Archive for Shannon

This ‘n’ That

August 30, 2010 · Filed under Brendan, Cheryl, Miscellany, Shannon · Tagged , , ,

The end of August is upon us and Autumn is fast approaching, so I guess it’s time I posted another update before the leaves start to change.

School has been going good for the kids thus far. Shannon’s class load is pretty intense this year, with 5 out of her six hours consisting of AP and Honors courses. She tried running some of her endothermic equations by me last night and I can honestly say that there was little I could do but shrug my shoulders…lol.

As for Brendan, he’s doing equally good with his classes. For the first time in his educational career, he breaks out the books as soon as he gets home and finishes up his homework without being prodded. Ninth grade has definitely been a turn-around year for him so far. In addition to his academic classes, he’s a member of Junior ROTC and really eating that up. So much so, in fact, that he’s now a member of the Civil Air Patrol in Lexington. It’s amazing how enthusiastically he’s taken to all of the marching and drilling. Since Brendan is so fully embracing the CAP, I’ve also been volunteering my time to the organization. Not much in the way of excitement has been going on with that as of yet, but it’s a small squadron and going through some growing pains.

This past weekend brought a breakthrough for Cheryl and Star, and that’s probably the most noteworthy event we’ve had over the past couple of weeks. Some friends from Howell came down for the weekend and one of the girls – Dani – is a trainer that Cheryl really respects. On Saturday, Dani and Cheryl worked with Star to gauge his interest in being ridden. It wasn’t long at all before Dani gave Cheryl the green light and, for the first time, she hopped up on Star and walked him around the pasture for a bit. Star was absolutely perfect and amazingly well-behaved. For the longest time we thought that Star was just going to be a pasture ornament, too hot to be ridden by anyone but a trainer or a jockey. Cheryl’s patient work with him over the last year has really brought him around and made this moment possible. With more work, and a dose of professional training, I’m confident that Star will be the trail horse that Cheryl has hoped that he could be.

Cheryl and Star embarking on their firts ride together

The high school football season got underway on Friday, though it was with an embarrassing loss to Clay County. Unfortunately I was not able to attend the game, though the kids went with Dani and her brother – introducing them to how we do football down here in Kentucky. Instead of accompanying the kids to the game, Cheryl and I ventured into Lexington with Dani’s mom for a delicious dinner at the Mongolian BBQ. We really enjoyed catching up and the visit was a really nice treat, especially for Cheryl.

So that’s really been all the excitement here on the farm. We’ve been in a drought, so the foliage is nice and droopy and the grass has taken on a distinctly brownish appearance. Despite the garden being done for the year, a marauding groundhog met the business end of my rifle the other day. Gotta keep those varmints in check…lol.

We have some big plans for the coming weekends, so don’t be surprised if I post more than twice a month!

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Summer’s End

August 9, 2010 · Filed under Brendan, Farming, Shannon · Tagged , , ,

It’s not officially the end of summer, of course, but I consider the season to be over when the kids head back to school.  So from that perspective, summer ends tomorrow.  Tonight we headed on over to the high school so the kids can scurry about and find their various classrooms.  Shannon already knew, pretty much, where her classrooms are but this will be Brendan’s first year in the high school.  This past Friday he spent the morning there for the JROTC meet-and-greet, at which he seems to have had a pretty good time.  Besides that class, the rest of his schedule is made up of the typical reading, writing, ‘rithmatic sort of stuff.  Most of Shannon’s schedule is made up of AP and Honors classes, but she somehow ended up with one hour of Floral Design.  I guess she was trying to get onto the yearbook staff and that didn’t work out, so she had this particular class listed as sort of a “joke” alternate.  Looks like the joke’s on her…lol.

As for the garden…meh.  The raccoons completely devastated our corn.  Nary an ear remains.  The vast majority of the peppers succumbed to pests, as did a lot of the tomatoes.  We tried applying an organic pesticidal soap, but it appears to have been too little too late.  The plants produced plenty, but very little actually made it to a ripened state.  Cheryl and I have been discussing strategies for next year, and I think we’re going to go in a radically different direction than the two previous seasons.  I’ll post more about that once we solidify those plans.  On the bright side, we’ve been overwhelmed by a large variety of squash…lol.  Some are unbelievably huge, so we must be doing something right!

