October 2010 Archives

Colin wanted to go as a witch this year. Our neighbor friend Jordyn did a great job on his make-up, don't you think?!

Anne is also a witch. Duane is supposed to be "double rainbow guy." Only problem is that he forgot not everyone spends all day online like he does. Not many of our friends knew the double rainbow guy, even after Anne forwarded the video around as their homework.

Since we can never seem to remember how much candy to buy, and more importantly, how much to give out to each trick-or-treater, here is a note for our future selves:

Duane bought about 6 bags of mini candy bars and 4 pounds of loose candy at the Winco. Anne gave out multiple pieces at the start, but later became worried we'd run out. Here's the bowl at 7:40. We extinguished the lame-O-lantern shortly before 8:00.

Start with one lopsided pumpkin, give a knife to someone with no carving skills, and here's what you'll get:

I had to hurry to take this as soon as I got home, while my lovely wife waited in agony for me to help with her ear infection. The scene probably would have been better from the water tank at the top of the hill.

Today we visited Bishop Orchard in Garfield. First we traipsed through the orchard itself to pick some apples. We were a little late to the party, so all the low-hanging fruit had already been picked. Climbing the trees is not allowed (bummer!) so they gave us a "picker" on the end of a long pole:

These apple trees pulled of some amazing optical illusions. The apples looked normal when hanging up high on the tree. But upon taking them out of the picker basket, I had to laugh at how small they were. They were very tasty, however!

I also had to laugh because -- who goes to a U-pick-em orchard and only picks 20 apples?

Our other reason for going was to make some cider. The cider apples are picked for us. Colin's job was to take the apples out of this giant tub and put them into the smasher a few at a time:

After filling a wooden bucket with shredded apples, we moved them to the squeezer. Anne wanted to leave with one gallon, but we managed to squeeze out two gallons.

Since we only brought a one-gallon empty milk jug, we had to improvise and fill some water bottles, and empty soda bottles with the extra cider.

Somewhat to my surprise, C was actually disappointed that we had to leave. He wants to come back again soon.

Today the kiddo and I visited a corn maze on a farm north of Pullman. Before getting to the maze, however, we got distracted by the corn launcher:

They're selling 5 launches for $2 and giving out free snacks if you can hit one of the targets:

After a few launches we entered the maze. I didn't think it was going to be particularly difficult because (a) the ground is not entirely flat so you can see other people and paths, and (b) the corn is a little short in places. Colin was having a blast, telling people about the dead ends.

Then we got separated. Shocking, I know.

He ran ahead and made a turn that I didn't. After a bit I could hear him calling for me, but I wasn't sure if he was further along or still stuck in places we'd already been. Eventually I found the right path to make progress. When I got to an open-ish area I called for him and saw him pop up out of the corn a few rows away. He had been breifly adopted by another family in the maze. When we reunited he was visibly relived but held his composure. He was in high spirits when we found the exit.

After the maze we did the tiny hay-bale maze, played corn hole and took some stick-your-head-through-the-hole photos.

Then, back to the launcher where we invested another $6 in trying to hit the targets. He got close a couple of times, but never quite hit the plywood.

Returned home late last night from almost a week in Atlanta, Georgia (attending the joint NANOG and ARIN meetings).

The highlight was the NANOG social event at the Georgia Aquarium. We were allowed to wander through two of the exhibits. The first is the Ocean Voyager exhibit, with lots and lots of fish, an "underwater tunnel" that you can walk through, and a window that was 20 feet tall, 60 feet wide, and 2 feet thick. This pool contains whale sharks, hammerheads, rays, and lots of other fish. Here's a couple:

We were also allowed to see the Tropical Diver exhibit, which includes generally smaller fish, some adorable spotted garden eels, and some jellyfish:

During one of the breaks I took a walk through nearby Piedmont Park around sunset:

Later in the week I took a tour of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The visitor's center is quite nice, except for the fact that photos are not allowed. They have some very neat things on display, such as a box of 2.3 million in $5 bills, and lots of examples of old forms of currency. You can watch some of the operations where they have "robots" (which look like unmanned forklifts) that transport large boxes of cash back and forth. Each robot has a name like Ben, Andy, Alex, and Abe.