Walking Before It Turns 85

Kathie, Ali, Lyndsay, Phyllis, Bella and I are doing the 5K Walk for the American Heart Association in the morning. It doesn't start until 9am, so we are hoping it does not get too hot before we finish. Thinking of walking or jogging events in PHX brings places like Northern CA to mind, where it is just a degree or two cooler. So, I played with some photos from our last trip there.

More Cowbell, and More Pineapple

Let's start with another of the singing groups at the Scottish Games last weekend. This is the Muses, but that's not important right now. Check out the girl on the right. They handed her a fake pineapple and told her it was a musical instrument. Poor thing. I certainly wasn't going to tell her. Plus, they didn't tell her to wear a kilt, so she picked out a blue jean skirt. Maybe she just walked up out of the audience?
OK, let's chill for a moment with a bit of nature in Mom's garden. By that, I mean the rose is in the garden, not us chilling.
And now, right back into it. It's been a few posts since a grandchild showed up. Here is Isabella at the Super Bowl party being a cheerleader. Is this what they mean by Head Cheerleader?
We are walking a 5K on Saturday as Team Walker Fam. Lyndsay got some financial backing, but the rest of us did not. I understand, though. Times are tough right now. Anyway, she gets a shirt from the Heart Association for the walk, but we don't. Maybe next year. 

Some Videos from Yesterday's Games

Here is a Pipe and Drum band practicing.

Here is the promised Wicked Tinkers video.

Oh yeah, happy birthday, Mom. 

Drumming Up New Readers

Yup, I used a blatant play on words to drum up readership for my blog. This was a small group of drummers as part of the Tempe Police Pipe and Drum Band. As they marched by, I caught a shot down the line. Kinda cool. There is more, so do not stop reading now.
The Highland Games are now in downtown Phoenix, so we decided to ride the new Metro Light Rail (They wanted to call it the Phoenix Area Rapid Transit, but didn't think that PhART was the best acronym). It took about 45 minutes to get from near us to the Games site. Still, it was kind of fun, and we did not have to fight for downtown parking or drive through the crazy area.
It was horrible. We were enjoying the games, and this one dude got mad at this other dude and threw this giant arrow at him. He valiantly tried to catch it, but alas. OK, maybe this was the caber toss and this dude was trying to turn it. It was an 18-foot pole, weighing 100 pounds. He did not turn it, but then, no one did. The pole several were able to turn was 17 feet and 75 pounds.

We saw several singing groups. The first installment is the Wicked Tinkers (wickedtinkers.com). They had us all moving, and especially the wee ones. Here is some of the closing number from their afternoon set. Enjoy. And come back soon.

OK, video is not uploading tonight. Just imagine how cool they sounded for now. I will try again another day. For now, here's a photo of them.



I'll try and get another post up very soon with more photos and maybe a video of Clandestine (clandestineceltic.com) or one of the pipe bands we saw practicing for their competition. And maybe another photo of my lovely wife. And maybe even a photo of less-than-lovely me.

Oh yes, one more thing before I let you go. The girls are spending the night. We went over to Fiesta Mall and let them play in the kid's area. I hope it wore them out enough that they will sleep all night, even though they are away from their beds tonight. I will let you know.

Aye, Laddie!

Tomorrow is the 45th annual AZ Scottish Gathering and Highland Games here in Phoenix. Well, for us, it is maybe number 15-20. The price is a bit more than when we started attending, but it is not like I do this all the time. One day a year. Sure, we'll go again.

Starting last year, they moved the venue downtown. A bit more inconvenient than Mesa Community College, which is only 3 miles away. Tomorrow, we will take the new Metro Light Rail to the park. We want to try it, and now is a good time.

Zachary, it is my photo of Ouray. Brenda, we hope you can go with us to Ouray sometime, too.

Tomorrow is also special because the girls are spending the night. So, fun all morning and afternoon, then fun again in the evening.

Cool Weather Brings Thoughts of Ouray

So, we are almost up to the cool temperatures from Ouray during the summer. I decided to play with a photo of the trails above Ouray. Of course, who would be there when they could be in Phoenix and going to work every day? Still, I do have a job.

Open Letter to ZKW

Zachary, I have known you for your whole life. In fact, you may not have heard one story about your parents trying to name you. They had decided to use a biblical name and were working on choosing the right one. Of course, names like Nebuchadnezzar and the like just did not seem right. Then they decided to use the name of a book in the Bible. The last one I remember before they chose Zachary was Songo Solomon Walker.

Anyway, I watched you grow from an infant through young adulthood. I saw you as a crazy kid who would try anything, who decided to climb to the top of Cascade Falls in Ouray. I see you now as a parent learning the joys and trials of a little girl. We've kept up with you through schooling, through becoming a Christian, through deciding to become a motorcycler. We've prayed for you in all those times, and all the time. Perhaps not as diligently as Paul and Timothy, but more than Pontius Pilate.

Now, you are making a major life change and joining the armed services. I know that you and Brenda have prayed the heck out of this decision. I think it is a brave choice. I certainly hope your Navy Rating is one that gives both personal and professional satisfaction. I notice they have one for musician, and one for dental technician. Just suggestions.

We love you and your family and pray God's guidance and blessing on you wherever you are placed. Tell Brenda to keep us updated through Blogspot and/or Facebook.

Love, Uncle Randy and Aunt Kathie

The Children's Bible in a Nutshell

Is this real or not? I wasn't sure. Some of the material doesn't seem like a child's comments. Still, I enjoyed it, so I decided to share it.

The Children's Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.

Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.

Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would h ave to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets.

One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to the Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.

He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.