The various squash retrieved from the garden

Overall the summer of 2010 has been unremarkable.  No vacations, little success in the garden…it should come as no surprise why there hasn’t been a lot of blog activity lately – nothing to blog about!

Some of our tomato yield. The Lumpy Reds are lumpy, but not so red.

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Starting a New Workout

June 11, 2010 · Filed under Cheryl, Shannon · Tagged ,

Cheryl and Shannon have made a pact to tackle the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout this summer.  For Shannon, it’s all about toning.  She’s been active all winter and spring with her track activities and wants to maintain her level of fitness.  Cheryl’s goal is to reach her target weight and restore her stamina, and with Shannon as her self-appointed personal trainer those goals are very achievable before the end of summer.

Yesterday, the first day of summer vacation for the kids, the girls hit their workout with considerable enthusiasm.  Today they were back at it first thing, though it was quite clear that both were experiencing painful protests from their muscles.

So where’s the update on my workout, you ask?  Well, I admire the girls’ commitment and desire to dive in and achieve their goals….as I sit here in front of the computer (or on my La-Z-Boy) drinking Mountain Dew and eating a Hot Pocket.

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Catching Up…Again

June 2, 2010 · Filed under Farming, Miscellany, Shannon · Tagged , ,

While this blog has certainly been frozen in time, life on the farm definitely hasn’t been.  Much has happened over the course of the last month and a half, and due entirely to my lack of blogish motivation none of it has been shared here.

First and foremost, of course, would be the status of the garden.  The fields have been tilled, retilled, and tilled again in preparation for the seeds and transplants.  All are in but for a handful of pepper and tomatillo plants that were started a bit later than the rest.  Our corn, both sweet and popping, is coming along nicely as is the broccoli, cabbage, sweet potatoes and onions.  In early may we were subjected to somewhat of a deluge, receiving over 7 inches of rain in about 36 hours, but since then the farm has been high and dry.  The temperatures have recently been hovering in the upper 80s, making manual watering a necessity.

Next steps for the crops include making the tomato cages (no, not done yet), a bit more weeding, and the addition of another couple of rows of sweet corn.  There’s plenty more to be done, of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Cheryl and I have been contemplating a switch to a different growing method for next year.  I’ll let the cat out of the bag when we’ve worked out a plan.

Other happenings on the farm include a new member – Draven.  We sold Kole to a friend in Virginia, who is loving him to death and giving him a very active life, so that Shannon could have a horse that was more experienced and could help rebuild her confidence in her riding ability.  Draven is just such a horse, and Shannon has been spending a considerable amount of time riding him around the farm – no longer nervous about riding outside of the pastures.  So far it’s been a great match.  Now all we need to do is find a good horse for Cheryl…lol.

Hopefully the motivation that has crept back into me will linger a bit longer this time, keeping my posts regular and – hopefully – interesting!

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Beautiful Weekend

April 12, 2010 · Filed under Antiques, Family Fun, Shannon, Travel · Tagged , , ,

Cloudless skies and mildly warm temps set a beautiful backdrop for a busy, but enjoyable, weekend.  Things started somewhat early Saturday morning when I wheeled out the new John Deere and set to mowing down our overgrown yard.  Trying to keep the grass looking good using a push mower was just not going to cut it, so we splurged a little (for which I’m sure the kids are thankful) and bought a decent riding mower.  Of course, I had to make sure everything ran as it should so the kids will just have to bide their time until next week…lol.

Me and my new toy

Saturday afternoon we welcomed a couple of friends from Virginia who were interested in purchasing Kole.  They spent the day getting to know Kole, and it before long it was apparent that a bond was being forged.  Despite not having been ridden in months, Kole behaved perfectly under saddle and worked hard trying to please his rider – even attempting skills he had never learned before.  After a bit of a no-frills BBQ, an agreement was struck for the purchase of Kole so he will soon be headed east.

