A Somewhat Return to Normalcy

Hey folks.

So here we are at the end of the first month of the 2020-2021 School Year.

And it's been. . . . well, it's been weird.

Like I mentioned last month, the girls (attending Midland Public Schools) went back to school with Face-to-Face instruction from the very get-go.  Yours Truly, well I still had to come to work - driving a half-hour to Saginaw every morning - but taught my students remotely, delivering my daily lessons to a frickin' computer screen like a crazy person.  That will all change as of October 6th, when my district starts welcoming half-classes back for face-to-face instruction.  I'm sure I'll be mentioning all this nonsense in next month's installment of month-end randomness.

School aside, this month was more of the usual.  Girl scout stuff and other such appointments, meetings, and engagements during the weekdays, with social get-togethers, parties, and family outings on the weekends.  By now, I'm sure, this is all to be expected from the Houghs:  we work hard, we play hard.

So, without further adieu, here's your monthly dose of pictures and video from the Houghs' September.

Behold. . . .

Abby decided to apply to the Chestnut Hill Safety Patrol this year.  They make each applicant write a brief essay explaining why they want to serve, probably because they only have like twelve kids doing it, and probably four times that number applying.  Abby - and her BFF, Ella - both got in this year, so that's our second kid who have donned the Great Neon Badge of Honor.

I got sick of setting my longboard about the Study on chairs and what not, so I bought a wall hanger to keep it displayed while not using it.  Fits nicely between the Study's doors leading to the basement and garage.

One morning, after making pancakes for her and her sister, Alayna decided to whip up a few small ones for the dogs. . .

Alayna insisted on bibs and plates for the dogs as well.  Of course.

Samson, usually a very snugly dog, gets in moods sometimes where he absolutely hates hugs.

One evening, while we were having some company over, Kris let the girls use some of her old prom and bridesmaid dresses for dress-up purposes.  At least someone's getting some use out of them. . .

So, remember when I fell off Abby's skateboard, back on her birthday?  Well, I scraped up the outside of my ankle something fierce, and despite cleaning and bandaging it all up, it got pretty infected and I ended up on meds to get it under control. After a couple weeks, I began to feel better and got back into running, having taken a couple weeks off.  Well, this was a stupid move on my part: my ankle started throbbing right away, so I ended up going to my doctor and they ultimately referred me to Physical Therapy.  It turns out that I had probably sprained my ankle in my initial fall, then after limping on it for so long, it healed all weird, and when I began running my leg was overcompensating for the strain, and my left foot began to turn inwards in my stride, causing even further muscle damage.  So this entire month, I've had to go to Physical Therapy (at Evergreen, in Midland) twice a week for ankle/leg exercises, and steroid treatments (shown here.)  Getting old is AWESOME.

Abby got a new pair of glasses this month.  A slightly stronger prescription, actually - looks like she's going to follow in her parents' (and grandparents') footsteps. . .

This is my Teaching Command Center these days - multiple screens helps keep kids' faces via Zoom on one screen, with my projected lesson on another, and a third screen for attendance and emails.  Never thought I'd have to teach like this. . .

As always, I try and pull pics off Alayna's phone every month so you can see what's going on through her lens as well.  This, obviously, is what you could expect from a 7th grader.

Kris sent me this pic on her day off.  You can barely see it, but if you look carefully in between the trees, you can spot a gigantic white dog prowling through our backyard.  This beast frequents our yard from time to time, actually - it lives in the house behind us, and there's an opening in the fence that separates our yards.  Despite it being usually tied up, its owners are, well, not the brightest people, and the beast escapes once and awhile.

Ancestry.com updated my DNA again (they seem to do so once a year, thereabouts.)  Nothing too shocking with these most recent results - still over 80% Anglo-Saxon, just some shake-ups with the Scotch-Irish sides of the family flip-flopping, and a decrease in the French and Norse aspects of my heritage.

Following one of our usual social get-togethers with our friend group, the Larsons took both our girls back to their house for a sleepover with their daughter, Sophie.  Danielle texted Kris and I this pic once they got settled in for the night.

A guy I work with recently went to Disney World for Labor Day Weekend, and brought me back a sign for my desk, knowing I'm a huge fan of the Haunted Mansion.

Having some Friday night cigars with these assholes, over at Mitch's (the silver fox in the middle). . .

Kris' church - First United Methodist - has been putting on weekly 'neighborhood picnics' throughout the month, where they rent a pavilion and a food truck and feed whomever shows up for free.  The food truck fare is really, really good, so we make a point to stop by when they do this.  This particular Saturday, Kris was in charge of hosting this, so she ran all the logistics. 

Yours Truly (at left) just shows up for the food.

Kris' mom, Marcy, drove into town for this as well.

We also had a bunch of the families (shown here are the Larsons, Griffins, and Johnsons) from our friend group stop by.  Can't say no to free food.

Having eaten, the kids ran about the park for about an hour or so.

Each one of these neighborhood picnics features a raffle for a gift basket, donated by a local business.  Marcy actually won this one.  The guy drawing the winner from the basket is none other than Matt Moore, a guy I graduated high school with and that plays Christian events like this.  Small world.

