Back to Paul Bunyan

Back in '95, I took my first troop of Boy Scouts, Midland Troop 798, to summer camp at Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation, far back in the Huron Manistee National Forest between Mio and Rose City. Sunday, Andrew, Robert and the rest of the Scouts of Troop 604 kind of closed that circle when they arrived at PBSR for summer camp.

When that first adventure started, Andrew was 5 and Robert was 2. They've changed a little bit.








For the last dozen years, PBSR has been tied up with this family in one way or another. Troop 604 hasn't gone to

summer camp at PBSR recently, opting instead for places like Lost Lake, Camp Tapico or Camp Rotary.
A lot of my four Eagle Scouts earned many of the badges they needed for Eagle at PBSR, and Andrew's aiming to earn most the badges he still needs there. Robert's also aiming for that, planning to collect enough badges for to earn his Life rank.

I'm encouraged. Back in '95, Skip Bleecker met me at the gate and welcomed me and the troop. This year, as we pulled up, Skip was there again.
PBSR still is as rustic as ever, but there have been improvements. There's now a kitchen sink at Lemonade Springs. No kitchen, but now, at the rustic camp on the north side of camp, at least there's the sink.

Alissa's Birthday Bounce

Katherine's friend Alissa recently turned 16 -- and wanted the ultimate Sweet 16 party! In addition to a ton of pizza, a tubing trip down the beautiful Chippewa and friends and friends and friends, the party featured an inflatable "bounce house." Alissa's boyfriend, Dillon, and her friends Patterson, Andrew and Robert put the thing up out back.

Katherine inspects the bounce house. But it's time to test it ...

Andrew holds the door while Patterson and Dillon fling Alissa.

Happy birthday! Happy Landings!

A nice, friendly game of Fling the Kat.

What goes up must come down ...

... and bounce.

Anyone want to see how well Robert bounces?

Going live

Sometimes, TeeVee is just so entertaining.

Fireworks on Plan B? C? D? E?

It's clear that life is what happens when you make other plans.
The original plan was to head to Frankfort for the Fourth of July, enjoy the community, maybe swim in Lake Michigan, and maybe stick around for fireworks over the big lake.
That was before the kittens got sick; it turned out that the problem wasn't hairballs trying to come out. Time for Plan B.
An emergency trip to the vet confirmed that they both had some serious gastrointestinal problems. Kittens can dehydrate very quickly, so the Cat Clinic kept them.
But we decided to head to Frankfort in mid-afternoon; no sense moping around worrying about the kittens, who were in good hands.
After dinner, we thought we'd head to the beach south of Elberta. That was fine, until fog rolled in and the bottom fell out of the sand track. But about 15 half-drunken college-age men and one guy with a four-wheel-drive pickup truck and tow strap got us out of the sand. Thanks, guys.
But the sand was messing with the ABS system. Time again for Plan B (C?).
We thought we'd better find a car wash and get rid of the grit. We saw a sign for a spray-it-yourself car wash; oops. It had been torn down and was being rebuilt. We needed another Plan B (D?).

Asking directions, we learned the nearest other car wash was up the road a ways in Honor. We went through Benzonia and Beulah, quaint little towns, and found the place. The degritting went as planned, but it was getting dark. We decided to just head home, because there was no way to fight the traffic back to Frankfort.
But as we passed through Beulah on the way back, we saw streams of people heading toward Crystal Lake. Fireworks! Perhaps it was time for yet another Plan B (E?).
We parked a few blocks away from Beulah's waterfront park and found a great spot in the park. We had chairs, a solid tripod and the digital camera, and I taught Robert how to shoot fireworks. Together, we took some of the coolest pyrotechnic images ever.

Robert took the sky images here; I took the sparkler image. More will be posted later.

The whole adventure shows the value of planning, preparation, following through and staying the course. Sorta kinda.

Summer Festival

Kissy Missy and I went to the Mt. Pleasant Summer Festival at Island Park, saw some people, ate some fair food and watched fireworks. The festival has suffered from attendance problems in past years, but this year seemed to have brought out a lot more people than usual.

