Categories
Family

Home Improvements

We’ve spent the past couple of weekends painting. It wasn’t my idea, the Wife got her 5 year-itch. Tired of old color schemes, she went to our local hardware dealer with some ideas. The fella there is good with colors and helped her pick out a scheme for the lass’ room.

She was so pleased with the job, she decided it was time to change our downstairs as well. Her buddy at the hardware store does house calls, so he paid us a visit. We returned the favor by paying him for a bunch of paint. We spend the afternoon today painting our family area.

As far as a division of labor goes, she uses the roller and I do all the cutting in with a brush. So she puts on 90% of the paint, but my job takes 90% of the time. I don’t bother taping off because I’ve done enough painting now to develop a pretty steady hand to manage all the cutting in around doors, windows, baseboard, base molding and up at the ceiling. It just takes time, that’s all. Well, in addition to the steady hand.

She’s still happy with how things are turning out, but there’s still more to go. We now have a foyer to paint and then all the way up the stairwell. As well as the stairs, which we’ll be painting the base molding the covers the edge of the steps as well and the risers. Actually, I’ll be painting all that since it’s all cutting-in work.

But the Wife is happy with things so far. And that’s a good thing.

The alternative would be more painting.

Categories
Family

Discovering Harry Potter

A few Summers ago, I read the first Harry Potter book to the boy and the lass. I think it took a couple of weeks to get through it. They both loved it and they both wanted me to read more of the books to them.

But that was never the intention.

The intention was to plan a seed of curiosity that would get them hooked enough so they’d want to read the subsequent books themselves. We’ve allowed them to see the 1st movie, to keep the story fresh. We haven’t let them see any of the subsequent movies. “After you read the books…” we keep telling them.

A couple years ago neither of them was ready to read a Harry Potter book. Now, the boy has been capable of reading the 2nd book for awhile and in fact started it about 4 months ago. But he would only read a few pages at a time. I suppose being “capable” and being “able” are two different things in this case.

Within the last week or so, a few things came together. One, I suspect, is his ability to concentrate has improved to the point where he can sit and pay attention to the story for an extended period of time. Two, his reading has gotten faster. And third, and arguably most important, his bit-by-bit, small chunk-at-a-time has finally yielded enough progress through the book where the story has taken hold of him. He’s past the part where all the questions are being raised and into the section where answers are coming at him fast and furious.

It’s been fun to watch, because he’s now well over half-way through the book and any spare time he has he sits down and reads. He keeps asking me and the Wife questions about what’s going on and keeps telling us “I know who opened the Chamber of Secrets.” Of course, he doesn’t know because he hasn’t finished the book, but that doesn’t stop him from thinking he’s figured it out.

Where once he talked about reading “one more page,” he now talks about reading “one more chapter.” A seed that we planted a long time ago finally seems to have germinated.

Categories
Misc

ALAN!

Hilarious:

Oh and “A SPATULA! They’re just making it up now!”

Categories
Politics

No Way to Govern

Reading this piece by Brian Beutler, I have a couple of thoughts.

One, modern day politics is a game of one-upsmanship. Both political parties believe absolutely that their preferred policies are synonymous with what’s best for the country. The result is a never-ending series of contests whereby each side is worried more about how they are perceived. What we end up with is one penny-ante, well, billion-ante, tactic after another. They disseminate their talking points through their minions and try to position themselves as the one that “care.”

Two, what they care about is power. Both the pols doing their tactical dances and their pundit minions that hang on their every move. Both sides agreed to the sequester, now neither side wants to own it. All they care about is how it’s execution affects the balance of power.

In the meantime, the rest of us are forever being jerked around by all their caring.

Categories
Family

Freeloading

There are any of a myriad of way the lass annoys her older brother. The one that bothers him the most, I think, is also the one I’m most sympathetic to him regarding, but also not willing to cut him any slack over. It’s when his sister freeloads off of him.

The easiest example is meal times. Both kids are capable of pouring their own milk. But 9 times out of 10, it is the boy who gets up and takes the initiative to take care of himself. Of course, the Wife and I are quite pleased that he no longer sits there whining “What can I have to drink?” But the lass sees no reason for her to get up and pour herself some milk since her brother is already on the job. So she asks him to pour her some milk as well. Multiply that by every day, or just about, and you’ll stretch the patience of any emotionally immature 8 year-old. Which is to say, all of them.

