The Stich Family Chronicles

We made this for T-Day 2009

2009-11-30T15:30:00.001-08:00

We didn't follow this recipe as in use this web page; we got it off the side of the can. It was so good, we plan on making it again.

in reference to: Classic Green Bean Casserole (view on Google Sidewiki)

Sunflowers for Renee

2009-07-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Ever since Kyle joined Facebook, this blog has been receiving the updates it should. However, with Renee working out of town and not having a FB account, she doesn't get to see all the cool pics I put up over there.

So, as requested, here are some pics of our massive sunflowers that grew up this Summer 2009.

Too Much "Napoleon Dynamite"?

2009-06-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Stich Bros finally re-enacted the scene from "Napoleon Dynamite" in which Napoleon pulls his brother Kip behind his bike to his first Rexkwando session.

StichBrosRideNapoleonDynamiteStyle – YouTube

Gavyne's Haul of Strawberries - June 2009

2009-06-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Gavyne was sent to harvest all the ripe strawberries in one of our patches and picked so many they were falling from the heap in his hand.

Gavyne's First Jazz Band Only Concert

2009-04-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

Gavyne performed in his first ever Jazz-only concert tonight and it was awesome! One of these days, we'll break down and buy a video camera that can take more than 9 minutes total of footage. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this little videos we put together instead.

Here were the first three songs of the performance, all three performed by the Ashland Middle School Jazz Band.

Harlem Nocturne performed by AMS Jazz Band

Misty performed by AMS Jazz Band

Take Five performed by AMS Jazz Band

Then the Ashland High School Jazz Band performed four songs, before joining the Ashland Middle School Jazz Band for these last two songs...

Malaguena performed by AMS & AHS Jazz Bands

Louie Louie performed by AMS & AHS Jazz Bands

Baylin Levels Up

2009-03-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Baylin for successfully leveling up from purple to green belt.

After one more degree of green, he moves on to the longest of all belt times - brown.

Baylin Levels Up - YouTube

Yay

2009-02-26T16:35:00.000-08:00

I Win

"Life of Pi" review

2009-02-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

I would say this book is a 3/5*'s and this is because the plot line is good but it's a little to descriptive at times and I would suggest it to others.

Chess

2009-02-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

Today I won 2nd in a regional chess tournament. 3 wins 2 lose. It got harder near the end but it was a lot of fun.

Sincerely,
Gavyne Stich

Gavyne Plays "Oye Como Va" with 200 Others

2009-02-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

What: Second Annual Ashland Schools Combined Band Concert
Who: Ashland Middle School, Ashland High School, Southern Oregon University bands
When: 7:30 PM 12 February 2009
Where: SOU Music Hall

Gayvne joined a literal 200 other musicians to play this HUGE band version of Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va." Most of you probably know the Santana's version better.

At the concert, each band took there turns playing solo and with each other. The concert was fun, but the spectator Stichs had chosen to sit in the not ideal lower middle. When we first arrived, we had considered moving up to the upper level for the improved acoustics.

The acoustic weren't that bad in our seats, not as potent as they could be, but not bad. As the concert progressed and the different bands joined, then separated in all sorts of combinations, we wondered how all of the schools were going to fit up on the stage for the encore performance. Then we saw!

All the trombones, French horns, and trumpets lined the center aisle behind the lower seating area. Our choice of seating had paid off in a special way - the notes of wind, brass and percussion clashing and lacing themselves right over our heads. It was a one-of-a-kind experience.

Three notes of trivia:

The Ashland High School band teacher said that they were pretty sure "Oye Como Va" has never been performed by this big of a band before.
Two fellows in there early 60's joined the bands, especially spiffed up in their tuxes. Both stood next to Gavyne, and one told him that he was at the concert where Santana first performed "Oye Como Va."
Somewhat related, the trombone player in Santana's "Smooth" (feat. Rob Thomas) is an Ashland High School graduate.

You can listen to the full song here.

Kyle Checking In

2008-12-18T22:15:00.001-08:00

I'm trying out a social family experiment. You might have noticed that I make the bulk of the posts. Most of me thinks that's because of the inconvenience of remembering where to go, what to sign in with, and so on. So...

The other three have received invitations to author on this blog. All three stay signed in to their Google account for their iGoogle pages, so they'll have one-click access to the blog. Plus, you'll be able to easily tell who made the post.

Who do you think will be the first to check in next?

Gavyne's Gonna Play "Take 5"

2008-12-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

We're out of our minds right now. Gavyne got his jazz band music for the next half of his year. Among the selection is one of the Stich Family's all-time favorite jazz songs. After you watch Dave and his crew play below, imagine it performed as a big band.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet = Take Five (1961) - YouTube

I'm not going to spill the beans yet on the other song he's learning to play for the end of year concert. I will say, though, it's another family favorite. - Kyle

Hey, Luke! Will You Learn to Play "Butterfly" for Ryann?

2008-12-14T12:28:00.000-08:00

While hitting up YouTube for some clips of Bo Diddley in action, we ran across this video tutorial on how to play Dave Matthews sweet little song "Butterfly." We challenge Uncle Luke to learn this song and play it for the latest member of the DAGS clan, Ryann.

Here's the tutorial:

how to play butterfly by dave matthews — YouTube

Here's the scene in "Because of Winn Dixie" in which Otis (Dave Matthews) sings to Opal (AnnaSophia Robb):

Butterfly - Dave Matthews and AnnaSophia Robb — YouTube

Moon and Stars Watermelons - 2008

2008-10-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

Renee
We sure wished you grew so much larger. Next year will give you a healthier start and see how much better you do.

Baylin
These were very sweet but very late. I know now why they have their name.

Gavyne
The watermelons were small and were sweet. When taking a bit, it was very easy.

Kyle
Nothing stands more as a testimonial for how nutrient-poor our soil was as these speckled watermelons. Our biggest one could best be described as "personal sized." We saved the seeds, though, to start new ones next year when the soil will be rich.

String Beans - 2008

2008-10-15T15:23:00.000-07:00

Baylin
I didn't enjoy the texture and flavor, but we got far more than expected.

Renee
We were so excited about our beans. We were told to expect them to go off "crazy." After replanting them 2,3 times they finally grew. Slowly they climbed, and at the last minute beans appeared. Not a feast, but enough for a meal. But, we are not discouraged; more beans will be planted again.

Gavyne
In the beginning, none were growing and at the end, a giant load came out of them. The taste was a basic bean taste.

Kyle
We were told that once they start to grow, string beans will take over. We never experienced this. It was all we could do to get them to climb, let alone turn our bean teepee into a mound of beans. Eaten raw, these Kentucky Wonders were delicious. Cooked, they didn't match expectations. Next year will be better.

Roma Tomatoes - 2008

2008-10-13T00:01:00.000-07:00

Kyle
Aside from the occasional water damage, the Roma tomatoes grew exactly as predicted. Firm, juicy, long and plump.

Renee
You were my favorite to eat. Popping you as easily and readily as the cherry tomatoes. Though your skin is a little thicker, your juices were just as sweet. I'm looking forward to many more of you in the years to come.

Baylin
I never really tasted it by itself, but I think I tasted it in the salsa. I think it had the most water damage.

Gavyne
The tomatoes tasted exactly the same as cherry toms. The only difference is their length.

Mother's Stops Making Cookies

2008-10-12T11:33:00.001-07:00

And now for a break from healthy garden food...
Since 1914, pink and white frosted circus animal cookies have delighted the world. As of Monday, 13 October 2008, the world will lose these whimsical tasty treats. Citing steep increases in raw material costs, Mother's Cookies will cease production of their signature brand.

We miss you already, mama.

Kentucky Wonder String Beans - 2008

2008-10-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Baylin
I didn't enjoy the texture and flavor. But, we got far more than expected.

Renee
We were so excited about our beans. We were told to expect them to go off "crazy." After replanting them 2, 3 times they finally grew. Slowly they climbed and at the last minute, beans appeared. Not a feast but enough for a meal. But, we are not discouraged; more beans will be planted again.

Gavyne
In the beginning, none were growing and at the end, a giant load came out of them. The taste was a basic bean taste.

Kyle
We were told that once they started to grow, string beans would take over. We never experienced this. It was all we could do to get them to climb, let alone turn our bean teepee into a mound of beans. Eaten raw, these Kentucky Wonders were delicious. Cooked, they didn't match expectations. Next year will be better.

Brandywine Tomatoes - 2008

2008-10-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Kyle
I need to research how "Brandywine" got its name. Is it the deformed shape they assume, like a baby born from an alcoholic's womb? Whatever the reason, the Brandywine tomato is saucy! The flavor contains hints of Italian spices. When cut, the tom produces a thick liquid, just one step away from qualifying as tomato sauce. The Brandywine really made our salsa robust.

