Why don't you wake up...

Why don't you wake up and smell what you shovelin? I've always liked that line. Both from Ned's, and the movie they took it from. But, like so many things that were "so cool" when they were new, time has eroded it's coolness. For example: Top Gun. THE coolest movie ever. ...in '86. In '08: cheese ball, fun to watch and basically laugh at. Cool? no. So goes the quoted line. The movie it came from was really cool when it came out, but has lost its luster over the years. Still, I guess for nostalgia's sake, it still "has it". If I don't know what's cool, will you call me a loser? If I don't bend the rules, will I stay a loser?

Which brings me to 70mph on the freeway. Apparently this speed limit does not apply on a Sunday afternoon in the summer. For almost all on the road, 75 was way too slow. There were a few like me, keeping the speed limit (but over by 5mph), and there was even an occasional "lets go back to the '30s and drive 45mph". (well they were going slow, I don't know how slow. Do you think I have a calibrated eye? It sure seemed like 45) The thing that surprised me the most was that I did not see anyone pulled over by the police. I did see a well placed "trap", though it seemed unmanned, as there were a few in a hurry who were not stopped. I did not notice the car until I was right in front of it. (I had a similar situation during Purple Dragon in '96 -but that is a completely different story) I noticed most of the cars passing me had West Side dealerships on the back, so I could assume that these people had a long way to go and a short time to get there. Look at bandit run. Got any Coors? I thought it was a nice evening for a drive, and I suppose the faster you are the shorter the time on the road, thus less people for me to deal with.

While I was away at Summer "camp", it seemed the kids missed me. They were happy to see me home, and the past few days they have asked if I am staying here. They are not too confident in me leaving the house. Even if all I am doing is crossing the alley to go to the gym. They go to the park almost every day with "the nanny". Swimming has seemed to be too difficult for Sarah or myself to pull off. The library has a puppet show every Tuesday evening. I went with them on the last showing, and afterwards the kids and I went for pizza. The kids need to open up more (surprised? Hello Halsted genes), and hopefully these scenarios will help. Rileigh pointed out, to me, all the kids she knew. But she stayed sucked in close to me. Neither one liked it when the other kids screamed/laughed when the puppets would do funny startling stuff. And apparently, Rileigh does not like pizza. She ate garlic bread period. I ordered lasagna for her, but it was not spaghetti, so she would not eat it. Ethan was happy with two slices of the Hawaiian. The fact that the Mariners scored in the 8th was lost on them as well. True northwesteners, in the baseball sense, I guess. It is pretty cool that we walked from the house, to the library, to pizza and back. It was no trek, merely a pleasant meander.

I missed the VA wheelchair games, but caught some of it on the Internet. Makes one miss all the shenanigans. The kids enjoyed watching "daddies Friends". The broadcasts were on xable.com, and the link was on the wheelchair games website as well. I thought it was really cool that this was broadcast, as the hardest part about what we do is getting people educated. Of course, this was not all that easy to see, as not all participants are "athletes" -and I could go into a half baked tirade here, but I won't.

Penitent Tangent

Northern Idaho is nice place to be on the 4th. At least the kids and I had a good time. We were relegated to the Village, and I think we had no problem with that. We had the Gilder Rider, the cart, the lake, and the pool. We did not seem to need much more. From the reports I got, I am glad we were not out on the roads.
The weather was typical, in that it was never what you thought it was going to be. We had some wind, some clouds and some heat. Not a lot of rain, which is what we have come to expect. If you want to spend the day in your swim suit, in and out of the water, you can expect to be cold. We did our share of that. We spent some of our time at the beach on the lake. The kids were not intimidated by cold water, andbased on their reactions, the water was rather "warm". Rileigh was also excited about swimming in the pool. Ethan was there, but was not as excited.
Ethan and Rileigh are still afraid of guns -which can be a good thing. There was a "21 Musket" salute at the flag raising ceremony, and the kids were not impressed. Thankfully, it is a quiet protest which they have, and not one of those kicking and screaming types. This led us to believe that the evening would be an exercise in futility. So, our plans for the evening included going to bed. With the kids in bed, I could not help myself, so I took to walking the dog, thus sampling some of the local displays. The lake is a good place to sample all the fireworks. Sarah went with me on the walk, and we ended up sitting down and enjoying one of the shows put on by a neighbor. It seems there is a "war" between the various inhabitants on the lake shore. The south end put on an impressive and enduring display. The faction at the village had an impressive showing. There was an adequate display from the East side of the lake, and the other factions along the north side struggled to put forth a show. On return, Rileigh was at the window watching what fireworks made it over the tree line. After a while we had to close the window, so that the fireworks would not come inside. Next year may include an official fireworks show.