rustypants speaks

Scott & Lise Try to Find Vegetarian Food @ McGuire’s Irish Pub in Destin, FL from scott rust on Vimeo.

What did they find? What did they eat? How does it end??

Well, click play and find out.

Stick around – it gets rather silly at the 4:00 mark…

It was an incredible evening out on Pensacola Beach.

Dark black clouds. White fluffy clouds. The sky was black. The sky was blue. It rained. It didn’t rain. The surf was flat and the beach was clear of people.

We brought Dolby, our black lab, out with us. The oil spill was on its way to Pensacola and we didn’t know when the next time was we’d be able to bring him.

As we walked out to the beach, the rain started sprinkling, and a rainbow popped out to the East. We got ourselves settled on a blanket, Dolby obviously unhappy. He and rain don’t mix. He loves getting wet and swimming, but if the moisture comes out of the sky, this displeases him. Lise went to hunt for seashells and the dog and I stayed behind.

I sat marveling at the rainbow, the dichotomy of light and dark in the sky, at the beach that we so love, how the light reflected off the water, and how we might be losing it all to the oil spill, slowly gushing its way to us.

That’s when I saw him.

Off to the East. A Great Blue Heron.

He was a good 50 yards away from where Dolby and I sat. He was framed against a beautiful backdrop of those mixed clouds, the rainbow, the shimmering water, and the sugar-white sand.

The photographer in me instantly started calculating how close I would need to get, at what point I would need to stand, what settings I would need to put into the camera, in order to get a shot of those clouds, the rainbow, the heron, the reflection, all into one frame.

The one thing I didn’t calculate was what it would take to get Dolby to stay on the blanket and not scare the heron away.

Dolby’s a good boy. We’ve been very lucky to have a big dog who stays close when off his leash, and almost always comes back when called. Almost always.

As I started changing my camera settings to take into account the distance, the lighting, my subject, and walking slowly towards the heron, I realized that Dolby was with me. What’s more, his ears had perked up and his tail was straight out. He started moving faster and next thing I know, he’s 5 yards in front of me.

What to do!? If I yell, Dolby would come back, but the heron might take off!

I risked it. “Dolby! COME!” and he did. And the heron stayed in his spot.

I continued walking, started taking some preliminary shots to see how things were looking, but knowing I needed to get much closer than I was to get the heron big enough to make it all worthwhile.

I forgot about Dolby again as I shot and made adjustments, walking quickly and, hopefully, stealthily towards the shoreline and my quarry.

The next thing I see in my camera viewfinder?

Dolby has taken off. Not a full gallop (yet), but the Labrador Retriever Hunting trot.

I called again in the most commanding voice I have, “Dolby! COME!” knowing it was futile. Once he’s locked himself into this mode, there’s nothing I can do to stop him. I had two choices: Chase after him and hope I could catch up to him, and grab him by his harness, or…

Or, I could get the camera ready and shoot what was sure to be an interesting, if not funny, scene.

Dolby has chased after pelicans in the past, to much disappointment. He has chased after black skimmers and come away shame-faced. He goes after slow, bumbling pigeons, but the results are always the same no matter what he chases: they get away.

This night was no different. As he got closer, the Great Blue shifted slightly. I could see him eyeing this big galoot who was now coming at him at a gallop. I could also see that the heron was going to shame my dog by letting him get close, closer, closer…

And it was a fantastic shaming. That Great Blue waited until the last minute to unfold his large wings and gracefully take flight against my goofy dog. He flew perhaps 50 yards to the West, landed in the water, and resumed his search for dinner, keeping a wary eye in our direction.

My big dog got this shameful, silly look on his face as he trotted back, almost as if to say, “Dang it! I knew that was gonna happen, but shucks, I just had to give it a try!”

As the oil slick continues to grow, and as we find more and more oil out on the beach, this is just one of the many things we are growing sad about losing.

It’s been many, many years.

lots going on, lots coming up – time for another stream of consciousness, eh?

