Crossing the Alligator Bridge

 This was part of "The Life of Zack" series on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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This story is even harder to believe than the ostrich story. 

When I was just a little fella, maybe 4 or 5 years old, my family went to a zoo. This zoo was unusual, in that its barriers were... Lacking. In some cases, non existent. Such was the case with the alligator enclosure. There was an arch and a walkway across the pond inside it. I ran out on the rickety walkway and crossed almost all the way over the pond.

I recall turning around and calling to my parents, who had stopped at the arch and apparently were discussing the safety of the area. They were pushing my little brother in a stroller and decided there was no way they were going to cross the pond.

I hadn't even begun to consider danger, even looking beyond the pond and seeing the alligators sunning themselves on a nearby hill. When Dad called me back however, something about his voice made me really take a look around...

I noticed the murky, green water not far below me I noticed that I couldn't see a thing through it. There could be an alligator waiting under the surface for me to fall. I ran quickly off the bridge and back to Mom and Dad. I always wondered whether there had been an alligator under that murky green water.


I got the chance to hold a young alligator some years later, it was a really cool experience; but there still have been times when I've had nightmares about murky water... You never know what's under there!

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

"Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot. Great band. Saw them live in the summer of '18. 

Rivers in the Desert

 This post was originally part of the "2020" series on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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So, Sunday was an interesting day in the life.

I may have made some poor dietary choices, which I will correct going forward. I'm like 350 pounds, and I really need to lose some weight for my health and happiness, so I've been working for quite some time to figure out how to eat right so that I can lose the excess fat. I'd been doing particularly good recently. Lots of fresh fruit. No bread. But I ended up eating cookies and Reese cups after church for some reason.

We received some sad news as we were getting ready for church. Pops (my Mom's dad), had passed away. It's only really just hitting me as I write this. We weren't close, not by a long shot, but I've never lost a grandparent before. It's weird.

Mom is taking the situation harder than she lets on. She was in shock for a little while and kept asking me to turn the radio on, even though it was already playing loudly. I always have a hard time knowing what to say in situations like this.

She ended up being OK, but some deer almost ran out in front of us on the way to church. God blessed and they got out of the way.

When we got to church, we had a great service. The sermon was titled "Rivers in the Desert" and it was awesome! There is a passage in the Bible, an Old Testament prophecy to the Israelites, that promises that God will put rivers in the desert for His people. The pastor pointed out that it sounds crazy, impossible even. Because once you have multiple sources of water, it will no longer be a desert. But God deals in impossible things. 

Then he talked about why in the desert in the first place...  I mean, you'd think that God would just take His people out of the desert, right? So he pointed out that when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow to the idol in Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar had them bound and thrown into a furnace, heated hotter than usual. So hot, in fact, that the guards that threw them in, and the people working the furnace, were killed by the heat. 

God could have made it so his people didn't get caught, or He could have stopped them from being thrown into the fire, could have put the fire out. There's any number of things God could have done. But, instead, He kept them from getting burnt. The ropes burned off, but they and their clothes did not burn. AND God walked around in the fire with them.

The king believed in the God of the Israelites that day, and he wouldn't have, had he not seen the miracle in the furnace that day. In conclusion, God sometimes puts us in uncomfortable situations, that will give us a chance to reach people we would have never been able to reach. 

That's the short version. There were more scriptures, but that's what I remember off the top of my head. I love this church, the pastor always brings such good sermons. 

We had some deer almost run out in front of us again on the way home, but thank the Lord, again they decided to get out of the way.

We ended up having our unhealthy snacks and some Domino's pizza when Dad got home from work and then we called it a night.  

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

"Give It To Me" by Thousand Foot Krutch

The Ostrich in New Jersey

 This post was originally part of "The Life of Zack" series on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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This is one of my crazy stories, I like to tell people this one when they first meet me and a lot of them don't believe me.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, my Dad searched eBay for building supplies to do some work on our house. He hit the jackpot one day, a real bonanza... a whole tractor trailer load of brand new windows and doors, name-brand material, Andersens and such. Well, Dad bid on that eBay auction and won it all for a great price.

The whole family got in the van, hooked up the trailer and went on this little adventure together. This load of windows was located somewhere in New Jersey, so we had a bit of a drive.

Once we got there, it was getting dark and Dad got to meet and talk to the seller for a little bit. The seller showed us to the items, still in the tractor trailer. Dad was going to have to unload them himself, because the seller was unable to stay and us kids were too small at the time. Dad didn't mind though, because he'd got a great deal.

