Category: Family

Slave Child Labor: Is it really a bad thing?

~ K ~ Leave a comment

This is my first blog using Google Docs so I’m not sure if I’ll actually get it right. Today was a great day because I had an awesome visit with my parents on Anderson Island. We had a good time talking and discussing a lot of different issues. I was quite pleased with the visit if I do say so myself.

Upon my return to my lovely home, I managed to get a few more items done on my Yard Project 2011 punch list. I even made my neighborhood demon twins (4 year old twin boys) help me. As previous reported, the twin boys’ parents let them do whatever they want without supervision. They are allowed to play out in the front yard and the upper part of the cul-de-sac (where I live) without anyone watching them. The neighborhood (or God) will watch over them. The neighbors have reported sightings in the next cul-de-sac and up the street. Totally stupid ass parenting in effect and child neglect. Anyone could take these kids.

Anyway, I put the twins to work sorting out the rocks in my driveway. The rocks are part of my landscaping project so they sorted the round rocks from the broken basalt rocks. They are good workers; pretty smart too. I can’t wait until they get older and can do some real heavy lifting. Overall, they aren’t bad kids. Just unsupervised.

After the rock and stone sorting, I had them sweep up the remains of the pile of rocks I had. I must admit child labor turned out in my favor this time. So much for Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle” (a really good read, slightly communist towards the end but I read it 18 years ago so my memory maybe foggy) and child labor and the American Dream.

At least these kids weren’t unsupervised for an hour or so while they worked. Still, very disturbing the parents aren’t around to watch them.

Hope versus Optimism in relationship to Change

~ K ~ Leave a comment

What is hope compared to optimism in the context of change? Both are important and should be part of everyday living. Hope is the belief that things will get better while optimism is the belief that things will change and that change will be for the better. These terms are often used interchanged with each other leading to confusion. While very similar, they are not quite the same. You can have hope, but you don’t have be optimistic if you don’t want to be. You can have hope and be a realist as well. And you can also have hope and be a pessimistic (which seems to defeat the purpose of believing in hope it would seem).

I have hope that things will change and I am optimistic they will change. Hope is my underlying belief that things will get better. Optimism is my belief that things will get better without making any changes because optimism believes that when change comes, it will be the favorable outcome I desire. When you are at the bottom, hope is one of the first things that you need to get out of that hole. Which train of thought you choose: optimistic, realistic, or pessimistic, will determine how the outcome will be perceived by you.

Optimism is your belief that things will get better without the changes needed to get better. One could say they are optimistic about making more money yet they continue down the same path of economic ruin. Hope would kick in when they hit rock bottom.

Realism allows us to believe in hope and keep things in perspective. We know we probably aren’t going to win the lottery, yet we also know that hard work will usually bring the results we desire.

Pessimism assumes the worst and hope is just there for something to believe in. Why be pessimistic? Good question!

People might argue that being hopeful and optimistic about the future is a waste of time, people don’t change, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, etc. I have hope that people will change for the better yet I have been too optimism in my belief that they will change. I have leaned towards being too optimism because I haven’t been there to help them make the change for the better.

How can I expect people to change if I don’t make the effort to help them change?

If the change is important to me, why not make the time to help with this change?

If you are like everyone else, your life is busy and you don’t have the time to help other change. I know my life is busy and I don’t have time to do a lot of things I want to do much else do things to help others change. I also don’t what to think of about having to put in the time and effort necessary to help them make the change. I really don’t want to worry about their problems and I don’t want to be bothered.

Seriously, I want to be the person that doesn’t care. My wife probably thinks that I am that person already. I know people need my help, but I honestly don’t want to put the effort into helping them when I know that they should be able to help themselves. I have enough problems in my own life I should be working on without having to add other people’s problems to my own life.

Nevertheless, I am not able to take the head in the sand approach to life. Oh, the burdens of adulthood! Yes, life is hard. You have to do a lot of stuff you don’t want to do. I must accept this and move on. I will do the best I can and use my belief in hope to help solve my problems as well as the others I love help themselves. I will use hope and be optimistic (with a dose of realism added in) in regards to the future.

Hope: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best: to give up hope.

Optimism: a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.

