7 Kids, 2 grandkids, 1 on-the-way, 2 cats, Mom, and Dad

Super Size Me or I gotta do some more walking.

I watched the movie Super Size Me the other day with the princesses.

I heard that after watching this movie you either never want to eat fast food again or you want to run right out and get a Big Mac. I was left with the feeling that I need to live a healthier lifestyle.

One of the things that struck me is how inactive I am during the day, except for the days that I have karate. I walked at lunch today (1.5 miles) and will walk again this evening. I'd like to do 3-5 miles a day of walking and then move it up to jogging once I'm in better shape. This came to mind since he pointed out that the people that eat the most fast food tend to walk the least. I have days that the only walking I do is to and from my car.

The other thing that struck me was how expensive it is to be healthy. I went to a farmer's market with Good Friend this weekend and bought $10.50 worth of tomatoes, a little over 3 pounds. I could get two value meals for that much money and be much fuller after eating them.

I went to the grocery store and bough a variety of fruits and vegetables and it isn't cheap. Whole grain breads cost more than the store brand white. Hamburger with less fat, health food...they all come at a premium price. If obesity is a crisis, why not subsidize the cost of these products instead of making it dirt cheap to eat fast food?

Hanging out or When geeks and booze meet.

We're going to have another Blog n Brew on September 13th at 6:30 pm. and I'm assuming that it will be at Paddy's on Pease again.

If you're a local blogger or you are planning on flying in from another state or country, feel free to join us there.

Glad it is covered or Water on the basement floor.

We've had more water problems in our basement than...I dunno who but we've had a lot!

I had gutters put on the house over a year ago to drain the water away from the fountain. They worked well until the dern chickmunks, squirrels, and birds clogged the drain so that they could party in a sky-high jacuzzi. The overflow from party time put the water against the foundation, once again, and we had water in the basement, once again. I got up on a big-ass ladder and solved that problem with minimal effort.

Then we had water in the basement because the drain for the washing machine was clogged. I used a snake, never imagining that I'd end up owning three different sizes of said device, and cleared the clog with a lot of effort. The good news is that the problem was fixed and we could start drying out once again.

That is until we had water on the floor...again. This time it looked like it was coming from the bottom of the washing machine. I tried some minimal troubleshooting on my own to make sure it wasn't something simple like a leaky hose or anything that required high-school algebra (still waiting for the day I use it). No luck.

Beautiful Wife called Maytag and they dispatched a service technician that didn't look old enough to remember the Maytag repairman commercials. He informed us that the triple seal was leaking and that it affected pump, motor, and belt...just about everything in the bottom of the machine. The good news...and there is good news here, is that the washer is still under warranty until October 3rd!

We have to pay a total of $134.99 for labor but should have a functioning washing machine in around a week.

The bad news...A house with a wife and two teen-aged daughters without a working washing machine. I wonder if there's a river nearby that they can take their clothes to and beat them on the rocks.

Makes me wonder or We must be doing something right.

Oldest Daughter is in her dorm and starts classes today. We heard from her several times this weekend, visited her in her dorm, and she stopped by the house with some of her friends so that she could borrow a car on Sunday.

Her roommate was with her and said that her parents told her that they didn't want her to come home this weekend. What kind of parent says that? The same kind that refused to drive them into town, when she was leaving the room and heading in that direction anyway. She wants them to get used to walking.

The parents told me this story at a field hockey game on Friday. Their other daughter is on the same team as Middle Daughter. I then told them that I saw the girls downtown later that same day and gave them a ride back to their dorm. They must think I'm a big pushover but I think they're nuts so we're even.

My kids are happy to see me and their friends love us. So we go out of our way once in a while and help them when they need it. I'd rather it this way then have one of my kids sitting there with tears in their eyes because they were told not to come home.

You know they're growing up or Girls!

I dropped Middle Daughter off at a spaghetti dinner (known as a Spag around here) last night. They have one of these Spags, at different homes, the night before they have a game.

