Random Crap from June

Hey gang.

The pattern for a typical Hough Summer is having one month (usually July) being jam-packed full of multiple weekend getaways, vacations, camps, and social obligations, and the other (usually June) being more or less wide open (with maybe one, bigger vacation shoved in there somewhere in the middle.) The last few summers have gone like this, and this year was no exception. Aside from Alayna's Open House and our big, family vacation (this time to Tennessee), we didn't spend any weekends out of town doing anything noteworthy.

Once the school year wrapped up, Kris continued to work during the weekdays and I spent my time at home doing the usual (going to the gym, keeping up on the house, tackling yard work, and - my personal, summer favorite - bronzing in the back yard.) Thursdays we usually spent downtown with the Johnsons and Colliers (and occasionally Mitch, sans his fam) for Tunes by the Tridge, Midland's free, local concert series. The girls worked varying shifts at their respective jobs, or were otherwise occupied with volunteering at Covenant Hospital in Saginaw (Alayna), Pom Practices (Abby), and hanging out with friends and boyfriends.

The boyfriends spent a LOT of time at our house this month - it was not uncommon to see six cars in our driveway at any, given time.

So yeah. Probably gonna be a shit load more to share out next month, but in the meantime here's a brief look at how the first month of the Houghs' summer went down.

Enjoy. . .

For the second year in a row, our district made teachers return to work on the Monday after students graduated from school. You know, regardless if your grades were submitted (mine were), your classroom was packed up for the summer (mine was), and you had absolutely nothing else to do (I didn't.) So I spent my day at work bullshitting with other teachers, editing pictures, and otherwise just running the clock out. 

One, final look at my classroom until I return the third week of August. . .

So the girls called me panicking in the afternoon, while I was still at work. Some Omni Fiber salesman came to the door looking to hook our family into this new, fiber internet option that's coming to town, and Alayna answered the door. Samson dashed out and began barking at him, and - if you look closely at the video - you can see him nip his pant leg. He clearly doesn't look very upset in the video, and continues talking to my UNDERAGE CHILD despite the dog. Anyway, about an hour later two cops showed up to my house and spoke to the girls about a 'dog attack,' so I rushed home and called the Police Department to see what was going on. Two officers came back over and I had to basically fill out an incident report (the cops explained to me the guy was just filing it for workman's comp purposes, but it was still a dick move.) We were ordered to keep Samson 'quarantined' at our home for ten days to make sure he didn't have rabies, then we had to call Animal Control to verify he was still alive and healthy. That was the end of it, and while scary at first (we weren't sure if we were gonna be sued over something like this), we did ultimately find it hilarious that our dog now has a criminal record.

Kris had some fun using AI to show our dog as a convict (sporting an ankle monitor in this one.)

Don't drop the soap, buddy.

Following my last day at work - and Samson's brush with the law - I treated myself to a well-deserved, celebratory bourbon.

The next evening, Kris and I accompanied Alayna out to the local Holiday Inn where the Midland Area Community Foundation was hosting their annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony. Here, all of the scholarships awarded to Midland and Dow High seniors were handed out by those people who were responsible for funding them, and students had an opportunity to meet these people and talk about their future plans. The people behind two of the scholarships Alayna received this year were present at this year's event, the first of which was her former classmate Hailey's parents, who started a memorial scholarship after their daughter was tragically killed in a car accident a year or two ago. After the ceremony, they had a photo op thingy setup where students could get pics taken with the people responsible for their scholarships, so we made sure to take advantage of that (this one's Alayna and Claire, the other recipient, posing with Hailey's mom.)

Joined by me and Kris, and Hailey's little sister (who's in Abby's grade.)

Next Alayna posed with a former colleague, widow, and niece (I think) of some deceased doctor in town who specialized in women's health, and who also had a scholarship started in his name. Since Alayna is going into breast radiology, she won this one as well.

Was small-talking with this doctor here and when he found out our last name and learned my dad was a doctor, he knew him right away. Small world.

A couple nights later, hanging out with Sara at Taco Bell (not sure what's up with the hair, though.)

Just because it's summer doesn't mean Abby gets to skip pom practice. Oh, hell no.

Found a dead bird in my backyard one afternoon while mowing the lawn. Glad I spotted it before I inadvertently gave it the ol' Fargo treatment. . .

Riding with Ella to yet another pom practice. . .

A montage of two teenage girls, getting drinks on their way to school each morning. . .

