McCain selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice President running mate. First, if he gets elected I hope he lives a long life. I don't trust that Palin is prepared to take over as President should McCain decide it's time to kick the bucket during his presidency. He is 72 after all. While she may be a good person with similar views as McCain, she doesn't have enough political experience. She was governor for only two years and mayor of a small town prior.
I'm all for supporting women to run for office, but I think this choice clearly shows poor judgment on McCain's part. The term "loose canon" comes to mind. He didn't think through with a clear head. I fully believe he is playing to the public's eagerness for change and is off his game in this race. I don't trust that McCain's decisions will get much better if in office.
I'll be voting Obama, thank you. If I had bumper stickers, they'd say:
Obama '08
I am Pro-'Bama
No way. No how. No McCain!
Two new milestones with Elliot today: 1) he can now make the 'm' sound and even said 'mma-mma-mma' while looking at me, and 2) he pulled up to standing one time today at the foot of the stairs. After he stood holding on to the step I got excited and joined him on the floor. But then he wanted attention and didn't stand again.
I went shopping at the Divine Consign buying just over $100 of clothes for the boys. Elliot now has a winter coat but I'll have to find a new jacket for Josh somewhere else. I won't know until tomorrow or end of Saturday how much of my stuff sold. So far the baby swing is gone because I didn't see it on the floor. Next Spring I'll have more stuff to sell as Elliot outgrows the baby stuff and graduates to the toddler stuff.
I'm looking forward to our upcoming three-day-weekend even though we don't have any plans yet.
Here's me trying to put up a tent covering with Josh's "help". Actually he was an active observer.
Me: Dang it, the pole keeps- wait wait wait- ok, I think I got- oh no!- argh! it came out, ok I think I can- ARGH!- up up up- hold it- no no!- ARRGGHH! God- Mother- ok, ok let's see- stupid breeze- if I can just- no no wait, the pole again- not you too!- I just need to- wait wait wait- ARRGGHH! @$#!&%!!!
Josh: Mommy, you said @$#!&%.
*a quiet moment*
Me: Yes, I did. That was bad.
I battled it a few more minutes then gave up. Stupid tent covering. I don't need it anyway!
I joined Twitter this week. I still don't get it though. Like Friendster, this is a flash in the pan that will eventually have a number of abandoned memberships. I've tried to find "long losy high school friends" with no success. Like me, they probably don't want to be found!
Josh told me this morning that he would like to be a pirate for Halloween. And not just any pirate- he wants to be a big pirate! He means he wants the hat and long sword.
I'm not sure how I want to dress Elliot for Halloween. He's a crawler and explorer now so any outfit that looks good on the floor or plays the part of crawling will do fine. I'll see what's on sale at the consignment sale next week before I get creative or buy new.
I took the kids to the Natural Science Museum last Thursday. Josh really enjoyed! He liked the Children's area where he could play and explore science concepts. But he really enjoyed the big kid stuff like the tornado emulator, photovoltaic wall and the router display. (Is this a surprise?) He also enjoyed the hot air balloon that rises two stories. But he didn't care about the dinosaur bones. I guess that's a leap in knowledge he hasn't made yet.
Next year we'll go again but we'll take the Dart rail instead. I am sooo excited about this rail coming close to our area. Oh man- it'll be awethum! The new DART Green Line will go from Carrollton to Love Field to Downtown to Deep Ellum to Fair Park to Lake June. By September next year the Southeast portion should be open and our station will be probably early 2010.
All the weddings are done, all the parties attended, all our visitors have gone home. I don't know what to do with myself any more! My last big thing to look forward to is the consignment sale next weekend.
And taking our next push to potty train Josh. He knows how but doesn't want to do it at home. The down time should be ideal for us to focus on that.
Josh's willfulness is about to drive me insane! It's a struggle to do the simplest things: put on your shoes, get in the car seat, go to the potty, get in the bath tub, lay down in bed, eat your dinner, put on your shirt, close the door... When he gets it in his head that he's in charge he snaps "No!" or whines "I don't wanna...". Then it's a battle of the wills to get him to do (or not do) whatever.
This evening I asked him to turn around to face me while I was putting on a nighttime diaper. He kept turning away from me half as a game, half in defiance. After a full day of battles I snapped. I pushed him down, hastily strapped on his diaper then left him alone in his room to cry while I took a moment of time-out to calm down. We've apologized to each other and made our case ("Mommy, don't hurt me" "Joshua, please do as you're told") and now we're on good terms again.
