Going Home Again - Part Three

Now Playing -  All A Dream by Norah Jones

 

Life -  

 The next few days were a bit blurry, we continued sorting through the shed, taking time out to eat Mexican food, chat with friends and family, eat more Mexican food, dividing boxes of books and comics and generally working or moving around from 6:30am to 1 or 2 in the morning.

The shed got finished, mostly, everything re-boxes neatly and labeled and re-stacked, this time with a protective layer of plastic over things. We had a few nice meals with people, took a couple retrospective drives around town,  and generally wondered whether it was really supposed to count as a vacation if we never really had time to catch our breath.

Saturday and Sunday we had our yard sale, the first day in the yard of the house and the second in the parking lot of Rich's music store; Budget Audio Video. We did well. There was still a TON of stuff left - far more than I'd imagined m- enough for three weeks of yard sales, but we made around $200 each day and moved enough that we felt successful. The rest was neatly packed away for my mom to use in a charity yard sale later this summer. A hint - even if all you have is a bunch of terrible, ratty comics - find a short box to have at your sale - we made $60 off of them at .75 each or 5/$3 and more importantly, the word Comics! on the sign brought a whole passel of folks our way. The clothes, on the other hand did nothing. I think we sold an old Eagles jersey and a t-shirt. Out of a few dozen large bags of clothes, we made less than two bones. Bah.

My mom was a huge help and it was a lot of fun spending so much quality time with her and her quirky little dog. Looking back, it's disappointing how much time we spent prepping and running the thing, but it's comforting to know that our remaining boxes are stacked better and the profits from the sale helped offset the money we didn't have but spent on plane tickets out.

On the subject of Budget Audio Video - We were actually quite worried about being there. My wife grew up working in her dad's store. I worked there. We met many friends there. I amassed a ridiculous collection of DVDs and CDs there. It was a huge part of our lives for a long time and while we were in Maine, Rich made the difficult decision to downgrade the store into semi retirement mode. He rented out 2/3 of the building and cut back on his stock dramatically; no longer carrying new CDs, doing special orders and selling a larger portion of their stock online. For the last few years, their profits had been shrinking, the business harder to find and he'd been getting more and more traffic for his audio and video transferring services.

It was the right move to make, but Linz and I were worried. We'd heard he was a little depressed initially with long time customers' reactions to the new store - it had been in the old form for over 30 years, after all. I loved the new store. It has a small, hole in the wall vibe with plenty of vinyl and a couple walls of used CDs and DVDs and a large area in back for their online sales and conversion processes. I'll always miss the old Budget Tapes and Records, but Budget Audio/Video is pretty awesome.

The ROUS FAMILY -   

 

 

 

 

Going Home Again - Part Two

Now Playing -  Stuff That Works by Guy Clark

 

Life -  

 Man, it was odd driving back into Pocatello after two years. Poky is one of those quintessentially Western places that was started back in the wild days, boomed with the railroad, stayed expanding for a while, saw a few hiccups of growth with a college and few other amenities and started a gradually declining retirement in the recent past. Regardless of how long we've been gone, the town looks essentially the same. Maybe a few new stores in old buildings or a few less stores in others, but nothing too dramatic. Linz and I were both born and raised there and driving into the valley it was a little bittersweet.

The first day we were pretty exhausted, all we really did was say goodbye to my aunt and mom and lug our suitcases into the basement of my in-laws; Rich and Sue. We would be taking control of their basement for the duration.

The next day, we were up bright and early to pick up my brother from his job and go get doughnuts for breakfast. We went to a newer place called "The Doughnut  - Home of the original spudnut" It's run by a talented cook that used to run a restaurant in a different part of town that featured African foods, oddly. (He's also the owner of the house two down from the one we own and lived in in Poky and had no recognition of us when he saw us)

Great doughnuts though. Fluffy but filling without too much thick glazing and sweetness like they have out here in the East. We chatted with the family for a bit, played with my mom's new pup, a rescued 5 year old Puggle (Pug Beagle) named Morrie then turned our attention to the big task of the day - the locked shed out back. The one with all of our clothes, toys, books, decor, kitchen stuff and assorted detritus from 5 years of living in the house before we rented it to my mom and brother.

