Friday, November 26, 2010

After The Turkey Tried To Kill Me In My Sleep

So last night, as I embarked on a 12 hour workshift for the holiday, I was looking forward to a homecooked meal provided by my boss's wife. Turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and a few other sides. I ate too much. This usually happens whenever I'm served copious amounts of food. I feel the need to eat and appreciate it all til the last bite is swallowed down. Savoring it, or saving any for later is not in my vocabulary. However, when it comes to the turkey, this feast is followed by a much more devious enemy...turkey coma. I spent the final 8 hours of my shift trying to fight off the urge to sleep continuously. When you're behind the wheel, that is not necessarily a good thing. But I have managed to fight it off, and am still up in the middle of the following afternoon, hopped up on coffee.

My wife and kids spent their day with my parents and other family friends, and tomorrow will set off to go to her parents' place. I will be left home alone apparently, again. Peace and quiet, save the occasional psychotic episodes by The Colonel, and the inevitable ringing of the phone. Time for some book reading, maybe some writing (with actual pen and paper since the computer is trashed), time to think and all that stuff.

I have a lot of stuff on my mind, so I suppose the time left alone would be good to get that all out of my system, even if that is all that can be done about most any of it. I'd like to go up to my in-laws, but somehow I don't see that happening, since I work at 8pm on Sunday night and would limit the wife's time in visiting with her family. So, I'll just hold out for any possible leftovers being sent back for me. I like food, especially good food, which seems to be a specialty from my wife's family tree.

Let's see, what else? Oh, Buggy wrote his own book, added front and back covers (all torn out lined notebook paper), stapled it together...both sides. Josh is as active as ever, and while he'll come in when he gets cold (has more sense than I did as a kid), he still goes out when its too cold for me (apparently cold weather sucks more when you get older as compared to childhood). Wife has her new car, and is getting acquainted with her new job day by day. Um, computer is still dead as I mentioned before, however, I'm being sent a laptop on loan by my mother to hold us over until a new desktop is acquired, so I wont always have to use up the gas in my car or expose myself to the weather just to come to the library to get online. So that's always good. And of course, now with the wife having her car, I'm free to go anywhere I want for job searches, not just within foot or bicycle distance. Maybe I can get more money, and possibly better hours eventually for fulltime work. Then I can hang out with my family a little more often...well, that is if they don't go into shock from seeing me and send me away so as not to disturb their peaceful surroundings!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving Eve

Okay, so for those of you who don't know, my home computer crashed this past weekend. I am thankful for this opportunity in a not so enthused manner, that it might teach me to quit thinking about hard drive backup systems, and actually get the stuff backed up! Too many photos over the last 10 years on there that are too precious and memory filled to be losing! So I am currently at the public library up the road, and will continue to check in occasionally from here, until more suitable arrangements can be taken care of. That's also why this post will come today and not tomorrow...since the library will be closed and all.

So today, I get to be thankful for a lot of things. I am thankful first and foremost for my wife, who has put up with me for close to 14 years, just over 10 of them as my wife. I am also thankful to her for giving me two beautiful and exciting boys! I am thankful for those boys, for the joy and the little life lessons they teach me everyday (mostly patience! just kidding). I'm also thankful for her new vehicle...I now have permission to drive myself to and from work, and anywhere else I'd like to go! Luv ya honey!

I am thankful, that after a long wait, my best friend from childhood, Jed, and his wife, Naomi, have finally come to realize their dream of parenthood. Oh, the joys and newfound ways to become completely exhausted mentally and physically shall be great. Mostly to those of us who get to see/hear about it! So you two better be thankful for any nap you can squeeze in.

I am thankful that my cat will be around to keep me company over the holiday and guard the apartment while I sleep between shifts.

I am thankful to my parents, our family friend Doc, and to her parents, for providing a place for my wife and kids to experience some real Thanksgiving get togethers.

I am thankful for Swanson, or Banquet, or whoever provides me with a delectable imitation Thanksgiving meal that takes approximately 22-28 minutes to prepare in the oven, or a total of 5-6 1/2 minutes in the microwave. And also to Anderson-Erickson daireis, for the egg nog they put out each year that I will enjoy with the aforementioned meal. And no worries, I will remember to give thanks to the Lord before I dig into this meal. Partially for seeing to it that I get somethign to eat, as well as the thankfulness for not having blown myself, the oven, and/or the food up before I could eat it (the food not the oven).

I am thankful for the troops serving, especially my buddies Trevor and Gerry who are pre-deployed and deployed, may God look over them and bring them all back home safe.

