Ansiedlungs-Gesellschaft
We're moving within a month and Jay, a high-school friend and best man at my wedding, was back in Hermann staying at his parents for two weeks. Since Jessica needed to get work done on her dissertation, I took the opportunity to go back to Hermann to visit him. I left after work on Friday and arrived at my dad's around 10:30 or so, just as the Cards were losing an extra-inning game against the Royals. My dad currently has a herniated disc and is spending most of his time lying on his back as standing up for more than a few minutes causes pain from pinched nerves. He finally has a pre-surgery consultation scheduled for Thursday, so hopefully they can work on him very shortly after that. We watched the end of the game and chatted for a while then it was off to bed. I got this exposure shot from the window from the bedroom I was in:
Washington at 7th
The next morning I had breakfast while Kathy, my dad's girlfriend/fiancée and her mother prepared to leave for Oklahoma for a week (from where Kathy comes). After they left and after I got some dog food for Fred, I went up to visit Jay. His parents' place overlooks the Missouri River and from there I could see the progress on the bridge construction (click the "West First Street" camera; that is the view from their house). I'd waited until 11 am to go, but Jay was still in bed, being the night owl that he is. We caught up on things and such, had lunch, called Matt (a fellow former Hermann resident who worked with us at Vintage Restaurant). We went up to our old employer of Stone Hill Winery and ran into Ray Temme, my former trig & calculus teacher, at the tasting counter. The girl who was also working there said she recognized my name from my ID and though her face was familiar, I'll have to look in my yearbook to recall Susan's last name. I got two bottles of concord grape juice, a bottle of Vignoles, and a bottle of Late-Harvest Vivant (a 500-mL bottle of dessert wine). From there we went to Adam Puchta Winery so Jay could pick up some more wine for himself. We went back to his parent's place, but I left not too long after that, around 5 pm, for I had many other people to see that day.
View of Hermann from Stone Hill.
I stopped back by my dad's for a while, then headed out to Berger to see my sister Sarah and her husband Tyler and Nathaniel, my nephew. Tyler just got back from basic training in GA and will soon be stationed in Germany for what I assume to be 18 months or so. Sarah and Nathaniel will be going over a few months after that.
From there I headed into St. Louis to try to meet up with Amy Kathrein, a friend of mine who I'd not seen for over seven years. She left UMSL in March of 1999 to train in Scientology in Florida. We lost contact while she was in Florida. She'd come back to St. Louis in 2002, but I'd left right after that and I'd only gotten into contact again this year via a friend of hers whose profile I saw on the UMSL section of myspace.com. She'd actually been playing phone catch-up with Jessica, my dad, and Sarah that day as she tried to return an email message I'd left, only to call these people minutes after I'd left from seeing them. But I called her from a gas station at Hwy 100 and I-44 at Villa Ridge. She answered and said she'd be sure to stay at her place in Brentwood so I could come by and visit. I got there around 8:30 and it was nice to see her again and catch up on what we'd each been doing. She was happy to see me, too and said I was her best friend from her college days at UMSL. I got to meet her boyfriend Matt and see her mom again, a very nice woman who'd I'd seen a number of times in the dorms.
Me and Amy
After visiting Amy, I was off to jabberwocky's Mid-Years Party (the temporal antithesis of a New Year's Eve party). First I tried to see laurdia who said she's not be at the party, but her place was dark when I went by. Until I hear from her, I'll assume she was at her mom's. So then it was off to U City to the party. I had to search about 15 minutes for a store to buy some beer (though I don't drink it, I didn't want to be a party food mooch).
I arrived around 10:45 pm or so. Despite what jabberwocky said, insides wasn't there, but tastee was and hussla made an 11-ish o'clock appearance. Burgers were put on when I arrived, but the charcoal was getting cold and that was quite an ordeal. While the self-appointed burger master was working on that, about 15 of us when to the front yard to play Red Rover. Being a big guy, I of course never was, and never have been, called to be sent on over. In the first game I had zero impact as I was not called upon nor did anyone try to break through my link in the chain. The in the second game, I was successful twice in a row at stopping would-be chain breakers. I think they took aim at me because though I'm a built individual, the link to my right, Annie, is quite the petite and slender girl. I, however, employed a tactic that insured victory of those battles. As they ran into my arm, I leaned closer to Annie such that she was out of the action and then I hooked my arm such that I basically catch them in a chest-high clothesline maneuver and use all my weight to pull them back. It was thusly that I prevented tastee and hussla from busting through. The game ended and no more were played, however, after hussla finished the second match by running between two gentlemen who, while holding strong, were each pulled around the backside of hussla, and knocked noggins leaving one with bent glasses. I must admit my right forearm is sore on the midsection of my radius bone from my two blocks. I don't see a surface bruise, so it may be a bone bruise, but I think it'll be fine. I think I see why only children usually play this game; it has to do with the same reason that kids can run around and fall down all over the place and are usually fine.
After Red Rover, my burger was actually done. I had them toss a slice of Muenster cheese on there and I enjoyed it very much. At 12:01 am, having missed the real Mid-Year point, jabberwocky started a symbolic countdown to a cry of "Happy Mid-Year!". At that point, it was time for me to go.