One of the most remarkable things at this year's festival was called a Dutch fatball -- a flaky pastry, deep-fried, filled with Bavarian creme, chocolate, Dutch apple, cherry or French lemon. A guy named Mike Arsulowicz, from Belmont, sold them.
I'm still playing with video and iMovie, learning some different techniques. Lisa Yanick from the Sun shot some of the video, I shot some of it and did the editing.
We ran into a couple of Robert's friends -- you'll catch them.

... the leaders and best

It was just a regular business-sized envelope, but the big block "M" in the return address got my attention -- maybe more than Andrew's.
It was a simple invitation from the University of Michigan College of Engineering to attend what is frankly a recruiting event.
It's called the Engineering Summer Symposium for Scholars. It's by invitation only to "top high school students like you from Michigan and throughout the country." The Michigan engineering school shows off its stuff. Among other things, the students will let the potential recruits play with Michigan's solar-powered race car.
Andrew plans to attend the Aug. 3 session, which features, among other disciplines, space science. We've always said Andrew's a space cadet ...
Michigan.
Wow.
Hey, Andrew! Can you get me some tickets to the State game?

The electronic litter box

This is just silly. That's all, just silly.



I've been learning to use iMovie. Obviously, I'm dangerous.
But these are more kitty kat pix.

Sophomore Guardie

It was just too much for Robert to have all the fun with the Mt. Pleasant High School marching band -- now his sister's getting in on the action.
She's signed out a band flag for the summer to practice the visual moves that go along with a great band presentation. It's a nylon flag on a 5-foot aluminum pole, and the idea is to synchronize it with the other flags. It's impressive when it works right.
Katherine has been told "If you make it through the second day of Band Camp (in late August) and only say 'I can't do this' twice, and only throw up once, you'll make it."

Someone thinks I know what I'm doing

This is a report from spring semester from my Student Opinion Survey report. Students are asked to grade the instructor. In this survey, 4 is best, 0 is worst. Click on the image for a better look.
This was an 8 a.m. class, by the way.

The Dean's List

Matthew called me tonight, very proud of himself -- and a little surprised. He's on the Dean's List. Matthew's a student at Grand Rapids Community College, preparing for what he hopes will be a degree in law enforcement.
He had soured on college after a semester at Ferris a few years ago, and went to work in the suburbs of Grand Rapids. I can't say anything -- I'm the guy who did college on the Nine-Year Plan, and that seems to have worked out OK.
But Matthew's back at it; funny how it feels unfinished, somehow. He says he worked his tail off, actually studied and got results. The Dean's list -- while working almost full-time.
Way to go, guy.

Concert choir

Friday was the last day of school -- and Katherine received GREAT news!
As a sophomore, she will sing in Mt. Pleasant High School's Concert Choir.
During her freshman year, she was a member of the all-girl, SSA (soprano-1, soprano-2, alto) Clarion Choir.
Now, she'll be singing with the more prestigious SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) Concert Choir.
The Blue Lake choir with which she sang the first year and the International Choir both were SATB choirs.
Way to go, kid.

Robert gets excited

It's kinda hard to tell when it's over.

Here's looking at you

Minden and München (above) continue to grow. They're eating like mad and are full of such an incredible amount of energy.
And clearly, being Siamese cats, they are establishing who is in charge. That's Minden settling in on Kissy Missy's shoulders, while München is content to be cuddled.
That's nights. Mornings, I'm a rugby field. They wake me up about dawn with a full-scale kitty rugby scrum on top of me.
We're used to this.

Bang Your Head

OK, so there's no real reason for this post. Andrew had the camera in the back seat of the minivan. He pointed it toward his siblings. Silliness began. He squeezed off eight frames.
I've been playing with animated GIFs. More silliness ensued.
Don't hurt yourself.

Memorial Day

Mount Pleasant High School Band Director Matt Taton, center, stands in front of Robert and the clarinet section to direct the band at the corner of Main and Broadway for the city's annual Memorial Day observance.

