Frogtails

Well no one has written for awhile which always scares me. It always seems to happen right after I write too, kind of like that awkward silence when you’re talking to someone you don’t like. Things have been slow here now that I’m back home. No more three in the morning nights coming in from friends houses. You have to drive everywhere here too it’s not like campus when I don’t use my car for several weeks and just absolutely forget where I parked. It’s odd to have to get around to go see friends too normally it’s just walking down the hall or telling someone to come on over. Of course I feel like a stranger in my house now too. It’s hard to get to sleep because I’m just not used to everything being like this. Well anyways I hope everyone hasn’t lost their writing spirit.

How do you say hi to someone serving overseas. How do you mention the snow out your window to someone being a few hundred yards from a bomb exploding. I’ve supported this war since the first time I heard of it. I was deeply confused about the aftermath of September 11th. Yesterday I was brought to tears when I read a roadside bomb went off in the greenzone of Baghdad. Not two days before John, Brendan’s step-father told me that Brendan was stationed in Baghdad in the greenzone. I know this area is large but it is still just one chunk of land, with one man I know just settling down for a night’s sleep. I’ve never given serious prayer in my whole life. I prayed for the little things, courage for myself, that first love. Yesterday I prayed for Brendan.
Last night I read about another bomb in the greenzone and I caught myself again crying for Brendan’s safety. I’ve been studying hard for finals and decided to try and focus on the task before me, and let Brendan do what he’s been trained to do. I woke at 2:30 in the morning and started studying again. Read one last article I kept telling myself and you’ll be ready for tomorrows test. Every article I read dealt with American’s fighting for my right to study about them, go to college and do whatever I wished with my life. All the while Brendan was in my mind. Then at a quarter past three a message popped up from someone I haven’t heard from in quite awhile. Brendan messaged me. Over six thousand miles and the only delay I felt was in Brendan’s typing skill. Yes we talked about the weather, and we talked about being back home. No mention of fighting no mention of violence. I think I liked it better this way, he’s alright and I’m happy. And now I know what to get him for Christmas. Come back safe buddy

I’ll put my money where my mouth is and probably tarnish the hopes of a few people. My bet is that the site will look like that. Reasons for this? Well last time I was home that’s what you were working on it. You’re a busy man so it takes your valuable time to change things. And it looks good like that, a little…well we should be P.C. here…. but if you ask me good. Next time I check it you’ll probably have flowers for the links but it’s your site. Maybe you can even have some of that wonderful music playing in the background.
In other news I’ve begun taking finals. Fun fun. So far so good but tomorrow and Thursday will be the real tests for me. Today it’s the classes I could sleep through. Tomorrow I’m actually surprised about because it’s the class I’ve done the best in all year but looking over a study guide I realized maybe missing a couple of classes was a bad idea. Of course it also happens to be the only comprehensive final I have to take, and I really hate those. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, how am I supposed to remember what a professor thinks is the most important aspect of the Cold War. Well back to the books…

Any predictions for the coming year? My guess is that Frogtails will look somewhat similar to this.

First, since Pat regularly quotes J.R.R. Tolkein (well Gandalf but who’s counting) I thought I would too. “Not all who wander are lost". That said, I have just received word that Patrick Martino, whose writings have appeared on the Travel section of this site, will be returning to Wisconsin for a period in late January-early February before returning to Asia. Personally, I will be making some plans to get out to Wisconsin if not join him for a small stretch abroad.

Russell Weisfield

Well I wasn’t the one who did it I assure you. I’ve been behaving myself to some degree. Right now I’m in the rush period right before finals.
However I remember in grade school making a guy mad in TAG class dealing with fencing. We had a guy come in and demonstrate fencing to us with the little swords that have a cork on the end. Well everyone else being afraid to challenge him mighty Nick steps up to the plate. Now a little background information, my brothers and I used to stick fight just about every spare chance we got so I’m not afraid to take a hit, as long as you deal one in turn. Now from my understanding these are not the official rules for fencing. Also in fencing you make quick pokes rather than a broad swing like you do with a stick. Even if there is a cork on the end of this thin metal rod, a swing with it will hurt like a whip. So with inadequate knowledge of the sport I quickly subdued my adversary with painful cracks from my fencing sword. It might of helped they made me wear a goofy outfit so I wouldn’t get hurt but I still remember smacking him in the face with it before he finally gave up and surrendered to me.
So the possibility it was me might be greater than you think…

I just got a message today informing me to keep an eye out for Nicholas Weeks in case he tries fencing near me. I have been told to bar him from fencing in my group because of “several recurring safety considerations, as
well as the repeated inability of Mr. Weeks to follow the commands and
honor the restrictons placed on him by this marshallate.” Hmmmmmm. Now since he lives in the vicinity of Minnesota I don’t think this applies to our Nick:)

Nice Puerto Rico story. Mmmmmm, Bacardi - well the holiday starts tomorrow night at sundown and I’m done with school projects till after MLK Jr. day so maybe the bacardi . . . nah, I’ve got bottles of scotch for my glasses of nightcaps.

Russell Weisfield

Thank you Uncle Dave for inviting me to be a part of your site. I have learned a lot about your familys travels among much more! You have asked me to write about a recent experience I have had with my family; I am not a glorified writer, I am often made fun of for being to Appalachian…so here goes.

February 2004, Great news! Dad and Bev announced to the family that we all would be taking a family vacation together. This would be our first family vacation and it is bound to be fun! Where you are probably asking your self …. Puerto Rico!

Dad, Stephanie and Jessie are nervous about the flight. The rest of us have been on an airplane before but we are just as nervous about leaping into this great journey with 11 family members…YES 11. So the countdown starts…June 13 is the day we take off.