On the up side, Rusty will be home tomorrow afternoon. There will be much rejoicing with him home!
It's only Friday but it feels like Saturday night already. Thursday Emily & Ian left town after brunch. After eating with friends (Tommy, Kathy, Lee & Barb) then sending Emily & Ian off, I spent an hour napping with Elliot and another hour cleaning house. Lee & Barb then came by to visit and help me with last minute bachelor/bachelorette party planning.
Yesterday night was the party. Rusty & I both participated but in shifts. He got the first half which was dinner at TomTom's. Apparently the food was fantastic because everyone raved about it. I attended the back half of the evening. I entertained and cared for the boys in the uptown area during dinner then we switched at the half-way point in front of The Ginger Man Pub. After a drink or two, we all moved on to Backdoor Comedy. The show was late starting but that's okay because we were late-ish to all get there. We opened with Mark Agee, had several other comedians then ended with Raj Sharma who did a roast of Tommy & Kathy. Oh man- we laughed so hard for so long! My stomach muscles were sore after the show! I tipped the roaster $50. This morning Tommy & Kathy sent this:
I woke up this morning in one of those "Oh Hey, I'm awake." moments.
I tried going back to sleep, but I was still glowing from how fun last
night was. All I could think about was how fun everything was and how
much it meant to me. My muscles were still a bit sore from laughing
and crying from laughing that much.
Thank you both, so very much for last night. It had us truly present
to how great our friends are and how much they love us.
Yarr!
-Kathy and Tommy.
I didn't get home until 1am then woke up at 6:45 when the boys got up.
The Falgout-Carter wedding is tomorrow. I'll take Elliot with me leaving Josh with a babysitter for a couple or few hours. I hope to make it through most of the reception but it depends largely on whether I can get Elliot to nap on my lap without too much noise. The good news is that the wedding and reception are at the same place and it happens to be close to my home in Carrollton. yay!!
Also on Thursday, Rusty's grandfather, Frank Macedon, passed away in the morning. It was abrupt but not entirely surprising. Rusty left at 4am this morning to fly out with his parents to Las Vegas as they settle affairs. Tomorrow they will dress the body then Sunday they will have a private viewing, a blessing by a nun then send the body to the mortuary. The plan is to cremate but I'm clear whether that's Sunday or some other time. Hopefully Rusty will be back home Monday.
With all that said, I need to shower and primp before bed since I won't get much of a chance tomorrow morning.
We played Scrabble this evening. Here are the words we played:
grip (I went first)
pistil
melt
awning
irk
melts
zed
dawning
veal
modal
jean
criers
coy
blog
shines
liar (+ at + le)
booty
spend
nap
duck
vex
cox
guild
dove
que
que (triple word)
if
done (Rusty's last played word)
Rusty won with 127 points, but barely! He used the remaining points from us to beat us. If he hadn't, I was in the lead followed closely by Ian and Emily.
Oh yeah, Emily & Ian are visiting for a few days. They drove from Norfolk, VA starting Friday, spent the night in Mississippi, detoured through Winona, TX arriving here Sunday evening. (They'll be here until Thursday mid-day then they're moving on towards Plainview, TX to see Emily's parents.)
Sunday was our sick day. It was bad! Oh God, we were sooo sick! We ached, we were feverish, had the runs, our stomachs felt swirly. Our bodies did a fantastic job of vacating every morsel of food from our systems. I think we ate some bad organic tomato soup (Amy's). First Josh threw up around midnight, then I threw up two hours later then Rusty at 3am. I was dumb and desperate for something soothing on my throat so I drank some SlimFast- which came up to say "screw off" an hour later. Let's just say we didn't keep anything but 7-Up/Sprite down for about 24 hours. Rusty & I laid around the house moaning and sleeping in shifts. We lucked out that it was a weekend so Russ & Anne took care of Josh (he had waaaay too much energy!) but Elliot stayed home with us. To make matters worse, I couldn't just lay around all day like I wanted to. Oh no. There was work around the house to do because we had company coming that evening. And a baby to care for. I had to clean the bathroom floor, the carpet in Josh's room, the carpet in Elliot's room, do some laundry and shower myself. I was so low on energy that I managed to do all this (that's right- Super Mom to the rescue) very slowly and with frequent breaks.
