Day of the Rodent

It is Groundhog Day.

Can Rodents Really Forecast the Weather?

A day stuck in the middle of Winter when hope springs eternal that the large rodent living in Pennsylvania will provide a weather forecast suggesting an early Spring.

Sadly--it almost never happens.

More of the ice and snow will be forecast.

How do I find a forecast with temperatures in the 80's and light breezes?

Oh yeah--it is supposed to be sunny and 78 degrees today in Key West!

BTW, someone called groundhogs: nature's speedbumps.

Chocolate Pudding on the Chair

"Pop-pop, help," came the words over the din in the house on Sunday as the family gathered for a celebration.

Jax urgently was calling out to be heard from the other room, and so in I went to see him standing there with a half-eaten chocolate pudding container in his hand pointing ashamedly at the glob of pudding in the chair where in in mere moments his mother would be sitting .

I smiled and reassured him that it was not a problem.

And in reflecting on the moment, I realized, my kids had it really bad when I was trying to be a Dad.

I was uptight and every transgression deserved an equal and opposite reaction. I remember my favorite saying: "Accidents kill!" Which I frequently spoke when accidents happened.

Jeremy has since reminded me that breaking a glass "accidentally" in the house was tantamount to a death sentence. And he has also reminded me of the huge pile of dirt I had delivered for the gardens one summer and that I wouldn't let him enjoy with his trucks as I was transferring it load by wheel barrow load to the garden.

I had no sense of humor.  I should have stopped and played in the dirt with him.

Being a grandfather has mellowed me a bit--I don't seem to get to worried about things that can be cleaned, fixed, or thrown away.

Wow, I wish I had been more of a grandfather when I was being a Dad.

Monday Musings - January 31, 2011

1. It is the last day of January 2011--it seems like just yesterday it was Thanksgiving. This year is taking flight just as quickly as 2010 did.

2. We had a family gathering to celebrate Nicole's birthday yesterday. It was good to have everyone together for the afternoon. It was funny how the noise level kept rising as we started shouting over each other. But the fun was in the gathering.

3. Although the temperatures were over freezing yesterday, I cannot see how any of the snow which ended up in my yard has melted.

4. Funny scene of the day: Jax in search of Ethan (who had gone out to the car for something) making the turn to head down into the yard without a coat on because he could not find his brother.

5. Ever notice how the next bad thing to happen in the world seems to come from out of nowhere--Egypt?  I thought they were a lot more stable than it appears that they are.

6. Snow days--and time off because of snow. We had a rough week last week with the snow. Hopefully this week will be more normal.  I get so far behind when the snow starts falling and we get some time off. I do like to sleep in, but I sure pay for it, double it seems.

7. Keswick Winery released the label with our picture on it for the Consensus Wine that the team we were on designed. The is being bottled today and tomorrow at the vineyard in Virginia. OK--it was cool to see myself of the label of a wine being bottled by a real winery and not by myself in my basement.

8. Note to self: summer tires are not for use during blizzards. OK, now if the 1,000 people in Baltimore who got stuck on the Jones Falls Expressway remember that, maybe it won't happen again during the next snowstorm.

Smart Phone vs Tie Shoes

In a revealing story from Time magazine titled: The Way We Live Now: More Kids Can Work a Smart Phone Than Tie Their Shoes it becomes clear that kids are learning the ways of technology much faster than they are learning the basic things we need to be able to so to take care of ourselves.

The article goes on to write: And not being able to dress themselves isn't the only problem facing these tech-savvy little ones. According to Mobilized, "Tech skills are outpacing life skills in other areas as well. For example, more of the kids can open a Web browser than swim on their own, and more can play computer games than ride a bike."

On one hand, it is really cool to see almost three-year old Jax, as he did yesterday, take Chris's iPhone and navigate to and open the particular app he wanted to play. 

But the downside is that parents must be wary of turning young children into technology savvy invalids who can do nothing else for themselves.

I am not worried about Jax falling into this trap--especially after the meltdown I witnessed yesterday when he could not open a drink on his own, but I can imagine many other children who never get beyond interacting with the computer screen for everything in their lives--rendering them technology induced invalids without the skill and socialization abilities to function in society (whatever that ultimately becomes).

Balance is needed in all areas of life. Including technology.

Baseball is back

Orioles FanFest today. Spring can't be far off now.

January Moon

I looked out the window at 3am this morning and saw a clear sky illuminated by a sliver bright of moon.

The cold light it cast across the frozen, still snow covered landscape sent a chill through me, magnified, I'm sure, by the coolness of the house that we allow to cool to about 62 degrees during the night.

A bright star winked at me, and I sighed back at it.

There were so many other, warm, places I thought of where I could be standing and looking at this same star.

I was thirsty though and needed a drink and staring out the window into a portion of the world I had no intention of visiting at this hour made no sense to me.

So I turned away from the window and back into the house going about my business and trying to get back to bed before my spot cooled and I was too awake.

Probably a lost cause.

Makayla lifted her head to see what was up and whether she needed to move because she surely didn't want too--it was the middle of the night and the pack that is our family was supposed to be sleeping.

I slipped back under the covers and heard the cuckoo clock bong.  It isn't on time I surmised.

And as my head hit the pillow, I realized that I was fully awake and should probably just get up because sleep was going to be a struggle.

But it was cold and I was warming.

So I just laid there in the warmth of the bed and eventually drifted off to sleep, coming awake later shortly after the sun had risen and congratulated myself for a good decision on not getting up and allowing the moon to slide down over the horizon.