Expecting Kole’s departure to be just around the corner, Shannon and Cheryl had been keeping an eye out for a horse that was more fitting to Shannon’s experience and level of confidence.  On Sunday we headed south to the hills of Garrard County to try out a Spotted Saddle Horse named Draven.  This big fella (a cross between a TWH and some sort of draft breed) turned out to be just what Shannon was looking for – a mild-mannered, husky, bomb-proof sort of horse that will help lift Shannon’s confidence.  After putting Draven through his paces for an hour or so, Cheryl struck a deal for his purchase and we’ll be welcoming Star’s new pasture buddy within the next couple of weeks.

Shannon and Draven

 

View from the top of Copper Creek Hill

Since we had such a beautiful Sunday afternoon still left to enjoy, we stopped in at an antiques shop not far from Berea.  Todd’s Antiques is a mall of decent proportions that has an abundance of glassware and furniture on hand.  I struck out in my search for books, but Cheryl was able to get her collection of Depression Glass started.  Originally we thought the sunflower patterned items were Jeannette Glass, but the green is too dark for what they produced.  I’ll update when we’ve managed to pin down an identification.

Todd's Antique Mall just outside of Berea

Taking the scenic route home, we wound our way to the Valley View Ferry on the Kentucky River.  In continuous operation since 1785 (before Kentucky was a state), the ferry is oldest year-round ferry in the United States.  We tried crossing last summer when my parents were in town, but the day we arrived there was too much debris in the river for a safe crossing.   Now, however, we can cross it off our list…lol.

Valley View Ferry coming to pick us up

The little paddle wheel

"Marina" on the north bank of the river

Looking upriver as we cross

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Slow News Week

January 19, 2010 · Filed under Brendan, Miscellany, Shannon

Last week saw so little in the way of noteworthy activity that I simply couldn’t get motivated to blog.  I don’t want to leave the post about the accident up forever, though, so I’ll give you a quick run down on all of the less-than-thrilling news.

First off, it doesn’t look like the insurance company will be totaling my car.  Late last week they authorized the collision shop to begin repairs, so that’s one less worry on our plate.  They haven’t a clue on when it might be done, however, so dealing with being a one-car family will continue.  Brendan and I spent some time Saturday morning collecting the various bits and pieces of my car that were still left in the pasture, as well as the remains of the fence.  I discovered that I wasn’t the first victim of that particular curve when I uncovered the grill of a Toyota in the same spot as my car’s wreckage.  Probably won’t be the last, either.

Shannon managed to eek out a bit of an exciting weekend.  She attended the high school basketball game on Friday with her friends and was able to meet (and get her picture taken with) a local celebrity.  Mary Jo Perino, sports anchor for our local NBC affiliate and recently named Kentucky Sportscaster of the Year, was covering the game and was gracious enough to spend some time with Shannon and her friends.  Later in the evening we watched the newscast and, sure enough, Shannon could be seen in the stands during some of the footage.  As if that wasn’t enough, her friend Annie (the German exchange student) hosted a farewell party on Sunday for a bunch of the kids.  Annie is headed back to Germany, bringing her stay in the US to a conclusion.  Hopefully Shannon will be able to keep in touch with her, as it would be a nice treat for the two to get together again when Shannon travels to Germany next year.

Shannon and her friends with Mary Jo Perino

Brendan also managed some excitement of his own on Friday, though it wasn’t the most positive of experiences for him.  It seems that during one of his classes another student began rummaging through Brendan’s backpack while Brendan was away from his desk.  Our little angel caught the kid red-handed and said something along the lines of “get out of my stuff you little shit”.  This earned Brendan an in-school suspension, which I think is extreme given the things we hear in the hallways on a daily basis, and all indications are that the other kid received no punishment whatsoever for violating Brendan’s privacy.  Gotta love a system that punishes the victim.

Anyway, that’s been our boring week here down on the farm.  Hope yours has been just as good or better!