• finished reading two good books in a row -Â The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon;Â Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. the first is a story told from the viewpoint of a fifteen year old with autism – fascinating to me after working with profoundly autistic students for many years in DC and Maryland. the second won the Pulitzer for fiction back in 2000 – it’s a series of short stories and very enjoyable.
• i’m currently reading Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost and Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. both are good so far.
• my contract was renewed at PFHS for next year – this was FANTASTIC news, both because having a job = good, and because i have come to love working at this school! very excited for what next year will bring.
• as school finished up last week, i’ve been searching for things to keep me busy this summer. too much time off is dreadfully boring. have a meeting with a department at my district tomorrow to discuss my developing Moodle pages for this dept’s training sessions, and helping with other technology related things. couple days a week, couple hours a day, maybe.
• our beloved Canon S2 IS bit the dust a couple months ago. a stunning blow, as we rarely leave the house without a camera in tow. we knew we wanted to move up in the digital camera arena, but didn’t have the money to do so. after some scraping and a lot of research, we ended up getting a killer deal on a Canon SX10 IS and we’re having a blast with it. the pictures are crisp, the response time on the camera is quick, the 20x optical zoom is over the top, and the flexibility is great. we’re still learning the nuances of this camera, and i have difficulty in a couple areas that are probably lack of photography knowledge, but we’re working on that!
• i’m enjoying Twitter more as i’m finding professional uses for it (mostly networking and idea-sharing), but i have to admit: i’m getting very annoyed at folks who use twitter like text messaging and/or simply to show off. now, the beauty of twitter is: even though everyone and their mothers have a “how to use twitter” tutorial, the truth is, there are no rules. and my bitching about folks who use twitter one way or another – it comes down to this – i stop following them so i don’t have to partake in their pointless and excessive self-aggrandizing or all the silly personal chatter they produce. it’s been bothering me a bit – thanks for letting me blow off some steam about it (and no offense meant to anyone who has been un-followed or recognizes themselves in this description – i still love you, just not that much).
• and in the interest of full-disclosure: i don’t frequently have a lot of intelligent things to say on twitter – but i do keep the meaningless posts to a minimum.
• the juan sebastian elcano is docked at pensacola pier – we went down and took a stroll around – pretty impressive ship!

• the sunsets continue to blow our minds here in pensacola. the temperatures have been very pleasant (mid-80’s the last couple weeks). tonight we saw a black skimmer fly by just as we were about to leave – very pretty and graceful – this was the best i could get of this one as it flew by:

• recent new music discoveries include: Rosie Thomas; Booker T; and Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s Dark Night of the Soul.

be well and take me to task on some of this stuff, ya hear?

can anyone really come up with something better to do on a saturday morning than this?

woke up around 7:15, took care of the dog, grabbed some cereal, packed a couple books, the cooler, and took off.

skies were clear, water was gorgeous, shells were plentiful, and the temps were perfect.

saw a very cool solar halo while out. we’ve seen them before, but not this big or clear.

we stayed until noon and took off. it was the perfect way to spend a saturday morning.

we’re in the season for big clouds and sunsets even more spectacular than usual. tonight we took big dog out for a 3 hour stroll on pensacola beach.

the way the sky changes so quickly and gives so many colors, shapes, hues, and focal points – it never ceases to amaze us.

there was a large cloud front moving in from the north – watching the sunset BEHIND that – it was multiple layer sunset goodness!

while we were sloshing around in the water, lise made a killer shell find – a large 3″ alphabet cone!

this is only the 2nd one we’ve found even close to the 3″ range – quite a find, let me tell you!

after a particularly strange day at school, this was a good way to end it: together, everyone happy, relaxed, and ready to come home and crash.

speaking of which…

for years, lise and i had coveted my mom’s doormat. we’ve laughed about it every time we visited her home, asked her to leave it to us in her will, hatched plots to steal it, and asked her to just plain give it to us.

so when she told me to take it with me when we moved to Florida 2 years ago, it was a bit of a shock. i mean, we had been joking about it for so long that now… well, we can just… take it?

i turned her down. thanks, but no thanks. why are you giving it up now? she tells me it’s time for her to grow up (to which i laughed – at age 61, to decide that this welcome mat is too “immature” for you… well, that’s my momma).

at any rate, every time i see it when i come home, i think about mom. she’s funny. i love her and miss her a lot.

we likey play with camera.

me wifey has bluey eyes

she coming after me

that explainey – full moony!

a couple weeks ago we were out on the beach early one sunday morning. it was warm and the water was nice. we had the dog with us and were walking up and down the gulf when we happened upon a section of beach with a LOT of shells in the water.

as we walked around, lise got into the water just a bit and was finding a lot of the same old stuff.

and then she yelled. LOUD.

she had found a Tortuga’s Banded Tulip, intact, and a little over 3″ long. an amazing find!

this is one of those “holy grail” shells for us. we’ve seen very small ones, and have been teased with hundreds of “pieces” of this shell. it’s very thin and delicate, so when they do actually make it to the shore, they’re typically beaten and crunched against the sand and other shells by waves, broken into pieces.

needless to say, this was a very neat find!

i don’t know what he would do

if he ever caught one

but it sure is funny watching

as he runs pell mell

and at least tries.