I am also thankful for my readers and their occasional comments. While I write this stuff mostly for my own amusement, it is nice to see people read my writing and think well enough of some of it to say something.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Meaning of Names

So on Facebook I saw my sister had posted that she looked up her and her husband's names on Urbandictionary.com to get a definition.

I thought I'd do the same thing. I found two close definition entries for me and wasn't sure which one worked, and which parts of each really seemed to match up

Definition #1: A very cool guy who makes everyone laugh. Once you meet him, you will want to be his friend right away. He is super cute and very good-looking. He has amazing taste...in music, clothes, food, everything. Every girl secretly wishes that he could be her boyfriend...mainly because he recently broke up with his girlfriend...mainly because everyone knows that he likes commitment...mainly because he is sweet and knows how to treat a girl...mainly because however strange and wierd he may be, he's perfect. In his own little way, he is perfect.

Breaking this one down. I make everyone laugh. The question there is how many are laughing with me, at my antics, and at me? The middle fluff I'll skip over. Then you get to the last parts. 'however strange and weird he may be, he's perfect. In his own little way, he is perfect.' Do they mean I'm perfectly strange and weird or what?

Definition #2: a handsome and intelligent man, michael is very grounded and knows what he wants. Michael has the ideal person in mind and won't fall for someone fake. ambition and goals to take over the world is what he dreams up. give him his perfect partner and he will become complete like no other time in his life. Michael is like the sun and is legendary.

Breaking this one down. handsome and intelligent? Check! Grounded and knows what he wants? check and 'workin on it'. Won't fall for someone fake? got my bases covered there. Goals to take over the world? Check...my plans are all falling into place quicker than you all realize. Like the sun and legendary? Yes I like the sun, just not too much of it, cuz I don't tan well, just fry like a lobster. As for the legendary part...I am a legend in my own mind. I'm working on everyone else's minds as we speak. More than just you poor already-conquered readers will know my name soon enough!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Coming Developments

Well, I have a completed one goal for the month of November, and am awaiting a new development coming shortly.

I have finished the preliminary writings of my book about the adventures of growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere. I have combed thru all the real names I've used and have compiled a list of replacement names for all the characters. I'm sure I'll have to send out legal forms getting permission from some for using their likeness and/or names. I'm not sure, so I wonder, will getting their permission allow me to just leave their names 'as-is' or is that specified in each waiver form that they have the option to use their name or a pseudonym? hmmm.

Anyways, Still waiting on a soft edit from one of the most voracious readers I know to see what tweaks might be made to make it a better read (and therefor more publish-worthy), and then I will be ready to start sending off queries for a literary agent, hopefully getting through the rejection letters quickly to an agent willing to represent me and find me a decent publishing deal on the book.

In other news, and just as important, my best friend Jed, and his wife Naomi, will be leaving today to fly over to Ethiopia to formally adopt and bring back two beautiful little girls they will be calling daughter. It has been quite the long wait for them. I know they are both excited about the prospects, and as usual with new parents, probably very nervous at the same time. But, it will be quite the adventure for them, and I suspect they will do very well as parents as they love kids very much. When my family stayed with them a few days over vacation during the summer of last year, they treated our sons almost like their very own. So I know the girls will be very loved and well taken care of with their new parents. I am officially and biologically an uncle of one little girl, and a pseudo-uncle of a few boys and girls that call me Uncle Mikey. I must say I am definitely looking forward to meeting my two newest 'nieces' here sometime soon. I pray, and hope you all will too, for a safe flight for Jed and Naomi on their way to Ethiopia as well as on the way back for a safe return home where they begin a new chapter in their lives together.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Kid Note To Mommy


So I get home this morning and as I sit down at this desk, I look over to a stack of papers that are my future book. On top is a plain white paper with a note on it

Dear mom Im happy
for your new job I
hope you like lise
from corwyn
I Love You
Mom
by

As I read this I wonder a couple things when seeing notes from kids who aren't up to the task of using punctuation. The middle part particularly intrigues me. Is he hoping his mom "likes lice"? Or is he hoping his mom "likes lice from Corwyn"? Both are disturbing to me, especially if he actually means lice, and especially especially if he means lice from him. Which means I have to get a million quarters to do all the laundry, and we have to powerwash everything with acid or something drastic. Can a cat get lice from humans? Will the flea bath take care of that, or do I have to get a special bath for the lice and something else for the fleas? Do I need to dip the cat in acid to cure him of this and just hope he survives the cleansing?