The girls spoofing Community's 'Troy and Abed in the Morning' gimmick. These two have too much time on their hands. . .

Kris and I had to run to her church one afternoon in order to pick up a stack of tables and about fifty folding chairs for Alayna's Open House, which took place on the 6th of this month. It was free and relatively painless, so I imagine we'll be doing this again for Abby's Open House in two years.

Our first Tunes By the Tridge of the Summer, downtown in that open park area near the Tridge. As usual, we went with the Johnsons and Colliers, who love the 'free music, drinks, and camping chairs' vibe of these evenings.

The crowd was pretty heavy this week, but that was to be expected because it's the first one of the summer and folks were chomping at the bit for it. Plus, this first concert of the year is always Dueling Pianos (a couple of older guys play show tunes and famous songs, and are kinda comedic with their banter, and the white-haired Boomers - who make up a solid portion of the crowd at these weekly concerts - eat the shit up.)

Erik and I couldn't tell if this guy leaning on the amp cheering on the key-tar player was special needs or just a huge-ass dork.

The next day, putting together a balloon arch for Alayna's Open House (our first week of the month was nearly solely devoted to prepping for that giant party, which we've already described.)

I wore gloves this time around, as the last time I helped Kris blow up a balloon arch I broke out in a rash - something in the latex or whatever, who knows.

Made a last-minute, night before run to Meijer in order to pick up some last-minute stuff for the party, and took a pic of the entire back corner of the store completely empty. No idea what' going on here, but this is usually the seasonal and garden center departments. Never seen anything like this before.

Kris spent about four hours Friday evening browning and bagging up taco meat for the open house. That kitchen was disgusting by the end of the night.

Alayna, filling up sauce bottles with exclusive Taco Bell flavors (that she took from work.)

The day after Alayna's Open House, we didn't do much aside from picking up the debris from the eight-hour-long party at our house. In the evening, Kris wanted to play cards with the fam. . . which, these days, also included Sebastian and Logan (who are always at our house.)

Entering the second week of the month, I deemed in high time to clean out the shed. Rodents had gotten into here again during the winter (despite all of my preventative measures), so we had to drop another $400 in order to get the riding lawnmower fixed 'cause they had chewed throughs one cables. 

Three hours later, there's not a speck of dust to be seen. I set more traps in various locations, and put in more meshing in openings to prevent them from tunneling in. Kris suggested we pack some existing holes with steel wool (which I guess rodents despise) so I'll probably be picking some of that up in the near future.

If you're looking for our dog, you can usually find him on the couch looking like this.

Alayna is going to a Muse concert next month at Pine Knob, and has been planning her outfit for it for a couple weeks now (seriously.) This is the skirt she's ultimately pairing with a leather jacket and knee high street-hooker boots.

Our second Tunes By the Tridge outing with the Johnsons and Colliers, watching a pop-rock band belt out tunes from the 2000's and 2010's. They were okay, but not great - I think their sound suffered from only being a trio, and some of the songs they were attempting to cover required additional instruments.

The usual suspects.

Everybody - especially Kris - losing their shit over these long-haired dachshunds that this guy was walking around during the concert.

Courtney, Kris and Mees, probably talking about nails.

This guy shows up to every, single event downtown, no matter what it is. And he always has that remote control, 'Merica-themed semi-truck with him. Totally cool, dude - nothing lame about that at all.

We tend to be the last group to pack up and leave this place, often time leaving as the band finishes packing up once everyone else has gone home for the night. What can I say, we know how to have a good time.

Hanging out on the couch at the end of another weeknight. . .

Upon arriving back in Midland from our week-long stint in Tennessee, we drove over to Mom and John's house to collect Samson and all his crap (his crate, food, toys, meds, toys. etc.) To say the dude was happy to see us would be an understatement.

Finally got around to replacing this crumbling dryer vent on the back of our house. Previous owner had caulked it on to the vinyl siding of the house, so there was no way for me to remove it without peeling off some of the paint (I hate old people.) Oh well, I eventually got it off and, after ordering a third replacement cover off Amazon ('cause the first one I bought at Home Depot was too big and wouldn't fit snug), we were in business.

Doesn't look great with all that paint peeled off around it, but we need to repaint the siding on our house anyway in the next couple years, so I'm not sweating it.

Backyard is coming in nicely these days, seeing how we've gotten a ton of rain in the last two weeks and the fertilizer's working awesome.

Abby hung out with this friend of hers (I think her name is Lena. . .?) one evening while Kris and I went downtown with some friends to watch some more local music.)

