Ran Into ZZ Top at Big River Grille

Billy Gibbons at Big River Grille
Billy Gibbons (left), me (center) and my sister-in-law’s husband Bobby (right)

White Trash, Your Local Choice

"White" Dumpster
Corner of Hwy 136 & Hwy 193 in semi-rural section of Walker County, Georgia.

Mad (Young) Scientist

Recently, Aidan collaborated with his friend Naoki to build the ultimate Kindergarten kid science fair project. These budding scientists set out to determine which slide at the Chattanooga Valley Elementary playground was the fastest. In the end, Slide C was the quickest and so were the boys, crossing their category’s finish line in first place. Later this week they get to attend Walker County School’s district science fair!

CVE Science Fair - 1st Place
Aidan with his science project, 1st place ribbon and district marching orders. Missing: two front teeth.

We will certainly continue to bring you coverage of these momentous events. In the meantime, click on the above image to view more photos and details on the project.

Izzy-Bell-erina

Izzy (short for Isabel) has been taking ballet lessons for the last few months. A couple weeks ago she had her first recital at The Fairyland Club. We are not sure how much longer she will attend ballet classes–she seems to enjoy gymnastics better (and has more of that body type)–but our little Bell (another nickname) sure did have fun dressing up, getting her hair done and dancing around (if you can call it that).

After the Performance Beautiful Ballerina Award
Teacher Pettway and class (l). Miss Twinkle Toes (r) showing off her award. Click to view more.

Below is a low-quality video I took with our digicam.

Spring ’08 Improvements

This time of the year a couple key things converge in the Kennedy household: warm weather and annual bonus money. With the government promising us a stimulus package in mid-summer, we are focusing for now on home improvement projects (the big TV will have to wait). The first project is one that we have needed to do since we moved into our house almost four years ago. Given the time I could dig up a ‘before’ photo, but trust me when I say that a drunk man built our original front steps.

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While he is at it our brick mason is going to build a small planter box around our mailbox (see my mock layout below). We have the only house in the neighborhood where they surrounded the mailbox with concrete. The kids like to walk around it when getting the mail (calling it ‘the shortcut’), but Pam and I consider it to be aesthetically displeasing. By the way, if you ever need a good brick layer, I highly recommend Ibach Brick. Paul does great work and is a comedian, too. When showing him the newspaper-slot-turned-birdhouse below the mailbox, he said I should “start chargin’ that bird rent.”

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We are also considering building stairs off of our back deck, which is as much of a safety/secondary egress issue as it is a convenience consideration. Currently we have to go down the stairs, which are positioned by the front door, in order to go out back through the garage. Then there is the floor I need to lay in the attic, organizing the garage, etc. Maybe, just maybe, when all is done there will be some funds left over to put in the HDTV piggy bank!

Update 1: Steps are done (they look great!). Mailbox work set for Monday. Getting an HD set after all (albeit a smaller 32″).

Update 2: Below are thumbnails (linked to full size on Flickr) of the completed steps and mailbox surround. Flowers (pansies and salvia) have been planted at the mailbox since these were taken, but I still have to build a new handrail for the steps (probably using one of those PVC railing kits).

New Front Steps Mailbox Planter (left) Mailbox Planter (right)