No Straight Answers

Patrick’s latest thing is trying as hard as he can to give me an answer to a question. Example:
Me: “Patrick. Do you want strawberry or blueberry yogurt?”
Patrick: “If I do this,” Here he cups his hands and mimics a rooster. “It means I want strawberry. If I do this,” stands and twirls in a circle “It means blueberry. And I choose…um…” The rooster noise.

Marathon, Part three

Jeff chastised me for not blogging about the marathon, which was a week ago Saturday. There wasn’t really much to tell. I finished. I was sore for a few days. I forced Kate to drop out after she got violently ill. That’s about it. There were a few noteworthy things: no cramps until the 26th mile. That was a first. No bloody nipples. This year I used medical tape. No blisters. A good pair of shoes makes all the difference. And no chafing. Bag balm works wonders. You smell like honey, but it’s worth it. I might train for next year’s marathon so that I can have a decent time. Or not.

You unlock this door with the key of imagination….

About two months ago I was watching TV late at night, (which I shouldn’t do) when I stumbled across a old episode of The Twilight Zone which featured Robert Duvall. I watched the end of the program and discovered that another one was about to come on. Being too tired to watch, I decided to record it on the DVR. When I set the timer I was asked if I wanted to record all occurrences, and of course I said yes.

Now I have the pleasure of seeing Rod Serling in his famous intros, cigarette in hand and one raised eyebrow twice daily. 24, Lost, The Office, Heroes, and all of that other crap that fills up the TV stations nowadays you can throw in the garbage can. The Twilight Zone still beats them all.

It has been great to see so many stars from their very young days in the late 50’s and early 60’s. Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, William Shatner, Sterling Holloway (voice of Winnie the Pooh and the Cheshire Cat), Burgess Meredith, Ed Wynn (voice of the Mad Hatter), Roddy McDowell, Jack Klugman, Charles Bronson, Jonathan Winters, Peter Falk, Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef, Buster Keaton, Dennis Hopper, Burt Reynolds and even Carol Burnett. Legends all, and all had their appearances in this great show.

And now that I am caught up on my Twilight Zone episodes, I finally understand the ‘to serve man’ joke from The Simpsons.

But my real joy came when I finally caught my all time favorite episode. It is called Time Enough at Last. Burgess Meredith portrays a man who is more dedicated to books than people, but can never find the time to enjoy them. Then one day during his lunch break at the bank he hides in the vault to read. While he is down there a bomb destroys everyone. He suffers at the loss of his world until he finds the remnants of the city library still somewhat intact. Rejoicing at the fact that he has all the books that he will ever be able to read, he drops his glasses, which break. Not the happiest ending, but then again The Twilight Zone never was known for happily-ever-after endings.

I encourage everyone to get caught up with these classic TV shows. Even the bad ones are better than the rehashed garbage we see today.

All hands on deck!

I have been told by many that I have become the Marcel Proust of blogging. I am too ‘wordy’. I guess I should spend less time telling a story and more time on bad photoshop images. So I will try to be brief.

I spent this weekend busting my buns building a deck. I should say that I helped to build a deck. Kate ordered the materials this week. Grandpa Stretch showed up, took one look at the specs, and then went to work, never looking at them again. The deck building went off without a hitch, which is a shock when I am involved. Stretch showed why is a master of his trade. He took charge while Drew, Mike and I did the grunt work. We were able to get the framing all finished Saturday, and during the week I should be able to add the Trex decking.

The hardest part about the deck was the grading. Because of the slope of the land I had to dig. And dig. I have a pile of sod and crap dirt on my driveway chest-high. I ache in places I didn’t know could hurt. But when I look at this huge beautiful deck, it is all worth it.

Okay, so I wasn’t too brief. A picture is worth a thousand words. I prefer the thousand words.

More from the mind of Mr. P.

I took Patrick to the Jazz game against the Phoenix Suns. The game was awful, but there was something of merit. While walking to the game we passed a decrepit old corrugated tin shed. Looking at the shed Patrick mused “I wonder if that’s where Mary had Jesus. It looks like a stable…”

The Tooth Fairy

Earlier this week Whitney lost a tooth. Kate worked both nights this week, and the ‘tooth fairy’ forgot to pick up the goods. Finally the tooth was gathered, and a small lump of change was left in exchange. It was easy for the tooth fairy to find the tooth because Whitney made it obvious. Look at the picture below and see if you can tell where the tooth was left.

I really appreciate Whitney’s artistic expression. I learn a lot about her based on her drawings. Take, for instance the following drawing, which was created a few years ago. The happy girl with freckles, a heart on her shirt and a princess crown is ‘me’. The frowny girl with the impossibly huge noggin is ‘not me’. Never accuse Whitney of poor self esteem.