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Christmas Shopping, Shannon’s Poetry, and Snow

December 21, 2009 · Filed under Antiques, Family Fun, Shannon, Travel · Tagged , , , ,

That pretty much sums up the weekend. I took Friday off in order to spend the day zigzagging across Lexington in a mad rush to complete our Christmas shopping. We very nearly met that goal, with only a couple of items left to buy. I’m not going to go into what we bought or even where we went, for prying eyes just might be watching…lol. I will say that we had a delicious lunch at Ted’s Montana Grill in Lexington. Not only do they have very tasty bison burgers and fries (all gluten free, of course), but they operate with environmentally friendly business practices. We admire that. We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Critchfield Meats to pick up our order of chicken breasts. With Justix off the radar and Wal-mart being, well, Wal-mart, we needed a new bulk supplier. Critchfield’s offers a great deal on 40-lb boxes of boneless, skinless breasts, so we jumped on it. That being just one stop of many, and despite the fact that rigorous shopping is not particularly my bag, I still enjoyed the day.

Friday ended with a special event for Shannon. Last year, one of the poems she composed for her English class was selected to be published in a collection of works by Scott County freshman students. The anthology, titled Finding Myself: A Journey, was printed in both hardcover and softcover formats that were made available to students’ family members as well as the school and local libraries. Immediately after school on Friday, the English department held a little gathering where the students whose work appears in the book could sign their contributions. Shannon displayed her usual “whatever” attitude, but I’m pretty sure she’s proud of this accomplishment. Cheryl and I certainly are.

Shannon's Poem "Wonder" was selected for this anthology.

Saturday we woke to the first significant snowfall of the year. Now, “significant” carries a much different meaning here in Kentucky than it does in Michigan. Our significant snowfall in this case was about an inch, just barely, and it melted off before the afternoon was half over. The eastern and southern portions of Kentucky suffered a much worse fate, with some areas seeing more than a foot of snow. Nearly two hundred thousand homes lost power, with many expected not to have their electricity (and in a lot of cases heat) restored until after Christmas. All of this weather was a result of the massive winter storm that carved a path of destruction through the Carolinas and the Northeast. We were fortunate to be located on the western-most fringe of the system.

Saturday morning's snowfall from our kitchen window

With Friday and Saturday spent shopping for presents and groceries, we decided to spend Sunday shopping for fun. The Ohio Valley Antique Mall in Fairfield, OH was our destination for the day. We’d been there once before, over the summer, when Cheryl spotted a glass pitcher in the shape of an owl. At the time she decided against making the purchase, and on Sunday she fell victim to the “you snooze, you lose” rule. We spent a couple of hours scouring the mall for that item, and anything else that happened to catch our interest, but couldn’t locate the pitcher. Cheryl did find a large smoked glass cookie jar and picked it up for a great price, though, so we didn’t leave empty-handed.

The entrance to Jungle Jim's. Unforunately, no photography is allowed inside.

Our next stop was Jungle Jim’s Market, a crazy and utterly unique grocery store just down the road from the antique mall. The place is absolutely huge, and both inside and out it’s made up to look like an amusement park. In addition to the fire truck, fishing boat, and carnival props, Jungle Jim’s stocks the largest selection of gluten-free and international foods that we’ve ever seen under one roof. Cheryl and Shannon were practically jumping up and down because of the wide array of cookies, snacks, pastas (including cheese ravioli)…the list goes on and on. Although we had already finished our grocery shopping, our cart was loaded when we left. Besides all of the gluten-free and organic foods, the place was stocked with an unbelievable amount of items from all over the world. It’s truly an amazing shopping experience if you at all enjoy food, and will definitely be a destination we will return to often.

Cheryl's new find.

So that was our weekend. Busy, to say the least. Now only a short work week remains before enjoying another long holiday weekend!

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The Week in Review

December 7, 2009 · Filed under Brendan, Holidays, Miscellany, Shannon · Tagged , , , , ,

The first week of December passed fairly well in the Knoch household.  The Bluegrass saw the first snow of the season on Saturday morning, though in our particular region of the county we had barely a trace.  The snowfall this morning was more significant, however, accumulating just a bit and creating some slick spots on the roads.  Taken together with the frigid temps over the last week, there can no longer be a doubt that Winter has arrived.

