Future Poltergeist

While we were camping this weekend (which I'll get around to writing about), the older kids played relentlessly with another couple of girls that were of similar ages.  During a quiet moment I got walk with DF.  We had a conversation that went something like this. DF: Those pretty girls were fun to play with. Me: You looked like you were having fun. (pause) They're pretty girls? DF: Some of them.  Not all of them. This is like a little peek at DF as a teenager, isn't it?

I just put a Hawaiian shirt on DF.  It has something of a tropical scene, with a beachside city and some palm trees.  I asked him if he liked it and he said, "It says 'See, Atlantis is gone'.  Where the heck did that come from?

Today the FP Gal said she was amazed at how this blog had become.  I hadn't realized it, but it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted.  Which, wow.  I used to pride myself on a post a day.  I guess that isn't true anymore. I'm going to look at some old entries and see if I can recapture the mojo or not.

Today while in the car, DF said "We still haven't had any hippos at our house."  Which is completely true.  I got a mental image of a sign outside the door that says something like '1076 days without a hippo'.  Each day we could dutifully add one more to the number.  And then we, the parents, could hope that the number never goes to zero.

I'm back from Pacem in Terris and I had a very peaceful time.  You can click through to their website if you'd like to see pictures (and it might make it easier for you to understand the place as I write about it).  As I said, it was peaceful.  There was one big problem and I'll write about that up front.  The problem?  Bugs.  The weather for the past six weeks has been very wet and for the past couple of weeks mostly hot.  It's been the best possible breeding weather for insects and boy howdy, they've taken advantage of it!  This meant mosquitoes, spiders and even some cockroaches.  I have rather a large fear of bugs and it took me at least a full day to get over a panicky feeling that they were coming for me.  (Going to sleep the first night was rough.)  By the second morning, they were more a part of the environment for me.  If I'd been there a week, I probably would have named the roaches. As to the place itself, the peo...

For the next two days I'll be here , by my self.  Very, very much looking forward to it.

We lost power Friday night.  A storm rolled in about 8p.  I'd just gotten the kids down to sleep when the first winds told us that something big was coming.  We just had time for a quick round up of open windows.  I put my phone on the charger 'just in case'.  Then the lights flickered and the power went out. It was still plenty light out so we could watch the winds and rain.  We noticed some leaking from the seam where the porch joins the house so we quickly moved things out of the way.  We found the emergency radio (thanks Heidi!) and cranked it up.  Strong, strong winds outside.  I think I heard something about 70 mph winds.  The FP Gal said that it looked like a hurricane.  We set up candles and broke out some cards. The whole storm passed through very quickly.  It was all done in less than half an hour. We opened the window and could hear sirens going and going.  Police cars and firetrucks, but the sounds of it....

Here is a story of a guy who is making art reproductions with a 3D printer.  What an amazing idea!  The future sure is an interesting place.

A collection for you this time: This one is from Relia. The giant sequoia is from DF. And, of course, an architectural fragment is my pick.

This made me smile.

Just ran across this small video clip .  I've never heard audio Heinlein speaking before. 

For the first time in many years, we're not heading down to Austin for the parade today.  I worked late last night and will work late tonight too.  That's just too much driving in too small of a space.  (Instead, I took the older ones down on Saturday.) I want to take a minute to think of all of those who sacrificed and risked their lives for us.  The world would be immeasurably poorer without your valor.  Thank you.

(via Instapundit)  Here is a list of suggestions for familiarizing your children with various tools.  Just last week we were talking about soldering irons!

Had a most enjoyable conversation with Felix on the ride home today. He's trying to wrap his head around his upcoming birthday and he was worried that he'd become 'too big'. He said that big Felixs don't eat and he didn't like that. When I pressed him he was worried that he would become too big to eat cupcakes. I told him not to worry about that anytime soon. The kids were trying to pick a show to watch on the Netflix and they decided on 'Little Tyke's Land', a show based on the toy cars that kids can 'drive' around the yard. Sarah asked me if I'd watched it before. (Yes, this morning and it sucked in the way that gentle children's programming does.) I tried to steer her away from saying yes. Me: Yeah, it's hyper-violent. Uses bad language. Sarah: What??? Really? Felix: Hyper-violent! Hyper-violent! I want hyper-violent! Little pitchers, man, little pitchers have big ears. (We let them watch it.) Q: What is the difference between ...

Yay, Opening Day! Watching 'The Imposters' on Netflix. The rest of you probably should be too. The kids have discovered 'Samurai Jack'. I'm pretty sure that Felix is going to be sword fighting all day now. Felix wanted to challenge Relia to a rolling pin fight. I choose to step in and say 'no'. Inspired by Laurie, I'm trying to think of the last good love story movie that I've seen. Can't think of anything more recent than 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. Has the last decade really been that lousy for love stories? Oh no! Margaret Thatcher, RIP. Need a suggestion. The wife has never seen a James Bond movie. There are a bunch of them on the Netflix this month. Which one should I start her off on? All things being equal, I'd rather be done with the snow now, thank you. [From April 10th] Just think, we're only seven weeks away from Memorial day and the start of summer. I recently introduced the kids to the Powerpuff Girls. Lo...

(May as well start bringing this up to date.) PSA: If you ask them nicely, McDonalds will make you a half shamrock, half chocolate shake. And they're yummy. This winter has been so active, that for the first time ever, the Weather Channel is up to the letter 'S' when naming winter storms. Felix nap etiquette update: The little stuffed Wolverine doll should be tucked in and completely under the blanket. Otherwise it won't sleep. Am I the only one, who, when watching Downton Abbey, is reminded more and more of Gone with the Wind? After I explained what 'contrary' means, Relia decided that she is contrary. Maybe I did it wrong. Can one of my Catholic friends help me out here? While there is no Pope, are all of the commandments still in force? As you look at the snow outside, just remember, the Twins play their first home game in only 18 days. Cee-Lo is kind of like the Liberace of modern pop music, isn't he? We need an It Gets Better video for people who live...

From Naples, I believe. More seriously, why is it that just about any city of size in Italy has worldwide recognizable landmarks while even fairly big modern US cities just look like, well, each other?  Think about it, in the US we have: New York - several landmarks, most notably the Statue of Liberty and Empire State building.   Washington DC - Washington Monument and several classical buildings like the White House and Capitol. Chicago - with the, well, whatever they're calling the Sears Tower now. St Louis - with the Gateway Arch San Francisco - with the Golden Gate bridge Seattle - with the Space Needle You'd think that we would have more than that.  In fact, it's kind of crazy that Texas, where everything is BIGGER, doesn't have anything on the list.  (With the possible exception of the Alamo.  But I'm not sure that the Alamo stands out on the world stage.)  Surely some oil tycoon would fund something at some point. Is it because th...