It’s one thing when this happens every now and again, it’s another when it’s day in and day out. It’s quite clear the lass knows what she’s doing and come mealtimes has demonstrated she is quite content to sit and wait her brother out.

Now, the boy has balked at this on any number of occasions. “She NEVER pours her own drink!” he as lamented on any of a number of occasions. He’s even tried simply ignoring her.

Neither the Wife nor I let him get away with that. We are quick to remind him of how many times we have poured them milk or fixed their food without any complaints on our part. We both feel it’s the courteous and proper way to behave and, as time has gone on, he has come to accept that in this scenario being first isn’t always best. The phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” is truly apt here.

This is just one scenario, but there are others I’ve noticed where the lass benefits from the boy’s initiative. Again, in these she seems to be a serial offender. So I’ve become more sympathetic to his complaints in this regard.

There is a difference in age to be accounted for here. The boy is about 18 months older, so there is definitely a developmental difference still at their current ages.

Yet I’m loathe to make too many excuses for the lass. I think we’ve always pushed them regarding taking care of themselves and perhaps this is a sign the Wife and I have to take a little more initiative ourselves to intervene quickly.

For example, rather than waiting for the boy to take care of the drink at a meal, we need to simply request that the lass take care of pouring drinks for herself and her brother. The issue isn’t so much an issue of fairness; rather, we want to make sure that some sense of entitlement isn’t adopted by the lass.

Categories
Computers Notweet Programming Python

Announce- blogtool v1.0.1

I’ve released blogtool version 1.0.1 into the wild.

This is a bug fix version. It fixes an error in HTML output where tags like \<img> were not being properly closed. Also takes care of stray ‘&’ characters that need to be escaped.

It also fixes some bugs in the getpost option related to converting the post HTML into it’s markdown equivalent. Nested inline elements were not properly accounted for and escaping of a number of characters was also added.

Categories
Family

Leprechaun Hunting

Being St. Patrick’s Day, what better way to spend it than hunting for leprechauns?

They scoured the yard for clues. They were hoping for just a glimpse of a guy with a beard or something. They kept wondering how big a leprechaun would be and if I or the Wife had ever seen one.

The boy even googled around to see if there were any “HowTo’s” for catching a leprechaun. No such luck, though he did read that they can be found in fields and woods. Oh, and apparently they’re nocturnal.

So after dinner, we trudged off to the corn field which sits behind our house. As a bonus, the field is lined by woods so their hopes were high. The lass brought along 2 lacrosse sticks and a sand-sifter to help catch the leprechaun. The boy wanted to bring some of our corned beef and cabbage dinner along with us to try and lure one out. We gently dissuaded him from that course of action. He ended up bringing along his boomerang. He was hoping he might accidentally hit it in the head and knock it over long enough for them to catch it. He figured he could practice throwing his boomerang as well since we were going to be in a big field.

They met with disappointment, though they had a grand adventure looking. They traipsed all over the field, looked in all of the nooks and crannies they could find. I had the dogs along with us, for protection.

After we got home, they talked to Grandma, who gave them another idea. She suggested that leprechauns like beer and peanuts. So before bed time, the boy set a bowl of peanuts, a can of Guinness, a pencil and the following note on our front porch:

Mr. Leprechaun can you please sign here if you axualy came.

Sincerely, The Boy

If you want to can you leave the book that is on Ultimid Scribble Nauts. If you don’t no what I’m talking about is is the book you can spell whatever noun or ajective you want.

I signed it “Thanks Laddy” and left some coins on the porch for him.

Categories
Family

A Crossword

The boy got stuck on the following clue while doing a crossword this morning:

  1. Ancient

The answer was a 3-letter word ending in ‘LD’, and was obvious enough but the boy couldn’t quite figure it out. So he asked me for a hint.

I said “Grandma and Grandpa.”

He replied immediately “Oh, ‘OLD’.”

Heh.

Categories
Family

Consistently Stubborn

About a week ago, the Wife had some friends over for a knit night here in the house. I was… elsewhere with the boy for the night. The lass was here with the Wife and her friends. The boy and I did arrive for the final hour or so of knit night.

