August: The Sunday of Summer

Hi gang.

Finally cut my hair this month. I  was a frickin' hobo.

I know I've said this before, but August isn't really my favorite month of the year.  Sure, it's paid time off, and I have zero complaints as far as that goes, but knowing that the school year is coming up down the pipeline definitely sucks some of the joy out of enjoying what's left of the summer. Pretty soon I'll have to start waking up every morning at 5:30am and wrangle teenagers all damn day, five days a week for the next nine months.  That's not the most pleasant of thoughts, and it does sour the mood.

Still, we kept busy this month (nothing close to the previous two, for sure - we definitely slow down in August), as short as it was.  See, this year, the girls and I both started school a week earlier than usual, meaning our summer was one week shorter this year than in previous years. . . which, you know, sucks.  The upside of this, however, is that we'll be kicking off Summer of 2023 a week early, and I would much rather have more time off in June than in August.

So, without further adieu, here's a rundown of everything else that happened throughout the month of August around here.

Enjoy.

It had been a couple months since I lasted attended a Lodge meeting (which fall on the first Thursday of each month), seeing how in June I was in Cedar Point and in July I was packing for our first stint up at Eight Point Lake.  When I showed up at the scheduled time, you can imagine my horror upon finding out that our ancient elevator in the historic Larkin Building downtown was out of commission, and that anyone attending Lodge that evening had to take the rickety, old fire escape up six flights of stairs along the outside of the building.  This was scary as f***, because the whole thing is beyond old and sways as you walk up it.  Had it been in the winter, I would've said 'screw it' and turned around and gone home - I'm not good with heights.

Saw this creepy-ass mural outside the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library while dropping off an overdue book of Abby's.  I think it's supposed to be Ariel from The Little Mermaid, but. . . good God this thing is horrifying.

Abby signed up for some advanced STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) conference/workshop thingy this month, so a few weekday mornings towards the beginning of the month I had to drive her up to SVSU, where she would spend the majority of each day. 

While she was working at SVSU, it didn't make a whole hell of a lotta sense for me to shuttle back and forth between Saginaw and Midland twice a day (not with gas prices being what they are right now.)  So, instead, I decided to be productive and get my annual Back to School room preparations out of the way.  In one day alone, the room itself was thrown back together and primed for the coming school year (as shown here.)  Then, on the subsequent days, I focused on lesson planning, running off all my usual Back to School copies prior to the Pre-Planning rush, etc.  At least I got that bullshit out of the way.

The last day of Abby's STEM conference (she's a Chief Science Officer now) was some experiment demonstration that all the kids had to do for parents and visitors.  Hers was something thrown together at the last minute (because, to be fair, it is Abby), but it turned out pretty good.

During Brocation 2022, Kris took the girls clothes shopping for Back to School - something I'm forever grateful I usually don't have to be privy to.

While I was still away, Kris took the girls downtown to the Commons in Midland to enjoy the nice weather.  Gwen Stefani - yes, the famous one - was actually in town, and was spotted at a couple different businesses downtown, so they tried to get a glimpse of her (but unfortunately never did.)  Turns out that Stefani's husband, Blake Shelton, was performing at the Soaring Eagle Casino in neighboring Mt. Pleasant, so out of boredom she drove over to Midland and hit up the mall and then the downtown area.  Facebook posts showed her at local restaurants like Pizza Sam's and stuff, and it was the talk of the town throughout the entirety of the weekend.  Such is life in small-town America.

Playing some ping-pong downtown. . . you know, since there's no Gwen Stefani's to be photographed with.

Swiiiiiiing and a miss.

Got this series of weird dog pics from Kris one night while away on Brocation - evidently Samson had a shit-eating grin on his face and wouldn't stop smiling.

A chill Sunday evening, after I returned from my adventures up in the Straits of Mackinac.  Everyone relaxing under the blue light of screens.

And it begins.  We finally have a high-schooler.  Scary to think about.

While out Back to School shopping with Kris one evening, we had to stop while driving through the Kohl's parking lot in order to let this battalion of geese - who are always hanging out in the pond behind the mall - to march past.  These things are a nuisance, and ought to be destroyed.

Priming backpacks in Alayna's bedroom for the coming school year.  They're both pretty excited for 7th and 9th grades, if not a little depressed to be reaching the death rattle of the summer.

A couple a' dogs, gnawing on some rawhides. . .

One morning, Kris and I ran Alayna up to Midland High School so she could find her locker and set it all up the way she wanted it, as well as walk the halls in order to figure out where all her various classes are.  This school is slightly bigger than my alma mater. . .

The Freshman starts decorating her locker, which is up on the second floor of the school.

Abby came along with us, because we planned on hitting up Northeast next so she could do the same thing with her locker.

Tons and tons of pictures.  At least she's out of the weird anime phase.

Obligatory kid-in-front-of-the-school pic.  'Cause God knows we weren't going to get one on the First Day of School. . .

Later, we swung buy and picked up Ella so that she could join us for the locker set-ups at Northeast.

Ella sets up her locker

They're assigned alphabetically by last name at this school, so there's some space between 'em this year.

Later that day, doing some shoe shopping with the Johnsons. . .

Later that night, there was a small, Inner Circle hangout over at the Bos residence.  Pretty low-key, but always a good time.

They had some big Freshman rally at the school that weekend, where kids got more of these signs and the school held various activities for the incoming students.  Kind of a giant, day-long pep rally to get kids fired up for the coming school year.  Whatever it takes, I guess.

