BBQ and Boys

On Sunday Jim and Debbie came down with the boys, along with Kim and Scott and Rob, for a little celebration for mine and Scott's birthdays. Scott's birthday has been and gone and mine is still a couple of weeks off but because it was our day we decided to make it a Chocolate Day instead. I had a wonderfully huge and gooey cake for us to tuck into.

Luke watching TV.

Max doing his Mr Crabs impression. And Jim looking 'not impressed!'

Scotticus is King of the BBQ.

We just managed to get the food off the barbie before the heavens opened. We'd had a short warning with a couple of thunder rumbles but then it poured down. We sat and watched the storm and Debbie was incredulous after seeing the best lightning bolts she'd ever seen. The house didn't get hit once so I think my pulling out that random antenna cable a few days ago paid off.

But we liked to pretend that the house had been hit and so we set up a few staged photos.

Scott smouldering afterwards.

MaxMan assuming his 'electrified' stance, and then the boys fooling around with Rob pretending they'd been hit by a bolt.

And then it was time for prezzies and the chocolate cake. Both Scott and I did exceedingly well and were extremely chuffed with our goodies, gift cards, pictures and a pussy cat ornament. And of course the chocolate cake was teeth sticking delicious. Kim had also made a chocolate cake so we were ecstatic that our favorite food was in such abundance.
The boys were getting a little restless and as soon as the rain stopped they charged outside so we all followed. The storm had lessened the humidity so it was nice to sit and watch Double Trouble in action.

They raced up and down the road. This is how Luke posed when I asked him for a 'cool' photo.

There was lots of tomfoolery, laughs and chatting, along with hoots from The Lukester and MaxMan. Jim spent some time playing football with them too. These guys are growing up so fast. If you look at them hard you can easily imagine how they will look as teenagers. They're both going to be pretty fine athletes, that much is already apparent. I knocked up a little video, click here.

Urbexing by Bike

On Saturday, I met with some of the crew to explore a local youth detention center. We had all brought our bicycles and met in the parking lot of a nearby park., yet it still took a while as we sat at a bench to commit to an exploration involving a considerable output of muscle power. And it was bloody hot, with a temperature in the 90's and storms forecast. But we still set off regardless, slinging camera cases on our backs and starting with an up hill pedal out of the park.

 We got to the center and rode in, feeling strange about having bikes with us. It was quite a novelty to bring them into the building. We started with the power station for the complex and got out of exercise mode into photography mode but it took me a little time to adjust and get creative.

Loved the raccoon paw print!

When we'd finished at the power station it was time to saddle up again and pedal to the next destination. What Lewis hadn't told me was that we'd be going cross country and pedaling along 12" wide gravelly sandy trails created for mountain bikes not sleek racers like mine with extremely narrow tires. But I wasn't being left behind so I rattled along at a fair old lick with my wheels slipping and sliding but never losing my speed or balance. Those rides around the bumpy roads at Marshall had paid off and I amazed myself at the pace I kept up. We finally got to the road again and finished the last leg on tarmac which was wonderful except for the hill. The sun was high in the sky now and we all realized that we hadn't brought enough water. Time to ration and be careful.
We hid our bikes in some brush and then climbed up a hill to a watch tower. We had to wiggle between a brick wall and a metal fence post.

My chest would not make it, despite valiant tugs from Huggy. So I had to wiggle round the other side of the building, with Richard following, because his chest wouldn't fit through the first gap either.
We climbed up into the tower and looked at the complex below. The old cell blocks were dilapidated with plenty of evidence of the search and rescue teams that now use the area for practice.

 The small brick wall in the middle of the floor actually had a toilet in front of it so the guard would literally never be off duty from his vigilant monitoring of the area.

We came across a couple of 'bodies' lying around from rescue events. They seemed a little sinister just lying in the long grass or in crumbling doorways. The building above gave off a smell I didn't like so I quickly trotted along one level then gave up and went outside to wait for the others who weren't put off by the fumes. I always follow my instinct in situations like this and had no intention of breathing in anything that worried me.

The sky was starting to look ominous outside with heavy black clouds and a few drops of rain plopped down upon us.

We were all really thirsty by now too and wondering if we'd make it back to the park without any water but we had one more building that we wanted to scout. It turned out to be the canteen area and we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw 5 bottles of water standing on a table with unbroken seals. They must have been left behind by a training team and we lunged at them. Huggy was a little skeptical at first but gave up with that notion when she saw the rest of us gulping down our bottles. Feeling grateful and refreshed we finished our photo shoot and started back for the bikes. The rain was coming down quite heavily as we pedaled back which seemed especially unfair as we also had to deal with another incline. But after an extra bumpy track downhill ride during which I had to stand on my pedals for most of the way with the brakes on, we finally arrived back at the cars. And the rain had stopped. Typical. But whatever. We had cycled about 8 miles and were damp from the rain and the humidity, yet that did nothing to dampen our ardor for food and beer. So the nearest restaurant enabled us to dry off and refresh ourselves with great beer, not so good food but plenty of laughs despite our sullen waiter whose writing was barely decipherable when the bill came. Bill threatened to leave his tip with a note saying it was to be used for penmanship classes.
There was a local art event on so we decided to wrap up the day with a stroll around there. For some reason we had assumed that there would be wine available and the idea of strolling around admiring the art with a glass in hand appealed to us all but we found out that there were only soda vending machines and also the place was starting to shut for the night.

So we had a quick look around at the glass displays where we all liked the eye balls and I was taken with jars of very thin strands of colored glass called stringers which are used for small details in the fusing process. We finished the evening chatting with a fellow DCUE member who was displaying a few of her photos there but I was having problems trying to focus. It had been a long day and the heat had finally sapped the last of my energy so was mightily glad to plop into Stuart, crank up the AC and drive home to bed.

And Yet Another Storm in Marshall

I actually managed to sleep in on Sunday and was especially pleased that I'd put Big Red in the barn before coming in the house. I had little intention of doing much today apart from house chores, if I could do those. The air outside was thick with humidity and later in the day the sky took on that grey stormy look that I now recognized so well. A few rumbles could be heard in the mountains as the sun struggled to keep shining, but to no avail. Big charcoal grey clouds slowly shoved the sun out of sight and suddenly the wind hit. I ran outside to pull plant pots off stands and onto the floor but within less than 2 minutes I was soaked to the skin by torrential rain.

We used to get the wind as a warning of a storm that gave a good 15 - 20 minutes to quickly prepare but now the wind is simply an announcement that the storm has begun. Thankfully both cats were indoors and we all peered out through patio doors unable to see much with the continuous rivulets of water that gushed down the glass. I took a small video, click here, and after the first lightning flash you can hear a crack where the house was hit. We got hit by lightning 6 times during this storm and I managed to see a flash in the spare bedroom coming out of a redundant cable wire that poked out of the wall. I took care of that the next morning. I was also astounded when for about 3 minutes hailstones clattered against the glass and onto the patio. The temperature had been about 100F before the storm broke, how was it possible to get ice? I didn't want to get drenched again so photos were not an option.
Power went out about 5:00pm and therefore the water too so there was nothing to do but make the best of the situation. I got out the candles again, ready for when it got dark, and drove up to the town to get some ice for the fridge.
I took some photos of the rain drops on my patio plants, everything was saturated yet sparkling and jewel studded.

This last photo is of one of the poor plant pots flooded by the storm. Looking at it from this level made it look like a swamp. As the daylight faded I realized that the power probably wouldn't be coming back for a while so I settled down with some English newspapers and a glass of wine. I'm getting used to this.