Today we slowly regained our confidence that not all food was bad and by this evening we're back to our normal dorky selves. ;-)
Elliot has an ear infection again thanks to his recent head cold. He's been dripping snot from his nose since last week Friday (one week!) and now has goop coming out his left ear. He doesn't like it when I clean out his ear and wipe his nose but otherwise he's content.
We got our A/C cleaned out this week- things are waaay cooler now! We haven't been good about cleaning out the intake on the A/C so it was working too hard. Rusty is also going to patch a few leaks this weekend. There are small holes leaking cool air into the attic.
Elliot's still getting around without crawling. He'll take a one-two then lunge the rest of the way. If an object is too far away he just doesn't bother.
Joshua is still in diapers. We talked at dinner time about how log is too long. Three years old is too long in my opinion but Joshua continues to show he's not ready or willing. This evening he pooped in his diaper in his bedtime instead of going to the potty. He knows full well where hes supposed to go and ho to do it himself but he chooses not to do it. We're at our wit's end with it. I want to be free of constantly taking him to the potty (b/c he won't take himself) and battle about that and Rusty wants to stop spending money on diapers for him. We may need a potty whisperer!
I'll miss Jim Tavaré. He was my favorite of the Last Comic Standing contestants. What's not to like about a strange bald man lugging around a bass? He was funny all the time, not just on stage. But Iliza did have a commanding stage precense which probably helped her win. Thank God God's Pottery did not win! I'm also watching Project Runway, Mindfreak and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, in case you were wondering.
Elliot tooks a few crawling steps last nights. It was clumsy and wobbly, but undeniably crawling. Today he hasn't repeated this new skill. Not yet.
Joshua had a small cold Friday that Elliot caught Sunday evening. Josh is over it by now but poor Elliot's nose is still runny and he still feels crappy. Hopefully he'll pull out of it soon. Maybe some good rest and easy play today will help since Josh is at school.
I created a Facebook account today. I really didn't see a need for one (still don't) but I decided on a whim to go with the flow. It seems like every other friend I know has one. Facebook sells itself as a hip means to keep up with friends (I already do), share photos ( I do), reconnect with old classmates and coworkers ( I don't care to). Whatever. I'm in the crowd now. So write on my wall or do whatever Facebookers do to "friends".
Yeah so, a friend of mine, well two actually, are getting married in like two weeks. It's crazy! I've been planning a scavenger hunt for their bachelor/bachelorette party. They want to do a combined thing avoiding the whole strip club scene, hookers in a hotel room, party bus thing. I can't give details about the hunt but I'm really excited about it! I got a chance to work on the list today. Tomorrow I'll scope out the Deep Ellum area for a reality check on what's in business and what's cool to do. Not only do I love planning stuff like this but I also love seeing it play out. Rsty & I are going to split the evening. The plan is that he'll do the dinner thing whilst I do the hunt thing and somewhere in between we'll hand off the kids.
Rusty is at a different wedding this evening. I put the boys to bed rather easily this evening. I'm surprised at how easy it was. I got both bathed, pajama-ed, then set Josh in front of his night-time show on Sprout. While he wound down, I nursed Elliot hoping he'd fall asleep. Nope, he didn't. But he was very sleepy and ready so I laid him in bed. Meanwhile, Josh's show ended while I was still feeding Elliot so he turned off the TV, picked out five books and brought the stool out for me to sit on next to his bed. Then he played with Legos in his room waiting for me to finish with Elliot. What a trooper!! I laid Elliot down and knew he'd either put himself to sleep or cry until I got him. Luckily he put himself to sleep. I played with Josh a few minutes, read him two books, rubbed his back then lights out. And it was silent upstairs! Not a peep from either room since then.
Except I think Elliot pooped while going to sleep because his room reaks and his back end feels solid. :-s
Oh dang it's hot out! They say- it's not the heat, it's the humidity. No. No the humidity is fine. Somewhere it's in the 70's and humid (Portland, ME?) and nobody complains that it's hot. No when it's 100+ degrees, it's hot with or without humidity. The humidity just keeps the heat around longer at night. It got up to 116 degrees around Phoenix, AZ today. Now that's hot! Despite our heat wave this summer, we have had some rain during what's typically the dry season. This morning we saw thunderstorms to the north and even heard a few loud claps of thunder- but we didn't get any of that rain. We got rain twice on Wednesday. Statistically speaking, we never get rain in late July or August. Crazy!
