Kyle always seems to get what he wants… even if it is a giant lollipop! Idlewild Park Gutchess Picnic 2004

Kyle knows what he wants in life. Yes, our little twelve year old knows how he wants his life to unfold, what he wants to do with it and he’s not afraid to state his plans. Not only tell us, but repeat it and repeat it and repeat it, over and over again. He’ll beat it down our throats till we think it’s our dream and not his. I can honestly say he borderlines obsessive, or is he just passionate?

This one is a tough one.  I don’t want to stifle Kyle’s dreams and tell him he can’t accomplish them, because he most certainly can, especially if he puts his mind to it. Yet on the other hand, I want to teach him to remain humble and more importantly, I want to teach him that material items will NEVER make you happy and will never give you a full life. How to handle this?

So what is this grandiose dream? Kyle wants a mansion with plenty of land.  Ok, that’s not too bad and absolutely obtainable.  But what he wants is a house size fish tank!  Really?  Yes!  He wants a fish tank with all sorts of salt water fish including sharks floating around for all to see.  Not only does he want this monstrosity, but he wants it located on another piece of his property adjacent to his mansion.

In addition to this dream structure, Kyle wants to charge people to see it!  Seriously?  O yes!  He figures with the money he makes from the tickets sales will help him with the cost to maintain said structure.  He even told me, “Ya Aunt Heather and you can market it for me so everyone pays to come and see my fish tank!”  I guess I’m suppose to market his house size fish tank to get people to buy tickets to support his dream and look at his salt water tank.

Kyle won every prize awarded during the Gutchess Picnic up until this year. EVERY one! Idlewild Park Gutchess Picnic 2004

Actually I’ll give the kid credit.  His plan involves having others pay to maintain his dream ocean on land.  Pretty smart thinking.  And if anyone can do it, it’s Kyle!  Truly neat idea, but my comment was “Why would someone want to pay to see your tank, when they could go to the National Aquarium?”  His comment, “Umm, Ya but mine is going to be really nice and maybe bigger.”  I believe he had a few more thoughts on the subject, but I can’t remember them at the moment.  Could this happen?  Sure!  But I guess I don’t share the same passion for fish tank as does Kyle.  So my attitude toward the idea is mostly in one ear and out the other, or my typical rolling of the eyes every time it’s brought up.  Not that I don’t want to encourage him to fulfill his dreams, because I most certainly do.  I just feel that he has more to offer life, and maybe he will.

To screw with him a little, keeping with the natural behavior of the Piper family, dad and I started to rouse him by saying, we were going to come over to his house with our fishing poles.  Dad said he was going to snag a big fish and fry it up for dinner.  Kyle, being a fisherman, gave dad a big smile but also gave that warning look of ‘You better not touch my fish’.  We laughed over that one, typical Piper humor.

Kyle’s youth group, meeting before their pancake brunch. No matter what, Kyle gives it his all! 2012

Kyle’s house and property and fish tanks are not just limited to single digits, he’s thinking multiple locations. Again, I am happy Kyle has dreams and goals and ambitions.  What really worries me, is what it’s going to take to get him there.  I don’t ever want Kyle to sacrifice his morals, or worse his true descent nature that is the true Kyle, to accomplish said goals.  I don’t want him to forget the big Man upstairs can give him his dreams, but can also take them away in the flash of an eye.  I don’t want his attitude to change, getting too big for his britches.  I guess all I can do is pray and continue to lead by example.

Yikes!  We’ve always tried to teach Kyle by demonstration.  The key word is try.  There have been times when he’s called me out on something, but to be honest, I’ve always showed him that I try to correct my errors.  I think that’s good to show him not everyone is perfect, yet we must still try to strive for good and the right way.  Personally I think that’s the best way to teach a youngster, especially with Kyle. He truly pays attention to our actions and remembers EVERYTHING.  Not to mention he has no qualms about calling us out on ANYTHING.

My opinion, Kyle is already a success in life.  He is a goodhearted, honest, sincere, God loving little man.  As long as he keeps the foundation strong, he should only be more successful and happy throughout life.  God Speed buddy!

Elliott, MaRissa & Chris participating in the Thrill of the Hunt, Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt for the Seton Hill University Homecoming weekend. Great job! 9/21/13

This past Saturday Thrill of the Hunt was commissioned by Seton Hill University to develop and administer a custom scavenger hunt for their homecoming weekend.  It was called Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt.  This was exiting for me for many reasons.  The most obvious reason, it was a paid job.  Being a start-up company every business and every opportunity is a blessing and is needed for survival, let alone taking Thrill of the Hunt to the next level.

Also, building this scavenger hunt gave me additional experience.  The more scavenger hunts I can outline and manage, the better I become at developing them and getting a feel for what works and what doesn’t.  I already have ideas on how to push my limits to offer even more interactive and exciting hunts.  Want to know one?  I would like to build a ‘Singing in the Rain’ type of scavenger hunt.  But I guess that ones for down the road.

Not only did building the Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt build my portfolio of events, but administering the game gave Thrill of the Hunt great exposure.  Again, every point of contact, every lead, every bit of feedback a start-up company can receive, will only help in the growth.  Seton Hill was gracious enough to allow me to share the Seton Hill Alumni booth to pass out brochures and business cards, speaking to curious onlookers and of course checking-in and giving direction to registered participants.

Thrill of the Hunt shared the Seton Hill University Alumni tent for the Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt in Greensburg, Pa. 9/21/13

When it comes down to it, I guess the true focus of my excitement was working with Seton Hill University!  My two time Alma Mater.  Yes, I graduated with two different degrees at two different times.  Proudly, I use both degrees, Bachelor’s in Arts (Marketing) and Bachelor’s in Fine Arts (Graphic Design) daily.  To this day, I can honestly say I received a great education and I value my contacts at the school.  Seton Hill is very encouraging, to not only their alumni, but also to local entrepreneurs.  So having the opportunity to work with the school was on my ‘want’  list of businesses, and I got them!  A goal accomplished!

With every scavenger hunt I build, the more I enjoy what I’m doing and the more unique Thrill of the Hunt becomes.  This particular scavenger hunt allowed me to camp out at the Westmoreland County Historical Society for a couple of days, digging through books, old newspaper articles and such.  I find that research is a lot of fun and intriguing.  A great way to spend my time!  Keeping with the theme, I wanted to make sure my facts were correct and I wanted to bring possibly unknown information to the participants, educating them a bit while having fun.  My scavenger hunts typically bring something new to light or introduce some small corner of the area.  This one was no exception.

MaRissa & Chris submitting their online challenges for the Thrill of the Hunt Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt at the Seton Hill University Homecoming weekend 9/21/13

Seton Hill’s Homecoming and family weekend had a lot going on, in addition to the Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt.  It was also graced with rain.  At first the rain was light and doable, but then it became stronger and heavier.  Now don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t shy away from falling water, but when it’s a cold windy rain, not really my cup of tea.

Believe it or not, I had last minute participants sign up to partake in the Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt.  Great!  A few brave souls.  That is until the rain intensified and the wind joined in.  I was safe with my fellow Seton Hill Alumni until that point.  Then, it became a scramble to cover all brochures and such.  We were also very luck to have the SHU wrestling team beside us, especially to hold down our now airborne tent.  Really?  Yes!  It was almost comical.

Eventually, they took down the tent.  Where do I go?  And guess what?  I still had participants braving the rain and going through the scavenger hunt.  Wow!  Most people quit when the sky opened up, but I will give a special kudos to MaRissa Boros, Chris Herrera and Elliott Moore who maintained their online communication with me and finished the scavenger hunt, soaked through and through.  Yet happy!  Once I got to shelter, I continued following and reaching out to my brave souls, until they finished all the physical and online challenges.  Great job guys!

Seton Hill University Alumni & Thrill of the Hunt tent at Homecoming weekend. Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt, Greensburg Pa. 9/21/13

Usually I have my sidekick with me.  But alas not this time.  Kyle had other plans and to be honest, it worked out pretty good.  It was not a lot of work to manage the registrants and most of my efforts had to be focused toward the online activity, which Kyle can’t do, at least not yet.  I wouldn’t have wanted him to get drenched like I did either.  Perfect timing!  Now next weekend, when we have the Exploring Inspiration Scavenger Hunt for the Race Expo at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, I will need all hands on deck.  No fear of rain interrupting that one.