Renee
You grew so funkily. Every one misshapen. But your taste did, oddly, have an alcoholic flavor. I wonder if that's how you received your name.

Gavyne
They look bad but the taste surprised me. The flavor was sort of bitter and I loved it.

Baylin
These messy, misshapen tomatoes had green spots on some, but it didn't matter to me. These were very sweet.

Beefsteak Tomatoes - 2008

2008-10-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Renee
We expected so much from these 'matos. You were supposed to be HUGE and beefy! But you weren't. Although your flavor was fine and you did suffer some in the beginning due to fertilizer damage (a little garden inexperience), I just can't get over how small you ended up.

Kyle
Talk about disappointment. Expecting these tomatoes to grow into huge orbs, they all stayed small. They had terrific flavor, though. Next year, we'll have to figure out how to feed these beauties so they can achieve their full growth potential.

Baylin
In the beginning, it had a very poor crop from water damage. In the end, we got quite a lot, but we lost most of them to water damage.

Gavyne
The beefsteaks were small and that was disappointing until I heard that other people had the same problem.

Carrots - 2008

2008-10-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Kyle
Not too much excitement to report with this crop. The soil wasn't right for much more than small tidbits. We expected them to be small, since they were Half Danvers. But, these were especially little.

Renee
Probably one of the most disappointing crops. They were given plenty of room and oddly grew in only small patches in that space. Most didn't survive adolescence. Of those that did, some seemed to thrive, but their "root" was tiny. The final carrots, although tasty, were small in size and quantity.

Gavyne
The vegetable was small but a powerful carrot taste.

Baylin
All the carrots were small and pretty sweet, too. There were so many rocks that most had multiple ends.

Strawberries - 2008

2008-10-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

Gavyne
Delectable red berries. The sweetness of the berry consumes you when you eat it.

Renee
You were discovered curiously in a moss patch under the cherry tree With love and care, you were divided and replanted to grow and flourish, which is just what you did. There were a few scares at first, including mutated fruit. But now, you're strong with sweet, bountiful berries.

Kyle
Misshapen and sparse at the start of Summer, these strawberries are in their prime right now. Perhaps they needed some time to acclimate, but I was always told strawberries are a June fruit, not year-round. You have to eat these morsels right away or they turn to mush. Next year, we build a huge patch around the base of the towering Ponderosa pine.

Baylin
They were sweet but small. I'm sad that we lost most of them to the critters.

Cherry Tomatoes - 2008

2008-10-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

Renee
Everyone was excited for these quick pick, quick snack, sweet little red treats. Two were even potted and adorned our doorway. Each boy claimed their very own plant to pick.

Kyle
What can you say about the cherry tomatoes except, "Nature makes the best fruit snacks." Not one of these marble-sized morsels made it into a salad. Graze, graze, graze won't the Stich Family!

Gavyne
Cherry tomatoes are a wonderful bite-sized food. They're juicy and explode in your mouth after you take a bite.

Baylin
The flavor was average, but it had a nice taste. The harvest was very plentiful.

Ground Cherries - 2008

2008-10-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

Renee
This renegade of the pepper patch quickly outgrew its hot and spicy neighbors. Beautiful to watch grow and bloom, however not one for straight picking and eating. Great addition to salsa. Will grow again in center of melon patch for aesthetics.

Kyle
This had to be the surprise hit of the year for me. It grew quick among the hot peppers and put off some of the tastiest sweet tomatillos you ever sampled. The blend of flavors was indescribable, unlike anything I've ever tasted.

Baylin
I hated it. The flavor was bad and I didn't like the texture.

Gavyne
I didn't like it, because it was still sticky and left a bad taste in my mouth when eating it and after.

Dark Prince Tomatoes - 2008

2008-10-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Baylin
I loved it! It was my favorite out of the whole bunch and I hope we grow them next year.

Kyle
If you weren't told the name of this tomato beforehand, you would think the Dark Prince is rotten. On the contrary, the almost black meat is the sweetest of all our tomatoes. And, it makes for an exotic lookin' and great tastin' salsa!

Renee
You displayed your "dark prince" appearance early on, black almost at the stalk. And you amazed us as your fruit colors unfolded, so different than all the rest. But the most memorable will be your sweetness.

Gavyne
Addicting, juicy, new!

Trombone Players Are Hot!

2008-10-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

While looking for videos of people playing Super Mario Bros on trombone, we ran across The Beach Trombones Babes.

Gavyne pleaded with us to not post this YouTube video, but we did it anyway.

"Trombone Talk - Beach Trombones Babes" - YouTube

And I bet you thought the sax was the sexy instrument.

Sweet Corn - 2008

2008-10-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

Baylin
I liked it but I was sad of the small crop.

Gavyne
I loved it because of the good-sized pieces and I want more.

Renee
I was hesitant with you at first. You're so specific with your rows and columns. But watching you grow, so tall each day, you touched my heart, and rewarded me in so many ways. Your place in our garden will always be here.

Kyle
Although we had a small crop and the last few years looked like an eight-year-old's smile, this crop was sweet and tender yet firm.

2008 Stich Garden Reviews Begin

2008-10-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

Now that fall has swooped upon us, we have sampled every berry, fruit, and vegetable from our garden.

Kyle says, "Overall, the garden could have been much better. Our soil severely lacks any form of nutrition, not to mention all the trash we found buried among the roots — bent and rusted nails; broken ceramic and intact marble tiles; mailbox doors and even decomposed bags of garbage."

After speaking further with a friend who owns a nursery, Renee presented the idea of creating our own topsoil. We are going to build up beds and fill them half with bark mulch and half with manure. Over the winter, the materials will decompose into one soil after turned with the soil below.

"This way we can add some breathing room for the roots in our clay heavy dirt," says Renee.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will post our review of each item we grew in our garden this 2008. Enjoy!

Gavyne's "Minus 148 Book" Report

2008-08-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Gavyne Stich
Book Report

Minus 148°

Minus 148° is a book by Art Davidson and tells of him and other people in his group that climbed up McKinley in the winter. The group consisted of Art, Shiro, Gregg, Dave, Ray (Pirate), John, Farine, and George. The group suffers extreme hardships and relaxing peaceful moments when climbing.
When Art first wanted to go up McKinley, he knew he had to have a team to go up the mountain so he tried to gather as many strong people as he could. First, he started asking climbers he knew and thought would want go and they all declined after that Art thought of Gregg, his old friend, plus he may attract more people to join, Gregg agreed as long as Art could gather a good team. Over a year or so, Art gathered the rest of the group and they went to a lab that researches the strength at the beginning and end of the climb to see if they were fit to go on the expedition. Past a month or so, they started up McKinley with all their gear.
The gang started heading upward happily, stopping at each beautiful spot to let Art take a picture. When hiking through a crevasse field, everyone was un-roped and not scared, so any one could have fallen into the crevasses. When Art was close to camp, his arms were tired so he pulled his belly strap and started walking toward camp alone. All of a sudden he fell into a crevasse and his backpack saved him from dying. Later when one of the last two people approached everyone knew that Farine was gone and went to look for him. As they approached the crevasse, Art fell in, Art realizes it’s connected to the one he fell in and suddenly feels bad for not guarding the crevasse. When they pulled Farine’s body out he was dead therefore they took it to a plane and it sent him away with Pirate.
Once Pirate returned, the group hurried up the mountain. Several people got frostbitten when they built a cave. Only three people could go up and the others needed to stay just in case anything happens. There was a lot of discussion about who was going, and finally it was Art, Dave, and Pirate because they were the strongest. The next day they make it to the summit and when they decide to sleep outside instead of going to camp, they get caught in a storm of strong wind and almost die from dehydration and they finally make it out and back home.
Once getting home, they got harassed by the press and finally saw each other since the summit. After the invasion, they made it back to the research lab and it turns out they turned out to be worse then they started. They get back to their normal lives. All of them besides Pirate still live today.
The end of the book was relieving, like I was on the mountain myself and experiencing their adventure. I had a fun time reading this book and would suggest it to other people. This book is probably one of my favorites right now and I will probably read it again during 7th grade. If I had to choose between Tom Sawyer, this is definitely it.

Baylin's Book Report — Tom Sawyer

2008-08-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Baylin Stich
Reading
8/9/08

Tom Sawyer
By Mark Twain

Tom Sawyer is about, many mischievous adventures of a boy. There are the pranks, there’s the adventure, there’s the fun. Tom Sawyer can be mean, but he can be affectionate too.

Tom’s mother died giving birth to him so he was sent to live with his aunt and her son Sid. Sid is a mean tattle teller who likes telling on Tom. Aunt Polly is a loving, caring person who can’t bring herself to hit Tom.

