Tra and Glenn Make Ten. » Friends

Music with a Mission

Glenn G — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:11:29 +0000

I don’t often quip about music on here, but today is a special occasion. Last week a friend of mine, Nick Higgins, had the launch of his new album, No Laughing Matter. The reason this is so special is that this is his first album and secondly, he made the album to specifically donate the proceeds to the mission field of stopping human sex trafficking.

Now if you have the pleasure of knowing Nick, you know he has a touch of ADD, he is a bit of a busy body, always moving, always doing something making things happen. So for him to take months and months of his life to write, play, sing and produce an album was likely not an easy task. I know he spent hours studying, reading and learning, hours upon hours of mixing, remixing and producing, most of which I imagine involves sitting still for long periods of time, or near torture for Nick. It likely helped that he produced the album during the midst of the deepest darkest part of the Alaskan winter.

The album is a Christian album “churcy” as it has been called. But don’t be fooled, Nick likes his electric guitar and the album clearly reveals that; right at the open of the first song with a rocking little electric riff to open up the album on SHAKEN and followed up with NO MORE ROOM a catchy drum driven praise song heavy on the guitar. Even in the softer side of MAYBE, with the acoustic lead you can clearly hear Nick ripping it up with some electricity in the background. The lyrics all come from Nick’s heart, as most of them were written by him. Songs like HAVE YOUR WAY are reminiscent of a rocking prayer, while MAYBE is a heartfelt cry for faith, and strength. Nick even includes his version of P’WER IN THE BLOOD, an old hymnal classic, an acoustic, soft harmonizing, unplugged sweet intro, that, in Classic Nick form, rocks it out in the end. But the cherry on top is that essential Nick song, ECCLESIASTES. It’s like everyday Nick got to come out and play, it’s quirky, it’s funny, it’s even catchy, it’s Nick, and I laugh every time I hear it, contrary to the album title, typical Nick. Who mentions Tupac in a “churchy” song? Nick does. And show me another Christian album where the closing line is ” Somebody get me some money!”

No Laughing Matter Amazon

I know I downloaded it because he is my friend and because it is for a great cause, but I also know that it is now part of my most played playlist, and the catchy rocking tunes fit great into a workout playlist. So at the very least go to itunes or Amazon and give it a preview, and remember when you download it you are giving to a great cause. Now somebody go get me some money!

Songs, Sermons, Sushi; an Epic Gang Youth Group Event

Glenn G — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:40:02 +0000

As I have mentioned many times before, you have to be creative when trying to plan activities in this region of the world. It is even far more difficult when trying to plan for youth group events, other than the regular youth group meetings. Most often they involve a beach day of some sort. However, our friend and professional chef Mike Finch had an inspiration for a youth event that came to fruition last week, sushi night. Not just eating sushi, but learning how to make sushi and then eating the sushi.

Prep work

Veggies waiting to be eaten

sushi fillers

Ready to roll, literally.

Our guide for the evening.

Protein! That's what I am talking about.

Elizabeth's beautiful creation. Too pretty to eat, to hot to eat.

The event was a great success. We had 24 youth and several adults show up, packing out our casa. It was everything a youth event should be, gathering to sing some worship songs, a short message from Mike, and then the rice was flying.

Anton and Dorian patiently waiting for action.

Ben and Elizabeth leading us in some songs.

Olivia and Ben, didn't ask, didn't want to know.

Dave introducing Chef Mike to the soon to the sushi recruits.

Listening to Mike bring the word.

While groups of four learned how to roll sushi, the others were often playing epic games led by Braden and Brock. I didn’t get to see what they were playing, but apparently screaming the loudest was the most important aspect of sure victory, and they all wanted to win.

Ready, set, roll.

You must have deep concentration grasshopper.

The rice was flying and the soy sauce was spilling, but it was all good.

Braden was so excited he started eating his sushi a little early.

Of course the best part of the night was the sushi sampling, of which I was fortunate enough to participate in. There was salmon, artificial crab, shrimp, and fresh tuna. For the veggies we had cucumbers, carrots, red peppers, tomatoes and avocados. Of course there was also ginger, wasabi ( extra hot) and soy sauce.

Well balanced

Heavy on the protein!

Almost done

The event was a fantastic success, and despite our concern, the only person to get cut was me! I am sure this will spurn further educational cooking events for the Epic Gang of Youth of Guanacaste; Perhaps fondue! On second thought, hot oil, hot cheese, mini spears…….. I ‘ll let you know.

Ready for me.

