Friday night we all watched "Beethoven", the '90's hit about the lovable Saint Bernard - with a special guest appearance by the actor from "The Ugly Dachshund", playing the evil veterinarian. The kids loved it, and even I enjoyed it, even though Charles Grodin was so strangely self-conscious and oddly dressed throughout. And that hair can not have been real. But a good time was had by all.
Up and at 'em for a run with my friend Magnus from up the street Saturday morning. We probably only did 4 miles, but it was good for us. And the rest of the morning was spent on chores - at least at my end of the family spectrum. I took the garbage to the dump, brought firewood in from the back yard, raked the front yard, and started pruning the trees that grow at either corner of the front of our house.
I've had a hankerin' to prune ever since the Peace Corps, when my friend Dave and I went to an Ecuadorian Agriculture Ministry demonstration farm and learned about how and why one prunes apple trees. But I hadn't really done it, and these two overgrown shrubs were really getting out of hand. So I took some shears and a bow saw and went to town. By the time it was over, both had been reduced in size by at least 20 percent (probably closer to 30 on the other), and were sporting several branches tied with string to encourage them to grow in ways that will more fully round out the overall aspect they present. It was very satisfying. Of course, I got very little house cleaning done because of it.
At noon we trooped over to the Elementary School playground for a picnic. Met up with Betsy, captain of Milk of Amnesia, and her two kids, and had a grand time. Funny - Q says that soccer is by far his favorite sport, but when we go out to frolic in the spring air, and he has access to every ball we can stuff into a duffel and bring along, he never chooses to kick the soccer ball. We shot hoops, played catch with a baseball, played catch with a football - and I had to cajole him to do 50 passes with me with a soccer ball. It was like pulling teeth. T, meanwhile, was on the basketball court with Mami playing with the "Balzac": a gigantic balloon (3' across) inside a fabric shell that lets it withstand all sorts of rough treatment. It's really fun - you can bounce it and kick it fifty feet in the air and bounce it off your head when it comes down. And this, if you're four years old. Good times. And I got sunburned for the first time in 2009. Huzzah!
Came home and bundled all my trimmings from the first round of tree pruning into a huge wad with a piece of rope, dragged them into the back of the Subaru, and made it to the municipal dump five minutes before it closed. I was pretty proud of every aspect of that little run. Except the very end, when I tore the end of my ring fingernail off my right hand. I was furious - just the night before I had been practicing the guitar and thought, "Wow, so THIS is what it feels like when your nails finally get just long enough to do their duty." It was like butter. And then, poof!, the very next day, the dream is dead. The rest are still good, so this Friday, when I play in the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School Class of 2010 Talent Show, you'll hear this lovely three-note series followed by a dull "thwank" and know just which finger I'm using. Should be a great show.
I ran again with Magnus this morning, mostly because I know that during the week, I just don't get time to do it that often. And it was a mistake. I mean, we both made it, but I talked to him just now and he is feeling pretty stiff and brittle. And so am I. We are old, old men, who don't recover nearly as well as we used to. Even so, he's pretty much talked me into running in a half marathon in June in Lake Placid. I have tentative approval from the missus - we'll probably make a weekend of it. Never been up there, and there should be some warm-weather fun to be had. Probably pretty good hotel rates, too, since summer will not have started for most people around here. We're going until the 25th or some damn thing, I think.
Today we went ice skating in North Adams, and for some reason the chiflados were out in force. Florida, MA has the reputation of being filled with inbred hillbillies, and I think two separate tribes of them were flooundering out on the ice and laughing through buck teeth today. They were everywhere, mouth-breathing and wheezing like there was no tomorrow. We managed to stay safe, while Q and his friend Colton (who came over for lunch and a playdate) zoomed around the edges and T stayed mostly in the center, doing delicate turns. Nobody was that into it today - I was sore from all the running, Janneke's feet have been suffering in her skates of late...It ended mercifully at the appointed hour, and I think we all had more fun watching the zamboni clean the ice for the figure skating club than we had in an hour and a half of skating.