Apparently, the kids left a good impression because at the Wife’s knit night last night, one of her friends remarked about how well behaved the kids were. I guess that led to a discussion about parenting in general amongst them and a comment was made that consistency is a key because the Wife and I both expect similar behavior from them.

While that’s important, I don’t think that’s quite enough.

While out shepherding the boy through his martial arts classes, we stopped at a Wendy’s for dinner. We had the privilege of sitting next to a mother with her two sons. Neither of whom would listen to her, no matter how many times she threatened them with punishment. Because they would push her to that limit, and then she wouldn’t follow through.

I mention this as an anti-example of another quality a parent needs- stubbornness.

Consistency between parents is important so the kids can’t play both ends against the middle.

But stubbornness is important because a lot of the time, a parent is one-on-one, or one-on-more-than-one, with their kid, or kids, and it’s up to that parent to get them to listen. Better than threats and anger, good ol’ fashioned stubbornness gets the job done.

That’s what it takes to wait out the tantrums, the multiple requests, the dodges, the delays and whatever else happens between the first time they are asked and when they finally decide to do as they were asked. The temptation to just say “Screw it, I’ll do it myself” is overwhelming and only a stubborn individual would choose to not take that course.

It pays off over the long run. Over time, the fights get less- they never go away. At least, they haven’t yet and I don’t expect them to anytime soon. Kids learn that they might as well listen the first time around because they understand from prior experience that Mom or Dad won’t stop nagging them until it’s done.

Categories
Family

Tales from the Shotgun Wars

A few weeks ago, we started allowing the lass to ride shotgun in the car. I knew that the decision would result in clashes with the boy, but that’s the price parents pay. Or something.

In truth, I expected a lot more fireworks right out of the gate. Instead, there appears to have been a feeling out process where each has tried to figure out the other’s tactics for attaining the prized shotgun seat. For instance, at the pickup line after school, the lass figured out that timing and position was everything and she could gain the seat by making sure she was closer to the front of the car than her brother. The boy, realizing this tactical advantage, adopted the strategy for his own. The boy has figured out that his sister likes her morning cartoons a little too much and thus gains the advantage by being first to get out the door in the mornings. The lass has yet to adjust.

Still, there really hadn’t been much in the way of arguments about one or the other always sitting in the passenger seat. Until the last couple of days, when the lass has begun to let her frustration’s boil over. She groused for the ride home in the car yesterday because the boy had out-dueled her for both the ride to and the ride from school.

So this morning, when I announced it was time to go, the boy was off like a, er, shot for his coat and backpack. The lass accused him of rushing “just to get the front seat.” The boy responded by taunting her, of course. I was the last one out the door by several seconds and when I looked up, I witnessed a new tactic in the Shotgun Wars.

Since the boy had been the first out the door, he was already climbing into the passenger seat for our Highlander. The lass had decided to allow fate to decide who would get shotgun this morning- she went to our other car and was climbing into the passenger seat as I started down our walk. Thus, it was up to me to decide would win this morning’s battle. A risky strategy on her part; but a clever one if I do say. Realizing she had surely lost if she climbed into the back of the Highlander, where the boy already sat, she gambled by forcing me to pick a car.

My first thought was, “Damn, I wish we had a 3rd car.” In the end, fuel economy won out this morning, and so did the lass. Much to the boy’s consternation, I’m sure you’ll be surprised to learn. His turn to grouse in the back.

I expect the boy will be asking which car they’ll be riding in tomorrow morning.

Categories
Family

On Dividing Chores

There’s a lot to agree with in this article. It was written in response to another article (which is linked in the above article) that the author mentions and I started to read but couldn’t finish because, well, I found it annoying. Another bite at the “men don’t do as much work as women around the house” apple, which doesn’t grow here.

At least, not like one might think.

The article talks about how the author divides chores in his house, it’s according to the maxim “whoever cares most wins.” Or, in the case of chores, loses because the person who cares most ends up doing the chore in question. I actually think this is pretty sage advise, but it will lead to a fair share of tiffs over who is doing what.

