What A Family!

Happy New Year! Yes, it is summer time, a goofy time of year, when anything can happen. The shimmering heat can make time stand still and the future seem like a distant oasis. It might be fun to celebrate Christmas in July or August by a pool instead of near a tree. I predict Katie will get her portfolio done on time. Good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise. I hope she can cut herself some slack then; just dip her toes in a pool,read a book, and drink lots of sweet tea.

The Fiddler cousins are all creative and very talented. It is a joy to see what they are doing with their lives. Most of them are approaching thirty or are already there. Where did the time go? They deal with life's challenges gracefully. They have enthusiasm for life. It is good to see.

The Aunts and Uncles can all take a bow. They have happily, and richly, contributed to the development of their nieces and nephews. It does take a village to raise a child. A toast to the Fiddler family. Raise glasses everyone.

The fourth of July is almost here. I hope everyone can pause, take a deep breath, and enjoy the simple pleaure of being alive.

Crazy Weather Shenanigans

Well with all the weather that has been going on the past couple weeks I've gotten a wild hair to get out and experience some of it. My first venture was back about 2 weeks ago, I chased the tornado that ended up hitting Manhattan while it was not a tornado while I was around, it was sure trying. At one point I looked up out of my car window and could see the rotating beginnings of a funnel cloud at which point I promptly got to a safer distance. My second journey was just this past evening with the little bit of hell and fury that past over us, needless to say it was insane!

Car wash across the street from Bunge (taken at night mind you)

Can't Sleep

Too much sweet tea for dinner, and now I'm wide awake. Maybe a bit jittery too. So I'm catching up on your lives. I'm impressed that Tommy J has posted twice in the past week, even more impressed with his athletic achievements and wonderful web design. The Kepka. The Kepka. The Kepka.

Sending good thoughts and prayers to Matty as he heads out on the job market. There's got to be some good karma in that household since Carol rescued a bunch of kittens and their mama. Instant Karma's gonna getcha, Matty. Lennon knows what he's talking about.

Teaching is keeping me busy this summer. Teaching and meetings. Not much time left for writing, but a deadline approaches ... July 15. Will the manuscript be complete? Outlook hazy. I attended a promotion and tenure meeting this morning. I'm up for my third year review, and my portfolio is due Sept. 8. According to my colleagues, I need to plan to spend about 40 hours preparing it. I'm not sure where that 40 hours will come from, but maybe if I chant "The Kepka" over and over, something will come to me.

I signed up for the sprint triathlon coming up on Aug. 10. 400m swim, 20K bike, 5K run. It's short enough to be do-able but long enough to be a challenge. The last triathlon I did was over 10 years ago right before I turned 20. I'll complete this one 5 days after my 30th b-day. Thirty. I am beginning to think about my life in terms of decades. What an interesting phenomenon.

Trent turns 33 on Monday. I'm going to bake him a chocolate sheet cake (got the recipe from Mom). Andy will help us eat it after our bike ride on the trail tomorrow morning ... or should I say this morning?

Merry Christmas.

Back on the Prowl!

As the universe so decided I am back on the job hunt, I got let go from Emporia Motors about a week ago due to lack of work for me to do, which I can understand considering there were plenty of times when, upon having no vehicles in to work on and none on their way I would finish up other tasks that needed done and after the completion of those there would be nothing to do at all. To make a long story short they had to many people and not enough work to go around and I was one of the unfortunate ones to get canned. No worries though as I am back out looking for another position, maybe not in the automotive industry but hey what ever pays the bills is fine with me.

My new web site

I've been doing graphic design for awhile now. I've even designed a few websites. However, I've never actually done all the background work of putting a site together.