It’s funny, just a week prior I was just commenting on how blessed I’ve been, having great weather with each and every one of my scavenger hunts.  I knew that would not always be the case, but it was certainly encouraging.  Almost as if God was saying, ‘You’re on the right track and I will take care of you’.  Was it a bummer for the rain?  Sure, not just for me, but for the rest of the activities planned.  Even though, it was a nice time and I can’t wait for next year.  I truly hope Thrill of the Hunt will be invited to join in on the Seton Hill University Homecoming festivities.

I know as I grow I won’t be able to administer to all Thrill of the Hunt Scavenger Hunts, and it won’t be possible to write about each and everyone one of them, but while we’re small, I want to remember my roots and how I got started and those who helped me along the way.  Thank you Seton Hill University!

I want to take all the pain that I feel and celebrate and turn it around.  ~Stevie Wonder

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

Today would have been Ryan’s 36th Birthday.  It has been nearly twelve years since Ryan moved on to bluer skies.  To be honest, Ryan’s birthday creeped up on me this year.  Yesterday was Dr. Jennifer (Smith) Galbraith’s memorial service.  Blue Skies Dr. Jennifer (Smith) Galbraith  It was what one would expect, an emotionally draining and tragic service.  The type of event that brings rushing memories of past and current pain back from the corners of my being and gets me really thinking of Ryan again, not that I ever stopped.

After the church service, all of Jen’s friends and family gathered in the cafeteria in Saint Cecelia’s school building to meet with the family to share stories and to comfort and be comforted.  As we were at the table sitting and discussing Jen’s death, it dawned on me.  The twenty-forth of September was upon us, Ryan’s birthday!  Once I made the declaration to mom and Nicole, a friend of mine, Patty, who was sitting across the table asked me, “Do you still celebrate his birthday?”  My quick response was ‘no’.  Only because we never really did or do “celebrate” each others birthdays.  It was never apart of the Piper family culture.  We always acknowledge the day of our birth, just not make it into such a big deal.  To be honest, I like it that way.  So really no, we don’t celebrate it, yet we do in our way.

Sharing a stupid story about Ryan, I told Patty how I used to tease him about going bald.  Yep, I did!  Reminding Ryan that both of our grandfathers were bald, grandpap Chester was sporting the shinny scalp when he graduated high school.  I used to say, “It’s going to hit you right in the middle of your head!  I can’t wait to see it.”  Ryan would just roll his eyes at me.  Priding myself on the conclusion of my perception, I informed Patty that Ryan’s hairline was starting to recede a bit before he died.  When Ryan passed, he just turned twenty-four years old a month prior.  A really stupid story to remember, but it brings a smile to my face.  I do miss picking on him terribly!  He was a lot of fun and would take me for so long before retaliating.

While driving Kyle around yesterday, I mentioned his dad’s birthday.  He just shrugged his shoulders and grunted, in acknowledgment.  I don’t know if it just doesn’t mean anything to him or if he doesn’t know exactly how to react or what to say.  Knowing Ryan’s birthday doesn’t mean as much to Kyle as it does to the rest of us might change over time, the more he learns about his dad and matures.  At least I hope so.  Ryan loved that kid so very much, even before he met Kyle.

There is no doubt that Ryan and Jen are hanging out somewhere in the big blue heavens above us.  After all, they did know each other.  Like I said, Jen was always apart of our family.

Ryan would have been thirty-six years old today.

Happy Birthday Ryan! 

A lesson taught with humor is a lesson retained.  ~Ruth K. Westheimer

A close-up of my little man! He was about 3 years old. What a cutie!! c. 2004

Kyle, what else can I say?  He is too much, and sometimes the perfect reminder of stories past.  Yesterday, while taking him to his piano lessons, we stopped at PetCo first to pick up The World’s Best Cat Litter.  On a side note, it truly is the world’s best cat litter!  My sister introduced me to it a few years ago, and I must say, well worth the money.

Anyway, for some reason Kyle brought up ice-cream and he reminded me of the ice-cream cone story.  In fact, Kyle relives that story a lot!  Every time we get ice-cream, pass an ice-cream joint or like yesterday, out of no where mention the ice-cream cone incidence.

What is this great memorable story you may ask?  I know I’ve mentioned it a time or two, but I guess it’s worth highlighting again today.  After all it is Friday!

Kyle is now twelve, so I’m going back quite a few years when he was probably around four or five, maybe even three.  Yesterday Kyle told me he was four when it happened, so I’ll go with that.  The kid claims he has a horrible memory.  O no!  I beg to differ.  Kyle remembers EVERYTHING!  He really does, especially situations in which he got himself in serious trouble and those that really made him laugh.  He remembers ALL!

Back to the story at hand.  It all started one hot summer day.  Kyle and I decided to stop at the local Dairy Queen to pick up ice-cream for the family.  It was a scorcher, so we were trying to move quickly to get the frozen treats back before they became a mass of melted sweet milk substance.  At that time, Kyle only ever ordered his usual, ice-cream cone with rainbow sprinkles.  I’m not sure if this was the point in life when he ventured out and would eat the twist, or if it was strictly vanilla, but regardless it was an ice-cream cone.

I need to deviate slightly again to really set the story.  I’m not really meticulous about much, but there are certain things that get to me.  Once happens to be the inside of my car.  I like it clean and tidy, not that it always remains that way.  It may never always be sparkling perfect, but there is never extra  junk, trash or messes in my car.  Now the outside usually looks like I went off-roading, but not the inside.  Having Kyle as much as I have over the years, he knows this about me.  He sometimes tries to push my buttons, even to this day, by stuffing tissues, garbage or what have you, in the side of the door, or behind the seat.  I hate that, even though it is sometimes funny.  Just, last week I found his dirty socks stuffed in the door pocket.  That kid!  Now back to the ice-cream.

Naturally, the place was hopping.  After we stood what seemed like forever in the heat, we got the goods and scooted out.  As I always did and still do to this day, I said, “Don’t get any ice-cream on the seats.”  While Kyle licked his mountain of melting frozen goodness, he nodded and proceed to load himself in the backseat, with a little assistance from me, still being in his booster seat at that time.  He graduated to the window seat, as opposed to the center backseat position.  So maybe Kyle was right he was around four years old.

We loaded up the car and we were off.  Another thing about me, is I like to drive with the windows down.  Yes, no matter how hot or cold it is, I love the fresh air circulating.  So maintaining former habits, I dropped all four windows before pulling out and heading up the highway.  Looking back on it now, I guess air conditioning would have eliminated the entire story, but then again we wouldn’t have the story to laugh about for years to come.

As I was rushing up the highway, I heard Kyle say, “Umm O no… Aiya?”  Without turning around, remaining focused on my mission of getting our ice-cream back while it was still considered ice-cream, I halfheartedly replied, “What buddy?”  With a very nervous and unsure retort Kyle said, “Umm… Aiya, look!”  Kind of rolling my eyes as if what could possibly be the matter and what could’ve happened in the few minutes I had my eyes off of Kyle, I turned my head just give him a satisfactory glance, and then I saw what he was warning me of.

Kyle getting ready to really enjoy his ice-cream cone.. & get it ALL over him! 9/2012

Kyle had ice-cream all over his face, which I knew I would happen, but the rest was a surprise to me.  There sat Kyle, looking like a deer in headlights, holding onto his ice-cream cone while rivers of melted goodness along with colored sprinkles ran down towards his hands, as he was trying to vacuum them up.  To his right, ice-cream was splattered ALL over the seat belt, the seat, the window, EVERYWHERE.  It was even along the outside of the car just like I was shot with a paintball gun in rainbow sprinkles!  Apparently, accelerating with the windows down, while holding a very runny ice-cream cone, in the summer heat, causes the ice-cream to take flight and land perfectly all over the car.

I could tell by the look on Kyle’s face, he thought he was in trouble, even though there was nothing he could have done about it.  One look and I busted out laughing.  First of all ,he was just too cute sitting there in that mess and secondly it was my fault for not using the air-conditioner.  After realizing that I found complete and uncontrollable humor in the sticky situation, Kyle began to bust out in laughter too.  It really was funny!  Initially, all I could say was, “What on earth?”

