Not Much Done, and All Day Doing It

#1 daughter and a friend of hers came visiting a little before noon today: an expected event. We talked, I grilled burgers while they observed Giol, her pet rabbit, and eventually they went over to see my father-in-law, his clocks & violins.

I went up to the attic, got some reading done and made a few notes before they were back - and we talked some more. Later, after the evening meal, her friend and I talked about Jung; Freud; philology, linguistics and the history of the English language; and Road Runner cartoons - in that order, in the space of about a half-hour.

Which, for me, is about par for the course. Him, too, I understand.

They're off again: and it's time for me to start thinking about getting down to the task of setting up tomorrow morning's posts. Or deciding to give them a miss until Monday.

Of Homework, Friends, and a Rabbit

My son went back to school today, his friends were glad to see him, and he's still got a lot of homework to catch up on. He spent the afternoon, after school, with one of his friends.

That didn't help him get caught up on his homework, but I don't mind all that much. He started working on the accumulated assignments yesterday, and put in a goodly amount of time. And, he had this evening to spend on homework, too.

He and I read Garfield from the website, as is our routine before his bedtime.

#1 daughter had called earlier. She, or, rather, her rabbit, had made a little girl's day. The girl, probably around five years old, had been wanting to see Giol when she visited her grandmother. Each time she came, though, #1 daughter's car hadn't been there. Until today.

The little girl was delighted with Giol, and petted him for quite a while. Giol, understandably, wasn't as pleased with the situation, but took it quietly. Of course, rabbits take just about everything quietly. They're far from the loudest of animals.

Anyway, the little girl, who hadn't said a word to #1 daughter, enjoyed Giol until her grandmother decided that the rabbit had had enough. Then the girl ran down the hall, crying, 'Daddy! I petted the bunny!'

As #1 daughter said to me, 'then she talked!'

And now, I've got to get some sleep.

Goodnight.

Sunday: A Day of Rest - and Grilling

It's been a quiet day. The family went to church, came back, I grilled lunch.

#2 daughter stayed here for the day. She spent most of her time talking with #3 daughter.

Our son had a friend over for the afternoon. They're both Bionicles fans, so part of the time they were on the main computer, checking out Bionicles websites, and discussing what they found.

I spent the day kicking back and relaxing. Toward the end of the day, I updated two other blogs, wrapped up a data analysis job, and got started on a monthly bulletin.

Did I say "relaxing?" If felt relaxed, at any rate.

Earlier this week, my wife was over at her father's. She recalled that we were married the day before the first Mercy Sunday here in Sauk Centre. Then she said: "Yeah, I realized that every day I should have prayed, 'Lord, have mercy!'"

He thought that was pretty funny. So did I, when I heard about it.

Saturday: Getting Caught Up, and Grilling Lunch

I've had a fraction of a night's sleep during the last 72 hours. I'm also coming down with something: whether it's a result of the lack of sleep, or not being able to sleep is a result of the bug, I don't know.

Either way, it's an interesting sensation.

Let's see. What's happened?

A friend of our son was over on Thursday. They had a good time, quite a bit of it spent in what they called a Bionicle war.

We've been finding Bionicle parts around the living room since then.

My wife's not feeling all that well either, so she asked me if I'd take our son to Soo Bahk Do Thursday night. When #3 daughter heard that I had agreed to go, she gave me a hug. Apparently, she was impressed.

I took some stuff along, got about two and a half folders-worth of papers organized, and some writing done, while Peter learned Soo Bah Doh - and broke one of those rebreakables: "boards" that can be put back together again.

I had a talk with one of the dons there: apparently the limitations that came with these replacement hips aren't a reason to not re-start my interest in Soo Bahk Do. He pointed out that there were black belts in wheelchairs.

Friday is a bit of a blur. I got postal paperwork done for that bulletin I handle, and got it to the post office. As long as I was out, I went to that publishing company I worked for (and still do - a few minutes a month, on average) and started sorting out an issue they're having with getting their website updated.

That, dropping off some letters and bills, and peddling an exerciser, seems to have been about it. It didn't take anywhere near as long to work up a sweat.

Which brings us back to today. I've grilled lunch, not quite incinerating the burgers. I started daydreaming after putting them on the grill: not a good idea.

It's 1:10 in the afternoon. Which reminds me: tonight we do that spring-forward part of daylight savings time.

If I don't fall asleep, there's a chance I'll post again today.

Monday: Chicken Soup for Everyone

Very early this morning, I cleaned up a mess in one of the bedrooms. Our son had upgraded his 'upset stomach' to 'sick to the stomach.' Happily, I was able to take care of the situation without disturbing my wife or #3 daughter. Too much. I learned that they'd heard the episode.

Following instructions from my wife, I heated and served soup this noon. Any other family would call it stew, I think. My wife doesn't seem to believe in thin soup. I'd have helped with supper, but slept through the hour before 5:00. For some reason, I felt like a nap this afternoon.

We're feeling better now, quite possibly to the chicken soup we had for supper.

Our son doesn't mind having to stay home from school today. This way, he was here when his godmother came. With his Christmas gift, last birthday present, and the next birthday present.

She and her husband run a dairy farm ten miles or so east of here. When she comes into town, it's generally for parts: and in that situation it's a matter of get in, get the part, and get back so that their equipment has as little down time as possible.

Today, she budgeted time to see my wife. The two ladies had a good talk, while our son built Bionicles.

I got some writing done during the day, and handled a little of the preparation for tomorrow's precinct caucus in town. Now, it's time to put the local Knights of Columbus bulletin together. If all goes well, I'll have it to the printers tomorrow morning.

And, as usual, our son and I read "Garfield" before he retired.

Thursday: More Family Stuff

My son came home from school today with good news. A good friend of his still likes him.

The two of them had been rough housing yesterday, and our son tells me that he caused his friend's tooth to come out. The tooth, or, rather, a reasonable facsimile, is back in place today.

That news on the friend front was a relief to both of us. My boy had been concerned about how his friend would take the tooth incident: and I remembered how easy it can be to mis-manage a friendship. Our son may be better at that sort of thing than I've been.

My wife and #3 daughter were out of town for most of the day, so I had the treat of being home when the boy got home from school again.

Or, rather, home from rehearsal. They're still practicing: a week and a half to go until performances. A little less, actually.

Saturday: Snow on the Grill, Kids in the House

I goofed off for most of today.

My son talked to me before I was actually awake this morning. He wanted to know if it was okay for him to set up a gadget that should connect another computer to the internet.

I said, "go ahead, but don't break the seal on the package."

I knew that was nonsense about half-way through saying it. My son noted that he probably should have waited until all of me was functioning. And, I admitted that he'd have to break the seal to get at the gadget.

We had snow overnight: what I call cat-track snow. Most of it was gone by the time I went out to grill lunch, except for sheltered spots and the north side of things. Sooner or later, it'll snow and not go away for several months. I can hear the wind outside right now, whooshing through the trees. I like that sound, providing I'm in a warm spot.


A friend of our son's was over this afternoon. They played with small metal and plastic cars, for the most part. At least, that's what I noticed. I'm not sure how they got them to go so fast. And, of course, the two pre-teen boys made an incredible amount of noise.

#3 daughter handled the issue of being in the same house with the two boys quite well. At the point where they had found a whistle, she diplomatically suggested that they go outside for a while. I think they took her up on that.