my boy

my boy
playing nice in the world's sandbox

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Half a House

Half a house. Delivered to the property today. Tomorrow we'll take you down to it, and put your Johnny Jump Up in the doorway while we sweep it out, tidy up, and clean it out. Daddy's going to make a Tack Shed/Feed Bin/Workshop out of it so when we go down to hang out with 'Tate, we'll have a porch to sit on and a commode to use.

You won't have a clue now, but someday you'll know where we started. Someone once told me "Never forget where you came from". So this is where we came from. Half a house. In 20 years you may not appreciate it, but I'll bet that in 40 years, you will. We'll show you pictures of the Bus, where you spent the first part of your life, and then I'm sure we'll have pictures of you hanging out, crawling in, climbing on and generally making us chase you around the half house.

In less than a week, we'll have a WHOLE HOUSE. Delivered right next to the half house. And THAT my boy, will be OUR HOME. Where you will learn to crawl, climb on furniture, mark the walls, and pull the curtains down I'm sure. You'll bump your head, skin your knee and not want to go to bed in your own room.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

We Survived

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!



First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they
carried us.


They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.


Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored
lead-based paints.


We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we
rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took
hitchhiking.


As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.


Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.


We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.


We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
actually died from this.


We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but
we weren't overweight because


WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!


We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back
when the streetlights came on.


No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.


We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the
bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem...


We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no
99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell
phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat
rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!


We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.


We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.


We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!


Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!


The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of They
actually sided with the law!


This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers
and inventors ever!


The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.


We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!


You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as
kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.


Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!