Since we were only a few miles to our final destination and I didn’t have the cleaning supplies to tackle this mess, I told Kyle to hold tight and I’ll deal with it later.  We both laughed and giggled the entire way back.

Once we arrived at the house, Kyle couldn’t wait to tell his Gigi and pappy about our little sweet adventure.   That is, after he striped off his ice-cream covered cloths.  Kyle’s thing, he doesn’t like to be sticky or have his cloths wet.  He finished the remainder of his ice-cream cone in the comforts of the living-room in his underoos, while I eventually made my way back out into the heat to scrub down the car.  I never did get all the ice-cream out, but at that point, I didn’t care much.   I had a half a mind to send Scooby in there to clean up the mess.

Yep, that was a day neither one of us could ever forget and it seems to be a very fond memory of Kyle’s!  I’m glad I was there to experience it with him.  That mess was totally worth it!

Below is a video of Kyle eating an ice-cream cone from last year.  He was cracking me up!  He even brought up the ice-cream cone story.

The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.  ~Ronald Reagan

One of the dogs from the Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt in New Hope 9/14/13

On Saturday, Thrill of the Hunt had another Dog Gone!  Scavenger Hunt in New Hope, Pennsylvania.  Is that far from me?  Heading out there is about a five hour trip, 300 miles one way.  So it’s certainly a hike and a half.  Why did we have a scavenger hunt so far away?  Simply, because I love the area, it’s so quaint and charming and I’ve found the business owners and locals very easy to work with and very positive about what I have to offer.  Not to mention, breaking out into New Hope was my way of introducing Thrill of the Hunt to the eastern side of Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas.  New Hope is just across the Delaware River from New Jersey, and is relatively close to New York, Maryland and Delaware.  Yep, New Hope, a borough in Bucks County, my next stop.

Kyle still loves being apart of all things with The Piper Corporation.  I mean that!  He never snubs his nose or whines when we have work to do with the company, well almost never.  In fact, Kyle got a new Macbook Air for this past birthday.  His comment to me?  “Now Aunt Heather I can help you out with the scavenger hunts!”  He meant it wholeheartedly.  Kyle always shows the most enthusiasm when it comes to the company work.  He really enjoys it and I enjoy having Kyle help me out and be apart of hopefully his future legacy, if desired.

Everyone knows Kyle is pretty money centric.  Not with Thrill of the Hunt.  Every now again, I will pay the kid in movies and popcorn, but no hard cold cash is ever transferred.  One day soon I hope to be able to put him on the payroll, but until then, Kyle understands and is just happy to help out.  And he truly is a huge help to me!

Kyle manning his post at the Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt in New Hope. 9/14/13

We left Saturday morning around 3:30 am on a long day of fun.  It was a little difficult to get the twelve year old up, but let’s face it, it would be hard to get anyone up at that hour.  Without a second thought, Kyle even went to bed early so he could rest up for the long work day.  My little planner!

Once in the car he slept, and slept, and slept, and slept.  He did wake up briefly, while I made a pit stop, but he stayed in the car and relaxed.  I had a heck of a time waking him up when we finally got to New Hope.  He really didn’t want to join the land of the living.

Getting there early to set up and address any last minute issues and get our bearings straight helps to reduce stress.  I try to practice such behavior whenever possible, teaching Kyle the same lesson, after all I had my car packed and ready to go by Wednesday.  The one thing about the scavenger hunt events, almost everything needs to be done prior to, at least all the hard leg work.  So come the day of the event, it’s enjoyable not only for the participants, but also for us.

Usually Kyle stays with me, helps with registration, taking pictures and addressing questions, but alas this particular scavenger hunt I needed Kyle to pass out a prize at a participating business.  Did he mind?  Not really, he doesn’t prefer to be by himself, but he loves being needed and helping out.

Kyle is mingling with a few dogs during the Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt in New Hope, Pa. 9/14/13

Part of my business model with the Thrill of the Hunt Events, is to help local communities and businesses by bringing the customer directly to their storefront, driving direct traffic.  There is more to the Thrill Sponsorship Program, but that’s how it came to be and the basic idea.  Well, I did have a local business who wanted to participate, but was unable to have dogs in their store.  They also didn’t have the staff on a Saturday to have someone stationed outside of their facility passing out prizes.  Problem solved, Kyle.  Normally, I wouldn’t have offered his service, but I’ve done this event already and I was an old hand at it.  So if I could help out, then I will, and I did.  Plus the business owner gave coupons for the participants’ goodie bags and branded them Thrill of the Hunt.  They too were trying to promote my company.  Now that’s working together!

Kyle helping me out during the Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt in New Hope, Pa. What a businessman – a true leader! 9/14/13

So my little man and I were separated for the better part of the scavenger hunt.  He was cracking me up while he was sitting on his little perch outside the storefront.  He was passing out flyers promoting the Dog Gone!  Scavenger Hunt to any late comers.  Brilliant!  He even took one for the team.

Apparently, as per Kyle, he was trying to hand out a flyer to someone walking their dog and saw a few more dog owners walk past him.  He changed his mind and made an about face to approach the other set of dog walkers and splattered on the ground!  What?  Yep!  I saw the bark removed from his leg.  When he came to me later on in the day, he explained his story and showed me his minor scrapes on the knee and hands.  He did so without drama and without complete agony, very unlike Kyle.   To be honest, as soon as he told me his story, I busted out laughing.  Without controlling my laughter, Kyle joined in and proceeded to tell me that he had no idea what made him fall.  He didn’t trip, he just fell.  Boy does he remind me of Nicole!  He said, “I bet everyone that saw me wondered why I fell!”  I bet!

Anyway, while he was sitting there, I did receive several phone calls from Kyle.  He was keeping me updated on who stopped by and the new recruits he was sending my way.  Once he called me to tell me, “I got lonely so I called Gigi.”  What a stinker!  I said, “O that’s good buddy, I bet Gigi wanted to hear from you. I bet you made her day.  Did you tell her how things were going?”  He did and he gave me a report on Storm.

Kyle continues to socialize with the dogs during registration of the Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt in New Hope, Pa. 9/14/13

You see, the day before Storm, my cat wanted out.  No problem, except she didn’t come back in before dark, which she usually does when called.  No Storm by the time we left, no Storm by the time dad got up at 5:00 am and no Storm when I called in around 9:00 am.  Now that made me nervous.  It seems like every time we have a Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt, we have family pet issues.  Dog Gone! Irony  Storm did eventually come back unscathed and ready to sleep the rest of the day.  No worries.

While manning his post, Kyle received a call from my sister who was checking in.  I guess, it was not a good time, because Kyle told Nicole, “I gotta go Aunt Nikki, I have customers.”  That’s my boy!  Priorities!  Laughing, Nicole called me to inform me of what just went down.  We both found it humorous and I found it inspirational.

Throughout the day Kyle did pull out his iPod to play games and he couldn’t stand at the registration table passing out flyers and answering onlookers’ questions for too long, but after all he is only twelve.  But he did try his best.

I think Kyle had to pet every dog that participated in the Dog Gone! Scavenger Hunt in New Hope, Pa. 9/14/13

At the conclusion of the scavenger hunt, a few of the participants came up to me, not knowing he was my nephew, and commented on how helpful and professional “the little boy”  was during the event.  He was given kudos from many, even from a few of the businesses that met him.  Kyle is getting accustomed to shaking hands, using his manners and speaking directly and speaking business.  What a great leader and an impressive youngster!  Thank you for all your efforts buddy!  They are certainly noticed and appreciated by all.

On a side note, on the way back it was pretty uneventful.  Kyle slept and slept and slept and slept all the way up till about hour from home.  Once he did wake up he was back to being a kid again, asking me when we were going to arrive, over and over again.  I told him, “Just go back to sleep.”  Once we arrived at my parents house, which was closer and lets’ face it they really missed our little man, Kyle was wide awake and ready for a late night snack.  Me?  I was ready for the pillow.  After all I was going on nearly twenty hours without sleep.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely!  Can’t wait for the next scavenger hunt this Saturday, Discovering Greensburg sponsored by Seton Hill University.

