Here’s a new photo of the kittens. They still get along great, although they are growing really fast.
Awwww... aren
Grandparents’ Day!
November 21, 2008 at 8:30 pm (Uncategorized)
Today was Grandparents’ Day at Chatterer’s school. We had been preparing him for the idea that all of his grandparents live too far away to come to Grandparents’ Day, but we had also told him there was a surprise for him on Thursday after school. Thursday afternoon I picked my dad up at the airport and we went straight to Chatterer’s school. You should have seen the look on Chatterer’s face!
Anyway, today was Grandparents’ Day and I think it’s safe to say they both had a great time. Chatterer received his Indian name: Little Big Fish (he’s the youngest kid in the fish class). He didn’t seem to understand that he was supposed to give Grandpa an Indian name, too, so I came up with one for him: Beak of Eagle. 
Indian Leaders
Indoctrination starts early.
November 16, 2008 at 1:38 pm (Chatterer, Family, Toddler On a Mission)
Horsies Rule!
Chatterer and ToaM and I are all wearing shirts with the same logo today!
Friends remembered – 4 years later.
November 15, 2008 at 7:59 pm (Family, Ruminations)
As some of you may know, I did not have my grandparents truly in my life growing up. We lived far from them, my maternal grandfather was bedridden much of the time, my maternal grandmother seemed to lose any sense of reality when he died in 1984 (or was it 1982?) and she passed away in 1993 (about this same time of year), and my paternal grandmother passed away before I was born. My paternal grandfather and I had a great relationship, but it was hindered by the Evil Stepgrandmother. However, there was someone who filled the grandmother void who labeled herself our “Ersatz Grandmother.” She took the time to get to know us and adopt our family and play the grandmother role, albeit somewhat unconventionally, as she singlehandedly increased my knowledge of swearwords by the time I was 7. She also (until she quit) could be guaranteed to have a half (or more) smoked cigarette with ash dangling from the end of it almost all day. (Talk about an anti-smoking ad!) She was wonderful and encouraging and “direct.” She unfortunately passed away 4 years ago almost to the day, before she could meet Chatterer or ToaM. She is the only reason I ever saw Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11″ (although her daughter made sure I didn’t actually pay to see it) because I went to visit her about five months before she passed away and she wanted to go see it. Almost every week I am reminded of her in subtle ways (more so these past few weeks during the campaigns, as she was a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, which always led to vociferous arguments among my family and hers growing up), but today was different.
In any event, the family and I went to the park today and I was reminded of her very acutely. ToaM’s stroller has a toy steering wheel attached to it that makes various car noises. As we were walking back from the park, ToaM kept hitting the horn over and over and over and over and over again. Those of you who ever rode in a car with my Ersatz Grandmother will not be surprised to know that, for some reason, this made me think of her. She’s the only person ever to drive a car and be told off by a cat for her driving antics. Riding with her was… well… the phrase “bat out of He#$” is insulting to any bat’s driving skills.
I still miss her.
Devil Kitties
November 13, 2008 at 7:54 pm (Pets)
Cute!
Picture of Elmo (left) and Zoe (right), brother & sister Ragdoll kittens. They joined the family back in October and are acclimating nicely. They’ve even almost gotten used to using the scratching post instead of everything else… except when they are falling off your lap (ouch!).
The election
November 10, 2008 at 10:52 am (Politics)
Some of you may be wondering where I was over the course of the last couple of weeks. I’ve been to Colorado to make sure the elections happened legally and everyone who wanted to vote and was entitled to vote actually voted. I was there on behalf of the losing team, which happens in presidential politics about 50% of the time. I have voted for President of the United States five times. My party has won twice and lost thrice. Here are my parting thoughts as we enter, in my not-so-humble opinion, the beginning of a very long four years.
The Republicans cannot win until they move back to the center a bit. My party needs to stop preaching morality while soliciting in mens rooms, e-mailing pages with lewd and lascivious messages and cheating on their wives. I am categorizing these incidents as “mens” issues because a) the ones that were caught were all men and b) there are many many more men in the Republican party elected offices than there are women. The Republican Party needs to recognize that fiscal responsibility is more important than legislating morality, which is impossible to accomplish in any event.
By the way, this was not a “landslide,” no matter what the press says. Losing by 6% of the votes cast is not a landslide. It may be an Electoral College landslide, but not a voting one. Mondale lost in a landslide (18.2%). McCain did not.
It’s a pumpkin, MM.
November 9, 2008 at 9:16 pm (Uncategorized)
There has been a debate in our house over the past six weeks or so. (No, not THAT debate… this one a) was relevant and b) was actually a debate.) It relates to the garden planted last spring/summer. As you may recall, we planted many seeds. Among them, we planted watermelons and pumpkins. Sadly, we did not use garden markers for the seeds. One variety of them did remarkably well. MM said it was the watermelons. I maintained it was the pumpkins. Time passed. We each staked out our territory. The fruits were long and green and striped, supporting MM. But the leaves were HUGE and the vines were remarkably similar to those I saw at the pumpkin patch at the beginning of October, supporting me. The fruit were somewhat limited, with only one actually surviving Big Vicious Dog (whose name actually is appropriate when it comes to garden/greenery etc.). We brought it in. It is green, with one side turning yellowish-orange. MM sliced it in half. I am happy to say I was correct. It is a pumpkin. I only wish I had been correct in the bigger debate.
More please!
November 9, 2008 at 2:23 pm (Chatterer, Family, Toddler On a Mission)
ToaM seems to have picked up some baby signs, which is great! He’s even using them! Most popular, of course are “more” and “please.” More importantly, Chatterer is learning that manners are beginning to apply to everyone, even ToaM. ToaM has a habit of stealing Chatterer’s snacks (they’re safe for both of them) and ToaM has been precluded in recent days from stealing and instead is made to say “more” and “please” before Chatterer happily shares his snack. Chatterer really is pretty happy about sharing and doesn’t seem to mind… most of the time. He does get a little put out when ToaM wants the LAST snack, though.