One day, Tom is told to white wash the fence but doesn’t want to and think up a mischievous plan to trick people to do it while they pay him. By making it look interesting he manipulates people to pay him to work there selves. At first he only gets one person but then every boy that walks by becomes interested.

On his way home Tom sees a girl and instantly falls in love. The next day he finds out her name’s Becky. She is a blond haired girl with a pretty face. One day tom sees her again and she is the daughter of a judge. There last name is Thatcher.

The next day Tom talks to Huckleberry Fin about removing warts and Huck is going to try out a way, at the graveyard, and Tom Sais he’ll join him that night. When they go, around midnight, they’ve almost gotten to the right grave when they see three people walking to the same grave. They hide behind a clump of trees. They see its Injun Joe, a doctor, and Muff Potter a drunk. When they do what they want to do they tell the doctor to something else. They get in a fight and the doctor hits Muff and Joe stabs the doctor.

The next day somebody finds the body and tells every one that Muff’s knife is next to the body. They find Muff and put him in jail. A few days later Tom wants to be a pirate and runs away with Huck and Joe Harper to Jackson’s Island. They get there around 2:00 a.m. and go to sleep. They liked the next few days, and then there was a storm that barely survived. Tom goes out to his home one night and hides under a bed that was in front of the door. He hears about there funeral and gets an idea. The day before their funeral Huck and Joe start leaving right before Tom tells them how he plans to appear at their funeral. The next day they appear during their funeral they walk in surprising everyone.
There’s a trial about the murder that happened in the graveyard at the same time Huck and Tom were there. At first poor Muff Potter was taking all the blame when suddenly Tom was called up to the stand. He told everything that happened that night but when he told who the killer was Injun Joe he jumped out the window.

Days later Tom goes into a stage of life were he wants treasure and gets Huck into helping him. They start out digging beneath dead trees. The next day they go into a “haunted” house but see two people coming and run up stairs. While looking through holes in the floor they see Injun Joe and the “deaf and dumb” Spaniard walk in and talk about a revenge job. Injun Joe start digging to bury some six hundred dollars when the Spaniard finds tools Tom and Huck left there. Joe gets suspicious and he just found lots of gold. The tools have fresh dirt on it. They leave quickly with the money.

There’s a picnic and a group of people went to a cave. In the cave Tom and Becky split up from the rest of the group and go exploring. A few days later, while Becky was asleep, Tom goes out to explore and sees a light! He goes and wakes Becky and brings her to the light and some sailors were going by so they bring Tom and Becky home.

When they get out Tom tells Huck there’s the treasure that they’ve bin looking for, in the cave. Tom is going to give Huck all of his stuff if it isn’t there, but he knows it is. They get all their stuff together and leave getting there around 2:00 PM. They find the hole and go in. They go to a spot Tom went to and saw something he hadn’t before. It is a large stone with a cross on it so they go down. They see a patted down spot and dig and find a natural tunnel. They go down and find the gold! They carry it to the Welshman’s house. He comes out and was also heading to the widows house and carries it up. They go in the house and find out there’s a party going on. The widow announces she’s going to start tacking care of Huck.

They get rich but Huck doesn’t like it all fancy. The widow is making him ware nice close and other stuff he can’t stand so he sneaks away. Tom looks for him and finds him. He talks about how he’s still going to be a thief and how Huck can’t join if he doesn’t have good manners.

This book just ends like this; it’s weird isn’t it? I would give it a nine, wouldn’t you? It’s exiting all about adventure and it’s cool. If you like old adventure books Tom Sawyer is the one.

Summer School - Week #7

2008-07-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody this is the Stich Bros. Baylin's Birthday was a blast and Baylin's going to tell you about it.
Monday - July 21, 2008
Baylin Birthday Party

Tuesday - July 22, 2008
PL (Pokemon league) and Baylin Birthday

Wednesday - July 23, 2008
11:35 - 12:35: Social Studies/Math Word Problem and Posting it
2:14 - 4:14: LA - Aux Verbs
4:42 - 5:42: Reading
6:30:7:00: Journal

Thursday - July 24, 2008
12:30 - Walking Renee - 4:15: Social Studies- Finishing President Book

Friday - July 25, 2008
No Data

Baylin's Favorite Journal Entry
7/23/08

The 22 of July was my b-day. My guest Bohdi Tracy. On the 21^st we picked him up to see the movie Hell boy 2: The Golden Army. It was a blast but that night was even more fun.

When we got home we were on the S of the D variety for a while but then got of. After DS we opened la presents. I got the fourth audition D-n-D Players handbook and monster manual, an awesome Pokémon deck that’s a mixture of psychic and leaf Pokémon, two babyish looking gargoyles, and a half a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

Gavyne's Favorite Journal Entry
7/?/09

Chapter 1
"The town of fuzzy bottoms"

As I look around I see a fuzzy lump with a opening that could fit chipmunks. I approach the opening and I see a whole townwith a fuzz coating and a chipmunk comes running or scampering whichever one and he says to me "welcome new comer to the town of fuzzy bottoms home of chipmunks and fuzz."

I try to talk like a chipmunk by saying "squeak."

In replie the chipmunk says "don't talk like your outside, talk normal." I look confused and he says "lets take you to a hotel so you can rest.

Baylin's Book Report — Minus 148 Degrees

2008-07-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

Minus 148 Degrees by Art Davidson

Minus 148 Degrees is about a man who wants to explore new places, so he climbs Denali (Mt. McKinley) in the winter. After a few months, a group of eight comes together. Shiro Nieoshimae, Art Davidson, Jacques “Farine” Batkin, George Wichman, Dave Johnston, Gregg Blomberg, John Edwards, and Ray “Pirate” Genet — this is the fearless group of individuals. After they get checked up and get their supplies, they fly out on a plane that’s flown by Art’s good friend.

Since they go in a few flights, Art and Shiro comes last. Pirate escorts them to the camp. The next day is nice and sunny, but long. After a while, Art puts on his stomach strap which holds some weight of your back. Not much later he falls into a crevasse. His stomach strap barely holds him until he can maneuver out. He gets to the camp to two people heading toward the camp, only one got to the camp. They learn that the other person was looking down a crevasse calling for Farine, but there was no response. Farine is dead.

One person died on the first day, but they have to go on. The next day a blizzard started that last five days. Pirate went to Anchorage to tell the authorities about Farine’s death. During the storm, the rest of the group builds a complex of igloos they called an “iglooplex.” After making the iglooplex, they mostly eat and sleep. They go to climb some ice once Pirate returns. Everyone was tired except Pirate, who’s strong from his trip. It takes about two days to haul all their stuff to the next stop at 17,200 feet.

When they reach camp, Art is feeling delirious. This forces him to go back down and then come back up the next day. Since Art is by himself, he finds out that they aren’t there. He climbs by himself. As he gets to the top of some ice, he spots them coming out of the clouds. They go down to the camp as a group.

A few people want to go to make the final push to the summit, but they don’t have enough gear for another night. They choose Art, Pirate, and Dave to go. The next morning, the clouds clear, and they get to the summit at about 5:00 PM. Falling asleep around 10:00 PM, they wake to a raging wind storm. Their feet suffer major frost-bite in the wind storm that lasts eight days. About halfway through, dehydration starts to effect them.

Two days later, Pirate searches for some gas. He comes back in about a half an hour – successful. When the storm dies down, they climb all the way down to 14,400 feet. The next day, they get into a big talk with an airplane, but in the end, they are picked up by a helicopter. When they went return to Anchorage, everybody spends at least two weeks in the hospital.

Movie Math Problem — The Big Lebowski

2008-07-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Kyle gave us a word problem that's near and dear to him. We figured it out, but we're not going to post the answer until we hear back from some of you. Here's the problem; can you figure it out?

How many times would you have to watch the The Big Lebowski to make the total time of watch "on the hour"? Total Runtime = 117 minutes...

...Now the revealing of the answer is that you have to watch it forty times which equals 78hrs. and that would be 3 and 1/4 days. Our family sure doesn't want to watch it that many times, would you?

Backpacking The Siskiyou Crest

2008-07-18T21:11:00.001-07:00

Here's the movie we put together of our backpacking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail. We traveled almost all the way by Jeep to the Wrangle Gap trailhead, walked the remaining distance of the road, and looped back around to the PCT.

To read "Kyle's Special Journal Entry," click here.

And now, The Stich Family Chronicles is proud to present "Backpacking The Siskiyou Crest."

Backpacking The Siskiyou Crest — YouTube

Summer School - Week #6

2008-07-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody this is the Stich Bros. More of our stories, less school and a special entry from Gavyne.