Definitions are from Dictornary.com

Camping

~ K ~ Leave a comment

I’ve decided camping is what middle class America does so they can experience what homeless people do every day. You get to see people dress like bums, not shower for a few days, wandering around, lots of dogs barking and yapping, kids screaming and yelling (much like a school yard), and parents sitting around a campfire drinking and chatting about the world in general which is just like sitting around a 55 gallon steel drum in an abandoned warehouse (just like a homeless bum).

I actually enjoy camping because I’m an Eagle Scout. I’ve done a lot of camping and backpacking. I like cooking with a propane stove and Dutch ovens. However, I’m now getting older so I prefer camping in good weather (which doesn’t happen very often in Western Washington). I now camp over the Cascade Mountains in the beautiful hot deserts of Eastern Washington. I have given up on camping three days in solid rain and have run away to the dry heat of Eastern Washington.

Besides rainy Seattle camping weather, I also don’t like camping in the snow. It really isn’t enjoyable. It’s cold, your body heat melts the snow so then you are wet and cold, and you have to sleep overnight in an igloo or a tent. Now, that is cold. Cold and wet. Yup, not really fun at all.

However, I do enjoy camping in the warmth of Eastern Washington and the sunshine. The kids like camping too (can’t say the same about my wife) so the experience is enjoyable. And it is warm…not cold or wet. You can lie in your inflatable air mattress, safely situated up on a cot, the wind rustling through the leaves of trees, manicured lawns beneath you, the state park watering the lawns at 2 am (thus waking you up with the fear that your tent is getting soaked but it’s not).

What better way to enjoy your family than camping? Sure, you could get a nice condo on Kauai or even at Lake Chelan but is that really going allow you the stress of cooking on a small propane stove, keeping your kids from lighting themselves and each other on fire, wondering if the eggs in your cooler are still good, and whether or not you should kill the campers next door (who though it was hilariously funny to pretend they were cats and meow at 1 am).

Camping is about bonding with the family and picking ashes out of your scrambled eggs. I recommend it to everyone.

Our Brownie “Splinter Cell” Troop is created!

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Well, it is official…we have created Brownie Troop 42301 (nicknamed “Splinter Cell Troop”). We have broken away from the old troop and transferred over four girls and are adding three more new scouts for a total of seven (in case you needed some help with math).

I’d like our Brownie Troop to be known as the “fun” troop. With the departure of four of the members of the old troop, we have killed the old troop off (or given it a serious death blow). That really wasn’t my intention. My daughter and I were prepared to join another troop but we would be leaving her friends behind. I was also prepared to suffer along with my daughter in the current troop so she could be with her friends. However, after I received a phone call from one of the other parents saying to count her in if I decided to make my own troop; I decided to take the plunge and create my own Brownie Troop.

Now, our departure was going to be a quiet until I asked my daughter if we should start our own troop or join another one. Of course she wanted to start her own (what princess wants…princess gets!). I had a Cub Scout Den for my son, why shouldn’t I have a Brownie Troop for my daughter? Then she mentioned the new troop to a few non-Girl Scout friends and they wanted to join. I’m excited that we have some new girls interested in Girl Scouts! But word must have gotten back to Leader J and Leader T because they mentioned that I might be starting my own troop. I guess that is why we weren’t invited back to re-register for the next year (seriously).

Now, I’m not one to dwell on the past. We are moving on. This evening, we made our troop official by filling the paperwork and turning it in. We were assigned our troop number and we are on our way. Our first field trip is coming up at the end of the month to the Museum of Flight in Seattle. It should be a fun time!

Gyro Cafe Seattle – yum! yum!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

This evening I was treated to my cousin’s husband Simon’s Pre-Grand Opening dinner at his new Gyro Café Seattle located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Located directly across the street from the Group Health Seattle campus, Gyro Café Seattle will be opening next week and will be open from 10 am until 9 am Monday thru Saturday. Since I love Gyros, I can’t wait to make the trip out to dinner with family and enjoy a great meal.

If you have the chance in the next few weeks, I’d highly recommend to checking it out for dinner or lunch (man, I envy those Group Health workers…)

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2010/09/17/former-15th-ave-east-yoga-studio-space-will-soon-by-gyro-cafe
Feel free to browse the Gyro Café Seattle website http://gyrocafeseattle.com/, better yet take the time to visit the restaurant at 109 15th Ave E, Seattle WA.

My first Girl Scout Meeting as the leader…can I survive?