Back home, where Colton's dad came to pick him up and we settled in for some late-afternoon dog show watchin' on ESPN2. There were bull terriers there, and Janneke was expressing a lot of glee upon seeing them, so I felt it was really time to break it to her: I don't think we can get one. Everybody you talk to about these dogs says "Do not keep them with non-canine pets", "will not be trustworthy with cats", etc. etc. And Skittles is just so deeply entrenched in our little family now. I mean, as this dog show was happening, this is what was going on:
You're going to bring a potential cat-killer into that little vision of paradise? Janneke very quickly agreed (which floored me) and started tossing out some of her other favorites for consideration. She and I repaired to the kitchen where I read the pros and cons of each from the Internet (always 100% reliable on everything):
Dachshunds: Easily injured by children and often intolerant of them.
Schnauzers: They like children, but don't always respect them. Incidents are not uncommon.
Miniature beagles: They like children, get on fine with other pets. Bingo!
This is Janneke's choice (I "chose" Hobie, so it's her turn), otherwise I'd have been tossing out ideas as well. But I have to say, if this is what we stick with, I'm going to be pleased. Heck, if it were my choice, I might have gone this way all by myself. I may even have talked her into getting two, since lots of websites, and Temple Grandin's new book, all concur that if a dog is going to be left at home for considerable periods of time, it's best to have another one. So, I don't know if I'd have gone out of my way to make it happen, but if I'm going to have the beagles anyway, let me tell you: I am going to hunt rabbits.
The dog show, by the way, was totally bogus. The miniature poodle won best in show. Which, obviously, is bullshit.
Q ended the day on a down note when we realized that we'd forgotten to take him to pick-up soccer at 6:00. It was now 6:45. He burst into tears and was snotty and short with us almost all the way up to bedtime. And he also wasn't pleased that our plan to ski tomorrow evening is making us point to the fact that he appears to have lost his snowpants somewhere along the way. But he went to bed pretty happy in the end, having had a long talk with me about foxes, and then having read a few chapters of a very funny book about a boy and his pet gecko with Mami.
I, meanwhile, was with T in her bedroom, trying (after Janneke had already put in a good 20 minutes) to get T to accept the fact that her violent, screeching tantrum about whether or not anyone was going to help her put her toys away had already cost her the nightly story and would soon, if it continued, cost her snugglebug as well. (Snugglebug being the institution wherein parents lie with children until they fall asleep or for five to ten minutes, whichever comes first.) Hoo, that was a toughie. But she finally went down with a crash, and we were free.
I called Magnus to see if they could loan us some of Benni's (their sixth-grade son) snowpants, and they said they could. So since they live 200 yards away, I walked Hobie over there and collected them.
And scored on multiple levels: They happened to have two "ski for a day free" cards from Jiminy that they aren't going to use this year. Cha-ching! Just saved $70! And they told me that pick-up soccer had been canceled tonight - so Q had missed out on nothing! In your FACE, Q! And finally, talking of Q and soccer, Benni, who plays in the pick-up games on Sundays, opened his eyes wide and said, "Q is GOOD! Man, for a third grader?! He's right in there with the big kids."
And this from Benni, who is an amazing athlete. Evidence:
OK, that's going to have to do it. I have hundreds of things yet to do, but unfortunately for most of them, #1 on the list is "Go To Bed". So they're gonna have to wait. I leave you with this:
T playing Q's Gameboy while I practice the guitar. For the record: I sat there first.
2 comments:
For what it is worth, this is probably my favorite post you've ever written. Everything clicked. Particularly enjoyed these two snarfy passages:
"Florida, MA has the reputation of being filled with inbred hillbillies, and I think two separate tribes of them were flooundering out on the ice and laughing through buck teeth today. They were everywhere, mouth-breathing and wheezing like there was no tomorrow. We managed to stay safe . . ."
and
"The dog show, by the way, was totally bogus. The miniature poodle won best in show. Which, obviously, is bullshit."
Keep up the rock.
Thanks, man. My BoR credit rating is what drives me.
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