We feared the worst when we cracked the doors. Rain leaking, snow damage, sun warping, mice, cats, chupacabras. Happily, apart from some very slight water damage on the tops of two boxes below some apparently very slight drips, everything was  in the same condition from when we left it two and a half years ago. One of the benefits of living in a nice, dry, airy climate, I suppose.

But it didn't mean our work was done. We still had to open every box and make some hard choices. Though we have a long term plan, not more than a small portion of the stuff was coming back with us to Maine and some of it should never have been packed in the first place. (We packed in a bit of a hurry initially and were unsure how long some of it would be packed for.)

Going through everything we'd left behind and had been missing for that long was a lot harder than we'd thought. Some was easy - Box of old spices? Trash! Pants too big for me now that I'd kept for when I was skinny enough when I left? Trash!

Some was very hard, mostly because I desperately miss my books and art supplies. I miss our library and room of DVDs. To say nothing of the three totes of assorted Legos. I ended up breaking down and packing my beloved and much missed sculpting tools that I hadn't been able to adequately replace out here and a few choice items like a Lego set and a few of my good knives.

A lot went into the Yard Sale Pile too, especially a good sized chunk of paperback books - fantasy by authors I used to like and hadn't read for three years before we moved (Piers Anthony) and fiction that I'd since bought in hardback. I also took a few photos of authors that I plan to download digital copies out here because I miss their novels.

At the same time we were rummaging around in the shed, my mom was doing the same to shed #2, which was primarily stocked with items planned for a yard sale last time  we were sorting and packing. It was a long day, but successful. Filled a dumpster, got a huge stack of stuff to sell and a large pile of stuff to continue missing.

The ROUS FAMILY -   

 

 

 

 

Going Home Again Part One

Now Playing -  Hold You In My Arms by Ray LaMontagne
 

Life -  

Smothered Mushroom and Jack Enchilada from The Red Iguana

 

 Since we moved out to Maine, we'd only been back to our home town of Pocatello, Idaho one time, and that was just to buy a car, load it with essentials and pets and drive back to Maine. That was about two years ago, so we finally decided the time was right to head back to Big Potato Country and see our friends and family left behind.

We also left a large portion of our worldly possessions in assorted storage locations throughout the city and we needed to check up on them - make sure they were still safe, go through them for a few essentials we were missing and have a yard sale to get rid of a few we could live without.

Did I mention the Mexican food? We planned to eat a lot of REAL Mexican food, the one thing that above all else, Maine is lacking.

It was not a vacation at all, unfortunately, but we're glad we went. Flying out was about as much fun as you can expect from 10 hours of flying with the worst seats in the plane that was also the longest leg. I spent the time reading a novel about an EMP pulse that knocked out all electricity in the US, sending planes plummeting to their destruction. (ONE SECOND AFTER by William Forstchen) and trying not to overflow too dramatically into my seatmate's personal space. Economy class flight is not that pleasant for a 280 pound man. On our way out the first time, we were lucky enough to fly Jet Blue, a carrier that does a good job of making the flight pleasant. Delta, not so much. Watery cup of soda and .2 ounces of peanuts aside, the planes had no amenities worth mentioning, though the attendants were very nice and friendly. I really do wonder if the cans of soda they offer are heated or if the ice is a quick melt variety to get that perfect level of watery bleah between the cart and your hand. (I have heard high elevations affect taste buds so that could be part of it, maybe it affects carbonation and melting too?)

I tried to wave to North Dakota on the way, but I think some bald man in Kansas ended up being the recipient, alas.

