t want this upset lab striking out at the kitten.  Yikes, too much to think of at once!

After over an hour of literally blood, sweat and tears, Scooby was done.  He looked happy and like himself again.  The bloody chin seemed to heal up instantly and stopped bleeding.  Using a flashlight to inspect the area, I noticed he had a few quills in his leg.  Those were a breeze to pull out after the ordeal we just went through.  Scooby was sore, but hopefully on the road to recovery.  He didn’t seem to hold a grudge against me either, wagging his tail and wanting attention.

After I left the injured to rest, I had to stop and fuel up the car.  I didn’t even realize the streaks and spattered blood on my T-shirt, arms, legs and hands until I got out.  I looked like I just fed someone to the pigs!  Either that or I worked in a butcher shop.  What was really amusing, was when I went to take a shower and saw I wiped my forehead and face with a bloody hand.  Can you image what a bystander thought as they saw me pumping gas?  I had blood spatter across my chest, and streaks of it on the rest of me including my face!

The next day mom took Scooby to the vet’s just to make sure I handle the situation correctly and to ensure he was healing properly.  The vet was impressed, how I managed to get the quills out, all without Scooby taking a chunk of my arm or seriously hurting the dog.  I can’t take all the credit, Scooby was the brave soul.  Of course, he was also the knucklehead who stuck his face in direct line of fire of a porcupine.  But that’s another topic.

Well, clean bill of heath, or so we thought.  After some time passed Scooby started to develop a lump under his chin.  Mom hauled him back to the dreaded vet, which the dog absolutely despises.  Scooby growls at him every time and won’t let the vet come too close, let alone touch him.  The outcome?  Scooby was to take some medicine to hopefully dissolve this trapped piece of quill.  Initially, the vet had Scooby on an antibiotic to ensure the wounds wouldn’t get infected.  Now he was back to more medications.

Well, after medications were consumed the lump still remained.  Let’s discussing giving this dog his pills.  Scooby isn’t the easiest patient.  Mom had to roll up his pills in lunch meat and bread to get his drugs into him.  However, mom said that shortly after she started this daily routine, Scooby caught on to the extra love.  He seemed to develop a talent for eating the food and spitting out the pills onto the floor.  What a stinker!   Then mom would have to go through the process again until he consumed the medications.  The dog is too smart to take his pills, but not smart enough to stay away from animals with built in weapons.

This past weekend we took Scooby back to the vet’s to have the lump inspected.  The vet said that he thinks it’s actually scare tissue.  He measured the two centimeter bump and told us to watch it, making sure it doesn’t grow.  The vet looked Scooby over and you know what?  He wasn’t in pain, at all.  If that was an abscess, Scooby wouldn’t be able to eat, and certainly not play tug of war with Seven, which he does occasionally.  Can you believe all this from one innocent walk through the woods.  I guess it could have been worse and I’m glad the our Labrador  seems to be healthy and happy.