Summer Kayaking on the Lake

Dear Folks,                   20 September 2016

  We picked up a new hobby this summer,  Here are three photos from our time on a lake near our home.  It is good to be together on the water.  They also enjoyed swimming and playing on the sandy beach.  Here we have my twelve-year-old riding his unicycle in the sand. And here we have his younger brother riding at a park.
 This video is 2 minutes, a bit longer, and shows the large picnic pavilion up on the hill overlooking the beach below.  

Daddy with "My Little General," and "My Clever Lad." 

Mission Accomplished

Visiting With Grandmother Long 

It is done.  We are home again.  I took my children to visit their grandmother in Virginia Beach yesterday morning.  We stayed one night in an 11-story hotel, which had a fine ocean front view.  Sunday evening was cold and windy, but we took a fairly long walk on the beach anyway.  Here is a deluxe linker to a video of a quotidian Long Yang Family conversation in our hotel room (8th Feb 2016).    

Below are some photos from our time with Grandma in the Memory Center, a retirement home for people with dementia.  She has been there four years and is now 86 years old.  She has had Alzheimer's for about two decades.

$33 on Sandwiches:We also spent some time with Uncle Jim (my brother) in the local Subway Sandwich Shop.  We dropped thirty-three smackers in that shop, but it was OK because we got six foot-long deals.  Anything in the shop was on sale for six smackers. We got chicken Teriyaki and an Italian super meat combo delight.  David, age 7, got a meatball sub, his regular preference.  Any time we go to visit Grandma, we go to Subway.  It is now our tradition.

$33 on Shells:We spent 13 dollars on shells at a shop on the pier.  We talked a good bit with the shop manager, Matt.  He told us that the shells are sourced from all over the world, nearly always being a by-product of food.  People eat the contents of the shells, and leave the shells, selling them in bulk to Western tourists at spots such as Virginia Beach.  

Matt also told us of some good street performing opportunities at the Virginia Beach Street Scene.  He said the city of Virginia Beach pays performers to perform there every day all summer from June through September.

If we were to do this, I guess we could live in First Landing State Park Campground (27 dollars a day without electricity, 38 with electricity).  We could do this if they are willing to take the time off from other pursuits.  We would need to devise a better way to keep the rain off and keep up our studies.  I guess if we just did it for one month, we could afford the cost of a site with electricity.

We would need an extra tent for Nathaniel so he could relax and sleep during the day.  On the other hand, it would probably be better to wait until we can get an RV and let him sleep in that during the day while we hang out in the large tent right on the same campsite.  These campsites are fully shaded and quite large so we could live alright there together.  The experience of blessing others through daily street performing would be good for Nathaniel in particular, but again, good for each of us.  

I wonder whether it would be cheaper to rent a home for one month, back off the beach front.  Today we drove back there and saw many homes which appeared to be quite simple and inexpensive.  Perhaps some would be for rent.   I think our best, most interesting show would be juggling and unicycle backed up by flute and piano, with some parables and moral lessons made educational in a most entertaining way.

Future Virginia Beach Baduk Tournament:
I sense it would be a blessing to put on a baduk tournament in Virginia Beach similar to the chess tournament they have in October.  Jordan could organize it and direct it well.  The first year would by necessity have a very small number of competitors in the tournament, while we would teach people to play in groups, hopefully under a tent to have shade and in case of rain.

     I surmise that if they were to have five to seven locals keen to learn from us intensively in person for a few days in a row, and then to continue learning online from Jordan, Ashley, and Nathaniel (by e-mail and online with the go servers, using the messaging system during games), that core group could meet regularly with children and other beginners, perhaps once a week, to teach them, and build a decent, broad base of beginning players as rapidly as possible.   

$59 Hotel Costs: Our hotel room set us back only 59 dollars, which was good, considering that we got a kitchenette, a sofa fold-out double bed, and a private room with two double beds.  David and Christopher loved the jacuzzi.  They put on swim goggles and put their faces up against the jets, said they got a nice face and ear massage.  

They also both got soaked in the water

s of the nearby ocean.  I went wading with them, but lacked the stamina they exuded with glee.  They are naturals, take to water like fish.  It was good for  me, too, as otherwise, were I vacationing alone, I would have read books and taken long walks, but never considered taking off my shoes and socks and running into the shallow surf.  Those two keep me a tad younger than I would otherwise be.    

