SolMate Santiago

Log #79 July, 2009

Updated Monday, 3 August 2009

11 July -- What, More Parties?

Editha and her gang put on one helluva show, with food, entertainment and dancing. Lots and lots of well-wishers showed up, golf buddies, neighbors, old co-workers and students. Then there was the whole fam-damily. Amazing! Every one of my cousins showed their pretty faces, not to mention kids and kids of kids, Dad's sister, nieces, nephews, and cousins...first, second and once removed - and here we are, acting normal.

Family portrait

Dad taking a
half-hearted swing at el unicornio

Jeff hung el unicornio, stuffed with candy, in Union Hall, party central, using a pulley and long rope. While the crowd egged him on, Dad whacked away while Stan jerked the rope to foil his aim.

The piñata was constructed of special Mexican steel. Dad couldn't break it. Finally, we let him ditch the blinders, and he smacked el unicornio's head off.

Editha's birthday bowl

Touring Seattle

Later that week was Editha's celebration. It was a quiet affair at a Chinese restaurant. But that wasn't the end of celebrating for the BurntFrogs.

We got to visit with Bob and Jennifer from Nuestra Isla and Jane, Ron and Marina from Shea la Vie, and Bob and Janell from Issaquah (the town, not the boat), as well.

These visits included tromping through the nature preserve at Confluence Park in Wenatchee, wandering the malecon in West Seattle, and marching around Seattle's Green Lake. Nice ways to wind down from so much food and so much party.

The visits were a blast, and we always enjoy the adventure of travel, even if it's just to visit relatives and friends, and not to explore exciting new and exotic places. As with every trip, the getting home to the family was exciting, too.

And there they were, ready to help us unpack and to hear about our journey.

Chivo, Picudo and Gail
(Bucky's off somewhere being naughty)

Updated Saturday, 1 August 2009

10 July, More Games, Bocci Ball in the Back Yard, Cards at Night

One thing's for sure about the Feroglias, we luvz our games. Here are some shots of the winning form displayed.

Jeff, Chelsea, Editha and Mitch/Don, Dad, Gini and Sandy

Don, Dad and Sandy/Ardith, Cameron, James and Chelsea

Mitch in the official judge's hat

Don, MJ, Dad, Julie, JD, Cameron, Larry and Gini

Mac and Larry

And what gathering would be complete without its rousing game of 99? Nine of us sat down at the big stakes table one night, and when the dealing was done, Jeff, who took the most crap from the other players, walked away with all the quarters.

Updated Thursday, 30 July, 2009

10 July, Birthday Golf with the Hard-core Duffers

A 0730 tee-time was sorta daunting for those of us planning to walk the course with the hardcore golfers. While most of us were sleeping, Marlene shot some pix, and golfed along with Larry, Mitch, Dad, and Stan.

Dad, Stan, Larry and Mitch at the Rock Island Golf Course

Good form, Stan, but where are you going?

10 July, Then Presents for the Birthday Boy

Opening presents, a set of bocci balls, FSU hat, boxing
team sweatshirt, and golf balls; then Cam performed one of his famous card tricks

10 July, And on to a Remembrance Celebration

Lots of the family weren't able to make it to Casey's memorial at the Toutle Lake school last March. The passes were snowed in and travel was impossible. Since the whole fam-damily was gathering for his birthday celebration, Dad took advantage and threw a celebration of Casey's life into the mix.

It could have thrown a real damper on the party weekend, except that the whole tone of the event followed the tone of his life, with wry fun, wit and humor.

Editha set up some framed pictures, then Chelsea brought a whole bunch of loose ones from old photo albums that she found in the garage. As people wandered in, they shuffled through the pictures and got to take a peek at the album Mark made with his memories of Casey.

Some old HS and baseball friends, Bill Nichol on the left, Dad in the middle and Rick Sackenreuter on the right / Gerri Lynne, Rick, Marci, Don, Roger, Bill and John

Leslie, Cameron, Ardith, Sandy, Larry,
Marlene, Julie, Chelsea, JD, Don, John, Mac, Mitch and a baseball buddy from Manson

Dad, as master of ceremonies and the oldest codger in attendance, took his turn first, then opened the floor to the rest of the group.

