Answers...

So... everyone seems to like quizzes.
Lets see how you do on a series of smaller fact LIST stuff. I have also included some history or lore of the Piepmeier house from previous years.
These are rated in degree of difficulty from 1 to 5 stars. One star (*) is as easy as Hugo sleeping on the back of the sofa. Five stars (*****) is as hard as The Mom.

So, here we go
1)What were the 3 rules for the phone...
Two of the answers are (*)
One of the answers is (***)

2)What did Trey do in the 3 year old Sunday school class... (**)

3)Name at least 2 out of the 5 or 6 rules for the Homecoming Parade Donut Toss... (**)
(excluding "NO overhand donut tossing"...)

and now a harder question
4)How many "uhhs" would Alisons boy-friends say when they would call her on the phone and I would inadvertently answer... (****)

Remember, think of your answers before you go to the comment section in case someone has already posted some of them. And, just because some answers are posted doesn't mean they are 100% correct. You could revise them.

Yea, fun stuff...

The Dad

Ok... The quizzes on the fact LIST have been fairly easy to date. The answers are there almost as fast as I can post the items. So, here is a fact LIST that you may have to think about for a while (maybe).

When you were young, there was a right that the Mom and I let you have. This was unusual for the 70s and 80s, especially in the south.

What was it...

Hint... It has nothing to do with chocolate, pizza or cookies.

Hmmm...

The Dad

Food, again...

I see from the last fact LIST comments, that you all have some kind of deep seated feelings when it comes to peas. The faces and acts that you used to do when you had to eat, like, 7 peas. You wouldn't mix them with something else to moderate the flavor ("I don't want to eat them with my...potatoes... 'cause it would spoil the taste"). So, you would wait until the very last of the meal and be faced with eating those ...7... peas by themselves. This would allow these deep seated feelings to come to the surface and make the chewing of these innocuous vegetables to be like the third act of Hamlet. Such dramatics... (The Mom and I used to like to watch these theatrics).

We also had other great green vegetables like green beans, spinach, turnip greens (mmm...), asparagas and usually some kind of green salalad. You were so deprived when it came to food (mmmfph...).

So, this leads us to the next fun food fact LIST.
There are 2 instances, related but different, where the number 2 had significance when it came to food.
What were they...
For extra credit, if I said "the letter 2", to what would that refer...

Hmmm...

The Dad

Food.....

So, this fact LIST is going to be a little different from previous LIST stuff. Instead of giving the fact, I think I am going to give the situation and see if anyone can remember the specific fact that goes with the examples.

As you may know, if left to their own choices;
Alison would mostly eat bread (she may have done that in the past but now that Walter is there, she probably has to eat a more balanced meal... to a certain degree...)

Trey would mostly eat bacon or a bacon related food like... bacon , mmm... bacon. (this changed because Megan keeps in shape for her work and both are learning to cook... to a certain degree...)

Aaron would mostly eat pizza (this also has changed because Mary is, like, gourmet girl and they are making stuff like charred salmon on an onion reduction with rice pilaf, sauted carrots and roasted tube leather... yummy...)

So when they were younger, all of them would try to keep away from any green food, like vegetables (except Alison and broccoli). To compensate for this, we had a fact or saying (rule) at each meal. Now... what specifically was it...

The Dad

Eagles...

So, here we go. They continue to make moves like eagles even when they get "older" and decide they have lives of their own. (I don't know where they got that idea)

One decides to leave Tennessee and move to Charleston to be the Director of Women and Gender Stuff.
One decides to leave a set job and go off on his own to start his own web design company and be Mr Super Computer Software Person Type Guy.
One then also decides to leave Tennessee and bring coffee to the masses in Charleston.

Hmmm... Where do they get this stuff...


Now, it is time for another fact LIST. This one was common 10+ years ago. It was used to explain some of the things that happened or took place on a regular basis.
It is;

Children under the age of 18 have to do one stupid thing everyday.

One would think that the boys would be the leaders in this catagory, but Nooooo, the grrrl (note the political savvy of that word I just used...) held her own. If it was all added together, it would have been fairly even for all three.
Examples that come to mind are when each turned 16 and started to drive.
Like:
Scrapping the new van against the carport
Trading in for a different car, oh, every 10 days
Getting 3 speeding tickets in like 15 minutes

Eagles... OK...

The Dad

Fraught...

OK, so now it is time for one of the basics of the fact LIST. There are a few of these that form the foundation for alot of the others we are going to be talking about or have talked about.

This one is fraught with symbolism and metaphoric stuff. It can (and maybe should) be a point of reference for alot of what goes on in a family. When used as a base, it helps you understand certain behaviors and at times even encourages them.

It is a point of view. It allows alot of crazy things to happen but also opens the door to do what is necessary to push the envelope. So;


Don't raise your kids to be eagles and expect them to act like sparrows


Parents am so smart...
The Dad

Back To Basics...

OK, after taking a noticable "vector" away from the basic premise of this LIST (reminiscent of someone we all know and love). It's time to go back to the fact LIST and away from names and such.

So, here is a basic LIST fact that has particular meaning.