I sure hope 'lise' was meant to be Lisa or something NOT LICE. Then I wonder who Lisa is and why Corwyn would want mom to like Lisa. Is Lisa a new boss? Does Bug have a girlfriend named Lisa that he thinks he has fallen in love with and wants mom to approve his plans for a young kids wedding? If the latter is the manner in which he means, I'm almost ready to accept lice as a better alternative.

When kids write notes everything is so innocent in their minds (at least I like to pretend that), and yet my mind is always looking for just what they mean. Most certainly when he 'hopes you like lise'. Wierd.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Sample Chapter From Future Book

Just a note: I just wrote this chapter today for a book I've been writing about random events from growing up in Sac City Iowa. I started this project a couple years back doing small occasional essays for thesacnews.com back when it was a fledgling organization on myspace. Eventually I discontinued it from public view, started and stopped writing on it repeatedly. Have been editing some, and am preparing to start submitting to literary agents for representation in the hopes of getting a book published. So for those of you who used to follow the series, and those of you who are just curious, please enjoy one of my latests essays.

Urination and Lifesavers


Let’s just face facts right off the bat here. Boys find potty humor of all sorts funny. Well, basically we find anything the body can excrete highly interesting and amusing. Its funny when we do it, say it, read it, or write it. Snot, poop, pee, farts, blood. It’s all fair game to our strange sense of humor. We may be absolutely disgusted to the core when someone lets a nasty fart rip, and yet still amused. VERY amused. When someone steps in dog poop, again we are disgusted by it, especially if we are the ones to step in it, and yet we can’t help but laugh our heads off about it, especially when it’s someone else stepping in it. For the next couple short anecdotes, if you are a girl or highly sensitive to disgusting things, I’d suggest you skip this next part altogether because it gets pretty bad. What’s it all about? In one word, Pee.
Little boys and dogs are more alike than different. Dogs will wander about the neighborhood lifting a leg and peeing on everything in sight that they find to be valuable real estate. Growing up in Sac City, I knew a particular young boy we’ll call Miah, who acted just like this. Although to be honest, I don’t think he cared about the real estate he was marking. When he decided he had to go pee, he just went pee. On a bush, a fire hydrant, the sidewalk, on the tires of a parked car, on a moving car for that matter, your leg, his own leg, behind a tree, next to a tree, from up in a tree, or on your house, your cat, or your dog; you name it, Miah peed on it at least once. I think that if Miah found himself in the midst of a busy intersection and felt the need to go pee, even if it meant being squished by a semi truck, he was going to whip it out and go pee RIGHT there and RIGHT now. I’m pretty sure the only thing safe from getting peed on by Miah was an actual toilet. I don’t know if he had an allergy to porcelain or an affinity for peeing on everything else, but like a dog, he marked his territory wherever we went.
Little boys and packs of dogs also have something in common. There must be in any pack, an established Alpha male. One day while playing in the ravine with my friend Sonny, he was standing on the wall while I was below on the ground. I was busying myself with something or another when he called my name. I looked up in just in time to see a golden stream headed in my direction. An as though I was paralyzed I stood there while my t-shirt got soaked with Sonny’s pee. Clearly Sonny had established himself as the alpha male. He got in trouble as I did what any good young fighting warrior of a boy would do- I tattled to my mom. And while he was in trouble and stuck sitting on the couch until his mom came to pick him up, he still had a stupid grin on his face knowing he had marked me as his territory, and himself as the top dog.
Now everyone knows that dogs love to chase mail carriers. In Sac City we had one particular mail carrier that handed out lifesavers to the kids. Any kid who asked received a tasty fruity Lifesaver once a day. I managed to find out that by helping the mailman deliver mail to some of the houses on one side of the street while he walked down the other earned me one more Lifesaver for every stop back to the mail truck. On days when I was bored, I would spend a couple hours with the mailman, earning my lifesavers. My mom, realizing how much of his candy I was consuming, always made sure to buy him a big box of Lifesavers every Christmas just so other kids could have some as well.
One day, my best friend Jed and his little brother Miah caught me in the middle of doing important mail delivery. They wanted to play, but I blew them off, saying I would come over after I was done following the mailman around. When I finished I grabbed my sister and went over to where my friends were hanging out. Since I had blown them off they hatched a very evil plan to get me back. I found my friends, and they informed me that they had just gotten brand new released flavors of Mr. Juicy drinks. This time it came in lemon flavored. However, they said, it had been in the sun for a bit, so it was warm. Being my gullible and naïve 8 year-old self, I had no problem trusting my wonderful friends without any suspicions. Both my sister and myself began to sample the lemon flavored Mr. Juicy. My sister was thirsty and started to guzzle it down. The Mr. Juicy concoction entered my mouth, hit my taste buds, and I immediately knew I had been tricked.
“AUGH!” I cried out after spitting the nastiness onto the ground. “This tastes like piss!” To which my sister started gagging and trying to spit out the remainder that was in her mouth. She had clearly swallowed some already. My friends were laughing hysterically.
Hey! I warned you this was going to be disgusting! If you read this far and are sorry you did, fearing you may have just thrown up a little bit in your mouth, you only have yourself to blame. Don’t say I didn’t give you fair warning to skip ahead.
Thanks to my friends, I now had Miah’s pee inside of me! He literally gets it everywhere. After a few words were exchanged, I joined in and helped prepare more nasty drinks to see whom else we could trick. See what I mean? Yes, it’s definitely disgusting beyond belief, and yet still leads to the funny! Why does it lead to the funny do you ask? Because, we made it happen to somebody else too!