Granville County Beekeeping Operation: Speaking of bees, my oldest, Nathaniel (17), has me back into beekeeping. He needs a hobby which will be better than raising cockroaches, horned beetles and praying mantises.

My wife, Mamma, loves three things about Nathaniel's epiphany which led him to sell all his cockroach colonies:
  A. They must be fed; whereas, bees get their own food much of the time.  
  B. Cockroaches do not produce honey, either.  
  C. And bees live outside, fail to impair the quality of our indoor air.

Mamma is the canary in the gold mine in our home, being the most sensitive of our number, to any breathing difficulties in the quality of the air we have indoors. 
 
Kitten
David is now free to get a kitten.  He badly wants to get a kitten, prefers that to a cat because "It can grow up and get used to us."  We have been promising him that after we made our visit to see Grandma he could get a kitten.  We moved to the Long Yang Family Homestead Acres this past July.  It has been a long row to hoe getting acclimated to life in the countryside.  We are still in the process of improving the place here, making adjustments to the home, wood shop, barn, auxiliary shed, and land.

I have been planting trees.  I have redwoods, Bristlecone Pines, and some Western Hemlocks, all fine trees.  I look forward to planting the three Bristlecone Pines in one location along our walking trail, and make a small rock garden between and around those three pines.  A couple of benches would be positively divine, I surmise.  

Canary in the Gold Mine

Dear Folks,

    Eureka!  I have found it!  By some fortuitous internet surfing, I have found the means to keep up with my children as we bike about the countryside of Granville and Franklin Counties.  It looks as though this little device shall be my "salvation."  Now, I just need to save up the dough and locate a vendor.

   Actually, I probably will not be able to show a need for it, not that I will not get dropped on every hill even when I have the lightest bicycle in our family, but rather that there will always be so many other candidates for family expenditures that mine will never make it "into the money," the range where we will actually allocate funds for that item or service.  I could list now some things we could use.
   Nathaniel IV (17) could use a climate controlled small building in which to raise his fish, insects and other animals.  Rabbits can mostly do fine outside.  We need something like that because the fish make his room in our home so moist that mold grows and impairs his mother's breathing ease.  She is like the canary in the gold mine, sporting the dubious distinction of having the most sensitive set of lungs in our family.  

   
 

A Snowy Day

First Snow

It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood.  We have a scant covering of snow outside.  Christopher plays classical guitar on the sunroom sofa.  Ashley sits beside me reading my text.  

Christopher in the Sun Room

   I had one cup of coffee this morning so I am at the same time a good boy and one feeling deprived by his own self-control, alas.  I would rather have two cups today of the high octane juice, it being our first snow day on the Long Yang Homestead.  

At the Top of Sled Hill

Sun Room Coziness on a Snowy Day

Here in the video below, we see our Pulchritudinous Korean Princess from Kwang-joo moves to America to cut wood with her redneck husband (who when they first met did not seem so redneck-esque, mixed in with expats from other places).     

 Frontier Mamma and Her Bow Saw

January 2016 Videos:
1.   Ashley's Room Remake:
2.  Christopher Sledding, "Do You Want to Try It?"
3. Yeah, At's Good
4. "We Cut Together!" 

To Build a Fire

Dear Folks,                           23rd November 2015

    Here we have a video of our third son teaching my wife how to build a fire.  Not unlike a mighty Proverbs Thirty-One woman of yore, Mamma evinces the makings of a Genuine Frontier Woman (hereafter GFW).  It is a delight to see Mamma no longer afraid of fire, but in sublime comfortable appreciation of the blessing God gives us in the wood on our property. 

   In a week or two I will order some trees to plant on our new property:  maybe 14 Dawn Redwood, three Sequoia, three Coast Redwood, 10 Japanese Maples, and two Bristle-cone Pines.

   I aim to begin collecting cedar seedlings off the side of the roads on the next sunny day now.  They grow wild, and being in the 24-foot zone beside of the road, they will be cut when the motorized scythe machines come rolling by.  I want to get them before that time arrives.  

