Jack O'Lanterns '14

As is tradition, Sunday night we started carving pumpkins for Halloween.  This year Sarah had us get a pumpkin for her boyfriend, so I got to carve an extra one.  I was rushed for time so I did three Sunday night, and the final two tonight (Tuesday).  That is borderline with how long they had to last but I think we'll make it.

First, Ali wanted to do an owl this year.  She had one picked out that I had to tell her was more of a sculpting picture than an actual cut out, jack-o-lantern.  I didn't think there would be enough rind left to support the weight of the pumpkin, so we found a different owl design that she liked.

Sarah picked out a design from the Disney movie Frozen, Olaf.  I actually liked it and it was pretty easy to do.

Caleb didn't have an idea of what he wanted so I searched around and found a cool design of a calavera (sugar skull for the celebration of Dia de los Muertos).  But both he and Sarah thought it was pretty girly, so he found a design of a grim reaper.  I wasn't so sure about it, and looking at it in the light I didn't really like it.  But when I turned out the light, it wasn't too bad.

Kris had a design picked out for hers, but she changed her mind when she saw the calavera she decided that was he one she wanted.  This was may favorite one this year.

Finally, we come to my pumpkin design.  Mine was the last one to be carved and I was running out of time as it was getting close to 10:00 and I just wanted to be done with it, so I just picked out a semi-scary face, though I wasn't wild about it.

And there you have the Hahn jack o'lanterns for 2014.  SPOOOOOOOOOOKY!

Tired of Leaves

It has only been a week since the leaves started falling and I am already getting sick of it.  I should be glad because the leaves are dropping quickly this year.  In prior years the leaves took so long to drop that one of the trees still have about 30%-40% still on the branches when the snow started falling.

This spring, I took off all the screens from the gutters because I needed to get all the crud cleaned out and it was just easier to do so.  But without putting them back on, every couple of days I need to go up and clean them out, because they get filled with leaves.  And in addition, I can't just take the leaf blower and blow them out, because with the rain we have had, there is water in the bottom of the gutters and the first time I tried it, I got splattered with dirty water, dead leaves, and other mud/decomposing material.  It was quite gross.  So now I have to go up and scoop the stuff out by hand. 

Just getting them out of the gutters is half of it too, since they are also getting blown into the flower beds and window wells.   So then I have to go around the house with the vacuum sucking them up being careful not to suck up any of the cocoa mulch.  Though I am sure I'll need to add more in the spring anyway.  I have been bagging them up to take to the landfill for composting just because it is easier, plus I have the permit to do it.  But with all the neighbors around me just dumping them in the street, whenever we get a good wind, they all end up in my flower beds.  So the village had better get around here quickly and pick them up, because I am not about to take all of the neighborhood's leaves to the landfill.

With any luck all the leaves will be down in a couple of weeks and I can be done with it for the year.

Dying Shrubs

While in the process of getting the leaves up, I decided to quickly trim out the shrubs in the front of the house.  The yews had a few fresh sprouts, and so did the barberry bushes.  Since it was still warm, I figured that it would still be OK to cut them back. 

But in addition to that I have noticed that over the course of the summer, two of the barberry bushes have been slowly dying.  It started with a branch where all the leaves were shriveling up, and I ended up cutting the dead branch off.  But every couple of weeks I have noticed another branch that was starting to shrivel up and die.

At first I had thought that the cause was from the rough winter we had last year.  So I thought that after cutting the dead stuff back it would take care of it.  But as it keeps getting more and more branches dying off, I am beginning to wonder if they have picked up some kind of disease.  The bad part would be that since all the bushes were planted at the same time, I don't know if I could find a replacement bush of the same size.  And if I can't that would mean having to cut down and dig up all six of them to make things look right. 

So I have done all the cutting back on the barberries (or would it be barberry bushes?) that I will for the year and we'll see how they manage the winter this year.  But I don't have a good feeling about things and that come springtime, I'll be deciding how to improve my curb appeal.

Started Winterizing

I have begun the annual tradition of prepping the house/yard for winter.  It started yesterday as just going up on the ladders to clean the leaves out of the gutters since I removed the gutter screens this year.once I finished, I had a small pile of leaves about two feet high, so that lead to the first raking of the year.  Then, once I figured I would rake, I decided that since it was pretty nice out that I would start getting all the flowers and hostas cut down.  Once all the plants were cut back, I thought I had better put the covers on the basement windows to keep all the falling leaves out of the window wells.  Unfortunately, I need to get one more for the window where the dryer vents out.  Every year that one needs to be replaced, and I think that it is because of the heat it gets exposed to.  The plastic becomes very brittle and will crack at the slightest bend or pressure.  So that is on the list of things yet to do.

