I Ain't Eatin' That

Another great morning at KidPak!  I was hesitant about repeating a skit from last summer, but if it's good, why not?  This is a musical skit, a choreographed story that I created using AI.  It's a song about the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den, a song called "I Ain't Eatin' That."

It was super fun, particularly having all those band members marching out and doing a bit of a goofy dance - all while dressed up as food!

And the rest of the morning was really good too, of course.  We had all kinds of fun games, and yet another powerful morning of worship.  The message was about Daniel and standing with faith, and all was well again in KidPak.  A great morning, and Maddie took a lot of good pictures to share, some of which you can see here on this entry.

Oh, and another thing about this morning.  We're doing a "Hall of Faith" series about Bible heroes, some of which mentioned in Hebrews 11.  We had these corinthian pillars just left in our hallway by another ministry recently, so Mom came up with this idea to create these marble busts of Bible heroes to put atop the pillars.  I used AI again to create the images, and sent them off to be printed on a thicker material so they would stand up against these styrofoam blocks also on the top there.  All together, these look really good!

Fun idea!  We'll be talking about some of these heroes throughout the month.  I can't believe we're at Summer Xtreme in a little over a month.  Wow!

So we got home after church, and had a nice meal together.  Mom made delicious spaghetti - the tomato sauce she makes is legendary!  That was so good, and we were watching the Braves play again about that time.  They were doing a Sunday afternoon match with the Pirates, the last in the series.  They were going for the sweep, and that was a close game - but the Braves won, thanks to a huge well-timed double from Michael Harris II.  Super exciting!

Here's our hydroponics garden, already sprouting a bit in places, although you can't see that from these pictures.  Mom and I pulled off those plastic lids to peek in, and sure enough, you can see the seeds sprouting already.  So exciting!

The rest of the day was relaxing, although I was marching along virtually up Mt. Everest.  I have the incline up and the speed about normal, though I'll get all that increased as I move along.  Regardless, I'm approaching the halfway point up the mountain.  I was watching this "Ultimate Everest" show while walking along.  

This is a deep dive into learning about the ascent up this mountain, although I've read a lot about it in the past, so I'm familiar with landmarks and challenges.  This has been a deeper look though, and it's pretty amazing.  Getting to the top - believe it or not - is something I would have tried if I was younger.  The only thing that scares me is honestly the oxygen and air pressure.  It just seems so unpredictable what that height above 8,000 meters will do to your brain.  But seeing those few people all banded together at the top of the world like that fills me with a sense of joy.  I remember being atop Guadalupe Peak in Texas after a long climb, and it was just me and Nana there atop Texas.  It was a thrilling hike, and it was a little steep in places and by no means anywhere near the difficulty of an actual climb up a Himalayan Peak.  But nevertheless, the isolation and the view from atop a mountain is just a magnificent thing.  I loved it.

Moving on, I watered all our new plants today, and rain is coming soon so hopefully I won't need to do that tomorrow.  We watched a few episodes of "Ahsoka" tonight, and will probably finish that tomorrow because there's no ballgame tomorrow.  And tonight, we read from "Snuff" some more, and we should wrap up this week, just in time for the World Cup in in Atlanta next week.  We'll probably tackle that Disworld soccer-themed book next, partly because of the World Cup, but also because it's a book that's tied to a National Year of Reading campaign - the publisher is giving away 10,000 copies of the book to promote reading time.  I already have a copy, of course, and I read this one about twenty years ago.  Nevertheless, I think that's the next one on the list to read, and as a bonus, Rincewind has a small part in it.  Haven't heard from our favorite wizard in a while.  Or rather, "Wizzard."  

Anyway, we said our prayers after reading, and after that, it was time for some sleep.  It's been a good, full day!

Hydroponics Garden

 

We started a hydroponic garden today, something that I've always wanted to try out.  You can see Mom carefully placing the tiny seeds into the different pods.  Step one is filling the tank there with water, and a carefully measured amount of nutrients.  The plastic baskets contain these soil cones, and next you see Mom doing the placement of those lettuce seeds.  We're doing three different kinds of lettuce and some arugula, some easy items to start out with when trying this for the first time.

Next step is covering the openings there to limit the light into the slots there, because more light will cause the growth of algae in the nutrient-rich water below.  And then there's the plastic caps that help contain humidity and heat as these little seeds start their growth.  