…but without the wall

 lise and i collect seashells. lots of them. compulsively collect them. for 2+ years now, we’ve collected shells and shell pieces and have hoarded them in boxes and drawers and bags. we give many of them away, but dang, we just have too many shells.

a month or so ago, lise said to me, “let’s go through all our shells and take most of them back.” “BACK?!?” i said incredulously. “yes. back,” was her reply. and in the ensuing weeks, we went through all our shells, held back the ones we enjoyed the most (there were a lot of those) and made plans for exactly how we were going to return the others.

a mural. a sculpture. a sand-painting with shells. this would be the best way to return them: make art!

so two weeks ago, we hauled 2 years worth (maybe just under 100 lbs?) of shells to pensacola beach and began creating.

we picked a deserted spot, chose the best location and we got to work.

we had sketched out a sun design on paper before we arrived…

and the trick was keeping it even. we didn’t want the aesthetic ruined by sections off-kilter or too many shells clumped together in one spot. we didn’t want it to be TOO symmetrical or normal looking, though. the sun was retreating fast, so we had to double-up our efforts. things worked out perfectly, and we finished in about 45 minutes.

what took two years to collect were planned and laid out in just under an hour to the backdrop of a gorgeous sunset. it was a triumphant moment when we stood back and looked at our finished art project.

i honestly thought i’d feel sad about letting all those shells go, but it was such a fun thing. we really enjoyed ourselves and spent a good amount of time talking about what folks would think as they came upon this creation later. speculation, creation, satisfaction, companionship – it was all there.

we hung out for a bit, watched the sunset fade to black, and headed home…

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and began planning our next big seashell art project!

7th period is That Period. the bad one. the one that drives me the craziest.

it’s mostly a dynamics issue. 8 of the 18 just don’t belong together in one classroom. but alas, the room’s not big enough to separate them as they require.

so we’re at the tail end of an excerpt from richard rodriguez’s autobiography – i’m building to the climax, the epiphany, the “aha” moment when an entire period of childish, stupid behavior on the part of my sophomores and juniors leads me to shut down the class. i’ve had enough. i’ve already had to remove one student and was close to removing a second. six others are just being disruptive, talking, trying to distract me and others, texting on cell phones, arguing with my aide – it just sent me over the top.

so i informed them: you’re on your own. finish reading it by yourselves. the 30 questions? due tomorrow at the end of the class. i was going to do them with you – now? sorry. oh, and don’t forget the test on friday. now, zip it.

and the trouble students in the class managed to zip it for about 10 minutes. then a couple more referrals had to be written.

and my 10 students who listen, participate, and don’t give me crap? their faces were like, “oh, hell no!” but they kept it together and most of them started working on finishing the story and answering the questions.

and i was so damned angry on the way home. the extent of my anger was illogical, almost blinding. and i realized that what i did wasn’t fair to my non-asshat students.

so i stopped and bought a case of cokes and rootbeer and a couple snacks. i wrote out my list of students who were going to get got, and those who weren’t. i ran it all by my department chair and a couple others (thumbs up all the way) and then laid my trap.

and 7th period, students come in and see pop and snacks and eyes light up. especially those of the soon-to-be-banished. everyone gets seated and i wrote the names of those who would not be joining us on the board. to the rest of them i said, “grab a book, a desk, a pencil, and think about what you want to drink and eat, and let’s get in a circle!” to those getting the boot, i said, “you guys can get a book, a pencil, and paper, and go to the library where you’ll do all 30 questions, then study for tomorrow’s test.”

and the looks on their faces – it was indescribable. and frankly, the glee i felt at seeing it was probably inappropriate, the groaning and whining only adding to my satisfaction.

and the ten who stayed back with me – we took the exam together and had a good discussion about the main points of the book over cokes and snacks. and 10 A’s were given.

tomorrow? the other 8 get to take the test on their own while today’s group gets a free period.

i’ll try not to be so gleeful, promise.

“Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” but in 7th period? i’m the lord. deal with it.

several weeks ago may vanderbilt (of www.anneandmay.com) put up several items for grabs on her blog – cool items that, if you wanted one of them, you simply had to tell her you wanted it – at the end of that week, she drew names out of a hat to determine who would get what of the things she had (sort of a cool-item housecleaning, if you will).

one item was a Moleskine Notebook. i like moleskine (and will post soon on how i abuse them) so i put my name in for it, not thinking i had a chance in the world of getting it.

but a week later, my name is pulled out of a hat – yay!

and this is my video thanks to May for the cool notebook! click on the Play button to see…

Download thanks to may vanderbilt!

reason #1

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reason #2Â

 reason #3

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Download C’mon down.

eh, big deal – as long as i’ve got my german chocolate cake!

an incredibly fun conversation with one of my girls who is super-smart, over-analytical, logical, gorgeous, who, at times, suppresses her “girlishness” as being illogical, and has at last found a boyfriend who is seemingly like-minded (after a… less than fitting relationship):

Adrienne: well I am writing a paper
and i was at the library
but I decided to pick another study place
so I could meet my bf when he gets out of class
:-)
rustypants: haha
wow
that was like, an OMG moment
sweet
Adrienne: why is that an OMG moment?
rustypants: because i have NEVER heard it from you before, and i’ve known you for…
4 years?
5 years?
Adrienne: heh
I LIKE MY BOYFRIEND
rustypants: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Adrienne: I THINK HE”S REALLY CUTE
rustypants: stop it!!
NIEFPOinhQP[W3ORA;owei”W{ISN
Adrienne: AND I WANT TO KISS HIM ALL NIGHT
rustypants: STOP STOP STOP!!!!
Adrienne: but I can’t
rustypants: NOOOOOOOOOOOO
Adrienne: :-/
rustypants: OMG
my equilibrium will never recover

when i was growing up, my family had a big above-ground swimming pool in the backyard. i don’t remember enjoying swimming a lot, but it was always fun getting into the pool. parties, family get togethers, saturday afternoons, hot and sticky summer days – i have a number of neat memories from this pool.