 Along with the sub-freezing nightly temperatures, we were treated to a rather unfortunate experience in the wee hours of Saturday morning.  At just about 4:30 we lost power, a fate shared by everyone in our area.  It was restored by 7:00, but very old farmhouses don’t hold the heat well and by the time our heaters kicked on we were well on our way to becoming icicles.  That night was the coldest of the season so far, and when I think back to our first winter here in Kentucky I seem to recall losing power (and heat) on what was the first really cold night of that season.  Coincidence?  Maybe so, but when I called the power company at 4:32 Saturday morning they already knew of the outage and had even assigned an expected time of restoration.  Of all the other middle-of-the-night power outages we’ve had here, that was the first time the company was aware before I called it in.  I suspect that somebody in the plant threw the red switch when they should have thrown the blue one.

 The high school track team began their winter practices on Tuesday.  Shannon, who has never run outside of PE, found herself battered and bruised by the end of the week.  Despite her blisters and aching muscles, she seems to enjoy the workouts and weight lifting and isn’t the least bit deterred.  In fact, she pestered us to take her running on Sunday so she wouldn’t have such a hard time when practice resumed today.  The first actual meet isn’t until March, so she has plenty of time to get those legs into shape and find an event (or events) that best match her abilities.

 The weekend was a rather busy one for Shannon from a social aspect.  Annie, one of her friends who is a German exchange student, invited Shannon to go see New Moon on Friday night.  Cheryl refused to allow Shannon to give any details about the movie, so a review will have to wait for a future blog…lol.  Another one of Shannon’s friends, Tiffany (from Columbus, OH), held her Sweet 16 party at the Holiday Inn on Saturday night.  Apparently the party was a hit and Shannon had a great time dusting the rust off of The Sprinkler, The Robot, The Shopping Cart, and the host of other weird dances she loves to do.  Cheryl and I drew carpool duty, shuttling Stephanie and Annie to and from the dance.  It was the first time we’d met Annie, and we had a blast listening to her talk of everyday life in Germany.  From the way she tells it, they take the whole Christmas naughty and nice thing to an extreme over there.  I sure would hate to find myself being beaten with a stick by a disfigured elf!  Another interesting thing is that Annie, even though only 16 years old and a sophomore in her school in Germany, is classified as a senior in here in America because their educational system is so much more advanced than ours.  Sad.

 Brendan’s week was probably not one of the best he’s ever had.  He had the unfortunate pleasure of visiting the dentist on Thursday morning for a root canal.  He tolerated it much better than I thought he would, though at times we could hear him yelling as we sat in the waiting room.  Ultimately the dentist decided Brendan had had enough for one sitting, and scheduled the completion of the procedure for the 30th.  Afterwards he really wasn’t in much pain, which was also surprising.  I’d hoped this whole ordeal would finally convince him of the benefits that come with teeth brushing, but if he breezes through it…  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

 Christmas is of course edging ever closer, with the number of shopping days dwindling at an alarming rate.  Cheryl and I really didn’t accomplish much in that department over the past week, ordering just one item from an on-line merchant and picking up a couple more from a brick-and-mortar establishment.  As usual, the final week will see a frenzy of buying activity…lol.  Till next time, stay warm!

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Down at the county fair

July 26, 2009 · Filed under Brendan, Family Fun, Shannon · Tagged ,

While this weekend has been full of thunderstorms and raccoon hunting (the little bastards are starting to have their way with our corn), we took a break from things last weekend and spent Saturday evening at the Franklin County Fair.  Our county, Scott, also has a county fair but we chose to go ahead and pass on it this year.  We drove by several times but from the looks of it the thing wasn’t all that.   Add poor advertising and promotion by the organizers, and there just wasn’t a lot of incentive to attend.  The rest of the county must’ve felt the same way, given the distinct lack of fair-goers.  The organizers of the Franklin County Fair, on the other hand, took the time to promote the heck out of their event.  Makes a huge difference!

Anyway, we had a great evening/night of riding the rides, watching a rather pathetic Battle of the Bands, and getting splattered by mud during the awesome demolition derby.  Yep, I guess we’re goin’ country…lol.  Brendan absolutely loved the rides and the derby, but Shannon had to have her arm twisted to get on anything.  Eventually we shamed her onto some of the “less scary” rides, and as you can see from the photo below she had quite a good time – though she’ll never admit it.  We’re planning on another trip to King’s Island before the summer is out, but I’m thinking we should leave her in the car and save on admission…lol.