John Woods was the one we most wanted to hear from -- as Casey's partner in crime throughout their crazy high school and early-college years, he had a huge number of stories to tell, many of which involved not-so-legal activities, so John tread very gently around the facts.

John Woods and Dad relating
some pretty funny stories about Casey

During the Toutle Lake celebration we got to hear lots of stories about Casey's teaching career, mostly coaching stories. This time we heard more about his earlier baseball career, college and semi-pro.

JD topped off the baseball stories with a really touching presentation to Dad. What a great tribute, Casey's winning ball from Toutle Lake's championship game!

The coach's souvenir ball from a winning season

Updated Monday, 27 July, 2009

Let the Games Begin

An on-going feast, punctuated by events celebrating the lives of Feroglias, was attended by all the family and lots of friends. Family started gathering in East Wenatchee on Thursday, golfed and remembered on Friday, and then birthday partied on Saturday.

In rapt attention, Editha, Mark, Marlene, Mitch, Jeff, Dad, Sandy, Larry, Gini, and Leslie

As the family rolled in, we met at Dad's house to eat and tell stories. That first evening, we coaxed Dad into relating old-timey tales of his long-ago past, like the one about his moonshining days.

It was during prohibition, and Dad was only three or four when he helped deliver home-made hooch from his uncle's still to his dad's saloon. Dad would be bundled into his little red wagon, along with a few select bottles. With a blanket tucked around him to concealed the contraband, little Sauce was hauled along the frozen sidewalks of CleElum in his red PF Flyer ... a fine, upstanding family with their cute little son in tow, out for a stroll on a crisp winter day.

Sometimes a local constable would saunter down the sidewalk and stop the innocent-looking cavalcade, but he only wanted to chat about the weather. The cops knew full-well about the corked bottles tucked underneath the kid's knees, but since the police force was on the take, as well as most of the town officials, the tone of the interchange would have been more a wink and a nod rather than intimidating.

Well, it was all real friendly, right up until CleElum's finest decided to crack down. They raided the saloon, demolished the still, and threw Grandpa into the hoosegow. So much for Dad's career in the liquor industry, or the Mafia, for that matter.

Here's another little-known fact about his early years that we weedled out of Dad:

After failing at a life of crime, Dad then turned to the sporting world for support, and he enjoyed a short-lived boxing career. He was in his early teens when the men at the local lodge would occasionally set up a ring and let the local kids box. After a few rounds, the ref would decide on a winner and then the audience would throw quarters into the ring. As the story goes, the kids spent more energy scrambling for money than they did poking their fists into each other's faces.

Dad entertaining Cousin Larry and the grandkids, Jeff and Mitch

Anyway, you get the gist of the evening's activities, but storytelling was just the beginning of the big family celebration. We took lots of pictures, and I'm warning you, now, the rest of July's log is going to be all family and nothing but the family, with a recap of events as they occurred.

Updated Friday, 3 July, 2009

Of Hibiscus and Daisies

Lizards, caterpillars or ants ... maybe a combo of the three ... are enjoying the greening of our back yard.

Thrown into the ground a year ago, this guy survived the dry season, stretched out, blossomed off and on, and then last week suffered the ravages of the hungry hordes.

Last month these daisies went into a newly-created plot with great hopes of a colorful carpet between the paths. Overnight, they nearly disappeared. A few survivors were salvaged, but just barely, then placed on a stump -- out of reach?

Turns out, iguanas digest best when the temp is 85 or better. They bask on top of the fence, midday, letting the sun and gastric juices go to work on our perky little daisies. The big green buggers take advantage of siesta, when everyone else is sacked out and their lazy-liza-lizard digestive juices are flowing, they sneaky-pete into the posie patch.

That's one theory ... a couple 3-footers have been caught red handed. But there are also the smaller lizards and the pesky bugs. The little, but fat, black lizard climbs tiny branches and breaks them off when he exeeds their weight limit. Plays hell with our pruning plan.

Then there are the caterpillars. Their fuzzy little bodies can be found chowing down on just about every plant out there. I'm amazed we don't have more moths and butterflies with the number of caterpillars cruising the drive-through.

SolMate Santiago contact: mj(at)solmatesantiago(dot)com