but the memory i have that sticks out the most is this:

i was young – maybe seven or eight years old.

we had early bedtime, even in the summer. this is difficult for kids, isn’t it? the sun is still up, and there you are – getting ready for bed. gah! it’s like being tortured! all that time lost sleeping when you could be pursuing treasure or beating up on your little brother in the backyard or any number of worthwhile adventures that have to be put on hold so you can go to sleep.

one night after we had already gone to sleep, my dad came in and woke us up. it was dark out and i remember being puzzled at the awakening. we were to put on our swimsuits and come out into the backyard! wha??

mom was in her suit already and we were excited, but concerned. it’s chilly out! isn’t this going to be too cold to swim in? dad told us that the water would still be warm from the sun beating down on it all day. i remember not believing him, but once we got outside and went to the pool…

the perimeter lights were on. as we walked into the pool area and stuck our hands in the water – hey! it IS warm! swimming at night, the stars out, the crickets chirping, family close-by.

we swam for a while and had a really good time. the fine details are long lost, but the emotional sensations remain – it was a really neat time together. after we swam, my dad asked me if i wanted to ride with him to baskin robbins in his ‘55 t-bird (with the top down – woo-hoo!) and pick up some ice cream.

this whole evening was so out of the ordinary and was so much fun – it surely wasn’t more than an hour or two in length but it has stuck with me ever since.

when lise and i were talking a few weeks ago about family memories, this one was a close second in cool things from my parents – this one with dad in particular.

as a kid, i remember going through my dad’s record collection and playing a little of everything. he had a cool box that was big enough to hold a number of 45’s (or singles) – he had a card for each one and a short description included on the card – and he had a whole lot of stuff from when he was growing up (50’s and 60’s).

one in particular that will always remain lodged in my brain was called Delicious! and it featured Jim Backus, of Gilligan’s Island / Mr. Magoo fame.

it was the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard. lush, romantic piano background, corks popping, inebriated individuals laughing, carrying on and on and on…

i remember as a kid listening to this and laughing hysterically! dad would listen, too, and he would laugh as well and by the end we couldn’t stop!

and i still can’t help but laugh with them. it’s so damn funny. and stupid.

but it would be unfair of me to tell you about this and not share, so click below on the Audio MP3 button to hear the actual 45 of Delicious! but please listen responsibly – do not operate heavy machinery while under the influence of Backus and crew.

Download Delicious!

a tradition as old as civilization itself, the end of a meal at any chinese restaurant is always pure joy. how can you go wrong with those sometimes flaky, sometimes rock-hard, sometimes bland, sometimes sweet fortune cookies served after you’ve stuffed yourself silly?

who passed on the tradition to me? i’d be hard pressed to remember at my advanced age, but i will say that once it clicked, it’s never been forgotten.

the check comes.
the fortune cookies, individually wrapped, are placed before you.
the fight to get the one meant for you.
the crinkling of the cellophane.
the cracking of the cookie.
your fortune revealed!
BUT
incomplete!

much breath has been wasted arguing about the proper phrasing necessary to reveal one’s true fortune, but i have come to the conclusion that the only totally encompassing and acceptable phrase is “in your shorts” – it fits almost all situations and fortunes equally well.

many years and hundreds of fortunes later, i’ve whittled down to two the ones that truly reveal the power of chinese fortune-telling and the magic phrase needed for complete revelation.

fight with me if you must, but i will go to the grave standing by my fortune-unlocking, future-revealing phrase. you need to try it yourself – order some chinese tonight, crack that sucker open and give it a run. let me know how it ends. add your own phrase if you must, but at least give this one a shot.

and besides: what guy doesn’t want great physical powers and an iron constitution… in his shorts?

when we finally got the house sold and had to go up and pack, i knew there was going to be trouble in the kitchen. one of the things we loved about this kitchen was the amount of cabinet space, and this made for a collection of spices and goodies that i could have only dreamt of previously.

one favorite from friends and the wife alike is my Garlicky Spicy Worcestershire Burgers. besides huge amounts of garlic, various spices (ain’t tellin – you’ll have to come to p-cola and visit – i’ll make you some and you can guess), and lean ground beef, the key ingredient is worcestershire. and not just ANY worcestershire. it has to be lea & perrins. there was a time when i would have used an inferior brand but those days have been long gone.

but about a month ago, i’m at the store and keeping my eyes peeled in the spice section, what do mine eyes spy?