If the bee disappears from the surface of the globe, man would have no more than four years to live.  ~Albert Einstein (attributed)

In this digital age, does anyone really read magazines?  I mean the real deal.  I do!  Now let’s not get silly, anyone who knows me, knows I love my books, the real printed pages of complete escapes into other worlds, yet I mostly read magazines and newspapers online.  That is until I had to use up some frequent flyer miles and chose to order a few magazines.  Among my mix, Money, Inc., Entrepreneur, Entertainment, Fortune and Time.  Do I read them?  You bet I do!  Why not, there is a lot of information in those pages.  Do I actually read the articles?  Yes I do!  Now granted, sometimes they pile up until I have the opportunity to address the piled stacks of printed pages, but I really truly try to give them attention.  Some articles interest me more than others but I do at least skim through those pieces.

Recently, I got Kyle into reading a few found articles.  One was the Auntie Anne’s franchise, since Kyle is such a fan of the soft pretzels.  It told of how one women created herself an empire, starting off at the farmers market with her little idea.  He loved it!

I also had Kyle read a few articles in Fortune about the Apple company.  He loves their products and was very interested to hear about any new technologies, how the company is doing and such.  Pretty cool coming from a twelve year old.

Anyway, why my dissertation on magazine articles?  Simply because I came across one that I found so interesting, I couldn’t just let it go.  It was in the August issue of Time magazine.  It was an article on honeybees and their demise.  This article was pretty thorough and I found it very intriguing, maybe because I am a fan of honey, as is the rest of my family, especially Kyle.  Dad loves to get the honeycomb and eat it.

Years ago I read an article that stated, when consuming honey over long periods of time, it was said to decrease allergies.  Since then, Kyle has held that near and dear to his heart.  So when any one of us gets sick or seems to be filling the effects of seasonal allergens, Kyle becomes the honey pusher.  Literally!  Once he made me a bowl of oatmeal and there was so much honey in it, I swear he invited an entire hive to stop by and regurgitate into my bowl.   Love that kid!

According to Hannah Nordhaus “Honeybees are the glue that holds our agricultural system together.”  I hope you enjoy this information as much as I did.  It was pretty much taken directly from the article.  Enjoy!

Random Fun Facts:  Bees     

Bee History 

• Bees are not a natural resident to North America
• 17th century bees were imported to the continent
• The oldest known honeybee specimen dates from 100 million years ago
• During the 17th century, Ian Swammerdam discovered that the king bee had ovaries and was in fact a queen
• In 1923, Rudolf Steiner, a scientist predicted that within 100 years artificial cultivation of honeybees would have a sever consequence on the bee population
• There’s an Institute of Bee Health at the University of Bern in Switzerland
• Honeybee, also known as Apis Mellifera
• There are more than 20,000 species of bees worldwide, only 6 main types are kept commercially (Italian, Russian, Carniolan, Caucasian, German, Buckfast)

Bee Basics

• There is the worker bee, drone bee and queen bee
• Worker – construction, storage, keeping the nursery, guarding, care-taking, scouting and foraging, lives 20-30 days
• Drone – mates with virgin queen in midair, can fly backward, rotate and flip, dies after mating
• Queen – lays up to 1,500 eggs a day, secretes pheromones to control workers, lives 3-7 years
• Honeybees can fly as far as 5 miles (8km) in search of forage
• The queen bee communicates by dance
• 1/12 teaspoon is the amount a worker bee will produce during its short life

The Hive

• A colony typically has 20,000 to 30,000 bees
• The colony creates a winter ecosystem during the winters months and lives off honey
• Bees use their wings to generate warmth
• Middle-aged worker bees build by attaching each comb to the walls of the hive, requires more than 2lbs. of wax
• A worker bee can visit 100 flowers and carry more than half its weight in pollen in a single trip
• To produce 1lb. of honey, hive workers fly a collective of 55,000 miles, while tapping 2,000,000 flowers

Bee Anatomy

• Bees have 5 eyes (2 large and 3 ocelli used to detect light intensity) The workers have nearly 7,000 lenses
• Bees have 2 sets of wings.  The rapid flapping generates warmth and evaporates water from nectar to make honey
• Bees have wing hooks, which enable them to attach 1 of each set of wings together during flight for maximum efficiency
• A charge on the bees hair attracts pollen, known as electrostatic charge
• The proboscis is an airtight, strawlike tube that sucks up nectar and also works in reverse to feed offspring from a honey stomach
• Bees’ jaws help bite and pack pollen as well as shape wax for building honeycombs
• Bees have a 2nd reservoir where nectar is temporarily stored before being regurgitated
• Bees have a pollen basket, this is a sac attached to the rear leg.  The legs scrape pollen from front to back and is collected there.
• Bees have wax plates.  They secrete the wax from beneath plates on their abdomen and use it to build honeycombs
• A bees venom (a unique mixture of chemicals) has been known to destroy HIV
• A barb prevents a bee’s stinger from being pulled out.  The bee tears its abdomen while freeing itself before dying

 The Dance

• Scout workers locate food and alert fellow foragers location with a series of dance moves
• Through the number of turns, the duration of the dance and the moves themselves, the scout can communicate the distance to the food, the angle of the food to the sun and whether it is near or far
• The scout dances in a figure-eight shape to tell other workers to fly toward the sun
• Number of dance patterns in a given time indicates distance
• The angle to which the scout dances gives the angle (relative to the hive and the sun)

Value

• Bees bring in $15 billion in value for farming each year
• In the winter of 2012, 1/3 of U.S. honeybee colonies died or disappeared (42% increase from the previous year)
• Normal winters beekeepers experience 10% to 15% losses
• California’s most valuable agricultural export, the almond ($4 billion) is at risk of decline or collapse
• Almonds are totally dependent on honeybees
• Honeybees increase the yield of fruits and vegetables such as cantaloupes, cranberries and cucumbers
• Bees (unnatural to the continent) are a  man-made, mercantile ecosystem that helps bring big revenue for grocery stores, super centers and such
• Studies have shown that honeybee pollen was contaminated on average of 9 different pesticides and fungicides
• European Commission put a 2-year restriction on the use of some neonicotinoids

Suggestions for the disappearance?

• Agricultural pesticides
• Bee killing pest like Varroa destructor (a parasitic mite)
• Bacterial and viral diseases
• Neonicotinoids
• American foulbrood, a bacterial disease
• Hive beetle, a pest that can infiltrate and contaminate colonies
• Fungal infections like Nosema ceranae

The true genius shudders at incompleteness – and usually prefers silence to saying something which is not everything it should be.  ~Edgar Allen Poe

Kyle taking a break from picking grapes… making grape jelly. 9/2/13

A part of loving a child, is really appreciating them for their humor, reasoning, intellect, innocence and for those unplanned, unexplained small moments that really bond adult and child.  At least that’s my opinion.  I mean there are many many more parts to loving a child like discipline, teaching respect, education and so on and so forth.  But if you don’t truly appreciate them for who they are, then there’s a part missing, because like I said, it’s a PART of loving a child.

I love all aspects, well maybe not the disciplining them, but it goes with the territory.  Recently, the small moments part really revealed itself to me through Kyle.  My last blog touched on it, Music Reinforces Our Tight Bond, but there’s been more!  I’m sure these small moments happen at a higher rate than I can see them.  Let’s face it with running around checking off my task list and getting caught up in the pace of the day, I’m sure I’ve missed more than I’m aware.  In my eyes, that’s fine as long as I catch and glimpse every now and again.

Storm had a blast playing with us while we picked grapes! 9/2/13

Last Sunday Kyle was at my house, winding down for the day.  Lately, I’ve been struggling with Kyle regarding his reading.  He loves to read, but this summer he hasn’t found much interest to get lost in the books.  Now that school has started up, I thought he would get back to his routine and pick up where he left off.  Nope.  At least not just yet.

While sitting in the living-room Kyle got up and walked over to one of my bookshelves to examine the spines of the books.  Yes, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing like the feel and the smell of an actual book, where you can turn the pages, makes notes in the margins, smudge up the pages with food and drink to later rediscover yours or someone’s past.  There’s nothing wrong with digital books, I think they are great for traveling and such, but I still have an affinity for the real deal.  The words on my pages and cover design will never change, unlike its digital sister.