I went back later to pick her up and went inside to talk with the dad. They have a pool and hot-tub in their back yard and a bunch of high school girls were running around in the bathing suits...and one boy.

Turns out he's the 8th grade brother of one of the girls and it was their house. I mentioned to the dad that he looked pretty happy to be out there and part of the crowd that was helping to throw girls into the pool. There was much splashing and falling into the water together and he seemed to be having the time of his life.

The dad rolled his eyes and mentioned that he figured his son must be growing up when he decided to take a shower BEFORE the girls arrived for the Spag.

Dropped off her stuff or Now she gets to move it in.

What a nightmare downtown Durham is on moving day. We finally made it over to her dorm area and lots of helpful 'moving crew' students were on hand to unload cars and carry things up to the rooms. Oldest Daughter and her friend were overwhelmed with their kindness and mostly wanted to see that back ends of our cars as we drove away. This is good.

My biggest concern is that she won't throw herself into dorm and college life because she's trying to hang on to being with her boyfriend. He has a full-time job so I'm hoping that they'll learn to be responsible and save their romancing for the weekends. We'll see.

OD has already called and said that the mattress isn't comfortable so she might come home and get hers. LOL What a princess.

Moving day or Another gone.

Oldest Daughter hasn't been around much this summer. She went to Maui for two weeks, worked a lot of hours at the Olive Garden, and has a boyfriend that takes up much of her time. Her absence from our lives this summer foreshadows what will be even more apparent after she moves into the dorm tomorrow.

She'll only be one town away, I go there nearly ever day for coffee, but she'll be starting a life that marks the beginning of being a grown up and that doesn't have much room in it for moms and dads.

The hardest thing for us this summer was letting her sleep over at her boyfriend's house. She's 18 and though I could surely give the whole "not while you live under my roof' speech I couldn't see the point. If I had her come home at 11 or 12pm would that mean she wouldn't be able to have sex? I'd rather know where she is than have her tell me she's sleeping over her girlfriend's house and going to the boyfriend's instead.

Ultimately, my job is now that of an advisor and at this age it doesn't mean much. I know it is supposed to get better and I've already had Son ask for my advice when two years ago he would have rather endure medieval torture.

She'll be home for holidays and school breaks but it won't be the same.

Meanwhile, the other two daughters are already discussing the use of the car and advising us on how to best spend the 'extra' money that we'll have now that their sister no longer lives at home.

Winemaker wannabe or Reality TV for me.

I sent email to the producers of a new reality show called The Wine Makers.

They replied with a few questions that they wanted me to answer and also said that an application would arrive in my snail mail in 2-3 weeks.

It will be interesting to see the application as I'm hoping it will have some more details like how much time you need to take off from work in order to participate. My guess is that it will be more time than is prudent to take when you have a mortgage but you never know.

The chances of being picked are pretty remote but it is fun to imagine winning such a competition and having my own wine label. We'll definitely have the wine dinner at my home if I win. ;)

Bad kitty or Out at night looking for the cat.

Fizban managed to push out a screen window and spent a couple of hours outside before we realized that she was gone. I had to go through the neighborhood with a flashlight and ultimately found her by driving around and using the bright lights on my car.

She came running over for a treat and I grabbed her and then drove home. My car sat in the middle of the road with the hazard lights flashing while I made the capture.

Part of my adventure entailed looking under the deck for her and instead coming face-to-face with a baby skunk! I think it was as surprised as me and just blinked at me with a cute little skunky expression on its face.

I got tagged or I'm sure you want to know more about me.

I got tagged by Antipo, a hot Kiwi chick living in France.