There was one little thing though that the seller told Dad before he left for the night... There was an ostrich living on the grounds. A mean ostrich, that had almost killed someone and completely totaled a car not long before, and, it was huge. This guy thought it was so cool, he'd go and show it to Dad before he left too. So the seller takes Dad in his pickup truck to go and check it out.

Dad later told me that the ostrich was sitting down and sleeping when they drove past it in the guy's pickup - and that even sitting down, this beast of a bird was towering over the truck as they drove past!

Of course, all of this was downright thrilling to me. I guess spending the night near an ostrich was pretty cool, being the next best thing to a dinosaur. I slept under one of the bench seats in the van. You know, so that I wouldn't be eaten in my sleep, but could still be close to the action.

Dad worked through the night, hauling the windows and doors out of the semi and onto our smaller trailer. I had to get out of the van once, to use the "little boys room," it was rather spooky, dozens of old trailers sitting around, eerily lit by overhead lights. It was something to remember, that's for sure.


Not everything would fit on the trailer for one trip, so we had to make two. But, by the second time, I was pretty sure that the ostrich wasn't going to attack. It is sort of amusing now to think how excited I got over the ostrich. Must have watched too many dinosaur movies back then or something...

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Today's selection is a classic, "Dream On" by Aerosmith.

Chocolate Factories, Good Fish & Library DVDs

 This post was originally part of my "2020" series on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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Our folks had to make a run to the bank before they closed at noon, so my brother and I stayed home and watched some movies. We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory first. I have always rather liked both the original movie (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder) and "Charlie" starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

I want to recreate this costume for some reason. It's very me.

My brother couldn't believe that Johnny Depp played Willy Wonka, as he knew him from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Then, I showed him pictures of Depp as the Mad Hatter and Tonto and really blew his mind. Hahaha. Seriously though, I've always wanted to be an actor and people that can pull off the variety of different characters that Depp has are an inspiration to me.

Soon after our movie, we left the house to go get some fish at JP's. Something came up along the way and delayed our lunch, but some of us eventually got there and got to eat. 

JP's is an awesome little bar/restaurant just outside of Cadiz that is well-loved in our area. Great food, great portions, for even better prices. My family almost always gets the fish platter with french fries. 

Down at JP's

After JP's, I realized we still had a few minutes before the library was to close. Our library closes at 5pm on Saturday. I much prefer the inner city libraries that are open later on the weekends to try and encourage kids to do something productive, but we gotta go with what we got.

Anyways, we decided to swing by the library in those last few minutes and see if they had any more of the movies I had on my list. I've been getting movies that I thought Mom and Dad might like that they've not seen yet. Today, I was looking for "The Princess Bride" and "The Lone Ranger." Neither one was there, so I decided on a couple other movies that were on my secondary list like "Jack Reacher" (even though I'm pretty sure they have seen it, they don't remember) and "Alice in Wonderland." (the one with Johnny Depp). 

Anyway, we spent the rest of the evening getting fuel oil for the house, I popped into Shurfast Food Mart to say hi to my former coworkers and then we watched some movies. 

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Today's selection is pretty obvious, the main title music from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Choco the Brown Dog

 This post was originally part of "The Life of Zack" series on my "I Am Medley" blog. 

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In today's story I'll recount one of the devastating formative experiences of my youth, involving one of my favorite pets.

So, shortly after my family moved into the country, and before we were able to move all our dogs from the old house to the new one, a stray dog wandered into our yard. I was only 7 years old at the time.

First we heard a bark in the woods, and then suddenly he was there. He came running right up to us and licked my brother's face. Mom freaked out, and paced back and forth in the front yard trying to figure out where the dog was from while the dog made himself at home.

When Dad got home from work, I begged him to let us keep the dog. Of course, Dad explained that someone may be missing the dog and he set out to visit all the neighbors within a couple miles to determine whether anyone was missing their dog.

Once we determined that no one was looking for the dog, we just started taking care of the dog. He was a good boy, house trained and everything, and he looked out for us kids - we think he helped run off the coyotes that would hang around in our yard, since they weren't used to anybody living there.

Dad named him Choco, because he looked like chocolate.

We had a lot of fun, running around in the woods and having crazy adventures.

My favorite photo of Choco, I carried it with me everywhere until it wore out.

