Ah, Children

It's east forgot what a . . . joy it was to have small children around. I has it's ups and down. My nephew and neice have been at our house for the week and I've had some time to catalogue the more interesting observations from thier stay since Saturday:

Legos are great. Kids love them, and having kids around gives adults a reason to play with them. Admit it, you love those little colorful blocks too.

Children 12 and under should not even be allowed to look at a hatched. While building a treehouse I turned around to see Tyler, my nephew, valiantly chopping down a branch . . . approximately 6 in. from my head. I quickly explained to him that the hatchet was for myself and his grandfather. (And I wasn't quite sure about his grandfather.either.)

Children have . . . novel approaches to getting the job done. Once when Tyler returned to the treehouse telling us Holli, my neice, did not need his help I turned to see her raising an 8 foot landscaping timber straight up and then letting it fall. This was her plan for moving it. I quickly explained the finer points of construction and the proper way to do a job . . . with help.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the week so far:






Okay, so I can't think of any right now, but as soon as I do, I'll post them. Have a nice day and a happy middle-aged year.

Flaming Kiwifruit

I Made a Stupid Pun!

I remember doing something today. It was quite amusing and I learned a rather humorous lesson from it. It also had this long intricate story with it. It would have been immensly amusing to all involved. If I ever rember what it was, I'll tell you. Instead, I give you this less amusing, but still entertaining post.

Be careful what you wish for. I didn't have much to do at work. Mostly, just answer phones, which rang approximately every half hour. So, I wanted something to do. Now, I'm making back-ups of all our important files, the hard copies that is. Well, it's something. I'm almost to the "N's" now, but . . . It was "L" for a while there . . . Sorry, dumb pun. That happens when work drives you crazy. Until next time.

Flaming Kiwifruit

(Don't quite know who I'm gonna be next time.)

The Really, Really, Really Dark Side

George Lucas is like Darth Vader. This point was, again, brought home to me by my father. See, in the movies, Vader starts out good, then he gets merged with technology, causing him to become evil. Similarly, Lucas used to be a great film maker. Then, he got technology. Now, he is, to put it nicely, or not, on the dark side, out of touch with audiences who want to see a good film, not a bunch of cool special effects tied together by poor dialouge and bad acting (with the exception of Ewan McGregor). Granted, acting with Hayden Christianson could make Al Gore seem interesting, but it's impressive that McGregor managed to pull off such a convincing act in an unconvincing world. In case you're wondering, I just saw Revenge of the Sith. It was better than the first two, and worth seeing once, just to complete the story, but it doesn't hold a candle, or even one of those cheap Fourth of July sparklers, to the first three. My advice, see it once, then forget it exists.

On a more spiritual note, I learned tonight that Abba was more of a proper name for a father and slave were not allowed to use it. Thus when Paul say we can say "Abba, father" it is a symbol of our freedom and acceptance as children of God. Okay, deep thought over. Have a good day, night, or whatever it is when you read this.

Flaming Kiwifruit

Your Call Is Very Important to Us . . .

If your boss leaves you to answer phones, and they don't ring for a long period of time, get suspicious. Here's what happened to me yesterday.

(All times approximate)
8:30 am - Our office manager, Bobby Ray, leaves me to answer phones.
9:15 am - Jim, one of our technicians shows up, prompting, by his mere presence, a sudden influx of calls.
9:30 am - I field the last of the influx of calls.
11:00 am - Scott, another technician, shows up and I help him unload copiers. He notes the lack of service calls. I explain it's been a slow day.
11:30 am - Bobby Ray returns, asking why I wasn't answering calls. We quickly determine that the phones are dead.

So, anyway, it turns out they were doing construction down the road and failed to tell anybody what was going on. If you're wondering why I didn't catch on, going that long without any phone calls isn't really unusual.

Flaming Kiwifruit

WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are some problems that can only be solved with an eight pound sledge-hammer. So says my dad. He didn't elaborate, but I see what he means. Here are a few of my best times to use said sledge hammer:

When the lawnmower won't work.
When the toaster won't work.
When the computer won't work.
When the stupid employees won't work.
When the cats won't work. (All the time.)
When imprisoned in a Soviet prison camp by the evil Communists! (MacGyver could've done it)

Yeah, I think that's it. Hope I didn't miss anything.

Flaming Kiwifruit

Disclaimer: Neither this blog nor my father in any way promote violence, real or percieved, against employees, animals or Communists, with or without a sledge hammer.

Bringing Down the House

The only thing scarier than my Dad with my Dad's power tools is my Mom with my Dad's power tools. Or maybe it's turning on the stove and watching a pot holder catch fire . . . with my whole family in the kitchen watching. No way to hide that. Well, at least the house is still standing.

At least I made a really good cake from scratch with whatever just happened to be around the house. Flour, sugar, milk, coffee grounds, mint chocolate hot cocoa mix, pecans, walnuts, and chocolate chips. What a combination.

The Restless Soul Finds Protein

I am rather restless. I was about to go crazy tonight, so I took a walk. Turns out that was all I wanted. I walked the neighborhood and felt better. I just can't stay still I suppose.

Also, nearly everything has protein. Black beans, cheese, donuts, soft pretzels, milk, pudding, potato chips, even our laundry detergent. Okay, just kidding about the detergent, it was more high in the folic acid area. The highest I found was the cottage cheese with a whopping 13 grams per serving. That's three grams higher than my turkey I make sandwhiches with! Yes, I actually checked all these things, and went around the kitchen giving Rachel and my father a play by play. Weird, huh?

Flaming Kiwifruit

Worlds Collide (In a Good Sort of Way)

You can play power chords along with bluegrass and still make it sound good! Also, a banjo accompaniment can sound good on Caedmon's Call's 'April Showers.' It was a fun night all around. Sitting around playing music with all my our fellow yankees and eating venison burgers. Wow, it's good to be home.

Flaming Kiwifruit

Um, yeah

Um, yeah . . . If I learned something today, I forgot it. Traveling 8 hours will do that. Well, I guess I learned that using one of those nifty headsets for your cell phone is really cool. I was talking to my mom while carrying loads of junk from my car to the house. Tommorrow is Mother's Day. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I am really, really out of it. Um . . . yeah . . .

So, Borghy asked me to post this song on my website, so I will. Don't steal it. Yeah, that would anger me. And you probably wouldn't even have the right tune.

Broken Halos

Broken halos litter the ground
Like diamonds in the sand
And innocence is shed like so much
Garbage along the roads of our land
In your eyes I see reflections of a man
Who's seen angels fall
And the tulmult of your soul
As you wrestle with it all
I can hear you pray

Is there grace for fallen angels
To learn to fly again

Broken souls, like dust
Cling to the soles of my feet
But I've no answer for you
I can offer no relief
So what am I to do
For you my friend to make you whole again
But pray that the grace of God
Teach you to fly again
For I know

There is grace for fallen angels
To learn to fly again

Have you ever seen a shooting star
Streaking through the night
Have you ever seen falling angels
Returning to flight

Pray for grace for fallen angels
To learn to fly again
Pray for grace for fallen angels
To learn to fly again

© 2005 FlamingKiwi Music

Yeah, that's it. Hope you like it. Good night.

Flaming Kiwifruit