Diane Hofstede Armed With A Sword! Hydrogen Bombs! Tabasco Shots! It's A Party At The Peter Teachout Residence!

Photos and blog post by John Hoff

A couple days after Peter Teachout was recognized in City Council chambers for all the good he did in the EcoVillage, all the courage shown by Peter and his family, there was a small party at Peter's house to mark Peter's enlistment in the United States Army. Very soon, Peter will be leaving for Fort Benning, Georgia.

Some notable people showed up at Peter's party, including City Council Member Diane Hofstede, who looked over Peter's collection of swords. In the top photo, Diane Hofstede poses with a replica sword based on the weapon known as "Sting" in Lord of the Rings. In the photo below, Peter explains how he managed to decapitate a skulking rat which got into some kind of wooden storage box.

(No, I'm not kidding--Peter killed a rat with a sword by slicing off its head. This is not a squeamish man)

Some of the highlights of the party are documented in the photos which follow...



I brought over a box of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) or, at least, a whole bunch of the STUFF from inside numerous MREs. I had the stuff in a big ol' box--like a lot of odds and ends fall into my eager, scavenging hands--and I thought it made a nice party theme. I figured I could amuse folks by taking straight shots of tabasco sauce, but it turns out the Teachout kids are actually rather found of spicy food. They were putting drops of tabasco on their food and showing off how they didn't even need to take a drink of water afterward, especially "little Peter" who appears to have quite a taste and tolerance for the hot stuff.

The guys making the Johnny Northside movie showed up to document Peter's party. One day that movie will finally be completed. I can hardly wait.
Jordan resident Megan Goodmundson was at the party, showing almost everybody the check she got off Ben Myers to pay legal fees in his failed and (let's just be frank, here) stupid and ill-advised defamation lawsuit. And, no, I'm not writing in the parody font, here, so when I say "stupid and ill-advised" I actually mean it.
Peter showing off some of the swag he's already received from Uncle Sam.
A couple soldiers once explained to me how to make a hydrogen-based "MRE bomb" with the heating packets inside the Meals Ready To Eat. At the party, we tried four different times to make an MRE bomb, using a giant sparkler to set off the last one. We produced one slightly satisfying result, but didn't get the super Hindenberg-like explosion that we were hoping for.

The Teachout kids try out a hula hoop which "Hawthorne Hawkman" Jeff Skrenes brought to the party. Both the kids were good, but Little Peter really had a knack for it.
I should have gotten a picture of the cake at the BEGINNING of the party, but I was too busy trying to make an MRE heating packet explode. In any case, a good time was had by all. God speed Peter, and come back safe to us.