People noticed him and some of our extended family were very curious about him: when we would sit in our living room and watch a movie, Choco would lie down on the floor, and then scoot across the room to sit closer to us. My grandfather always commented on it, "look how he scoots across the room! He's a scooter!"

After a few wonderful weeks, Dad was away for work for a couple days and a stranger showed up - and claimed that he had been looking for his missing dog.

There was something sketchy about this guy, and Choco hid under the bushes next to our house, cowering and barking at him.

The guy explained that it was his dog, that he had been driving back and forth in front of our house for work, and that he had seen his dog in our yard. He just now got a chance to stop. He said something about his kid missing "Scooter" and when Choco didn't want to go with him, he suggested coming back later with his girlfriend to get him.

Mom was nervous because Dad was away and she didn't want the stranger to know this, and she told him that he should take his dog. He dragged Choco to his car and stuffed him in the back seat. Poor dog looked back out the window at me, trying to get out of the car.

I was very angry at Mom at the time, but as an adult now I can understand why she didn't feel safe telling the creepy stranger no.

I was heartbroken and spent many hours following this staring silently towards the road and the woods beyond hoping that Choco would find his way back to me.

That is the sad story of Choco the Brown Dog.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions about why the man came to get Choco, referred to him as "Scooter" and why there were numerous attempts for years following to steal, kill and otherwise harm our other dogs because I've never found conclusive proof, but have suspicions.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day.

Today's selection is "Ol' Red" by Blake Shelton simply because it's about a dog and happens to be a favorite of mine.

Live Broadcast and my Brother Visits

 This post was originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog as part of the "2020" series. 

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So, not too much happened today. A lot of tedious work was done. Some writing. Some organizing. Some planning. I have a lot of things to write and a lot of videos to film.

Unfortunately, when I went to do my first live broadcast through YouTube, I discovered that you have to have 1,000 subscribers before you can do a mobile live broadcast. I have to use my computer's webcam to broadcast until then.

I didn't get my vlog done yesterday, in which I was supposed to talk about myself or the one for today about Choco the Brown Dog. I suppose I will try to get them both up tomorrow, in addition to the one I have slated for tomorrow - the one about the angry ostrich in New Jersey. That'll be a good one.

I'll get them uploaded eventually. It's very important to me. I have always wanted to be a vlogger/blogger, and I want to cover a lot of this older material before I launch into my current adventures.

My little brother is home for the weekend too. He lives in a residential treatment facility for his behavioral issues, but part of his therapy is to spend the occasional weekend at home and see how it goes.

So when he got here tonight, we had another movie night and he chose "The Secret Life of Pets 2." Funny movie. 

Well. I'm going to shut the ol' laptop down and head to bed, as I got a lot of work to do to if I want to get all these videos filmed. 

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

This song from the Disney show "Austin & Ally" was originally going to be in another post, but  once I was finished writing it, it didn't seem to jive with the subject matter, so I decided to use it for this post, because I found out today that Austin & Ally is now on Disney+.

My Childhood Obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine

This post was originally published on my "I Am Medley" blog as part of my "The Life of Zack" series. 

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I was introduced to Thomas the Tank Engine on my 2nd birthday when my parents purchased the "Thomas Gets Tricked" VHS for me. I cannot remember if they got me any ERTL diecast models that birthday, but they certainly did on my third birthday!

This was my introduction to Thomas - this pic from a Google search.

On my third birthday, my parents and everyone invited to my party brought ERTL trains! I must have received twenty Thomas characters that year and after that I began collecting the ERTL line, as well as the VHS tapes.

Over the following years, I continued collecting VHS tapes and ERTLs. Season 4 episodes became my favorites and Duke became my favorite character. I even remember, for a brief period of time, I thought maybe the Island of Sodor was a real place and some steam engines could talk.

Grabbed this picture from the Thomas Wikia

I have many fond memories of playing with my trains and watching the tapes.

I continued to watch Thomas even after all the other kids my age "outgrew" it. I mean, it's a great show! I gained a bit of a reputation, and people who hadn't seen me in awhile would always ask "you still watchin' Thomas the Train?"

I quit watching for awhile after Series 5, I didn't like a few episodes that season, but I got back into the show when the "Salty's Secret" tape was released.

Grabbed this photo from eBay.

I got back into collecting ERTLs and as eBay was a big deal at the time, Dad found more of them and some of the harder to get ones. Then we found out that ERTL's line of Thomas models were being discontinued.