Monday - July 14, 2008
Lice inspection/Cleanup

Tuesday - July 15, 2008
See Special Entry

Wednesday - July 16, 2008
11:00 - 12:30: LA - Modifiers
1:10 - 2:15: Social Studies - Notable Nominating Conventions

Thursday - July 17, 2008
9:45 - 10:57: Social Studies- Campains
10:58 - 11:46: LA - Subjects and Verbs
12:49 - 1:49: Reading
2:46 - 3:39: Math - Test 2
4:17 - Dinner - 5:23: Journal

Friday - July 18, 2008
10:30 - 12:00: SS
12:00 - 12:20: Lunch
12:20 - 1:00: LA-Nouns and Verbs
2:45 - 3:45: Reading
4:26 - 4:56: Journal

Baylin's Favorite Journal Entry
7/?/08
The Flayer
"Hwaaa" he yawned"Good morning!"
He looks around, he doesn't know were he is, he's in a cave that's for sure. He looks around he doesn't see anything except for some weapons,"hmm thats strange this doesn't seem like home" he says"and I don't feel like me."

He gets up and notices he's not waring his P.J.s and nothing here's his. He leaves the stuff there and goes out of the cave to see he's in a forest"this is defenantly not home.".....

Gavyne's Special Entry
7/15/08

During Tuesday we went to Pokemon League a place in the university were anybody comes and plays Pokemon. When we got up we kept nagging Renee if we could go and she said we needed to ask Kyle so we did. He replies thoughtfully yes and we called our friend Body's mom excitedly and she said we could get a ride there from her and get dropped off with another mom. Quickly me and Baylin pack our stuff and go to Body's house anxiously.

When getting there we find Body playing DS "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team." after a little while headed off to the mom that was going to drop us off and picked up her kid then headed toward the university. When getting there Body led us triumphantly toward the League room and there started our adventures as noobs.

First we got a card with a gym leader on it and we start battling to get a badge. In the middle of the fighting the DS battles started and it was intense and me and Baylin wanted to bring our game there to battle but were waiting till next week. When we ended our battles I had one more point then Baylin and we then left home. The whole thing was 12:00 to 5:00 so it was fun.

Gavyne's Book Report - Tom Sawyer

2008-07-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

Gavyne Stich
July 2, 2008
Reading

Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer shows the reader an interesting life of a boy in the 1800s and describes everything from the village to the graveyards. The different adventures Tom has, changes the plot line a lot. The only difficult thing about reading this book is figuring out the slang. Love, Pirates and more are found in this signature Mark Twain book.

Tom Sawyer is a lad that loves to pull pranks on people, has a vast imagination, and is very mischievous. Once Tom was born, his mother died and he got sent to his guardian (his aunt Polly.) Tom’s pranks aren’t pranks but things to get out of work, like him getting out of whitewashing a fence. Making kids think it’s so great that they have to pay for it.

When mentioning what he does on Saturday is that he and Joe Harper (his best friend) become worst enemies and fight with other children against each other. After they finished fighting, they mentioned a new girl in Tom’s old girlfriend’s house. He falls in love with her instantly. Later on, he breaks her heart twice by first making her think that she’s his first love and another time when Tom ignores her, then loved him twice and they have an on-and-off relationship.

When Tom and Huck were testing a way to get of warts in a graveyard and they notice a murder deep in the horrid place and swear not to tell anyone because they were scared that they might die. Until a court trial came where they told the judge and Injun Joe (the murder) ran away before he could get caught. Later Huck and Tom find Injun Joe at a haunted house and listened from a closet upstairs Injun say that he would be in number two. The murderer and his friend then ran of with a box full of gold. They explore the area that they guessed he was at and he was there. But the next time they checked he was gone. Huck swears that he’ll watch the murderer at all costs. While Hucks watching, he notices Injun and his friend and follows them to some bushes in front of a widow’s house. He over hears the two man gang talk about killing the widow. Frightened he goes and tells a family of strong men and the family chases them away. Later, when Becky (Tom’s girlfriend) and Tom get lost in a cave, Tom’s trying to find ways out of the cavern he sees Injun Joe for a brief second until hearing Tom’s voice echo through the desolate rock, then he disappears around a corner quickly.

After Tom and Becky were found, and brought back to civilization, Tom finds out Huck’s sick. So he waits until he can see him to tell him something he put together about the box of gold. Tom tells Huck about the idea he put together, so they explore the place Tom said. Finding the treasure in the area Tom thought it was they become the richest people in town, and all the adults tax them.

In his adventures he runs away with two friends Huckleberry Finn and Joe Harper to an island on the Mississippi river on a wooden raft. When they landed on Jackson Island, they had high hopes which got terminated as time went by. After about a month, they return to their funeral, and they all get loved by families and friends.

This book was a great novel that kept my interests up through the whole thing. All the adventures were new and kept the momentum up at a good pace. The ending was Tom helping Huck become his friend again and was brought back to civilization. I think if Mark Twain added a couple more adventures and more of Tom’s adult life.

One Year Later...

2008-07-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

After much ado, Kyle finally did it. He managed to get our Alaska-visit part of our 2007 photo review. "There are still a couple rough spots, but at least I was able to save this movie file."

Enjoy this two-part second part of the 2007 Stich Family Photo Review.

The Last Frontier Part I — YouTube

The Last Frontier Part II — YouTube

Summer School - Week #5

2008-07-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody this is the Stich Bros. Our journal entries are the introduction to our fantasy stories were making and were always trying to add more so be patient for the rest of it.

Monday - July 7, 2008
No Data

Tuesday - July 8, 2008
2:30 - 3:30: Math Test
3:30 - 4:00: Social Studies - Conventions
4:30 - 5:30: Reading

Wednesday - July 9, 2008
11:12 - 12:36: Social Studies - the Events
4:12 - 5:27: LA - Subjects and Predicates

Thursday - July 10, 2008
10:50 - 11:53: LA - Simple Subjects and Simple Predicates
2:05 - 2:55: Social Studies- Notable Nominating Convention
3:00 - 4:20: Math - Simple Algebra

Friday - July 11, 2008
12:40 - 2:30: LA -Parts of Speech

Baylin's Favorite Journal Entry
7/8/08

Once upon a time there was a boy who's mind was always in fantasy and he's a D-n-D player who's a 9th level mindflayer sorcerer dragon disciple and school just got out. That night when he geos to sleep he's in the dream of his life.

Gavyne's Favorite Journal Entry
7/8/08

Once upon a time I was walking past a bleeding willow and I hear a small squeaking coming from inside a hole on the side of the willow. As soon as I look inside a small hand touched me and I shrunk to the size of a chipmunk and landed in the hole. It seemed like there was a bottom but that was just an illusion and I fall downward without any stop. As plummeting I look at myself, I'm a orange fuzzy squirrel but I can my cheeks out to the size of two walnuts. Quickly I think what I could be and I look at a strange thing coming out of my tail bone and it has the coloring of a chipmunk. after I figure this out I hit a soft surface.

A Glimpse Into the Stich Bros' Summer School

2008-07-09T13:22:00.001-07:00

Doesn't seem like it's all that bad to me! This was day one after switching books. The temp outside was a mere 102 degrees farenheit. — Kyle

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
Below is a quick video I put together of Ashland's 4th of July parade. This was the first year that either of the boys have marched in the parade. Baylin was stoked that Gavyne's band teacher invited younger siblings to carry banners and flags. They made their tie-dyes with most of the rest of the band on Wednesday. Pretty styling duds, huh?

Sing, Sing, Sing! — YouTube

Summer School - Week #4

2008-07-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody this is the Stich Bros. This week was fun and enjoyable especially on the 4th of July.

Monday - June 30, 2008
1:28 - 2:54: Presidents - Democrats and Republicans
2:54 - 3:08: LA - Test 1
3:08 - 3:26: Math - Algebra
4:00 - 5:00: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"
5:00 - 5:30: Journal

Tuesday - July 1, 2008
No School, Shopping Spree

Wednesday - July 2, 2008
11:10 - 12:20: Gavyne Summary of "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"
12:20 - 1:30: Math- Algebra
3:30 - 3:50: LA - Test Grading
3:50 - 4:30: Social Studies - Long Road to Victory
4:30 - 5:00: Journal

Thursday - July 3, 2008
12:30 - 1:30: LA, Sentences
2:00 - 3:00: Gavyne Summary of "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"
3:00 - 4:20: Social Studies - Presidential Primaries
4:20 - 4:50: Journal

Friday - July 4, 2008
Holiday no School

Baylin's Favorite Journal Entry
7/3/08

Today we (me and Gavyne) took our tye-dyed shirts out of the bags they were in took of some rubber bands washed out the extra dye from it and hung it out to dry. We both have interesting designs on them. Take Gavyne's for instance, he has an almost totally red side. Mine has a yellow corner Gavyne say's looks like a sun.
These shirts are for the 4th of July parade. Gavyne is a trombonist and me and Jackson Richmond are the front banner carriers. I'm on the right side, he's on the left. Teirs one flag carrier who's Jackson's brother Parker.
I hope the 4th is fun.