tobasco brand worcestershire sauce with the red / white word… SPICY at the bottom.

oh. my. gosh.

this adds a new dimension to the burgers. it adds new dimension to seafood sauce. soups. salads. just about anything you can add worcestershire to – MMmmmm…

now, i ought to add here: i do NOT like Tobasco sauce. i think it’s a cheap heat and not a very good one. i don’t use it. i don’t own any. i don’t like it on wings. i’m not impressed with it in any way, shape, or form.

but they have a new group of sauces that have come out in the last 10 years or so that are just divine – a spicy soy sauce / spicy teryaki sauce / chipotle sauce – and now this.

i’m quite impressed. and you ought to give it a shot.

and if you ask nicely, i’ll give you my garlicky burger recipe. email me at youthdude at gmail.com

with the return of the summer heat and the high humidity comes what lise and i can only call “big sky” – you can’t even wrap your mind around how big the sky looks here, how HUMONGOUS the clouds appear…

i think part of the illusion is that lise and i have spent so much of our lives in cincinnati – a town that is located in a valley and with so many buildings and houses that you can’t really see as much of what’s going on around you in the atmosphere.

obviously, being on the beach gives you about the levelest view you’re ever going to get.

but it’s beyond that, too. you simply don’t get these kind of cloud formations and insane storms up in ohio. pensacola is considered semi-tropical – the locals explain it this way: “don’t like the weather? wait fifteen minutes. it’ll change.” and this is the honest truth. in ohio, when it rains, it rains EVERYWHERE. in pensacola, when it rains, it’s likely to be over in just a minute.

the storm pictured above, which turned my school into a virtual swimming pool and made the electricity flicker, lasted all of twenty minutes. an hour before – sunny sky. an hour after? sunny sky. but when it storms down here? son, you want to be in the house!

one wild aspect of this is that in the middle of a torrential downpour, just 1 minute south of you can be blue sunny skies. you can SEE it… while you’re getting drenched. but cloud watching is quite fun down here and there’s no shortage of entertainment when it comes to the weather. just one more reason for you to quit your northern ways and come on down. we’ve got room for you.

every so often i get an inappropriate comment from someone to the effect of, “gee, it must be nice to just turn off your hearing aids and not hear” or “what i would give to have your hearing problem today” to which i usually say, “hey dumbass – i’d trade you any day.”

there are few benefits involved in hearing loss – the cost of equipment, the things i cannot do, the social things that are missed out on, the annoyance of loud restaurants, not being able to swim or be out in the rain and hear, advantages students take when they realize you can’t hear, loss of patience from people who are tired of repeating themselves for you, etc. – it’s a costly disability any way you slice it.

the few “benefits” there are can be counted on one hand – i’ll tell you about the first one today.

lise and i lived in washington d.c. & baltimore for close to ten years – our favorite outings were ones where we would get in the car, gas up the tank, and drive and explore. there were a number of state and national parks within a couple hours’ drive and we always loved going & hiking, driving, picnicking, etc.

but the cost. holy crap. i mean, we’re talking 15 years ago and i remember having to pay $5 to get into shenandoah national park in virginia (it’s now $8 to $15 per car, depending on the season). assateague island was around $8 (and it’s also now up to $15). blackwater national wildlife reserve was $2 or $3 to drive through, even. we were floored, although we paid and usually had to save up to do it. it sure seems silly now, but that’s how poor we were with lise full time in school and neither of us making much money.

so picture this: one day we’re in a line of cars leading up to the entrance to shenandoah in front royal, virginia. their big welcoming sign posts all their fees, etc. and down toward the bottom…

“Golden Access Card – Disabled – FREE“

i turned to lise and said, “gee, i wonder what constitutes ‘disabled’ here?” figuring it was more profoundly handicapped.

we pulled up to the window and i handed the dude my $5. as he’s handing me my receipt, the following conversation takes place:

“here’s your change and a map of the park, sir.”
“thanks. hey, what do i have to do to get a Golden Access Card?”
“what’s your disability?”
“uh, (looks at watch) about 2:00.”

he glances at my hearing aid, motions for the receipt back, hands me my $5, points up the hill and annunciates clearly while looking me square in the face, “drive up the hill and turn into the ranger station. they’ll give you an application and a card.”

and with that, i got a golden access card, allowing me into any national park in the country. for free.

we’ve used the thing a lot over the years but lost track of the card maybe 6 years ago. during the move, it was discovered in a box and set aside.

today we hit gulf island national seashore at perdido key – the card still works.

what’s that?

uh, about 2:00.

our fascination with graveyards has held true for years. few things are more fun than finding a nifty old graveyard while out on a try-to-get-lost drive in the middle of nowhere.

two weekends ago we drove to mobile, alabama primarily to find an indian restaurant (found! but more on that later). after eating, we decided to drive around downtown mobile, then took a wrong turn down a main road leading through the beginnings of suburbia. just as we were about to turn around and head back, we saw it.