"Just make believe... you're a tiny little seed... a tiny little seed that's reaching up to meet your need..."  I was at EPCOT for the opening season in Orlando, and I remember visiting the pavilion for "The Land," and I'll always remember the hydroponic plants there and thinking how cool it would be to do that in our own house. 

Anyway, you can see the gauge that shows the water level here, and of course the light setting is on for seed growth.  That light is programmed to show for sixteen hours, and it turns on and off automatically each day at particular hours.  There's a phone ap that helps you keep up with the progress, lighting and so forth, and so here we go!  We'll have fun looking at these plants grow the next few days.

So Maddie was with Nate's family today, celebrating Nate's grandfather's birthday.  She got back later on tonight as we were re-watching some of the series "Ahsoka."  Earlier, we had the Braves game on, and we watched Atlanta win yet again, which meant that they won another series.

I'm still climbing Mt. Everest, virtually of course.  But in the meantime, the medal from my last virtual walk just came in the mail.

Pretty cool stuff!  It came with a smaller pin, one celebrating the fifth of these medals total.  This makes six now:  Scooby Doo, Thanksgiving, Elvis, Forbidden City, Dublin, and the Moon.  This trek up Mt. Everest continues, made even more fun when watching some of these Mt. Everest episodes.

We've had such a huge amount of birds with us on the back deck.  We've had a lot of fledglings there.  There's been a fledgling robin that's been with us, but our favorite lately has been this really, really young bluebird.

That's the bluebird family.  And here's that fledgling robin that also just dropped by. He's been here for about two weeks now, so he's getting older.  But he's still welcome here at the back deck!

It's been a great day.  We closed things down with several pages from "Snuff," that Discworld book.  Commander Vimes has saved the day again, or possibly - there's some smugglers to chase after, and of course a terrible villain to hunt down.  

We said our prayers after reading, and it was time for bed.  Got to get up early for church tomorrow!

National Doughnut Day

 It's National Doughnut Day!  We actually made a special stop for some of these gluten-free doughnuts at a grocery store in Cumming, waiting until everyone was together tonight to get that tasty snack.  I still spell the word "doughnut," but it seems as if "donut" is acceptable too.  I think that's society getting lazy!  Nevertheless, these chocolate donuts are pretty delicious!

Earlier today we had an appointment with Doc Williams, our chiropractor, and that's always a pleasant trip.  We got right in and did some catching up and of course got our adjustments too.  We've been visiting Doc Williams for quite some time now, haven't we?

And after that, it was off to Texas Roadhouse for some lunch!  Maddie loves - loves - the rolls they have there.  She moves so fast on those I literally didn't notice that she had already eaten two essentially the moment we all sat down.  It was a good visit, with all three of us really enjoying that meal.  Mom and Maddie got their usual six-ounce sirloin, although Mom goes for medium rare while Maddie has hers well done.  I get a steak salad, medium rare, which is really good.

Tonight we had a big event at KidPak, an occasion where entire families could enjoy a fun Friday night service at KidPak.  We set up a standard sort of service with a skit and everything - I did a mad-lib that involved parents, and some "mighty men" dads doing some goofy things on the stage.  All in all it was a good night!

So we've had these pillars in the hallway, and not quite sure what to do with them.  Someone was trying to remove them, and then we started to think about our "Hall of Faith" series in June.  That's when Mom came up with an idea to put images up on top of the pillars, images of various Bible heroes.  So I went to AI of course, and we got with a local printer (who is amazing) and we made these busts on pedestals.  I think the only thing we need now is perhaps a label so the audience will know who is who up there.  But this was a great idea from Mom!

And that leads us to baseball of course.  The Braves won yet again, still the best record in baseball and still powering forward.  Tonight's hero was Mauricio Dubon, who homered yet again and has just made a huge statement to us in Atlanta that this guy needs to be voted in for the All-Star Game, no question.  I'm very opinionated about this, but his defense on the field and his clutch hits behind the plate have made him literally an "all" star, as he plays various positions on the field and still hits behind the plate so well. 

We read from our book tonight, and said our prayers.  Mom and I do these puzzles each day for fun before bed, just some challenging word games:  there's Wordle, of course.  And there's a game called "Connections" that gives you sixteen words and a goal of finding groups of four that are connected in some way.  There's a mini-word search that's often a bit of a challenge, and then finally there's "Strands," somewhat of a word search where letters don't exactly go along in horizontal or vertical lines, but in fact twist and wind about.  Anyway, we've been doing that each day, and it's a pleasant diversion.  That and reading each night too. 