Gavyne's Favorite Journal Entry
7/2/08

I got an action replay yesterday which is a cheat packet for the DS. When I tested it it had every DS game that we have and more all full of cheats. When we got stuff at Wal-Mart Renee got us Spore Creature Creator that's practically a starters set of Spore. The things you do in it are create creatures that you could create on Spore so you can practice on. On the action replay I still have to download more cheats onto it using a disc that holds all the cheats available and the only way to connect it to the computer is with a USB cord. The only games that I've tried out are Pokemon and Transformers. I'm hopping that I can test out new games and get new cheats soon.

Summer School - Week #3

2008-06-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody this is the Stich Bros. This week was exhausting and relaxing from our backpacking adventure, so we didn't do much school work.

Monday - June 23, 2008
Backpacking trip. Wrangle Gap to Grouse Gap Shelter, Pacific Crest Trail 10 miles.

Tuesday - June 24, 2008
Backpacking trip. Grouse Gap Shelter to Toll Road Gap, Pacific Crest Trail 12 miles.

Wednesday - June 25, 2008
No school, recovering.

Thursday - June 26, 2008
9:50 - 12:oo: Language Arts, Synonyms
1:30 - 2:30: presidents, Women's Suffrage
2:45 - 3:45: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"

Friday - June 27, 2008
Gavyne trombone.
Gavyne at birthday party.
Baylin read "Minus 148 Degrees"

Baylin's Favorite Journal Entry
No journal this week, blog journal.

Our trip was fun but really exhausting. The first day killed my feet(literately my big toes.). The second day since Gavyne brought two pairs of shoes I wore his sandles , and that kept me in front. I was exhausted at the end but still in front but when I saw the car that gave a bolt of energy. And then we came home.

Gavyne's Favorite Journal Entry
No journal this week, blog journal.

The backpacking venture was exhausting and beautiful. When we got to camp, me and Baylin found the perfect spot to put up our tents so we called Renee and Kyle and showed them. When we set up camp we had a fabulous homemade pizza cooked by the humongous fire we built. On our that stretch we were victims of heat exhaustion until we saw the car and headed home briskly.

Kyle's Special Journal Entry
I had promised the boys at least one camping trip a month this summer. With the recent decrease in our total income, though, we didn't have much money to plan anything elaborate. That's when I flashed to an overnight backpacking trip. After all, we have tons of trails just outside our door. In addition, Renee and I had always planned to inject a love for backpacking in the boys.

I visited my friend Robert Casserly for some tips on good trails to hike. He's the type who throws on a pack and disappears in the hills for a few weeks. Initially, I had imagined us getting dropped off at the top of Mt. Ashland, where would hike right to our front door. However, the maps revealed a problem with that plan: The trail was in the watershed where camping is forbidden. That's when Robert showed me the stretch of PCT that travels along the south facing side of the Siskiyou Crest.

Our friend Lisa drove us as close to the Wrangle Gap trailhead as she could in her Jeep, but we encountered a formidable snow berm (larger than the Jeep). So, we hiked down the road a few miles, had lunch with the butterflies then doubled back to start the PCT. That's when I flashed to the massive symbolic power of this trip.

The PCT was the thing that changed my life forever! It's what brought me to the Lower 48 with the love of my life, to start a family. I'm giving it about a year, but I think the PCT symbol will be my first ever tattoo, placing it right over my heart.

Back to the trail. the first day was a slow gradual uphill toward the Mt. Ashland summit. We didn't encounter a single soul. The views, the lay of the land, the vegetation - it changed with each bend in the trail. From tall pines and needle laden paths to barren scrub saddles with patches of snow, to lush run-off creek areas. The second day, although hotter, presented the same rapid changes.

When we arrived at Grouse Gap Shelter, a group of people were using the shelter for a high-falutin' picnic complete with a personal chef, linen and crystal wine glasses. While waiting for them to move on, we nestled into a spot among some boulders. It didn't take the fancy pants long to depart, as we rested in our distant tents. Then it was time to start a fire.

Renee is our fire pro, and she soon had the fire blazing. After building up the coals nice and hot, we cooked pizzas on a perfectly sized flat rock that was in the pit. We made the pizzas with flat bread, sauce, slices of cheddar and pepperoni. We're still craving those scrumptious creations.

The night was chilly, around the high 30's, but we stayed nice and cozy in our bags. The boys woke way too early, but moved their giggling over to the shelter so Renee and I could sleep 'til a paltry 7:00 am. It took us a couple hours to get going. We were all sore, but not nearly as bad as we predicted. Luckily, Gavyne brought shoes with him. He and I hiked the first day in sandals. Baylin, on the other hand, hiked in his boots without having trimmed his nails first. The result was some pain. He tightened down Gavyne's sandals and we were good to go.

This next day's hike started out pretty awesome, nice level terrain, lots of streams, and even quicker changes in scenery. We made it to the back side of Mt. Ashland in under an hour. That's when we encountered a line of about 30 4H kids hiking up the hill. But they were about it. As soon as we crossed the Mt. Ashland Access road, we didn't see anyone.

The hike was grueling as we descended. No, it wasn't all downhill. In fact, there was a crazy amount of uphill. However, each drop in elevation brought greater heat. Spirits started to drop, and I probably pushed everyone too hard. But, each time I stopped made it that much more difficult to resume. Finally, we heard the roar of the freeway growing louder and knew our car would be right around the bend. Hobbling around one last corner, we collapsed in the shade before riding the I-5 to our abode.

Would we do it again? Hey yeah! The boys even started talking about wanting to do the entire trail, from Mexico to Canada straight through. I'm psyched that the boys loved it so much, and that Renee was beyond willing to go. We just need another week for our calves to stop aching.

Watch for the video here.

Summer School - Week #2

2008-06-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody this is the Stich Bros. giving you an annual weekly schedule and one journal of the week from each of us.

Monday - June 16, 2008
10:25 - 11:10: Language Arts, Contractions
11:10 - 12:10: Social Studies, Electoral Votes
12:10 - 12:20: Math,Order of Operations
1:15 - 2:15: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"

Tuesday - June 17, 2008
Friend over no School Work

Wednesday - June 18, 2008
12:45 - 12:50: Math, Order of Operations
1:45 - 2:15: Language Arts, Compounds
4:30 - 5:30: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"
6:00 - 6:20: Journal

Thursday - June 19, 2008
10:00 - 10:55: Social Studies, Who Can Vote
11:45 - 12:20: Language Arts, Prefixes
4:00 - 5:00: Math, Algebra

Friday - June 20, 2008
Summer Solstice no School Work

Baylin's Favorite Journal Entry
June 18 2008

I'm writing about the garden. First of all there's a tomato on one of the tomato plants; oh and our sunflowers are doing great. Our corn is about 1' 6" at the least and as usual our melons are doing great but I don't think we'll get any beans. We're going to get a massive load of blackberries, I mean MASSIVE. Our peppers and cucumbers are doing good and our strawberries are doing really; our cherry's more massive then our blackberries and our rhubarb doing good. Well that about sums it up, I just hope we get at least one cucumber.

Gavyne's Favorite Journal Entry
June 18 2008

Dear Journal,

Visual Boy is a Gameboy emulator and my brothers addicted to it. First I got several test games and they didn't work so I experimented with Lego Star Wars and it worked. Baylin was asleep at that time and when he woke up I told him and he started playing on it. The next time I got a game downloaded it didn't work so I deleted it then got a game called Fire Emblem to work and Baylin's addicted to it and is trying to play it all the time since he started playing.

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale..."

2008-06-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a little mashup I threw together with Photoshop:

Summer School - Week #1

2008-06-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody this is the Stich Bros. giving you an annual weekly schedule and one journal of the week from each of us. We'll be doing this every Friday. One thing not listed is trombone for 20 minutes everyday. Gavyne does that.