a tourist-destination sign… for a cemetery.

we looked at each other, looked at the sign again, looked at each other and said, “if there’s a sign for a cemetery, it’s gotta be a good one.”

and it was. it is.

magnolia cemetery sits on 120 acres close to the downtown area and has graves dating back to the early 1800’s. there are many magnolia trees on the property and on this particular weekend – memorial day – there was a massive and impressive flag display as well.

we are intrigued by several things in graveyards (and these determine whether we go to a graveyard at all or just drive by):

1. are the majority of the graves OLD ones?
2. are there a good number of elaborate, ornate graves?
3. can we go traipsing around without getting yelled at by caretakers?

the answer to each of these questions on this day: YES!!

any time we find a cool old graveyard, we begin by making a bet on what the oldest grave is we’ll see. this is frequently hampered by graves so old that one is no longer able to read the inscriptions. this makes for much sadness but also adds to the challenge! there are graves dating back to the War of 1812 at magnolia, but the oldest ones we saw were just a few years short of the Civil War.

you can see the civil war cannon on the side of picture number 6 above. the angels are quite expressive, although i admit to making a joke about the angel in the middle picture above giving the finger due to a missing index finger (and wishful thinking / selective seeing). some of the crypts were stunning – marble with intricate designs, fencing, and inscriptions.

our interest is all the more unusual given that neither lise nor i have any desire to be put in an expensive box with an expensive rock on top of an expensive piece of land upon our deaths. we’re both shooting for a nice cremation and ashes scattered in various spots around ohio, maryland, and florida. if we die together and you hear that we’re being boxed up, please print and send this article to the funeral planners, eh?

we probably spent an hour here, looking, listening, watching, talking, thinking, photographing. it was quite peaceful and awe-inspiring. the lengths to which some of the families have gone to preserve some sort of legacy or record was extraordinary – and i say that with respect.

i was surprised at the haunting beauty of the place and large scale of many of the plots to the point of turning to lise and saying, “well, this looks like a pleasant place to be dead.” she smiled at me and we both knew we were thinking the same thing: it’s beautiful here, but please: don’t put me here!

the kids finished up last friday but we’ve got several days of paperwork, meetings, training, room clearning, etc. before we’re finished for the summer.

i got some time friday with one of my girls who is painfully shy but such an incredible student that i wish i could have more like her. i took about 10 minutes while we were outside and really encouraged her, talked about the things that so impressed me about her, talked to her about how i know she feels like a fish out of water sometimes because she’s so shy but that other students were envious of her quiet and hard-working attitude, let her know that she’s one of the few students i could really say “you’ll do anything you want to do when you grow up if you keep up with the things you’re doing” – it was just a really good but too brief time together letting her know that she’s been a great student.

so this morning i’m in my room cleaning up, moving desks around, throwing BOXES of papers and trash away. hidden on my cart was a folded up piece of paper that i was 95% certain was just a note one student probably wrote to another last week that i took from them – you know how it is.

just as i’m about to throw the thing away, i decide to take a look at it.

and it’s a note, written friday morning just before the kids left, from this girl. it was written directly to me and included a picture of her folded up in the note, too.

here’s the note.

and this is what i’ll miss.

“mr. rust! you’re back!!”

i hear this squealed with joy by two of my girls tuesday morning just as i’m about to speak with our school’s data clerk.

“i’m back! how’ve things been while i was gone?”

“the sub was awful!” “so-and-so said this to that person!” “we didn’t even get to go outside!!” “please don’t go out of town again.” “can we please go outside today?” were among the overlapping responses from these two fifth graders.

“wow – ok, so things are ok, the sub was bad, she didn’t take you out, so-and-so is being nasty… anything else?”

“oh, yeah… ___________ got suspended for writing something really bad on someone’s shirt.”

“so i heard. sounds like ___________’s out for the rest of the year because of it.”

short pause…

“well, i guess we won’t have no more trouble the rest of the year now that she’s gone,” came one girl’s reply.

*data clerk unable to control her laughter in the background*

believe me, i tried. i tried hard. but unfortunately, the moment was so funny, the serious look on this young lady’s face so somber, i couldn’t help but laugh, too.

this past weekend was rather unexciting as weekends go. the flu and a nasty ear infection kept me down and lise had to work much of the day saturday. sunday was not a particularly nice day, what with my ear throbbing and sounding like a balloon of snot, but it was beautiful outside and we didn’t want to waste that.

off we went for a couple hours to at least get out and enjoy the sun and the warmth. we intended on grabbing a bite at subway and scooting over to the beach for a quick picnic under the umbrella. a right powerful long line of cars heading to the bridge deterred us from a beachside lunch, however, and we were scurrying to find an alternative.

i’d seen the signs for the Naval Live Oaks area of the Gulf Island National Seashore a couple of times but we’d never gone to this area, just a couple miles east of pensacola beach. the pictures speak for themselves, but allow me to ruin it just a bit by saying: this was a very pleasant spot to stop and eat.

