The Chair

When Grandfather Stringer died in 1931, Grandmother Claude Stringer was left with four children to raise, the youngest of which was "Gip", my father. They lived in a nice home in Talladega but, like most people at the time, they had little money.

Evidently, Grandmother wanted her daughter, Martha, to be able to take piano lessons. She negotiated with Miss Zora Ellis, the local high school English teacher (who must have known how to play) for piano lessons for Martha. Payment for the lessons was a chair, the platform rocker in the picture accompanying this article.

Fast forward about sixty years. Miss Ellis, knowing that she was approaching the end of her life, sought out my parents who were living in Birmingham at the time. She stated that she would like to return the chair to the Stringer family. And she did.

Today, the chair resides with me but it is seeking a new home. A Stringer relative would be ideal but so would a museum-type setting that could use a Victorian-era chair. It's in good shape but I do not think it would stand up to everyday use.

FYI, there is a Junior High School in Talladega today named after Miss Ellis.

Deep Creek 2011

These snapshots were taken at the Reid Family Reunion, Deep Creek, McHenry, MD, 2011.

Kate and Ella

Ella and Kathryn

Kate

Ali and John

Hank, Hayes and Laura

Reid and Ella

Michael and Ella

Hank

Leigh and Ali

Hayes, Laura and Reid

Burning Questions to be Investigated Now That I'm Retired, Question #23

Few things make my heart flutter like it does when I'm driving by my local Krispy Kreme shop and see the "Hot" neon sign illuminated in the window. For the uninitiated, this means that fresh Krispy Kreme Classic doughnuts have just been cooked. Today, as I was driving past the "mother ship" Krispy Kreme on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta, the sign was lit.

I have had a few Krispy Kreme Classics over the years and have loved them. However, one thought has lingered in the back of my mind - the doughnuts weigh so little, how much substance is actually there? Today, I decided to run a little test.

I bought a hot Classic right out of the cooker and took it home. I squashed it between to hard surfaces to see what I'd have left. The pictures demonstrate the result.

The original doughnut weighed 53 grams. After being squashed, it weighed 35 grams. So, I guess roughly one-third of the Classic's weight was made up of cooking oil!

This was enough to satisfy my curiosity. Now, on the solving the Meaning of Life.

Number Six

Alexandra Grace Hlinko ("Ali"), grandchild number six, was born in Washington, D.C., on December 28, 2010.

Kate's Atlanta Visit - Summer 2010

Kate visited Atlanta for three weeks in August 2010. She and Grandma worked on lots of projects. Three pictures below illustrate the cardboard playhouse they built. The fourth picture was taken on a great playground nearby.

Michael Completes Lithia Loop Trail Marathon

Michael came in 42nd in the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon on November 6, 2010, with a time of 3:40:09. There were about 200 people registered and 171 finished the race. He beat his time from last year by over 17 minutes and he moved up 17 places in the results.

Only about two miles of the roughly 26 miles was on paved surfaces. The rest of the way was on dirt roads or mountain trails. Here's a link to the results: http://roguevalleyrunners.blogspot.com/.

The Perfect Birthday Gift

Reid's birthday was in August but we've been lazy in posting! Here he is trying out his new birthday present.

Hayes loves it, too!

An Interesting Home Repair Project

I don't normally think home repair is very interesting. Here's a case where it was.
We have an addition to our house that is about twelve years old. For the past few years, we've noticed that one corner seemed to be settling a bit too much. In the past year, a crack appeared in the brick on the lower level below the deck. The first picture below was taken after the crack had been partially repaired. Originally, it was about as wide as your pinkie finger.


We called a foundation repair company and they recommended installing three support "piers", two near the crack and one around the corner. A pier is essentially a lip that fits under the edge of the foundation supported by a steel pole that goes all the way down to bedrock. The next picture shows the three "lips" to be used on our piers.

The next picture illustrates the basic pier installation. One edge of the the lip is now under the foundation and the support pole is in place.

Here you see two of the piers ready for installation. The rig above each pier is a pneumatic device that will keep driving sections of support pole down until it hits bedrock. The operator keeps adding two-foot sections of pole as it goes down. The pier support on the left went down 44 feet before it hit bedrock.

Here's another view of the driving position.

Once bedrock is reached, all three pneumatic devices operate together to actually lift the house up. The operators move slowly here to make sure stress is distributed as evenly as possible. We're lifting the foundation, the frame of the house and the brick veneer all at once. New cracks could develop if care is not taken.

The picture below shows a pier after everything has been completed. It will stay in the ground as a support for the house. Dirt is replaced in the hole, hiding the pier and the surface is restored to its original condition. The white lines are just sunlight shining through the deck.

