Kites

Our family used to spend a week on the Oregon coast every summer. One of the fun things to do on the beach was to observe or fly kites, which meant we often stopped in kite shops to add to our collection. In Lincoln City, unless the weather is bad, there are usually gigantic spinner kites flying near the south end of town. Lincoln City actually has several kite festivals as well where you can see all kinds of unusual shapes and sizes, and kite stunts. In fact, they call themselves the Kite Capital of the World.

When we moved to Kansas from the Pacific Northwest we brought some of our west coast windspinners (small mounted kites) and the tough Kansas winds ripped the kites loose from their moorings, tore the fabric, and bent frames. You’d think with that kind of windpower there would be kite festivals here I’d have noticed. I haven’t, though, so had to do such internet searching and found the Kite Club in Kansas City, Missouri. (KCKC) In fact two weekends ago, they held their 2nd Kite Flying Festival Longview Community College Campus, Lee Summit, MO. Too bad I missed it!

KCKC also has regular Second and Fourth Weekend Flys from 1 to 4 pm:
2nd Sunday of the Month—Heritage Park, Olathe, KS
4th Sunday of the Month—New Mark Middle School, KC, MO and 106th and North Oak Trafficway, Kansas City, MO
(I might have to buy a new kite and check one out—fortunately, we sell some cool inexpensive kites on our site, so I don’t have to go to Oregon.)

Their site also told about the Topeka Kite Fliers, who meet the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at Northern Hills Middle School, in Topeka, KS.

Do you know of other Kite festivals? Please let me know by commenting here. Read more!

Grilling and Cooking

“Real men cook!” and they especially seem to enjoy outdoor grilling, barbecuing, etc.

My brother-in-law and his hunting buddy love to go wild turkey hunting and I think they each now have their own Turkey Fryer.*

One of my favorite stories about men cooking outdoors was the story that my friend John tells. He was visiting family in Montana a number of years ago and they didn’t have a barbecue or grill. He really wanted to cook outside, so borrowed an oven rack, used some old bricks and stones to make a base, put in some charcoal and they “cooked out.” The next year when they went to visit, guess where the oven rack was? Still out there being used as an outdoor grill. Course, can't say I blame them. There's nothin' better than a hamburger cooked outside on a barbecue.

*Want to know more about the “why”s and “how to”s of turkey frying? Check out this page from fabulousfoods.com. Read more!

Billiards

Also new to our site is the Billiards section. I must admit I had a lot of fun looking at the table covers. Speaking of table covers, did you know that the body of Mary, Queen of Scots was wrapped in her billiard table cover in 1586?

Billiards or cue sports can be divided into 3 subcategories:

Carom billiards – games played on tables without pockets.
Pocket billiards – what we usually call “pool” – generally played on a table with six pockets.
Snooker – though technically a pocket billiard, it has history and terminology vastly different. Read more!

Free shipping on your order

We’re growing so much—adding new fun and interesting products, adding staff—we’ve decided to start a blog to discuss the variety of hobbies we feature on our site. You’re welcome to comment, ask questions, and make suggestions.

Mention our brand new Hobby Warehouse blog and Nathan, our new store manager, says we’ll give you free shipping on your order. Offer expires April 30th! Read more!