Festivus

This year we added an official Festivus celebration to our holiday calendar. (Wikipedia has a well-written and comprehensive article about Festivus, and you should read it if you’re unfamiliar with this winter holiday.)  Bryan made a Festivus pole for the house (under $10 DIY or you can buy one here –Bryan), and our friends Kathy and Jarion went with us to a movie (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol; worth the IMAX surcharge –Bryan).  After the movie, we ate supper at our house and participated in an extended Airing of Grievances session (she’s holding a Grievance form against his chest, above.)  We went to their house for carrot cake for dessert, and the dogs took care of the Feats of Strength portion of the customary Festivus celebration.

Guest Bathroom

When we bought our house, we knew that our second bathroom was sort of terrible.  The fixtures were nice, but the room was painted bright yellow with a sort of multi-layer brown/gold spongy finish.  I suppose the previous owners had thought that the effect would be rich and elegant.  I thought that the effect led one to believe that a large mammal had been smeared in its own poop and then had seizures in the room, blotting the excrement all over the walls.

A second problem involved the sink.  It was a nice Kohler pedestal, but its lack of a cabinet meant that there was no storage at all in the small bathroom.  This was a problem for our teenager – even a low-maintenance girl like Mandy needs a place to store a few bathroom things.  Since the room doubles as a guest bathroom, there was no way for her to store her own lotions and potions that still allowed the room to be presentable for guests.  It was getting more and more frustrating for all of us.

So this year, one of her holiday gifts will be a remodeled bathroom.
Bathroom-Before&After

On the Saturday Mandy left for her annual winter trip to Tulsa, Bryan and I shopped for and bought a new vanity, counter, and sink for the bathroom.  Sunday was spent removing the fixtures, repainting the room, reinstalling the toilet and adding the new vanity.

Bathroom-Composite

We all wanted a brighter orange wall color, but it would have clashed with the granite countertop.  It’s actually turned out rather more classy and grown-up than we’d intended, but it’s very pretty and I suppose we’ll manage.

Holiday Decorating 2011


When we pulled up in front of Bradbury’s Christmas Tree Farm, a boy in a red ball cap met us at the truck with a smile and a saw.   Bryan and Mandy choose our tree based on height, color and even-ness; I have veto power because I’m the one who notices when a tree’s trunk is so crooked it won’t fit well in the tree base.



Then it was home to put up the tree.  This year we recorded another time-lapse video (that’s it up top) of decorating the house.  And now we’re ready for the holiday season, full of music and food and naps and presents and friends

Mandy’s 14th Birthday

Mandy’s fourteenth birthday’s come and gone.  For breakfast, she got homemade waffles with strawberry syrup and whipped cream.  Her presents were practical this year – some clothes and shoes and a new bag for school.

Fourteen years into this, I have to say she’s a good kid for the most part – a little disorganized, a little lazy, a little thoughtless.  But when we think about the other teenagers I see, with their skin-tight shirts and their sneery attitudes and their noses in their text-phones, we’re glad we have her. She’s smart and funny and wise and cheerful.

Happy birthday, Mandy.  Let’s make this next year a good one, too.

Jingle Bell Jubilee Parade

Our Unicycle Support Group decided to ride in the Little Rock Christmas Parade this year.  Since we hadn’t thought to register separately, we just rode with the cyclists from BACA.  But we all wore green shirts and we made a sign.  (We forced the non-unicyling member of the Vire family to carry the sign, and he handled the task with aplomb and grace once we removed most of the tinsel.)

The parade was fun.  I rode a bike with panniers to hold the green and red beads (leftover from Mardi Gras 2010) we passed out to the people we rode past.  Mitch and his kids and Mandy and Luke did stars and hopped around and played tag and were just generally goofy.  Since we were between a float sponsored by a windshield company (complete with a grumpy-looking old lady in a plywood sleigh) and a handful of Quakers with “Peace on Earth” signs, people enjoyed having something funny to watch.  The parade was a success and we’ll do even better next year (when I can ride, too!)

NOLA Pukefest

We always look forward to our visit with New Orleans family at Thanksgiving time, and we always enjoy our time there.  Almost always.  Maybe not so much this time.  But we’ll get to that.

We arrived in Metairie at our usual 2am on Thanksgiving morning, after the long after-work drive from central Arkansas.  Hayduke and I got up early on Thursday for beignets and a trip to the dog park while Bryan and Mandy slept in, and then Hayduke went down the street to stay at Kevin’s house while the family enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner.  It’s such a treat to spend the day with family. Continue reading “NOLA Pukefest”

Ouachita Trail, Section 6

Ivy the Poodle has never gone backpacking, so we thought we should fix that problem.  Our unicycling friend Alyssa decided to make it her first backpacking trip as well.  We chose section six of the Ouachita Trail because it’s an easy hike with accessible water.  And on beginner trips, it’s nice to use a trail shelter and leave the tents at home.
What a pretty, pretty weekend!  It was warm and pleasant hiking; in fact, we had to stop along the way so that Jarion could adjust Kathy’s pants by cutting out the too-warm linings. Continue reading “Ouachita Trail, Section 6”

Caddo Valley Rail Line

We’re a member of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Bryan is one of their email lists that notifies interested people when a rail company files abandonment paperwork for a section of rail line.  Thousands of miles of rail have been abandoned in the last few decades, and most have seen their rails and crossties sold for scrap and their corridors sold piecemeal to adjacent landowners.  It’s handy for farmers and businessmen to have a little extra chunk of land, I suppose, but it means that the rail line can never be used again for anything of economic benefit to the whole community.

Rails to Trails aims to prevent this from happening.  They send out a notice, along with information on how to file paperwork to preserve the rail corridor for use as a trail.  It’s called “railbanking” and it’s a low-cost way for communities or organizations to preserve the corridor for a few months, so that they can make plans to use the space for a multi-use trail of some sort.  They can use the space for a trail, with the understanding that if it’s ever needed again for rail transport, it can be easily converted back to that use. Continue reading “Caddo Valley Rail Line”

ASMSA Open House

by Guest Blogger Mandy

Most people, by the eighth grade, have thought of the daunting prospect of what to do with their edjumacation, and, hello, I’m there. And as higher academics goes, while kids often day dream about college, I’ve been thinking about high school and I have discovered something, too. Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts (ASMSA), to me, seems a little shinier than Benton High School. Continue reading “ASMSA Open House”

Ozark Highlands Trail, Section 2

Last weekend we hiked the second section of the Ozark Highlands Trail, from White Rock Mountain to Cherry Bend, with our good friends Britt and Debbie.

The timing was perfect to celebrate Britt’s retirement.   After a long career caring for elephants in several states, and one last sad and frustrating year at the Little Rock zoo, he said good-bye to the animals on Thursday.  We hiked a few miles together on Friday, and then set up camp near a pretty stream. We made cherry cheesecakes and hung a makeshift “Happy Retirement” banner near the campfire and drank wine together in the dark.

Congratulations, friend.  You chose a career in something you loved, something that allowed you to work hard and keep learning.   You chose family over money and you chose moving forward over standing still.  You made animals’ lives better and you made people smile.  We’re looking forward to your next adventures, and we hope you’ll share some of them with us.