I was actually planning on getting the trampoline taken down too, but I ran out of time since we had to get ready for a going away party for Kris's god-daughter who is shipping out to air force boot camp on Monday.  I thought I would get it done today (Sunday) but I took a break to actually watch the Packers game and by the time it was over I just didn't feel much like it.  I guess it will have to wait until next week.  I still have four or five other things on the list of things to do to prepare for winter, but at least I got a start on it.

PowderPuff Football

This year Sarah got to play in the annual girls powderpuff football game during homecoming week.  Apparently it's a big deal.  Every year the juniors play the seniors in a "flag" football game, but it is more like full contact flag football.  Sarah has been practicing for the last couple of weeks, and she actually is the starting nose tackle for the juniors.  I have no idea how they ended up deciding she should be the nose tackle, but she is.  And the girl she was supposed to split time with another girl, but she isn't playing now because she got a concussion in one of the last practices before the game.

The juniors actually ended up winning 21-20 for the first time ever.  Of course the seniors all cried and whined that the game was rigged against them, but the juniors all played very hard, and I think they deserved the win.  Sarah actually ended up with a fat lip on the deciding play of the game.  The seniors were trying for a 2-pt. conversion that would have put them ahead 22-21, and Sarah helped stuff it, which is how she got hit in the mouth.  It's a good thing she had her mouthguard in.

Note the name on Sarah's shirt.  They got it wrong.  It should say "GET IT HAHN", not "GET IT HANN".  Next year I'll have to come up with some better suggestions for her.

That's Holding!

This was the games deciding play.  Note Sarah getting a good push up front the help stuff the run.

There was a little pushing and shoving after the play that required the teachers/coaches who were reffing the game to get involved.

This is Sarah dabbing the blood from her fat lip.

Celebrating after the final gun.

Yep, that is definitely a fat lip.

Homecoming Week

This week is homecoming week in the Falls, so that means special, theme days at school all week. The middle school does the same thing as the high school so both Alison and Sarah will be dressing up this week.  Today, Alison has to dress like a boy. I forget what they are calling it but she I wearing basketball shorts, a football shirt, knee high athletic socks, etc.  I actually forgot to look an see what Sarah was wearing.

This year since Sarah is a junior she is going to be taking part in the annual Powder Puff football game.  It is a "flag" football game between the junior girls and senior girls and it is apparently a big deal.  From what I have heard about it, it is more like full-contact flag football.  

She has actually been practicing a couple of nights a week to the last two weeks.  Tonight she came home in tears because she is getting her butt kicked.  Initially she told me that she was playing middle linebacker but I found out that she is really playing nose tackle.  The girl she is going up against in practice I rather large and as at least 100 pounds on Sarah (though probably more like 150).  The girl is pretty much assaulting Sarah (and any other girls who get in her way) so she (Sarah) is getting really upset.  In fact, after practice tonight, one of the girls on defense went home with a black eye.  I can truthfully say that I would not be happy if my daughter came home with a shiner, especially during homecoming week.

It was also pretty rainy so Sarah was slipping and sliding all over on the wet grass with her tennis shoes.  When she told me about it I decided we needed to take a trip to the shoe store to get her some cleats.  It took a little bit of running around to find a pair that 1) weren't $80, 2) fit, and 3) were a decent color (meaning no neon colors).  It is a little late in the year to look for/buy cleats so there wasn't much of a selection, especially in girls' shoes.  But at least now she has a pair and since her feet have stopped growing she can keep them for a while.  Hopefully this will allow her to dig in a little bit and keep her from being pushed around so much.

Political Polling

You know it is election season is officially here when you start getting all the polling calls.  In the last two days we have gotten two calls, both asking for Kris, to poll who she was going to vote for and what issues are important to her.

Why am I not getting called for polls?  They always ask for Kris.  I wonder if they even care that I live in the house?  It's the whole war on women thing I bet.  We are just over a month out from the election and I am going to go out on a limb and say that Walker wins, by roughly the same margin as the recall.  Hopefully I'll get a call where I can tell them that.