Elliot's got a new tooth coming in on the bottom. This bugger has been giving him problems though. He's been running low fevers almost everyday since Monday. I took him to the pediatrician on Wednesday to make sure it wasn't something to be concerned about. I looked in his mouth and didn't see anything. She checked his ears, nose, throat- he's all around healthy. While he was crying at her she did see the bump on the lower gum line. This will be tooth number seven.
August is shaping up to be a busy month for us already. Tomorrow Rusty is going to an old buddy's wedding (I'm not going), then we have Emily & Ian visiting, then Tommy's wedding & the surround parties for that, then my mom says she's coming to visit some time, then I'm selling baby stuff at a consignment sale at the end of the month.
That's right. We're so done with babies, I'm letting it go. Gear & clothes are up for sale then going to donation. The money I raise will go right back into buying new clothes for the boy's fall/winter clothes. I have nearly 50 things I'm selling at Divine Consign then whatever's left over from the sale will go into a garage sale the following weekend. Then anything left over will go to St. Vincent de Paul or some charity.
Speaking of Catholic charity, send your soothing vibes to Rusty. He's been having terrible shoulder pain for the last several days. He now thinks it's due to sitting in a non-ergonomical way at work. Even after a chiropractor and a massage therapist worked on him, he's still got a knot in the back of his shoulder. I rubbed his back yesterday night but it didn't do any good. So think meat tenderizing thoughts and send loosey-goosey vibes in his direction. Hopefully he'll get past this soon.
Rusty's snoring has nearly diminished this week. We're not sure why but I'm loving it. He insisted that I blog about it so that his reputation as The Very Loud Snorer could be restored. (Secretly, while this is wonderful, I don't expect it to last forever!)
Sometimes Josh wakes up from his afternoon naps just desolate. Today, after more than an hour and a half of sleep, he woke up crying then sobbing then wailing, whimpering, whining then cranky. This whole transition lasted about an hour. I held him in my arms, head over my shoulder, sat with him, held his hand, rubbed his back, offered milk and sacks, called his friend so he could say hi- I tried everything. We eventually walked around the block- his idea- then greeted Rusty as he came home. I am clueless as to why he wakes up like this. He never wakes up sad in the mornings (unless he's sick) and he doesn't always wake up sad from naps.
I got hiccups while reading to Josh tonight. They were so strong, I had to pause the story a few times because Josh was cracking up. I thought he'd never settle down. Now that both boys are out, we're going to watch The Golden Compass on the couch.
Best pictures of the week: Elliot bathing in the kitchen sink. He loves to be in the sink!
My appetite is funky these days. I start out the day with a decent breakfast (usually cereal or bagel), a light lunch, a few bites of a snack (Sun Chips, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, fruit, etc.), then dinner. Then, around this time, after the kids are in bed and I'm winding down for the evening- I get the munchies! I can't help it but I want to pig out. Even if I've had a filling dinner, my brain stills thinks I need something more. Lately I've been indulging this by snacking on a variety of things: fruit, nuts, ice-cream, cookies dunked in milk, Sun Chips, trail mix. Some nights are healthier than others but it's not really helping nightly urges. Tonight it's ice-cream with nuts on top.
I caught someone in a lie this week. I was checking out the Natural Grocer, a new small grocery store in the corner of a shopping strip. I had gone to a Sprouts store (love them BTW) nearby and thought I'd compare. I didn't much care for the Natural Grocer. There were hardly any groceries and tons of vitamins, herbals and supplements. They did have a sale on organic blackberries for $1 so I bought a box. As I was checking out, the cashier lady said, "I remember you from the last time you were here."
"I've never been to this store before today." Busted!
"Well you must have a twin somewhere..." Yeah, I doubt that.
I'll bet she says this to several people a day trying to give them the warm fuzzies so they'll come back.
A while back Rusty attempted to "help" me update the online photo album by switching from Gallery to ZenPhoto. Supposedly Zen is better on the back end in addition to looking fresher. Problem is that when he transferred the data, somehow it ate the captions for some... I don't know... 600 pictures! After several angry looks and catty mutterings, he's trying to redeem himself. He's managed to regain about 300 captions, but even then some didn't go to the right picture. So if you're poking around the old pictures (the pre-Elliot side) many pictures lack a caption and some have a misplaced caption. And I still have a scowl on my face!
On the bright side- I LOVE to look at Joshua's baby pictures. That part puts a smile on my face.