Well, I'm building my own site right now. I've always thought about doing freelance design, and Jesse has thought about displaying and maybe selling her paintings, so that's the idea behind the site. It's at very, very early stage, but feel free to view if you would like:

www.thekepka.com

lazy days

Time seems to be going by pretty darn fast. Someone on the radio the other day actually said the word "christmas." Can you believe it! Sad to say, someone killed the beautiful black swans at the Emporia zoo the other night. I'm sure some of you remeber them. One of them was over twenty years old. I know Matthew and I used enjoy watching them. We probably watched them grow up too. Well someone is taken all of the kittens plus the mother. They have kept me busy. I will be sad to see them go but, they are a handful, and they scratch like the dickens. they have gotten use to playing outside and have begun to venture ever and ever farther from the safty of the porch and the mother cat. The mothe cat has been playing with them as if she were a kitten herself. She hops around and grabs them with her paws pulls them down and licks them. She is very protective though. I always know if some thing is in the yard that she doesn't like around her babies. well thats all my news.

Too much fun in the sun

Over the past two months, I've participated in the Kansas City Corporate Challenge. I know some of you know what I'm talking about. But for those who don't, KCCC is an Olympic-style competition where companies compete against other companies in many athletic (and not-so athletic) events. I've run a 5K, sprinted 200 meters, long jumped and played some basketball, tennis, volleyball and soccer for my company. There's also a 1-mile walk, darts, billiards, horseshoes and bowling for those who prefer not to run.

Needless to say, I've had some painful days lately. The worst, however, was from my event this past weekend -- 5-on-5 flag football. As you may have guessed by the multitude of events I participated in, my company doesn't get a lot of participation. This was again the case with football. We did not have any subs -- forcing the five of us that showed up to play the entire time.

I won't bore you with all the details, but we actually did well, which meant we played a lot of games. It was a situation where we kind of wanted to lose so we didn't have to play anymore, but we were too competitive to let ourselves do that.

Not only was it a good time, it also taught me the value of sunscreen, which I failed to use at all. Apparently, going from zero contact with the sun to intense contact with the sun for several hours will result in a skin tone similar to that of the red Pinto station wagon my parents used to drive. The big surprise was when I woke up the next morning with blisters on my shoulders. I had never seen a person get blisters from a sunburn.

While my blisters weren't that bad, it reminded me of the time Dad decided to stick his arm in an overheated engine on the way to Ellsworth. He drove half the way with his arm resting on a bag of ice. If I remember correctly, it was that same red Pinto I mentioned previously. I was young though, so I could be off.

A Few Verses

Hi,

This morning was a special one for me. I discovered tanka, a short verse type of poetry, on the website Simply Haiku. Tanka has 5 lines and haiku has 3. A long time ago, a formula was developed for writing tanka. The lines were divided into syllables; 5/7 5/7/7. One way to describe the form is short line/ long line etc. Another way is free verse. There is little, if any, punctuation. The poems may rhyme but do not have to.

Haiku and Tanka are fascinating to me. They calm me and make me think. The masters of these poems are my heroes. Naturally, I am going to share a few poems I found online.

The first tanka is by Norman Darlington.

in light and shade
old memories slowly fade
between the stones
a tortoise singing songs
of shells and bones

The next tanka is by Marianne Bluger.

Solitary
under snow-freighted skies
a little lark
in a corn field pecks
its way along a furrow

I wrote a tanka for Katie. I am inspired and fascinated by her bicycle rides. My poem is not polished. I had fun writing it though. It is the final tanka.

cool breeze
sustains the ride
yellow comet
on the silver comet trail
39 miles

horse back riding

Hi,
I just wanted to tell my sisters thank you for the horseback riding lesson for my birthday. I had my lesson yesterday it was great. Connie the lady that gave me the lesson was very nice. In theory Horse are just likc big dogs they like to be praised and petted. They seem to be easy to train and once you learn things about them the rules for riding and what the horse expects of you. Things can go pretty well. You must establish a relationship with the horse before you ride it. You offer the back of your hand for it to smell this is the getting aquainted part. Later you might give its back a little messsage to let it know you are in charge. If the horse is switching its tail it is sign that it isn't ready for you to maybe ride it or it may not want to do what ever else you want it to do.
but if you are patient you will most likely win. They like to be told they are doing a good job. Connie always told her horse Emmie thank you when it had completed a job. Emmie by the way was the horse I took my lesson on. She is a 14 year old sweet mare. She has 2 daughters. One that has her gentle disposition and the other has a combination of her mom and dads.
Yes I think I will try and take another lesson here in the near future. I will see if I can recapture the fun of yester years.
I will keep you posted.

