Snow returns to Mountain Ranch

We get snow only once or twice a year, and it rarely stays more than a day. When it does arrive, it is a welcome change of pace, as is evidenced by Sara's face as she glides down the driveway.
Capture the flag, anyone?
I guess we won't be sailing today. Long Johns and sail cloth don't mix.
All photos were taken by Matthew Hector. He will one day become the family photographer. Yes, you are correct; Ben and Thomas are conspicuously absent from the blogging world.
be safe,
Hec @ 19

That explains it

Jean and I get lots of compliments about our family. Our sons are kind, mature and helpful. They possess self-restraint. The old idiom stating; "Boys will be boys" never cut it with us. We have been vigilant, tireless and uncompromising when it comes to the upbringing of our sons and daughters. Of course, our greatest tool in the toolbox has always been Scripture. One need look no further than Proverbs to find the proper lesson for absolutely any challenge that comes up between a parent and a son.

There is, however, another technique that has shown to be useful in helping the H boys to stay centered.
Yes, there's nothing quite like a good old fashioned wrestling match when it comes to blowing off steam! Even Nick enjoys getting in on the action!

Matthew, always the good brother, is quick to come to Anthony's aid. Ben sees it as a retreat, and moves to pursue Matthew. Two separate matches devolve into one melee.

Nick believes that this opens an opportunity for him, which he promptly takes advantage of. Jean and the girls are content to remain as amused spectators, and are not drawn into the fracas.

A final glimpse of the dog-pile, one that happens to show most of their faces. Anthony is under there, somewhere. I don't think he is very happy.

When it is all said and done, a strange sense of contentment, accomplishment and endearment has settled over the crowd. As usual, the larger grapplers have prevailed. They celebrate their victory by wearing matching footwear.

This photo illustrates why it is unwise to shoot portraits with a wide angle lens. I assure you that Ben and Thomas are properly proportioned.

Where were you 25 years ago?.....

Today, November 26th, 2008, is a very special day in our family. It is the date in which our family officially started, with the exchanging of vows by my father and mother. This year is extra special, since they have now been married for 25 years! For most of us, that is quite a long time, but mom says it has gone by amazingly fast.

As a tribute to their 25 years, I would like to take a look back through the mists of time, for a snapshot of what has changed in the last 25 years.....

Ronald Regan is in the third year of his first term as president (with George Bush Sr. as Vice-President), and says in his state of the union address: "As we gather here tonight, the state of our Union is strong, but our economy is troubled...."

The wildly popular album, "Thriller", by a 24 year old Michael Jackson sells 25 million copies. He is propelled to greater success through his MTV video for "Beat It". Some of us wish he had...

The median price for a home is $89,800, the price of a gallon of gas is $1.24, and a first class stamp is 20 cents.

The Cabbage Patch Doll is introduced to the world, and the world can't get enough of them. Parents and grandparents alike line up for hours outside of stores, to purchase these yarn haired toys. One of these lines turns into a riot in a Wilkes-Barre, PA toy store, in which limbs are broken, and teeth knocked out.

6800 bars of solid gold, valued at $39 million are stolen from London's Heathrow Airport. My parents are not suspects, as they are getting married on the day is was stolen.

The worst drought since 1936 hits the nation's farmers. Global warming has not yet been invented to serve as a scapegoat, so they just call it a "dry year".

Soft drink manufacturers begin using aspartame to sweeten their beverages. Who knew.....

One Michael Dell, then 18, begins rebuilding PC computers in his dorm room. Yep, would have loved to have been the roommate on that venture!

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is released. It is the highest grossing movie of that year, and my dad kicks the theater seat in front of him.....

The first Costco is founded in Seattle, WA. They never knew that the Hector family would one day be their biggest purchaser of toilet paper, Kleenex and paper towels.

But, the most important event to occur in 1983 was this:


At 1:00pm my mother walked down the isle, and to the side of my father, so beginning their lifelong journey together. On this day before Thanksgiving, I am ever so thankful that this occurred, and that their marriage has grown, deepened, and matured over these last 25 years. They never knew at the time that in just a mere two decades and a half, they would be in charge of this:


It is probably a good thing they didn't!

Happy Anniversary, Dad and Mom! You have been wonderful parents. 25 years is quite the accomplishment, and I am looking forward to writing the blog posts for the 50th and even the 75th.....

