A Month of the Great Outdoors...

I have spent the last few years since graduating high school trying my hardest, it would seem, to stay away from one of my greatest loves - the woods. Sure I have gone on the occasional camping trip maybe like once a year but that's not a love that's a passing fancy, certainly a long passing fancy but one none the less. This all changed in the past month and if I have anything to do with it this will be a change that will last into the future. It all started a month ago with a Manmaker 2008 Ocoee rafting trip with the mans in the youth group.We spent the weekend being men and learning/teaching about the ways of a Christian man. There were challenges of manhood layed down by the boys to the leaders and an amazing shirt was on the line. I drank a bottle of Frank's RedHot Cayenne Pepper sauce in 9.2 seconds to keep mine.

The next week my wife and I took a day trip to Mt. Cheaha with my dog Barley to scout the drive and some trails for my trip the next with with the youth and had a blast walking through the woods and just spending time together and enjoying nature. Barley I think had a better time than we did, I honestly felt like he felt "at home" out there he walked the trail ahead of us making sure we knew where to go and was so funny to watch in the streams and woods.

The following weekend I took 3 youths, one dad, and the youth director and his wife out onto the Chinabee Silent Trail for a 7 mile overnighter with beautiful waterfalls and great views of God's nature at its finest.

This was all followed up by another rafting trip down the Ocoee with my friend Nick and my parents, sister and their Sunday school class. It was a blast once more and a great chance for one of my best post college friends to finally get to meet my family. It is an interesting situation we have as grown ups that our new friends rarely get to know our parents unlike all our friends from high school who more than likely had to be approved by the parental units. It was a great night with grilled out meat, beer and family does life get any better, I submit that it cannot.

Also, everyone needs to try this little quiz I got from the POP Candy Blog.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/posterletters/

I pulled down like a 29 or 30 first try do it and leave your score in the comments.

On the side note I took a reading hiatus from Leo Tolstoy's, War and Peace, I am halfway through but I needed a little break from the Russian he was causing my stack of "to be read" books to grow to insurmountable heights. I think if I could knock out the last 4 I will go back to him but when you hit the 600 page mark and you aren't halfway through it's a sign to take a little break. On that note I read alot of books this month so bear with me they were all good.

Bright Shiny Morning - James Frey (4 out of 5) Great fiction book from the Oprah-shunned author of "Million Little Pieces". He mixes the history of L.A. into a neat little 5 story merry-go-round each one about a different person or couple or family and the strife of living in the city of angels.

Goldfinger - Ian Fleming (5 out of 5) Book seven of the original James Bond novels is probably the best one I have read so far. Very close to the the movie but much better, probably the closest movie/book translation in the series so far.

When You are Engulfed in Flames - Dave Sedaris (3 out of 5) I like Sedaris' wit and the way hew can make even the most normal story funny. Like Burroughs though I do wonder how many more memoirs he can write about his crazy family. The best part of the book is the last chapter called "The Smoking Section" and is a collection of stories about him quitting smoking that are amazing.

Watchmen - Alan Moore[writer]/Dave Gibbons[artist] (10 out of 5) Freakin' amazing! Probably the best piece of comic book literature I have ever read and if my 3 long boxes of comics gives me the street cred to say this, and I believe it does, it is outstanding from start to finish. It is a look at what the world would be like, really, if there were super heroes or just cape wearing crazies running around, how it would affect world relations, police, etc. READ IT!

The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon (4.5 out of 5) Great detective novel set in a fictional city Sitka, Alaska where the Jewish people were placed after WWII until everyone settled down. It is a well written and his writing is so descriptive that I am amazed how well placed his insanely descriptive metaphors just flow. I wish I had highlighted some of the best but I did not and you need to read it for yourself.