As it does every year, Mt. Pleasant marked Memorial Day with a parade and ceremony downtown.
This was the second year Robert took part as a member of the high school marching band, and the difference in confidence on his part was immense. It's amazing what a year of almost daily practice, intense competition and a trip to the state finals will do for your confidence.

This most recent incarnation of the band -- which includes both seniors and seventh-graders -- sounded good. Perhaps it's just me, but I heard confidence and maturity I don't remember being there last Memorial Day.
The 2007 band will include 11 eighth-graders. Last year, Robert's class, only three, then eventually four eighth-graders were called up to the high school band.

As the old people waved their flags, the veterans marched and remembered their fallen comrades-in-arms. Children for whom places like Iwo Jima and Korea and Vietnam and Afghanistan are only vague mentions in history books ran up and down the sidewalks.
The ceremony concluded with a release of balloons, carrying messages. The message, actually, was very clear.

Marching band video

Here's a link to a recording of the Mt. Pleasant High School band performance at West Bloomfield last fall, narrated with one judge's comments. It's fun to watch.

TeeVee

Katherine decided to tag along with me while I made one of my semi-regular appearances as a talking head on Delta College Public Broadcasting's "Currently Speaking" program last night. I like doing television, even though I'm not pretty -- the only character I can play is the print-media pundit pontificating on politics and pablum.
When we walked into the studio, the crew -- which turned out to be short on volunteers -- asked Katherine if she wanted to run camera. Before she even had a chance to say yes, she was briefed on how to run it and put on Camera 3.



The hour-long broadcast is a live call-in show, with all the pitfalls of live TV. Katherine says she didn't screw up, and discovered how different television looks from behind the scenes as opposed to what shows up on the screen.
Her primary shot was the other guest pundit -- a Michigan State professor she said was "way too tan with teeth that were too perfect."
I've always thought it's more fun to be behind the scenes. Let's just say the commentary on the crew's headsets often is more entertaining than the commentary from the pontificating pundits.

Busy week for overachievers

Man, what a week for the overachieving Ranzenbergers. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to post, but … well, you’ll see.

MONDAY



Andrew is awarded the patch for Life Scout. That’s the rank just below Eagle – and he still has time to earn his Eagle. This is the highest rank in Scouting a Ranzenberger kid has ever achieved.
He’s also been the senior patrol leader of his troop, something I never accomplished. Currently, he holds the position of chaplain aide, a worthy senior leadership position in this values-driven organization.





















TUESDAY:


Robert performs in the West Intermediate spring concert. The eighth-grade band has shown incredible progress, and Robert’s gained great confidence on the clarinet.

WEDNESDAY


Minden just becomes more adorable. Or disturbing. One or the other.

FRIDAY

Robert heads north to Camp Rotary for the Order of the Arrow Mischigonong Lodge spring fellowship. He is to undergo The Ordeal. Meanwhile, Katherine is performing in Collage, which showcases the vocal talent of Mt. Pleasant High School and West Intermediate School students.


Katherine opens the show as one of The Fair Maidens, and later performs a brief solo as part of an ensemble, along with Alex “Wally” Kaminski, left, and others. The two of them were Mt. Pleasant’s contribution to last summer’s Blue Lake International Choir.

SUNDAY


Robert returns from the spring fellowship, a full member of the Order of the Arrow, the Scouts’ National Honor Society.















Then Bryce and Kay, the kids’ grandparents (my ex’s mother and stepfather), come over. It’s their 30th anniversary, and they choose to spend it with us. I photograph them in the back yard; an enlargement of this image is likely to find a place of honor in their home. They’ve been so great to the kids and me over the years, and it was great to see them.
Other than that, I guess we’ve just been goofing off!

Kittens are growing

CAUTION: May cause overload of cute circuits!

Minden and München define the meaning of the word "awwwww."

The kittens have been with us for a little more than a week now, and they're settling in. München had a bit of a urinary infection, but with antibiotics -- which he doesn't object to taking -- he's getting better. He's still a little sleepy, while his younger buddy Minden is everywhere and into everything.