Perfection

Bud wants to share. Brock, does not.

I think Dorian missed a step, or he was craving a burrito.

And of course there is always dessert provided by my lovely wife. chocolate, snicker, peanut butter cupcakes. It's a mouthful.

How to shed a few hundred pounds

Glenn G — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:32:45 +0000

As D-day (departure day) approaches us like a charging bear, life changes from hectic to frantic. Moving houses is a huge task, moving cities is a giant task, moving states is a humongous task, and moving countries is an overwhelming task. There is so much to think about, so much to plan and so much to execute that it makes us physically exhausted, not figuratively, but physically exhausted. Our minds are cluttered, our days our cluttered, our house is cluttered and our shed was cluttered. You see in the midst of all this working and planning we managed to have a day of unplanned fun.

It was a pouring rain Saturday, a miserable day by any Alaskan’s standard sans the salmon. One of those days where the rain pounded so hard of the dark wet asphalt that the drops that missed you jumped up from the asphalt to bite you in the leg. It was of course the day I had chosen to empty our shed; for a few days prior we had found out that it was sitting on the electrical easement, right where the electric company HAD to put the box. The options; move the shed or get rid of the shed. My inclination was to sell it and have someone else move it. So Ryan and I began the task of moving the mounds of “stuff” from the shed to the garage. I must admit that I was somewhat embarrassed and ashamed of the stuff we just had to store. I know I took at least a truck load directly to the dump. Finally after a few hours the shed was empty and ready to be displayed to a potential buyer. Sure it was a little crooked, but there had to be someone out there that needed a 16X12 crooked tongue and groove shed. Right? I mean people in this state got a lot of stuff. Just then, as we loaded up for our dump run Jason shows up, presumably to help but I suspect that he wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting rid of any good stuff he might need. That’s when the trouble began.

You see now there are three men of action sitting around looking at a leaning shed, a worthless leaning shed. It took but a second for Jason to convince us that the shed was worthless and that it would be impossible to move without destroying it and instead we should tear it down. Well that sounded way too fun to resist, and without any planning, safety briefing, or permit, we found some straps hooked em up to the old Suburban and began to tear down that shed.

I can’t say things didn’t go as planned, because there was no planning, but they didn’t go as expected. Further, that darn worthless shed, crooked as piece of Homer driftwood, was stinking hard to destroy. It took several takes and many different tactics before we got her off her skids and drug her right in the middle of our driveway. Now what? We were stuck, the driveway was blocked, and the shed looked sturdier than ever. After several attempts to flip it over, it was time for old blue to roar to life. We got my truck running, full of trash mind you, and I proceeded to use it as a battering ram to knock the shed over. I have blogged about my truck in the past, it is blue, it is damaged, it is loud and it is a 5 speed manual, or what you would call a man’s truck and it begs to be used for more than dump runs. So as I sat in the seat I could feel the engine vibrating through my hand which sat on the shift handle. I gave the engine a few good deep revs and proceeded to back right into the shed. With each attempt I gained more confidence until finally I was able to go hard and fast enough to push it over the edge, without destroying old blue. Much better,we then had a crushed shed in the middle of our driveway.

This was a time to plan, over a cup of coffee and some cupcakes of course. The plan was to start cutting, ripping, smashing and tearing and we would load it on a trailer and take it to the dump. Again, contrary to our so-called plans, Jason decides half way into the plan that this shed needs a fire. So after some prodding I provided him with my favorite fire starter. Within 1/2 hour he had two fires going, and one was big enough to be seen from space. So now we had a smashed shed, power tools, fire and rain. It doesn’t get any better than that. Cutting, ripping, smashing, breaking, throwing, burning repeat, and so the rest of the day went. Of course we had to eat so there was a chicken taco break, candy, cupcakes and a smorgasbord of smores. But hey, we could indulge after all we just got done shedding a couple hundred pounds. Did I mention there was video?