June 2004, this is the month…only 13 days to go! The first big event of the month is the college graduation of Steve and Mary Ellen…CONGRATS! Our family vacation starts the day after graduation…I am not looking forward to this…or am I?
June 13, 04..Its take off day. We all plan to meet at Dad and Bev’s around 8 am for a 3 pm flight. The family is as follows: Butch (Dad), Bev, Lindsey, Roger, Jessie (Roger’s girlfriend), Stephanie, Eric, Bryce, Misti (me), Mike and Zachary…. YES 11 of us living in one house for a week. For most families this might not be a problem but for ours we are going to be lucky if we all make it home

TOUCHDOWN! We landed in Puerto Rico with out problems; well we were delayed in Port Columbus, which did not help with Dad’s nerves. (First time flying). Puerto Rico is everything I imagined. Beautiful coast, fresh clean air, and a TON of people. I did not know until we got our rental vans that I was volunteered to drive one of the vans. Luckily all the driving laws are the same as they are in the states, one problem for me…all signs are in Spanish and I speak / read French. Not a problem we made it to our rental house with out a problem. 4 bedrooms for 11people meant someone is sleeping on the couch.

Our house was located on a hill above the beautiful Caribbean Ocean. The mountains in Puerto Rico are amazing! We were only a short walk to the ocean; we had our own private area. I guess I should back up and explain how we got our rental house. Bev’s co-worker’s parents own the house, so we did not have to stay in a tourist-populated area. Ok.. So our own private beach, this was nice for me who hates the thought of being seen in a bathing suit. The two youngest boys, my son Zachary (1.5 when we went on vacation) and my nephew Bryce (also 1.5). They loved having the freedom to run around the sand. So far this vacation is turning out to be true paradise.

The town we stayed in was called Yabucoa, you might have heard it mentioned in the news, this is the only town in Puerto Rico that was hit and had damage from the hurricanes.

Paradise, oh yeah..not to mention the HUGE bugs that are all over our house. And no air conditioning. I don’t mean sound spoiled but when the temperature is 95 degrees at 10 p.m. I think air conditioning is necessary. We kept the boys cool by giving them cool baths and not letting them go out side in the heat. Dad purchased a few more fans at the local mart (sort of like Wal-mart). That was nice, we all had fan in our bedrooms and a few in the living / kitchen.

As a family we visited the Bacardi factory and even got a few free samples, that was nice! The factory was not what I expected, it has a nice view being on the coast and the buildings are beautiful.

The next day we split up, while Stephanie and Mike stayed home with Zachary and Bryce the rest of us packed into one min-van and headed for the Rain Forest El Yunique (spelling?). IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! We were lucky to get to visit the largest waterfall at the rain forest and even got to play under it. (I must have been in “mood” because I was the only one who did not bear my bathing suit and swim in the fresh waters.) The walk to the waterfall was amazing, the view was breath taking, and the walk was PAINFUL! We did not realize we were going to be walking to the center of the earth and back in one day but it was worth it.

As a family we visited a public beach, Liquillo Beach. The sand is fine, clean and white and the waters are clear. Our time at the beach was fun. Zachary and Bryce enjoyed playing in the sand under their umbrellas while the adults sun bathed. Roger, Lindsey, Jessie, Eric and myself decided to try the banana boat ride. It is a large banana shaped flotation that you straddle attached to a boat that pulls you at a speed of 15 miles per hour. It sounded like fun so what the hell, we did it! The boat operators did not speak a bit of English…yeah for us! Once we started the ride, live vests and all it was not that bad. It was not until we were taken so far away from the shore the rest of our family looked like ants from the distance. I mentioned the boat is only supposed to go 15 miles per hour…yeah right! I felt like we were going closer to 50 mph. I was screaming to the boat operators begging them to let me off, they just pointed and laughed at me not understanding my English. I am not much of a daredevil so why did I do it? The rest of the group enjoyed the ride. FYI: The banana boat is not as fun as it looks.

On Friday we split up into two groups, Mike, Zachary, Bryce and myself traveled to San Juan and Old San Juan to visit all the historical sites. The rest of the group returned to Liquillo beach in search of jet skis. Our trip to San Juan we drove along the coastline, a 2-hour drive that was beautiful! Once in San Juan we visited the historical Fort San Cristobal and Castle El Morro. If you are ever given the opportunity to spend a day in San Juan, Puerto Rico I suggest you jump to the occasion it is beautiful. I look forward to returning someday with my family (Mike, Zachary and any future children we may have).

The five of us spent several hours touring the historical town and then returned to our beach house to share our day with the others. I am glad we choose to travel rather than sitting at the beach all day, we can do that on any vacation.

Saturday was our last day at the beach house; we cleaned, played at the beach with the boys and tried to enjoy our last hours in Puerto Rico. Saturday night Dad and Bev decided they wanted to pack up and stay the night closer to the airport since we had an early 7 am flight. We stayed in the Wyndam San Juan Resort & Casino. It was beautiful, too nice for a bunch of hillbillies like us. (Haha) Dad and Bev stayed in a different part of the resort; they spent time at the Casino (what fun!). We were on our own for dinner, the food was good but EXPENSIVE! For the 9 of us to have dinner at the Western restaurant located on the roof of the casino was almost $300! I guess that is only $33.33 per person.

BYE Puerto Rico!!! Our long and much appreciated family vacation came to and end on Sunday, June 20th, which also happened to be Father’s Day. It was nice for Dad because he got to spend the entire day traveling with the family. Mike enjoyed his second father’s day with Zachary (he is a wonderful father!). All of our flights home were peaceful and on time.

Thank you Dad and Bev for a wonderful time and wonderful memories.