Category: Dad Blogs

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Dad Blogs Family Fatherhood Life in these United States Marriage

Those little mysteries that surround children

Can someone tell me how this happens?

IMG_2627 I mean, when you remove a full diaper thing, you have to pull the plastic down and tie off another.

When I, after taking a shower and getting all nice and clean, discovered this and then had to remove all the impacted poopy diapers by hand, I found that there wasn’t even a shred of a plastic bag at the bottom. So, someone (I’m not naming names, but it wasn’t me) had to have removed the last one and then just completely spazzed on pulling another one through.

And aren’t I the lucky one for finding it?

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Dad Blogs Family Life in these United States Society

Picture Phone Phriday!

Being something of a writer professionally, I am ever cognizant of spelling and grammar mistakes, though I make plenty of them myself. And while I’m not the kind of person to write back to a friend and tell them that their e-mail construction was so poor that it made my eyes bleed, I’m not so understanding when I see highly visible mistakes in the general public. Because there should be people, like myself, proofing things before giant, life-sized posters are made of them.

Anyway, as we were returning from our Christmas tree chopping-down last weekend, CareerMom asked if we could drive through Sonic and get drinks (she loves their crushed ice drinks), to which I heartily agreed. So, I pulled around, passing all the little pull in slots since we weren’t going to stop and drink the beverages there, and as I pulled up to the drive-through ordering thingy, I saw this:

11-28-08_1636

“Please use the Stales“

What the heck are “Stales?”

I sat there, perplexed, for about 15 seconds until a teenage girl walked out and said, “Hi, I’m sorry. The drive through isn’t working. Could you please use the stalls?“

OH STALLS! WITH TWO “L’s”

Of course, I had to point out to her that I was unfamiliar with “Stales,” prompting a blushed admission, “Oh, I guess I misspelled it.” *nervous giggle*

I know, I should cut a kid a break, but the girl was at least 17 and should know better.

Kids today, please stay in school and pay better attention!

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Dad Blogs Family Marriage

Here’s to standing out in a crowd

I like to think that I march to a different drum. That, while everyone else is going left, I go right because it’s different. I’m a fan of Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken,”not because it’s cool to like, but because, like the man in the poem, I would rather see something unique, even if it means it’s a more difficult route.

Now granted, I don’t dress outlandishly, and I don’t listen to strange music; unless you consider groups like Enigma, Kitaro or Enya strange (OK, Cretu is a bit odd, but…). I drive a plain old Dodge Dakota truck in a “normal” blue color, and my tastes in decor lean towards traditional.

So, while I am very much a normal kind of person, in my head, I style myself as a free thinker.

That’s why I was so surprised recently when, as I stood outside my shower waiting on the water to warm up (Yes! And wasting water!), I discovered that, despite my personal beliefs about not being “pegged,” I am in fact, part of the herd, whose tastes and preferences are easily anticipated.

So without further ado, I’d like to present, my herd mentality:

Predictable tastes

My only consolation, is that CareerMom is as “unspecial” as myself.

We are, birds of a feather, which is ironic in itself.

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Dad Blogs DIY Family Life in these United States

I’m all right, ain’t nobody worried ’bout me…

Caddyshack Gopher
got-moles

Thanks to the weather of late, I’ve not spent much time in my front yard. I also sort of let the grass grow a bit longer than I should have at the end of the season. Couple that with the fact that I thought my zoysia was just turning brown due to the cold weather and it’s no surprise I didn’t realize that my front yard had become the playground for one or more moles, until I stepped onto the turf and my foot sank nearly an inch into one of his little burrows.

See all those squiggly yellow lines on the picture there, that’s approximately where his roads criss-crosses under the ground. (“…criss-cross’ll make you, JUMP, JUMP…”) You can tell by following the really white (read: Dead) lines in the grass.mole problem

This is no laughing matter. I suspect what happened is, that once I fixed my backyard landscaping, and low-teched a way to keep the bird seed from raining down on the ground, when his food source dried up, the little booger bored his way to my front yard where the steep slope is perpetually moist and makes for easy digging!

This past Saturday, after realizing the problem, and after having stomped down more than 30 feet of my prized, yet burrowed up lawn, it wasn’t but a few hours later that I noticed he’d come right back through and dug some of it back up!

My dogs are no help. They did manage to catch a mole in the backyard once, but he was so cute, that I let him go.

Oh the poor choices I’ve made in the past!!

I have since purchased some mole grub from the local hardware store. It looks like gummy worms, but it’s laced with some kinda special poison. You’re supposed to refrain from stomping on his runs (oopsy!) and instead, poke a little hole in one of his burrows and drop the little arsenic-laced gummy worm in the hole and then hope he comes back its way and dines on the tasty treat.

I dunno…I don’t have high hopes.

I fear that, come spring, my yard is going to look line someone took rock salt and played “Island of Sodor” (“Hey mom, let’s follow the tracks!“) on my lawn.