Marriage and kids are a long term deal, at least, that’s how it is where I come from. My Grandparents were married for 65+ years; my parents are closing in on 50 years; the Wife’s parents are also closing in on 50. That’s a lot of time to be together and it’s a lot of loads of laundry, time running the vacuum, cleaning the coffee maker, folding clothes, mowing lawns, home improvement projects, trips to school, dishes, cooking, trips to lessons, trips to games, and on and on and on.

The very nature of “chore” is that they don’t change and, for the most part, don’t go away. They also, sadly, need to be done. Now imagine doing them over the course of all those years and it becomes understandable why tempers occasionally flare. There will inevitably be stretches where the Wife or I get stuck with a run of one particular chore. It gets annoying for either of us.

But there are some chores I don’t do. The one that sticks in the Wife’s craw the most is dusting. I don’t dust because I don’t see the need to be doing it on the schedule that the Wife does, so she inevitably ends up doing it, i.e.- she cares the most.

I suppose by some might expect me to say I feel guilty about this. But the fact is, I don’t. I can name chores that I take care of, like mowing the lawn or cutting cord wood, that she has no particular stake in, i.e.- she doesn’t care. Rather, I do so I get to take care of it.

I don’t have any handy statistics on how normal our situation is. I like to think we’re a fairly average, normal family so I like to think the majority of families also come up with a chore responsibility arrangement that sucks suitably for everyone involved. Including the kids, who have yet to meet any chore they care about. So, assuming we’re largely representative of how things work in families, I have a hard time believing that this complaint about the division of labor at home is the problem its proponents want us to believe.

Indeed, I don’t think it’s a problem at all. It’s simply the way things are, and it favors no one. Things need to get done and someone has to step up to do them. It isn’t sexy and it won’t get government grants for research purposes, but there it is. But, if people are going to insist on some kind of division, “whoever cares most” is the way to go.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to take the dogs out for a final time before bed.

Categories
Cub Scouts

A Good Den Meeting

Every now and again, a crazy idea comes together and makes for a worthwhile Den meeting. The “crazy” idea this time? To have my Bear Scouts build a bird feeder as a den project.

The Den isn’t huge- we had 9 boys today at the meeting. But anyone who knows anything about 8-year olds will admit that keeping 9 boys on the same page in the presence of particularly dangerous equipment is not a task to be taken lightly. Fortunately, I had some big help from another Dad in the Den and we got together and came up with a plan of attack to make this an attainable goal, both for the boys and ourselves.

Here’s the model we built over the weekend:

First, the overall goal of the project was for the boys to, as much as was possible for 8-year olds, build the feeder themselves. Secondary goals were to give the some experience with hand tools and the construction process in general.

After building the feeder, the other Dad and I decided to keep the cutting as simple as possible. The ends of the feeder are pentagon shaped with 30 degree and 45 degree angle cuts, so we opted to cut these out ahead of time. That left the top, both roofs pieces and the base as possibilities for the boys to cut themselves. To keep those as simple as possible, we prepped strips of wood cut to finished widths and edge bevels so the boys would only have to cut lengths off of them. So in the end, the boys had to cut out 4 pieces of wood: the base, the top, and both sides of the roof.

In addition to the pentagon shaped end pieces, we also pre-cut the plexiglass sides and some strips that are used to create the edging around the base of the feeder. We also organized the entire construction of the feeder, down to what screws where, what joints get glued, the hook for hanging the feeder, and an opening with a plexiglass lid to refill the feeder.

We never planned on them finishing the entire unit in one meeting- there were too many of them to manage and help through the cutting. Also, we felt it was a chance to show them that it takes time to build something well. The goal for today’s meeting was for all of the boys to cut out the 4 pieces required to build the feeder and to attach the edging to the base. The next meeting we would tackle the actual assembly.

The good news is I was the only one to draw any blood, and I cut myself on my own saw. It was a tiny nick, but appropriate since it isn’t a project until some blood has been spilled.

The better news is all the boys got their pieces cut today and all of them really seemed to enjoy the process. I don’t think more than a couple of them had used a hand saw before, so the other Dad and I did our best to teach them how to work a handsaw. But they all measured their own lengths of wood and generally followed directions and instruction well. Generally, we’d help them get the cut started to the point of a groove they could follow, then we’d let them finish the cut.

