Every day, the headline on my local paper gives me an update on how the geologists and engineers are going to stem the flow of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. I know the engineers and the geologists brainstorming in a Houston conference room are smarter about these things than me, but when they’re down to stuffing the hole full of tennis balls and used baby diapers, I think that maybe I could have come up with that suggestion in a shorter time span than three weeks.
Lately, Vanya has been afraid to be on his own after dark, expressing fear of “The Green Monster.”
Of course, I can’t help but think of Fenway, and the part of my brain that thinks I’m raising a Yankees fan bothers me a great deal.
I don’t think he’s actually heard of Fenway Park, or of the Boston Red Sox, as there’s not much interest in Major League Baseball around here. We’re going to the LSU game later today, and that’s as big-league as it gets. And it’s plenty enough for me.
Here are the ideas that I had for blog posts this week. I couldn’t really make a go of any of them, so I’ll just fire the topics out in a flurry of bullets.
On Thursday, Lily and Blossom bolted out the front door, as they are apt to do. Several hours later, Blossom had returned, but Lily had not. It was odd for Lily to not make it home, and a little distressing, as she was without her tags since her last bath.
Blossom spent Friday whining for her friend, and then we left for a weekend at the farm Friday afternoon. Then, over the weekend, Lily popped up in my sister’s Facebook feed. She gave me a call.
“Is Lily lost?”
Suppose you have a four year old in the house. And suppose that from time to time, your four year old’s behavior leads to a punishment where the whole family forgoes television for the entire night. You might normally end up cooking together and listening to music and having a good night, but sometimes, you might find yourself in need of an activity.
Just on a lark, I found that doing a photo essay of a small toy, placed in oddball positions around the house was a lot of fun. We started by shooting pictures of the toy on our heads. Then, we moved him (not it) to different spots in the house.
Perhaps you’ve seen the news about the dumb bitch in Tennessee who put her son on a plane to Russia with a note saying that she’s punting on being a parent from now on.
I’m naturally a biased observer of this bit of news, but I the only reaction I can fathom is a strong desire to put a fist in her face.
But I have heard observers react with sympathy for the mother. Parents should be informed about potential problems during the adoption process. Parents should have programs to help them deal with children that they can’t handle.
Now that parade season is over, we move into live music outside season. Why oh why don’t they spread some of this stuff out?
Every week, Baton Rouge has free shows on Friday evenings and Sundays at noon. Many of the acts are very good — our best local acts are up there with any town’s. On top of that, we have a Blues Week, Fest for All, Earth Day, and Corporate Cup race downtown, all featuring free live music. New Orleans hosts French Quarter Festival (which perhaps has become my favorite), and Jazz Fest is right around the corner (which has fallen sharply in my list of favorites, because it costs $75/day, and I can see the same local bands for free at all of these others). I’ve never made it to Lafayette’s Festival International, but that’s supposed to be right up there too. I should hyperlink to all of those sites, but that would be a lot of work.
With that in mind, I’m facing this weekend’s premier of Treme on HBO with nervous trepidation.
I spent a good bit of time the last two weekends doing work on the boat. Theskinnyonbenny family has been looking forward to our annual Easter voyage, but the list of boat chores was long, and I hoped to complete as many of those as possible before we left. One chore — repair of a ripped sail — was a firm requirement do be done prior to departure.
I didn’t know until Sunday morning that I had an audience for most of my preparations. On Sunday, I was headed down toward the boat when I noticed a mallard jump up into the cockpit. I’ve never seen a duck board my boat before, so this gave me a chuckle. Then, she disappeared, and as soon as she did, I got a sinking feeling in my gut.
