i wonder about the people around me

I have been housesitting and needed to run home last night to pick up some more clothes as it looks like i might get snowed in here. Plus, with the weather the way it is supposed to be, the home owner both probably can't fly in tomorrow and frankly doesn't want to leave Florida.
Driving back with a load of laundry (ahhhhh... free washer/dryer; yet another housesitting perk) i turned onto the main road between Catonsville and Arbutus behind a big red pick-up truck. The road is 25 mph, but no one and i mean no one drives 25 on it; even coasting you go quite a bit faster than that as it is a big downhill.
Imagine my surprise when the pick-up immediately lays on his brakes.
 WHAT?
We are going under the speed limit.
UNDER 25 MPH, PEOPLE!
Drifting in first gear you go faster than 25.
He is on the brakes all the way down the hill, keeping our speed around a break neck 20-ish.
I realized as i tried not to accidentally rear end him that there was a ladder sticking out of the bed of the truck. Okay, maybe it isn't secured really well and he is just being careful.
Then as we take some curves at an astounding 15 mph -did i mention that this is the main road into Arbutus?; the line of cars behind me was impressive - i noticed the glint of metal in the bed by the ladder.
What is that?
It was a red drum set.
Not drums sitting in the back of the truck, whole sections of a drum kit unsecured in the pick-up with a ladder. Cymbals were on their stands, drums were exposed to the elements - it was CHAOS. A  jillion years ago (the early/mid 90's), i roadied for my friend Ron, tearing down, packing and securing his kit.
What in the world was this guy thinking? 
I would never, ever, ever put a drum into a vehicle without a case; heck i don't even like soft-side cases because they don't seem protective enough.
At least the mystery of his ridiculous speed was solved. I guess if i had a drum kit and a ladder in a pick-up i'd try to drive as slowly as possible.
Wait... where could this guy be going?
What kind of situation calls for you putting your assembled drum kit into a pick-up, uncovered, with a ladder on a Saturday night?
Was he rushing to a party emergency? His friend's party planner had messed up the crepe paper streamers and the band was stuck in traffic?
Or was it a nightclub emergency? The lighting rig at the club his friend owns was malfunctioning and the out-of-town band's drums had been damaged by the baggage handlers?
Had he spotted the DrumMan signal shining on a conveniently passing cloud?
The more i thought about it the better the story got in my head. I could easily follow him - we were already headed in the same direction - and see what was what.
But then he turned down a seriously creepy side road that leads nowhere and i decided that maybe, maybe i didn't want to know the story after all .

fun farm party at the farm

How is it even possible that fTM's Matt's baby - Sammy- is already one?
Heck, he is already on the way to being a big brother in January.
What's next? College?
A few weeks ago I went to Hendershot Farms in PA to celebrate Sam's birthday with both Matt and Sara's families. It was great to see all of them, especially some folks that I haven't seen since the wedding.

The food was all farm themed.
I was afraid to ask exactly what was on the ingredient list for the cowpies, but they were super yummy.
Instead of a big cake there were three different kinds of cupcakes and a little smash cake.
mmmmm... cupcakes...

And of course there was the birthday pig full of fruit salad in his custom built cutting board corral.
What?
You've never had a birthday pig full of fruit salad?
Then you, my friend, have never lived.

Matt's brother, Chris, designed and carved Mr. Pig.

The detail was mind boggling: pink snout with raisin nostrils, perfect little rind ears, giant googley eyes, zucchini tops for hooves, a pink candle melted and twisted into a curly tail and lollipops in a feeding trough for the kids. I saw pictures of the birthday shark he did for his niece's birthday; i'm getting this guy to do my next party fruit.
Speaking of fruit... you know who loves fruit?
The birthday boy.

Sitting on his dad's shoulders, Sammy was perfectly content as long as I kept handing him bits of fruit. Of course, if the stream of fruit slowed down he gave me some harsh looks.
It was a beautiful day, though a bit hot, so after eating we all moved outside under the shade trees.