I became involved in the website called the Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia around the time when the show converted from models and miniatures to CGI cartoon. It's a user-contribution site that anyone can edit, so it was a bit of a mess at first, but I helped organize the community there and it became hugely popular with thousands of users and several successful admin teams even after I left the site.

I later came to learn that the website was being used by the writing and animation crews for reference for story and other details in the show. That was pretty exciting.

I took this photograph myself. @ Thomas Land, August 2017

I went a few years without being involved in the site or really watching the show, but when I got the opportunity to visit England a couple years back, I jumped at the opportunity to visit Thomas Land and see the models they have there.

Even more recently, I attended a train show in New Jersey at which some fellow fans were displaying models and props which they had preserved from the show. Exciting stuff!

Another of my own photos! My old favorite, Duke, in New Jersey.

Just this morning, January 3rd 2020, I rejoined the Thomas Wiki's social media team and I hope to be more involved in the Thomas fandom again, as it has always been a fun part of my life.

I'm seriously interested in seeing as many of the props up close as I possible can and any ways I can contribute to the cause of preserving them.

Anyway, be sure to follow my Twitter, as that is where I post most of my Thomas the Tank Engine stuff. Also, be sure to follow the Thomas Wikia on Twitter and subscribe to our Thomas Wikia YouTube channel. 

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Today's selection, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a song from Thomas & Friends.

Uploads, Kittens and Movie Night

 This post was originally a part of the "2020" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which

was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024. 

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I slept in on the second day of the year and it kinda threw me off a little bit, but I got it together and had a great day.

For anyone who is wondering, I'm in the middle of a job search right now, that is why I've not said anything about work, as I'm sorta between jobs at the moment.

I didn't get a YouTube video done today - the next one was to be a little bit about my life, to correspond with my planned blog post. The internet speed here is crippling when it comes to uploading, so I'm looking for alternatives - perhaps live broadcasts of my vlogs? If I have notes I'll do fine.

Mom started feeling better today, so that's good news. Soon we'll be going on our morning walks again.

No reading today, but a fair amount of writing.

The kittens remain a source of amusement and unsolicited distraction.

We had a nice little movie night tonight, Dad picked up some movies from the library for me. The one we chose to watch was "Frequency," a 2000 movie starring Dennis Quaid and, quite possibly my favorite actor, Jim Caviezel.

The movie tells the story of a cop who lost his firefighting dad thirty years previous in a fire and then one day finds himself talking to his father via ham radio - one day before he is to die. His father angrily shuts off the radio thinking it is some sort of prank, but he takes the information to heart when rescuing people from the burning warehouse the next day. Suddenly the cop's life changes - his father lived another twenty years before dying of lung cancer. But, his mother was murdered by a serial killer who originally killed 3 women, but with the change in history has killed a total of 10. I won't spoil it for you, but it's a great story of father and son working together across time to prevent a serial killer from claiming the lives of 7 more victims.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Today's selection: a song titled "Will You Save Me?" by a little band called The Birdsongs. I first heard this some years ago and was impressed by how well they did on a small budget.

A Little Bit About Me

 This post was originally a part of the "The Life of Zack" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which

was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024. 

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Wow, a little bit about me... Where to begin?

Well, as cheesy as it may sound: "I had to have high, high hopes for a livin', shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killin',
didn't have a dime, but I always had a vision."

Born in the unsavory city of Steubenville, Ohio; I spent the first few months of my life in Brilliant - right down on the Ohio River, then spent a year or so in Cadiz before moving to Dennison - where I spent a significant part of my childhood.

Eventually, the Dennison neighborhood got so bad that we had to move, even though the house itself was quite lovely. The neighbor killed my dog, the crack house was next door to us and after we moved someone used a gun in a crime and dumped it in our yard.

This ol' farm house is over 100 years old!

The place we moved was an old farm house just outside of Jewett, Ohio. Things have been interesting here too, despite our distance from "civilization." People have harassed us, killed our pets, dropped off strays and stole stuff right out of our yard. Ever wonder why Ohio produces so many astronauts? I think things have soured enough here that people wonder what they're even doing on this planet.

But that's not me. I have a condition known as eternal optimism. I mean granted, I have my days (heck, months sometimes) when I wonder where on earth we went wrong with all this crap that happens... But you know what? What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

The point is, I try to look at the glass as half full. I'm hopeful, not in the stupid way that people are on TV when they beg the killer not to hurt them, but in the kind of way that even when the gun is in my face I'll be looking for a way out.