Legislating From The Bench or Doing Their Job

Here in Iowa, our election day was not only for representatives, senators and a governor. In fact, a huge issue getting a lot of the play was on the retention or rejection of 3 Iowa Supreme Court justices. After all was said and done, Marsha K. Ternus, the chief justice; Michael J. Streit; and David L. Baker — received about 45 percent of the vote, making this the first time members of the state’s high court had been rejected by voters.

“I think it will send a message across the country that the power resides with the people,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor who led the campaign. “It’s we the people, not we the courts.”


“What is so disturbing about this is that it really might cause judges in the future to be less willing to protect minorities out of fear that they might be voted out of office,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California, Irvine, School of Law. “Something like this really does chill other judges.”


A massive portion of the campaign to oust the judges was funded by out of state groups, helping to support the efforts led by Vander Plaats, and heralded by Representative Steve King.

A lot of the arguments put forth by pundits and regular citizens alike was that the ouster was the result of Iowans being displeased with the state Supreme Court legislating from the bench. Now I may be a conservative, but this is one area where I break ranks with our so-called standard bearers.

For one, I personally think the idea of gay marriage is a non-issue and therefor irrelevant in regards to government oversight, save the license issuing process that heterosexual couples go through. Secondly, I personally believe the process behind letting citizens decide to stop homosexuals from being allowed to marry or not is ludicrous. Since the state Supreme Court said the legislation was essentially flawed and struck down as unconstitutional, gay marriage opponents and politicians have taken to their soapboxes to proclaim the injustice of an opinion differing from theirs. Boo-friggin-hoo!

I believe when allowing citizens to vote on the rights of other people's lives you have to look at a couple things. One- does there allowance to participate in some activity truly harm you? Two- Is the vote on an amendment to allow a freedom or restrict a freedom.

Personally, I know gay people, and have some people related to me who have chosen (or are naturally?) the homosexual lifestyle. Am I for gay activities? Not really. I have always and will always prefer women for romantic relations. But in regards to homosexuality I don't have to participate in, condone, or suffer from their lifestyle, or choose to associate myself with anyone who does. Whether or not two gay people decide to get married will ultimately never affect me personally, and I highly doubt it will affect any of the other straight people living around here.

Conservatives are always bitching about how they want the government to stay out of their personal lives and let them live and operate freely as they see fit. But then all of a sudden, hoards of queers appear on the horizon, in full war paint ready to charge on in and ruin their idea of civilization, and now they want to use our system of governance to prohibit the activities of individuals.

Look I get the God-fearing church crowd being dismayed at homosexual activities and lifestyle, I really do. Say what you want, let your heart be filled with all that hate you wish to hold, but remember a couple teachings from the Good Book. Do not judge, for that is the role of God. Hate the sin, love the sinner. Pull the plank out of your own eye before removing the speck from your brother's.

In other words, you aren't perfect, so who the hell are you to tell other people how wrong they are. Fix up your own house and let others fix their own house as they see fit. Again, you don't have to hang out with homosexuals or people who accept homosexuals as friends for that matter. You don't have to engage in homosexual behavior or gay marriage. Your church does not have to recognize anything related to homosexuals. In the same moment, keep your government out of it as well.

Quit pissing and moaning about how the government is trying to legislate your activities, and then turn around and do the same thing to someone you disagree with. That only makes you a hypocrite. And while everyone is entitled to their own wrong opinions, the rest of those around you are equally entitled to disagree with you and tell you to stuff it where the sun don't shine.