~ K ~ 1 Comment

My first Brownie Meeting went extremely well if I don’t say so myself. I almost cancelled due to the fact my grandma was in the hospital. However, my Grandma Ruth wasn’t one to sit around and whine about things. She would want me to continue on and do the meeting. And that is exactly what I did. Grandma Ruth was a tough old Irish lady and she would tell me not to let the turkeys get me down (or the other whining leaders who want to kill the spirit of Girl Scouting).

Fresh from my recent Outdoor 2 and Outdoor 3 training with the Girl Scouts, I was eager to put my Eagle Scout skills (and Girl Scout Leader skills) to the test with my Brownie Troop. We held our meeting at Lake Wilderness Arboretum and Lake Wilderness Park in Maple Valley, Washington. I enlisted my fellow Cub Scout leader Joel Bottem to assist me with the s’mores project. His son Ryan was a big help also and I greatly appreciate both their help in keeping all the scouts safe and sound.

On top of our regular troop being there, I also invited a Daisy Troop and their leader Laura Meyers from Maple Valley to come and meet us. I was luckily enough to meet Laura at the recent Outdoor 2 & 3 training weekend and was glad to have her help. Upon everyone’s arrival, we toured through the Arboretum and one of the Daisy mothers was very helpful on guiding us through the arboretum. If you get the chance and live in the area, you should take the time and do a little visit to the Lake Wilderness Arboretum.

As usual, the weather was rainy and cold. The Daisy Scouts were well prepared with rain coats and rubber boots. Our Brownie scouts on the opposite spectrum were wearing cotton, thin coats, and were ready to get soaked. So much for being older and more experienced…..

We made “Gauk”, did some science experiments with vinegar and baking soda, ate some smores, and we had some of the “dreaded” balloons. If you don’t know about the balloons incident please refer to my original Girl Scout post. I even gave more balloons out when a little Girl Scout asked me for one (GASP!). Hmmm, no one seemed to mention to me that I was “unfair”. Maybe the good old leader “J” should take a lesson out of Kevin’s playbook on how to be a good, kind, considerate leader.

On a side note, J and her daughter didn’t make it which didn’t surprise me. I had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to make. Just a little passive-aggressive protest to my optional outdoor meeting I had planned. Oh well. No smores for her!

I still have a few more meetings I’d like to conduct with the Brownie troop. I asked a few more parents to become registered Girl Scout members which means we’ll be able to have two registered Girl Scout Leaders there at each event and be in compliance with the Girl Scout guidelines. I like the fact that I know have more training than the other two leaders. I even got a very cool patch from my training weekend in March that I might sew onto my Boy Scout shirt or perhaps my coat.

OK, I’m not here just for the patches. I also want my daughter to enjoy the outdoors as much as I have over the years. She already enjoys camping, the beach, and swimming. I also want her to become a successful woman and be able to take care of herself and her deadbeat husband!

As always, I welcome your comments and keen insight into my blog postings!

You never know what is going on in someone’s life…

You never know what is going on in someone’s life…

~ K ~ 3 Comments

Sadly, it has been a while since I have been able to pull together a blog posting. I know this disappoints Cyndi (my imaginary stalker) and a few of my loyal relatives (that actually read my blog). It has been a tough past three weeks for me. My grandmother Ruth passed away on April 2 after a fall in which she hit her head and had bleeding on the brain. She was 91 years old and lived a very full life. Yet, I still had a hard time with her death. The last grandparent I had died was my Grandfather Dieter and I believe that was roughly 16-17 years ago.

I haven’t had to deal with a lot of death in my family for the past few years. My wife had her grandmother died a few years ago. However, my Grandma Ruth’s death was particular hard for me due to how much of a wonderful lady she was. She was the matriarch of our family (on my mother’s side) and she helped a lot of her children and grandchildren out over the years.

I enjoyed her company and have good memories of her that I’ll be able to live with for the rest of my life. I felt relived that I was able to say good bye to her before she passed away. I’ll miss her but I’m glad she was around for so long. I was definitely lucky to be the oldest grandchild and have the chance to enjoy my Grandma the longest (over my other cousins).

This isn’t to say that I was jealous of my younger cousins since they had the opportunity to live with her. Granted it wasn’t the best for them to be able to live with her because she was more of a parent than a grandparent. I got a good chuckle out of them talking about her discipline (which I luckily missed!). They were able to spend more time with her than I was since they lived in the same house as she did. When I was younger, I thought how cool it would be to live with your grandparents versus your mean old strict parents. After a few of my cousins’ stories I now know that isn’t true.