This band was doing some decent covers, but they weren't long for this world - just check out that menacing sky.

The band went on at 7pm, and by 7:50pm the rain was already starting. By the time we made it back to Kris' van, it was coming down in buckets, and Kris and Courtney (who we had given a ride to - Erik was supposed to meet us downtown as he was coming straight from golf) and I were all drenched.

The rain was intense, but short-lived. About an hour later everything was back to normal, and Abby and this friends of hers were hanging out in a parking lot outside Chestnut Hill Elementary (for whatever reason.)

More video shorts for TikTok (probably.)

Hey, check it out - gays must be in the area. . .

With our downtown evening plans dashed, everyone rendezvoused at the Pickvets' house, out in Auburn.

Yuengling's answer to Michelob Ultra. Not bad, but it's more or less light beer - nothing special to it.

Clucking about current events.

Samson, trying to go to sleep at the end of the night in Alayna's room.

Midland Varsity Pom posted this collage image for Father's Day, featuring the team members with all their respective dads (Abby and I are in the top right corner.)

While taking the dog out for a walk around the neighborhood one afternoon, Kris and I spotted these arborist tags on one of the trees in our outlawn. Looks like they drilled into the trunk of the tree and injected it with some kind of tree nutrients or whatever. Didn't know you could do something like that. . . .

Sebastian and Alayna, hanging out. . . somewhere.

One of the gifts Kris and the girls picked out for me this year was this giant, inflatable bed that you fill with water, meant for cooling someone off while they bronze. It works awesome, and I'm pissed it took me this long to get one of these. Only downside is that, regardless of whatever preventive measures one takes - laying a tarp underneath it, laying a blanket down, laying both down, etc. - the heat from the bed scorches the grass. To get around this, I moved our patio gazebo over five feet and positioned the grill differently in order to create a space for the bed directly over the pavers. Just laid a tarp underneath it to protect the vinyl from being scratched by the coarse stone, and voila - no more dead grass. This baby is gonna get a LOT of use this summer. . .

Snuggling with Samson, later on in the week.

Alayna thought it'd be funny to dress Samson up in one of my sleeveless Hawaiian shirts that I wear around the house between tanning sessions during the summer. You can be your ass I washed it after this.

Our neighbors next door had something crazy like nine tons of river rock dropped off in their driveway at the beginning of the month, and it took them weeks (with help from their adults kids and some of their spouses and friends) moving it into their yard and around their house. When they were all finished, they still have like three or four tons of rock remaining in their driveway, and they were going to list it for free on Facebook Marketplace or something when they randomly asked Kris one morning if we wanted it. We offered to pay them for it, but they wouldn't have it, so one day after the gym Yours Truly got to work moving tons upon tons of rock, all by myself.

I worked at this for about five hours (taking a half hour break halfway through in order to drink water and stop sweating.) It was brutal work, moving rock from their driveway around the entirety of our house - all of our beds surrounding the house are now full and covered - as well as random garden spots in the backyard. It was so humid out because it was supposed to rain later on in the evening, but hadn't yet, that by the time Kris got home from work I was drenched head to toe. One I took a shower, I laid down in bed and didn't move for the rest of the evening (and most of the following day, seeing how I'm old now.) Still, no complaints here - got a shitload of free rock, folks.

One of my side projects this summer is to freshen up this old lectern I use in my classroom on a daily basis (I stand behind this at the back of my classroom in order to keep an eye on my entire class and their Chromebook screens while I teach from the board.)

Years of being leaned on, or having computers slide down it, have weakened the ledge at the bottom of it that's meant to like set pencils and papers and crap. Consequently, the first order of business is using wood glue to secure this in place, then screw it in permanently once the glue dries.

Once it's secure, I'm going to lightly sand the entire thing, then paint it black dark grey, then coat it in a sealer of some kind. Finally, I'm gonna plaster band stickers all over it, just so kids know how rad their history teacher is.

Our first Tunes By the Tridge after Tennessee, we got treated by Whiskey Six, who do a lot of country and rock jams from the 70s thru 90s, -ish. We've seen them a few times around before (on Main Street, out at the St. Stan Polish Festival in Bay City, etc.), and they're always a good time.

The dude on the violin came on stage a couple different times, always playing a different musician. Must be a backup musician for the main group of dudes, 'cause he was always playing shit like the violin or saxophone or steel guitar, etc.

