Author Archives: The500footBuddha

Fourth Foot

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Eddy managed to earn another foot, before the years end. That brings the grand total up to four plastic feet. In sort of related news Patty and I told Eddy that we thought it weird that he was wearing his school shoes and then having to change into his tennis shoes to do the walking. He agreed that it would be a better idea just to wear the tennis shoes to school, since he starts walking as soon as he gets there.

This should be the last foot of the year, but we will have to see. There still is another week and almost a half of school before Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Tree

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The Christmas tree was a little bit of a problem getting up this year. First a light went out at the top of the tree and there are no replacements, because the tree is very old. How old it is exactly is unknown, because the tree was in the basement when we moved into the house. A strong indication of the relative age of the tree is that the electrical plug on the lights, that are attached to the tree, are not grounded, which is to say that one plug is not larger than the other. This has been a standard for quite some time, and surely before the children were born.

New garland was purchased and new lights. The old lights were removed and thrown out. The new lights required an extension cable be run behind the tree. With the help of the children the tree was successfully put up and it does not look so bad. Here is hoping that 2012 is a better year and we will have the money to purchase a new, and better looking, tree for next Christmas.

Third Foot

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Eddy is not going to school any earlier than normal. Matter of fact, he has been having to wait for a ride, which is of course as opposed to riding his bike, to school due to a great deal of rain and cold weather. He might have actually been getting to school earlier than taking a ride when riding his bike. Despite this, he has managed to earn himself a third foot.

One thing Patty noticed was that he actually wears his school shoes to school, which means that he must get to the gym, change into his tennis shoes, and then change back into his school shoes when it is time to cross over into the other building to start school. Kind of just locked into a habit I suppose. He decided to get the neon orange foot this time, so it would seem that he is bound and determined to get every color available.

Eddy’s Confirmation

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To nobody’s surprise the actual preparation for Eddy’s Confirmation was extremely easy. All that was required was pressing some shirts, so that he would have a choice in what shirt he wanted to wear, and that was all there was to it. He wore one of my ties. He originally wanted to wear khaki pants, but I was fairly quick to dismiss that, and we were all prepared. Eddy looked pretty sharp. Eddy’s Confirmation was held at St. Paul’s Parish and Eddy’s Uncle Andrew was his sponsor.

Becky had to miss Eddy’s Confirmation, because she was running a marathon in Philadelphia. There is actually a fairly amusing story about car keys and Andrew leaving Pittsburgh, but I am not going to tell that story here. Eddy took the name “Anthony” who is the patron saint of, among other things, lost articles, which is sort of ironic considering the story I am not going to relate here.

Just as we did for Patty’s Confirmation we all went to another room, but instead of having cake and fruit punch they had cookies and cheese cubes. We were all very hungry, so instead of staying for that we just made sure to take a picture of Eddy with the bishop. The bishop of course is the same one who proceeded over Patty’s Confirmation. We all went out to eat and that was a very welcomed end to Eddy’s Confirmation.

Patty’s Confirmation

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I really do not know what happened here. This event actually occurred earlier this year. I honestly thought that the pictures and the event were already recorded on this website, and it became painfully obvious of my oversight when Eddy’s confirmation was taking place and I could not find anything. There was quite a bit of panic at first, because the pictures could not be found. The pictures have been found and I will do my best to recollect Patty’s Confirmation at St. Paul’s Parish.

It took weeks to find a dress and shoes for Patty’s Confirmation. It was very trying, as Patty had very high standards for what she would accept. Her Aunt Becky, and her sponsor, was a life saver in this respect as she took her out and found her the dress and the shoes for the Confirmation. She looked very pretty in her dress and shoes with heels. Patty took the confirmation name “Felicity” after Saint Felicity who is the patron saint of Mother’s. She took that name, because it is the same as her Grandmother’s.

