One Lousy Halloween

This was easily the worst Halloween for the kids this year.

It started with David having a rough night last night (asthma, coughing, headaches, not sleeping), and hence we didn't get as much sleep as we would like.  He skipped football practice today, which tells you how he really wasn't feeling himself.  Then Sarah's team lost 4-1 in soccer, and by the end of the game most of the girls weren't in the game so much as they were making plans for tonight.

Then when trick-or-treating started, the rains that had held off all day started intermittently.  Nothing horrible, just enough to make the process soggy and drain it of some fun.  There were almost NO kids out tonight; we guess we had maybe 50 total, all night.  And more of them seemed to be 14- to 16-year-olds than before.  The streets were a lot emptier than ever, which surprised me given it's a Saturday night...I would have thought without having to rush rush rush home, everyone would have been around and out and...well, it just wasn't that way.

Then David started feeling tired and not really himself again, and you can tell something's wrong when David willingly gives up trick-or-treating to go home and go to bed.  So by 8 he's home, by 8:30 he's out of the shower, and by 9 he's asleep.  He's convinced he'll make his football game tomorrow, but I can see him doing that and then being just absolutely exhausted the rest of the day.

Halloween will fade; this could well be the last year David wants to go out, and Sarah will soon shift into it being a social activity with her girlfriends moreso than anything else.  But if it is, wow, what a lousy way for it to go out.

For our Halloween photo album, see the link or click here.

Looking Through the Millennium Falcon's Windshield

So when Han Solo moves the lever and hyperdrive finally kicks in, and the stars in front of the Millennium Falcon go from points to streaks, all racing past the viewer's perspective...that's what this month has felt like.

Every now and then there's a month that comes up where, when we turn the calendar page and look at it, all we can do is sigh.

With Gainesville losing to Chantilly last weekend, and with their own 18-0 drubbing of the low-down spying-on-our-warmups Southwestern Wildcats, the Springfield Wolves are now assured of a playoff spot, which in turn means practices and games and etc. just keep right on coming.  Spend plan meetings at work are in full flower, with six down and another 16 to go before Thanksgiving; I have two services to lead coming up at the Lincolnia Senior Center; and David was promoted to Second Class at the Court of Honor for his Boy Scout troop Monday night.  Lest we forget the driving range times with the troop for the golf merit badge, or the soccer games and (rare, now) practices for the Blue Lightning, or Redeemer's Song practice each Sunday, or Staff-Parish three-hour-long committee meetings (I'm told it's not polite to gnaw off one's own leg to escape, but it's tempting sometimes), or...argh, what else am I missing, what's that thing we do 40-plus hours each week...what is it, what is it...

I always wondered how the Millennium Falcon was able to avoid running into any of those streaking stars.  I wish us some luck in avoiding that fate these next few weeks too.

New Photos Posted

Just added: two photo albums, one each for the kids' fall sports.  See Sarah's Blue Lightning take on the, um, light blue team (didn't catch their name) and her debut in goal.  Then check out the Springfield Wolves and David as they began their season earlier this fall against the Gainesville Grizzlies.

Wolves 20, Titans 0

On a raw, cold, windy, rainy Friday night under the lights, the Springfield Wolves made it two wins in a row as they made the Alexandria Titans pay for two costly fumbles that led directly to 14 unanswered Wolves points, en route to a weather-shortened 20-0 win.

David's team knew that for Alexandria, this game meant the difference for their season: lose and there's no way Alexandria could go to the playoffs.  So they came in ready to match the Titans in intensity, and on a soggy, frigid night, made the Titans make mistakes that cost them the game.

At gametime, the wind out of the north was biting, the rain stepped up, and the thermometer read 42 degrees.  The first quarter ended scoreless in a defensive battle; neither team made a first down for the entire first quarter.  But with about 3:00 to go in the half, the Wolves found their rhythm and, after recovering a Titans fumble, marched downfield and Tommy Salvato ran in for the first of his three TDs on the night.  Just before the half ran out, another Wolves fumble recovery led directly to another Wolves scoring drive, and so at the half it stood 14-0.

The third quarter opened with TE David Kleppinger (0 yards on 0 receptions tonight--a poor night to try passing plays) receiving the kickoff and returning it 8 yards.  It would have been a lot more if he'd been able to scoot around the one Titans defender who brought him down.  Then, the next play from scrimmage, the Wolves ran straight up the middle, and ran for an apparent 40-yard TD, that was called back for a holding penalty.  Undaunted, the Wolves then ran the exact same play, with the exact same result--minus the penalty.  Wolves 20, Titans 0.

