White Lightning Axiom: Redux

I started home-schooling my Tumultuous Twins last night. Yeah, they are only 2.5 and have an attention span shorter than the half-life of a may-fly. You can never start too early. Soooo, I brought out the flash-cards and we started identifying objects and their names. You know, they understand what a present is and how it looks, but you tell them it's a gift and their little heads start to cook. One card has a little cartoon of an ant with four legs and they proclaim that it is a "FLY!". Ok, I think that these flash cards may be a little too abstract for them. We have others that are probably a bit more to their current level. You know, blue, red, up down, square, circle, hexagon, rhombus ... hmmm. Might have to get rid of that one. Rectangle may be a better one. They have left, right, up and down in their memory banks ... I guess Over, Under and Beside is the next logical step. This is a little harder than I thought.

We started packing up for the trip to the Grandparents house last night. This was pretty superficial. I set out 4 changes of clothing and my hospital scrubs. We already have toiletry bags and such put together. The fun part is getting the kennel into the Family Tank. We just need to pop the rear seats and slide it in, but the thing is pretty cumbersome and the Hounds get rather excited when they see me moving their stuff about. They know something is in the works, but are not quite sure what it is. They have been a bit calmer on our recent trips. Sure, they are excited when we bring them to the carport, but Thor is still a big sissy when it comes to the motion part. They will enjoy getting muddy in the backwoods of Ithaca.

Woke up to the sounds of rain striking the window this morning. I roll out of bed and see that it is already 0630. Not that I really wanted to get to work early today. Early in, early out. It would have been nice to avoid the traffic, but the late hour in combination with the rain pretty much means that I have no chance of that. I take care of the Hounds and Kids right away, then pretty much abandon them to the wife's secure hand. My last leveled gaze upon them burns in my memory the three of them, snuggled together in the mile wide water bed watching Bear in the Big Blue House. A scene of serenity that should last me till lunch. Then I will feel the pangs of wanting.

I did get to work by 0745 in spite of a little surprise. I have been hearing rumors of this lately, the toll collectors went on strike today. They chose today, but not tomorrow. Smart move, you jokers. I am not a big fan of the unions in this area. They are the most hollow headed and corrupt organizations I have had the misfortune to come across. Don't get me wrong, I think that it is important to have them, but these guys have risen to levels of inaptitude and out-right audacity that can only be paralleled by the local government here in Pennsyltucky. Now, I do have to commend the TPK admin for doing the best possible thing in this case. They made the turnpike FREE for the day. The strike is over at midnight, but I can only imagine that this will result in a better traffic flow at all interchanges. To tell you the truth, I would love to see the TPK as an EZPass ONLY roadway. You can buy a temp pass if you are from out of state, like a pre-paid phone card. Man, would that make things so nice for me. The toll collectors would be changed to cashiers and that would pretty much eliminate the union. Hmmm, does that make me like "President Cleveland" of the 1894 Pullman strikes? Naw, he was a democrat.

One of my co-workers asked if I was feeling better today. I gave the obligatory 'Much better' instead of my other pithy quips. Sayings like 'Not dead yet' or 'Never better' did not seem to feel right this time. I've been feeling pretty rotten the past two days for no real good reason. Various pains and profound lethargy have been keeping me in the iron grip of the doldrums. Its a good thing that the 'Ever Lovely and Efficient Wife' is staying home to pack up today. I can pretty much believe that I would forget half of what we should bring on our trip to Ithaca tonight if I was doing the packing. I can count on the big things ... Hounds, Kids, Wife ... it would be the little stuff that I would fall down on. Little things like motion sickness drugs for Alexis. Oh, and our 14 lb kosher turkey that we 'earned' through massive purchases at the local grocery store. Cant wait to cook that bird.

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 8:53 AM