March 29, 2005
The Partying Never Stops
Last time on Delmer's Blahg ... We were on our way to Granny and Big D's.
The boys and I left Thursday afternoon around 4 p.m. and cannon-balled into Granny and Big D's around six. We'd have gotten there earlier were it not for the time-honored tradition of stopping for snacks half-way to anywhere we're going. I got a Diet Pepsi and a small can of Pringles, Haydn picked up some Combos (they do beat snack boredom after all), Jack got a Twix while Sammo opted for gum.
I don't mind getting snacks so long as the boys don't get too much in the way of sweets. I do mind the amount of time it sometimes takes to pick something out. You'd think that the boys were shopping for the last treat they'd ever get. If Haydn would put as much time into doing his schoolwork as he does snack picking he'd already have scholarship offers from Harvard. [And what do you get after all of that time agonizing over what to get? Sometimes you get something that you think was going to be something else. Haydn thought Combos would be a a giant single pretzel and was none too impressed with a bag full of round pretzels with filling. I tried repeating the jingle to him over and over to cheer him up (Combos beat snack boredom 'coz they're more than just another snack) but it didn't seem to help; in fact, he'd often make this sour face at me.)]
Sam got busy riding his new bike only moments after we arrived (You can see him in action here.) and the two of us went up the hill to visit my cousin Donnie. Cousin Don has lot 40 lbs and has picked up a new (to him) motorcycle ... which he has taken apart. I'm sure that his taking the bike apart comes as a surprise to no one. Any man reading this knew before I got to the bit about deconstruction that Donnie would have taken a wrench to the bike as soon as he got it home ... women reading this would have known the same thing. The only difference between the two groups is that the women would wonder 'why.' The men know why: Just because it isn't broke, doesn't mean you can't fix it. As it happens, the bike needs the carbs cleaned.(We all need that once in a while.)
We had hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. Potato salad and baked beans too.
After dinner it was cake, ice cream and gift time. Nothing makes young boys happier than cake and ice cream – nothing makes me happier than white cake with white icing and vanilla ice cream (well, actually, there are a good number of things that make me happier, but I've got a theme going here). As luck would have it the cake and ice cream came in a format pleasing to all (At the risk of sounding Homer Simpson -ey here, it was white cake with white icing and a side of vanilla ice cream. But you already knew that.)
Granny and Big D gave Sam a remote-controlled F-350 truck with Harley Davidson decals. Sam was very pleased. (See Sam blowout candles here, and see photos of the party evening here. )
By the way, the F-350 is far more than a toy. It is also a ping-pong ball retrieval system.
As I type this a Burger King commercial is playing on the television. I'm watching Raiders of the Lost Ark on the SciFi channel. I remember seeing Raiders in the theater in Oxford, Ohio those many years ago. And now it's on TV – which isn't disturbing, it's been on TV for years – but those Burger King commercials! What was their ad agency thinking? The King character is enough to make you wonder just how sober the ad execs were, and when you put him together with gals on a railroad hand car, cheerleaders, a dude playing guitar, and a woman on a swing (Cooooommmme and get it!), it just seems odd. Having said that, they do have the second-best cheeseburgers around (Wendy's is number one) and very good salads – the ones with either hot shrimp or chicken.
Ahem, we left for home Friday afternoon. Sam had a sleepover scheduled that night – and more partying – and he was eager to get to it.
We broke with tradition and stopped for snacks before leaving Franklin. Jack decided that if he couldn't have $2.25 worth of gummy somethings that he wouldn't have anything. So, he got nothing.
I had been working on a cold for about two days and by Friday morning I'd gotten all the kinks worked out of it and was in full cold-from-Hell glory. I've never had sinus drippage that bad. And if there's that much stuff dripping out, how can there be any left in the head to make it throb and the eyes tear up (not just water ... tear up ... like running down my cheeks). Fortunately the boys felt my pain and were quiet little angels during the 90-minute drive home. (Yea, right).
Kids started arriving for Sam's party right at 6 p.m. Rebecca had a bunch of pizza makings and she and I, with the help of Alex Trussell's little sister, made pizza. I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought five boys could eat five pizzas. (I should mention that Haydn was on a sleepover elsewhere). I was off by about three.
There was more cake and ice cream. Chocolate cake. Vanilla and chocolate ice cream. And gift opening – more cars and motorcycles. Including one car that would spring up after traveling forward a short distance. The boys thought it would be really cool to see if they could get it to spring up just before it got to the stairs and started it's trip to the basement. They pulled it off, and, I've got to admit – it was kind of cool.
I'm not sure how long the party lasted. My head was reaching critical mass around 9 o'clock and I headed for home.
(The head throbbing would last for another day. Leading to a Saturday afternoon power nap and early bedtime.)