A Day in the Life of the Long Family

Pretty soon, we may need to get another car.  In March, Ashley and Jordan will probably take a driver's ed course.  Nathaniel has already finished it.  He and his mother seem to have begun studying to take the test to get their drivers' licenses.  We will have to pay more for insurance.  My rates are as low as you can get.  That will change.  We may pay ten times as much as we are accustomed to paying, even with but one additional driver.
Down Syndrome People Going Extinct: This article is a tad ominous.  Three Quotes:
1. The true moral test of a society is not how pretty, sober or well organized it is – but how it treats its most vulnerable, even its most difficult, citizens. And the true sign of grace in a man is his ability to look at something that is supposedly ugly, or just different from himself, and see beauty.

2. “The message being sent by the British National Screening Committee (NSC) is that the lives of 25 ‘healthy’ babies are worth more than the lives of 92 babies with Down’s Syndrome,” Scanlan added.

3. And implicit in all of this is the view that life isn’t truly valuable unless it is healthy, pain free and contributing to Gross National Product.

A Good Day:Today was a good day.  I woke up, rebuilt the fire, walked Gideon.
 * peeled apples and cooked eggs for David, washed dishes, started rice cooking, woke David up, took him to the dentist in Raleigh.  
* dropped Jordan off at the seminary to practice piano for a few hours while we shopped in Raleigh
 * shopped at ALDI after the dentist
 * shopped at HanAhReum Korean Food Market  
 * found a sign shop and got information on purchase of old scraps of vinyl and mylar (for juggling club repair)
 * Went to 84 Lumbar, assess their potential to supply our needs for tree houses and beekeeping.
 * Went to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought David some winter mittens (10 smackers) and bought Ashley a set of horseshoes and stakes for 35 smackers
 * Went to Trek Bike Shop on Falls of Neuse Road, and got the old Green bike tuned up, got new brakes and cable, for 14 smackers. 
 * Went back to pick up Jordan from seminary campus.
 * juggled with Jordan in the seminary gym for one hour.  David played with the exercise balls and aerobics step up bars.
 * paid for fax at seminary to sell stock (from educational savings in Duke Energy for children)
 * Drove home, unloaded car with Jordan.
 * Eureka moment!  :: found Ashley had cleaned the table, getting Christopher to help.  discovered she had taught David and Christopher well while I was gone.  Mamma and Nathaniel slept.  Jordan, as per usual, studied alone all day.  (Ashley teachers; whereas, Jordan checks on David and Christopher to remind them of the math homework, check what they did and assign them more.)  
  * discovered that Ashley had taught Christopher shading, and he had drawn (with her help) a lovely drawing of a long-furred dog with a bone in his mouth.
  * Cleaned more dishes. 
  * Ate some of Ashey's egg salad and potato salad.  Good food in spades.  Very tasty.
  * Rebuilt fire.
  * Took Nathaniel to Small Group meeting (7 to 9 p.m.)  We taught baduk at Small Group. 
  * Came Home and hauled in wood with Nathaniel
  * Rebuilt fire
  * Took Ashley jogging for three miles (she jogs; I ride bike).  Rather cold up here in Granville County, maybe 20 degrees.  Reflector vests, Cree head lamp and my sheepskin coat were needed.  Ashley took off her winter jacket, overheated from her running energy output.  I carried said winter coat on my bicycle.  Was very comfortable, very, very happy.  At sublime peace. Would not want to be doing anything else in the world.  Good times.  
  * Must do Bible study, hymn singing and prayer now, then sleep.  Tired.  

A New Work Desk Retrofit

Ashley and Daddy

Ashley and I built a desk together for her room.  She had two wide but shallow closets that were not much use to her.  They are about six feet wide and two feet deep.  The doors are 60 inches exactly.  We noticed that we had a heavy particle board counter top, covered in formica.  She took of the closet doors and commenced to use them for her art work tables.  We used some 2x2's from scrap wood we salvaged from the trash bins in building sites to build a frame to support the desk.

Mamma has a rule of no nail or screw holes in the walls so we had to design something a little tricky to sandwich the framework into the existing space such that it could not move. We did it.  You can see the results in these photos.

The New Addition: A Work Desk for Art and Writing