In the last years of her life, she had Alzheimer’s and really didn’t remember much of what was happening day to day. She would fake it a lot when she saw you. She always greeted you with a warm welcome and would tell you it had been a long time since she had seen you last (even if you had seen her the day before). She might not remember you at that particular moment but she sure did make you feel important. It was always good to visit her.

I suspect that even if you were the biggest loser in life, Grandma Ruth would still make you feel great. She would pay attention to whatever you told her whether it was about the turkey sandwich you just ate, your kid’s failed math test, or the time you dropped a dozen eggs on her floor when you were ten years old.

I’ll miss her but I’m glad I was able to have a wonderful lady like her in my life.

Kevin’s Outdoor Training Weekend with the Girl Scouts!

~ K ~ 2 Comments

Outdoor 2 Training Weekend March 2011

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the Girl Scouts of Western Washington’s weekend training held at camp Robbinswold on Hood Canal. The weather was the typical Washington State weather: rain, cold, and more rain. After slow progress thru the Tacoma’s Friday evening’s traffic (I discovered a lot of really neat garbage along Interstate 5), I arrived at Camp Robbinswold, a beautiful Girl Scout camp located on Hood Canal, north of Hoodsport.

Our Outdoor 2 started Friday night and ran thru Sunday. I must confess that I wasn’t looking forward to spending the last weekend of March outside. It is cold and rainy; not my idea of fun. I’d much rather be inside with the gas fireplace. Nevertheless, I was going to be outside learning about taking Girl Scouts camping.

What can an Eagle Scout like me learn at a Girl Scout training event? To be honest, the Girl Scouts run an awesome training program and I learned a lot! The weekend turned out to be very informative, well run, and fun. The Outdoor 2 class was taught by three experienced Girl Scout leaders: Donna, Debbie, and Ranger. Overall, I had a great time and would highly recommend these three instructors if you are looking for an Outdoor 2 with the Girl Scouts of Western Washington.

Our class was held outside in a picnic shelter. We discussed Leave No Trace, Dutch oven cooking, box oven baking, cleaning, cooking, keeping warm, etc. on a typical rainy western Washington day. My fellow classmates were mostly women (Russ and I being the only men) and their experience ranged from brand new leaders, to experienced leaders, to soon to be retired WSU employees (with no kids but still helping with a troop). A fair amount of us had camping experience and leading youth groups so we were able to contribute to the discussions in a meaningful way.

One thing I like about the Girl Scout program is that they require you to do the training before you take the Girl Scouts out on a camp out. In fact, before you can take a trip that is longer than four hours, you must take Outdoor 1 (on top of the other perquisite training). This Outdoor 2 really was a good example for new leaders and I was happily impressed with it.

The ladies that lead the weekend were very impressive with their years of knowledge and experience. Ranger, Donna, and Debbie were excellent and I would take another class from them. They were easy to approach with questions, listened, offered suggestions, and were truly very good at their instructor duties.

A few people that know me look at me kind of funny when I mention I had to take the Girl Scouts’ training. They usually ask, aren’t you an Eagle Scout, a former Den Leader, and a current Assistant Scoutmaster? Do you really need to take the training? I probably don’t need to take the camping training but as a Girl Scout Leader, I am required to take it. Overall, I have no arguments with taking the training and being trained in the Girl Scout way. All of the Girl Scout training classes have been excellent with great instructors, an information packet that pertains to the class at hand, and all delivered with a great love of Girl Scouting. While I might have a lot of experience and knowledge, I do not know the Girl Scout way and therefore the training is very good.

However, that isn’t to say that what I bring to the table is discounted or not respected. The Girl Scout leaders have been great to learn from and have welcomed my thoughts, insights, and jokes (I’ve kept my sarcastic wit in check much to my wife’s amazement). Hopefully, my jokes were amusing and didn’t put anyone down (besides myself!).

Overall, the weekend was a great one and I really enjoyed myself. I think the Girl Scouts have a great program. If you have a daughter, I would definitely recommend them joining Girl Scouts. Now, please keep in mind that you might end up being a leader; however, with all of the training offered by the Girl Scouts, you will be well equipped for an excited experience in Scouting.