Fists of Fury

Glenn G — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:11:35 +0000

I have been known to watch the occasional mixed martial arts bout as I enjoy watching guys with an over abundance of tattoos getting pounded by a dude with only one tattoo. However, I don’t condone fighting, and we put the kiabash to it as soon as it occurs in this house, unless it is entertaining. Now some people train for years to build up the skill to become mixed martial artists. They spend 6-8 hours a day in the gym doing the same moves over and over until they are engrained in their muscles and their memory. To them it is as common as blinking. They box tirelessly for hours, sweat flying off their body with every punch, moving up and down, weaving and keeping light on their feet. They learn to punch when they have no strength left, when their legs are collapsing from underneath them, they can still throw a punch, and throw it hard. It takes years of concentration, practice, pain, sacrifice and injury to become a good MMA fighter, and it takes fortitude, guts and sheer will to become a great MMA fighter. Some people, well some people are just born with those skills. They just know how to fight, how to win, and how to never give up, no matter how hard they are kicked in the face. But mostly they know how to dodge a punch or a kick ( Vitor). The following video is just one of those people who have been born with the obvious skills. They took the time to come to our house and show us some moves, so that we could learn from their prowess and better our own skills. A selfless act to be sure. And thanks to Kinect, we got some great live action shots. So please enjoy the following video clip and pay special attention to some new moves and some real fancy footwork by the female fighter on the right. A natural to say the least.

Gonna miss those Shenanigans.

Glenn G — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:58:49 +0000

Eight times that I can remember. That is how many times I have moved from one city to another since Jr High. Three of those times involved a state to state move. On one hand this has helped me to adapt easily, to interact easily and to make friends quickly. On the other hand, each time I leave somewhere, I leave someone who has affected my life. I also find that with each move, leaving becomes incrementally harder. The relationships I build are deeper and more meaningful; we as a family become more engrained in the town we are living in with schools, sports, work and most importantly our Church family. So thus it makes it incredibly more difficult to actually visualize leaving, and even harder to follow through. However, now that we live in the era of electronic relationships, I have noticed that breaking up is not quite as hard to do. Shoot, I know what 1/2 the people I went to college with are doing every hour, and what their kids are doing every 15 minutes; I didn’t know that much about them when I went to school with them, nor did I really care, just as they probably could care less when my status is ” ugghh another Monday”.

Niki caught in the act of taking the whole gallon of ice cream from the ice cream social.

Ty & Nya in their Sunday best.

I don’t write about this because we are leaving, I write about this because we have some friends that are leaving. No one likes to see friends leave, and in this case these are really good people and really good friends. Their kids have been in this blog many times, they have been over to our house many times, they have prayed for us, cried for us, encouraged us, guided us and loved us. They have deeply affected the path of our life and their influence will forever be present in our lives. I likely would’ve never started this blog if it hadn’t been for Ty and his influence from Schemanski Senanigans. Shoot, I gave Niki my most valuable commenter award two years in a row, and they have appeared in our blog many occasions. It has been fun to see their family grow, and grow over the last few years. Their openness, involvement, faith and leadership will be greatly missed. Michigan is gaining a great Godly family that will influence many lives in a positive way.

Ellis showing us a Schemanski Shmile.

So to the Schemanskis, Ty, Niki, Nya and Elli we bid you adieu. You will be missed as you leave a gaping hole in many aspects of many people’s lives. Thank you so much for all you have done and we are excited to hear what you will be doing. We are happy for you and your adventure and we look forward to every status update, but I predict one that will read ” we really love it here, but we do miss Alaska and our friends” will eventually show up on my wall. And to that I will smile and hit the like button as I comment ” we miss you too, and I told you so”.

Snow Dayz

Glenn G — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:39:57 +0000

This year we are trying to make the most of our snow time. Recently we had some weekend guests in the form of the four Daniels boys. This gave the boys the opportunity to do some sledding, shredding and snowboarding, along with some gaming, air soft wars, magnet projects and much more. It was an all dudes weekend. The highlight came we went to the sand pit to try out the boards for some sweet tricks. When I say we, I mean I went and took some video with my iphone. I did not for one second think about getting on the snow board. At this age I prefer to keep my legs and skull intact and unbroken. As it was, I did fall in the snow and get my hands and my phone wet, man was it cold! ( yeh I am getting soft) I shuddered when I saw that Jace was snowboarding with his tennis shoes on, and at the end of the day his feet paid for it, but for him it was worth it. I could tell because he managed to get a couple runs in before church the next morning, in this same shoes with the same swollen feet.

