The submersible gator-cage ravenously chomped the extruded hull.
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Slightly edited to make tense, etc., consistent.
Just before dawn, he, not troubled or indecisive, set out for the office in an old Honda carrying the loaded rifle. It would would have been a stretch to call the car beautiful the day it rolled off the assembly line, when its utilitarian lines were still new and the gleaming paint politely but firmly proclaimed its reliability and efficiency; the subsequent years of hard service under a careless hand had left it in such a deplorable state of appearance that it was only possible to believe that the vehicle’s operator was attached to the machine beyond reason- it was only a mystery as to whether the bonds were forged from love or hatred. A closer inspection of the inside of the hapless heap evoked memories of family road trips; stitches fray from the two-spoke steering wheel, escaping their leather bonds only to be further unraveled by massive hands white-knuckling 10 and 2 o’clock – hand over hand over hand, he can smell Kentucky in August, he can see the worn steel rim set free. Off in the distance, he can make out a column of smoke wriggling skyward, rising out of the approaching hills like a cobra rearing its sinister head from the charmer’s basket, dark and foreboding. Whatever failure, joy, misery, or triumph that menacing pillar might portend is inconsequential, for the time to weigh options has passed. His memories felt foreign but the only thought, a gut feeling was “Damn the Pillar. Only forward”, and so he did.
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The blonde bartender, beautiful and nice with a heavy accent, is missing a front tooth, and that gives this SF Irish pub extra charm. Outside, frost was beginning to settle on the rooftops and the last cab of the night was pulling away, abandoning all hope of securing a final fare. The moonlight was relentless, starkly illuminating the remaining options for the man staring through the glass. He realized his life was full of contradictions, sighed an exhausted smoke ring from his corn cob pipe, and scratched angrily at his 2 month beard. He threw the pipe, rattling noisily across the tiled floor, and pulled from his pocket an unfamiliar looking crumpled piece of paper.
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Gabe checking out the bed of nails at [Museum of Discovery] . Graydon was an interested bystander, but could not be talked into actually checking it out.
This was a request from one of the teachers at Gabe’s school. My original goal was to make it completely from scraps, but the relatively large size nixed that plan. Birch plywood for the outer case and a hardboard back were purchased, the rest was repurposed from scrap on hand.
I put Gabe to work- he was an excellent helper on this one:
I had to help the box joints out some, which didn’t make for lines as crisp as I wanted, but it worked out overall:
I was pleased with the plywood banding I use on the front face of the case. I tried an iron-on variety and it went together well and the material match is very good. I used boiled linseed oil as a barely there finish.
This year Gabe decided everyone was going to be Star Wars themed for Halloween. Graydon didn’t object, and Charlie chirped and cooed, which was deemed to be agreement.
Gabe as Anakin Skywalker. It was practically impossible to get any shots of him where he wasn’t in motion.
Queen Amidala and Yoda, along with the lovely wife and Grandpa Roy.
Cousin Rosemary is at her Tinkerbell best while Graydon gets her Queen Amidala on, while also trying to flash gang signs. My thoroughly un-gangsterish kids have a habit of throwing signs.
Charlie was really quite good at Yoda…
…she even looked believable toddling around!
For the door-to-door trick or treating, we went with a hayride this year. My small trailer and some hay bales, combined with a neighbor’s 4-wheeler did the trick. We ended up with about a dozen kids- they all seemed to dig it:
Charlie’s first birthday weekend was a lot of fun. Birthday presents from Virginia arrived first, so we sent the big kids outside and let CK open her presents without being mobbed by her siblings:
as always, click on a pic to go super size
Little People (the Fisher Price toys, not the folks of short stature) and Little Books!
Charlie is a huge fan of classic literature…
…because it tastes so good! Actually, she is a huge fan of books, she’ll sit all by herself and flip through books and magazines. She occasionally will chew on a book that she particularly likes.
Smashcake time!
The lovely wife made cupcakes for the family and Charlie got her own smashcake so she could get smashy. Charlie was totally not expecting to get her own smashcake, she was taken by surprise:
She got off to a slow start:
It looked to me like a few pro tips were in order:
She figured it out:
Grand smashcake finale:
Also in attendance as cupcake eaters: Cousin Rosemary
Gabe
Graydon
When we moved into our house, we loved the location and the potential. Some things we were not quite as excited about. The inside of our house wasn’t much our style, so we’ve change some things here and there. This is one of those things:
