Active Weekend

When I was younger, without kids and dogs, my weekends were quieter. I could sleep late, watch any show I wanted, play computer games until all hours. I was free.
Now, I have to be up early, so the dog can go for her walk. I watch cartoons and kid-appropriate movies. (Can’t be scary. That just keeps kids awake). No more self-indulgent hours of computer games. I play board games with the kids and take a fair share of computer time.
I use to sit on the deck and listen to birds. Now I sit in the sun and fill up inflatable pools. I use to relax and read. Now I go on bike hikes with the scouts. I used to listen to rock music. Now I can sing all the lyrics to “Scooby Doo” and “My Gym Partner is a Monkey”. I used to be able to drive more than 30 minutes on a trip without stopping for a potty break.
I was free. Now I’m a captive slave. But a happy slave. My daughter’s playing in the pool. My son’s throwing a Frisbee, scoring point when he hits a target. My dog is laying by my feet and my wife is reading in the shade. I used to sit and watch the grass grow and that’s what I’m doing right now.
But it reminds me I have to mow it.

A good day

The day started with breakfast. I like to think I have a healthy breakfast. It's low in fat, but high in protein (lean sausage), it's high in vitamins and minarels (Cream of Wheat), high in fiber (whole wheat toast), high in Vitamin C (juice) and high in anti-oxidents (coffee). But I hear now that it isn't a healthy breakfast. It's too high in carbs (which used to be my friend, when I was more active). Fortunatly, I don't follow the current thoughts on food.

In the 70s or 80s, a book came out, "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche". But there was a reactionary book which came out later that I liked better. "A Real Man Eats Anything He Damn Well Feels Like." I like that definition better, so I'll keep eating my high fiber, high carb breakfast. Even if it continues to expand my belly (Sorry, my "Norse Gut").

But food wasn't the topic for today. It was my trip to the Woodland Park Zoo. I've been to a lot of zoos, but Woodland Park is really a World-Class zoo. To mangle a phrase, "this isn't your father's zoo". Zoos in the past weren't always a pleasant place for the animals. But this zoo has made great strides toward putting the animal before the public. The exibits are well thought out, as natural as possible, with areas that the animals can go where people can't see them. (Older zoos never offered that, since seeing the animals is what people pay for, but this setup is much more interesting. You have to relax, and wait, hoping to catch a glimpse).

The scenery is also fun for the visitors as well. Each area is set up with meandering paths, instead of straight streets, offering a feeling of being near the area the animals are from. It gives you a more interesting visit, and more relaxing. Especially if you can get there early, before any schools arrive, in the winter, when it isn't filled with tourists. The air is crisp and the only sounds are the animals. And, let me tell you, Siamongs are really loud, elephant trumpets are really cool and distant roaring lions are really eerie.

The exibits aren't perfect, but they are a step in the right direction. Education and conservation are high priorities for WPZ as well. I should add a quick disclaimer. The pictures I used are all from my cameras. The date stamps on the one's with date stamps aren't correct (it took me a while to figure out how to turn it off, much less set it correctly). None of these pictures can be used for commercial reasons, since Woodland Park Zoo doesn't allow private pictures of their animals to be used commercially.

Things I've Learned Recently

Below is a list of things I have learned recently...

1. If you are about to have an important party, it really annoys your wife if you burn out the blender motor and stink up the house.
2. Cat pee can ruin your printer.
3. If Spiderman suddenly shows up at a kid's party, the kids can become deafening. (And my five-year-old daughter will hide).
4. If you study history, you realize your life could be a lot worse. (You really don't want to be a slave in ancient Rome or Greece).
5. Dog's like to walk, no matter the temperature outside.
6. If your dog eats bird seed, cleaning up dog poop becomes a disgusting chore. Um, okay, more disgusting.
7. Laundry doesn't fold itself, even if you wait a long time. (But I'm willing to give it another chance).
8. Just because you are fixing something, doesn't mean your kids aren't breaking something else. Right now.

Just a few insights. Take them as truth.

Winter has arrived

It’s winter. All the signs of winter in the Pacific Northwest are in the air. Sure, I know, there are nature signs all over the place. The trees are bare, the fog rolls in, the temperature drops and all that. But the real signs of winter in the Northwest, are a bit more apparent…

1. People’s eyes roll back and their fingertips tremble at the S word (“snow” but don’t say it too loud. You’ll cause a panic).
2. I slip and fall on the ice in my frozen yard, on my way to the car.
3. The windows need scraping on that car, once I get back up.
4. The dog doesn’t want to go outside in the cold to go potty.
5. The dog DOES want to go outside in the cold for a walk. (Apparently, it’s okay to freeze her toes off as long as mine are frozen off as well).
6. My wife has cabin fever and is ready to go. ANYWHERE away from home.
7. I willingly wear a stocking cap.
8. My kids lose their __(fill in the blank)_ at various schools, churches, houses and stores. The blank may contain any or all of the following words: Coat. Hat. Glove. Both gloves. Boots. Sweater. Scarf. Head (no, wait, that’s attached).
9. My cat prefers to stay in the warm bed rather than get up and eat in the morning. (You can tell. She isn’t up batting at my face).
10. The “pass” becomes “unpassable”.
11. The temperature reaching 32 degrees indicates it has gotten warmer.
12. And, the number one sign that it is winter. I can actually hear money burning in my oil furnace.

Kids Today

Okay, at the risk of sounding like an old fogie (too late. Does anyone still say, "Old Fogie"), kids today live a different world than I did. I know. So did our parents. Still, I think about the differences. Last night, as we got ready to drive back home from visiting relatives, I looked into the back seat and marveled. My kids have a great setup for driving.

1. Car seats with cup holders, containing a drink and a snack.
2. A fully heated backseat. (The old station wagon my parent's had heated the front seat too much and the back seat not at all).
3. A warm blanket each, to snuggle under while the car drives.
4. A DVD player, to watch a Disney movie all the way home.

I know, my parent's probably marveled as well. We, after all, did have a heater in the car, even if it didn't work for the back seat. If asked, they would probably talk about putting heated bricks on the floor to warm up the car (or horse-drawn buggy).

But there are things we had, or were able to do, that our kids never will.

1. Do you remember laying down on the back seat of the car? Nodding off watching the street lights go by? Forget car seats. We used to lay down like it was a couch.
2. How about wandering around the car while it was driving? Are any of my readers old enough to remember playing in the far back of the station wagon? Just a wide, flat floor and a pile of toys. We were mobile. We weren't strapped into anything.
3. We had highways that went through towns, instead of super-highways that travel over the towns. We stopped in every dumb road-side attraction (and I really liked them. I still like to watch the old state park films on local histories and geographic features).

And what do kids miss out on the most? Being able to complain about how worse their life was compared to modern life. But, then, every generation really can do that, can't they? Our grandparents had to carry water from the well. Our parents had to heat bath water on the stove. We were lucky to have a shower in my day. What will our kids complain about?

"In my day, we had to use water to take a shower. You kids today get clean using phasers to burn off all the germs along with the filth."

And if they have "sonic showers", I wonder if they can watch movies while showering, since there's no water. Or will they have cranial computers inside their heads where they can watch a movie any time they want? Think about it. A movie beamed directly to the pleasure center of the brain. Watch the movie inside your head.

"In my day, we had to use our eyes to watch a movie."