Oh Sketch!

And finally, in my great attempt to catch you up here are a couple of sketches that have been evolving over the past few months...


You can click on them for a larger view.

Wild Life

In April I found found myself in the wilderness with a bunch of 12 and 13 year old boys. OK, it wasn't exactly wilderness. It was my neighbor's ranch where we take the scouts on an over-night campout each year to do some work/service around the ranch ("... it builds character"). This time. like all of the others, the boys personalities came shining through.

We had a late supper where most of the boys cooked up tinfoil dinners in the fire. After messing around with the 5 year old marshmallows and cookies the boys proceeded to put beef jerky on sticks and roast it over the fire. I thought that this was nuts, but I have to admit that it tasted pretty good. Of course, Justin the eternal stomach had to go around and taste everyones food before finally settling down and burning the heck out of his JiffyPop popcorn. In the morning he found a can brown stuff and a dirty stick on the ground and proceeded to eat goop out of the can. This freaked me out a little bit.

After breakfast we worked the rest of the day gathering trees and branches into great big piles that we never got to set on fire (like years past). We also had to dig out and haul huge rocks from a field and around the pond. Every rock that Jackson touched seemed to grow to an enormous size under the ground. Ricky seems to have a one track mind; everything was about how we could organize another activity with the girl's organization, the Beehives. Jeff worked well for such a tiny guy, but from the very beginning he never stopped asking when we could be done. And well ... Antonio's junk was everywhere.

It was a good campout where nobody got hurt and my hernia got a good workout. I don't really like being a scout leader, but the boys certainly keep it interesting if not entertaining.

The Karlin Meets Collective Soul

Each year the company that I work for has a big event and usually invites a band to entertain the minions. This year it was Collective Soul. As part of the event staff the Karlin sometimes gets to meet the bands. This year was particularly awesome because we got to have dinner with Frank Caliendo (the comedian) and then visit briefly with the boys from Collective Soul after the concert. Here is a pic of Sharon and I with Frank. Our friends Derryck Dufur and his wife joined us with Collective Soul. The Collective Soul guys were very friendly and fun to meet and put on a great concert.

Christmas and the Ladder King

Christmas also came and went during the great blog entry drought of '07. I had a fabulous Christmas with the fam. Randy was home, my kids were healthy, my wife is fantastic and all was right with my world. At least that's how I remember it at the moment. Just for posterities sake I will list out some of the more memorable items that we have added to the Stokes pile. Jake got a couple of sweet little remote control helicopters, Madi got a Nintendo DS, Randy and Sharon got some stuff that I can't remember right now and I got a plethora ("...would you say that I have a "plethora" of piñata's?") of tools. Best of all I got a Little Giant ladder! I have watched those infomercials forever, and have coveted those expensive ladders for a long time. Now I am "the Ladder King"! I use it all of the time. I try to find any excuse to haul it out and flip it around in one of its dozens of configurations, just to make the neighbors jealous. It's awesome.

Halloween?

Halloween came and went. It was somewhat uneventful and at the moment I can't even think of a story to tell about it. Here is a sketch of some monsters that I did at Halloween time. I really like monster movies. Not those gory and bloody slasher flicks that come out every Halloween, but great movies with fun monsters like: Godzilla, King Kong, The Mummy, American Werewolf in London, Frankenstein, etc...

Randy the Hurd

On October 9,(or sometime around then) my step-son Randy returned from an LDS mission to Berlin, Germany. The kid has gone native and carries around this European "man-purse" everywhere he goes. It has been a delight to have have him back with us. He got a job right away at Tahitian-Noni, speaking German of course. He's trying to decide what to major in at college. He has changed his mind so many times it's making my head spin. He is a mathematical genius and an engineering "wunderkind"; yet he thinks that he wants to be a doctor.
I constantly bother him about girls, dating and kissing. He is a really good sport to put up with all of the teasing. The fact remains that the boy needs a good girlfriend to help him kind of settle and get started in a single direction. We all have high hopes for him, beacuse I'm supposed to be living in the west-wing of his mansion when I retire. So get to work Randy!

The Great Entry Catch-up (not Ketsup)

Well, it has been more than 6 months without an entry. It's about time! Much has happened that will go undocumented but in the next few entries I will try and catch up with the big things and latest sketches. I made a facebook page a while back and I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should keep updating the blog or just go all facebook. If you have any thoughts please, leave a comment.