Monk Chin

My girls LOVE their baby brother. Each morning when he wakes up I sit on the couch with him and talk to him while I have my coffee. He is very vocal in the morning, and he gets louder and more excited the more people are around to talk to him. I guess between that and the uncanny physical resemblance there'll be no doubt he's Lily's kin, eh?

The girls both love to hold Mason, although I'm sure if he was given the choice of whether or not to be held (around the neck) multiple times per day, he may decline. For now though, he doesn't object right away, so I give them their shot at him before Avery leaves for school. Does this pose look familiar? I think Lily has a future as a wrestler, and Mason as a survivalist.

When Lily finally gave him up this morning she said, "Daddy, isn't Mason such a cute little monk chin?"

"Yes Lily, yes he is indeed, cutest little monk chin I've ever seen."

Avery does quite a bit better with restraining her instinct to choke Mason into submission, but often it's at the expense of his posture. Lily holds him up, Ave tends to let him slouch a bit. But, since he's not under quite as much duress when Avery holds him, he tends to be a little more photogenic. These are pictures the kids will look back on and treasure . . especially when Avery's 23 and her little punk 14 year-old brother is bugging her to drive him to the mall. Avery will just tell him "Listen buddy, if you don't back off and ask Lily to take you, I'll show all your friends those pictures of her choking you out when you were a baby!" Or something like that . .

Phil, I Disagree!

With all due respect, Mr. Punxatawney Phil, I am going to have to disagree with your findings. 6 more weeks of Winter might seem like the right prediction to make . . after all, everybody else who gets on the news nowadays seems to want to forecast doom and gloom as well. But I've gotta tell you bro, I've got a sneaking suspicion you whiffed big time on this one. Care to hear my rationale? Good.

Let's start with the weather. I know anomalies happen, and that our current warm spell may be just that. But it's topped 70 degrees here in the Charlotte area for 4 straight days, and I'm not the only one who's noticed. Until recently, Lily had insisted on wearing pants on a daily basis, something that's completely out of character for her. Today, however, was a skirt and sandals kind of day. Well, and a coat in the morning.

Exhibit B? This guy. As I milled around in my room this morning getting my gym bag ready, a familiar song filled the air. Familiar, and yet not quite perfect. I knew it was a Song Sparrow, but there was a lot of variation. My guess is that this little guy is a 1st year bird, just getting the hang of his vocal abilities. He sang from atop my house and in the willow tree, but was too shy to pause there for photos. The small Cedar tree in the neighbor's yard was apparently a good enough alternative, and far enough away from me that he didn't feel the urge to flee.


For Exhibit C, I give you said weeping willow tree. Apparently it's got enough confidence in my point of view that it's decided to start pushing out its tender new leaves. Would a tree as wise as the willow be so foolhardy as to expose its new growth to 6 more weeks of cold and snow? I think not.


And Exhibit D? The Eastern Bluebirds have been spending more and more time investigating the nest boxes these days. According to my records, last year they started nest construction on March 18th, which is a scant 5 weeks away. I'm interested to see if this early warming pushes that date up at all this year.

With that, Mr. Brownhog (a bit of an inside joke, Avery used to call it Brownhog Day), I rest my case. I suppose the jury will need to deliberate until the end of your 6-week period to determine whose prediction was more accurate. I have to tell you though, I believe I am currently the leader in the clubhouse.

Yet Another - No Words Required

Wordless Post

You Get What You Pay For

This post is in no way intended to defame or devalue any individual.  In fact, my success at my job depends greatly on the generosity of volunteers, so I am in no way trying to diminish the importance of people who are willing to give their time and effort for good causes.  I genuinely appreciate what the person who is the impetus for this post is doing.  My ire, I suppose, would be directed at the person or organization charged with the assurance of quality and accuracy with regard to these programs.  You know who you are . . you need to do better.

So Avery came home from school today (a short day, they were delayed 2 hours due to Tuesday night's snow . . 'splain that one to me) and told me about an advanced reading program she'd been selected to participate in.  Essentially, the kids leave the normal classroom, go meet with a volunteer and a group of other students and disucss a new book each week.  Ave loves to read, and she's been excited about the program for quite a while.  Well, today the volunteer was nice enough to send home a half-page note explaining the goals and expectations of program.  For what it's worth, she sounds like a very enthusiastic lady who genuinely cares about the kids and the program.  Unfortunately, at least in my eyes, her qualifications fall well short of the acceptable level to teach kids about reading.  See for yourself.

Ignore that part at the bottom . . those are words I think Avery's supposed to learn.  Concentrate instead on one of my all-time biggest pet peeves, using the wrong form of a word.  I won't nitpick her overly simple sentences and choppy writing style . . that's not everyone's game.  But look at the 3rd line.  How can you be teaching kids English and reading and use "then" instead of "than"?  Gahhhhhh!  A mere 2 lines later, another cardinal sin.  "I found it a great experience to discuss the story's with my child . . ."  Are you serious?  How can you be a functioning adult and not know the difference between plural and possessive???  NAILS ON THE CHALKBOARD!!   