and then we went home and i crashed. :-)

not gone yet, but what a couple days this has been!

the previous post talks about my whirlwind day on tuesday with the realtor and getting a contract on the house. what has ensued since then has been an edge-of-your-seat thriller involving the ability of the buyer to secure financing that satisfies her needs as well as the needs of the bank.

when i didn’t hear anything by the end of wednesday, i wasn’t worried but i was wondering if maybe our celebration was premature. by the end of the business day today, i was a bit worried.

then tonight, rakesh (our realtor) called and said the magic words: she got financing and the house inspection is this sunday morning at 9am!

my first reaction was not a pleasant one and i’m a bit surprised at myself.

our move to florida has been the best thing that could have happened to lise and i. as i’ve mentioned before, i believe that it literally and figuratively saved our lives. we’ve sacrificed a lot in the process, but in the end we’re happier than we’ve been in years and feel alive again. we’ve made decisions and changes regarding how we live and what we need / don’t need to get by – it’s only been a good thing! we miss our families and friends terribly but we’re in a better place to appreciate and love them where we are than where we were.

so my first reaction tonight was one of melancholy, fear, and sadness. i want to be happy about selling the house but wow – we’ve spent the last 16 months working towards selling it, and with so much frustration, loss, and disappointment – the reality of selling our house has finally hit.

we thought we were going to die in this house when we bought it. we thought we were going to host parties and dinners and get togethers here until we were little old folks. we loved coming home to all this space and room. we didn’t have to worry about whether the tv was too loud or the music too loud or whether we had clothes on (not that this one has ever stopped me…) we got to have our own rooms / offices to have our own space we had a huge basement and got couches and the tv and were going to have youth group over here every weekend and kids and we put our pictures up and had cookouts and played cards and friends came from out of town and stayed with us and there are things i’ll never forget about this place.

and i’m sad. sad for things lost. sad that things didn’t work out the way we had envisioned them. sad that the freedom and independence we felt with the house didn’t continue. i’m melancholy because of an ideal that we had built in our heads about what Having A House meant. I’m scared because of losing our last physical tie to cincinnati, having an “out” if we decided that moving to pensacola was a mistake, not being able to just cruise into town whenever we are able.

and then after i had a good little pity party and shed some tears over these things, i’m happy and relieved.

i’m happy because this is the end of the process we started so long ago. because we’ll no longer be losing huge sums of money to a place that sits empty. because this will allow us to build our savings back up and move on to this next phase of our lives begun last summer when we pulled up to the sandy shore and dug our toes in and let our hair down. relieved because i know that the house has been a stressful thing and causes me to cling and hold on to things that are no longer there. relieved because that ideal was not realistic in the long haul and in the face of an ever-changing thing we call life. i’m happy. i’m happy because lise and i can now focus completely on what we need to focus on: each other. i’m the luckiest guy on earth – my wife is the best!

sorry for the long post but it’s helped me process.

met with the new realtor today and this is how the day went:

11am: realtor comes. we walk through the house. we sit and talk. we sign papers. we decide on a listing price ($10,000 less than we paid for it 5 years ago and $20,000 less than our original listing last year). he tells me he’s pretty sure it’ll end up selling for 5,000 to 8,000 less than we’re listing it. not good, but we’re at the point of making mortgage payments on a credit card. we’ve GOT to get rid of this house. everything must go. prices have been slashed!

noon: realtor tells me to work in the yard a bit and look at getting bids for having a shower installed in the first floor bathroom, plus a few other things. he tells me to try and get all this done by late next week.

5pm: after working in the yard most of the afternoon, i come in the house and my cell phone has three missed calls and two messages from the realtor’s office. they have someone who wants to see the house tonight at 6pm.

5:02pm: scott is hyperventilating from how messy the house / yard is and that this dude, this realtor, whom we picked specifically because his name and face are everywhere on the west side, and because my dad used to work with him and pegged him as a go-getter and aggressive, has gotten someone already to look at the house.

6pm: house is as clean as it’s gonna get. scott scoots out the door and goes to his mom’s.

9:15pm: realtor calls. scott jokingly says, “hey, tell me you’ve got a contract for me!” realtor says, “i’ve got a contract for you!” scott says, “dude, the ink’s not dry on the paperwork from this morning. you messin’ with me?” realtor says, “nope. i’ll be by at 10am to get your signature.”

april fools?

apparently not.

more on feelings / details later.

i’m pretty simple and keeping me happy generally doesn’t take much.

lise and i have survived on simple things most of our 17 years together. when things got too complex and fancy, we moved and gave up much of the comfort that we had built up in the previous couple of years.

but i will admit this: there are some things that, once you’ve had them, it’s hard to compromise on later.