Three names I've gone by:
- Bob
- Bobby
- Lover boy

Three screen names I've had:
- bbarton
- bbarton713

Three physical things I like about myself:
- My eyes
- My hairy back and shoulders
- The way my ear hair curls

Three physical things I don't like about myself:
- My face is lopsided
- My feet are soft
- My long, strong, dexterous fingers

Three parts of my heritage:
- English
- Irish
- Dutch

Three things I am wearing right now:
- Jockey boxer/briefs
- Khaki shorts
- Blue polo shirt

Three favorite bands/musical artists:
- Bare Naked Ladies
- Beegees
- Elton John

Three things I want in a relationship:
- Beautiful Wife
- Carmen Electra
- Sandra Bullock

Two truths and a lie:
- I like berries
- I like to watch Sex and the City
- I have small feet

Three physical things about the preferred sex that appeal to me:
- Eyes
- Lips
- Cute ass

Three favourite hobbies:
- reading
- karate
- blogging

Three things I want to do badly right now:
- take another vacation
- go to the beach and read while watching the scenery walk by
- get a drink at my favorite coffee shop

Three things that scare me:
- scorpions
- sharks
- zombies that can run super fast

Three of my everyday essentials:
- coffee
- blogging
- chatting with BW

Three careers I have considered or am considering:
- music teacher
- doctor
- barrista by day, bartender by night

Three places I want to go on vacation:
- France
- Australia
- Italy

Three things I want to do before I die:
- Scuba Dive in a cave
- Skydive
- Drink a 1st growth Bordeaux

Three ways I am stereotypically a boy:
- I laugh at fart jokes.
- I like boobs.
- I control the remote.

Three ways I am stereotypically a girl:
- I like manicures.
- I like facials.
- I like the flowers in my yard.

Three celeb crushes:
- Sandra Bullock
- Carmen Electra
- Kristen Davis

I'm not going to tag anyone but let me know if you decide to do this so I can read your results!

I was reading Good Friend's blog about his feelings regarding DSL and Comcast in general.

We're pretty much thrilled, so far, with DirecTV. The picture quality is much better though I had Digital Cable before. The sound is amazingly different. I would watch some channels and had to turn the sound nearly all the way up in order to hear what was being said. The sound seems to respond at more normal levels now and the quality, again, seems better.

As for DSL...we can't get it here. The only other option is to get high speed through our satellite but it costs around $500 to get it installed and then it is $59/month after that. I wonder if the install is less if you already have a dish in place...

I'm not sure how they think they'll lure anyone away from traditional broadband at those prices. They must offer that access for the person in the middle of nowhere that has no other options.

Go North or A few days without a shower.

We went up to the outlaw's cabin in Northern Vermont on Thursday and just got home this afternoon. The cabin is located in Norton, VT...about 7 miles from the Canadian border.

I went fishing in the Connecticut River on Friday and Saturday and caught a total of five trout. It was nice just being outside and getting lost in the process of casting, reeling, and occasionally catching a fish. I cleaned them when I got back to the cabin and everyone there was glad to eat them for me.

The whole famn damily was there including Son's girlfriend and Oldest Daughter's boyfriend. We were joined by BW's parent and her Youngest Brother's Wife too so it was a full house.

We had a great time.

Talking to parents or When the nest starts to empty.

Son left home nearly a year ago and started off with college room-mates and now lives with his girlfriend in a house with some other housemates.

Oldest Daughter heads off to college in around a week and will be living in the dorms.

It just seems strange to have half of our kids out on their own. The ones at home consist of one that has a license and the other is a teenager too. We're becoming more a stop for money on their way out the door instead of the total guiding force in their lives.

Only a couple more years of field hockey for one...this is the last year of youth soccer for the other...

We've had a challenging year but I think our biggest challenge is still to come...what to do with all the spare time and money that we'll have when our home is finally empty. LOL

Asked for help or Learning French from a person speaking Russian.

Guess what? I don't speak Russian either.

This is how I felt when Oldest Daughter's boyfriend stopped by the other night to give me advice regarding a door I want to install for my office.