Monday - June 9, 2008
10:00 - 11:00: Math, Order of operations
11:00 - 11:40: Language Arts, Synonyms and Antonyms
5:30 - 6:30: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"

Tuesday - June 10, 2008
1:00 - 2:00: Social Studies, President Elections
2:30 - 3:30: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"
3:40 - 4:00: Journal

Wednesday - June 11, 2008
10:00 - 11:00: Language Arts, Homonyms Homographs
12:00 - 1:00: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"
2:00 - 2:55: Social Studies, Presidents "Introducing Presidential Elections"
4:00 -5:00: Math, Algebra, Order of Operations
5:22 - 5:42: Journal

Thursday - June 12, 2008
10:00 - 10:30: Language Arts, Prefixes
10:30 - 11:15: Math, Order of operations
1:15 - 3:06: Social Studies, Presidents "Our Constitution Defines the Presidency"
3:30 - 4:30: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"
4:30 - 4:50: Journal

Friday - June 13, 2008
10:40 - 11:00: Language Arts, Suffixes
11:25 - 12:25: Math, Algebra, Order of operations
12:25 - 1:00: Social Studies, Presidents "The Electoral College"
2:45 - 2:55: Journal
4:30 - 6:30: Reading, Gavyne "Tom Sawyer" / Baylin "Minus 148 Degrees"

Baylin's Favorite Journal Entry
June 10, 2008

Today we tried out for a short film directed by one of my friend's dad.

The leads are three boys (Kyle, Devan, and Zack) and two girls (Molly and Sarah). The movie starts out with the kids going to the library and they get ice cream. While they're getting ice cream they're talking about going to middle school and how it's going to be weird.When they're going to the park after they eat their ice cream ,Molly tells them that she's moving. Zack's like "That's cool,"and Kyle's like mad and tearing "Shut Up!" because he likes her.

The rest I don't know except at about the end Molly kisses kyle.

There's a feeling inside of me that makes me want to be Kyle. I hope I get the part.

Also my parents tried out for the adult parts.

The movie is called "Chocolate, Chocolate Chip."It's about getting ice cream.

Gavyne's Favorite Journal Entry
June, 13, 2008

Dear journal,

This week was surprisingly quick and I learned about the different stages in an election. Other things I already knew about we reviewed on like algebra and antonyms but I forgot some stuff from each subject especially language arts. I'm also reading Tom Sawyer, in the book are exciting scenes and boring scenes but all of the scenes aren't addicting but it's fun. So far I'm gaining more people for the Gav Cam crew and I'm almost ready for the next episode (but not with my brothers camera this time.) On trombone I'm finding out notes for songs like "Taps" and others all by myself. I'm hoping my next week could be the same.

Attack of the Tomato Spiders

2008-05-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

Silent and productive, the elusive tomato spider weaves its web that seems to serve only the plant. Done in the style of modern silent horror film producer, Antonioniani Bertolucciczki.

Purple Belt Test

2008-05-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Hi my name is Baylin and I'm going to tell you about my purple belt test in shotagon karate. The test was serious and tough and I got to break a 1in. thick board and I was first in the class besides the teachers'. I got to pick how to try and break it. I hesitated when I was about to pick but I picked a sidekick. Breaking it was a sensation, it was as easy as crunching a pickle in my mouth. Later after several serious blocks, kicks and punches we got to spar for the last part of the test. I picked a kid about my age that was testing for brown belt; his name was Robbie. In the spar I got my nose punched, I started crying and so did Robbie because he never wanted to hurt me. At the end of the day I got my purple belt and got the board I broke, so I ran home excitably wanting to show Renee and Kyle.

Gavyne's Quote in the Daily Tidings

2008-05-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

A reporter toured the halls at Ashland Middle School's Bear Fair last night. She caught Gavyne as he was shooting the event for WAMS and interviewed him. You can read the article here.

Apocalyptica - One of Baylin's Favorite Bands of Late

2008-04-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

The beauty of YouTube is how many different forms of music you can find, almost always on accident. Awhile back, we were searching for a specific video when we ran across this all cello band called Apocalyptica. From what we've seen, they seem to pretty much cover Metallica songs exclusively.

Here's an awesome rendition of "One":

One - Apocalyptica — YouTube

Whenever I hear classical conversions like this, it always amazes me at how the original composers really had a classical ear - whether knowingly or not. Funny thing is that the fellows look more like Metallica did when they originally released their hits, than they do now.

Oh, and part of why Baylin likes this band so much is partially because he's drawn to music that blends an elegant beauty with foreboding tones, but mostly because he has high ambitions of learning to play the cello next year.

In the meantime, Gavyne continues to hone his chops on the 'bone - trombone that is! Some of the top songs he's been learning is Gene Krupa's "Sing, Sing, Sing," and the "Oompa Loompa" song. Maybe one day he'll be as good as Fred Wesley:

Fred Wesley and RB Funkestra — YouTube

If you liked that bit of Fred, definitely check out this non-embeddable video on YouTube of a truly killer trombone solo.

Going Gardening - Part I

2008-04-22T03:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a little film we put together. This is the first in a series of films we're doing on turn our yard into a food factory.

The Marriage of 2 Favorites

2008-04-05T13:32:00.000-07:00

It's so easy to get lost in all the videos posted on YouTube. So the other night when I was showing Gavyne some videos of Neil Peart in action, I ran across this video:

Rush Tom Sawyer South Park Intro — YouTube

Renee loves South Park; Kyle likes it.
Kyle loves Rush (yeah, even to this day); Renee likes them.

Turns out that the Geddy, Alex and Neil are good friends with Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Now Presenting Mr. & Mrs. Duncan

2008-03-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Nick and Kayse for their union this past Saturday, 22 March 2008!

Here's to many years of wedded bliss followed by the comfort of seemingly mundane familiarity that is the benchmark of a long, solid marriage. May you find many creative ways to re-create and rediscover each other through the years.

Kyle's Clam Chowdah!

2008-03-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

Kyle finally used that bag of razor clams we dug up in Ninilchik this summer to make the most delicious clam chowder. He worked from a recipe from a local restaurant, adjusting certain items to use the ingredients he had on hand.

---------------------------->

Kyle’s Clam Chowdah!

2 cups processed clams

1. Clean and chop clams ahead of time until you have 2 cups worth OR use canned clams.
2. Keep in refrigerator until ready to add.

3 lbs potatoes
27 oz clam juice (bottled or fresh from processed clams)
2 tsp salt
Water (depends)

3. Peel and dice potatoes.
4. Add diced potatoes, clam juice, and salt to soup pot.
5. Add water until an inch or two above top of potatoes.
6. Boil until potatoes tender.

1/3 minced yellow onion (appx 2/3 cup)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 bunch minced celery (appx 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 stick margarine

7. Sauté onion, garlic, celery in margarine until transparent.
8. Add to potato/clam juice pot.
9. Add the following ingredients and seasonings to pot:

1/8 cup honey
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp Pappy’s Choice Seasoning*
1/8 tsp basil
3/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

10. Simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat.
11. Add the clams and the following:

1 pint (appx 2 cups) of heavy whipping cream.

12. Simmer until just starting to boil, stirring occasionally.

If chowder doesn’t thicken enough for your tastes, create a runny paste of flour and luke warm water. The paste should be lump-free and you should not use more than a 1 1/2 cups worth. Stir in gradually to avoid lumps in your chowder.

* Pappy’s Choice Seasoning is similar to Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and was used in lieu of the following ingredients, which you can use instead of Pappy’s:

1/3 tsp onion powder
1/3 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp celery salt

If you would prefer to use Pappy’s Choice Seasoning, visit www.pappyschoice.com.

We Love "Cute With Chris"

2008-03-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Every week, we look forward to catching up on all the funny stuff Chris Leavins does on his site: Cute With Chris.

He always shows pictures of cute pets, and not-so-cute pets. He also likes to encourage reader abuse. If you ever send Chris questions or photos, get ready for him to maybe make fun of you.

Each week (or two), Chris usually posts a new video. The humor is mainly meant for older teens but we think he's hilarious. Here's his latest episode:

2007 Photo Review: The Meanwhile Post

2008-01-14T09:06:00.001-08:00

Sorry to report but Part II of the 2007 Photo Review is not ready to post. We have all the images laid out, but we still need to put in the transitions and music. Look for it one week from today, 21 January.

In the meantime, here's a photo Kyle found while rooting through his desk drawers:

Jan to June: 2007 Photo Review Part I

2008-01-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

So, we did it...just barely. We managed to bring you the Stich Family review of photos from 2007.

As Kyle sat down to coordinate the creation of the video you're about to watch, he realized that the video was getting real long, real quick. So, we are presenting a series of videos. Expect "The Last Frontier: 2007 Photo Review Part II" by January 14. (We know your itching to see it, Amanda.)

Without further ado, we are proud to present you with Part I:
Jan to June

The following content and video was added on 8 Jan 2008 (by Kyle):
Ever since we added the song "Devil May Care" by Diana Krall to our photo review, Renee and the boys have had the song stuck in their craws. I went to YouTube to see if they had any videos of the song, so I could see her hands in motion. Low and behold, I found it.