S.G.

summer creeping crud

Well I managed to go all winter without a cold and now that it is summer what do I get? A lousy cold. I am feeling a bit better. I am popping vitamin C and oregano oil, drinking lots of green tea, although Dr. Klietz recommended ginger tea and I made some homemade chicken soup last night. Here is the recipe Dr. Klietz recommended.

fresh Chicken that is hormone and anitbiotic(if you want those things just go to your doctor) free
(remove skin)
Place in sauce pan
Add water

1 or more large onions sliced
2 inches of fresh ginger peeled and grated
5 cloves of fresh garlic minced
chives chopped
as much black pepper as you can stand
simmer until chicken is done
eat with rice
The black pepper breaks up the mucus.

I don't eat black pepper as a rule, so it takes a bit of getting used to, but the ginger adds a nice fresh taste.

So if you ever find yourself with a cold or sinus problems try this chicken soup for the cold remedy.

39 Miles

Today was beautiful. Cool, cloudy, nice breeze. Andy and I headed out to the Silver Comet Trail again, and Trent headed to a softball tournament with his co-workers. It was a day made for being outside. Andy and I biked 39 miles today on the trail--over a gorge and through some tunnels, including one that was so long it needed lights.

We stopped at a festival, where Andy got a homemade sausage, and then the vendor gave us both some fresh fruit--for free! Then, since some of the vendors at the festival were closing down, a lady in a SUV almost ran over Andy's bike (stopping only when I yelled, "Whoa!") and his bike chain began grinding into my calf as her vehicle pushed it into me. Fun times. At least I was wearing a helmet.

Back at the house, we dined on homemade macaroni and cheese, tuna salad, and brownies topped with raspberry sherbet. Mmmm, tasty.

Hope everyone's Saturday was as fun as mine!

Things that are.

Well since my last post, I have given up on the Xbox 360 repair for now due to damage that at this point can not be repaired. Thusly I have moved on to my new project, swapping gauge clusters in my car. Why you ask! Well there were two options for my car when it came to the instrument cluster the first and most common are analog gauges they have needles, just like 99.9% of all cars on the road. The second type had a digital speedometer and was only available in the 240sx SE Coupe. The problem is that the wiring for each is different so I'm having to adapt the factory wiring to suit the new cluster which means hours of staring at wiring diagrams to figure out how to put a square peg in a round hole. Wish me luck....I may go insane by the end of this project!

just for fun

only in america ....... do banks leave both doors to the vault open and then chain the pens to the counter.

only in america ..... do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.


only in america ..... do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front door.

thought these were amusing.

Pineapple salad

Hi everyone, I was very happy to see most of you on Sunday. I had a really good time & hope you did too. I really missed having Katie & Andrew here. Ellen had request my recipe for my pineapple salad & I thought I would share it with all of you in case anyone else was interested. Sometimes I like to add mini marshmallows but it really is perfect without them.

Pineapple Picnic Salad
20 oz. pineapple, crushed, undrained
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. vanilla pudding, instant mix
20 oz. pineapple chunks, drained
8 oz. whipped desert topping

In a large bowl, stir the undrained pineapple into the cream cheese. Stir in the vanilla pudding mix. Fold in the drained pineapple chunks and whipped topping. Cover and chill until ready to serve at the picnic.