now, after 12 years of marriage, living in apartments and using laundromats or other people’s washers / dryers, when we bought our house in cincinnati one of the very first things we did was to go out and buy a washer and dryer of our very own. nothing fancy. we bought a dent and nick washer from sam’s club for 50% off. bought the previous year model dryer for 50% off from home depot. they didn’t match. we didn’t care.

but the sweet, sweet comfort of washing our clothes in our own house? oh. my. gosh. no more quarters. no more lugging bags of soiled linens and detergent and hangers and change to a public place after an already busy day. no more wondering who washed what before you in those machines. no worrying about That Guy who always hung out at the laundromat. no more having to wait to wear this or that because it was dirty and we couldn’t wash it. no more worrying about having to put clothes on to do the wash – naked clothes washing is highly underrated.

and then we packed up and moved from our huge house to a tiny apartment in pensacola.

and we’ve been dragging our clothes around again. and begging for quarters. and putting off washing things. and worrying about what that is coating the inside of the washer. and finding all the washers taken. or all the dryers.

and i’ve been rationalizing in my head: if we’re spending $10/week on laundry and we can find a washer / dryer for $500… wouldn’t we be kinda saving money, time, and our sanity all at once?

so we decided to take a 2 block trip to a used appliance store today. i don’t like these places because i generally think they’re going to be shady, 2nd hand questionable pieces of overpriced crap. nick and dent stuff rocks! and it’s new! and it’s guaranteed!

but this dude surprised us. c. burnham appliances changed my mind about 2nd hand. the pensacola better business bureau came up clean on him. picked up a whirlpool ultimate care II quiet wash / quiet dry set for $395 and he delivered them for us on the spot.

and i can’t believe how happy i am to have a washer and dryer again. it’s one of those hard-to-compromise items for me. i’ve been sitting here in the living room with a smile on my face knowing that our first load in our new washer and dryer is about finished. simple pleasures.

when asked for a comment on the new set, dolby the dog sighed deeply, rolled his eyes, and wondered when he was going to get fed.

frickin’ high maintenance mutt.

this past tuesday was quite cool.

my dad and his wife karen came into town for the afternoon. they and my brother and his wife were in biloxi for a couple days on vacation – lise and i took the afternoon off work and they drove the two hours into p-cola and we had a great, but too brief, time together.

we unloaded the truck of our chest of drawers and two bicycles and an added treat of several cans of skyline chili and several bottles of montgomery inn sauce – all welcome additions in our home. we hung out at the apartment for a bit and caught up (and caught our breath).
then we hit mcguire’s irish pub for a fantastic meal of corned beef sandwiches, reubens, and monster-sized burgers – add a couple bowls of their famous bean soup and two pitchers of homemade root beer and you’ve got a great couple hours of food, fun, and talk.

next to the beach where the wind was blowing hard enough to lean at a 45 degree angle without falling over. sadly, it was too windy and cold for karen and we didn’t get her picture this time around. :-( a quick picture and a visual for them both of where we spend most of our free time (and what brought us to pensacola in the first place) were had and we were off.

a drive to my school and lise’s place of work, then back to the apartment rounded out the afternoon. we had a great time and it sucked to say goodbye but it was great to see them both and catch up.

and i have to remember to bring karen a reuben from mcguire’s when i hit cincy at the end of march!

she did it.

she found the proverbial “big one” – The Shell.

after my finding of The Other Big One back in december, lise’s pitched a bit of a fit that she’s not had the same luck. but last week, we hit the beach and there it was.

we had walked a ways down the beach together until at some point i decided to go back to the chairs and sit, watch the sunset and listen to the waves. lise trudged on, deciding to get in the chilly water and wade around a bit.

and that’s where she saw it. the top half of a large lightning whelk sticking up from the sand maybe 4′ from the shore. as she recounted the story, she said, “i saw it and i thought to myself, ‘oh, please let it be a whole one, not a broken one!’ as she pulled it out of the sand she let out a loud “YES!!” and bounded out of the water to examine her find.

it’s a nice one, too. where mine is 12″ and quite faded (not from the sun but because when they get to that size, the color becomes more of a flat cream with less pronounced ridges), hers is 7″ and full of colors and textured ridges! it’s a real beauty and is now proudly displayed as one half of the two Big Ones.

will this end her quest for another big one as it did mine?

probably not. who says chicks don’t care about size?

we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay (no really) we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay we’re going to be okay

one of the great benefits of being a youth minister is getting to attend weddings of past kids. and this weekend we went insane and drove to maryland to witness the wedding of karen and her man kevin. and it was awesome!

karen is absolutely one of Scott’s Girls. and you can read about why here.

the wedding was great. shortest one i’ve ever been to.

“do you take her?”

“i do.”

“do you take him?”

“i do.”

i now pronounce you….

it was pretty wild. :-) reception rocked. seeing her family again for the first time in several years rocked.

more stories and pictures to follow. we’ll be in maryland til sunday morning and then heading back to cincinnati.

you MIGHT be able to click here to see the other wedding pics. if not? sorry!