Posted by BFH

Always expect the unexpected....

A very randomly deep thought recently occurred to me, and I thought I would share it with the world:

How many name-tags would a schizophrenic wear?

Speaking of tags and randomness, Miss Tiffany was kind enough to attach one to me, and now seemed like a perfect time for fulfilling her request. However, since this is a family blog, I am going to adjust the rules, since we all know that a rule is for the situation, not the situation for the rule. I am going to complete the tag with six random items for myself, but will also post one random fact about each of my family members. Perhaps I can even find a few random pictures to tack on as well.....

Myself:

1. Before I die, I want to drink a cup of coffee on every continent.

2. I love hats, and my collection includes British caps, a german schiffmutze, and a pith helmet.

3. I cannot arch my eyebrows, in spite of hours spent trying.

4. Because of family tradition, I do not know any of the words to "O Christmas Tree".

5. Always eat my bread and butter with the butter side down.

6. I only set my alarm to odd numbers. (Like 6:01 am)

Dad:

1. Simply adds more pairs of glasses to his nose to increase magnification, and has been known to wear as many as three pairs at a time.

Mom:

1. Had Smurfs on her wedding cake.

Thomas:

1. Puts his pillowcases on his pillow inside out.

Matt:

1. Cannot sleep unless he has at least three pillows.

Nic:

1. Eats his pizza from the crust side first.

Anton:

1. Knows the lyrics to every High School Musical song.

JT:

1. Can fall asleep with his eyes open.

Laura:

1. Sometimes thinks she is a Soprano, when she is really an Alto. (Ouch!)

Bex:

1. Answers to any of her ten nicknames.

Sara:

1. Sara can out-eat me. (This is the truth!)

And since Ashley is spending the day with us, I shall include her in our family list.

Ashley:

1. Ashley, even though she is from another family, does not know the words to "O Christmas
Tree" either.

There, now you know a few random facts about our family. As if the above did not cement the fact that we are completely strange, here are a few random photos....

Which way is up???????


If you look close, you can see the sparkles!


I don't know if this is a picture of Nic, of the boat, or of Nic's knees.



This is about as random as it gets:



One last random thought, what direction do penguins travel for the winter?

From the twisting, turning, knotted synapses of BFH

Be Ye Reformed....

Well, every time I have begun to write this post, my time has been short, and it did not get done. (Sorry Tiffany, I fear I have been trying your unlimited patience again....) I am now sitting down, with the determination that nothing will distract me! Of course, determinations really mean nothing if something comes up, but hope is worth nine tenths of the effort.

Reformation Day 2008!!!!!! I could spend a large amount of time describing all of the various wonderful moments, or I could fall back on the tried and true method of of pictures with captions. I'll choose the latter option...


The forecast of the day was a 50% chance of rain; as you can see, we were on the good side of the 50%!


As director of the event, I spent a large amount of time managing all of the wonderful workers. So, I was often looking over my minions.

Everyone pitched in, even the leadership. Wrapping 200 sets of sliverware is a big job!


My delightfully cute sister, coordinating decor.


I would love to know what this group is looking at!

Three lovely ladies, looking absolutely gorgeous in their gowns.

One of the events consisted of instructional booths, with crafts based on parts of Puritan life. Mrs. Ernst ran the medicinal booth, and looks very fetching in a coif...

A perfect picture of what Sacajawea must have looked like.

"Say what?" (Don't you just love that arched eyebrow?)

Put two boys in the same place with sharpened objects, and there is only one result. Nic and JP are no exception.

Master Walker, looking every bit the English gentleman.

Who said the Indians and the Pilgrims didn't get along?


In addition to the booths, we had the Spectator Sports. This is Brian, I see the Olympics in his future. Just look at that form!


Elder Langley had a grand time cheering on the runners! I can still hear faint echos of his "Huzzah!".

Two pillows, a wooden beam, and a screaming crowd. The men couldn't resist!


Fun with Pringles.

This is hard core costuming. All of the boys in the family grew their hair out and shaved for Indian mohawks.

My boss. Maybe by posting his photo on my blog, I'll get a raise!

"Kilroy was here!"


Got to love the shoes....



Squanto would be proud!


I still can't figure out why this fashion style died out....



How do you say "Three Amigos" in Pilgrim?

The wonderful kitchen crew! We ate really well. Tri-tip, scalloped potatoes, salad, corn on the cob, bread, and pie!!!!! I am salivating just thinking back on it.....