Storm getting ready to climb the grape harbor…Kyle was picking grapes to the left. 9/2/13

Anyway, Kyle started to read the titles and question me about them.  He saw the Mortal Instrument series and stopped and noted The City of Bones.  We just saw that movie and now his interest was peeked, asking me which books are good.  I love going through my past reads, introducing my old friends to my nephew.  Then, he stopped at The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.  For some reason over the years those books keep catching his eye.  They are the old plain covers with a small symbol on each in muted solid colors.  Nothing flashy, yet intriguing to him.  Personally, I loved those books, immensely and I told Kyle so.  Of course, I had to sadly inform him they are more adult oriented and very violent, but really good reads.  He just nodded and continued perusing, until he came on an old book with a red cover entitle Works of Edgar Allen Poe.

Kyle reaching to pick the grapes.. thinking grape jelly! 9/2/13

I’ve never seen another book with this cover, in fact I know it used to be a part of a larger collection of classic writers, but I have no idea what happened to the rest of the compilation.  Somehow Mr. Poe has been following me over the years, hanging out on my bookshelf.  It contains short stories, poems and essays.  I’ve read through the entire book several times, but I can’t say in the past decade.  During high school and college I would pull out stories and poems for a class project, but I haven’t sat and enjoyed his works in quite some time.

With a huge smile, I introduced Kyle to Edgar Allen Poe.  I said, “Here buddy let me read you a few poems.  Gigi used to read some of them to me when I was little and I loved them!”  I opened up the aged pages and the first poem I saw was The Raven.  Every time I think of that poem, the move The Crow starring Brandon Lee, the son of the famous Bruce Lee, comes to mind.  Recapping the movie to Kyle, I dove right into the poem, since he didn’t seem to have a clue what I was talking about, nor did he care.  When reading poetry, it’s so much fun to keep the rhythm and enunciate the words with gusto, to truly paint the picture.  I must say I am pretty good at it, at least enough to capture some of Kyle’s attention.

Seven & Storm hanging out under the grape harbor. 9/2/13

After The Raven I moved onto mom’s favorite, Bells.  Kyle listened, but I could tell he wasn’t too into it.  He even said, “All I heard out of that was Bells.  Bells, bells, bells, the ringing of the bells.”  I laughed and said, “See!  You enjoyed it and even started to memorize it!”  I must say I was quite entertained and was loving the time, maybe not as much as Kyle, but I do believe he will remember it, just like I remember the first time I was introduced to Edgar Allen Poe.

I think I really lost him sometime around A Dream Within A Dream.  Asking Kyle if I could read him a short story, he quickly said “No!”.  I was really getting into this walk down memory lane and reading to Kyle once again.  So that was a major disappointment.  I’m not sure if it was the way I was projecting the poems, the idea of poetry or if the kind-of-creepy content threw Kyle over the edge.  Yes, Bells is rather upbeat and cheery, yet it has the creepy dead thing about the content.  Kyle hates suspense, thrillers or anything remotely scarey and disturbing.  I’m sure he picked up on it, especially from The Raven.  Note to self, maybe I should pick another classic to introduce to Kyle.  Regardless, I enjoyed our small moments of togetherness and having the opportunity to read to Kyle again.

Putting the book aside to turn on the stove, Kyle and I had a great time on Labor Day making grape jelly.  It was the day after we got back from our New York trip, What It Takes to Move a Tree Stand and What It Takes to Move a Tree Stand … Continued.  Before we left, dad mentioned the grapes were ready to pick.  So on Monday, Kyle had it in his head that he wanted to pick grapes.  Not really on my list of desirableness, but I thought what the heck, I was just sitting around anyway.

Storm kept pouncing on our hands while we picked the grapes. 9/2/13

We actually had a great time.  It was nice and peaceful, except the two of us chit chatting occasionally.  Seven and Scooby came out to join us and run around, as did Storm.  She had a blast, running up and down the grape harbor, creeping among the leaves to pounce on our hands as we reached for grape bunches above our heads.  It turned out to be a nice time full of accomplishments.  We ended up with five or six brown grocery bags full of grapes.

Now what to do with them?  Initially, Kyle wanted to make grape juice, except we still had grape juice from years ago we never drank.  So we agreed upon grape jelly.  We only made a few batches and gave the rest of the grapes to my cousin Karen for her crew to use up.

It was a fun day in the kitchen, even though my mom would probably disagree.  I love knowing that Kyle is exposed to traditions, especially canning.  He was even getting creative by substituting the sugar for honey.   He was very proud of himself, as was I.  It turned out to be another unplanned time to bond, and for that I am very thankful and blessed.

You can’t plan these small moments, just realize when they are present and soak them up like the sun, for they’ll disappear before you know it, like grape jelly.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.  ~Ludwig van Beethoven

Kyle at his 1st piano recital, at his 1st grand piano. 5/17/09

Last night I took Kyle to his piano lessons.  I must admit, I truly love getting my little man, eating dinner together, and just plain hanging out.  He is back in the swing of school and back to a standard routine.  As with most special memories, this one was unplanned and came as a surprise.

My phone died early in the day.  Why didn’t I charge it you may ask?  Well, simply because I had no idea what I did with the plug.  I have a stock pile of cords from my last iPhone, which also charges my iPad and Kyle’s iPod Touch, but alas I only have the one plug for the iPhone 5.  I’ve been meaning to get another one, but like many people, I put it off until there’s an issue.  Guess what?  Issue!  I needed my phone to call on Greensburg businesses to get the Discovering Greensburg Scavenger Hunt ready and finalized for Seton Hill University.  Crap.

Anyway, I had to leave to pick up Kyle.  Naturally, once in my car, he reached for my phone to probably play a game and it was dead.  He looked at me in shock.  I know!  We both felt really off our game.  Almost as if we were being detoxed from an addiction.  Now that I’m thinking back on it, that’s a shame we are like that with our phones.  But we are a product of our surroundings.  Did we survive without it?  Most certainly!  Did it help that Kyle had his phone?  Yes!  Only so my parents and my sister could touch base with him, no dire emergency.

Why is this relevant?  I’m so used to getting my emails via my phone, as well as text messages and Facebook messages, it didn’t dawn on me that Kyle’s music teacher would be reaching out to me through my online communications.  Yep, he had to cancel Kyle’s piano lesson.  Well, as I found out the next day, after recovering my long lost phone cord (1 day) and juiced up the handheld addiction, his teacher did indeed cancel his lessons.  Actually, using common sense, it didn’t take a phone to tell me Kyle’s piano teacher wasn’t there.

Kyle’s music recital group. 5/17/09

While sitting in the waiting room, and as the minutes passed, Kyle became impatient and wouldn’t let me read, (he forgot his book The Lord or the Rings: Return of the King).  At that point, we both decided to get up and look around for his teacher.  His teacher, David is a Seton Hill student and who is always on time and very responsible.  Just out of curiosity, Kyle and I walked down to his piano practice room to check out the situation.  Nope no David but there was THE PIANO!

Not being able to resist a beautiful baby grand piano, I walked in, sat down and started striking the keys.  I’ve always wanted to learn to play the piano but my parents didn’t have the money when I was younger and it never was a priority for me as I got older.  Maybe one day I will take the time and learn.  But for now, it’s all on Kyle.

Kyle knowing that I had no idea what notes I was hitting, and no clue how to combine them to form a single song, he sat beside me on the piano bench and started to play a few memorized tunes.  Show off!  But I loved it.

Without saying anything and almost as if by muscle memory, Kyle opened his piano book and started to play a song,  It was one he previously covered in a past lesson, totally new to me.  Kyle started to actually instruct me, showing me were to place my fingers and how to play.

It was AWESOME!  He played a few notes and I watched his little chubby fingers to mimic his actions, messing up every other time.  He was very patient and showed me the fingering a few times so I could follow along.  He even went as far as to instruct me how to play with both hands, and I did!  Now there was certainly no mistaking me for Mozart or Beethoven, but I was playing an actual song, all because of Kyle!