As the teams lined up for the extra point, the referees consulted with both coaches, and informed us that Alexandria wished to resign, that their players were too cold and were getting too banged up to play.  The refs then stopped the game--an unusual move, but given the ages of the kids involved, and how the rest of the half was likely to go given the Wolves' sudden successes, it's certainly understandable.

Springfield now is 4-1 and has two underwhelming teams to play in the regular season schedule: Southwestern (1-3 headed into this weekend vs #1 McLean), and Fairfax (0-4, playing the second-place Chantilly Chargers).  If the Wolves win both, they would be in a strong position to go into the playoffs based on the points system used in the standings.

Making Progress, One Project At A Time

Why is it so difficult to make progress on projects around the house?

We've been talking for the last couple of years about replacing the 21-year-old, original, contractor-grade windows in the house.  So this year we finally did it; today the workmen installed 22 new windows, and tomorrow they'll install the new back porch door and finish the trim work.

It took awhile to save the money to do this, of course, and that's part of the delay.  We believe in spending cash on large things like this; if we didn't have it saved, we weren't going to do it.  But so many other things around the house aren't nearly as cash-intensive, but still I don't manage to get to them.

Take the new Dad Tree on the front lawn.  I'd been talking for the last two years about putting a sugar maple on the lawn, to replace the twin Bradford pear trees that came down earlier in the decade.  But nope, I never got further than calling around for estimates.  Of course, God works in mysterious ways; I was glad that when the idea hit for having a permanent memorial with Dad's ashes here at the house, why, I now had the perfect vehicle to do it.

But don't ask me about the On3 train set downstairs, the one Adam and Mike helped me bring out of Uncle Albert's basement, what, three years ago?  The one that still doesn't run, where the wiring  isn't made, where track sections still gape apart.  Don't ask me about the north side garden, that traditionally has been a jumble of weeds and that I had planned to turn into something the O'Maras won't cringe on seeing.  And don't ask me about the grand vision for the back yard, with the patios, "man-pad" for the "mammock" and the Cabernet grape vines up the trellis...I'll just get depressed.

How much of this is emblematic of our society today?  The rush rush rush life we lead doesn't leave much time for hobbies, or anything but the most essential home maintenance.  And when so many others around us--all the "Joneses"--seem to have such nice new patios and can find the time to play golf and tennis and etc., well, it's possible for some societal envy to creep in.

That's when I have to fight to remind myself to take it one day at a time.  That a life isn't made of completed projects around the house, or the number of things we can accumulate, or even what others may see when they look at us.  It's made of moments of cheering at soccer games, or holding snap after snap after snap in football practice, or just the conversations from the back seat of the car to and from.  That's what I have to hold onto, and when something like new windows happens to fall into the "completed" column, well, that's just a bonus of life in Northern Virginia today.

Sharks 33, Wolves 13

David's football team suffered their first loss today, a 33-13 home opener that they dropped to the Manassas Sharks.  For the most part, the Wolves controlled the ball and the clock, but were undone by miscues on some huge Manassas plays that led to 50-yard touchdown runs.

David's number was called twice for pass plays, but the first time the ball got intercepted near the line of scrimmage (and run in for a TD), and the second time it slipped through his fingers in triple coverage for an incompletion.

Coach Fisher made a speech after the game that rallied the boys to show the kind of team they are by bouncing back and focusing even more on their practices this week.

After consolation at KFC (amazing the recuperative powers of Original Recipe), he announced that he feels sorry for Herndon, their next opponent, and that he wants to get back on defense so he can put a hurt on Herndon.