I've installed an exterior door and a screen door to but it wasn't easy and I'm sure that I made it more difficult than it needed to be just because of my ignorance.

What I wanted was this...I would tell him what I wanted for a door and he'd tell me height, width, and the best way to go about ordering and then installing the door.

What I got was this...lots of words like milling, rough opening, bead, drywall, plaster as well as much use of the tape measure as he outlined for me the bazillion different ways that I could install a door.

At first he said that I needed to have a rough opening and order the door based on that. He took out the tape measure, mumbled some stuff, and then waited expectantly. I figured that was it and asked for advice regarding how to make the opening rough.

Then he said that I might not have to do that and if the mumble-mumble-mumble was mumble-mumble-mumble I could get away with just using the opening as it is. Great! So what size door should I order? Well...you might have to use the rough opening after all.

He mentioned that he'd be willing to help me so I figured that I was all set. I asked him to join me at Home Depot and then we could look at doors and order one so that I was sure to get the right thing. He didn't commit to doing that and mumbled something about getting the specifications and then we could talk about them another time.

Honestly, I'm not sure where things stand now but when I told Oldest Daughter about my confusion she laughed herself silly and said that she should have been there to translate.

Watching TV or What will happen this winter.

We originally had Comcast provide our phone, cable tv, and internet service.

We disconnected the phone when they refused to give us a local exchange number and it was long distance for our kids to call their friends.

This weekend, we disconnected our cable tv and moved to DirecTV instead. Our installation was free and there was no charge for the dish, two receivers, and the TiVo was only $100 with a $100 rebate. We got some NFL package that includes a bunch of games that I'll never watch. However, during the four months that we have it we get all premium channels for free, including the DVR service so it is a great deal. After the four months we can chose to stay with the premium channels and get all of them for the cost of only HBO and Stars on Comcast.

The family room in the basement has a satellite receiver, TiVo, and DVD/VCR player so now there is no excuse to be upstairs wanting to watch TV while I work. :-)

I contacted Verizon and will be switching to DSL later this month. I can expense my broadband bill but it doesn't seem responsible to pay $50/month for something when I can get similar service for $20/month the first three months and then $30/month after that.

I've been trying to call Comcast all morning and all I get is a busy signal or a message saying that they're really busy and I'll have to try back again later. DirecTV wanted my business bad enough that I called on Friday afternoon and had an installer at my home Sunday morning. I hope they keep up the excellent service!

Of course, any time new technology is deployed in this house 'someone' gets very anxious and wonders about a whole bunch of what-ifs. The biggest concern now is that either the dish will get covered with ice and tear off our roof or that we'll have a snow storm and won't be able to get any channels.

As time goes by or Not just any day.

Beautiful Wife and I celebrate our 22nd year as a married couple today. She woke up with a migraine this morning so I'm hoping she feels better later on.

I'm heading into the basement to get it perfectly clean. I cleaned the carpets in the living room, dining room, and the area rug in the basement during this week as part of my gift to her.

After this many years of marriage you discover the gifts that matter...ones with sweat equity. LOL

Checked out the eyes or Tell me what you can see.

Oldest Daughter, Youngest Daughter and myself all had eye doctor appointments the other day. They took me in first and the daughters joined me in there so they could see what happened. They were especially concerned about having their pupils dilated so they wanted to watch that part in case it involved screams of fear or pain on my part.

I finished my exam without incident. I am doing fine with distance after having lasik surgery almost three years ago. However, my need for some assistance in terms of reading has become apparent to me and was obvious to the doctor. I'll be the proud owner of reading glasses in the near future so I'm officially an old fart.

Youngest Daughter wanted to go next and sat in the chair. The doctor handed her the paddle that you hold over your eyes, told her to cover the left one, and then asked her what she could see on the wall. There was a long pause and when I looked at YD she had her eye covered and the other eye closed. LOL She thought you were supposed to look THROUGH the paddle covering her eye and was concerned because she couldn't see anything.