So it's a scowl until I get distracted with cute baby pictures.
We got a few books from the library for Josh this week. I was trying to go for classic fairy tales. He's heard references for the Three Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk and other such stories. I thought it was time he got them for bedtime. What is it with people messing up these stories? Little Red Riding Hood is a modern girl with a hooded jacket on a bike on the prairie with a grandma who is a farmer and she catches a dim-witted wolf before he can harm granny then puts him to work making muffins. Confused? So was I! There's the Three Little Pigs one. The author had to create another character: the mother pig. She has a waffle business that lures patrons including a wolf who is a bully trying to eat the pigs, gets caught by the mommy pig, treated like a waffle which makes him a good guy again then is sent away to a far away beach. I'm certain Hans Christian Andersen would disapprove. I particularly hate the Pig story because the pigs don't solve their problem, the mother does! In both stories the wolf is turned into a "good guy" instead of meeting some terrible fate for their treacherous ways. Are authors afraid to discuss consequences of being a bully (or predator) or of misfortune of anyone? Why do they feel so compelled to modernize the tales? Little Red Hiding Hood should have a cape and hood, not some lame hoodie jacket from BabyGap. I say we've gone soft. Way too soft. We're so afraid our kids will freak out if a story says that grandma got eaten by a wolf or pigs cooked a wolf in their brick fireplace. I know, I know- not all fairy tales are suitable for young (impretionable) ears. This is where discretion comes into play. What's next? Hansel & Gretel meet a nice old lady who takes them home? The Ugly Duckling is accepted from the start? Cinderella's sisters are nice and Snow White never sees a poisoned apple? Rusty says, "It's too P.C." I couldn't agree more.
Also, Chutes and Ladders has Diego characters. Yet another lame bastardization of a classic.
Snapshots from my three-year-old's dreams:
- his teacher was blowing a whistle
- someone flying a kite
- Pop-Pop came to the house
- he couldn't find me downstairs (part of a nightmare)
- he was going down a slide
The update on Rusty's grandmother isn't great. They got fluid out of her lungs but the cancer has disintegrated her ninth rib and spread to her spleen. She's still on oxygen and isn't expected to go off. It's not likely she'll be able to travel home to be with Anne so Rusty's parents are in Las Vegas with her.
Josh is home with me today and tomorrow. Today we're spending some time with Signe and Ethan who are visiting from College Station. Tomorrow morning we have three choices of things to do: play at a playground with an old neighbor, go to a splash pad or a MOPs playdate. I'm not sure what we'll do and it'll come down to timing. Elliot's asleep now at 9am leaving us open for lunch time play. His nap has shifted this week. He's gone down early for an hour or two, will be awake through lunch and down again around three or so. That's the latest trend.
Joshua has been annoying me relentlessly. He'll ask me repatedly through the day, "Hey mommy? What are you doing?" Even when he knows what I'm doing, he'll ask anyway. Sometimes he'll ask three or four times in a row even though I haven't changed what I'm doing. Grrrr! I know this is a phase and I'm looking forward to the end of it! He's breaking rules, defying my requests and acting rude. Sometimes I want to bop him on the back of the head. Instead, I vent to my mom in the evenings and shove the kids toward Rusty when he comes home.
Rusty's grandmother, Helen Macedon, has lymphoma and is going through chemo. She had a rough patch this weekend but is now responding well to drugs and treatment and may be well enough to travel soon. Helen's wish is to move in with Anne (Rusty's mom) to be close to family in her last months and years. We suspect she's feeling lonely and overburdened with her medical problems. She and her husband Frank live in Las Vegas. Frank will likely move into a full-time care facility when he comes to Plano too. I'm preparing to do what I can to help them out when they move here until I find a job.
Here's a picture I took of Elliot yesterday.
Here's another downer: today Joshua was exactly the same age that Jason was when he died in 1973- 3 years, 1 month and 17 days old. Nothing special happened today to commemorate this although I did take a moment to gaze at Josh this morning to marvel at how much he's grown and admire his features. I can now understand how the death of Jason put a wrench into my family's heart when he died 35 years ago.
This month is all about birthdays. Today was Byron's birthday, tomorrow is Hailey's, next week is Lisa's and Nia's. I'm looking forward to Hailey's party tomorrow because her mom, my friend Carolyn, will have her newborn baby in tow and I'm anxious to see him. I just love looking at tiny newborns. And he's the only boy in my circle of friends having babies this year. One boy and five girls. It's the year of girls! I think we're done with birthdays after these. Thank God!