As a bonus, they all got to operate a pneumatic pin-nailer. In order to attach the edging to the base, we used glue for a permanent attachment, but used the nailer to hold the pieces in place while the glue set. So we instructed them in how to properly, and safely, operate the nailer. To their credit, they listened well and no one did anything crazy with the tools. I would glue and hold the piece in place and them have the boys use the nailer to pin the piece so it stayed put. They were all impressed with how “strong” the nailer was to shoot the nail in place like it did.

In all, it was a fast and hectic hour-and-a-half. We could only have 4 of them cutting at one time, so there was always someone doing something with a saw. A couple of other parents showed up a little later to help out with supervision and together we kept an eye on things and made sure that no one Scout sat too long waiting for a chance to do some work. When it was over, there was a palpable relief from all the parents involved.

But probably the best news was something I and the other Dad both overheard a couple of the boys say while in the thick of things. They said “This is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.”

I agreed.

Categories
Misc

Lock Picking

I love stories like this. There’s something about the popping of stuffed shirts that I find appealing I guess. Really, they are stories about hubris, and the clever interloper who comes along and exposes it- “the emperor has no clothes” moments.

The second half of the article, linked at the bottom of the above story, is longer still but just as much worth a read.

Categories
Misc

Drywall Reinforcement Howto

The Wife has decided it’s time to update the lass’ room. With the exception of rearranging it and changing the curtains a couple of times, it’s been largely unchanged since she was born. We’ve begun the process of repainting the room and that’s afforded me the opportunity to address the crappy drywall we’ve got.

I say we have crappy drywall because it does not take kindly to wall anchors. Or, more correctly, wall anchors tend to ruin the drywall. The paper seems to be a sub-par variety that tears easily, the drywall itself, once compromised by the hole that any anchor requires, crumbles over time to the point of making the anchor useless.

This is most evident where the curtains are hung.

The Wife doesn’t want the curtain rod supports attached to the casing surrounding the window, which means we have to anchor the curtains in the drywall on either side of the window. Curtains are a double whammy because they are an active load on the anchor- they are always being shifted and moved and the stress on the anchor wears out the drywall that much quicker.

Here’s what the wall looks like after removing the curtain rod supports:

That area is now basically unusable for when I need to replace the supports.

So I’ve taken to fixing the problem by installing a backer-board behind the drywall. It’s just a rectangular piece of wood that goes behind the drywall that I can screw into to secure the curtain rod supports. Thus, eliminating the need for drywall anchors.

To start, I cut some pine boards that are roughly 3″x10″ and trace the width onto the wall. I locate the cutout an inch or so away from the widest part of the casing:

The length, or height, of the rectangular cutout should be about 1/2 the length of the board. This gives enough space to insert the board behind the drywall while also allowing for anchoring it in place.

Now, it’s pucker up time because we’re going to cut a square out of the drywall, which means things are going to be temporarily worse before they get better.

Surprise! Turns out there was a stud right to the right side. No matter, we’ll just extend the cutout so so we can slide the pine board in next to the stud. We’re already committed to patching the drywall, another inch or so isn’t going to matter.

This is the piece of wood I’ll be inserting behind the drywall, a simple piece of pine. The screw will serve as a handle and position setter when we slip it up behind the drywall. It’s a little detail because without it, once we get the wood behind the drywall, the screw may well be the only thing that keeps it from falling down and disappearing behind the drywall.

Here, the wood’s been placed behind the drywall. Notice how the screw help to keep it in place. On the right side, I’ve also slid the wood back towards the window a bit.

The next step is to secure the wood in place with some drywall screws, like so:

And now, the job turns into a drywall patch job. I cut out some pieces to fit into the cutouts:

The pictures don’t show it, but I did tack the drywall patches in place with a couple of screws. No need to go crazy, just a couple will do. Anything we hang here will ultimately served a similar purpose.

Then it’s just straight up tape-and-spackle. For the patch on the right, I was able to cover the cutout entirely with 2 vertical strips of tape:

With the left side patch I first place 2 horizontal pieces of tape, allowed the spackle to dry and then placed 2 vertical pieces of tape:

A more talented spackler could probably place all 4 pieces of tape at once and get it to look nice.

Now it’s just a matter of finishing the spackling and a little sanding.