You can tell that I've been doing this blog for a while because as soon as we finished laughing she asked, "Are you going to blog about this?" None of the kids read my blog though they know of its existence. I think I'll either wait until the find it on their own (unlikely) or reach adulthood and then I'll tell them.

It will be like a right of passage...I have no silver or gold to give you my child, but such as I have is yours...the URL to my blog. Use it wisely.

Portsmouth of old or I prefer the new.

I was reading an entry over at Danger Girl's new blog about the topic "Where did Portsmouth go?" It reminded me of the time I spent in Portsmouth when I was around 11-13 years old. Just for a time reference, that was back in 1974-1976.

We used to visit my mom's brother, wife, and two kids while they were all still together as a family. The moved from one low-income location to another since he had a drinking problem and couldn't hold down a job. Anyway, in the summer time we would spend the weekend at Pierce Island. We would fish, picnic, and the kids would spend most of the day in the Pierce Island Pool.

Back then, the pool was 12-feet deep, had a high dive, and the bottom was almost impossible to see since they only cleaned it sporadically. Before you could go in that deep end and jump off any of the diving boards you had to pass the swimming test. You had to be able to swim from one side to the other using the crawl and do it well enough to pass the lifeguard's inspection. After you passed the swimming test, the test of your bravery was if you would jump off of the high dive.

In terms of family things to do in Portsmouth, this was it. Four Tree Island was only accessible at low tide via a causeway and Prescott Park was in its infancy. The city itself wasn't friendly and the only stores opened at night were Pete's Palace and an assortment of seedy bars.

Many of the places that my cousin's lived in as kids are now expensive homes or condos and the days of low income housing are long gone. In fact, another uncle's family member lived in the brick building that is right near Prescott Park and could recall looking out at the trash heap that is now Strawberry Bank.

What are you doing or You want to have a go, old man?

I was driving into town today and prepared to take a left at the lights. It's a funky intersection and it isn't one that I ever rush through since many high-school and college aged kids don't slow down at all.

I saw a car approaching and it appeared that it was going straight since they didn't have a blinking turn signal. I was going to wait but they suddenly turned on their signal and indicated a right turn. The car was traveling at a snail's pace and I decided I better turn rather than be stuck behind him on the highway.

All this time the car continued, from a distance, to slowly approach the intersection...until he realized that I was going to turn. Suddenly, I could see his car lurch to the side and a belch of smoke came from behind as he accelerated and tried to cut me off at the pass.

By this time I'm around 3/4s of the way through the turn and he's still probably 35 feet from the intersection. I can see, as I turn, that his face is red and that he has a frothing-at-the-mouth sort of snarl on his face as he gesticulates wildly in my direction.

I did the speed limit and left him way behind so I decided my choice was a wise one. We traveled the 3-4 miles until the next traffic light and the entire time he's around a 1/4 mile behind me...until he sees the light and then he's suddenly on my bumper with a determined look on his face.

He did this all the way until I lost him when he went South on I-95 and I continued to the Portsmouth Traffic Circle. He'd fade back into the distance and then suddenly be on my bumper looking like he was ready to thrown down and have at me! It was the most bizarre ride to Portsmouth in my life.

An interview or Here are my answers.

Karen over at OMG I'm a housewife was looking for people to interview so I gladly volunteered.

Let me know if you'd like me to interview you!

1, What physical part of Mrs Bob do you like most? She's got an awesome ass.

2, If you could have your life over again what would you do differently? I wish I had felt up more girls when I was in high school.

3, What made you start blogging? Good Friend mentioned something about blogs and I thought I'd give it a try.

4, What is more important to you in a partner – Looks or personality? I'd have to say that looks is more important in terms of fantasy but having a nice personality doesn't hurt. :)

5, Age is taking its toll on all of us – Would you ever have cosmetic surgery and if so on what part? Hmmm...I had lasik surgery on my eyes but that wasn't really cosmetic...I can't think of anything I'd like to change that is worth the pain that it seems to cause based on some TV shows that I've seen. I guess if they find a way to do a pain-free penis reduction I might try that so I can comfortably wear swimsuits in public. ;)

Got third place or I'm in the money!