My brain is exhausted and it's way past my usual bedtime. Last night we played Scrabble again after the kids went to sleep. Rusty won by 4 points (205 to 201). We could have played faster but we were being competitive pushing the game to midnight. Not tonight. Buenas noches!
We celebrated our nine year wedding anniversary yesterday. Rusty took the day off and we sent Josh to day school. After dragging Rusty out of bed, we had breakfast at Rise & Dine in Addison. I don't recommend that place- the waiter messed up on our order three times and the food wasn't special. While Elliot napped after breakfast, we played a game of Scrabble. I claim we both won, Rusty says he won. But we all know I'm right in this argument. :) Later, we went to Exposure Rock Climbing. I climbed about seven times, Rusty five times. We had a great time but felt sore afterwards. My arms and areas of my upper back are stiff today. Rusty's parents put Joshua and Elliot to bed so we could go see a movie: Get Smart. It was a good film. I would give it 3.5 stars. More interestingly, I had a huricane to drink that was waaaay too strong for my lightweight cheap-date self. I was feeling silly half way through the movie, then got hiccups towards the end and felt sleepy in the last ten minutes. Not only was I up and out past my usual bedtime but the alcohol was mellowing me way out. Overall, it was a good day with Rusty. We're looking forward to next year though. Next year will be our 10 year anniversary and we're planning to spend a few days in New York City. We've got one year to save up and make it happen.
In domestic affairs, Elliot is almost crawling, but not yet. He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. The time for crawling is very imminent. He's got six teeth now- four on top, two on bottom. He's a good eater chowing down on apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, Cheerios, crackers, rice cakes, even some soft chicken. His poop is getting firm too. I'm still breastfeeding him every 3-4 hours and will introduce a sippy cup by the end of the month with water. I don't want to rush him from being weened but I also want to go back to work in the winter or early spring after he's weened and walking.
Josh is going through a let-me-do-it-by-myself phase. And it's a little aggravating. But I'm also glad he's taking on difficult tasks like trying to pour milk into his cup, put on clothes and shoes, and feed the cats. He's listening in on everything we say within earshot, expressing himself better and interacting nicely around Elliot. But he's also erradict. One minute he's sweet and calm then *bam* he'll start whining and complaining about something then another minute *bam* he's asking questions over and over then *bam* he's hyper-wild-child and breaking rules.
No word from my dad concerning his health. He got a pound dog this week and has been working in the heat. I spoke to him this evening (he was sober!) and he seemed to be doing well.
Since Elliot was born, I've been migrating at night to sleep in his room on the futon. Initially I did so to sleep in when Josh woke up before Elliot. The reason has shifted now to avoid the barrage of snoring coming from Rusty. After I've fed Elliot in the night and return to bed, if Rusty's snores are too loud or too persistent, then I move to Elliot's room. I'm not sure when I'll be able to give up the futon as my second bed!
4th of July is tomorrow but we're celebrating tonight by going to Kaboom Town in Addison. It's the first time in two years we've finally been able to see fireworks up close. Last year we missed it because Josh was in the hospital recovering from an MRSA infection, and the year before we missed because Rusty had a cold. But tonight- we're on! I'm about to pack the car and get snacks ready.
Elliot is making baby sounds. He's practicing his d's and b's and occasionally a 'g' sound comes out. I was getting worried that he was behind due to his ear infections, but he's on time. He's also practicing how to crawl but doesn't know what to do with his arms yet. His legs get up under his belly but his arms don't move with them so he flops forward or to the side. Eventually he'll get the idea. But I'm not inclined to help him. I'm enjoying knowing where he is after I set him down. That don't last forever.
We've got a small thunderstorm right now. I was surprised we would get anything. :-)
We're taking a one-day trip north to see my great-aunt Caroline who lives in Hugo, OK. I haven't seen her in over 15 years. I was a lanky teen with bad hair and braces when she saw me last. Now I'm a slender adult with better hair and decent teeth. Among other positive attributes. I have a box of old family photos passed on from my grandmother, many of which are of family members I can't identify. In my effort to maintain some family history, I'm hoping she can ID a few people and maybe give me some estimate of time. I'm also looking forward to the trip for the change of scenery and slightly cooler climes, by three degrees.