Later that night, we had another grill-fest over at the Bos place - a bunch of the dads had meat to grill up and needed assistance in devouring it (such as these various flavors of pork belly. . . sooooo good.)

Beef skewers.  It's shit like this that explains why I'm not thin.

Kris, Kelli and Courtney.

Playing some cards with the Bos and Johnson couples.  Eventually the Colliers and Larsons showed up, rounding out the Inner Circle.

Alayna the Freshman, on her very first day of High School.

She and her friend, Ava (who lives three houses down from us), decided that they would be riding the bus together every morning for school, which was a huge relief to Kris and I because then that was one less kid we had to worry about getting to school during our rushed, weekday mornings.

A forced pic with her little sister.

Kris took this blurry-ass pic of Alayna and Ava getting on the bus at our local bus stop, which is conveniently, like, 100 feet from our front door.

Off to High School. . .

A little while later, Abby is ready to head off for her own First Day of School (she still leaves with Kris around 7:20am every morning, on Kris' way to work.)

Kris and her coworkers celebrate their old boss' last day in the office, alongside their new doctor (at far right.)

My old Sausage Pad brother-in-arms, Zack, has a stepdaughter starting her freshman year down at our old alma mater, Western Michigan University.  She's actually living in the same old dorms as us, too - Ackley Building.  He texted me this picture so I could see for myself that it still has the same paint and carpet as it did twenty years ago when we roamed these halls.  Not sure if that's awesome or just plain disgusting.  Bit 'a both, I suppose.

Midland High held a Hawaaiian-themed Tailgate event for all students the following weekend, prior to the first football game, so that the incoming freshman could get suckered into buying a bunch of additional merch from the school store and get hyped up with team spirit.  Much to my dismay, Kris insisted on buying Alayna like every, single article of clothing available at the store - multiple shirts, some earrings, and this goofy-ass bucket hat.

Alayna, Gabby, Lexi, and Cristina

These had all these students penned up in this large, fenced, grassy area, with cornhole boards, Can Jam, and other yard games on hand, as well as loud, terrible music blasting from giant speakers and a bunch of hot dogs and snacks on hand for kids, free of charge.

Alayna's tailgate event just so happened to fall on the same evening as one of Collier's end-of-summer parties.  After dropping our freshman off at Midland High, we drove over and caught up with our usual group of Midland families.

Omkar, our resident Hindu, can't partake in a lot of the meats we usually grill up at these events, so he always brings up black bean burgers to make for himself.

Tom, Erik and Mitch

Bunch of the group's girls (most of them were all in the same Girl Scout troop, one year behind Abby and Ella.)

Kris, Stefanie, and Deanna

Never a shortage of food on hand with this group. . .

Meanwhile, back at the high school (Alayna and her friends are at the top and center, here - all in blue.)

To no surprise to anyone whatsoever, the cornhole boards were soon broken out. . .

I really wanna get one of these cornhole scoreboards like the Colliers have (at far right) - they're super bad-ass.  Would just have to make sure it matches our existing boards.

The evening's usual bonfire is off to a smoky start. . .

The wives, up at their usual spot whilst hanging out at the Collier residence.  Left to Right: Courtney, Mees, back of Deanna's head, Susan, Alicia, and Stefanie.

Remember back when I said I was smitten with a .22 revolver after emptying a few dozens rounds out of one while teaching the kids to shoot with Ryan and Erik?  Well, the one I had used then was some off-brand, cheap one from the '70s that Erik owns (which he says he only uses to 'finish off' wounded animals in his traps, up in the U.P. on his hunting property.)  In typical Brian fashion, I afterwards conducted hours and hour of research online in order to find the absolute best-ranked make and model of revolver for simple target shooting (like I do at the range.)  Time and time again, Ruger revolvers kept popping up (because of the high quality), and a few different .22 models kept popping up (because shooting .22 ammunition is super cheap, making it perfect for target shooting.)  After spending waaaaay too much time researching this, I had narrowed it down to the Ruger Wrangler.

So one Sunday evening, towards the end of the month, after I had made up my mind on what I wanted to buy, I began looking around for local vendors that sell that particular make/model.  I went into the Dunham's in the Midland Mall and handled a couple different ones (they come in different finishes, too), and the price was better than online MSRP.  After seeing them all in person, I decided to get the black Cerakote finish, but the one at Dunham's had a big scratch along the barrel, so I held off for the time being.

After leaving Dunham's empty-handed, I drove over to Big E's for the guys' annual Fantasy Football Draft.  Ever since the first year I played (and hated it), I've boycotted participated in this annual tradition (though many have tried unsuccessfully to rope me back in), and have instead been an honorary member.  I go and help them put their player stickers on the draft board as they decide who they want on their roster, and in return they buy me drinks and food all night long.  It's a win-win.

Samson, sophisticated.  These are the sort of pics Kris thinks I need to see while hanging out with the guys.

Food, beer, and football.

(I'm in the back.)

The past champions (years 2018 - present.)

At the end of the month, I finally pulled the trigger (get it?) on purchasing the revolver.  I ended up going with the black one (you can see the exact model here), and bought it from the Cabela's in Saginaw.  It was definitely an interesting experience, as it was the first time I had ever purchased a firearm before.  I walked in, told the guy what I wanted, and after giving identification and taking a short questionnaire, they took down all of my information and ran the background check.  As a public school teacher with no criminal record and awesome credit, it came back in, like, 30 seconds.  All told, I was in and out of there in less than twenty minutes.  And now I have a brand new toy for the range (I'll post again later once I get a chance to put some brass through it.)

- Brian