I can look past the misuse of "They" at the beginning of the sentence "They will be assigned . . ", because I knew she was referring to the students in the group, but to that point she hadn't actually used the group as a noun.  You can't replace it with a pronoun if you haven't used it in the first place.  That one, in light of all of the rest, is pretty minor.

2 lines later, however, "story's" pops back up where "stories" should be.  At least she's consistent.  Unfortunately, it pops up in the middle of a convoluted and awfully run-on sentence.  I can't be bothered to pick it apart, it would take me all day.  

Then we get to the next sentence.  "I will be asking them each week if any of them looked up any of the vocabulary words."  Such unique words them and any must be that there are NO substitutes for them in this wonderful language of ours!   

Fast forward a couple more lines to the, well, we'll call it a sentence, that begins "It is interesting . . ."  In that little jewel, we're treated to not one but two incorrect usages of the word "there"!  The sentence's syntax is bad enough that I can't be bothered to try to correct it.  Not only did she use "there" instead of "their" twice in the same sentence,  but she did it in what is otherwise the worst sentence in the entire paragraph.  Oy vey!

Mercifully the letter ends with little more than an unnecessarily split "home work" (OK 2 of them).  I couldn't bear it if it'd gone on to fill the rest of the page!  

My plea is simply this . . if you're in charge of a program that's executed by volunteers, please please please inspect the product they distribute to your clientele.  By all means, thank them for what they do and praise their generosity, but do yourself a favor and give whatever they're sending home a good once-over.  The reputation of your organization can be negatively affected by overlooking these kinds of details.

Another Day Off From School?

Yesterday, when I checked the forecast for the next 36 hours, I paid specific attention to the "predicted precipitation". Tuesday night into Wednesday . . 10%. Some days I wish the expectations on me were as low as they are for Meteorologists.

Anyway, when Mason got up to eat at around 4:00 this morning, I caught a glimpse of the winter wonderland outside the front door, and I felt compelled to photograph it before it was marred by sun and little shoes.

The little boxwood plants actually look un-tacky when dusted with powder.

Yesterday the doors on the cars were frozen shut. I imagine more of the same is in store for us today.

I love the clean lines you get when the snow settles on the patio furniture.

Shelter was probably at a premium last night . . I wonder if the bluebirds roosted in the box?

No baths this morning, that's for sure.

Enjoy your day off today if you're lucky enough to get one!

25 Things

This is copied from an item I posted on Facebook.  Worth sharing here I thought (and so did Mary :-) ).

1. My least favorite thing in the world is hair on stuff . . you know, on the soap, in the sink, on the floor, stuck to my clothes. HATE random hair everywhere.

2. I once had more speeding tickets than years old, including one for driving 120 in a 55. Pretty sure this is the first my mom has heard about that. Somehow I managed not to go to jail that night. 

3. My dad could have been a major league baseball player.

4. I'm on day 16 of wearing a beard, the longest I've ever done so. I believe it's here to stay.

5. In 8th and 9th grade my life's ambition was to be a rap music writer. Man, I wonder what ever happened to Mike Gilmer.

6. At one point, I thought Westbrook Teer's Geo Tracker was a cool car.

7. My favorite smells are basil, ozone (like you smell after it starts raining), and the smoke from a spinning tire.

8. My favorite band is Barenaked Ladies. A distant second is Rascal Flatts.

9. I love to cook, and that includes baking. 

10. My most embarrassing moment was in a 4th grade trivia contest at school. Before the emcee could finish his question about the vegetable company whose slogan included the phrase "Ho ho ho", I blurted out "Santa Claus!". The entire place laughed mercilessly at me for what seemed like an hour.

11. I missed out on a full scholarship to Vanderbilt by 0.04 grade points.

12. My favorite hobby is birding. I wish I could figure out a way to make it a job.

13. I regret telling Coach Springer "no" all those times she begged me to run cross-country in high school.

14. If I had to pick one place to live for the rest of my life, it would be Nashville.

15. My dream job would be some sort of Eco-tourism guide. Too bad I'm grossly under-qualified.

16. I enjoy vacuuming. More to the point, I love the look of "freshly mowed carpet", like the outfield of a well-kept baseball field.

17. My favorite vacation of all time was when Mandi and I went to Boston, Scranton, and Pittsburgh when we were dating. 

18. I broke my pinky toe while jousting in an inflatable "ring", and was off of my feet for 8 weeks. It required 2 screws to repair it surgically. 

19. I'm incredibly cheap, but an above-average tipper.

20. There's only one food I refuse to eat. Eggplant. 

21. I lived in Miami for 9 of the most forgettable months of my life.

22. My favorite TV show is 24. 

23. My freshman year in college I charged friends $1.00 per item to iron their clothes. Straight cash homey.

24. I don't get the obsession some people have with New York City. 

25. I love my kids in a way I never knew I could love anyone or anything. Their dad will never let them down.