Although I did fall down and get a little snow on my hands and on my phone, I too braved on and pushed forward. I steadied myself and brushed the two flakes of snow off of my hand and continued to video, knowing that I had the potential to catch something special, ala Warren Miller. So try not to think about the suffering I endured to catch the perfect shot. Try not to worry about the extreme extent I went to get the right setting in the right light, and absolutely ignore the fact that I was sitting in the warm truck for the closing shots. Instead, just enjoy the art while I go soak my hands in luke warm water and pray for the feeling to return.

soaking wet dead rabbits

Glenn G — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:41:47 +0000

What in the world is a soaking wet dead rabbit, you ponder. Well it is a bit of long story, hence the blog. You see we weren’t doing much on Labor Day, so we decided to make a few calls and see if anyone wanted to do a little bbqing. We ended up having a few people show up for some impromptu unplanned bbq action. Surprise, one of those groups was the Daniels clan. Prior to all this, we had been enjoying selling stuff on Craigslist, lots of stuff; It is quite addicting. One of the things we had for sale was a drum set, which I had put outside the garage waiting for the intended buyers. Just Prior to this, Ben had gotten an electric guitar for his birthday, with an amp. And if you have ever come over for a late night Karaoke session, you know we always have microphone on hand. Now, the stage is set, literally.

So as the adults sat inside chatting and eating, we started hearing some “music” coming from outside. I snuck out to investigate and what I saw was a garage band, or more literally an outside the garage band. Jace had taken lead on the guitar, Ben had started drumming (which I did not know he could do or I would not have sold the drums) Kayden had grabbed some maracas and Jo/ Livy was playing the keyboard, all outside the garage. And the shocker of it all, it actually sounded pretty decent, at least as good as some of the videos I have seen on YouTube. The best part, it was an impromptu jam, which has never happened at our house, unless you include Tracy and I screaming Air Supply songs at the top of our lungs, which if done in the right room are quite touching. It actually made me feel like we were the “cool house” even more than usual.

I know, I know what does this have to do with soaking wet dead rabbits!? Well, you see during all this Livy and Livy were up to something, sneaking around the house. We could tell the two animal lovers were trying to accomplish some wilderness adventure, and soon we found out what it was. They had found a dead rabbit near the neighbor’s house and decided to carry it around and show people. It was quite a lovely endeavor for two pretty young ladies, and pretty much right up their alley. Immediately we yelled at them to throw that thing away, the same way we did with the dead birds, dead mice, dead hamsters and dead critter they had found over the years.

Then, at some point Angie was commenting about the day and mentioned those darn girls and that “soaking wet dead rabbit”. Instantly it struck me, that is the name of the band. They sound, look, and were born on the day of the “soaking wet dead rabbit”. So stay tuned to your YouTube, iTunes and Zune because very soon I predict the first single will be released of the Soaking Wet Dead Rabbits, followed by a live concert at our place. You’ll just have to dodge a few dead animals along the way. And if it goes well, I predict an Air Supply cover band will soon follow, with yours truly as the lead.

Until then, please for you to enjoy, the first two songs combined into one, from the Soaking Wet Dead Rabbits ( with special guest Jrew Dee on vocals)

A week of a lifetime in one post.

Glenn G — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 05:12:01 +0000

I realize that my blog posts have not been coming as fast and furious as in the past. This has been one of the busiest periods of my life. I feel as if I have some things to write about, but I am also trying to keep things in order, and my time in perspective. I want to thank those of you who take the time to comment and say such nice things. So without further adieu, I am going to wrap up the end of our summer guests in this post, even though I could probably break it down into another 3-4 blogs.

As I have said in the past, when family comes to visit it gives us an excuse to act like tourists, so act like tourists we must, and we did. One of the first things we did was to hike up to Russian River Falls. Our main goal was to see some bears, and I figured this was as good a place as any. We didn’t see any bears, but we did see a Bri, and she walked all the way the falls, 2 miles each way, in Crocs with no socks. Oh did I mention she was pregnant? That is more rare than a bear in my mind, and worth the trip. Their only complaint, not enough potties along the way. I didn’t have a problem, but apparently they are used to having privacy. Which, as we all now, is a difficult proposition on the Kenai in July. It was an exhilarating hike, especially on the way back as there was a noticeable pep-in-the-step of those looking for the outhouse at the trailhead.

Tina near the end of the hike and near the end of her life?

Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!

I told you that they really had to go. I don't know who did it but...........

......... I don't know what aunt Bev is doing here.

Because of the lack of bears, we had to take a dangerous white water rapids trip down the Kenai River. Now when I say whitewater rapids I mean we saw one small patch of white water, and it almost splashed on me! I like to live on the edge. It was a lazy, cold trip down the Kenai, a good way to take a nap. And yes, we saw a bear. It was one of the Russian River Bears tearing into a salmon, so hopefully that made the trip worthwhile. They did have some good sausage and cheese prior to departing, so that was something! I don’t think it was quite as exciting as they expected, especially after they geared us up into 25 pounds of safety gear.