I do, however, enjoy dressing all in black and staring into the distance ominously.

Since I was 5 years old, I've had these big dreams. First, I wanted to be a paleontologist - digging up dinosaur bones and putting them in museums seemed like the ideal life for me. But I thought, what if I wanted to be a teacher? Or a firefighter? Definitely a writer. Acting seems like a pretty cool career too... Then I realized, there isn't anything saying I can't do a little bit of everything.

So, I've spent my life thus far dreaming big dreams. I've spent my years trying to help people and learning the heartbreaking lesson that you cannot save everyone and some people don't want to be helped.

I became a born-again Christian back in 2010, year before I graduated. My folks raised me a Christian, but understanding it for yourself and committing to it because you really believe - that is something I wouldn't trade for anything, even all this other awesomeness I've seen and experienced. I'd say that's where my optimism comes from, knowing deep down in my soul that no matter how many times we mess it all up, God is putting it back together - and I want to help.

I was baptized in late 2009.

I've been a photographer since I was 7. I was gifted a camera when we lived in town and began taking photos, even entered some in a contest and won ribbons after a trip to the Grand Canyon. Then my Dad bought me a Canon AE-1 and started teaching me the ins-and-outs of aperture and shutter speed. One of my favorite cameras ever.

I love looking at the world through a camera trying to capture the beauty in everything: towering walls of stone, a bird fluttering on an ocean breeze and the way light meets a shadow.

I've had a modicum of success designing websites and managing social media for a few sites, interviewing some very interesting people working in film and television. Actors, directors and producers; I've probably some 40 interviews under my belt. I'd like to foray further into the world of journalism. But even if I never do, I'll have enjoyed the times I have had.

Beautiful photographs taken in far off places warm my heart.

I yearn for adventure. Since I was but a wee lad, I dreamed of far off lands and seeing the world for myself. In more recent years, I've begun traveling, discovering that fortunately, I have quite the knack for trip planning and finding the very best of deals online. I've been to nearly every state in the US of A, a couple of whirlwind tours of England and a lovely visit to Australia.

I've worked in fast food and in a gas station, even with my deal-finding travel radar, you have to work a couple of jobs to fund the wild expeditions I go on. That feeling when you crest a mountain top, the wind whipping about you, the fatigue threatening to toss you over the precipice to certain death, but seeing the ocean blue for mile upon mile into the horizon... That's the kind of thing that is priceless.

So, there's a little bit about me. Just tip of the iceberg stuff really. Be sure to stick around it you want to join in my adventures, I'd love to have you along for the ride!

Staring off into the Hawaiian sunset, dreaming of adventures to come.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 


Today's selection has been on repeat for the last month or so. I really feel this song. It's like one of those songs that really defines me. I give you, Play to Win by Disciple. 

First Day of the New Year!

 This post was originally a part of the "2020" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which

was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024. 

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So, a lot of stuff happened today!

I recorded my first video of the year (and the first video on my new YouTube channel) as well as a podcast about my ambitions for this whole "I Am Medley" project, set for release next week.

I've had trouble getting my stuff to upload due to internet connectivity issues. Remind me when I make my fortune to invest in an internet company that actually delivers.

Anyway, here's my first video on aforementioned I Am Medley YouTube channel:

A dark spot on an otherwise promising day is that my parents aren't feeling well. Mom lay on the couch all day and can't keep anything down. Say a prayer for her, if you will.

Even though an awful lot of my day consisted of trying to get my projects organized, a few posts scheduled and the like, I managed to find some good books to read and am several chapters into one right now. It's called "Murder is the Word." Fun read so far!

I'm also setting out to eat very differently and spend more time writing as well. This isn't an overnight change, but something I've been working towards for awhile and I have high hopes for success this year.

I sit here in the dark with all my kittens that I've taken in around me, and though I know that everything I have set my heart on to accomplish will be a lot of work - I believe I can accomplish it.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Today's selection: a rendition of the classical piece "Trumpet Voluntary" originally by Jeremiah Clarke on an organ. I got the idea to share this piece after it was referenced in a novel I was reading.

2020 Vision: New Years Day

 This post was originally a part of the "The Life of Zack" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which

was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024. 

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I love New Year's Day. It's the beginning of a new year, a clean slate to be filled with adventure and new experiences. 