So, unlike many of my conservative friends, I voted to retain the three judges. I voted for the losing side. That doesn't make me wrong, just makes me in the minority at the polls. The judges did NOT legislate from the bench, contrary to popular opinion, but merely did their job in not restricting the freedoms of citizens under their jurisdiction.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Rent-A-Cop of the Year Award

Well, it's that time again... time for you to nominate yourself or someone else for Rent-A-Cop of the Year 2010!

Just send a photo -preferably a cheesily posed one- along with your name, rentacop company name, (or whatever company you work for- you dont have to be an actual rentacop, just participated in something or another that made things safer), and brief description of why you should be 2010s Rent-A-Cop of the Year. You can list out your accomplishments, a good funny story, or whatever you want to submit. While we do allow serious embellishments on any of these, they have to be true events. Kind of like how someone writes up their resume for the job hunt.

Unlike most years, I think this year we have a prize for the winner, besides a mention here on this page. A real tangible (that means you can see it and touch it...smelling or licking it might be taking things a bit far) prize just for the eventual winner.

Send all info to my email: mookie369@yahoo.com
be sure to put rentacop2010 in the subject line...and dont forget to send your goofy ass picture

Thursday, November 4, 2010

State Of The Cat Address- Nov2010


From the desk of: Colonel Beauregard Sterling Lovell



Well, this time around, we'll get through the nitty-gritty details, then onto my diaboloical plans for the future.

Economy:
So far the economy is going well. The lady in the house has just accepted a job that pays better. I've heard rumors of the General preparing for as second job, or replacing it altogether with something more akin to daytime hours. I'm not sure how I feel about everyone being gone all day, as I will have to do my own bidding during that time. I've been eating pretty heartily, but I expect more posh snacking with more money to circulate around here. I've also done very well in making sure my fiber intake is being supplemented well enough to keep up my fecal matter production. This industry is one of hard work but great rewards, as I make the humans clean out my litter box at a more frequent pace. With a growing obesity index amongst humans, they need the exercise.

Quality of life:

Things here are so-so. I'm still getting plenty of exercise as I run rampantly throughout the compound, jumping on all the furniture, on counters and into cupboards when people leave them open for me. I have been receiving lots of good training time by attacking the little people around here, and one of them even falls for my luring him into a little hand to paw combat from time to time. He tastes a bit funny with that 11 yr old boy smell he has going on, but the taste of his blood mostly makes up for it. However, that being said, I think the political atmosphere around here is a bit tyrranical. Yes, I own this place and these people, but the official balance of power leaves much to be desired. they also have worked hard to contain me within the walls of the compound, and not letting me out onto the deck to oversee the perimeter.

Onto my rant:
Keeping with the balance of power, election tuesday came and went. I voted for myself to become supreme leader in this Mookified Compound, and being feline I get a vote for each and everyone of my claws, and the rest get their normal 1 vote. However, somehow I still lost. I'm not sure who to blame, and I'm not naming names here, but it rhymes with dookie. Which is what this election farce smells like. It's worse than my litter box when they ignore it!

I think, much like the General defected from the Branch Duanians, I too will defect and startup my own compound, where I run the show actively, not just behind the scenes business. The General's tyrranical hand has shown itself, as you can see in the picture above, and I don't need to take that abuse. I'll probably stick around for the rest of the year, then after collecting any Christmas loot, I may well just move on out. For a coup de grace, I may work to convince the lady and the two little people to come with me, leaving the General to be the ruler of only himself. And he'll have to actually provide his own compound security. I know what he does for a living, so I doubt he'll be able to contract outside help. Should prove to be very interesting, and he wil then realize where the true power in this place lies: With me...King Supreme Emperor Lord Almighty Colonel Beauregard Sterling Lovell has a nice ring to it. Don't you agree? You'd better or I'll fleece your naughty parts with my claws of death!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Pics of the Boys From Halloween

Here we have the boys posing in their costumes at their Nana and Grandpa's house, prior to heading out for the candy looting...err, Trick-or-treating.




And here us boys are at the start of our trek.



And now once all the trick-or-treating is done for the evening, the boys are showing off the evening's haul of candy!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween And Fun With The Boys

Halloween this year for us ended up leaving our suburban neighborhood and took a two plus hour drive up to rural Sac City, Iowa, my old home town. The boys got a chance to see their Nana and Grandpa, and go out trick-or-treating in the small town.