With daddy, mommy and pops (Matt's dad)

All of the kids took turns riding the little four wheeler and the big kids took turns riding the big ones. I have to admit that I sort of started the whole thing. I was lamenting that the kids had wheels and looked longingly at Andrew (Sara's brother) as he rode off to work in one of the far barns. His wife, Tiffany, looked at me and said Do you want me to take you for a ride on mine?
Ummmm... have you met me?
I am very sad that there isn't a picture of me riding behind a rather pregnant Tiffany as she took me through the fields and hills of the 400 acres. It was my first time on an ATV and I think I need one.
When we got back the Hillegass boys started taking turns and then taking the kids for rides.
And of course we had to get back to the serious business of birthdaying.

Matt and Sara stripped Sammy down for his smash cake, which he ate rather neatly.
I think he would have been happier with a fork.
In fact, he was really enjoying the lemon pudding when suddenly he hit messy critical mass; looking down at his cake/pudding encased hands he gave Sara a little whimper with save me from the stickiness in his eyes.

My favorite part of the day -besides seeing people I love- was when the baby drums were opened.
His parents have already taught him to hit things rhythmically when they say Drum Sammy so this is the next logical step.
He'll be on Matt's slightly more expensive DW kit in no time.

As the day wound down and people started to load up the cars for their drives home,
Matt got everyone party favors:
corn picked right from the stalk.





To say that it was fabulous to eat corn that was only a few hours from the field is an understatement.

It was the perfect end to a farm party.

i didn't need that other stick

Ever wonder what music geeks do when they hang out?
Ron had just acquired a bunch of new lighting features and wanted to test them.
Just plugging them in would have been oh so boring so he positioned about eight of them around the electronic drum kit in his basement and proceeded to "amuse me" (read: amuse himself).
[video is just over 2 minutes of various styles and beats with much stick twirling; the post title comes from the very end of it; the lighting was much cooler live]

 

Okay... i'll admit it: he amused me, too.
He's a dork, but i love him.
I am not a big fan of electronic drum kits in general.
There are songs that totally benefit from their sound, but live i much, much, much prefer acoustic. Plus, when i met Ron approximately 900 years ago he always had his acoustic kit set up; it was the kit that i used to roadie for him during the Rare Forum/Letterbox days.
Combine those facts and you'll understand why i am generally whiny about the electronic kit being set up instead of the acoustic.
He is constantly trying to convince me that as technology gets better the electronic sound gets better, electronic kits can mimic acoustic kits, but not vice versa, these disturb the neighbors less because you cab plug in headphones and that all of the different sound settings and modules creates incredible diversity within one instrument... blah blah blah...
Forthwith after the previous video he once again started campaigning for me to come to the electronic drum kit side by hitting buttons and trying combinations to showcase its amazing versatility; I swear you'd think he was trying to sell me one.
Here are some video snippets:
37 seconds of an open steel sorta sound

36 seconds of a more jazzy/ standard sound morphing into a roundish Rush sound

34 seconds of some crazy sounds, which was my favorite (i also love in the middle when he just shrugs his shoulders like i don't really know what this is but i guess that i'm gonna go with it)

26 seconds of an interesting delay that he figured out and wanted to try to recreate later so he asked me to record it (it is really fascinating to watch his stick hits and compare them to the sound so that you can see and anticipate the delay period... sorry, have i used the phrase music geek yet in this post?)

We were at it for a goodly portion of the night and i drew several conclusions:
1. all of my friends are characters; i mean, Ron is one of my most normal friends
2. sparkley lights make me happy
3. i want light effect features in my house
4. drums really, really, really are my favorite
5. electronic drums can be cool, but they are better when they are set to play interesting and unusual percussive sounds instead of trying to sound like acoustic drums
6. if you want the sound of acoustic drums, just play acoustic drums
7. private performances are the best
8. especially if they include lights that change with the music
9. i still wish he had the acoustic kit set up
10. he didn't need that other stick