This isn’t the most complicated drywall job in the world, especially since the pieces involved are small. For that small inconvenience, I won’t ever have to worry about wall anchors for the curtains again. Also, should the Wife decide she doesn’t like the curtain rod supports anymore, I can just patch the holes without worrying about the surrounding drywall being compromised. I could even install something into the exact same holes.

I’ve done this in quite a few of the rooms and it makes a big difference. In fact, if I was building a home, I’d probably just request the builders throw some kind of two-by up there between the studs on either side of the window to serve the same purpose. That way, I wouldn’t have anything to worry about when it came time for the window treatments.

Heck, doing that I could install a chin-up bar without worrying about compromising the wall. Not that I would, because doing chin-ups in front of a window like that would be silly. I’d just like knowing that I could, because there’s no way the curtains would be coming down, even with some runt hanging on them while playing George-of-the-Jungle.

Categories
Family

The Baconator

The lass was unyielding when she rendered her judgment this morning: “Dad, you cook better bacon than Mom.”

The Wife had little choice but to concur. She had attempted to cook up some bacon last night for BLT’s and the results weren’t quite the same as mine this morning for breakfast.

The boy was in absentia this morning due to him sleeping over at a friend’s house. Thus, he wasn’t able to cast a vote, denying me the unanimous decision.

This is an important distinction and could well be the pinnacle of my fathering career. I’m not quite sure where I go from here. I’d like to be able to pass on this sort of critical life-knowledge, but I fear it is the sort of thing that can only be won through experience and the many hours spent over a hot, grease-spitting cast-iron griddle.

Perhaps one day I will be able to guide the children in their quest to become baconators themselves. If nothing else, I’ll be in position to save many a piece of bacon from a horrible, over-cooked (or worse- undercooked!) fate.

Categories
Misc

They Missed This One

UPDATE: When I originally posted this, at the end I noted updated accumulation forecasts for 6-10 inches, which was incorrect. They are 4-8 inches as noted in the weather statement I quoted. We’re already sitting at 9″, so even the update was incorrect.

I never took down the measuring stick after the Blizzard of 2013.

For everything the forecasters got right about the Blizzard, they seem to have gotten this storm entirely wrong. First, it was supposed to start snowing on Wednesday and last into Friday. We were going to get 6-10 inches of snow. Then, it was supposed to start Thursday and last into Friday and we were only going to get 3-6 inches of snow. We started with a “Winter Storm Warning” and were downgraded to a “Winter Weather Advisory.”

Here’s the latest:

…WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW…WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON. THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

  • LOCATIONS…NORTHERN CONNECTICUT…INCLUDING CENTRAL AND WESTERN PORTIONS OF
  • MASSACHUSETTS AT LOWER ELEVATIONS IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY.
  • HAZARD TYPES…HEAVY SNOW.
  • ACCUMULATIONS…STORM TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 4 TO 8 INCHES.
  • TIMING…HEAVY SNOWFALL TO CONTINUE INTO MIDDAY FRIDAY.
  • IMPACTS…UNTREATED ROADS WILL BECOME SNOW COVERED AND SLIPPERY. ANTICIPATE
  • IMPACTS TO THE FRIDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR.
  • WINDS…NORTH 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH.
  • VISIBILITIES…ONE QUARTER TO ONE HALF MILE AT TIMES.
  • TEMPERATURES…AROUND 30. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A WINTER STORM WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN AN AVERAGE OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD…OR FOR 8 OR MORE INCHES IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. TRAVEL WILL BE SLOW AT BEST ON WELL TREATED SURFACES…AND QUITE DIFFICULT ON ANY UNPLOWED OR UNTREATED SURFACES.

Here’s a radar snapshot:

radar920AM

So, back to a “Winter Storm Warning” and accumulations of 4 to 8 inches. It’s 9:15AM as I type this and we’re sitting at 9 inches or so and, looking at the radar, the block of moisture doesn’t seem to be letting up. We’ll be lucky if the upper limit is what we end up with.

Obviously, the kids have no school today. The boy is happy about this because it interrupts the standardized testing they’ve been doing this week. But this is one more day to makeup and the Governor may have to decide whether to allow for a shortened school year.

Winter isn’t giving up without a fight.