After the drive up Saturday morning, the boys committed to their usual routine. Josh did not waste any time in getting himself onto Nana's computer to play video games, and Buggy was quickly out the door to go play with Jack, the neighbor kid.

After awhile, that all subsided and they went down to play in the mythical wilderness of my childhood known as The Ravine. Most of this year, the ravine was off limits as the city was re-doing the storm/sewage water drainage system. I noticed as we drove by The Ravine before bending the corner to my parents that the entire valley looked a lot different than in years past. The lower valley was filled in with lush green grass, and the creek bed walls were now lined in most parts with rocks to prevent erosion. The surrounding hills however were still pretty much the same as I remember them; lots of trees and brush with dead limbs and leaves all over the ground. The boys spent a considerable amount of time down there this weekend, just enjoying exploring the area. At one point I was asked if they were allowed to go through The Tunnel (also known to some of us older people as the devil worshipper's hangout). Unfortunately for the boys, I know the water runs right through there as it passes underneath 9th street, and now being a parent, I didn't want them to soak their shoes. However, I did allow them to go over the road to the continuation of the ravine on the other side.

Turns out, in the case of Buggy, anyways, I might as well have let them go through the tunnel. Buggy slipped at some point and ended up in the creek, soaking his shoes, socks and partway up the legs of his pants. Oh well I guess. All part of being a kid.

Sunday came along, and there was more time in The Ravine. I sent the boys down. Soon Buggy came back. He was bored because "All you can do down there is play." Well geez...Didn't realize that playing was so uncool these days. He wanted to play on the computer inside. I asked him what the difference was since inside all he could do was play. He informed me with all the authority a 6 year-old can muster up that there is a huge difference between inside and outside play. Well, okay solves that issue. I still kicked him back out. As I helped him get his shoes back on, he then proceeds to tell me that "Josh did his homework three nights last week instead of doing it during the day like he was supposed to."

"Are you being a tattle tale I," I asked.
"No"
"Well then," I queried, "What is it you're doing, if you're not being a tattle tale?"
"I'm just telling on him!"

I guess the difference is in how you say it, not the intent. I must've forgot that childhood lesson over the years!

But I sent him back out to the Ravine to play with his brother, and shortly thereafter I attempted to go in their and sneak up on them. Unfortunately for me, they knew I was coming anyways, and instead of occupy themselves, they put themselves up on the area known as "Lookout Hill" and waited for my arrival, so they could come and shoot me with their toy guns. Josh being Josh, had actually scaled a small tree to get even more height to scan the territory for the rebel invader known as 'Dad.' Like father like son. I attempted to go in around the other side of the ravine, but all the leaves on the ground wouldn't cooperate, and rustled as loudly as a freight train as far as I was concerned. they quickly came down from their position and scaled up the side of Death Mountain to take me out. I knew they were coming from me, I just didn't realize how fast Josh was able to come up the steep side of the hill, and he was on top of me pretty quickly. I'm either losing my edge, or he's coming into his own as a scout.

After I was taken out by my boys, we moved back to Lookout Hill, and began to make improvements to the old campfire spot I had as a kid. We repaired and improved the old fire pit spot, and began constructing a few blinds with dead saplings, other branches and sticks, and leaves. We also carved out a few paths on the hill by clearing out the leaves so we could move about in a quieter manner. The 'campsite' wasn't anything you'll find in a high end construction innovation magazine, or outdoorsman type publication. We just used the bare bones and no real method to our madness. We just kept plugging away at it, and pretty soon my dad was yelling down into the ravine from his backyard to let us know it was time to come back up as supper was being made.

"Oh man, the parents are ruining my fun time!" Was the all I thought when I heard him yell down to us. Just like the old days, when I was the boys' age. So we came up, cleaned up and had some supper.

Then 6pm rolled around and it was time to take them out trick-or-treating. Both the boys did very well, with both of their buckets getting filled up, despite the fact that we covered a LOT less ground than I did during my years of trick-or-treating in that town. After we got back to my parents house, I tossed Buggy's still-wet shoes and socks in the dryer, and they hung out with some kids of family friends who stopped over for awhile, and around 9pm I had everything packed up, loaded up the candy-inhaling boys, and hit the road for a dark ride back home, getting in around 1130 or so. the boys were woken up long enough to get inside, grab a drink of water and go right back to sleep, this time in their own beds.

I don't have any pictures of the boys in costume yet, as I'm waiting on my mom to send the pictures via email. So when I get them, I'll put up a real quick picture blog.