The Cannonball shows off her Halloween Costume for this year.  The girls have decided that our family is going to go as 'Haunted' people, so anything 'dead,' 'ghost,' etc. was fair game.  Kris and I are going with more of a traditional 'Haunted Mansion' look, but Alayna went with this instead.

Kris whored our backyard out for Danielle's Girl Scout troop - since we have that bridge in the backyard, and it was a bridging ceremony, like when we had ours.  I didn't venture outside, obviously.

Alayna's chosen outfit - and hairstyle - for Picture Day.

One weeknight, after dropping Alayna and two of her friends off at a church youth group thingy, Kris took Abby, Watson, and Samson to a local dog park to get some playtime in.

The vet's told us working on inclines like this are really, really beneficial for Samson, who will develop arthritis in his ankles from growing up malnourished on the streets.  They look a lot better than when we first got him, but he'll have the condition for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, back at the church, Alayna sneaked a few selfies in with her friends that she brought along.  Here's Kendall. . .

. . .and Maddie.

Later on in the week, Erik and I got to go to our Lodge downtown - the first time we had set foot inside it since March - in order to take some pictures to accompany a story that the Midland Daily News is running on our Lodge's 150th anniversary.  I was elected to be the spokesman for our Lodge, and created a 'community outreach' initiative to help fine-tune our image, spread awareness, pair up with businesses, churches, and organizations for volunteering and community relief purposes, etc.  Erik was quickly brought onboard, since him and I had regularly discussed ideas about how to do all of this on our daily Quarantine Walkabouts.

A lot of these books are over a hundred years old. . .

. . . same goes for these medals from various Masonic bodies (Shriners, York Rite, etc.)

An old Knights Templar hat from the 1920s.

No idea how old this apron is, but I'd guess it's definitely pre-World War I. . .

The quasi-discreet 'globes' that hang from the side of the Larkin Building (these things, too, are ridiculously old.)  From top to bottom: Blue Lodge, Royal Arch, Order of the Eastern Star, Cryptic Council, and Knights Templar.  Each one lights up when there's a meeting for that group, but the only Masonic group that meets in our building anymore is Blue Lodge (the main body, that I'm a member of.)  

After decades of exposure to the elements, these things are in pretty rough shape.  We just paid to have these replaced with new ones (though we're only going to have a few from now on - we're dumping the Order of the Eastern Star and Cryptic Council.)

While Erik and I were out photographing relics for the upcoming news piece that we had set up, Kris took the girls out to a new art studio that just opened up in Midland (kinda like that Studio 154 place she frequents from time to time.)

And of course Ella tagged along, 'cause, you know she's our third child and everything.

Me and Kris are big fans of this seasonal wine offering from Leelanau Cellars.  Kris drinks it more than I do - almost too sweet for daily drinking for Yours Truly - but it's damn good, for sure.

One Friday evening, Mom took the girls so that Kris and I could go out on a Couples Date Night with a few of the other couples from our friends group.  Kris wanted a selfie as we arrived at this Indian food joint out by the mall, that, I'll admit, had pretty good food, but lousy service.  Took over an hour to get our meal, and another hour for the check.  And they don't even serve booze, so there was a lot of grumbling.

Afterwards, we went out for drinks at Diamond Jim's, downtown.  Left to Right: Morgan, Erik, Ryan, and Yours Truly.

I've been playing the hell out of my new ukulele lately.  Like I mentioned before, it's an acoustic-electric, and I bought a plug-in amplifier to change its sound up.  When ran through that into my Study stereo system, it's like playing on a traditional amp.  Soooooo much fun.

Towards the end of the month, we felt it was time to start shopping for Halloween decor and costumes for Kris and Abby (I've been picking out separate pieces for mine off of Amazon, and Alayna already got hers.)  This Spirit store, on Tittabawassee Road in Saginaw, is the best Halloween store we've ever been in.  Awesome selection.

Alayna wanted to buy this.  We didn't.

After shopping at a couple different stores in Saginaw (because of course Kris had to stop by Hobby Lobby for fall/Halloween decor), we headed back to Midland.  Kris wanted to check out a couple thrift stores, because, in previous years, she's lucked out finding stuff she could use for her costumes.

Sure enough, she walked in and right away found a dress to use for part of her costume. . .

Party lighting is everything.  We're going all out this year.

After walling and redecorating the basement, Kris wanted to start hanging movie posters along the walls.  She asked me to Photoshop the original Breakfast Club poster with our version from last year's Hough Halloween Party.  Happy wife, happy life.

Whipped up this in Photoshop the other day at work.  Due to Covid-19 concerns, students would not be passing between classes using the hallways, so they'd be circling around each grade-level building outside (all classrooms at my school have two doors - one leading to the inside hallway, one to the outdoors.)  Our administration wanted us to come up with outdoor signs to display outside our classrooms, so kids know where to go. . . 

Tell me you wouldn't want this class. . . c'mon.

- Brian