My mom and aunt picked us up in Salt Lake City, Utah (Or, as some clever new shirts abbreviate it - SL,UT) Linz had picked out a small restaurant a few minutes from the airport - Red Iguana. IN a tiny building, behind a door covered in stickers for bands and causes (I wish I'd brought a Sasquatch to add) was some very excellent food. Some traditional and some funky, we really enjoyed the place.

I had forgotten how much I missed seeing mountains filling the background of our lives until stepping out of the restaurant and looking up at the crags surrounding the Salt Lake City Valley. Gorgeous.

Full of Mexican and packing our first of many leftover boxes of the trip, we piled into my mom's bright yellow Ford and headed to Idaho, three hours to the North.

The ROUS FAMILY -   

 

 

 

 

Signs Of Spring. Or Something.

The other day, on my way home from work, I saw a short dude, probably about 5'4" walking along the road. Quite muscular. Or toned, I should say. He was wearing a backpack, hiked up and strapped, over both shoulders and with the little belly strap fastened. He was also wearing a pair of chinos, a ball cap and a pair of tennis shoes. And that was it. No shirt. And every time a car drove past, you could see his little face scrunch up with concentration and his abs would magically become more defined.

I would imagine he gets some pretty unusual tan marks from that outfit.

I love the way clowns make me laugh!

The ROUS FAMILY -   

 

 

 

 

How To Be The Easter Bunny

Part One - The Suit

Naturally, in a lot of ways, this is the most important part. I was volunteered for the role of The Bunny for our five stores here and I had no involvement in choosing or renting the suit. This was a horrible, horrible mistake. If possible, go to the rental place - see the suit - try it on if at all possible. The suit we got was a misbegotten thing that looked like it was from the 1950's. Many of the seams had been re-stitched so many times the seams were thick scars of fabric and thread and the mask had been fixed so many times that it's vaguely dog-like face was lumpy with ears that didn't even try to stand erect.

And the feet/paws were the worst part. Too small for me, with ratty pink fur on the outside and a sole made of what appeared to be 100 year old leather with the outline of a bare foot sweated into the material on both sides. Oh yeah, and the suit was about 3 sizes too small for me, creating a dirty greyish-white bodysuit for me that could have doubled as a costume for some shameless, inept superhero. It was also impossible to zip myself, forcing someone else to zip me into my tiny corset, my hands sheathed in mittens incapable of grasping anything with precision. Even without the mask/head it was claustrophobic. The legs were also roughly 6 inches too short, leaving an expanse of socks between the end of my "legs" and the beginning of my "Paws".

Terrifying. The head had some sort of plastic harness inside that broke off immediately after donning, leaving me wearing a plastic head strap for no reason. All this for fifty bucks... maybe that should have been a sign.

So try and find a good suit. Maybe one that actually looks like a bunny and fits properly?

Part Two - The Setting

 

We did the shoots in a series of stops at each store over the course of two days. 2 hours at three stores on day one and 3 hours at two stores on day two. Two hours was just about right. It was a short enough time that I didn't truly start freaking out about being in the suit and  we didn't overstay our welcome. Of course, the three hour shifts were justified when we showed up to lines of kids waiting. But try and keep it short if you can. You'll regret long ones. Allow for ample time between shoots. Our stores were 6 minutes apart and with a 30 minute window it felt like we were scrambling between shoots

Each store made their own little backdrops from random Easter crap in the store with varying results. One store's looked fabulous... and one store had 3/4s of their decor fall before the first hour was up, leaving me sitting in a pool of plastic Easter grass and window clings that stuck to my feet much better than the wall. Avoid high chairs like barstools too. The last thing you want is for some kid to fall off your knees and it's easier to sit in a broad low slung chair.

Part Three - The Accessories

This is a two part thing - Items you need for the shoot and items for in between.

During the shoot, be sure to have a basket with candy. Nothing attracts reluctant children like sweets.  Choose a nice sturdy basket with a high handle. You can rest your heavy head on it between kids. Also grab a big fluffy bunny toy. It's handy for dancing in front of children like a puppet, waggling in front of babies to get their attention and for squeezing tightly when you would otherwise be choking the life out of a parent. tee-hee.