However, if you are a bit nit picky or have a hard time handling more than one child at a time (please read my previous blog posting of how I ended up at the Outdoor Leadership Training (https://khellriegel.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/is-my-child-really-that-bad/), then you probably should let someone who really enjoys kids lead the troop. Or take a step back and re-evaluate your own life….I’m just saying….

As always, I welcome your thoughts and comments! Please leave me a comment!

Snow Camping

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Happily, I have returned from one night of snow camping this past weekend with the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scout troop left on Friday morning and spent two nights out there. Luckily, I had First Aide and CPR training so I was able to go up for only one night. My son spent two nights in the igloo he and his fellow scouts built.

Snow camping isn’t my favorite type of camping because, frankly, it is cold. It isn’t just a little cold, it is freezing cold and I really don’t like to be cold. Yes, I admit it; I’m a fair weather camper.

Now that my son is in Boy Scouts, I’ll be doing a lot more camping. Considering that we live in the Seattle area, we’ll be doing a lot of camping in the rain. To my benefit, our Boy Scout troop only does one winter camping trip a year. I personally don’t think I’d want to do more than one winter camping trip a year. Like I said earlier, I like to be warm.

When you are winter camping, you are sleeping outside (in a tent) with the temperature at or below freezing or in an igloo (which is at freezing or below because it is an igloo). Mind you, if you are outside in a tent and it is 20 degrees, it’s darn cold. And if you are in an igloo, you are slightly above freezing because of your body heat and it is still darn cold. Since the temperature in the igloo is slightly above freezing, it is never toasty warm and comfortable until you get into your sleeping bag (which you hope is a very good zero degree bag). Why would you want to be comfortable? That is a silly idea. No, you’ll never be in a nice warm cabin, sleeping in a nice warm bed, with lots of nice warm heat. Instead you’ll be outside in freezing weather, bonding with other equally frozen comrades.

Of course, I’m usually warm during a winter excursion because I’ve learned to stay dry. I have lots of layers of dry clothing and I like them to stay dry. When I was a scout, I was wet and cold during snow camping and it wasn’t very fun. Now, whether it is snow, rain, or sunny camping, I always stay dry, warm, and comfortable. I learned the hard way that camping isn’t much fun when you are miserable, wet, and cold.

Now camping in Hawaii is much more fun and enjoyable. I was fortunate to be able to camp in the Puget Sound and to camp on the island of Kauai (Hawaii) during my scouting career. On Kauai, the camping was warm. However, I do remember at one Camporee (an event where all the troops of the island would get together and camp for a weekend) up at Kokee that it pour rain the whole time. When I talk about the rain to people on the mainland, they always comment “But it was warm rain”. Sure, but water is water and you still get wet and miserable. If you don’t properly cover up your gear, it will get wet and you’ll be even more miserable. And if you happen to be my brother (he is an Eagle Scout like me) you might forget to bring your sleeping bag one year. Luckily for him, I had everyone donate their towels to him to use for blankets. Sure, they didn’t cover his whole body, he looked like a bum on the beach, but at least he was warm that weekend.

If you get a chance to visit Kauai, I highly recommend you consider staying at my parents’ guest cottage. Here’s the link: www.makanacrest.com They also offer wedding services on Kauai and that link is: www.kauaiweddings.com

What’s better than cat puke? Spilled Pickle Juice!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

I’m proud to announce that at 10:15 pm, I have finished cleaning out the refrigerator after the “Great Pickle Juice Spill of 2011!” Yes, nothing beats having your son announce that at the bottom of your fridge sits a pool of pickle juice ready to be clean up. Instead of sitting down and enjoying a good book or watching some mindless television (who doesn’t like Jersey Shore??), I spent my evening pulling out the bottom two shelves of the fridge, cleaning them off and then….thinking to myself….

…since I am cleaning the bottom out I should also clean all the other shelves.

Out comes all the milk, cheese, eggs, Uncle Ray’s BBQ sauce, ketchup, mayo, Chinese hot mustard, jelly, beer, spinach, carrots, Jell-O, sour cream, etc. Out come the shelves to be scrubbed off with a beautiful solution of warm bleach water, gently scrubbing off the crumbs, dried out spinach, and other odd spills.

Looking into the empty fridge, one can step back and admire the cleanliness that has claimed its stake in the modern world. Yes, inhale softly the sweet smell of a clean fridge and relax knowing your eggs are once again safe from the foul smell of spilled pickle juice.