A clean body is the best deodorant

While this seems like common sense, it has not been in the past and is not to this day something that children necessarily follow. We could tell stories of bed sheets that were used for 4 MONTHS without washing (or warshing) or of the random child stating on say a Thursday that it may be a good idea to take there first shower of the week. But nothing brings this fact home like the road trip. Even a short one like to Nashville or some other place.

The adventure usually started with watering eyes, opening some windows (if not in the winter), mentioning the fact that the buzzing of the flies was making it hard to hear the radio and that the car seats and dashboard were getting a haze on them.

Once we arrived at our destination and gratefully opened the doors, translucent vapors (like the heat waves coming off hot pavement) would emit from the car. Any reasonably close grass would turn brown. A few birds with startled or shocked looks on their faces would freeze in mid flight and drop like stones to the ground. (They would eventually recover but usually have a permanent "tick or twitch" when they flew away.) All of this would be followed by the occupants of the back seats getting out, joyful stretching, sighing and randomly scratching themselves with pleased looks on their faces.

After a few times like this, the parents learn to either turn the garden hose on the kids before the trip or just buy a minivan to allow more space between themselves and the kids. (Thus the popularity of the minivan).

Even with all this, the trips were great, the conversations lively and fun and the used packages of road trip food and related trash would be a site to see.

Yea, road trips

The Dad

Individuals...

OK...so, it looks as though everyone liked their new names. Now let's see you use them in some application or questionaire that you have to complete for some reason (not really).
You may have noticed that the names used for the major impact section were more "main stream" and not ones that would have gotten you watched or isolated if you had to use them in, say, the 5th grade. Middle names like: NaturalBornKiller, HomicidalManiac, SerialKiller or even Samara were left out.

So, now back to the LIST. As a point of information, some fact LIST items were designed for specific people. While these may have some meaning or reference for other people, they were initiated to cover certain things that happened to or were done by one person.

These should be readily recognizable. LIST items like:

When you spray paint something, be sure that you have SOMETHING UNDERNEATH IT to catch the excess spray

Dont' ride your bicycle at 2 in the morning with your hooligan friends

Don't jump on the top bed of a bunk bed

(All of these facts should be followed by... mmmfph)

Now, let's see who can name the person, the situation and the outcome of each of these LIST items. Secondary or related comments might be interesting to mention, too.

The Dad

Names, again

OK, after my list of revised middle names in the last posting, I have received several requests to hand out names to some people who wanted to see what there name might be. Hmmm... This is interesting and makes you think that maybe a name might change your outlook or maybe your approach to some different areas of your life or maybe not.

So, let's give it another try and see.
The first section was for a middle name that maybe was a little stronger or powerful. So;
Mary WaterMoccasin
Megan Sidewinder
Catherine Cobra
Walter Anaconda

The next was for a more authoritative middle name. Let's try;
Mary The Enforcer
Megan The Mighty
Catherine The Fearless
Walter The Brave

The last section of names was for major impact and affect. This gives us;
Mary Exterminator
Megan Destroyer
Catherine The Assassin
Walter The Impaler

(Just as an aside, how do you think Catherine's life would have been different if she had been named Catherine The Assassin Bush. Especially if her best friend was Alison Chainsaw Piepmeier.) It certainly would be a brain boggler...

The Dad

Heritage, again

I had a conversation the other day about names for children. Here is a LIST fact as it relates to names and heritage.

As parents, you can name a child anything you want and they have to live with it, forever

This is a realization that sometimes is overlooked since it can take a long time and you can go through all kinds of discussions to arrive at THE name you think is just right. Does this name affect the overall child and personality or is it "a rose by anyother name..."

So, let's look at the 3 names we chose. Everyone knows their name derivation but allow me a small recap.
Alison Massa (named for both grandmothers Alice and Mildred Massa... Of course Alsion was almost Alison Mildred but my mom refused to let us "give our daughter that kind of name")

Arthur Lee, III (of course, named for PawPaw and the Me... first born male...)

Aaron Treat (name chosen because Aaron means Priest/Truth and Treat is from the Hall side for their decendant that signed the Declaration Of Independence)

Of course, Piepmeier (along with the related Massa, Brown, Burgess and others) has a strong heritage in this area (and other places). You know it is not unusual for you to hear from someone; "I knew your great grandad..." "I went to school with your grandfather..." "I know your Dad..." or (the one I like) "I am your aunt (put name here)..."). It gives you a solid base and a true feel of home where ever you are.


So, given all this information, what if the name chosen for you (completely at our discretion) were even stronger or carried an even more powerful meaning.
For example:
Alison Viper Piepmeier
Arthur Diamondback Piepmeier
Aaron Rattler Piepmeier
Would this have changed things...

What if we went with even a more authoritative name, like:
Alison Justice Piepmeier
Arthur Power Piepmeier
Aaron The Truth Piepmeier
Maybe this would have altered some approaches.

Then, what if we decided to go for major impact and affect. Something like:
Alison Chainsaw Piepmeier
Arthur Bonecrusher Piepmeier
Aaron Flamethrower Piepmeier

Would these have given you a different overall view or would you have been the same people you are now....

Hmmm... The power of a name.

Once again, too deep, sleepy now

The Dad