Holidailes 2009

This is my third year to participate in Holidailes where bloggers are asked to update their blog every day for a month. I'm looking forward to joining in again this year for two reasons. I usually find some new blogs every year that I didn't know existed and look forward to following as we start the new year. The second is a bit more selfish in that it exposes my blog to a much larger audience then I could ever hope to drum up on my own. I typically get a big jump in readers in December over the rest of the year.

I don't have a Cast of Characters listed on my blog so let me introduce everyone that you might run across on these pages. I'm Frank, author and creator of Ready.....Row. I'm a 50ish Federal Worker who resides in Virginia and works in southern Maryland. I have been reading blogs for quite a while and it seemed like fun so with a little encouragement, mostly from Beth of So the Fish Said, I set up this blog. This is my third year of writing this blog. As the title of my blog might indicate, my main hobby is rowing. I belong to two rowing clubs in the northern Virginia area. I've been rowing since 1995. I got into rowing via my oldest daughter, who was a coxswain on her high school and college teams and still coxes occasionally for a rowing club in CT. I row in 8+s and 4+s primarily when racing in Masters events and I also row a single for fun and exercise although this year I raced a single for the first time. When not rowing, I also like to bike and I have been know to brew my own beer from time to time.

Others you will run into here:

Ann - Wife of 33 years who puts up with me.

Daughter#1 - Our oldest child currently living in CT with her husband. Currently working on a nursing degree. She graduated from Ohio University with a degree in Journalism, which to date hasn't quite produced a paying job. hence the work on the nursing degree.

The Twins:

The Son - Twenty something IT Geek. Graduate of Radford University. Only one still living close to home. Video gamer obsessed.

Daughter#2 - Twenty something VA Tech grad living out in the Shenandoah valley with her husband also named Matt and their dog Gracie, known as the Black Demon. She is an environmental planner and current University of Florida grad student. Former soccer player extraordinarie.

Rosie - Our 15 year old mini schnauzer mix. Obtained through a schnauzer rescue organization when she was 9. Bottomless pit when it comes to eating.

If you're reading this, I hope you take the opportunity to come back over the next month and see what this crew is up to.

My Dad

I hope Dad's everywhere had a wonderful Father's Day. I know I did. I don't want to go into much detail right now since I have some pictures to share, but I haven't uploaded them yet. It wasn't way different than many of my Sunday's in that I went for a bike ride, visited The Son, and later The Son dropped by for steaks and corn on the cob and to exchange gifts and cards. So a good time.

Since I'll get to my own Father's Day later, I'll share some memories of my own dad.

1. He's 79 this year.
2. He was too young to fight in WWII and was out of the Navy by the time Korea rolled around. For that I'm grateful.
3. He was a Seabee.
4. He married his high school sweetheart. We lost her 23 years ago and it still hurts.
5. He was married and had three kids by the time he was 23. I can't even conceive of having 3 kids (all one year apart) at that age.
6. He worked days at a gas station and went to college at night.
7. He worked for Ma Bell as did his daughter (my sister) and our grandfather (Mom's Dad).
8. He was very tolerant for letting me tag along when he went out to play his games be it semi-pro baseball, bowling or golf.
9. He was a natural athlete, a trait that unfortunately did not flow down to his sons.
10. He could have signed a minor league baseball contract coming out of high school.
11. He was a volunteer fireman.
12. No matter what job he was doing around the house or on one of our cars, he always seemed to scrape his hand and/or finger.
13. He was mine and my brother's baseball coach for years. Until I almost 15 anyway.
14. While coaching our Little league team, he recommended switching this big, slightly overweight kid from first base to pitcher. The kid went on to pitch in the Mets farm system.
15. He always took my sister, brother and I into NY city on Christmas eve to the office building on Broadway where he worked. We would eat cookies and cake and play with the adding machines. The train ride into the city was the highlight.
16. My Dad loves model trains. Until he retired he never had the time (see three kids) to set them up properly. Now he has trains in the bedrooms of his house and in the dining room. He' also a member of a railroad club in the Orlando area.
17. My dad has never remarried, but he's had the same gf for probably 18 years now. We all like her. She's been good for him and vica versa.
18. He still drives minivan even though he hasn't had kids at home for 30 years. He says it so he can haul big items - like plywood for setting up train layouts. To my knowledge he has never hauled plywood.
19. He is the first generation of the family that went to college.
20. His father immigrated from Glasgow and his Mom from Aberdeen, Scotland.
21. He grew up in the same house in NJ all his life (I think).
22. He loved the NY Giants (baseball and football).
23. He was really proud when my brother went into the Navy.
24. He used to own a really nice boat when we lived in Maryland and lived a short ride from the Chesapeake Bay. It was a treat to eat crabs out on the boat as the sun set in the west.
25. I hate that he lives 800 miles away and I only get to see him a few days every year.

Just the Facts

The weather today is bright and sunny and it's killing me to have to be inside and actually be working. Thank goodness this is my "short" day. As with most work weeks, it has been pretty much business as usual. Get up very early, go to work, come home, eat, watch some TV go to bed early. Not exactly exciting stuff to share. I'll just throw at some random facts from my past and wait for the weekend to really begin.

I've lived in six different states and no we were not a military family. In chronological order they were: New Jersey (I was born here), North Carolina, Maryland, Alabama (college years), South Carolina and Virginia.

I played in a high school marching band while too young to actually be in high school. I did not play in the marching band while in high school. By the time I was in high school , I was in a different state and in a different school.

I grew up in a very, very small town in NJ. Not the NJ most people think of. Not the NJ consisting of the Turnpike and refineries and chemical plants, but rather in northwest NJ which consists mostly of Newark watershed property and is full of forests, lakes, mountains and largely unpopulated. I loved it.

We used to cut down our own Christmas trees.

The highlight of my summer was the volunteer fireman carnival held the week leading into labor day. My Dad and Mom were volunteers is said firehouse. Actually the volunteer firehouse was the social center of the neighborhood.

My Dad coached my brother and I in pee wee baseball or whatever they call it before you are old enough to play Little League. We lost almost every game.

In Little League, my father wasn't the coach, but helped out on occasion, we won almost all of our games.

Growing up I played outside all of the time. We had pickup games of baseball, basketball and football. We played our pick-up baseball games in a field we called the Buckwheat field. If we weren't playing sports games, we were riding our bikes, playing "war games" (every kid had a toy gun), building tree forts, playing Kick the Can or Flashlight tag.

I was swimming by age 3 much to my Grandmother's horror as I jumped into the deep end of a public pool. I was just following my uncle.

When I was a baby, my year older sister pushed my baby stroller, with me in it, down a flight of stairs.

I hope every one has a chance to celebrate this Memorial Day. Sometime over the weekend give yourself a moment to say a prayer for those who fought for us and made the ultimate sacrifice.

Let the weekend begin!