Also bring a towel or two - you'll get sweaty. A Good supply of water in a bottle that can be opened with mitten-paw hands and I carried dryer sheets with me to stuff in the suit between shoots to stave off the funk of forty thousand years that resided in the thing. And the stinky babies. Make sure the location has set up a cordoned off place to go for brief breathers too - somewhere where the kiddos can't see you.


Part Four - Be The Bunny

 

This is really the most important part, in truth. You can wear a crappy mask, street clothes and fuzzy socks on your hands and kids will still buy it if you are convincing acting enough. Number one - The Easter Bunny doesn't talk... I'm not sure why this is... I know rabbits don't speak generally, but they don't hide eggs in houses either. Movie EB's talk... I'm guessing that they're mute because it's one of those characters that both men and women play and unlike Santa, who generally at least has a masculine voice, so it would take away some of the illusion for a kid to see two bunnies with radically different voices... Which doesn't explain the wide range of appearances, but whatever. At any rate, EB is generally mute. This is a plus and a minus - It's nice to not have to have conversations with people or answer awkward questions but communication is also very difficult.

You have to over-act everything. If you shrug, that shrug has to be a good 5 inches if you look at a kid, you have to turn your whole body so he can tell you're looking at him. move your whole arm, not just your hand. High fives, thumbs ups and hand shaking goes a long way to gaining a kids confidence. It's almost like being a hot, sweaty, miserable mime.

heck's sake, act like a bunny - hop or skip, hold a basket in front of you, snuffle at things... don't just stomp to the corner and strip away the hellish helmet. Regardless of what you think, kids will notice. also... hula hooping is almost impossible, but it gets a great reaction.

Part Five - The Kids

It's no secret that I am not a kid- person. Don't have any, don't want any, don't particularly enjoy most of them for more than a minute or two. So I was surprised what a kick I got out of some of my.. attendees? Victims? Subjects? I have no idea what they call a person that gets their picture taken with a stranger in a mask that offers them candy.  Anyway, the Easter Bunny in particular is an odd beast. There's only a very limited age group that really believes in him and about half of them are terrified of him. Too young and they have no idea what to think - those ones are about 50/50 screamers, I think. Too old and they immediately know it's some sap in a suit. Even if they couldn't see my socks and a healthy amount of bare calf, they could see the shadowy form of my glasses through the mesh eyes.

Yet, inexplicably, their parents make them get their picture taken. I don't get this, but if a sullen tween sitting on the lap of a sweaty bored thirty year old is what you want, you got it!

I will say that I loved that perfect age group though, both the screamers and the believers, The screamers were just so terrified... it was a primal, red faced, gasping horror that you never see outside of moments like that and it was surprisingly... dare I say gratifying? And the level of amusement on parent's faces as their children went into paralyzed shock then sobbing hyperventilating at the sight of my goofy self was the icing on the cake.

And the believers were just as great. Little girls faces lighting up with wonder and little boys drawing me pictures. I had one little girl come running over and give me a hug, her head making an audible hollow clonk against my fake noggin that really believed in me 100% and a little boy that I finally won over after 5 minutes of waving from across the store that left convinced the Easter Bunny was real.

Don't give up on kids either. I had more than a few that refused to come over initially, but after watching four or five other kids be unafraid, or having their mom take a picture with me or simply waving to them between photos when they didn't think I was watching, finally join me for a photo.

That said, I also likely gave two kids a complex they may never outgrow when I snuck up on them in an aisle after they refused to come over....

Part Six - Conclusion

I did not enjoy playing the Bunny. In the end it was humiliating and painful and boring and generally pointless. But if you have the chance, give it a try. I think if it had been planned better and I'd had a better suit, it could have been a really fun experience. 