Played some cards and ended up in 3rd place, out of 10 so that means I got to win some money.

My best hand...I had an ace in my hand and three aces got turned so I ended up with four-of-a-kind. I played the betting smart and ended up taking three other people for a ride because they had full houses.

I got lucky or I'm actually irritated.

You know how it is possible to read something and take it two different ways...the innocent having fun way or the having sex with someone way?

Some family members saw an email sent to another family member talking about a fun time entailing the dipping of strawberries into chocolate.

What really happened:
Me, BW, all my kids, some other family members, sat around our dining room table and enjoying strawberries dipped in chocolate.

What was discussed behind my back:
Me and another family member must have been having sex.

What really pisses me off is that I was having all this sex and I didn't feel a damn thing!

Nekkid kids on the beach or This is NEW England.

Beautiful Wife and I went up to Ogunquit Beach for a stroll last night. It was a perfect night for a walk on the beach and we enjoyed walking in the shallow water near shore and admiring the waves, sky, and each other.

We had been walking for a fair bit when we came across a family and to my light bedazzled eyes it looked like the little kids (probably 3-5 years old) were all naked.

This isn't something that I'm used to seeing on our beaches and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I almost wanted to speak to the parents and see if they were foreigners because I've heard that nekkidness isn't that all uncommon over 'there'.

We figured that was a good place to turn around and enjoy the walk back to our car. We had dinner in a little seafood shack/shanty and we both had lobster rolls. That lobster was incredibly delicious! I'm not usually a big fan of lobster but this roll was done perfectly.

In fact, I enjoyed it so much that Beautiful Wife asked me if I wanted the rest of hers. I thought she was giving it to me because it hurt her throat but later figured out that she gave it to me because she saw how much I was enjoying mine. :-)

Bought me some wine or Four Vines rocks!

I did a lot of work on an RFP and the sales guy told me to pick out some wine and he'd buy it for me.

I bought two bottles of the Four Vines Anarchy on him and can't wait to give it a try. I have a pretty extensive Four Vines stock in my wine rack now and we'll be drinking them once Beautiful Wife is recovered from her radiation therapy.

I have, in stock, the following Four Vines Wines:

1 - 2002 Maverick
1 - 2002 Biker
1 - 2002 The Sophisticate
1 - 2001 Syrah Central Coast
1 - 2002 Gamba Vineyard Zin
2 - 2002 Anarchy (42% Syrah, 29% Zin, 29% Mourvedre*)
4 - 2001 Zinfandel Port

From Wine Spectator's website:
* MOURVEDRE (Red) [more-VAY-druh]
As long as the weather is warm, Mourvèdre likes a wide variety of soils. It's popular across the south of France, especially in Provence and the Côtes-du-Rhône, and is often used in Châteauneuf-du-Pape; Languedoc makes it as a varietal. Spain uses it in many areas, including Valencia. In the United States it's a minor factor now, pursued by a few wineries that specialize in Rhône-style wines. The wine can be pleasing, with medium-weight, spicy cherry and berry flavors and moderate tannins. It ages well.

Got a new car or Now I'm pimping!

I had a grandpa car until recently. I didn't mind that it looked that way (Ford Crown Victoria) because it was roomy and comfortable. Then gas prices started to rise and the mileage, at best, hovered at around 20mpg on the highway and significantly less while driving around town.

I traded in that car on Saturday for a Nissan Maxima 3.5 SL. It is a nice car, gets great mileage, and has all kinds of cool features like a heated steering wheel and front seats.

Oldest Daughter came running out when I pulled into the driveway, took one look inside my liquid silver car with black leather interior and said, "Dad! You're such a pimp!"