Minden gets ready to pounce

They play hard, chasing each other under the bedskirts, in and out of the litterbox, anywhere they can. They're growing -- and becoming part of us.

Andrew, the college kid

The letter read: Dear Andrew: Congratulations on your acceptance at Central Michigan University.
Andrew, the college kid.
He's been accepted as a dual-enrollment student for his senior year in high school. Mount Pleasant doesn't offer third-year German, so he'll be taking college level German at CMU. Under Michigan law, the school district pays the tuition, which will amount to $753 for the year.
He'll have to take an assessment to determine the level of college class, but it will have to look good on a college admission form that he's dual-enrolling for a foreign language.
Ja. Das is gut!

Katrina's eyes

The family of Marine Master Sgt. Michael Wert, from left, Debbie, Michael, Katrina and Rochelle, accept the flag that covered Master Sgt. Wert's casket at his burial Saturday in Alma.

Katrina Wert's eyes are going to haunt me for a long time.
Katrina Wert is the daughter of Marine Master Sgt. Michael Wert of Alma. Sgt. Wert was given a Marine hero's funeral Saturday in his home town after he died while helping to rescue two boys caught in a rip tide off a beach in North Carolina, where he was stationed.
Katrina also took part in the rescue, taking a boogie board into the water with her, locating them, getting them to hold onto the board, and getting them to shore. She said, in a written essay read at the funeral service, that she thought her father was right behind her, letting her do the lifesaving.
But he wasn't, and she didn't realize that until it was too late.
She got the boys to shore.
Master Sgt. Wert taught his daughter well. The only thing I can think of is that this young woman truly lived up to all the meaning of Semper Fidelis.

Brotherhood, cheerfulness, service

Robert has been selected to join the Order of the Arrow.
The OA is the Boy Scouts' National Honor Society, sort of a group-within-a-group. About 12 percent of Scouts are elected to the Order.
Election to the society is by Scouts overall -- so it is a group whose members are selected by non-members.


The Order of the Arrow has a long and storied history within the Scouting movement. It also features some of the most impressive and meaningful ceremonies in Scouting. The callout ceremony, which is something many Scouts witness at summer camp or elsewhere, is spine-tingling. I'm not letting out any secrets by saying the ceremonies that follow, which are for members only, are even more impressive.
Robert will join his oldest brother, his mother, who was nominated as an adult leader, and me as members of the Order, should he accomplish the Ordeal. Members are not at liberty to divulge all the details of this experience.
But I fully expect him to join us in the Brotherhood of Cheerful Service, WWW.

Minden and München

Minden, age 6 weeks, checks out his new home.



München, age 7 weeks, decides who's in charge.

After Cinnamon's unexpected death, we all took it very hard. The house in Lake Isabella was too quiet, too empty, too sad. Kissy Missy put it this way: "I think I'll just gone home and miss Cinnamon."
The place needed a cat. Two cats, in fact. Two Siamese kittens.
Meet Minden and München.
Minden is the younger of the two, a little smaller, a week younger than München. He's a bit shy at this point, but he's got the kind of resolve behind those blue eyes that just makes things happen.
München is bigger, older, a little tougher, and man, he's loud! He's got a mouth on him that just won't quit! It's hard to believe that all that sound can come out of that little package.
Siamese are vocal cats, and this one, wow, he proves it.


The two were named after the kids' two favorite German cities. Katherine had a great time in Minden with a marvelous host family during her European tour last summer -- and Andrew felt as if he'd come home when he visited Bavaria this spring. Totally appropriate.
(I argued for Zeus and Jupiter. They're Siamese, after all, so they already think they're gods.)
Minden and München are not brothers, but were raised together. We got them from a breeder in Chesaning. The mama cats were friendly and happy, the place was clean and good-smelling, the breeders professional.
To a long, fun life, Minden and München!





Top left: München looks alert as Katherine holds him. Top right: Minden, top, and München race to the litter box. Bottom left: Robert compares his size-10 foot to the tiny kitten.