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Sep. 1st, 2007 09:11 pmTonight was Breast Cancer Awareness Night at the Avalanche, and our players wore pink jerseys that got auctioned off in a silent auction to raise money for breast caner research. I thought that was pretty cool. Tomorrow night is a Hokie Nation Night, so the Hokie bird will be there and there will be fireworks after the game (and some other cool things). Then Monday is the last game of the regular season, which kinda makes me sad because that means its the end of summer. But we are in the playoffs, so we'll see how our boys do. We won tonight, 5 to 1.
We always take a backpack with toys/books/whatever for the kids to kinda keep them occupied during the game (b/c when you're 5 or 6 -- or younger, since the kids have been going since they were babies -- it's hard to sit still for 9 innings), and one of the books we had with us today was a Zoobooks about turtles, so I was telling my kids these stories & figured I'd share here too.
Once, when I was little, probably about five or so, I went fishing with my Daddy & my Uncle Jimmy, and they caught a snapping turtle. They wanted to take him home so they put him in the cooler, but he was a kinda big feller and so he kept knocking the lid off the cooler. So I had to sit on that cooler all the way home, which was kinda scary because that sucker was big and we all know that snapping turtles don't let go when they bite. I believe the old wives tale says they won't let go until it thunderstorms, or if you cut their heads off.
Also, a friend of my dad's owns a sheep farm up in Bath County, and we used to call him "Baaaa Dave" and we used to go visit him all the time (his son Glen is my age and his daughter Rebecca is two years younger. And Mary is like... Idk, I think she might actually be Tim's age which is kinda cool, b/c that'd mean they're the same ages as me and my brothers.) and they had a pond on the side of the driveway about a quarter mile before you got to the house. Us kids used to like to play in it and catch frogs and stuff, and there was a snapping turtle in there once. It was just the women at the house -- I'm not sure where all the men were -- and I remember the turtle kinda coming after us and me and three or four other kids were piled up on the hood of a pickup and my aunt was trying to shoo the turtle off with a broom and the turtle tried to eat the straw from the broom. I was really young then, but I can still picture that turtle pretty clearly.
Up until I was about 17, we used to make apple butter every fall, the weekend of the Clifton Forge Fall Festival. We'd all get together at Dave's or at my aunt's or somewhere, and it's an all day kinda thing. The kids got stuck doing most of the work *g*. We had to peel/core/cut the apples, and we had to take turns stirring the apple butter with a huge long wooden stick (it was in a huge black cauldron over a fire, isn't that kinda creepy *G*). And there were some nights it was so cold that the jars would pretty much freeze when we brought them outside and then some of them would explode when the hot apple butter hit them. But that apple butter was some of the best stuff EVER so it was all worth it. But the women would cook all weekend and we'd have a fantastic time and Baaaa Dave and Dad (not my dad, just an old guy that everyone called "Dad") and Mate and Checker Demon and my Uncle Buck would sit around with the fiddles and guitars and play and we'd all sing along. Lots of old stuff, like Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Amazing Grace and Please Don't Bury Me and There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel (there's a light at the end of the tunnel / like a rainbow shining through the rain / there's a light at the end of the tunnel / lord I hope it ain't no train). I still love those songs, they make me feel all happy and warm and fuzzy inside!
Okay, I'm gonna hop off memory lane now. I haven't talked to hardly anyone all week because I've been feeling grumpy and bitchy. I'm sorry!! I do love yall though and I may be able to spend some time catching up on my flist tonight, if Davey will go to sleep.
We always take a backpack with toys/books/whatever for the kids to kinda keep them occupied during the game (b/c when you're 5 or 6 -- or younger, since the kids have been going since they were babies -- it's hard to sit still for 9 innings), and one of the books we had with us today was a Zoobooks about turtles, so I was telling my kids these stories & figured I'd share here too.
Once, when I was little, probably about five or so, I went fishing with my Daddy & my Uncle Jimmy, and they caught a snapping turtle. They wanted to take him home so they put him in the cooler, but he was a kinda big feller and so he kept knocking the lid off the cooler. So I had to sit on that cooler all the way home, which was kinda scary because that sucker was big and we all know that snapping turtles don't let go when they bite. I believe the old wives tale says they won't let go until it thunderstorms, or if you cut their heads off.
Also, a friend of my dad's owns a sheep farm up in Bath County, and we used to call him "Baaaa Dave" and we used to go visit him all the time (his son Glen is my age and his daughter Rebecca is two years younger. And Mary is like... Idk, I think she might actually be Tim's age which is kinda cool, b/c that'd mean they're the same ages as me and my brothers.) and they had a pond on the side of the driveway about a quarter mile before you got to the house. Us kids used to like to play in it and catch frogs and stuff, and there was a snapping turtle in there once. It was just the women at the house -- I'm not sure where all the men were -- and I remember the turtle kinda coming after us and me and three or four other kids were piled up on the hood of a pickup and my aunt was trying to shoo the turtle off with a broom and the turtle tried to eat the straw from the broom. I was really young then, but I can still picture that turtle pretty clearly.
Up until I was about 17, we used to make apple butter every fall, the weekend of the Clifton Forge Fall Festival. We'd all get together at Dave's or at my aunt's or somewhere, and it's an all day kinda thing. The kids got stuck doing most of the work *g*. We had to peel/core/cut the apples, and we had to take turns stirring the apple butter with a huge long wooden stick (it was in a huge black cauldron over a fire, isn't that kinda creepy *G*). And there were some nights it was so cold that the jars would pretty much freeze when we brought them outside and then some of them would explode when the hot apple butter hit them. But that apple butter was some of the best stuff EVER so it was all worth it. But the women would cook all weekend and we'd have a fantastic time and Baaaa Dave and Dad (not my dad, just an old guy that everyone called "Dad") and Mate and Checker Demon and my Uncle Buck would sit around with the fiddles and guitars and play and we'd all sing along. Lots of old stuff, like Swing Low Sweet Chariot and Amazing Grace and Please Don't Bury Me and There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel (there's a light at the end of the tunnel / like a rainbow shining through the rain / there's a light at the end of the tunnel / lord I hope it ain't no train). I still love those songs, they make me feel all happy and warm and fuzzy inside!
Okay, I'm gonna hop off memory lane now. I haven't talked to hardly anyone all week because I've been feeling grumpy and bitchy. I'm sorry!! I do love yall though and I may be able to spend some time catching up on my flist tonight, if Davey will go to sleep.