Livy and Alli testing out some prom outfits, if daddy got to choose that is!

Looks like we are all ready to get in the yellow submarine.

Not sure if I want to be on the raft that this crew is running.

notice, only one cool cat is wearing camo, and sun glasses, and a sweet ball cap ( I didn't want anyone to know that I was taking a paid rafting trip down the kenai!) Note the extreme amount of patches on the port bow of our raft, hmmmmmmm.

Money shot! No, that's not Shyla.

Unfortunately I had to work a few days, so the family had to do a few trips without me. They took a trip to Seward and to Girdwood, and spent some time in Anchorage, shopping. Which, shock of all shocks, was their favorite part of the trip.

So during their time up here in the last frontier, they got to experience pretty much all of the Kenai Peninsula. It was fun to have the real housewives of Moberly here for a visit. They put a twinkle in Tra’s eyes and made us stop on smell the rotten salmon carcasses. I find it is easy to forget how awesome of a place we live in; and the best way to get that feeling back is to see it through the eyes of someone who is appreciating it for the first time. Much like helping someone to catch their first salmon or halibut, there is great joy in that.

Jo n Kassie checking out the dippers on the Kenai River

the gratuitous fireweed shot. The bee adds a special something.

Only Austin would wade 50 feet away from a melting glacier, and smile.

Glenn said if you drink a gallon of it, you will look like Angeline Jolie.

Exit Glacier in Seward

It's receding faster than my hairline.

glacial hike

Mom, I think we found something for dinner! Alaska Wildberry in Anchorage.

Sorry baby, but this one is going to have to sleep with us.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that the bear is a breeding ground for lice from foreign tourists.

So now we are back to reality, back to the grind, back to work, back to the rain and early mornings, back to school, back to the cycle of life on the Kenai Peninsula. Excited for what is ahead and what God has in store for us. I have a funny feeling the next time family visits us, the backgrounds will look a lot different.

Briana, Lana, Aunt Bev and Tina ( Austin is probably fishing or swimming in the Kenai River) You are all welcome to our house anytime. Thanks for the laughs and the memories.

As the rain falls, a hero emerges

Glenn G — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:14:09 +0000

If you love to get out in the wild, get some piece and quiet, away from the hustle and bustle and get back in touch with the nature, then don’t come camping with us. If you want to eat a lot of food, have fresh coffee every morning, enjoy the rain and the noise of kids running wild, and still have access to the internet, then you want to camp with us.

hopefully Amber and Glenn get this done before bed time.

not very good hiders

my ladies on the bridge

Alli and Jo, on a rock DOWN BY THE RIVER!

Every year we try to get out and rough it at least once a summer. We find a nice cozy campground with water and a bathroom, a latte stand within driving distance, cell signal and preferably a river or lake nearby, and then head out for a night or two of miserable sleep, lots of bug, wet clothes and great company. This year it was us, the Daniels, the Davis’s and some Katzenbergers. So by my math that is 7 adults and 18 kids, or what you may call sheer paradise.

Fishing women

That hole has no fish left, just a hunch

Momma and Jo

Jason in the wilderness, just him and his iphone.

One thing you must know about camping with us, expect rain. Don’t think “it might rain” don’t be fooled by cloudless 70 degree days, don’t even bother looking at the weather, it will rain. If we camped in the middle of the Sahara Desert during the dry season, it would rain. When the Godfrey’s camp, it rains. As long as it is warm, we deal with it. By warm I mean above 50 degrees during the daylight hours.

Did you hear something?

maybe it was a fish

I like your boots Jake

Modeling for momma, cuz she made us

One huge advantage to camping with us is that you don’t usually have to worry about bears. You see the trick is to let all the kids out to run wild all over the campground, screaming, running, throwing things, screaming, crying, screaming and not only would any bear in its right mind stay as far away as possible, so do all other campers. Hence, we usually have the campgrounds to ourself.

Do you think we should be helping them set up the tent?

kids, fire, food, danger?

this crew cooked breakfast all day long

Not cooking, just warming my head.

Jeremy's catch, just a little late for dinner

a little fireside entertainment provided by Jace, hopefully it wasn't the Beastie Boys

During this camping trip I found a true hero. Now hero is a word that is thrown around loosely, but here I witnessed a true one. I believe we established that is going to rain, so I came prepared. This time I brought a tarp, not any tarp, a tarp that could serve as a runway in small village. The only people motivated enough to use the tarp were me and Ryan, so we got to work. As the rain fell we came with a master plan to cover the whole camp with the tarp. Things were going smoothly, the running lines were holding, the trees were well placed, the architectural plan was sound and we just needed everyone to get involved for one final pull to cover the rest of the camp. Unfortunately there was a minor flaw. You see, we already had the fire going. In fact, when we started putting the tarp up, Angie, Tra, Amber and the kids were cooking smores and enjoying the show.