When the Confirmation had concluded we had fruit punch and cake in the basement of St. Paul’s. That was good and then Becky insisted we all go out to dinner together. It was a very good end to a day of celebrating Patty’s Confirmation.

Dead Man Walking

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I remember posting something about how when Eddy and Patty were in the play last year, at St. Paul’s, that I thought for sure that Patty would attempt to do some acting this year at Archbishop Hoban High School. As it turns out, she is involved in the play, but not in the way I expected. She is playing the violin in the orchestra. The play is “Dead Man Walking” and she is playing in the orchestra on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Second Foot

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Eddy has yet another foot added to his foot necklace. This time the foot is blue, as you can no doubt tell by the picture, and I asked him why the first one was yellow and now he has a blue one. I knew it was not the school colors he was choosing from, and he said that he arbitrarily picked the first foot and the second and that there are many different colors to choose from.

It will be interesting to see what color is chosen next. Eddy getting about one foot every month or so, so at this rate it would not be entirely impossible for him to get one more before the end of 2011 and several more in 2012. I sort of wish that the sent the completed cards home. Might be neat to save them with photos.

Halloween 2011

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Patty and Eddy did not go trick or treating in the same area this year, but of course that is what happens when the kids get older and they want to go with their friends and they do not necessarily need to depend on you driving them to their trick or treat destination. Eddy went with his friend to Stow and Patty stayed with her friends in Akron. It did not snow this year, despite the fact that the temperatures have been dropping into the freezing range for the last couple days, but it did rain. Lucky for them neither one of them was caught in the rain.

I left out the hoodie Eddy was wearing and the coat that Patty was wearing for the pictures, but as always in Ohio, you have to dress in layers. There are only a few more pictures to be seen and as usual you can find those on the pictures page. I do not know how many years they have left to go trick or treating. I suppose when their friends stop they will as well.

Bunny

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There is a new addition to the house. The kids have named the bunny Cinnamon. My mother actually had a rabbit named Cinnamon. The rule on naming the rabbit was that they had to agree with whatever name they came up with, and that was what they agreed with. The kids have been wanting a pet. We have had hamsters and guinea pigs, but never a rabbit. This rabbit came to me absolutely free. Apparently, a friend of Rick’s is moving and where they are moving they are not permitted to have rabbits so they were more than happy to give them to a family where the rabbit would have kids to play with.

We have plenty of food, treats, bedding, and everything the rabbit could possibly need. The only thing left to do for us was to feed Cinnamon apples, carrots, and whatever else looks like she would enjoy. We are taking her out everyday to let her run around, but always cautious that she does not chew on any wires. We have been warned that rabbits enjoy doing that. We were so excited about the rabbit that we even took a video of her.

Fun on a Farm

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Rick invited Jo and I out to his Grandfather’s farm to shoot his father’s guns on a fairly sunny Saturday. I believe I have fired a shotgun before, but it had to have been a really long time ago, because I only have a vague memory of having done so. On that Saturday I would fire two different shotguns and a rifle. I certainly did not remember how loud guns are, but thankfully after you fire a few shots the sound does not seem to bother you as much. I am sure that is due to your temporary hearing loss.

We went way back into the woods and shot at trees and an empty plastic container that had previously been full of some concoction for luring deer. We learned how to properly and safely handle the firearms and generally speaking we did not miss what we were aiming to hit. It was extremely satisfying. Rick even had me throw the plastic jug into the air so that he could shoot it that way, and he managed to hit it twice with a shotgun before it hit the ground. I think the truth be told Jo is a better shot than I am.

When we were done shooting we went back to Rick’s father’s house and had a steak dinner, with baked potatoes, green beans, sweet peppers, and pie for dessert. We all got to eat as much as we could. It has been a while since I have had any food that did not come out of a box. We spent some time with his father and his stepmother in their amazing house and it was a really great way to end an amazing day. We also got to feed two cows and see their duck pond. The cows were not sleeping and I highly doubt we would have been permitted to tip one of them anyway.