Now, I didn't plan it this way. I swear I didn't. See if you notice any similarities between the start of our photo review and the start of the video. Oh, and the song is really good in its entirety, too.

A White Board Characticure

2007-12-29T00:13:00.000-08:00

The Message in the Wood

2007-12-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

We've heard of these amazing appearances in unlikely places. The face of Christ in the nook of a tree, the potato chip that looks like Elvis, or Gandhi in French Toast. At the Stich residence, we experienced just such a phenomenon.

After making some pancakes, we removed the empty bowl from the chopping block that makes up our kitchen island to discover this heavenly image:

Do you recognize it, the Big Dipper? I'm sure all you die-hard Alaskans spotted it right away.

Gregor and the Marks of Secret: An Acrostic Poem

2007-11-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

Gregor and the Marks of Secret
by Baylin Stich

Gregor
Resident of the Overland
Extraordinarily normal boy who
Gets taught echolocation by no
Ordinary resident of the Underland:
Ripred, a giant rat.

Another adventure awaits Gregor.
No more mice in their homes
Decides the path

That he and the Queen, Luxa,
Have to take to save their
Extra-special allies.

Mice of a most giant size
Are running for their lives.
Rats hunt them and
Kill them,
So they can control more land.

Off Gregor and the Underlanders go,
Friends in search of hidden friends.

Secret marks written
Eventually found and translated
Create a trail no
Rats can follow.
Every prophecy comes
True.

Note: Baylin crafted this poem as part of a book report assignment. An acrostic poem is one in which you use a word or phrase to create the first letter of each line in a poem. In this case, Baylin used the title of the book he was reporting. His original drafts rambled and listed. Kyle worked with him to identify plot and motivation. In taking these steps, Baylin was able to revise his summary into a much more concise piece.

The First GavCam Webisode

2007-11-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Introducing the newest and greatest show ever,GavCam! Guess who films it.

Baylin's a Predator

2007-10-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hey all,
Just wanted to put up a quick update. Things are getting busy for the Stich Family again. School's back in session, Renee's starting up this year's play at Bellview (The Jungle Book) and Kyle's still working two jobs.

On top of that, our favorite holiday's approaching: Halloween!

We ordered the seeds of Baylin's costume from Halloween Costumes 4 U (http://halloweencostumes4u.com). He got the Predator Mask and Hands for a great price there.

Now all we have to do is figure out how to design the rest of the costume to make him look like this:

The Ice Cream Man Is Coming!!!

2007-08-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

As many of you already know, Gavyne and Baylin interviewed the world-famous Ice Cream Man, Matt Allen. Don't know who the Ice Cream Man is? Watch this video to find out about the guy who does nothing but give away free ice cream all over the country:

When you're finished, you should read their interview:
Pages 4 & 17

2007-06-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

I like "Ask a Ninja" because it's funny and creative. It's funny because it cut out scenes in the show and goofy actions. It's creative because the questions are serious and sometimes weird. What you do is go to askaninja.com and find ask the ninja and post a question.

Baylin Made This

2007-06-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

2007-06-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hi, folks. Are you looking for music, well, talk to me. About a week ago, me,my viola and other classes[including mine]played in front of a huge audience in the Ashland Middle School's biggest gym. We played "Alegro", "Russian Music Box" and "Sad Story With A Happy Ending". Well that concludes my concert, goodbye.

Blue Belt Brothers

2007-06-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

We take karate classes with our Sensei at Bellview school. We were at yellow belt(second level). On our last class we tested for blue belt(the third level). We had to do all the blocks, punches, stances and kicks like a sidekick and a backstance, and others that we know. The last thing we did was a form of Kata named Hayonshoudon.

Our ceremony was us sitting down in meditation while Sensei talked about if we were going to become blue belt. After about two minutes were up, we graduated to blue belt and bowed goodbye to our Sensei and the other Senseis that helped him. When we left the graduation we thought about next year's karate and new techniques and belts.

During our trip to the hardware store...

2007-05-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

...we saw some cool graffiti:
Then we saw all the peace banners hanging on a chain-link fence alongside the railroad, in the Art district. The banners were the brain child of a woman who had a vision of dozens of banners for peace. They hung them in the middle of the night, and were out to announce them the next morning...on Mother's Day.

Of course, I have to start with the cliche, yet nonetheless beautiful, peace symbol made of flowers:

Then there's the somber and wise I Ching influenced peace banner, the banner with more bite than most:

Then there were the banners exclaiming humor as the panacea for the world's strife. Message wise, I appreciated these messages most:

But, this is the banner the boys and I liked best:

Gavyne's 5th Grade Graduation

2007-05-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Gavyne moves on from Bellview Elementary shortly after Memorial Day Weekend, and some parents have kindly taken on the task of putting together a PowerPoint Slide Show for the graduation. They asked for past pictures, from infancy to now, of our graduating fifth graders. Here are the shots we submitted:

Working on Celebrity Status

2007-05-03T17:14:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have received a package of LocalsGuide, the HyperLocal publication I'm involved with.

Baylin and Gavyne have appeared in the December issue, getting their ears pierced at Anubis. In the May issue, they were included in the photo collage on page 2, checking out a snail. Now, Baylin's on the home page of LocalsGuide.com, the online creative zone of our publication.

Because the photo will only appear on the home page for a limited time, we have included it in this post as well as in the side bar. However, I highly recommend checking it out on LocalsGuide before it moves on, as it presents you with the celebrity power of his appearance.

Click Here for the LocalsGuide home page, before it's too late.

And in case you hit this post too late, here's the permanent video:

Snails on a Lazy Saturday

2007-04-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

The boys had a little picnic in the backyard, followed with an exploration of a snail who decided to put on a one-shelled being parade for them.

Oh, and here's an amusing family portrait we took for our custom address labels (watch for these coming in your mailbox soon).

Re-introducing The Hawkins

2007-04-01T14:45:00.000-07:00

So, many of you are already aware of Erica's discovery. The way I understand the story, Erica found Megan's MySpace page while searching the Internet. Since then, the Hawkins have re-established contact with most of the DAGS.

I recently spoke with Renee and received the following photographs of her now quite grown daughters. I hope you enjoy seeing their mugs as much as I do:

2007-03-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody this is a webs site me[Gavyne] and my friend Riley made. It's a gaming page and it has a website list with great games in it. Me and my friend wanted to make a website for about 2 months and we finally made one on freewebs.com. It was hard for me and Riley to figure out how to make but we figured it out eventually. Our goal is to make a virtual world with another friend Mitchel. Please ounce you get time go on it and send some games and gaming websites on our forum.

In Memoriam

2007-01-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, Howard "Bo" Adams, Jr., passed on this month. Although my children never had the pleasure of meeting this happy soul, I will always remember him as my favorite stepfather. Sure, he had drinking issues while in his role as father of the to-be DAGS family; but, he taught me more about nature, more about being happy, than any other official "father."

I sensed tremendous relief to learn that his doctor released him to spend his remaining week on his property, next to the lake he loved. Bo, your pain has ended and we hope that the other side offers you only the best of your time spent with us in this sphere. Thanks for your unwavering joy. May your returning soul find as much happiness in your next life, as you received in this one.

Four Seasons

2006-11-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

For all those who might feel we deprive our short ones of the snow:

Here's Mr. Sicky posing for the camera.

Piercing Ears at Anubis

2006-11-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

We took the Dunbar relatives downtown last night, and Gavyne finally got his ear pierced. Baylin joined in the act, too. Elena was a terrific piercer, who uses hollow point needles and corks instead of the traditional gun so familiar to the mall-piercing crowd.

He didn't even cry.

If you look close, you can see the tip of the needle.

More pictures of the Angie and Chet's visit will follow shortly...

Castle Lake Trip October 2006

2006-10-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

Castle Lake, California
(approx. 80 miles south of Ashland, Oregon)

Our Guides: Rory, Brian, and Karen

Baylin taking a break on the ascent.

Gavyne waiting for us to catch up.
He wouldn't smile until I threatened to punch him in the face.

The Castle

Little Castle Lake

Changing in the Brush

Pondering a float across to Rory and Brian

Running from a bug infested, waterlogged log.

Baylin Diving for Jerky among the Gnats.

Jerky anyone?

Baylin and Karen bushwhacking it through the fall-red brush.

Resting on the log.

Did you know we never left our state to visit Castle Lake?
We actually live in the mythical state of Jefferson.

Nope, that bull isn't charging us.
It's a metal sculpture outside of Mt. Shasta.