Here's the crack after the lifting process was complete. A little colored caulk was used later to touch it up for cosmetic purposes and to keep water out.

Next week, we'll cover how to hold your house together with caulk!

Spring Break

During spring break, Jim and MH took Reid and Hayes to Seagrove Beach, Florida, for a few days. Here's Reid doing just about his favorite thing to do at the beach - writing in the sand. It could be English, Spanish, Japanese, numbers or whatever comes to mind.

Something Really "Eggciting"

Reid's horseback riding instructor has a small farm where she keeps chickens. She brings the eggs each week to sell at the horse stables. We typically buy a dozen. It's always interesting to see the different colors, sizes and shapes of the eggs.

At our age, it doesn't take much to excite us!

Hayes Discovers this Blog

Hayes recently discovered this blog. Here, he reads an entry about Reid's horseback riding. It's hard to understand somewhat but you can make out the last word, "Shadow". That's the name of the horse Reid rides.

You can find the blog entry he is reading about six or seven posts down from here, "A Real Horsey Guy".

Pre-Christmas Events at Hayes' School

Hayes' school was a beehive of activity the week before Christmas. On Thursday night, each class performed a seasonal number for other family members. Here you see Hayes' class doing their "bubblegum" number. Hayes is third from the right. As always, you can click on a picture to see a larger version.

Hayes really got into the hand motions of the song.

On Friday, while Mommy was at Reid's class party, Grandma and Granddaddy visited Hayes' class party. Here, Grandma helps Hayes plan out his reindeer face.

The finished product!

The final project was edible.

Saturday with Grandma and Granddaddy

Hayes and Reid spent some time with Grandma and Granddaddy one recent Saturday. The first stop was Hayes' school to have a pancake breakfast and visit with Santa Claus.

Hayes is always ready to say, "Cheese!"


Reid doesn't care much for pancakes but he can really get into Clementine oranges.

Next stop was a local mall to play on the indoor playground, have lunch and ride the carousel. It's tough to get a good shot of both boys, so here are two.


Granddaddy is in his usual position at the south end of the north bound steeds!

Michael Completes Trail Marathon

Michael ran in the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon in Ashland Oregon on Nov. 7. Here's a description taken from the local running club blog.

Runners can expect much more than the standard marathon “bonk” at this year’s USA Track & Field Trail Marathon Championships. Runners will face an initial eight-mile, 3,200-foot ascent through the steep Siskiyou Mountains that shadow the southern Oregon town of Ashland. The trails and fire roads do flatten out for twelve miles in the middle of the race but maintaining pace may become difficult at the oxygen deprived 5,000 foot level. The final six miles and 3,000 feet of descent will test even the strongest of quads as runners descend on technical single track to the race’s finish at Ashland’s town center, Lithia Park.

He finished 59th with a time of 3:57:31. This was great, especially considering:

• Not much of the race is on paved surface
• There is a tremendous altitude change
• Michael was just getting over the flu

Congrats, Michael!

Leigh & Kate are on "Good Morning America"!

Leigh was interviewed recently for a segment on "Good Morning America". Kate briefly appeared also. Go to this web site and click the play button on the video:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ConsumerNews/greenwashing-green-claims-accurate/story?id=8999483

Second Annual Apple Picking

The boys joined MH and Jim at Sky Top Orchard near Flat Rock, North Carolina, to pick apples for the second year in a row. This year, we waited until later in the fall so the Fuji apples would be ready for picking. We won't wait quite so long next year because it was windy, rainy and cold! Also, the apples close to the barn had been picked over pretty well so we had to walk a long way in hilly terrain to get to trees still holding lots of apples.

The apples in these pictures are actually the Pink Lady variety. We picked them because they were the first ones we came to! We bought some Fujis at the barn.


"Reid, may I have a bite of your apple?"

Hayes and Soccer

Hayes is on a soccer team, the "Strikers". They don't play any games at this age; they just practice once a week. Mainly, the coach is trying to teach them four or five basic skills for handling the ball and keeping their hands off it.

A Real Horsey Guy

Reid has really taken to horseback riding. As part of his lesson, he has to help get the horse ready before riding and help put him away afterward. These pictures were taken on a rainy day so Reid and his helper had to brush lots of caked mud off Shadow.

A manicure is part of the deal!

Finally, time to mount up.

Teddy Bear Tea Party

Hayes' class had a teddy bear theme during the month of September. To wrap up the month, the class had a teddy bear tea party. Two students sat at each table along with their respective teddy bears. Parents and grandparents were invited.

Ted E. Bear has a cast and crutch because Hayes had a hurt foot the day Ted was purchased.