What You Get When You Combine Rootbeer, Fear, and Exhaustion

I do apologize for not posting recently... This past Wednesday I traveled last minute down to West Virginia to visit my very good friend Olivia Howard. Some of you may remember a like visit last year in July/August. I was going to go on Thursday, but then we discovered that Mr. Clarke was in town, and going home that night! It would save plenty of gas for us. (The Clarkes only live 30 minutes from the Howards, and the distance from our house to the Clarkes is 3 hours... to the Howards, 3.5). So... having 15 minutes to pack, I did that.... and then...

(okay, short interruption for apology... I know I make long introductions! sorry!)

I went down to Southern Ohio with Mr. Clarke. We had a very interesting conversation that involved math/engineering, politics, government, prison, poor people, the abolition of the slave trade, history, and all sorts of stuff. :D It was very intelligent and fun.

So here I am at the Howards.

And now on to the actual post...

The Howards have a little apartment attached to their garage. It includes a kitchen/breakfast area, and then upstairs is the main room they use for schooling, or sewing, a library, bathroom, and a big bedroom. So during the time I'm here (till July 4) Olivia and I are staying in the apartment! The other day we bought rootbeer and ice-cream for - can you guess? Yup! rootbeer floats! So we had some one night... and then last night decided we needed more. There was enough ice-cream for us each to have one. We brought the stuff from the kitchen to the bedroom, and prepared and enjoyed them (thoroughly) there.

When I was little I watched a rather scary show on tv.... I don't need to go into specifics about it, but for years I had a dread of windows at night. I hated them... unless they had curtains or blinds. Even though I'm older now, whenever I pass by a dark window at night, it makes me nervous and giddy. What I saw when I was little terrified me to such an extent, that it never really went away.

Now, when we were done with the rootbeer floats, there was still a little more than a third of a 2 liter bottle of rootbeer left... It needed to go down to the fridge... but it was rather late, and Olivia and I both were exhausted from working in the garden all day... hauling 50 pound rocks from a creek up a hill to the car... plus a number of bricks... for landscaping... and a whole bunch of things.... In short, neither one of us felt up to getting up and taking the rootbeer downstairs to the fridge...

And also...

I was nervous about the windows....

"We'll just leave it and put it away in the morning," Olivia said.

"But Olivia... if we don't take it down, it will get flat, and lose it's fizz, and then tomorrow it won't be good!" I argued.

"Well... it's okay... just leave it..."

So I left it.

But after fifteen minutes, the bottle of rootbeer was bothering me. There wasn't any point in letting it get flat, was there? That would be a waste of good rootbeer!

What were we going to do?

...

I looked at the rootbeer. My martyrdom was drawing nigh. There was but one option, and one only (that we would consider) to save the rootbeer from flatting and that was....

to drink it myself.

I took a deep sigh as I submitted to my fate.

And then....

Drank all that was left of the rootbeer...

...experiencing the consequences all through the night.

Adrenalized With La Rochelle

So, yesterday Rachel came to visit! (Oh, and I call her La Rochelle because... I do...) Actually, she came up because she participated in something called National History Day. She wrote a paper about Thomas Edison, and went all the way to the State Competition, won first place, and is going to Nationals in Washington DC in June! Hurrah! But anyways, there was this reception for the National History Day people in Cleveland, and... uh... she came for it and took advantage of the opportunity by staying with us! (Hurrah, again!) Right now she's hugging me saying, "I'm so happy I got to stay with you guys!" What can I say!

So anyways, whenever we two are around each other, ever single care that we've had is entirely abandoned, because of the immense encouragement we are to each other. But this goes really far... I mean, we get not just hyper, but adrenalized. I've posted some pictures of her visit so far. As most of you know, she's an amazing photographer, and so I posted some examples of her amazingness. :P



Talk about red lips... :P

Isn't she sooooo cute??

Um, no comment?

Rachel seems to have a talent for taking pictures of people when they're in the middle of doing something... Like, chewing an apple. :p

My little boy Boo! :)

Okay, so the only reason that I posted this blurry picture is because one of my eyes is blue, and the other is green. I just thought that was weird/cool!

Aw...

This picture is amazing... She's so sweet and "innocent" in it... I just wish it was like that all the time. *huge wink*

I don't know what it is about Tirzah... She's so photogenic and I can't help posting pics of her. :)

And the only reason I post pictures of me is because this is *my* blog. ;)

I *love* Rachel's face! It's so classic!

Is that really what I look like when I read my emails?? I need to smile more. :P

On the way to the Western Reserve Historical Society for National History Day reception. :)

Wow... Talk about beautiful.

Okay, so I love this picture of Rachel. She hates it. :P

aw...

She's so unbelievably adorable...

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters...

LOL! Olivia's face is hilarious!

And WHY do I post embarrassing pictures of myself on my blog? I don't even know. My self-esteem level has dropped 40%.

MORE Brotherly/Sisterly Affection!!

Hmm...

A Sweet Little Girl

Cemeteries of Hickville

Today Rachel, Gabriel, Asher and I went on a confused ramble with the ultimate point of getting to an old graveyard. With every quarter mile or so we decided to change the direction we were taking. But we finally got there, after all. It wasn't even a cemetery, as you can see... Just a few graves scattered here and there, battered, old, unreadable, and probably forgotten by most people. They drifted from early 1800's to the 1900's. Gabriel immediately sobered down and observed, "It seems like we're being watched." Of course this was rather absurd, but we got that kind of feeling. I guess it was because we were on the top of a hill, surrounded by old barren trees, a bunch of dark clouds coming together, and the wind blowing ever so hard. But we did have fun after all, AND GUESS WHAT?! On the way home, it started raining really hard... And we weren't anywhere near the house at all. We got soaked, obviously. But that was really fun. :)

Gabriel meandering thoughtfully around with Asher "for protection against the ghosts" he said.

Okay okay... Gabriels the only one who really LOOKS like he's crying... Rachel and I don't really have a general idea of what we're trying to accomplish. :P

Explanation needed? Well... I was trying to fix my hair... Only place to hold my hat was... there. Gabriel thought maybe sitting on Asher would be fun. But he didn't end up doing it after all, despite of the picture.

"FINE RACHEL! BE THAT WAY!"

Little boy on a country road.

Just finishing telling Rachel what sort of place this really feels like.

Couldn't catch the full name, but this was our favorite grave. The poem underneath read:

"An obedient child,

A Sister dear

A faithful wife

Is slumbering here."

Studying the graves... Trying to read the dates, but this one was so weatherbeaten it was almost just a blank stone.

"Guys... Is this place haunted?"

Good ol' Asher.

He's straying from the straight and narrow path....

Rachel and I.

I really like this picture. She was laughing at... *cough*... Gabriel. He gave us enough to laugh at. :P

No comment.

"Oh, no, I'm not related to him at all. Really... I'm not." :P My wonderful brother...

I get really happy in the country.

We didn't plan that.

"Hi kids!"

Happy Birthday Rachel!!!

(Because, you know, today IS her 14th birthday!)

Traditional Photoshoots

I LOVE THOSE KITTENS!

Random.

Rachel arranged my hair for me... She told me it looked good, and like an idiot, I believed her. :P

Rachel enjoys practicing her photography skills on me, since she's constantly doing it to her siblings, and they get tired of it. :P It's fun though... I mean... all those bad pictures. :P

A Baby!!

Today was Natalie's 7th birthday party! She had a few friends over, and among them were three girls who had a new born baby sister... Eliza Kneirim. I think she's two months old. Anyhow, we took some pictures. :) And... well... y'all know how I feel about babies. :D She was so cute--absolutely adorable.