It's High School Football Season Again

It's football season again, and Madeline's Senior year. The Johnnies got off to a tough start with a 21-20 loss to Granville. I think a kicker would help a lot.

12 hours of Ozzfest

First things first. I have a pretty good idea of who reads this, and I'm pretty sure there's one thing foremost on your mind: did Ozzy show up? The answer is yes. Ozzy was there and played a set.

Back to the story. I was at Ozzfest grilling $8 burgers and selling $4 soft drinks for 12 hours, earning $$ for Ohio Twistars, Madeline's competitive cheer squad. Man, it was brutally hot. Fortunately, our food stand was under a tent, and we had a humongous fan.

The people-watching couldn't be better. I've got to say, much of the heavy metal crowd puts a premium on fashion over comfort. I don't think I would spend a 95+ degree day in the sun, dressed head-to-toe in black. It wasn't long before most of the women were in bikini tops, and the guys were shirtless. Let me tell you, compared to this crowd, I am buff!

I saw some great ink - I never knew you could get such color, and some piercings that made me wince - but then, that's kind of the point, isn't it? I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback by how polite everyone was. Except for the belligerent drunks, the most tattooed and black clad of the bunch always said please, thank you, and have a nice night. Maybe it's the mid-west upbringing bleeding through all the leather.

One thing I could have done without was listening to the freak-show barkers push their extravaganza for 8 solid hours. I don't know how they do it. Their shpiel was pretty funny for the first 3 hours. "Come see the only man to live through stabbing himself in the neck with a rusty screwdriver! How does he do it? Why does he do it? See the rubber lady, who's so flexible, she can put her face, her entire face up her country and city boys alike will enjoy the spectacle! It's all on the inside!" They did have a very cool snake.

If I had to do it over again, I would have taken many, many more photos. There were beautiful tattoos. There were some outrageous outfits (like the guy in a head-to-toe rubber T-Rex suit). There were great venders (You don't even want to know what was on the T-shirts for sale at the I Love Vagina clothing booth). See you next year!

Back from the Beach

We just got back from our near-annual trip to the beach. The Kings Barbecue was fantastic. The weather was the best ever — a bit overcast with a nice breeze. The ocean was almost glassy smooth. Four generations under one roof was pretty special. We flew kites, Robin and Perrin went for a horseback ride on the beach, Madeline got a message. Is there anything better than walking on the beach at sunrise then taking a dip in the ocean?

Update! I figured out how to embed the slideshow of the family vacation pics right here, so you don't have to go anywhere else. (And you can click on the slideshow to view bigger photos.)