Close up of Kyle at his 1st piano recital. 5/17/09

Kyle sat further down on the keys to my right and played along side me.  He was too cute, even waiting for me as I slowly hit the notes.  We both enjoyed sharing in on the same song, side-by-side, in our space, just the two of us. (As I wrote that, the song, Just the Two of Us popped in my head! I crack myself up!)  We played together for at least twenty minutes or so.  Yes the same song!  I think Kyle was really enjoying playing with me, as I know I was most certainly having a great time.

Then, out of nowhere, Kyle turned to another one of his piano books and started to teach me about notes, and counts.  He was actually instructing me!  I loved it.  Sitting there attentively and taking in all his knowledge, I started to grasp the music theory.  As he reviewed the notes, it came back to me how to read music, not that I was ever very good at it but I got by.

Once Kyle started to get bored with the situation he busted out one of his standard songs, which happens to be his pappy’s favorite Ode to Joy (German: Ode an die Freude) by Ludwig van Beethoven, always a favorite of mine too and always beautifully played by Kyle.

We sat and played, mostly in silence until it was half past the hour.  Then we decided we were done for the day and headed home.  As we left I told Kyle how much I always wanted to play the piano and I asked him if he would teach me.  He smiled this grin that was almost ornery mixed with excitement and nodded his head in agreement.  Cool!

Our family is not the most musical.  My mom played the piano in her younger days and my sister played the flute for a few years.  I did learn to play the scales on the saxophone, but none of us is fluent in music.  Kyle is the closest we have and he is pretty good.  No prodigy, but I’m happy with his musical abilities and his love and appreciation for the musical arts.

We had a great night!  Before our musical performance we watched Parental Guidance, which I rented and was never able to watch.  Kyle really wanted to see it and we had just enough time to squeeze it in before his lessons, since he didn’t have homework.  It was a funny movie that we both got a kick out of.

I will admit, I enjoyed my music lesson so much more than sitting there watching a movie with Kyle.  I literally could have have stayed in that practice room all night and played and listened to the beautiful music leaving Kyle’s fingers.  Can’t wait for my first lesson!

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. ~Ephesians 6:4

Kyle sporting the feature we found while in Cortland, NY setting up a tree stand. How much fan can be had from a single found feature? Those are dad’s earphones when he was running the chainsaw. 8/31/13

With my previous post, I outlined the events that led us to this moment, the reason for this trip.  What It Takes to Move a Tree Stand

As we moved forward, what did my eyes catch sight of?  Yes, the tree stand!  Positioned gloriously against a tree about ten feet off of the ground, dressed in camouflage burlap.  It was at that moment, I heard the angels sing Alleluia, while the sun shined on the stand as if revealing a pot of gold.  We have arrived at our destination.  Now, what did we need to do?  Ah, yes, we needed to take it down, move it up the hill and set it back up again.  Easy enough.  Not really.

Dad, took off up through the brush to scope out a new home for our tree stand.  Kyle took that as an opportunity to climb up and hang out in the elevated platform.   Me? I just stood there swatting mosquitoes until I joined dad to force him to make a quick decision, so we could wrap this adventure up and go take showers.

As I was walking away from Kyle, he yelled “Hey Aunt Heather where are you going?”  I told him to see what his pappy was doing, which was maybe one hundred fifty yards away.  Kyle said, “Wait!  I want to come, but I can’t get down by myself.”  I was cracking up!  He was too afraid to use the ladder to get down, even though he had no trouble getting up, nor playing around while sitting in the tree stand.  I gave him detailed instructions on how to safely exist the landing, but he insisted someone had to help him down.  I left him.  I know that sounds mean, but it was kind of funny and I knew he was probably safer up there than anywhere else.  What’s even funnier, he didn’t seem to mind.  Maybe a little quite time by himself was good for his soul, or not.

The whole time I was talking with dad and helping him pick a new location, Kyle would yell “Hey guys, what are you doing?” and “Hello?” then the eventually annoying “Echo, echo, echo”.  Kyle is seriously a funny kid and he doesn’t even know it.

Once dad found the perfect spot, he said, “Ok, let’s go get our buddy out of the tree and move this stand.”  He asked, “Did he climb up there all by himself?”  Yep.  Dad was pleased with that, that meant Kyle was not afraid and dad could count on Kyle to hunt in the tree stand during deer season.  Whatever!  Let’s get this show on the road.

Me & Kyle with victorious smiles on our exhausted faces. Tree stand it up! Cortland, NY 8/31/13

Now back to the dreaded tree stand.  I guess I never thought it through, but it dawned on me as I was sitting up, hovering over the ground, looking down into briar bushes, fallen trees and Lord knows what else, that eventually the tree stand would not be secured to the tree anymore.  That is, once I unhinge it, however to do that I needed to be in the tree stand.  What a predicament!  Dad’s reply?  “No, no, you have another one down below and you’ll be partway down the ladder when you loosen that.”  Not really encouraging dad!  Of course, dad’s response to my comment about me falling was, “Well the jagger bushes will catch your fall.”  Nice.

I did manage to loosen some of the straps, but for the life of me, I really couldn’t get them to release.  So I had to send my dad, who is in his sixties and is seriously overweight up the unstable tree stand to finish removing the supports.  I stood at the bottom holding the ladder, along with Kyle, as if that was security.  I turned to Kyle and remarked, “If pappy goes you’re catching him.”  With concern on Kyle’s face he just gave me a grunt and half grin, trying to joke along while realizing the possibility.  I think we were both holding our breath and saying big prayers at this point.

We did manage to release the tree stand from the tree and get dad down safely.  Then, came the heavy lifting.  The tree stand was metal with an attached ladder.  It was heavy!  Especially after all the walking and exertion of getting it down, not to mention the realization of hauling it up a hill about one hundred and fifty yards, through tall brush, briars, unsteady ground, over fallen trees, while being mauled by mosquitoes.  Easy enough.

Kyle snapped a picture of me getting into the tree stand. Cortland, NY 8/31/13

What was Kyle doing for the better part of this time?  I found out later he was video tapping me in the tree stand.  I’m sure, he was hoping for some action to be caught on tape.  And since that didn’t keep his interest, he continued to play with the feather.

The feature.  We found this feather while walking to get to our destination and it became the focus of our attention during down times.  I used it as a fan to help with the flying pest situation around my head, and to help get some moving air through the stuffy environment.  Kyle too found entertainment in the simple object.  That feature made it the whole way back with us.  Not just out of the woods, or to the motel, the whole way back to good old Latrobe, Pennsylvania.  It was a really neat feather.

Anyway, as we carried this beast of a stand up the hill, we almost passed up our carefully selected tree.  And let me tell you, I felt sick once we got there, as I know dad did.  Sick, as in exhaustion and dehydration.  I even sent Kyle to the quad to get us something to drink, especially dad who had to rest on a log.  That kid started to walk up the hill, (the quad was down the hill maybe fifty feet).  Kyle got lost, not lost that we didn’t know where he was, but he couldn’t find the quad at all!  Even though I pointed in the direction and I could see the lights reflecting from it through the trees.  As we watched Kyle maneuver around while resting, me and dad found that funny and called him back.

Next?  Now we had to get the tree stand up and secured, then we were told we’d be on our way.  It was a bugger getting that thing up, even to just lean it against the tree.  Dad did most of the work.  Once the tree stand was leaning, and somewhat stabilized against the tree, I climbed up in it to fully secure it.

That proved to be a bugger as well.  My arms are only so long, and trying to throw the straps around the tree, which was split, proved to be quite a tough task.  I had to lean out over the tree stand to grab the straps.  Did I mention it was only standing upright because it was leaning on the tree and we were on a light hill?  I told the old man, he better hold onto the ladder, because if I’d go flying and I can’t work, Aunt Nikki won’t be too happy.  He just laughed and said, “O you’ll be alright.  Come on, once we get the straps on, we’re done and we can leave.”  Score!

Kyle made his way up the tree stand & then couldn’t get back down. He enjoyed it up there… Cortland, NY 8/31/13

Eventually, I got the straps around the tree to give the tree stand some stability.  Naturally, I couldn’t tighten the clamps like dad, so dad had to get up there to thoroughly secure the touch points.  He also thought in advance and put another strap for an additional reinforcement.  Evidently, dad was planning on having all three of us in this tree stand. I’m not so sure about that one.  Although, I’m saving that argument for a later date.  I must say, Kyle and I fit comfortably on the seat, side-by-side.

