Christmas advertisements

So far my favorite Christmas ad is one in the drugstore flier for a “Tranquility Fountain or Smokeless Ashtray — Wow! $5.99″
Wow indeed; you can stub out your cigarette in a tiny stream of water that flows over midget rocks. That would sure minimize the smoke.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be two [...]

Read Full Post »

Strange night for wildlife sightings

4:40 a.m. — Pack of several coyotes howling and yipping somewhere on the other side of the shrubs from our yard.  We reminded the cat, who was busy peering out the window looking for them, “This is why we don’t let you out at night.”
6:40 a.m. — 4 turkeys ambling along the main road on [...]

Read Full Post »

For future queens or wannabes…

Come on, you know you want one.  E
Barbie Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken Doll

Read Full Post »

Snow and rain

No, these aren’t photos from two days ago, when we got the freakishly early first snow of the year. These are photos from today, as we get an even more freakishly early second snow.

Fortunately for M and his camping trip, it was actually dry on Friday night and Saturday. The rain didn’t start [...]

Read Full Post »

Bigfoot

S here, and we got the first snow of the season this morning. I can’t remember snow ever coming this early, but it’s been unseasonably cold. And the whole weekend is supposed to be rainy, cold, raw, and windy — so of course M is on a Boy Scout camping trip.
We discovered last [...]

Read Full Post »

Political analysis by M

“I think one of the leading Republican contenders for the 2016 presidential race is John Thune. He’s the Senate minority whip from South Dakota. I’m not so sure about Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota. I think he’s more likely than Thune in 2012, but Thune would be ahead for 2016, because [...]

Read Full Post »

The father’s role in the family

S here; each year, M’s Boy Scout troop gets various parents to be merit badge counselors, who then spend several troop meetings helping a small group of boys work through earning the badge. At an all-parents meeting last year, we were given a very brief overview of the dozen or so badges that the [...]

Read Full Post »

Technical difficulties with communion

It was a communion Sunday at church today. The pastor intoned the ritual “The bread of life. Take, and eat.”
Well, I don’t know where the bread came from today, but it was stale enough that I couldn’t help but whisper into M’s ear, “The bread of life is very chewy today.”
He [...]

Read Full Post »

Contracts, contracts, contracts

I bet most “traditional families” don’t get to sign contracts for the parents’ wedding venue and the kid’s orthodontia treatment in the same week. Ha! Let’s hear it for gay weddings and straight teeth.
We also mailed off the agreement and deposit for a rental place for our vacation to San Francisco. Overall [...]

Read Full Post »

Not as ominous as it sounds

M’s Scout leader just sent out an email, reminding the boys that it’s now the time of year when they should encourage any 5th graders they know to join the troop. Scouts who recruit a younger boy to join the troop will receive a special patch for their uniforms, as well as a nifty [...]

Read Full Post »