Yesterday & last night was Jacob's first full day & night without the binkie. Bedtime was just slightly rough but he fell asleep pretty quickly & slept through the night. He has started sucking is thumb a little bit though, we'll have to see what happens.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Biking Today

Guess what! Andy helped me pick out a lovely hybrid bicycle today at Dick's Sporting Goods. It's a fun shade of yellow; the seat is actually fairly comfortable; the gears are easy to shift; and the bike is very light weight (it will be easy for me to get it in and out of the truck). It's also the type of bike that I can convert into a road bike -- if I ever want to -- for triathlons. For now, I'll probably just race with it as is ... I don't need super skinny tires to go fast. :)

At about 1:00, Andy and I arrived at the Silver Comet Trail in metro Atlanta. It goes from the city to the Alabama border. We didn't go that far today. :) We rode about 28 miles round trip in a couple of hours. It was hot, but since much of the trail is shaded, and we were creating our own breeze, it was actually a very pleasant ride. It's an old railroad line, so it's fairly flat, and though it does cross some streets, we started out far enough west that we didn't run into much traffic--automotive or otherwise. Another nice feature of the trail are the amenities ... every few miles or so (until you get out of metro Atlanta) there are restrooms and ice cold drinking fountains. Mmmm.

After the ride, Andy treated me to lunch at Five Guys, a hamburger joint that he highly recommends. Their burgers and Cajun fries were pretty darn good, and the Cherry Coke and A&W Root Beer just added to our dining pleasure.

For tonight ... I'm making homemade salsa and tacos. And I'm going to force Andy to watch Mean Girls. Trent's working a Braves game, so he doesn't get to join in the fun this weekend. Last weekend, the three of us and my friend Kristen went to the movies (Indiana Jones for the boys; Sex and the City for the girls) and out to dinner. Then, Kristen's hubby, Brian, joined us at our house for card games and brownies. Super fun.

Hope everyone's having a fabulous weekend! I sure am. A Saturday like today makes the workweek bearable.

Grammar and Politics

Our English teachers always tell us that you're not supposed to use passive voice. "Always write in active voice," they say.

Passive: The cookie was eaten.

Active: I ate the cookie.

As I drove home today, I heard a perfect example of when you should use passive voice. You should use it when you're a government official, who's trying to deflect blame. In an interview on NPR, Scott McClellan was asked by Renee Montagne of "Fresh Air" if he had any regrets about his role in the Bush administration's misleading of the country.

McClellan replied that he "was caught up in" the standard operating procedure of the Bush administration. Rather than admitting his own autonomy in the situation, he speaks as though he had no choice. A force more powerful than he forced him to go along for the ride.

What a load.

What a brilliant use of the passive voice.

Skaters Haiku

When Katie was nine she loved to roller skate. Her friend, Bobbie Weatherholt, often dropped by and the two of them skated back and forth on the uneven sidewalk on Rural Street. For a real thrill they started at the top of our sloped driveway which forced a sharp turn to avoid the brick paved street. One day the Emporia Gazette included the skaters on the front page...Bobbie was immortalized attempting to skate between Katie's legs.....friends having fun on spring break!

Driveway slalom skate...
wheels whirr; sharp fast left; girls shriek!
Downhill run blurs by!

Love ya,
mom

feta cheese dip

Here is the recipe for the feta cheese dip. And by the way I bought the excellent pita(no pockets)from the middle eastern store in Lenexa. They stay soft when heated up, although the other night John was in charge(his choice)of heating the pita bread and he kept it in the oven to long so it was crispy instead of soft, but still very good, just not bendable. As for hummus I usually buy it already made, but I might explore making it sometime and if I find a good recipe I will let you know, although I find most of my recipes on line now. I just google what I want recipe, ex. feta cheese dip recipe and then I select one that has the easiest prep time and least complicated ingredients. Oh John bought a jug of Kalamata olives with the pits. A four ounce jar is about 4 bucks, but we got 4 pounds and 4 ounces for about $18.00. He is in olive heaven. I think he could live on those. Anyway here is the recipe and we really enjoyed it.

4-6 ounces of feta cheese crumbles, you can use more if you like

1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c plain yogurt
2 green onions chopped up
2-4 cloves of minced garlic. I use lots of garlic
1 tblsp of fresh lemon juice
Throw all into the food processor or blender and mix or whip or whatever until blended.
salt to taste(stir this in after above ingredients are blended)
spread on crackers or warm pita bread or use for a veggie dip.

Enjoy