I'm telling you...the kid's funny DG9

"Dad?" 
"Yes."
"Did you know an comma can save a person's life?"
"Really.  How's that?"
"Well, if you say, "Let's eat, Grandma."  it means you want to go together to eat something.  But if you forget the comma and say, "Let's eat Grandma." it means Grandma is for dinner."
The kid makes me laugh.

 Here he is with his namesake...also funny. 

 

The other day NHL called and said, "Hi, this is your favorite daughter-in-law."  To which he replied, "Oh hi Casia."  Only she's NHL.  It was a nice laugh between them.  What a couple of nuts.

Bird Watching in Ohio

DG9 and I went bird watching with Uncle Steve.  Here are some birds we saw...
Grackles
Starling
Barn Swallow
Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Great Blue Heron
American Gold Finch
Blue Jay
Cardinal
Yellow Headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Eastern Towhee
Catbird, Gray
House Wren
Black Capped Chickadee
White Breasted Nuthatch
Eastern Kingbird
Baltimore Oriole
Redwing
Mallard

When I was a kid my Uncle Steve would sometimes take me bird watching.  I always enjoyed that.  It's nice to take my son bird watching with him.  We went to a park Mom used to like to visit.  There is a bench out front dedicated to her memory.  It was a nice morning.

Get to know me

On one of his first days in school WG7 took 5 items to school for a session of get to know me.  These are the items he brought:
1.  Picture of his family
2.  Pokémon cards
3.  Dragon book
4.  Bible
5.  A Mickey Mouse Bell that belonged to Grandma Brown

I think that's just about right.

Here he is among his school work from last year...This picture is a tradition his Mom started.

Dang it!

When we bought this house we remodeled the thing.  The Mrs. wanted to replace the sliding glass doors so we did and I held on to the other doors so the boys could break them.  Well, yesterday was the day.  The boys had two glass doors each.  DG9 is up first and his first throw bounces off.  The second throw however, spiders the entire window.  It was awesome.  WG7 spidered his with a very small rock thrown very hard. 
Next up, a bat.  DG9 swung the bat.  The bat bounced off and it hurt his hands.  I don't think he was expecting the glass to fight back.  The second blow was a success and the window smashed to bits.  At the plate, WG7.  He swings, the bat bounces off the glass, it's a miss - no break.  He swings and a miss - no break.  He swings and a miss.  He swings and a miss.  With great determination he raises the bat high over head, he swings, the bat bounces off, it's a miss.  A swing and a miss.   A swing and a miss.  And a swing and a miss.  He's huffing and puffing by now.  One more swing and a miss.
Finally, he picks up a brick.  It's big, it's heavy.  He raises it high overhead and brings it down hard.  The brick hits the sliding glass door and break into two pieces.  With utter dismay he looks at me and says, "What?"
Eventually, he does smash the glass.  We clean up the glass until after dark. 
In retrospect I should have filmed the event.  WG7 is always asking to put a video up on America's Funniest Videos and that would have been perfect.  Dang it!

 

If you had been 20 minutes earlier you could have seen one set of the sliding glass doors here.

Generosity begets generosity

Yesterday Maw Maw and Paw Paw came over for a visit.  As we all caught up on what has been happening in our lives the boys most recent report cards were reviewed.  Each report was perfect in every respect and to celebrate their respective accomplishments Maw Maw gave each of the boys $10.  Afterward Maw Maw and Paw Paw took us all to dinner.  After dinner Maw Maw and DG9 went shopping in the gift shop and DG9 went to his favorite corner, the toy corner.  After a cursory review he asked Maw Maw if she like jewelry.  She said, "Yes, some."  He then walked her over to a starfish necklace he had been eyeing and offered to buy it for her instead of buying something for himself.  He then gave his last dollar to WG7 so he could buy some candy.  WG7 then bought candy for everyone.  Generosity begets generosity.  What good boys these boys are.

Warms my heart

I came home from work late one day this week.  When I pulled up WG7 was swinging from a tree and DG9 was laying on the concrete under the stoop.  On the sidewalk up to the front door was a foot stool and a few things a 7 year old needs to pass the time.  I opened my truck door and the boys came running over to me.  "What are you guys doing?"  "I've been waiting out here for hours for you to come home," says WG7.  I was touched.  "Yeah, and I came out later," says DG9.  They're out of school, they're bored, but still it was very sweet and I felt loved. 

A few days later I was helping WG7 take out the garbage.  Out of the blue he says to me, "Dad, you're a kind Dad."  I thanked him and promptly denied it because I want him to be a kinder, more loving father than I've been.  But again, I felt loved.

Children are an heritage of the Lord.  And happy is the man whose quiver is full of them. 

Amen.

One of those days

I've done a lot of work around the house.  I've learned to frame, rough wire, install windows, install doors, plumb some, dryawall, flooring etc...  I always have some anxiety about this kind of work for two reasons.  First, I'm not patient enough to think things through all the way and often make mistakes.  Second, I've never had anyone show me what to do and I feel very alone.  Case in point.  I spent $180 bones on a ceiling fan today.  I couldn't figure out how the light kit attached.  I modified the wireless and then figured it out.  Oh, did I mention it won't work without the wireless control?  Now I'm off to spend a second $180.  I can do it now, but this trial and error stuff is for the birds.  I need to get smart.  Grrrr.

Snake Season

Tonight we walked in the desert behind the house.  It's snake season.  I told the boys to be on the lookout.  As we were walking back WG7 yelled snake.  DG9 and I had just walked through there and when I turned around and walked back I didn't see anything.  I scolded WG7 and said, "When you say snake there had better be a snake pal, do you understand me?"  He then pointed, a little exasperated, "Snake."  Sure enough, small and camouflaged was a snake. It had the head and markings of a rattle snake, but no rattles.  It could have been a young un I reckon.  We pushed and cajoled it for a few minutes until it retreated in a hole.  When I turned around WG7 was standing there staring at me.  "Apology," he said.  I said, "You're right.  You're sorry."  It took him a minute and then I apologized properly.  He's a great boy and I'm a grump.  He was right.  I was wrong.  I sure love him.

I watched the boys climb over the fence and back into the yard and I walked around on account of my knees were hurting me.  At the end of the path I saw another rattler.  He was as long as my arm and he was just watching patiently.  I gave him some space and moved on home.  I sure do hope we miss the rattlesnake bullet.