Deanna Rose's Pumpkin Hollow

We took Will to the Deanna Rose Pumpkin patch on Sunday. He had such a good time. It was really pretty day and he thought he was cool that he could climb on the hay stacks like the big kids. They had lots of fun things for the kids to do, like the corn maze, a big slide. Will picked out a couple of good pumpkins. We were very impressed. Here are some pics from our day. Notice the straw in his mouth with the pumpkins. I think he gets that from his Daddy and his KSU ties. Poor kid.

The Godfather

On September 14th, I was given the honor and privilege of acting as Godfather for my niece Kate's baptism. My partner in Godparenting is my cousin-in-law Elaine. I think that together, we should be able to give Kate all the spiritual guidance she will need as she embarks on the road of life. At the very least, when the time comes, I will join her father's efforts in scaring away and/or physically removing any and all male companionship that we do not feel worthy of her.

Lord, surround this child with goodness, lead her in Your light each day; Help her walk the path You've chosen, guide her steps along the way-Teach her, Lord, to trust Your wisdom with a faith from up above; Keep her from all harm, and bless her always with Your grace and love.

-B. J. Hoff

The Amazingly Small House

Ok, this may seem a little strange to some of you, but I feel it is definitely blog-worthy. In Manhattan, Ks, there is an amazingly small house. Sounds kind of stupid right? Well, that's just because you fail to realize just how small the house is. It is between two other normal sized houses, and the casual passer by might just assume it is a play house built for some kids. No, I assure you it is not a play house. It has a street number and a mail box. I have never seen who loves in the house, but I can only guess that it is either an elf or a carny of some sort. Here it is:

Me standing in front to give some perspective.

The Manhattan Project (Part 3)

After KSU's glorious victory over the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, the WildHawks, along with the Kings, headed to Aggieville. Along the way, we stopped at various nostalgic spots throughout campus. Here are a few pictures of the madness that ensued:

The Kings by the Alumni Center.

Posing by my rock.

Laurie and Amy doing a close-up.

The Manhattan Project (continued)

On our recent trip to Manhattan, the WildHawks and the Kings were treated to a brewery tour and beer tasting at Manhattan's own Tallgrass Brewing Company. Owner Jeff Gill gave us a tour of the entire operation. It was fascinating. Tallgrass Ale and Tallgrass Wheat is on tap at select northeast Kansas establishments and the bottled version is in liquor stores in a KC area liquor store near you. Look for this bottle:

You can also check out the brewery website here: http://tallgrassbeer.com/

Come on people, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL KANSAS BREWERY!

The Manhattan Project

Faithful to our colors, we shall ever be, fighting ever fighting for a Wildcat Victory!

The WildHawks, and our friends the Kings, took a trip to Manhattan, Ks to watch the Cats' last non-conference game of the year against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.

The game turned out to be quite a shootout with KSU prevailing 45-37. What started out looking like a blowout in favor of KSU turned into a slow motion train wreck as the Wildcat defense was pounded to the tune of 509 yards allowed to the Ragin' Cajuns (including some 335 yards of rushing). The natives were getting restless at Bill Snyder Family Stadium as a result of the lackluster defensive display. Although the game was never seriously in doubt (well, ok, maybe it was), the Cajuns gave KSU more of a scare than the majority of fans in attendance found to be acceptable. The boo birds came out a few times, and we were witness to one of the poorest student sections I have ever seen at a KSU football game. The students took a page out of the KU student playbook (before they were good) and did a classic "Jayhawk Walk" after the half. As you can see, by the middle of the 4th quarter the student section was no more than 25% full. Sad, just sad.





For this type of pathetic effort, I am borrowing a feature from the Baldy's blog and awarding all student season ticket holders my inaugural D-Bag of the Week Award.

Football SEASON!!!

