Saturday Morning on the Appalachian Trail

Daniel's Cub Scout Pack went hiking on Roan Mountain this morning, so all four of us decided to tag along. It was cool and overcast, which was nice for the walking, but the cloud cover made it impossible to see any views of the mountains. Oh well - I got some good pictures anyway.

Angora goats. It's a long story.

We think we went all the way to Grassy Ridge Bald. I got pretty winded on some of the steeper inclines, but overall, we did OK. Good times.

Joy In Mudville

Can-O-Corn has won the World Series! It was a 7-game slugfest, but Benster came out on top with a 2006 Johan Santana taking down a 1997 Greg Maddox in the final game.

Good times.

Just Call Me Bill Nye the Science Guy

I just had a Fun With Science moment that I thought I would share.

Ben comes back from camp this year RAVING about nectarines. Tried them for the first time and threw down the gauntlet that they were actually better than peaches. I myself had never had nectarines (not sure how this happened, but it's true) but I could not believe that they surpassed peaches in their sweet, fruity goodness.

So I'm at the store this weekend, picking out more of Mac's Best, and notice a display of nectarines next door. I always try to encourage the kids to eat fruit, so I buy Ben a few of the better looking ones, and plan to try one myself.

A few minute ago, I tried my very first nectarine. It was AWESOME. Really, really sweet and juicy and delicious. And surprisingly peachlike. In fact, it tasted JUST LIKE a peach. So much so that I was compelled to research the difference.

Know what I found out? A nectarine IS a peach. A peach with no fuzz. Nectarines apparently carry a recessive gene that causes them to have smooth skin, and peaches carry the dominant gene that causes them to have fuzzy skin. Otherwise, they are the same.

Who knew?? Not me, that's who.

Can-O-Corn

Ben has a sim baseball team called Can-O-Corn. Earlier in the season, Can-O-Corn was in first place. Mark was reading the posts, and found that many of the posters were liberally using profanity, and just generally being gross. So Mark posts "Hey guys - Benster is 10 - how about keep the posts G-rated from here on out?" And the first response: "You mean we're getting our a%%$# kicked by a 10 year old?!?!?!?"

Fast forward to now. Can-O-Corn, ignoring every shred of advice Mark has offered all season, has swept the Championship Series and is in the World Series! One of the posters says: "Good luck 10 year old!" Ben responds: "Actually, I'm 11 now."

World Series play starts tomorrow - wish Benster luck!!

My Top Ten Favorite Games of All Time

So, I'm a board game person. I like video games, some of them at least, but they aren't my favorite. I love a good Friday night at home with the fam, playing a fun, challenging, and/or mildly competitive board game. In no particular order, these are the games that routinely come out of the box on game night at our house.


Apples to Apples is a good warm-up game. Easy to play, easy to stop playing, and really, really fun. Such a simple concept, but so ingenious.
I know it sounds pretty stupid, but Killer Bunnies is great fun. It can be competitive, if you play it right, but it can also be very random and party-game like. The object: kill Bunnies with a wild assortment of weapons (they range from nuclear warheads to kitchen whisks), and keep your Bunnies alive. This game has a million expansions, but none are worth the money except for the red deck and violet deck. Word of warning: as much as I love this game, it can be ruined by the wrong group of players. You need light-hearted, fun-loving, and not overly-analytical people. They can be competitive, but they can't think too much. Otherwise, it's a long, painful experience.
Days of Wonder is the best game company ever. EVER. The Ticket to Ride games have been their most successful, although they are beating a dead horse at this point with all the versions available. Our favorite is Ticket to Ride Europe. You are working on a map of Europe, with all country names in their native language, circa 1900. You learn some history and geography, if nothing else. The goal is to claim train tracks by trading in train cards and completing routes from one city to another. Great opportunities for shafting other players in this one, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.

I am amazed by the number of people, myself included, who say they dream about this game after the first time they play. Carcassonne is a tile-laying game, where you expand and complete roads, farms, and cities based on strategically placed tiles and "meeples" (I think this means "my peoples", but I can't be sure). This is a good one for younger kids if you are willing to let the rules slide and play cooperatively. If not, it can be cut-throat and the kiddies are better served going to bed early.
Blokus is the game that five-year-olds can dominate, and adults are challenged as well. You need four-players for it to work best, and each player takes a different color. You take turns getting your pieces on the board - they have to be anchored to existing pieces, touching at the corners only - and trying to block opponents from doing the same. Mark once had a perfect game, having no pieces left over and the single piece played last. He's never let us forget that amazing achievement.

Quiddler is a cross between Scrabble and Rummy. Seriously. They should have called it Scrummy.

I LOVE Puerto Rico. It's one of the few games I've ever played where no luck is involved. The only time luck comes into play is if someone sits to the left of an idiot, but it typically works to your advantage, so no one complains. No dice, no drawing cards. Just building, settling, shipping, and selling. And some other stuff. All in good ole Puerto Rico. Good times. Allow yourself a few plays before attempting to really know what's going on. Definitely too complicated for the kiddies.

