The Heinz 57 Entry

In my 8th grade metal shop and drafting class, Heinz 57 was the day that we didn't have new assignments and could work on projects that we were falling behind on. I've been told that I am falling behind on my blog. I thought that once every two months was fairly active. Guess I was wrong.

Most of the news I have now is anything but; however, I do have some pictures of the olds.

Jim and Jenni visit and we take the kids sledding:

Grandma Wheat and gingerbread houses

Grandma Wheat came down from Tacoma to visit us for Thanksgiving. It's always a treat for us when she can come down. The highlight for Judy is celebrating Black Friday with Sharon at all the big events. They've found some great deals over the years and bonded over snatching the last electronic gizmo from a slow mother-of-five shopper with sharp elbows (how's that for a tenderizing moment, Nick?) (Okay, I just made up that last part.) The highlight for the kids is decorating gingerbread houses.

This year, Judy decided that we'd save some money by making our own gingerbread instead of wimping out with those pre-made kits. This also let the kids let loose with their imagination. Taken as a whole, they turned out pretty good, if you don't try to psychoanalyze what it all might mean. And you need to realize that these were done mostly without input from Ethan.

This first house was designed by Grandma Wheat, Judy, and Kyle. It is your basic frame house with frosted-Sixlet tiles, gabled roof, Nerd-strewn path. In the front yard is a grill for barbecuing meat or smoking turkey. It all went fairly traditionally, until Kyle discovered the red frosting. Then a pine tree met an untimely death in the side yard. That is the traditional house.

Lia and Berrett's house was captured during a series of disturbing events. When they found that the Nicco Wafer didn't go as far as anticipated, they decided to simply burn the structure with cinnamon candies. Ethan decided that the roof was then a good place for the scorched gingerbread men.

Down below in the front yard, another mishap was occurring. The lumberjack didn't clear the area before chopping down the tree, and, oh, the horror!
And I think I'll leave it to Lia to explain what is happening behind the house during all this mayhem.

We may need to have a little talk.

Dad's been askin', so here are my calendar pictures:

Here's another picture from Brian. Shannon is the baby and the boy holding her is Lois' brother Kay. I assume this was taken somewhere in Menan. Maybe Mom can fill in some of the details.

Brian Berrett has been scanning his parents' slides lately and sent me a couple of pictures from way back. 1965.


I recognize the style of the chair and couch, but I remember them being a different color. Maybe I was color-blind as a kid. Or am I now? The lamp looks familiar, but what really got me is the end table. I have both of them in my house now and one of them is sitting right next to me. Sturdy things, aren't they?

So, which house from 1864 South is it taken in? I surely wouldn't know. Anything else you can tell from the pictures?

Halloween review

Yeah, it's been a long time. Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is imminent. I'll gladly take Thanksgiving over Halloween. Two days off beats dress-up and a bucket of candy any time. But it might be good to do a Halloween post-mortem to put it to rest and give Sherry something to look at next year.

This year we only had two kids dress up at any one time. We have a church party the Wednesday before Halloween that the kids go to. The young women/men direct different activities and games for the kids. That gave Lia an opportunity to dress up. She went goth/emo.


Kyle dressed up as a Jedi wolf with a clipboard so he could write out his Jedi plans.

Ethan went as a kid with a scooter (he decided he couldn't wait for us and left early on his scooter without dressing up). He got his come-uppance later when he was attacked by a rogue cup of raspberry slush and left the party as a victim of a random act of violence.

Does Ribbon Week ever end?

To answer the question in the title, no I suppose it shouldn't. We should encourage our kids to be drug-free and non-violent all year. Unfortunately, all but one of my kids take drugs daily and seem to enjoy fighting. If Ethan follows his current interests, he'll be a lead designer in the weapons industry by his mid twenties. I don't know what all that means.

Judy has been involved with Ribbon Week for the last three (four?) years. For both junior high and elementary school where are kids are (she can get discounted speakers that way). It isn't low-key. She arranges for a speaker for the assembly, organizes theme-activities, collects prizes and other donations from local businesses, and coordinates it all during the week. (She learned the first year to schedule it on the shortened UEA week {don't tell her I called it that, or she'll have the PTA brute squad beat me . . . non-violently}). And when you think it's all over, she writes and distributes surveys, thank you notes, and newsletter articles (guess where my expertise is used).

This year, on my suggestion, she arranged for Mike Schlappi to speak to the junior high. I thought it would be a good idea, first because he's an alumnus and second, he has a great story. I was a year behind him in school, so I didn't interact with him a great deal. I just remember that he was popular and cool. He was one of those who always stood out. When I played little-league football, I went up against him on the line one day--he was on offense, I on defense. During half-time my coach yelled at me because I wasn't getting past him. It was probably the next year when, during practice, someone came brought the news that he had just been shot. It was a shock and shut down practice. Things like that aren't supposed to happen to guys like Mike.

Mike shared the side of the story that I never saw, his depression and fractured self-esteem. But his character carried him through. You can read the article at http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/284247/17/. If you look close at the picture in the article (not on the blog), you'll see Judy front row, center. She also has a quote in the article. Judy gave him a box of Cap'n Crunch to show their appreciation to him (I think it's mentioned in the article). Overall, it was a great success, and they hope to have him come on a regular basis. But then, Judy has always been successful putting these types a of things together. But I'm looking forward to the day that it is all put away in boxes until next year.