We are so excited that football season has kicked off. We hope KU and KSU have great seasons, except on Nov 1st when they face off in Lawrence. Much to daddy's dismay we purchased KU football tickets this year. Will has been having a ball. He has a new obsession with the Jayhawk or as he calls it the "hawk hawk". In fact at the Ku pep rally in Prairie Village he sobbed for an hour because the Jayhawk left.He also loves to hear the "Rock Chalk chant" over and over again and sings along proudly. Poor Daddy is not to happy about this new obsession and is doing anything in his power to to try and stop this. Here are a few photos from the first game and the pep rally.

Backyard Hurricane!

Here are some very frightening pictures of a recent Hurricane sighting in the WildHawks' backyard. I apologize for the graphic nature of some of these images.

Hop Harvest Update

The first hop cones have been harvested in our little hop growing experiment. They have been dried and are now in the freezer waiting for use in a batch of brew. The hops that were harvested were from the lone Cascade plant that made it. The three Nugget plants are doing well and should be ready to harvest very soon.

Gardner Lake - Southern Johnson County's Hidden Gem

As some of you may know, the WildHawk family likes to spend an occasional summer day at Grandpa Jack's Gardner Lake house. Most Gardner Lake outings consist of the following activities:

- Lunchtime arrival.

- Snacking on various chips and dips and assorted other finger foods, if lucky gizzards may be provided.

- Drinking beer.

- Drinking tequila with Grandpa Jack.

- Chasing children and yelling at them (both yours and others').

- Swimming (not every time)

- Cruising the lake on the pontoon boat.

- Eating dinner (usually a pot-luck style arrangement)

On special occasions, activities can stretch into the wee hours of the morning. Highlights of the lake season are: Rot-Gut Beer Contest Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day Weekend, and Cousins Reunion Day. All in all, it's a pretty good way to spend a summer day. As evidenced by all of the beautiful new homes popping up around the lake, the secret is getting out. Look out Lake of the Ozarks, Gardner Lake is coming for you!

Here is letter to the KC Star written by one of the original Breitenstein inhabitants of Gardner Lake: http://www.kansascity.com/631/story/729948.html

Public Pools: Not as bad as I thought.

Ok, so the Wildhawk family was bored last weekend and looking for some aquatic fun. Hurricane Will was tired of spinning over land. After all, he's not Tornado Will. Since we do not own a pool, and have opted against installing one, the only logical solution to our problem was to take a little trip to the local public swimming hole. I must say, it was pretty nice. They have an entire section designated for little kids who can't yet swim. The Hurricane had a blast. I don't think it will be long before he is terrorizing a pool near you (and from the looks of this picture, it won't be long before daddy is terrorizing a Chinese buffet near you!)

Omaha Zoo Adventure

On Wednesday, July 2nd, the Wildhawks, along with Papa, Meemaw, and another related Wildhawk family all embarked on a journey to the great city of Omaha, Nebraska. Many of you know Omaha to be the home of the Royals AAA affiliate, The College World Series, Warren Buffett, and Creighton University. Well, it is also the home of Henry Doorly Zoo, which is one of the top 3 zoos in the entire world. With Omaha a mere 3 hours away by car, that kind of draw was just too much to pass up.

I have to tell you, I'm not much of a zoo fan, but the Henry Doorly Omaha Zoo is pretty awesome. They have an indoor desert dome, a bat cave, an aquarium that arches over a walkway beneath, and more, and it's all within a fairly short distance. We saw more worthwhile animal exhibits in the first 20 minutes than you can see in an entire day at the KC Zoo. Don't get me wrong, I love KC and definitely think you should support your local zoo, but you have to get to Omaha if you want to see a real zoo.