Did I mention Days of Wonder makes awesome games? Memoir 44 is a two-player "recreate an actual WWII battle". Even I love this game, and I don't go for war games. Mark and I once played the Battle of Normandy 8 times before he was able to win with the Americans. He kept saying "But we really did win!!" while I kept picking his guys off in the water from the safety of my German bunker. Lots of expansions are becoming available for this game as well. Ben and Daniel both enjoy this one.

We bought Sword and Skull for Ben for Christmas one year, based solely on its being an Avalon Hill game (they make all the Axis and Allies games, if you're in to that.) This one is all about pirating, and it's really fun. You build up some street cred (or sea cred, in this case) and then you take on this big stud pirate. Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum.

I've blogged on this one before. Still my all-time fave. Also Days of Wonder. Good people over there at DOW.

Honorable Mentions: Mystery of the Abbey, Settlers of Catan, Heroclix, Niagara, Strat-O-Matic Baseball, Pirates Cove, Dos Rios.

FORE!

Today is D's last day of summer vacation. To make it special, Mark took the day off and took the boys golfing. They've played Par 3 courses before, but this was their first time playing nine holes on a real course. The Manny went along to make a clean foursome (and to drive a cart).

Cub Adventure Camp

For the second year in a row, we loaded up the fam and headed to Camp Davy Crockett for Cub Adventure Camp. Ben played the role of "Cool, elusive, older Boy Scout" and sat out of some of the events, but he joined right in for others. D did it all. I didn't actually check a temperature gauge, but I think it hit close to a million, with one thousand percent humidity. I just took the best shower I ever had in my whole life.

A couple of aquanauts enjoy the pool.

Frisbee Golf! Daniel went OB and landed one on the roof, but it was otherwise a good round.

Ooooooh. Fire.

Daniel shows off his acting chops in the crowd-pleasing "Brains for Sale" skit.

Our view from the chapel during the worship service this morning.

What I'm Reading Now

A Tale of Two Cities, by the man himself, Charles Dickens.

I'm reading this for three reasons:

1. Caryn recommended it.

2. It's being made into a Broadway musical, set to open in August or September.

3. I try to read a little Dickens once a year. (Not everybody does it, but everybody should.)

I have completed "Book the First" (I love that). I have to admit, it was way hard to follow at the beginning. It didn't help that I was always extremely tired when I picked it up. But as "Book the First" continued, and I got some rest, it became much clearer. I am happy to say I'm officially "into it".

On a side note, I had to put Wicked down for a while. I'm not saying I won't finish it, but I just had to take a break. It is so different from the story in the play, it's almost not even the same thing. And I like the story in the play (from how I understand it) much, much better.

Nana's Peach Pie

So, Food City actually had McBee peaches. They've had good peaches this season, but this is the first time they've had Mac's Best. I bought me up a mess and made a pie.

I used my mom's recipe:

5 cups of peaches (about 9), peeled and sliced
1/3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I used a heaping 1/4 teaspoon)

Mix together gently. I cheated and used a refrigerator roll-out crust. Put the bottom crust loosely in a 9-inch pie plate and pour in the peach mixture. Lay the top crust loosely over the peaches and crimp the sides. Dot with butter and sprinkle with sugar (I used cinnamon-sugar).

Bake at 450 for 35 minutes.

As you can see, I had a slight blow-out in the top right corner, and the edges burned.

I didn't let it cool anywhere near long enough - life is too short for cold pie - so it ran all over the plate. Not much to look at, but boy, was it good. Mac sure grows a good peach.

Thanks Mom!

Six Degrees of Derek Jeter

Here's something I bet you didn't know:

Derek Jeter's new teammate Brett Gardner drove in the winning run for the Yanks in last night's game against the dreaded Red Sox. Brett Gardner played college ball for the College of Charleston. His coach at the CoC was Scott Foxhall. Scott's lovely wife is none other than my PC buddy and pal, Laura (Ballenger).

Now that I count it up, that's only five degrees. I am so cool.

Happy Birthday Ben!

That's right - Ben-Jammin' is eleven years old today! It doesn't seem possible...

Still coming down from his camp high, we had a low-key celebration yesterday. He got lots of small gifts (T-shirts, DVDs, a bag o' baseballs, etc) which he is enjoying thoroughly. We went to see Wall-E (different - good, but different) in the afternoon and spent the evening watching School of Rock (great movie, that one). I made all of his favorites: roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, berries and whipped cream, and for dessert we had molten chocolate cake with homemade ice cream. The eating continues today with smoked ribs, BBQ beans, potato cakes, and chocolate chip pie. It is the weekend of Ben!

Happy Birthday, Ben! We love you!

Another Letter from Camp!

Better late than never, I say.