They were giving out free Whiskey Six shirts this evening, but we weren't interested in them. Regardless, a couple ladies who were in charge of giving out shirts walked around the crowd at the end of the night trying to get rid of the leftover stock, which was entirely sized XXX-L. So, in case you were curious, this is what my size-XS teenager looks like wearing a shirt about twelve sizes too big for her.

Sebastian and Alayna came along this evening, which I believe the first time they've done so this year (they're not the 'cover band' sort.)

Violin dude changed into Saxophone dude.

Swapped out the Colliers for Mitch this week, as you can see here.

Meanwhile, over at Logan's house, these two are doing this viral trend where you scrunch your face up so it looks like you have multiple chins (because teenagers, unlike their aging parents, usually don't.)

Alayna took this decent pic of the moon on her way back home after watching Whiskey Six downtown.

Samson doesn't even get up from the couch when folks come home. This is how we found him when Kris and I got back to the house.

The next night, Kris and I, after a day of running errands and taking care of business around the house, decided to have a fire. Believe it or not, our first of the summer.

Logan and Abby came out briefly so that we could get a pic of them both dressed up (they were going out to Lucky's Steakhouse to celebrate their six-month anniversary.)

Couple of dorks, right here.

We threw the invite out to the tribe (well, those who were in town, at any rate - we're at that time of year when folks tend to leave for the weekend, on camping trips or smaller excursions around the state, etc.)

Had a few of the usual suspects on hand this evening, though - the Johnsons and Boses showed up first, then eventually the Larsons and Stephanie (says Lonnie, who was down in Indiana with their daughter Liv for some volleyball tourney.)

Couldn't ask for better weather for a fire, too - probably mid/upper 70s.

I had made sure to mow the grass before folks came over, I get really self-conscious about my yard whenever we have people over. Kris thinks I'm ridiculous.

Folks ended up hanging out for a few hours, with the Larsons and Boses leaving around 10pm.

The Johnsons and Stephanie stayed 'til midnight, then took off. Made for a late night, for sure, but it was great to break in the fire pit (can't believe it took a month to do so.)

The next day, around 11am, me and the old 1214 crew from college hopped online for another four-hour, nerd session of DnD. The story is heating up so this chunk of the dad seemingly flew by in, like, five minutes.

Samson, not helping out around the house at all.

Once DnD wrapped up, Kris and I put on some quasi-decent clothes and drove out to this random house in the countryside, where her boss and his wife were hosting a 20th-Anniversary thingy for their Vow Renewals. It was held on their brother's property, who I guess is Mormon. So no booze. At all.

We hung out for two hours, then found a window that was socially acceptable in which to leave. Originally our plans were to meet up with our group of friends after the reception (they were all going to the previously mentioned Polish Festival in Bay City), but we lost track of time and just hung out at home instead, having a few drinks and listening to some records.

The next morning, I hung up my hammock between our two birch trees out by the shed. I've been wanting to do this for the last couple years, and just always seem to forget about it. It's frickin' awesome.

Abby taking a selfie with her teammate, Emma. . . somewhere.

The MHS Varsity Pom Team did a Spirit Week of sorts at their practices this week, in preparation for the Fourth of July (or something.) I think this day's practice was 'Hawaiian Day,' or 'Beach Day,' or some shit.

On their 'Wear Blue' day, you can see which two kids forgot to do so (why is always OUR two kids?)

Abby and Ella, screwing around on their phones after pom practice one evening.

Kris wanted to take the girls out for ice cream one evening when the weather was hovering in the mid-90s. Oddly enough, Great Lakes Ice Cream wasn't slammed with people - I thought for sure there'd be a line wrapped around the building, but there were multiple tables available out on their porch area. Of course the boyfriends came along, seeing how they live at our house this summer.

After our quick trip out for ice cream, we came home and Kris and I turned on some random show in the living room, our usual evening wind down before we turn in for the night. Alayna and Sebastian were getting ready to head out somewhere else (probably Taco Bell), when Alayna randomly wanted to try out 'couples' yoga' (which she must've learned about from watching some shitty reel or whatever on Instagram or TikTok or something.)

(She weighs like 90 lbs.)

Thought for sure someone was going to get hurt doing this. . .

So Abby came along and wanted to try it out, too. If anything was going to get broken in our house from kids crashing into something, now would be the time. . .

Fortunately, nothing did (which is crazy, because Abby is notoriously accident-prone.) Anyway, that was our June, gang - we'll see ya next month.

- Brian