Usually I find something crazy fun to do on a January 1st. Once I found a baby mouse in a bag of dog food. Another time I got bit by a dog. Sometimes I go out with the fam and fire some guns into the woods. Last year I spent a few days in New York City, admiring the Christmas Tree and the view from the Top of the Rock. 

December 31st, 2017; preparing for some New Year shenanigans.

I've got a lot of hopes and dreams for 2020. Lots of projects and adventures, but mostly I hope that I am a light of faith, hope and love to those around me. 

I've had a few people say that getting excited about the New Year is stupid, and they'll say things like "New Years Resolutions never worked for me." My resolutions are a little different: I list goals and build on them, day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year. The main thing is to show up every day and put in the work. This is how I've accomplished anything I've accomplished, from building websites to traveling the world.

Visiting Grand Central Station on January 1st, 2019.

Hopefully this effort, showing up every day putting in work, will shine through in my blogs, YouTube videos and social media posts in 2020 - as I share the knowledge, adventures and spirituality I've experienced over the years and embark on next leg of my journey.

I hope you'll join me on this, my epic quest, by following and subscribing to my blog, my YouTube and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@zem2point0). 


Have a Blessed and Happy New Year!

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Today's selection "New Year's Day" by Abandon has been my go-to New Year's song for a few years now.

Harrisville Craft Show

 This post was originally a part of the "extraOrdinary" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which

was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024. 

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Every first Saturday of November, the little town of Harrisville, Ohio hosts a craft show. 

Mom and I, manning our first Harrisville Craft Show Table in 2016

Mom, with that first table in 2016.

I remember going to this craft show since I was about six years old. (That first time I remember getting wooden fridge magnets, shaped like a dinosaur and Elmo.) We haven't been there every year, but Mom sure tries to get there every time it comes around.

A flyer I made for Mom's first table.

For the past four years, since 2016, Mom has had tables at the craft show. The second year I had a Pampered Chef table as well, but the last two years I have displayed my photography. 

My Pampered Chef table at the Harrisville Craft Show 2017.

Mom's table. 2017.

Mom's table has always been information on Young Living Essential Oils. (We take our Essential Oils very seriously.) She has set up some really cool displays featuring the essential oils, the diffusers, infused products and informational resources.

Photography table in November 2018.

 The first time I set up a table for my photos, I displayed canvas prints that I had purchased as Christmas gifts and collected emails for a photography newsletter. I also donated a framed photo for the door prize drawings and raffled off another framed photo at my table for $1 a ticket.




I can't remember who won the raffle, but I do remember they picked up the photo at Wendy's one night when I was working. 

Mom's table, 2018.

The table I set up for Mom, 2019.

This year, I took the prints that I had entered in the Clark Library Photo Contest and put them up for sale. The plot twist this year was that Mom was away at a Young Living rally in Michigan and I was manning both of our tables.





I was quite nervous to be running both tables by myself, if I'm completely honest. But everything went fairly smoothly. 

My most recent table. November 2019. 

The craft show has a lot of interesting things like wood carvings, wreaths and Mom's favorite - decorative snowmen. If you like crafts, it's definitely worth stopping in to browse for a while. They serve some good food next door every year as well. Check out the Harrisville Craft Show at the Volunteer Fire Department in Harrisville Ohio, the first Saturday in November from 9am to 3pm.

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

Today's selection, "Borrow (One Day at a Time)" by Josh Wilson, was one that I discovered on the radio on my way to church one night in November 2019. 

Shaker Woods Festival - Christmas in the Woods

 This post was originally a part of the "extraOrdinary" series on the I Am Medley Blog, which

was meant to kick off in early 2020, but is getting a reboot in 2024. 

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Some of the beautiful fall foliage.

Amid the busyness of working on preparing blogs and videos in October 2019, as well as dealing with the recent lack of internet and a furnace, Mom and I took a break for a few hours on the afternoon of the 19th. 

Mom wanted to visit "Christmas in the Woods" a festival in Columbiana, Ohio. Obviously Christmas-themed, they have live music, arts and crafts, delicious food and kettle corn. 

The Christmas festival is held on the Shaker Woods grounds, which also hosts a festival during the summer. The craftspeople selling their wares are dressed in period clothing, like the Shakers of old.

Here you can see a few of the small buildings that house vendors.

The vendor's stalls are permanent wooden buildings. A larger building houses the kettle corn and donuts operation, in which Shaker Woods' signature recipes are prepared. (Unfortunately, I neglected to photograph this building.)