It was a fun day. We saw everything there is to see there. Hurricane Will was more of a tropical depression during the day due to a developing cold and cough that came about a day later, but he still had a blast. Come to think of it, he was a real trooper that week. He had a black eye and a welt on the side of his face (from being a little boy), in addition to the head cold. If that were me, I'd have been much higher maintenance. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

(Side note: Notice the picture of the cloud formation. That was on our drive home. I think it bears a striking resemblance to a hand extending a middle finger towards earth and all its inhabitants. Interestingly, later on our drive, we were pelted with racquetball sized hailstones. Needless to say, we have been better about attending mass since that day.)

Mobile blogging

This entry is a test of my mobile blogging capability. I just learned about this, and I think it has real possibilities. With this feature, I can take the show on the road so to speak. Anyway, look for more of this in the future if I can figure it out.

Eddie The Wonderdog

We've been asking Eddie to make a blog appearance for a while now, but he has wanted no part of the internet. A few years ago, he was burned pretty badly by an online mail-order bitch service, and has some lingering reservations about putting himself out there like that again. Well, after much reassurance that nothing like that will happen again, he is ready for his blog intro. He's been working out very hard lately trying to get in shape for his blog pictorial. I must say, he's looking pretty fit.

Hops are climbing!

As some of you know, I (Sam) have been brewing my own beer for a while now. So far, each batch I have produced has been pretty good, but something has been missing . I have been buying all the ingredients from my favorite homebrew shop (Bacchus & Barleycorn, http://www.bacchus-barleycorn.com/). They have a nice selection, and are always very helpful, but I decided that I needed a little more "home" in my homebrew. The solution? Grow my own hops!



I will spare you the details
(if you are interested in growing your own hops, you can find a nice tutorial here - www.freshops.com/gardening.html). In a nutshell, I planted several sections of hop roots back in April, and I now have hop vines climbing ropes attached to my house. In August, I will harvest the hops, dry them out, and freeze them until I need them for a batch of brew.

First Timer Here!

Laurie and I decided that after months of healthly eating, it was time to introduce Will to the wonders of the flame-broiled hamburger. What better place to do that than at the Home of the Whopper, good old Burger King! As you can see, we had another very satisfied customer. Since Willie (18 months) is already tipping the scales at 3 year-old levels, I'm guessing that this may not be his last time.

Viva La Mexico!

On Wednesday, May 7th, Laurie and I boarded a plane for our favorite third world country, the glorious land of Mexico. Frontier took us from gloomy KC at about 7:15am direct to sunny Cancun in about 3 hours. We were by the pool by 11:30am with drinks in hand. I like to tell people that our Cancun trip was as easy if not easier (travel-wise) than a drive down to the Lake of the Ozarks. Although, we missed out on all the fireworks, porn, and meth by opting for Mexico over Missouri. Oh well, I suppose it's a trade-off. I could describe what we did down there, but the pictures tell the story pretty well. Lots of lounging, drinking, and eating. While we were gone, Will spent some time with Laurie's folks.

View of pool and gazebo from our room.

Birthday boy with beverage.

Laurie at the swing-up bar.

Sam's Early Birthday @ Briet's

On Friday, May 2nd, I celebrated the US portion of my birthday extravaganza. The always friendly crowd there made it another quality KCK evening. The beer flowed like wine, and a good time was had by all. Pretty standard Breit's.

As you can see, laurie (God bless her) decided to have a little fun with the cake design. Later in the evening, one of my K-State friends scooped the Jayhawk portion of the cake off. I'm not sure exactly who did it, but I think he might be an Irishman. Good work, mystery Irish cake fixer.

Birth of a Blog

Well, since everyone else in the civilized world now has a "blog", The WildHawks have decided to join in the fun. What better way to kick things off than with a poorly executed Microsoft Paint Wildcat/Jayhawk hybrid adorning the header on this page. It is an original creation that appeared to Sam in a dream one night after several gin & tonics.

The cast of characters here will consist of Laurie (Hawk), Sam (Wild), Hurricane Will, and Eddie the Wonderdog. The subject matter will probably be a mixture of sports, celebrity gossip, and of course whatever is happening in our real day-to-day lives.