The whole time we were there, dad stared at the newly relocated tree stand sporting a huge grin.  He did cut down a few small trees around it, one of which I thought was going to take down the new addition.  I said, “Dad if that tree would have hit the tree stand and knock it down, I was going to leave.”  Kyle busted out laughing and dad joined in saying, “Yes, I guess that would be our luck.”  Dad kept peeking up at the stand and in his head, laying out the options in which we could shoot deer, depending on how they approached us.  I know he was envisioning herds of  deer running all along the woods below are feet, while all three of us shot down.  This is dad’s candy store.  Nothing makes him happier than shooting, especially with his family.  He kept talking about the size of the deer and the racks on the local bucks.  He kept saying that’s what’s in store for us this hunting season.  Then, he would go off into, how much deer meat we were going to have this winter.  Only dad!

Done?  Not quite yet.  We had to make it back out and since dad initially made his own trail to find the tree stand that was eluding us, he wanted to stick to the established road, clearing it out for deer season.  We found the road pretty easily, but it was seriously overgrown and soggy from all the rain earlier in the week.

It took us as long to get out of the woods as it did to set up the stand, if not longer.  It was a roller coaster ride, back up the slate rock road to an almost vertical climb.  Yes, I was back on the front of the quad, like Kyle white knuckling it.  I felt like I had to seriously lean forward to avoid the whole quad from tipping backwards and crushing all its passengers.

We made it back safely and dad was in such a good mood.  As we were ready to load up the quad, dad did something odd that made me and Kyle both stop and watch.  He drove the quad back nearly a hundred yards to load it on the trailer.  What does he need such a runway for?  At that moment, dad revved the engine and gassed it toward the trailer.  I turned to Kyle and said, “What is pappy planning on doing?  Launching himself over the truck like Evel Knievel?”  Kyle was howling!  Just then dad put the breaks on right at the lip of the trailer and slowly drove it on.  Pap thought he was pretty funny too, my guess is from the look on our faces he did psych us out.

Earlier we saw a turkey and along the way, a bunch of deer tracks.  Dad couldn’t have been happier, spending time with us, especially Kyle and moving his tree stand to what he perceived as the perfect shooting spot.

Now it was my turn to play with the feature. Seriously, how much fun can 1 feature bring? Cortland, NY 8-31-13

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, granted it was around five or six o’clock at this point and we were all beat.  We found a nice little market to get sandwiches and other sustenance, got back to the motel,  showered up, played a few card games with Kyle as well as chess on my iPad, and finished out the night watching back-to-back episodes of Too Cute!

The next morning, pappy slept in till around eight o’clock, which again is unheard of, but Kyle and I played more chess.  On our way back, dad had to stop at his friend Lanny’s house to visit.  Dad hunts on his property every year too.  In fact, dad stays with the elderly gentleman, who is very cordial and hospitable.  I must say, at this point I was getting irritated over dad’s new found relaxed behavior and I wanted to get on the road.

We did make it back about fifteen minutes before we had to get ready to go to late Sunday mass, so I was happy.  Good end, to a surprisingly fun trip.  A trip that I hope we never have to repeat.

Read the first part … What It Takes to Move a Tree Stand

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
An eternity in an hour.  ~William Blake

We found this feather in the woods in Cortland, New York. It became the focus of our attention for a while. Kyle was cracking me up! 8/31/13

Dad gets his hunting license not only for Westmoreland County, but also for the surrounding counties and his New York license.  In certain areas, dad has his tree stands set up, keeping them there year-over-year.  Yes, that wasn’t a typo.  Tree stands!  As in plural, meaning more than one.

So what does all this have to do with me?  Let me tell you were I was this past weekend.  In Cortland, New York moving a tree stand.  Why?  Simply, because last year, someone hit a big buck up the hill from where dad was sitting.  Ever since then, dad has been talking about moving his tree stand up the hill.  He believes it would have been his buck if he was positioned at a higher elevation.  Is that a fact?  Not necessarily, but I do trust dad’s hunting sense and his observation.  Previous to that, Dad’s was actually talking about moving the tree stand for a while now, but since the buck incidence, that made up his mind for him.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Dad’s not bitter in any way shape or form, for the lucky hunter, not at all.  He’s happy for anyone who gets a deer, especially if it’s a prize.  But he’s had it in his head for a while now to move the stand, pretty much where Larry, a good friend of the family and my mom’s boss at Gutchess Hardwoods, suggested in the first place.  Dad said, “I should have listened to Larry, but I was being so stubborn and had my mind made up.”  Can’t imagine!

Moving a tree stand seems simple enough, not really.  First we had to drive six hours to Cortland, New York to get to the woods where the tree stand was situated.  Then, we had to drive back into the woods, only so far, before all piling on the quad and riding it another couple of miles, before getting out and hiking to the hunting spot.  Yes, somewhere in the 500 acres, was this big metal tree stand attached to a tree.  Did I mention I was the one who had to assemble the beast a few summers back?

Let’s start off with Saturday morning.   I mean morning.  We got up around 3:00 am, and we didn’t leave until 4:30 am.  There used to be a day when dad was up early and started on his day right away.  No sitting around, none of this taking his time, watching the news, finishing his coffee blah blah blah.  Nope!   Dad used to get up, make sure everyone else was up, get dressed and out the door like lightening.  Boy have times changed.  Usually Kyle does pretty good in the am, but this time was a bit different, not that I can blame him, even for me this was a bit early.

Kyle shooting pap’s .22 rifle at the shooting range. Not a bad shot! 8/31/13

Once we were off, Kyle slept in the backseat of the truck.  He really wasn’t ready to get up and get moving, that is until we made a pit stop at Sheetz.  Naturally, he had donuts on his mind and with his pappy there, he pretty much gets what he wants.  Although as in keeping with tradition, I raced him in and out of the gas station, to and from the truck.  At one point, we both tried to wedge ourselves out of the door and practically got stuck.  Dad saw us and just shook his head and chuckled.

While on the road, once we finally got Kyle up, Kyle and I started to play a game of War.  You know the card game that goes on forever and requires little to no thought.  That game seemed like it was the longest ever played!  Seriously.  Me and Kyle were in amazement because it was never ending.  We kept joking around that we were going to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The drive was pretty uneventful.  It’s actually kind of nice to be up before dawn and watching the day unfold before my eyes.  We passed Beaver Stadium, my sister’s Alma Mater.  We joked around a little and called my mom and my sister to check in.  I was even fine with the Willy Nelson Serious XM radio station on, that is until it stayed on the entire time to and from New York.

Dad cracks me up.  When he had to pee, he just pulled the truck, which was hooked to the trailer containing the quad, onto the side of the road, peed and left.  Back in the day, when I was little, dad NEVER stopped for no one.  Not himself, not my mom and certainly not for his kids.  We had to go before we left and we learned to hold it until we got to our destination.  Granted, we never really traveled for than four or five hours, but regardless that’s how dad traveled.  Come to think of it, that’s probably why I am, the way I am, when traveling.  I never stop, I keep going till I reach my journey’s end.  Now-a-days things are different, very different.  I swear we pulled over every hour!  Every roadside pause gave me and Kyle the giggles.  Then it would start the teasing towards dad.

Dad was checking the shots with the spotting scope. Kyle was reloading, ready to go again. 8/31/13

At one point, Kyle had to use the restroom, as did I but I can hold it because I knew dad would expect me to go along side of the road.  Fat chance!  Dad pulled over for Kyle, but not just on the side of the road.  He pulled over were they were doing construction.  To reach the side of the road, dad had to weave the truck and the trailer between the cones.  Me and Kyle were dying!  For some reason we thought that was the funniest thing ever!  Keep in mind this is around ten o’clock or so in the morning, along a major highway.  I knew Kyle wouldn’t use natures facility, and I was right.  But what made the situation even funnier, dad drove down the road that was coned off, and as we progressed the cones got closer together.  We were taking bets if dad was going to knock down a row of cones.  Nope!  Didn’t even graze them!