The ROUS FAMILY -   

 

 

 

 

Maine Maple Sunday 2012

Now Playing -  Crazy In Love by The Puppini Sisters

Life -

One thing Linz and I have always enjoyed is doing the local tourist things. We find that a lot of people never take the time to explore the area they live in and we've been guilty of that lately too. SO this weekend, we bit the bullet. The last weekend in March every year, the state of Maine's Maple Syrup makers or Sugarhouses have an open house when visitors can stop by, check out their setups, try some sweets and buy their pure maple syrup. 

We wanted to go last year but lost track of time until we'd missed it, but this year was perfect. We both had it off and the weather, though not the shorts weather we've had the last few days was a perfectly gloomy and wet 45. Just right for coffee and maple goodness and a drive through the hills in a cozy car.

The production of "Real" syrup is a pretty involved process and is more about timing than anything. When nights stay cold but temps rise to above freezing during the days, the sap of the Maple tree starts running and at some point in the distant past, men realized that if they tap that and boil it down, they get a truly delicious treat. Most places still do it the old fashioned way - a couple of hollow spikes in a tree and either buckets or a series of lines that lead the sap down to a series of wood fired boilers that condense 40 gallons of sap into one gallon of syrup in an extremely complex process.  "We boil the crap out of it."  - Bob's Sugarhouse Employee.

Dover Foxcroft

Initially, we'd planned to start out the day at the Firehouse in Dover-Foxcroft, a cute little town to the north that we really like, but the firehouse was PACKED to the brim and we had better things to do than stand in line for an hour. So we headed down the road a bit to Bob's; a small, wooden building along the road with a front end filled with treats and assorted bottles of golden syrup and a back room filled with the massive steel evaporator. The treats, including fried dough and syrup, maple coffee, maple butter, maple carrot cake, maple cider and maple whoopie pies were pretty tasty and doled out by the bored offspring of Bob himself, who chatted amongst themselves about the quality of balloons this year compared to those of yore while studiously ignoring us. 

We ate outside in the cool air then went back in and bought a small tub of the maple butter. In a plastic container that used to say "Maple Cream" but someone cleverly crossed out "cream" with a marker and wrote "butter" in its place. It will be delicious on many, many things. 

The Interior Of Bob's Sugarhouse

But one thing we'd hoped for was missing - we wanted to know what the different grades of syrup tasted like without having to buy a whole bottle of light, medium and dark amber. Next on our path, the Breakneck Ridge farms where they make their own syrup and raise bison for their meat. They promised  maple tea and buffalo burgers.

Where we almost stopped for lunch, the sublime Spring Creek Bar-B-Q

It had started to get colder, hovering around freezing and small flakes started to fall as we weaved further northeast into Maine. About an hour later we found the place, up a somewhat muddy road topped by a sign - 

We walked. As we reached the property, an orange and white dog that we mistakenly thought was called Molly greeted us and, after passing inspection, we were allowed to enter. I was a little bummed that the fire wasn't going in the syrup room, as it was getting cold, but the employees/family at Breakneck was much friendlier and talkative, giving us samples of maple tea, maple Italian dressing, maple whoopie pies and maple buffalo jerky. They also had samples of light and dark amber syrup. 

The light is what most people that have had real maple syrup get which, to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of on pancakes and the like. I enjoy the flavor, but I like it better by itself. The dark was better, it had a deeper, woodsier flavor with a touch of smokiness.  We bought a small bottle of the dark and some jerky and wandered down the hill in the snow to grab a buffalo burger and some buffalo chili.

The food wasn't the greatest. The burger was tender and had the distinct flavor of bison that I like, but it was too thick and small around and far too undercooked for my taste. The chili was better - lots of meat and beans with a taste that reminded me of turkey chili oddly, and it had virtually no spice at all. But sitting under a canopy with the snow drifting around and the cute old farm dog hanging out with us was really nice. 

Overall, it wasn't the tourist extravaganza we'd expected, it seemed like most of the visitors were residents that use the day as an excuse to buy their yearly gallon of syrup, but it was a nice way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.

The ROUS FAMILY -