I really enjoyed "Christmas in the Woods," though it was extremely crowded the day I went, as the weather was absolutely perfect for a walk in the woods. (Mid-60's temperatures on October 19th? I'll take it!) 

It was a great experience, the sort of thing one can only find out here in the midwest. I highly recommend it for people who like craft shows or walks in the woods. :)

Be sure to visit the Shaker Woods website for information on future events: http://www.shakerwoods.com

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

This song was one I used to listen to, and I randomly remembered it while driving back from Christmas in the Woods.

Life - Marches On (April Updates)

So, it's amazing how time flies by. A remark I make often, but it holds true every time.

Our beautiful park, Sally Buffalo in Cadiz, OH

I began drafting this post during the first hours of April, the title, "Marches On" to be a sort of pun on March having just passed. Now, a whole three weeks later, I realized that I never completed or posted it.

Primarily, I have been occupied with my job at Shurfast Food Mart and helping care for my little brother, but I have managed to fit in some of my trademark adventures a long the way. I have been sorting through my photos and videos for material for this blog and my YouTube channel, and also filmed some brand new material at a Cabela's store in West Virginia and the Railroad Depot in my hometown of Dennison, Ohio.

My buddy Scout and I at work. 

More on those adventures in due time.

I am also working on creating a podcast and one YouTube series in particular, a sort of show-and-tell series I'm calling "Supercool." I am going to be reaching out to some people to see if I can get a different guest for each video in the series, as I think that would be fun to do.

With a trip to New York City in January and a few days in Boston back in March, my travels are off to a good start in 2019 - though I have a lot more places to visit before my planned move to Sydney, Australia in 2020. Working one job with inconsistent hours has made traveling a little more difficult than when I was working two jobs; I've planned and postponed 3 trips so far this year, Los Angeles and Fort Myers Beach being destinations I wish to revisit and Halifax, Nova Scotia being a new place I'd like to explore; these things will come in due time, I suppose.

Beautiful Boston Public Library Courtyard

My next adventure in Los Angeles looks to be going ahead soon; I plan to fly out in time for The Voice finale next month, if I can procure some tickets when they become available. I am also hoping to take one of my coworkers with me on this outing, as I usually travel alone and (as much as I enjoy the whole lone ranger thing) I want to change things up a little for my 3rd year of traveling, especially because I plan to move so far away next year.

As for the whole moving to Australia thing, since I've not yet covered that out here: I visited Sydney in December for the first time and rather liked it, my cousin has been living down there for 11 years now; and having come from the same area I currently live in, she is now an Australian citizen. I am planning to get a working holiday visa and go down and stay with her for a year and really get to experience Australia. My cousin works in traffic control and I will most likely work for her. I am super excited about this opportunity.

Beautiful Australian coastline.

On a less sunny note, things have not been easy recently. It would feel wrong for me not to mention some of the less pleasant things that have been happening as of late. We are trying to get my little brother the mental help he needs and some days it is difficult. Some days it seems like it is completely impossible. I'm not yet ready to explain all of that out here, but eventually I will.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, I lost a dear friend when Danny Manbeck passed and additionally my grandmother went into the ICU after a terrible fall from her hospital bed. It's been a lot to process and it hasn't really hit yet. Please keep everyone in your prayers, whether you know us personally or not, as we need all the prayers we can get!

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I've decided to start ending my blogs with songs that I like. I do not own or endorse the music or artists, unless otherwise noted. Please enjoy my selection of the day. 

"New Horizons" by Flyleaf

Life - A week into 2019!

Hey everyone and welcome to my blog, it's so hard to believe it's 2019 now! 

My year got off to a great start, exploring New York City. I stayed in a nice hotel next to LaGuardia Airport (though I flew into JFK) called Aloft. I didn't watch the ball drop in Times Square, opting to watch it on TV in my hotel because it was already so crowded and the weather was bad.

My favorite selfie so far this year!

Spent the next few days walking around seeing the sights from Central Park to Brooklyn Bridge. It was around 40 degrees, but I was freezing. Probably just colder being near the water.

Brooklyn Bridge

On the 4th, I flew home and then worked an afternoon shift at Shurfast (having quit Wendy's at the end of November, Shurfast is my only job right now). Worked some midnight shifts later in the week.

Back at work!

I've got a lot of stuff I'm working on, a lot of unfinished projects from 2018, so watch this space.