Posted by delmer at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2005
Some Frogs Live to be 12-years old
Some just make it a couple of days.
One of the frogs went to the big lilly pad in the sky sometime today.
Rebecca and Samson are on their way to Jack's Aquarium and Pets for a replacment frog. (Frogs come with a 7-day guarantee.)
Upon their return the boys and I will be heading to Granny and Big D's for birthday cake and ice cream.
Posted by delmer at 3:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2005
Post-Birthday Quickie
On the way to school this morning Samson decided he needed to call mom. I passed him the phone and he rang her up.
“Mom,” I heard him say with a giggle in his voice, “could you take my bike to the bus stop today/”
Rebecca usually meets the boys at the bus stop at the end of the street. It isn't a great distance, but apparently too far to walk if you have a new bike in the garage. Rebecca agreed to meet Sammo at the bus stop for the end-of-day drop-off.
In other news, Haydn woke up with sour belly this morning. I'm always suspicious of last-minute illnesses and encouraged Haydn to go to school. He gave it a shot but the nurse eventually called and I retrieved him after an hour and a half.
Posted by delmer at 7:46 PM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2005
Samson Turns 7
Today is Samson's birthday. He is turning 7 and he has been pumped about it all week.
He really really really wanted a frog. Not necessarily one of the mouse-eaters – though I'm sure that would be really cool – but a frog of some sort. Rebecca and I weren't sure what to do with that idea. A frog seemed harmless enough, but they are hard to cuddle and, for whatever reason, whenever I think of frogs I think of frog pee. Maybe it has something to do with hearing that if a frog tinkles on you it will give you warts. Maybe it's an early '80s drink: Fuzzy Navel, Slippery Nipple, Frog Pee. Sounds like it would be a hard sell.
Rebecca and I decided a bike would be a good gift as Sam is due for a new one and the weather is getting nicer daily. This was an easy decision to make and after dropping the boys off at school this morning I headed to Meijer. Fifteen minutes after walking into Meijer I was walking out with a nice, blue, 20” bike with hand brakes and wheel pegs (or whatever they're called). I dropped the bike off at Rebecca's on the way to work; we decided she'd give it to Sam as soon as he got home from school. She told me she was going to get the frog when the pet store opened.
I went to work.
Sam gets off the bus about 3:30 each day. Rebecca had set up a scavenger hunt so Sam (with the help of his brothers) could make a game of finding his presents. He called me about 3:45 – we'll, actually he'd instructed his mother to call me and then take the phone outside to him (where he'd be riding the bike) when the call went through. Rebecca told him it would just take two minutes and that he could certainly wait that long before saddling up. So he called me.
“Dad,” he said, “You know the new bike I got?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“I love it!
He was also very excited about the frogs (yes, frogs) and The Incredibles DVD.
We had talked about going to Dave and Busters for dinner. In light of getting a new bike Samson decided staying at home and eating pizza would be just as good. It would give him all the more time to ride.
I swung by the house at 5:30 with pizza. Sam took a break from riding and we all sat down and had some pizza and Crystal Light.
Following the pizza we briefly played with one of the frogs. I think it was the one named Napoleon Dynamite (I hope the name makes for a better frog than it did a movie ... what a horrible piece of crap that was). I scooped him out of the aquarium and cupped him in my hands so Sam could, um, pet him. Naturally, as frogs do, Napoleon Dynamite escaped and made a few quick hops on the linoleum before he was recaptured and safely returned to the aquarium.
Next to the the frog aquarium sits the cricket domicile. Sam's frogs will eat two crickets each every other day. Naturally, the crickets need to be cared for as frogs won't eat dead crickets. The crickets will gladly eat potatoes and Rebecca was assured they'd be happy with “old dead fries.” Rebecca said she stumbled across a website with instructions on how to maintain a cricket farm; it would seem some people love their frogs sooooo much that only organic, home-grown crickets are good enough for them. Sam's frogs are going to have to try to get by with store-bought bugs.
Oh, there's some sort of special cricket seasoning that gets sprinkled on Jiminy before he gets dropped into the frog aquarium. It is calcium fortified (I'm not making that up) to help build strong frog bones and teeth (OK, I made that little bit up ... I don't know why its calcium fortified. Maybe it puts a little more spring in their hop).
Two frogs. How can you tell which gender they are? We're not sure. Neither was the salesperson at the pet store. I've heard that if a frog had wings he wouldn't smash, well, you know the rest. Based on that bit of wisdom I'm inclined to say we have two female frogs as I watched both frogs jump and neither rolled around on the floor writhing in pain following their landings. [Hmmm .... this just came to me .... I think male frogs have a larger thumb on one of their hands than the corresponding digit on a female's hand – this would be a memory from 9th grade. (Google on 'nuptial pads thumb' and you'll find that the memory was not too far off).]