One of the crowning glories of the night was the Dramatic Presentation. Written by Mrs. Walker, it centered around the experiences of the Pilgrims, and their journey to Plimouth (Yes, that is the old style spelling). It was absolutely amazing! We have quite a few talented actors in our church. Kendrick brothers, you better watch your back!


During our Dramatic Presentation, Kev was the barrel boy....

We really had a great time, and are already planning the next one. I have been begged to take the planning of next year, but I found out that this was a lot of work!!!! We shall see....

One last photo to leave you with:

"Y'all come back next year!"

Transcribed by BFH

Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main…

It would appear that our readers are rising up in revolt due to the lack of activity on our blog. There is a post in the works involving a certain story that I promised, regarding a Scottish legend; however, it is not quite done, and putting up something in the meantime seemed in order. Think of this as the soup course, something to tide you over until the meat and potatoes….

Ahoy maties! Most of you know the story of our family’s rapid descent into the insane life of sailing. (For those of you who don’t, I apologize, but it is much too long of a tale to relate as an introduction, and too hilarious for being told hastily.) In this descent, we find ourselves taking many opportunities to further our sailing experience, some better than others. One of the better opportunities is associating with those who are as insane as ourselves, performing the very act that makes us insane: sailing!


That is a picture of Gary, brave Captain for our day on the bay. We want to take our little sailboat out on the bay, but it was wisely decided that we would accompany someone with more experience for the first couple trips. Finding ourselves on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle would be exciting, but it should not be because we sank our sailboat, and had to be rescued by a helicopter! Always better to learn from someone who knows.

The bay to which I refer is the San Francisco Bay, discovered by Juan de Alaya, who said of this little gem of an area: "the fogs here hardly reach the entrance of the port, and once inside the harbor, the weather is very clear”. As you can see by the picture below, Alaya was quite correct in his statement:


Dad, Mom, Thomas and myself arrived on the dock at the amazingly early hour of 8:30am. Though that may not seem early, please note that we live over 2.5 hours from the Bay Area, and it gets a lot earlier. It was still overcast as we motored out into the main part of the bay, and we spent our time looking at the various sights off the starboard (right side in normal people talk) and port (the opposite of right….) sides of the boat:


Thomas and I decided that one of these might be our next boat purchase:


There were also lots of merchant ships coming in, baring exotic goods from far off lands. Ok, they were probably carrying plastic toys for Wal-Mart, but I choose to leave my romantic notions intact.


This seemed like a perfect time to take up piracy, but I could not convince the rest of the crew that throwing a few grappling hooks and boarding the other vessel was a good idea.

Because the winds were so light, to the point of being non-existent that morning, we motored underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, and out onto the very fringes of the Pacific Ocean! In case you were wondering what the bottom of the bridge looked like, here it is. Sorry about the two people standing in front, and ruining the picture!:


After lunch the wind picked up quite a bit, and we were able to hoist the mainsail, run up the jib, and man the helm (It is so fun to use nautical terms!). All the men got a chance to take the helm. Thomas won the prize for the fastest speed, getting us up to a delightful 7.8 knots:


Mom was quite content to kick back and enjoy the ride:


Oh, and in case you want to get into sailing, there is a really pretty boat we saw, called the Maltese Falcon:


289 feet of absolute luxury, yours for only $154,000,000.00, plus tax. Yes that is millions! It might take us awhile to save enough for that one. I think I will go count my pennies again, just in case….

We tacked and jibed our way across the bay, enjoying the wind in our hair, and the salt spray on our faces. It was a delightful day, and we enjoyed every moment of it. The day ended far too soon in our opinion. Sir Francis Drake said it quite well, "It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better." He was on to something when he said that, and when you step onto the deck of a sailing ship, you feel like a descendant of that great linage of sailors. Whatever changes in the world, God will always give us the gift of wind, and it will be there take you freely across the Seven Seas, just as it has for centuries.


Ship’s Log recorded by BFH.

It may take a little while for the next post to find its way to the web. I am involved in the planning of our church's Reformation Party, and that will keep me quite busy until November!

The Post of the Century

This is it.

(I hope you enjoyed it Tiffany... That's all my creative juices are good for nowadays!! I am pretty sure it is Ben's turn to provide more reading material. I shall get him on it right away.)