The same fellow helped build this dragon with high school kids.
It's right on the I-5. Can you name the mountain in back?
Mt. Shasta.
Home of spirits, aliens, bigfoot, and one of the world-famous vortex.

Some New Home Shots

2006-10-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Our new place.

Our gold diamond-eyed front door,
with the roses Renee rejuvenated
with vigorous deadheading.

The Fall bouquet Renee made from
ditch weeds, scrub scraps and yard litter.

Baylin's room

The path to the backyard

Gavyne's room

Our soon-to-be butchered blackberries

Next summer, our back wall will be covered with sunflowers.

For the Harley Nuts

2006-07-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ran across this site the other day through one of my jobs. Thought you guys might like your own paper Harley. Click the box below and be sure to look for the link to the uncolorized version if you want to color your own.

Disfrutan, folks.

An Ashland Fourth

2006-07-08T02:02:00.000-07:00

Heya Everybody,

Kyle here with a montage of our Fourth of July parade experience this year. Yes, you see a Klingon wearing a Federation uniform flashing the Vulcan peace sign with one hand and holding a sign that reads "Christ died for our sins!" with the other.

This image is saved at very high resolution, so you might consider downloading it to your hard drive and opening from a viewer. It's formatted as an 8x10, so you can print it out and frame it. Or, you can write us and get the PDF, which will render much higher quality.

An Invitation

2006-06-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Kyle says:

The end of spring and beginning of summer has meant mandalas for me. At least for the past three or four years. The rains abate and I'm assured a temporary persistence. This year's mandala was decapitated by a renegade sprinkler, then an unexpected rainstorm wiped out the rest. Good thing I took pictures directly after completing it. The wind didn't even get to smudge the lines in the wispy way it revels so.

We invite all of you to email us pictures of your own sidewalk mandalas. If your not quite sure what a mandala is, don't worry. Just draw something balanced within a circle. You've seen these all over the place, so don't be afraid to borrow on what has come before. We will add each one you send to this very post, which means you need to mark this post and revisit it often.

Meeting the Shivers in Roseburg

2006-05-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well fans, I'm hoping you know me by now. Yes, it's Gavyne but this time with Renee. We'll be taking turns writing this time. We got back from are cousins' house in Roseburg, Oregon. I'll give it to Renee now.

After a couple weeks, Kyle takes the reins and gets some of these pics posted.

We had a great time finally meeting BJ, Evrit, and Abby. Abby has to be up for some sort of "Mellowest Baby Ever" award, because we rarely heard a peep from her. But, that may be due to all the love Auntie Renee slathered on this poor baby.

And then there's Evrit. This kid has an incredible imagination on him. When we headed out for a walk, he spied the moon and laughed loud when he caught the "moon taking a walk with us." He invited the not-yet-full orb to join us on our trip. I also noticed that he does something I did until my tween years: walk on my tiptoes.

So without further ado, I present you with some pics from our trip to meet the Shivers.

Ness and BJ hamming it up. Big smiles, you two!

Evrit scraping any rind-free remains.

Abby meets Jack, Gavyne's dog since birth.

Evrit shows Baylin and Gavyne his snail to mixed reviews.

The boys pile on the air mattress.

Gavyne doubles as a couch for Abby.

Auntie Renee with her "new baby."

The sole blurry shot of Uncle Kyle with his nephew and niece.

Alice in Wonderland and Other Tales

2006-05-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well after much pressure from my family I finally find my self blogging. The play went fabulously. I had a cast of 36 students plus 6 other "production" students grades k-5. It ran about 55 mins. Including a brief intermission where another student played a few piano pieces. The sets looked awesome, the costumes were great, the kids really excelled in their parts. I couldn't have been more proud. Kyle made the greatest programs and show poster. Kyle also ran the show's music and sound effects. He plugged his laptop into the school's sound system.

All in all it was a wonderful experience. I'm already planning for next year. I hope to continue for the next couple years. Baylin has three more years at Bellview. I already have a kindergarten mom I'm eye balling to pass the torch onto. But who knows maybe children's theatre directing will be my new calling.

Plays I'm considering are Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, and the Wizard of Oz, but I'm still open to any ideas you might have. I plan on reading these stories this summer and seeing which one grabs me. I wrote Alice in Wonderland almost verbatim from Lewis Carroll's original story. Of course, there were whole chapters left out for time or practicality of production. But I enjoyed staying true to the author and not some other version, like Disney. Which unfortunately is the only clear view I have for these stories I'm considering. So I'm very much looking forward to reading these classic tales.

Track Meet

2006-04-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you for waiting readers. It's me Gavyne my mom isn't able to write a blog so I will. I'm doing the Elementary Track Meet. I sretch and run a warm up lap everyday at school. Then I run 3 100-yard dashes and some times Shotput. I practice softball throw at home sometimes. This happens everyday. I'm doing all the field events and 1 track event(hurtles).

On May 12 I'm going to the real Track Meet. My parents already signed the permission slip. I going to meet more people than usual. Well I'll have to wrap up and I promise to keep you updated.

Messed up picture.

2006-03-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

The picture I messed up with Adobe Photoshop was called "At bat". P.S. This is what it looks like. — Baylin

Grandma Randie

2006-03-12T21:07:00.000-08:00

I like to google people. I heard a hilarious line in a really cheesy family movie recently in which one character tells the other, "What's the matter with you? You can't Google another man's wife?"

For those unfamiliar with the act of "googling," it involves going to google.com and entering someone's name in the search box. Well, I do this for myself regularly (industry experts say all writers should engage in such a narcissistic practice), but I also occasionally check out people I know. Out of curiosity, I typed "randie adams." Lo and behold, I found the poor ole gray-haired Alaskan granny as the second in the list.

Congratulations, Granny Randie, on winning Anchor Point Employee of the Year!!!

How many of you knew about this and didn't tell us Oregonians? And for those of who didn't know, read the Homer News article by clicking here.
— Kyle

Gavyne's Science Fair Project

2006-03-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my science fair project! I want to thank all the patient people for waiting for a new post on our blog. It was hard work, and my parents were a big help.

Question:
Which climate — arctic, desert, tropical, temperate — has the fastest rate of decomposition?

Purpose:
To observe how different climates affect decomposition of organic, processed, and synthetic materials.

Hypothesis:
I think the desert will have the fastest rate of decomposition.

Materials:
• Apple slices
• Cardboard pieces
• Gogurt wrapper
• Containers
• Water
• Potting soil
• Pencil
• Notebook
• Camera
• 4 Thermometers
• 1 Cap
• Scissors
• Legos
• Towel
• Camera plug
• Computer

Procedure:
Build Climates:
1) Fill 3 containers with 2.5 inches of potting soil; use cactus soil for one of the containers.
2) Freeze 1.5 cups of water in a 4th container.
3) Attach thermometers to each container.
4) Add 1 apple slice, 1 square inch of cardboard, and 1 piece of Gogurt wrapper.
5) Cap the rainforest climate to keep water inside.
6) Water the temperate and rainforest with a .5 teaspoon of water once a week.

Record Results:
1) Hang a towel as a backdrop for the climates.
2) Take a single shot of each climate once a day at 5pm.
3) Download, edit, and save the pictures in a folder.
4) Rate amount of decomposition using scale shown below for organic (apple), processed (cardboard), and synthetic (Gogurt wrapper) materials.
5) Continue for 13 days.
6) Create 3 graphs, 1 for each type of materials.
7) Compare the graphs to figure out which climate has the most decomposition.

Results:
These are graphs showing what happened over the days:

These next pictures show day 1 and day 13 for each climate:

Conclusion:
I found out I was wrong about the desert having the most decomposition. Actually, the temperate and rainforest had the most because of the mold. That happens because the bacteria can speed in the heat and water. The arctic can’t have bacteria because they freeze and die. The processed material decomposed a little bit, but is slow. The Gogurt container didn’t decompose at all. If you aren’t going to recycle, reduce your consumption of plastic. But, always reuse or recycle whenever possible.

Here is a picture of my board. It's a little blurry but you get the idea:

Resources:
• World Climate
• www.earthmatters4kids.com
• www.factmonster.com
• GCSE Rates of Chemical Decomposition
• Kyle Stich, my dad
• Renee Stich, my mom
• Mr. Craig Martin, a former teacher

Baylin's Mobile

2006-02-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

Kyle taught me to ride my bike.

I'm not that good at balancing yet.

It's easier to ride in the parking lot. It's easy to turn for me.

When I get good, Kyle says I can get a bike with gears.

—Baylin

We're Online

2006-02-14T08:09:00.000-08:00

We've done it! The Stich Family now has our own blog to share pictures and events. The first post will be a compilation of pictures from Gavyne's science fair project. Get ready to be grossed out...