Can you Canoe?

Many of you know that we had our first Grandfather, Fathers, Uncles, Brothers, Bros-In-Laws, Sons, and Cousins' canoe trip up here in NW Georgia last weekend. Dad (Gramps to some) had been planning/hoping to do this for some time now and it finally came to fruition. It was a close call with Mother Nature, but we only had a few sprinkles, some wind here and there and little sun... come to think of it, I'd call it "Pleasantly Overcast". It was a 17 mile Canoe trip on the Etowah River. 5 adults and 5 kids (better make that 10 kids). The put-in point was on hwy 411 half way between Cartersville and Rome, GA and the take-out point was at Grizzard Park on the East Rome Bypass (Hwy 1). There were a few rocky shoal rapids (not real rapids, but more turbulence than your average bathtub) which posed minor challenges as well as opportunities for some to get wet (tipped canoes... no injuries or drownings though)... Fun was had by all and we look forward to doing it again... I had a water proof disposable camera and have developed the pics to a disc and uploaded them to winkflash and photobucket... here are the links: http://sandm96.winkflash.com/ and http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w106/scottheckles/summer%2008/canoe%20trip/
but in the meantime, here's a few pics for proof: (if I'm not making sense, I'll read this later and edit it... I just got home from work and am in need of sleep)


A view from the Captain's Seat (Ethan and Stanton in front).

Who's the Captain in this picture?



"Where's the TP?"........ ........ ......... ........... Nothing to see here, move along, move along.


Sometimes we made a 4 canoe barge and just hung around.



Other times we stopped and emptied the water from the canoes (they tend to float better when they are IN the water and not with water IN them)


This kinda looks like a "Flood Rescue Picture... a la Hurricane Katrina" (BTW, That's the Birthday boy in the background... Happy Birthday Shane)


There was some kid swapping going on (just to keep things fresh... it was almost 6 hours in a canoe...)



Grizzly Adams was there



It was a dang good time... Maybe some day we'll be good enough sailors that we can bring along some Women-folks.... Sounds like a plan....
There are more pics on Winkflash and photobucket...
I'm tired and am quickly running out of steam.
Thanks for including us in your adventure Dad (if you ever read this)... let's do it again.
Later,
Scott

What's that sound?

I've been meaning to post this one, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
It happened last week some time. I came in from work about 9:30 a.m. (had to stay late for a meeting) so I was very tired. Melinda was up and about, she had places to go, things to do. Well, I remember her kissing me good night (my night-- her morning) 'cause she figured that I would be asleep by the time she gets out of the shower... she was right... only she decides to wake me in a semi-panicked state to get me to investigate this "mysterious sound" coming from the bathroom. So I do. As I get closer to the bathroom, I can hear this "BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" sound inconspicuously generated from nowhere in particular. "Hmm?" I thought. I looked everywhere I knew to look: under the sink, in the closet, behind the door, in the garbage, in the medicine cabinet... I could feel the vibration on the wall of the shower, but nowhere else... It was a vibrating type of noise... kinda like you hear next to some high voltage electrical wires... or even the noise a set of Stadium lights make just after you've flipped the switch, but right before the lights come on... you get the picture?
Well, just on the other side of our bathroom and half a story down (split level house) is our kitchen. The exhaust hood/fan for the stove is against the same wall as our shower so I thought to check it out... nothing there of note. I couldn't hear the noise or feel the vibration anywhere else in the house except for the master bedroom's bathroom. I didn't smell anything electrical, but thought I'd go flipping breakers and try to shut off what ever was causing this noise. Meanwhile, Melinda's getting kinda nervous... wants to call an electrician, plumber... someone! I shrug it off and tell her to head on to wherever she's going and I'll take care of it. By the way, I got no results from flipping breaker switches... the buzzing continued with every flipped breaker switch.
So what should I do? I figured that I best sleep on it.... Yep, I just closed the door to the bathroom and went to sleep (hoping that it would go away by the time I had to wake and go to work).
Well, Melinda gets back home just before the boys got home from school. She asked if the noise was gone, or if I'd figured out what it was. So, I go opened the door and guess what? It was still happening... no smell of smoke or anything like that though. She immediately gets worried again so we restart the investigation. This time I look in the attic above the bathroom--- Nothing. Seemed like nothing was causing this vibration/noise. So I say to Melinda: "I wonder if someone left a drill or a battery operated power tool of some sort in the wall when they built this house and somehow, now, it's suddenly running"??? She sarcastically says something like: "yeah, right, this house is like 10 years old".
About this time the boys came home from school and I sent Ethan up to the bathroom to sniff out the sound. He comes back to us and says: "Wow! Daddy, you sure do have good ears!", Melinda and I just look at each other and shrug... "What do you mean?" I asked. He continued: "I couldn't even hear it until I got to the bathroom... how did you hear it way down here?" Still confused by his response, I ask what is it (the sound)? "Your razor!" he says in a Sherlock Holmes kinda way.
We all walk up to the bathroom and the noise is gone... he'd turned it off. "Show me!" I said. He proceeds to open the shower curtains and reach across the shower to show Melinda and me the Gillette Fusion Power shaver that was left turned on from when Melinda took her shower. It had been covered up by a wash cloth and was vibrating against the shower wall. We looked at each other in disbelief while Ethan was all puffed up like some kind of hero. We thanked him for his heroic act and sent him on his way.
I'm not quite sure what Melinda was thinking, maybe something like: "Uh-Oh, he knows I used his razor on my legs again...", but what I was really thinking was: "Wow, I'm sure glad I slept on it instead of calling someone to come out to the house... I would REALLY feel like an idiot if it took an electrician to turn off a stupid razor!" (not to mention that those guys cost $$ just to come out and do nothing)

Well, I know what to do the next time a mysterious noise is lurking in the walls of the Bedwell Fortress!! Thank goodness we were smart enough to have kids, that's all I have to say about that!!!


The culprit.