Oh, and speaking of daily things, I'm still marching up Mt. Everest.  Virtually, of course.  The virtual walk has been all about getting to base camp, but the stuff I'm watching online right is a little further along, a lot of acclimatizing to the elevation.  It takes a good bit to get used to that extremely high altitude.  It's been pretty awesome.

Okay, it's time for some sleep now.  We've got a quiet day tomorrow.  There's things to do, but nothing demanding.  We'll get a good night's rest.

Semiquincentennial Snack

Here it is, a semiquincentennial brownie with ice cream on top that's just one perfect way to celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary!  Today Mom and I were over at Cracker Barrel in Braselton, all part of our journey down there to the campus to get some props ready for this weekend. 

Of course, they're doing the same thing down in Braselton's KidPak too, so things are lining up for a great weekend with "Heroes of the Bible."

Here's a post-card I got from the journey up Mt. Everest, starting down at the Namche Bazaar.  It's quite a distance to go just to get to base camp, but it's an amazing journey.  I've been watching a few different ongoing documentaries about the journey, all while I walk along at an inclined walk.  It's a shorter journey than that virtual moonwalk, but it's been pretty fun.

Here's an update on the small garden outside - I was watering that this afternoon.  The weather is drying out somewhat, and the temperature is rising in the afternoons, although it's still kind of cool in the mornings and evenings.  Really nice porch weather!  Here's some pictures of some blooming roses in our back yard:

Maddie drove to taekwondo tonight, and that was a good class of course.  She's helping a lot of the other students and is really kind to the little ones.  She's somewhat of a hero with a "good aura."  She's also legendary because she "cut her neck off," which is how things sort of got translated from the accident a few years ago.  Funny how kids talk!

We got home to watch the Braves fall to the Blue Jays, but even in defeat there is a lot of fun at the games.  For one, we did score a few runs.  And then there was this moment here:

It's this weird shirtless movement that's going on all across MLB, which started out in St. Louis I think.  One of the commentators was out there in this massive section in the upper deck area, dressed as a patriot right in the middle of them when Dubon hit a home run, which is about when this image was captured. 

We continued reading tonight, and the adventure is clearly on this runaway steamboat vessel.  Things are going crazy down river, with plenty of danger sweeping in from behind, plus all kinds of danger onboard.  It's been a fun read, one we'll continue tomorrow night.  Okay, time to get some sleep. It's been a good day!

Angry Chocolate Pudding

 

Mom made us some great chocolate pudding with bananas in it, and of course I saw a face in there.  It looks like that scrunched up facial expression of Vigo the Carpathian in "Ghostbusters II."  He never stood a chance, because I ate him.  

Speaking of not standing a chance, the Blue Jays lost to the Braves tonight, thanks to some big home runs from Dubon and Harris II.  One of our favorite things to see after the game - mainly because it happens when they win - is the little dance motion the outfielders do as they gather together.

There is a fun energy to this team that we find really addictive!  We have only missed a few games this year, and those were while we were on the Disney Cruise earlier.  But we've even watched all those Spring Training games, and we've just loved watching this team roll on.  They beat the Blue Jays 7-3 tonight, winning yet another series and keeping ahead of the nearest division rival by a whopping nine games - already.  We've been nine games ahead since early in the season, winning and winning and winning.

Okay, so today was a quiet day.  We had a big Summer Xtreme meeting, and I've been doing voice work for an animated movie we're doing that week.  We didn't do much outside of work today - Mom's been cleaning up the house, getting some gardening in and doing a lot around the house, as always.  

Tonight we read from our book, still moving towards that big end there.  Commander Vimes has jumped on a steamboat and there's a big storm on the river, and there's bad guys and there's goblins to rescue... it's quite an adventure to wrap up his last story.  We said our prayers after this, and yep, it was time for the Plush Entourage to get tucked in and get everyone to sleep.

BravesVision Hat Shuffle Game

It's Number One!  Again!

Okay, if there is one flaw with BravesVision, it's this game right here.  First of all, I usually love this game.  We all do.  When we see this game on the screens at the stadium, everyone screams and cheers for whatever answer they think it may be.  The hats shuffle around, and the question is which one has the baseball under it after they've all mixed themselves up?  