Brendan and Shannon having a little fun

Brendan and Shannon having a little fun

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Louisville Feis 2009

June 1, 2009 · Filed under Shannon · Tagged , ,

Last Saturday morning arrived much too early at our house.  Knowing full well that Shannon needed to be in Louisville by 8:00 in the morning, we nevertheless stayed up till midnight watching a movie on TV – which I cannot remember the name of, so it must have been terribly entertaining.  No one was particularly motivated when the alarm went off at 5, but we crawled out of bed and dusted off the feis prep routine before taking Brendan to a friend’s house and driving into The Ville.  The Louisville Feis was to be Shannon’s triumphant return to Irish dance competition, a goal that she’d been pursuing almost single-mindedly since joining the McTeggart school a couple of months ago.

We arrived on time, despite having left the house late, which was a major accomplishment!  Something new for Shannon at McTeggart is the ceili team.  While at Heinzman (now Ardan Academy), she’d never participated in figures competition since there wasn’t much focus on this particular aspect of Irish dance.  McTeggart requires their dancers to compete in figures if they wish to compete as soloists, which is a pretty good thing as it expands the dancers’ cultural exposure and helps foster teamwork.  The McTeggart dancers focus on the eight-hand ceili and delivered a very nice performance, taking first place in that particular style.

Just prior to going on stage, Shannon’s old dance instructor from Michigan (John Heinzman) picked Cheryl out of the crowd and stopped by to say hello.  Yes, the feis community is a small one.  John was attending the Louisville Feis as a judge (which had Shannon more than a little nervous) but stopped to offer a few words of encouragement to Shannon before the ceili competition began.  It was nice seeing John and some of the other Heinzman dancers (and their parents) that we’d not seen in years.

Each school teaches their own steps to the traditional dance styles, so even though Shannon has several years of Irish dance experience she’s still learning the McTeggart steps.  With that in mind, we (Shannon, Cheryl and I) thought it best to ease her back into solo competition by registering her for just one dance – the slip jig.  Arguably her best dance, we chose this one because it afforded her the greatest chance for success and could serve as a quick confidence booster.  Unfortunately, a huge part of Irish dance is appearance.  Everyone loves the striking solo dresses and the traditional elegance of the various school dresses.  Shannon could no longer wear her Heinzman dress, obviously, so we commissioned a good friend (and Irish seamstress) back in Michigan to create Shannon’s solo dress instead of investing immediately in a McTeggart dress.  Since her new dress is nowhere near being finished, Shannon was forced to wear her ceili costume during the slip jig.  The costume is extremely simple and pales in comparison to even the homeliest school dress so Shannon was absolutely mortified to have to wear it during her solo.  We repeatedly offered her the opportunity to withdraw from the dance, but she was determined to soldier on.  And so, embarrassed about her costume and nervous beyond belief (her entire school gathered to watch, and she was dancing against two Heinzman girls), Shannon took to the stage.

As luck would have it (if we didn’t have bad luck, we’d have no luck at all) Shannon was paired with a Heinzman dancer.  She started off her routine just fine, but the Heinzman girl crossed in front of Shannon and the bottom fell out.  That minor distraction was enough to break Shannon’s concentration and she confused the steps of the Heinzman and McTeggart dances, resulting in just enough of a hesitation to take her out of the running.  Her confusion was totally understandable, since she tried to perform a dance she’d only recently learned as her body insisted on executing the steps she’d danced automatically for years.

When the dance was over, Shannon was a bit emotional but choked it back surprisingly quick and asked about scheduling her next feis.  Her competitiveness is never more evident than when she dances.  Even though the outcome wasn’t what she expected, she enjoyed the chance to get “back in the ring” and is even more determined to be successful at the next feis.  For Cheryl and I, seeing her back on the stage and clearly in her element was a wonderful experience.  We’d certainly missed feising and are happy to be in the game once more.

I’d post pictures of Shannon in her ceili costume, but I’m sure she’d be mortified and I’d end up paying a severe price.  Once her solo dress arrives, there’ll be plenty of pics to go around.

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