The afore mentioned jabberwocky, tastee, and hussla.
With windows down and iPod cranked up on the car radio and a stop for a bite to eat to go in Vandalia, IL, I made it back home at 3:15 am and had no trouble falling asleep once I got to bed.
Washington at 7th
The next morning I had breakfast while Kathy, my dad's girlfriend/fiancée and her mother prepared to leave for Oklahoma for a week (from where Kathy comes). After they left and after I got some dog food for Fred, I went up to visit Jay. His parents' place overlooks the Missouri River and from there I could see the progress on the bridge construction (click the "West First Street" camera; that is the view from their house). I'd waited until 11 am to go, but Jay was still in bed, being the night owl that he is. We caught up on things and such, had lunch, called Matt (a fellow former Hermann resident who worked with us at Vintage Restaurant). We went up to our old employer of Stone Hill Winery and ran into Ray Temme, my former trig & calculus teacher, at the tasting counter. The girl who was also working there said she recognized my name from my ID and though her face was familiar, I'll have to look in my yearbook to recall Susan's last name. I got two bottles of concord grape juice, a bottle of Vignoles, and a bottle of Late-Harvest Vivant (a 500-mL bottle of dessert wine). From there we went to Adam Puchta Winery so Jay could pick up some more wine for himself. We went back to his parent's place, but I left not too long after that, around 5 pm, for I had many other people to see that day.
View of Hermann from Stone Hill.
I stopped back by my dad's for a while, then headed out to Berger to see my sister Sarah and her husband Tyler and Nathaniel, my nephew. Tyler just got back from basic training in GA and will soon be stationed in Germany for what I assume to be 18 months or so. Sarah and Nathaniel will be going over a few months after that.
From there I headed into St. Louis to try to meet up with Amy Kathrein, a friend of mine who I'd not seen for over seven years. She left UMSL in March of 1999 to train in Scientology in Florida. We lost contact while she was in Florida. She'd come back to St. Louis in 2002, but I'd left right after that and I'd only gotten into contact again this year via a friend of hers whose profile I saw on the UMSL section of myspace.com. She'd actually been playing phone catch-up with Jessica, my dad, and Sarah that day as she tried to return an email message I'd left, only to call these people minutes after I'd left from seeing them. But I called her from a gas station at Hwy 100 and I-44 at Villa Ridge. She answered and said she'd be sure to stay at her place in Brentwood so I could come by and visit. I got there around 8:30 and it was nice to see her again and catch up on what we'd each been doing. She was happy to see me, too and said I was her best friend from her college days at UMSL. I got to meet her boyfriend Matt and see her mom again, a very nice woman who'd I'd seen a number of times in the dorms.
Me and Amy
After visiting Amy, I was off to jabberwocky's Mid-Years Party (the temporal antithesis of a New Year's Eve party). First I tried to see laurdia who said she's not be at the party, but her place was dark when I went by. Until I hear from her, I'll assume she was at her mom's. So then it was off to U City to the party. I had to search about 15 minutes for a store to buy some beer (though I don't drink it, I didn't want to be a party food mooch).
I arrived around 10:45 pm or so. Despite what jabberwocky said, insides wasn't there, but tastee was and hussla made an 11-ish o'clock appearance. Burgers were put on when I arrived, but the charcoal was getting cold and that was quite an ordeal. While the self-appointed burger master was working on that, about 15 of us when to the front yard to play Red Rover. Being a big guy, I of course never was, and never have been, called to be sent on over. In the first game I had zero impact as I was not called upon nor did anyone try to break through my link in the chain. The in the second game, I was successful twice in a row at stopping would-be chain breakers. I think they took aim at me because though I'm a built individual, the link to my right, Annie, is quite the petite and slender girl. I, however, employed a tactic that insured victory of those battles. As they ran into my arm, I leaned closer to Annie such that she was out of the action and then I hooked my arm such that I basically catch them in a chest-high clothesline maneuver and use all my weight to pull them back. It was thusly that I prevented tastee and hussla from busting through. The game ended and no more were played, however, after hussla finished the second match by running between two gentlemen who, while holding strong, were each pulled around the backside of hussla, and knocked noggins leaving one with bent glasses. I must admit my right forearm is sore on the midsection of my radius bone from my two blocks. I don't see a surface bruise, so it may be a bone bruise, but I think it'll be fine. I think I see why only children usually play this game; it has to do with the same reason that kids can run around and fall down all over the place and are usually fine.
After Red Rover, my burger was actually done. I had them toss a slice of Muenster cheese on there and I enjoyed it very much. At 12:01 am, having missed the real Mid-Year point, jabberwocky started a symbolic countdown to a cry of "Happy Mid-Year!". At that point, it was time for me to go.
The afore mentioned jabberwocky, tastee, and hussla.
With windows down and iPod cranked up on the car radio and a stop for a bite to eat to go in Vandalia, IL, I made it back home at 3:15 am and had no trouble falling asleep once I got to bed.