While sitting out front at Rebecca's Sam told me that his mother and I must have read his mind in order to know to get him a new bike and frogs. I told him we didn't really have to be psychic to know about either – all he's talked about for weeks is getting a frog, that is when he's not asking if he can ride his bike.
I wonder what kind of noise those crickets and frogs will make at night. Is is just bullfrogs that make the 'rrridddip' noise?
Do all crickets chirp at night -- or just the ones you can't seem to find. If they know that you know they're on the floor in a container next to the frog aquarium, do they even try to be annoying? Are they afraid you might scoop them up and feed the frogs early? I'm pretty sure that it's only your cartoon crickets that actually sing, dance and wear top hats (much like cartoon frogs), but when it comes to regular around-the-neighborhood crickets, I'm less certain of their habits.
It's almost midnight. I'd give Rebecca a call if I could be certain she'd hear me over the din.
Everybody likes the Michigan rag
Every babe
And Jane
And Ruth
They're all
Walking to Deluth
Slide, ride, fly to Michigan
Stomp, romp, hop to Michigan
Jump, hop, up to Michigan Rag
That lovin' rag
Posted by delmer at 11:40 PM
March 21, 2005
Robots, The Movie, Mel's Diner and Jack the Sick Boy: March 21, 2005
This past weekend the boys and I went to see Robots. I was fortunate enough to see it twice, actually, as Haydn, Jack and I went to see it Saturday whle all three of the boys accompanied me Sunday. Robots is a fine movie – either of the Shreks are better though.
The Incredibles is the best.
Prior to seeing Robots the boys and I went to Mel's Diner for lunch. Mel's is a new place in town – fairly new anyway, I think it's been around for four months or so – that serves things that your mom might serve. That is, if you mom is my mom. A lot of the items are the comfort-type foods that many of us in the midwest grew up with. Having said that, it isn't too hard to put things together that would make a low-carb meal if you are doing Atkins. Me, I'm watching, well nothing really – I try to keep my calories down, avoid terribly fatty things, and keep my protein up; this is easy enough to accomplish at Mel's as well. And they have a great Flaming Hot Chili.
Wouldn't you suppose that having a big meal before going to a movie might keep a boy or three from wanting movie snacks? I thought that. If you did, we were both wrong. I believe this has more to do with the boys the snacks are going into (and dad being a softie) than the stomach-filling quality of the food at Mel's Diner. But I don't know, I'm not a nutritionist and I don't play one on the Internet.
Jack was home from school sick today. His illness started at bedtime last night. It seems that a lot of childhood illnesses start at bedtime the night before a school day. He has a pretty good cough, but only so long as he's awake. When he went to sleep last night the coughing stopped. And it stopped today while he napped. He has time-appropriate appetite and has no fever. His color is good. But he isn't as bouncy as he usually is.
Not terribly long ago 2/3 of the boys I own were home sick for several days. The two sickies were Jack and Haydn and both spent two days home – Jack three days. Oddly enough on Friday evening, about 5:05 Jack charged out of his bedroom and announced, “Hey, I feel better now.” As Gomer would say, “surprise, surprise, surprise!”
Haydn made a similar announcement a mere 10 minutes later.
Posted by delmer at 5:04 PM
March 19, 2005
Risk
The boys and I have had a pretty tame night this evening. Samson is spending the night with a friend of his. Jack spent the night chillin' in his room. Haydn kicked my butt in Risk; he is truly the world dominator.
The night started a bit rocky. After collecting Jack and Haydn from the Prosise's we had a discussion about where we were likely to eat dinner.
Jack wanted Domino's, and would prefer they deliver. Haydn wanted Iaconno's, HomeTown Buffet or Max and Erma's; almost anything except Domino's Pizza.
We went 'round and 'round for a while. We finally had fish sticks at home.
Oh, the changes I made that disappeared reappeard after the first post. It must have had something to do with MovableType templates.
Posted by delmer at 12:42 AM | Comments (1)
He who lives by the Blog
Dies by the blog.
Well, I've been working on the weblog for a week now. It doesn't look like much but, believe me, it took a good long while to reach this level of blah which, I guess, makes this a Web Blahg. Maybe it will get better.
I don't have the eye for design. My color choices may be a bit odd.
One of the more disturbing things is that I made a bunch of changes last night before I went to bed and now they are gone. I'll get them back, I'm sure, but I wonder where I went wrong.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing was the fact I was watching one of the Death Wish movies when I was doing the editing. Did they know it was a bad movie when they were filming it? A couple of the bodies that fell from building tops were so obviously dummies. It looked like a dummy when it went over the edge of the building -- it was a dummy during the entire fall -- it landed in a totally unrealistic non-human-being way.
I'm pretty sure that one of the hoodlums was Bill or Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. It would have been the guy that wasn't Keanu Reeves.
Posted by delmer at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)