Purple Team 2, Blue Lightning 1

Sarah's Blue Lightning soccer team was in action today against...well, we never caught their name, but they wore purple jerseys.  The purple team jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and while we were able to get a goal before the half, it was a stalemate from then out.
Sarah started as a forward, but the purple team was pretty good at keeping the ball deep in our side of the field all the game.  She had one great breakaway play where she charged up the field with the ball and made a great shot...but it dribbled j-u-s-t wide left of the goal.
For the second half, she was the goalie, and she shut them down on at least four saves.  One was terrific: just before the end of the game, a purple player broke free and was all alone--no one but Sarah to stop her.  She charged right at Sarah and kicked HARD; the point-blank shot went right at Sarah, who caught it and kept the score the same!  An absolutely beautiful save for a goalie at this level.
Another save was a little more comical.  The purple team kicked a shot to her, and she went to catch it...but the spin on the ball was so great that it popped off of Sarah and went straight UP in the air a good 10 feet!  Sarah stood underneath it like a center fielder and caught it...again...when it came back down.
All told, a tough game for Sarah's team--they spent too much time in their own half of the field and didn't seem to have the speed to match the purple team.  They're now 2-2, and are off this coming weekend with the holiday, but will be back in action on the 18th.

New Photo Album

Over the summer and early fall, we've had a couple of occasions to remember Dad, who passed away November 6, 2008.  In August we committed his urn to the columbarium at Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington, and then held a scattering of some of his ashes at Shelburne Farms.  Then in late September we arranged for a sugar maple tree to be planted on our front lawn, and I put the last of his ashes to be scattered at the bottom of the hole.  He'll always be with us in Virginia now.  We've assembled a little photo album of these memorial events for everyone to remember him.

Just Another Thursday Night

So after a busy day at the office, I run out to begin the trek home.  Will Metro be running on time, or will I need to bail out to VRE?  Tonight Metro's running OK so I make it to the end of the line by 5:20.

I call over to SACC and ask to talk with Sarah: What kind of Subway do you want tonight?  "A B-L," she said.  Her brother invented that sandwich: it's a BLT, hold the T.  I swing by and pick one up for her, along with the requisite barbeque chips and orange soda.

Then it's off to Brownies; she squirms into her vest (it's smaller on her than it used to be, either that or she's grown in the last two years...nahhh...) and is off playing with her friends.  Home with David to make dinner before he has to run off to Cotillion.

Then I remember the Dad Tree out front: the sugar maple we planted last week.  I check; it needs water, so I set up the hose.  The rains haven't been enough to keep the soil moist, but they certainly prevented us from trimming the grass.  It's a good six inches on that side of the lawn.  I sigh.

Inside to make dinner, then get David ready for Cotillion.  Then once he leaves, Mary and I are back to pick up Sarah from Brownies...home to finish homework and prepare for the next day.  David returns from Cotillion around 9:30; they learned another dance with the girls, but at least he didn't get awarded a "fiancee" tonight like one boy.

I'm amazed at all they do every week.  There's no way I had anywhere near this range of choices when I was their age.  It's all about giving our kids a better life than we had, right?  So why am I tempted to say, their better life will be simply to be less exhausted by Thursday night each week?

Kleppinger Family History

The following information is taken from the Kleppinger family geneology book, written by Stanley J. Kleppinger in 1956.
"The Family coat-of-arms was received in 1947 from Franklin W. Klepinger, of Sun Valley, Calif. His wife's uncle did the research work and found that the Kleppingers took part in the Christian Crusade and had this beautiful coat-of-arms, consisting of a shield, helmet, crest, and lambrequin or decorations. . . . In 1949 we received a picture of the 'Clippinger' coat-of-arms from L. R. Clippinger of Fort Wayne, Ind. . . . It is very much like the one above and no doubt was drawn from the same description. The main difference is that the sheild carries the form of an X, instead of a chevron."
Family history records that Johan Georg Kloeppinger emigrated to the then-British Colonies in America in 1737; Kleppingers have had their roots in Pennsylvania Dutch country since. Johan had come from the town of Pfungstadt, near Frankfurt; to this day, the Kleppinger name is common in Pfungstadt.
The August 13, 1967, Allentown (PA) Sunday Call-Chronicle (page B-6) reports that "the original family name was Klepping and its members prospered as wool exporters to England. It is believed this profession was the basis for the family name (clippers of wool). The Kleppings were one of the best known patrician families in the world of commerce and records of the time note that 'again and again the family offered the English King loans.' Between 1310 and 1740 nearly 40 Kleppings were on the town council of Dortmund, located about 150 miles northwest of Frankfurt in the Ruhr area. In all, they held 417 terms including the mayoralty of Dortmund 124 times. In Soest, between 1447 and 1598, eight Kleppings were elected 30 times as mayor for two-year terms. In 1648, at the end of the 30 Years' War, the family migrated to the town of Pfungstadt."
And you wonder from where Eric gets politics in his blood!