After we checked into our motel room in no-man’s-land we headed to the woods.  The minute we got out, I was attacked by mosquitoes!  Anyone that knows me, knows I am always the first person to take fire from the blood suckers and I usually get it the worst.  My bites always swell and linger for twice as long as most.  Would you believe no one thought to bring bug spray?  Nope!  We were screwed!

After we unloaded the quad, dad had me plant my buttocks on the front rack, while Kyle was seated right behind dad, beside the chainsaw, tools, salt block and extra chainsaw gasoline.  Yes, that was my first reaction too!  What are we cutting down?  The layout of us all situated on the quad was nothing new, we rode like that before for hunting season and I suspected it was going to be that way.  But what I didn’t know is that we had to chuck wood too?  Yes, apparently we had to clear out the roadway back to the tree stand.  This just keeps getting better!

The Piper outing at the shooting range. Nicole got back into the swing, not a bad shot. Kyle was shooting pretty good & mom shot a couple, but just observed. 8/31/13

The ride to and fro was quite an adventure!  We hit a few pond size mud puddles, which at one point I thought was going to sink us all whole.  Then, let’s talk about the cliff of death.  The trail was pretty wide, wide enough for a full size vehicle.  So naturally one would think we had enough room for a quad.  Well, we did, but dad kept driving along side the brim of the edge, while looking down!  Me and Kyle were hanging on.  I stated, “Dad, they had a ton of rain this week.  You have the entire road, use it!”  Meaning, dad get away from the edge, the ground is soft and could collapse at any minute driving us down over the edge into the heart of the woods.  Even Kyle laughed about that one and was feeling the same way.  When we later recapped the story to mom, Kyle commented on that very scenario.

We did need to hack up a few logs laying across our path, to get through and I had to get off a few times to walk.  I must say it was quite the journey.  The one part of the road seemed like it was a complete vertical shot straight down and the road looked like a miniature Grand Canyon from being washed out.  I was hanging on, trying not to be projected off from the front end.  It was hard!  The road wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.

Once dad had me and Kyle on foot, he instructed us to walk up the hill and he followed on the quad.  He even tried to go up a side of a bank and I swear I saw the front end of the quad lift, like it was going to flip.  Me and Kyle just gave each other the look, you know the kind that says, ‘Wow that was a close one.’ or ‘Something bad is going to happen today.’  Then I said, “And you wondered why I brought my phone?”

While on foot, in the hot, humid mosquitoes infested deep woods, we seemed to keep walking on forever.  Like our path was never going to end.  Kyle turned to me and said, “I don’t think pappy knows where he’s going.”  I laughed so hard, I was thinking the same thing!    We kept trucking and following dad on foot.  Did I mention I had a long-sleeved thick hoodie type of top on, zipped up to my neck to protect some of my skin from the pests, and jeans on while I dripped with sweat in the eighty degree weather?  Awesome!

As we zigzagged through the tall brush, dad would stop every now-and-again to cut a few fallen trees.  That is until we came upon vertically intimidating, reaching the top of dad’s head, “jagger” bushes, briars and thick brush.  He actually used the chainsaw to mow down the obstruction!  Me and Kyle watched in amazement.  Then, when he was done, I yelled over, “You didn’t tell me we needed the weed whacker!”  Dad gave me an already tired grin and nod, while me and Kyle found that comment to be pretty darn funny.

Dad even used the quad to knock down small trees and mow down tall brush.  Then, we started to have a field day with that saying, “Does pappy think he’s a bulldozer?” and “We know what to get him for Christmas.”  Kyle said, “Ya, he could use a steam press to flatten our path.”  Very true buddy!  Very true!

Almost there…

To be continued…

Some may try and tell us that this is the end of an era.  But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning, and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends.  For this is the land that has never become, but is always in the act of becoming.  Emerson was right:  America is the land of tomorrow.  ~Ronald Reagan

Kyle’s 1st Birthday. Great milestone with me & pappy! 2002

Watching Kyle grow up and being an integral part of his life has been a delight.  I mean that with all sincerity.  Some milestones have been easier to take over others.  Example, when Kyle graduated from diapers to the potty.  Score!  That was time to celebrate!  However, this most recent milestone is bittersweet, the seventh grade.

Kyle is in the junior high school!  He is twelve and he is a preteen.  Where has the time gone?  In conjunction with this milestone, we also hit another, independence.  Yes, for the last couple of years Kyle has been showing baby steps towards maturing and showing subtle hints of  independence, but this one threw me off guard.  Every year since Kyle was in kindergarten, actually I think preschool, I have watched him get on the bus.  So naturally I thought this year will be no different.  To be honest, I thought this might be the last year, of course I believe I’ve said that about the previous year too.  Regardless, I was planning on hanging out with him early in the morning and seeing him off to the seventh grade.

Boy was I wrong!  I asked Kyle what time the bus was picking him up and what time I should be there.  He just kind of gave me an awkward grunt, the kind you do when you don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings yet you’re not backing down of your plan of action.  He said, “Umm that’s ok Aunt Heather, I’m good.”  What?  That’s what I say to someone when I don’t want to say ‘no’ yet say ‘no’!  It was just used on me?

My little man, trying out his new walking technique at the Planinsek Pavilion. 2003

Well, that was early on this past weekend.  I thought, surely he would think this through and change his mind.  Naturally, not letting the topic go, I said, “You sure buddy you don’t want me to be there to watch you on your first day of school?”  Then, I went into a dissertation of how his Aunt Nikki, his Gigi and me all paid for him to go to preschool for two years.  And how I’ve been a driving force for him and his grades, as well as my family, for all these years.  I also stated that it’s been tradition for me to be there to see him off for his first day of school.  I even tried to assure him that I would stand a side and not be an embarrassment.  He probably didn’t believe that, even though I meant it to the best of my ability.

Nope, Kyle would not budge.  All he replied was, “Umm that’s ok, I’m good.”  Yep, Kyle made a decision and was sticking to it.   That I can respect.  How can I not, when he is showing that he is maturing and wants to be responsible for himsel?.  Ok, buddy I get it, kinda.

But again let’s be real, I’m his Aunt Heather and the understanding is in the details.  I went down the checklist, “Who’s getting you up?”  Himself.  “Who’s seeing you onto the bus?”  Himself.  “Who’s getting you breakfast?”  He said that he can get something at the school, which I advised him to grab a banana, apple or make himself at least cereal to ensure he has something in his tummy.  That is the last thing he needs, to be hungry all the way till lunch!  Everyone knows that wouldn’t fly with me!  Not a good way to start off the day, skipping out on fueling up the body.  Kyle, being Kyle, also had to work out the details as to not break any rules or get in trouble with the breakfast situation.  He commented, “Ya I guess I can eat on the bus to school, I don’t think the bus driver cares.  I can just toss my peel out the window.  Or I can eat some of pappy’s ribs!”  That gave me a chuckle!  Only Kyle worries about such small details.  Helping to put his mind at ease, I said “Just pitch your peel in a trash can in school.  If you choose to eat the ribs that will help you go till lunch, not a bad idea!”  He thought about that and was fine with my advice.  Then the ultimate question, “Who’s planning out your outfit?”  Himself!  Now that scares me more than anything.  As much as I pride myself on my ability to dress cute, stylish and couture, Kyle does not have that knack nor does he care.  Even dad, who is strictly a jeans, under shirt and plaid shirt type of guy, always has his top tucked in, belt on and never dresses sloppy.  Kyle on the other hand, has a different style to himself all together.  One I have yet to fathom!

Maybe that will be Kyle’s next milestone.  Seriously, I can’t wait for that one!

Regardless, Kyle has a full schedule already, going into advance math, taking a language, hope it’s French, and whatever else the day brings.  I’m sure Kyle will have a great first day of school, after all he is equipped with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King book to keep him entertained throughout the downtime.  I hope to see many more milestones from Kyle!  He is a bright and caring young man with a future of possibilities.

Milestones have their place in life.  Even if they appear to be initially bad, there is always something good in them, a lesson or a pathway made for more milestones.  I guess I just need to be here to help him through any rocky paths and guide him in the right direction.  Love you buddy!  Enjoy seventh grade!