Categories
Misc

No More Beard

I’ve been sporting a full beard for the Winter this year. I don’t normally do so, but for whatever reason this year was different. Honestly, I had a feeling in my bones this would be a cold Winter. It wasn’t the coldest Winter we’ve had, but it was pretty good.

As far as quality beards go, mine is OK. I’m not one of those guys who shaves and then has 5 o’clock shadow a couple minutes after completion. But given a month or so, it fills in pretty good.

But I’m not a year-round beard kind of guy. When it hits the point that in the mornings I feel like one of those fuzzy-topped pencils that have just spun-up a few times, it’s getting old. Mine had hit that point a couple of weeks ago and coupled with Spring only being a couple weeks away, I finally decided it was time for a change.

Results below the fold.

Click here to see the results “No More Beard”
Categories
Family

Perspective

All I did was ask her to feed the dogs this morning.

A bystander might have thought I’d asked her to sacrifice a finger.

Pint sized hissy fits would be cute, if they weren’t so blisteringly infuriating. To me, it’s the mindset I figure the kids assume when they embark on this path- one of entitlement. Apparently, they should just ipso facto have uninterrupted cartoon time simply because they, the couch and Netflix exist. How dare I interrupt her with so trivial a thing as feeding the dogs.

Because I’m practiced at dealing with these things, she was in the corner almost as quickly as her attitude flared up. One second, I’d asked her to feed the dogs, the next moment I told her to go to the corner and stand there awhile. She complained the whole way, stomped a bit for good measure, then folded her arms across her chest with a “HARUMPHH!”

I waited a few seconds, then I mosied on over to the corner, fixed her with a good stare and gave her The Speech:

“You, have no right to complain about being asked to feed the dogs. Your Mother and I feed you, give you rides to school, buy you clothes, take you to dance lessons, wash your clothes, clean up after you, pick you up after school, take you to Girl Scouts, help you with school work and that’s just what I can come up with off the top of my head. I’m sure if I actually thought about it for a bit, the list would get much longer. So I will not stand here and listen to you complain about being asked to do something so simple as feeding the dogs. Do I make myself clear?”

She broke eye contact with me about half-way through the list. She didn’t break down and cry (nor was that the object) but her demeanor changed noticeably. Humbled, is the word I would use- she appeared humbled. As I walked away, she muttered an “OK, I’ll feed the dogs.”

And that was it. It was all done.

Somehow, I think I’ll be using variants of this speech for awhile.

Categories
Family

Predictions

Coming home from martial arts lessons tonight, the boy was talking about cars.

Initially, he was wondering how to tell if rare cars are old cars or just new cars that haven’t been around for long yet. He uses the term “rare” a lot lately. He seems to be fascinated by the concept, always wondering what the most “rare” thing might be whether it’s a car or an animal or a food or whatever.

He figured a kid like himself wouldn’t be able to tell the difference because he hasn’t seen enough cars to know what’s knew versus what’s old. I got him to think a bit about characteristics of old cars versus new cars. He seems to think old cars are boxier than new cars.

Then he was wondering if “horses still towed things” when I was a kid. He quickly corrected himself: “Oh, no, cars were around in the 1800’s so horses probably weren’t pulling things when you were a kid.” I paraphrase, but that’s the gist of what he said. I went on to suggest that his grandparents might have grown up with horses still towing things. I know my Grandfather delivered milk using a horse-drawn buggy of some sort.

Then he asked if things always “evolve,” which seemed like a million-dollar word coming out of his mouth. But he used it correctly. I told him how cars have changed over the years, how radios weren’t always digital and the like. Finally, he said “I think cars will be different when I’m grown up. I think you’ll just have to push a button to start them and I think that you’ll just have to say things like ‘Air Conditioning On’ to make them happen.”

He might not have to wait that long for that list to come true.

It struck me then that was the first time I’d had such a conversation with him. It was less about me answering questions and more of an exchange. It’s not like we were discussing philosophy, but we were having a talk about, well, nothing in particular.

If I play my cards right, it’ll be the first of many.

Categories
Misc

The Whomping Willow

Well, OK. It’s not a willow and it doesn’t whomp anything as far as I’m aware. At least, not the Wife who got pretty close to it for a couple of pictures. Still, it’s a neat old tree and it just so happens to sit on the grounds of one of the local private schools.