So technically she's not eating in the background, but she is about to, and that's a big bag o chips.

you can't camp without some twister

Scary story time. Skip the story, just look at these faces...

...or these faces

but especially these faces in the light! Yikes!

Fortunately, the kids were excited to play with the earth darkening tarp, and dropped their marshmallow sticks and grabbed hold. Shoot, even Jason and Tra grabbed a corner. This is where it went all wrong. Our plan was to have a lean-to style covering to allow the smoke to escape. But instead, as everyone began to pull, we ended with more of like a giant teepee, with Ryan holding it up where the hole should be. Within seconds we realized this was not a good plan. Immediately we lost our sight due to the density of the smoke, seconds later we could not breathe. I tried to scream for the kids to let go, but I could barely breathe. Then Ryan, standing on a picnic table, holding up the center of the tarp screamed ” EVERYONE OUT” ! As he stayed firm holding up the tarp buried in deadly smoke, allowing all others to escape. This was paramount to shouting “SAVE YOURSELF!!!!!” The words of a true hero. As I ran out, to grab the edge of the tarp mind you, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Angie was still standing by the fire, marshmallow stick in her left hand, finishing the last bite of smore not looking a bit concerned. I would put a picture of this, but she has threatened to kill me if I post one more picture of her eating. Everyone else was coughing, scattering and screaming…. with laughter. Finally I was able to move the tarp, hoping beyond hope that Ryan was still alive, for my CPR had expired a year ago, and to my great relief he emerged, my new hero, with an ashen covered face. He had sacrificed himself for the good of the camp.

from amongst the ashes a hero emerges

the backside of the finished product

the front side of the finished design

enjoying the fruits of our labor and near death experience

Needless to say, we did not give up and eventually the tarp did rise, with a new architectural plan. And much like the tarp, a new hero emerged in my eyes. As I sat chilled, near the crisp fire under the tarp listening to the rain mercilessly beating down, I reflected on what another great camping adventure we had just experienced, then I pulled out my iphone, went to craigslist and started pricing travel trailers.

Cool Hand Cole and Bad Boy Ben vs. Jail Breaker Jerms

Glenn G — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:16:46 +0000

Pillow fights, finger guns, even Nerf guns are old school. Now sleep overs are ruled by Xbox and all out Airsoft war. Instead of scary stories and flashlights it is now laser sights and screams of war as tiny plastic bullets fly across the yard, rarely hitting their intended target. The combatants are all under 65 inches tall, but well protected in stylish glasses, heavy winter coats and gloves. Their strategies are antiquated and brazen, yelling and charging and then yelling and running away. There are screams of anger when time-outs are ignored for reloads, because when you are not ready those tiny hard rubber pellets sting a little, especially in the cold of winter. Tactics are thrown out the window when, much like the Civil War, brother battles brother, friend battles friend all in the name of…. fun?

Now I know some people will tell me that I shouldn’t let my boys play games like this. That guns are not good, that pretending to shoot each other with real looking guns is not healthy. To them I say, at least they are getting exercise. Shoot, I wish we had these things when I was a kid. I played for hours with my finger, or a stick that looked something like a crippled gun with arthritis. The problem with those guns is that everyone could miraculously dodge those bullets. “You missed” ” No I didn’t” was 95% of the dialog in the battles in our day. Now a days you can hear the scream of pain upon the sting of the rubber pellet, and you have the satisfaction of knowing you had a hit.

There is no blood, no serious injury, a little excitement, a lot of heart patter, and tons of fun. So other than the toys used, nothing has changed. The games are the same, the goals are the same. Instead of using pillows to pummel each other until their heads ache, they use little colorful rubber pellets to show their brotherly love. Instead of shooting at each other with fingers and sticks, they use plastic guns. Instead of arguing…. Well, some things will never change, no matter how advanced the technology gets.

For those of you not opposed to such things, here is a short video of the recent epic battle involving Cool Hand Cole, Jail Breaker Jerms, and Bad Boy Ben ( aka the screamer). I was going to put it to cool music, but I rather enjoy the sounds of a battle in the early afternoon.