Saturday, August 25, 2007
Floods and Jelly
Ohio has had a bunch of rain lately, and due to its terrain, some flooding has occurred. We have had no problems here in Willard, but a few communities near us have had some devastating issues. Shelby, the town directly south of us had major flooding. In fact, some residents were evacuated by a coast guard chopper. The schools there were flooded, and they expect to open school on time (next week). I am on the substitute list for that school district, so I wonder if I will get any first hand experience with this. Our basement is dry, and I was told there is no reason to worry because there aren't any rivers near Willard.
Normally, when I run across a product that I like, I make a mental note of it and move on to the rest of my life. But this product is so great, I feel that it is my duty to get the word out. Smuckers Black Raspberry Jam (seedless) is simply the best preservative ever marketed (this excludes all of mom's homemade jelly and jams). If you have not had this product spread across a piece of warm toast, or on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I suggest you make this a top priority. Now, don't get me wrong, I realize it is just jelly. There is no need to stop what you are doing and run to the store this second, but before you go to sleep tonight, get a jar of Smuckers Black Raspberry jam (seedless) and make a sandwich. Now I know I will sleep better because I got this secret out. And remember... With a name like Smuckers it
has to be good!
It was my mothers birthday this past weekend, and we wanted C1 to call and talk to her. First, let me give you some background on C1's phone etiquette. Sometimes he wants to talk on the phone and will occasionally have a very lengthy dialog with a family member on the other end of the line. But, more often the case is that he doesn't want to talk, and will just say loudly, "I don't want to talk to so-and-so". This is usually said loud enough for whoever is on the phone to hear him, which obviously embarrasses us. So, we have been working on this particular issue lately, and when we sense that he will respond this way we remind him about the consequences of not doing what mommy and daddy ask of him, and he will usually comply. He is getting better. Anyway, back to my Mom's birthday. We wanted him to talk to his Granny on the phone, and wish her a happy birthday. So, before I called, we discussed with him our expectations. Well, to say the least, he did not meet our expectations. When we reminded him about the consequences, he ran by the phone and yelled "hi!" As steam shot out my ears, I as politely as possible told my mother that he would not be getting on the phone, and I needed to go. This bothered me on many levels. First of all, my mother does so many great things for our boys, and I want her to hear from him how much he appreciates what she does. So, when my son doesn't acknowledge all that she does, I feel as a father, I am not teaching him to be respectful and grateful. Second, I do not like my son misbehaving. I warn him about consequences, but it isn't helping. He went to bed early tonight. He chose going to bed, instead of apologizing to me and his Granny. I feel like I need to start him in my own little boot camp in the morning so he realizes and accepts who is in charge. Thirdly, I want my parents to see that we are capable of raising a great kid. After tonight, I am sure they aren't quite as confident as they could be.
I know my Mom reads this occasionally, so I will say Happy Birthday Mom! I hope your birthday was great, and I am sorry for how C1 acted today. T and I appreciate everything you and Dad do for these boys, and I promise to teach my sons to be more respectful in the future. We all love you!
I heard last night on the local news that there would be a meteor shower in the early morning. I Googled "meteor shower August 12" and confirmed that there should be fantastic viewing for a meteor shower between 2am and 6am. I set my alarm for 4:45am. When my alarm buzzed, I turned it off and decided that I was too tired to get up and go outside... then, I had to get up to use the facilities, so I decided to throw some shorts on and take a look at the free light show. If you have never seen a shooting star, you are missing out. I sat outside for about 30 minutes and counted approximately 10-12 shooting stars. It was amazing. At first you see something and say to yourself, "was that one?" especially when you have just awakened from deep sleep. But then when you see more and more, you realize what you are watching. I saw a meteor shower when I was in high school. My sister and I were waiting for the school bus before sunrise, and counted several shooting stars. I am not some sort of astronomy geek or anything, but I think meteor showers are cool. Oh, and tonight should be good viewing too because of the new moon. Check it out if you can.
OK, what is the deal with local T.V. breaking in to regular programming to inform us/me/we about "severe weather"? All I need to know is that it is coming, whether I should expect high winds, hail, or a tornado etc., then please get me back to Dr. Phil. They spend 20 minutes using their newest weather forecasting software (that I am sure has cost them many thousands of dollars) and draw a map of the weather cell's and determine what time they will hit Main Street, in some city I have never heard of. They even will tell you number of lightning strikes, and size of hail these cells can produce. Who cares really? All I need is "Attention, we are interrupting regular programming to give you this special weather bulletin... There is a tornado warning in XYZ county... we now return you to regular programming." I mean, if I am watching television, I am already inside and safe right? And it is also acceptable to have that little map in the corner with XYZ county colored in so if you forget, you can just look at the little reminder map. Or even the small scroll on the bottom is ok. But the 20 minute lecture on weather that I do not consider to be THAT severe, is ridiculous. I think the stations around here, must have a competition about who can talk about the weather the longest. There I feel better now. Oh, and can anybody re-hash the last 20 minutes of yesterdays Dr. Phil episode for me?
July 2007 is over. I am a bit thankful. You see, my lovely wife and I had a small disagreement towards the beginning of the summer about how we should spend the summer. Things like vacation, garage sales, new windows, camping, remodeling, birthday parties and zoo trips were all discussed. We decided that we did not want another summer to fly by and feel like we didn't get a chance to do the things we wanted. So, we looked at the calandar (and the checkbook) and made some plans. Well, July was chock full of most of these things. C1 finished t-ball, and we celebrated his birthday at the zoo the first week of July. After that we went to Warriors Path State Park in Tennessee camping for 4 nights. Camping was great. We were happy to get home though. When we got back, we had our garage sale that we have been planning for at least 3 years. It was a success! While T was running the garage sale, I was tearing apart 1 of our bathrooms to remodel. We took a break and went to Michigan to see my parents, and oh yeah, I had a birthday in there too. I have been working on the bathroom since. When I say remodel, I mean total remodel. I tore out all fixtures, floor, and part of the drywall. And, I must say that these projects NEVER go as planned. But anyway, the bathroom is almost finished, no major plans for August, and school is just around the corner!