Well, if you have BravesVision, you already know the answer:  it's hat number one!  It's always hat number one.  We've seen about four times total this season where it isn't hat number one.  But it's funny: the moment this game shows up on our screens, Maddie and I scream out, "It's under hat number one!"  And sure enough, it always is, pretty much 99% of the time.  In fact, I actually don't remember the last time it was under any other hat.  Again, this is my sole complaint right now, because the games have been a blast to watch this year.  The broadcasting crew has been a lot of fun, and the quality of the shots has been so good - it's like you're there sometimes.  We love the aerial shots from the drone footage, and the coverage of different stadiums is just wonderful.  The interviews with players are great, and we even tune in early to see the pre-show material and the post-game conversations, even if the team loses, which isn't that often.

Case in point:  tonight the Braves defeated the Toronto Blue Jays.  Of course, we're sort of kicking a team while it's down (The Jays aren't doing well to start this year).  But given that this team kicked us when we were down in 1992, and that little bit about adjusting air currents in the dome while the game was being played... well, it was almost therapeutic beating the Blue Jays tonight.  

I cheer for the Blue Jays from time to time, and even have one of their caps.  Unless they are facing the Braves of course!  BUT... last year when Canadians were booing the American flag, I was a little stirred up against them canucks!  I think that's all in the past now:  Canada lost all the ice hockey gold medal games for the Olympics and Paralympics - to the USA.  I think that sort of made up for things a bit.  Yep, we're even.  I think I'll let go of my "Boo Canada" phase.  

Or... at least I'll let go of it after the Blue Jays leave town here .  For now, it was great seeing Matt Olson send a moonshot home run into the stratosphere, and just great watching the team get shut down.  Go Braves!  Hopefully we can win again tomorrow and win yet another series.

Moving on, here's Maddie making herself a dang quesidilla.  Actually, she usually makes a few of these when she's so inclined!  Oh, and here's an update on our Chia pets, both doing well!

They're doing great!  I suck up the water in the plate and put it back in the hole at the top, then add more water to keep it all full and hydrated.  The plants are doing just fine.  And so is our garden outside, actually.  We've got some great things growing outside, and soon enough we'll have that hydroponics set going inside too.

So tonight we read some from the Discworld, moving along with our story.  Commander Vimes is chasing down a riverboat, and that's where the we finally see some of the imagery that's on the cover of this book.  It's been a good read though!  We read that a bit, and then said our prayers - and then it was time for some sleep.

Spider-Noir

We finished "Spider-Noir" tonight, wrapping up that old school adventure with the final two episodes.  Not too bad, and certainly a little different.  No ball game tonight, so it was on to Spider-Man.  The interpretations of certain villains was kind of fun, namely Tombstone, Electro and of course Sandman.  The noir dialogue was great too, but the highlight was definitely the cinematography.  This was a fun series! 

So Maddie did have taekwondo tonight, and she drove there of course.  Nate was there too, and this Monday night class is a bit longer than the others, given that there are a few classes tied together.  I was there reading and writing a bit while Maddie was kicking and twirling around that staff.  She's doing well with that - I think there's a new competition coming up this summer, though obviously not the Battle of Atlanta.  I think the team may be done with that one for a season.

Today I had a good bit of cleaning done with the teeth, as did Mom.  Nothing terribly eventful there, except the fact that both Mom and I have some procedures coming up soon.  Mom has to have the final bits done on her teeth, and I have to have one completely removed.  I've been dealing with an ongoing head infection for the past two years now, and me and this tooth just aren't working out.  The idea is to get rid of the tooth, and wait for four months to allow the whole area to heal up.  It'll be a bit of an ongoing story - I've been sort of suffering with this for a good bit.  And it'll be good to have this done for Mom too, as she has some final bits to get finished up with her teeth.  Still... all the $$$.... it's a lot.

Walking up Mt. Everest - virtually of course.  That's the latest virtual walk here, incline walking on that treadmill.  I've been watching episodes of this one reality show that follows a team up the mountain, and it's been great seeing some of these challenging locations that I've only read about, starting with the Khumbu Icefall and the Lhotse Face.  These are insane challenges, and just the start of the ascent up Mt. Everest, but the most challenging parts involve acclimatizing and staying healthy.  And, of course, the sudden changes in climate.  It's always fascinated me ever since I read that book "Into Thin Air" some time ago.

Okay, moving on!  Tonight we read more from our book "Snuff," the latest Discworld book.  We're following another Nac Mac Feegle named Wee Mad Arthur, and it's refreshing to read about one of these guys again.  This tiny angry leprechaun character just took down several bad guys that underestimated him, which is generally what happens when you encounter a Nac Mac Feegle.  We're moving along with our story, and it's been fun.

We said our prayers afterwards, and then it was time for a good night's rest!