White Lightning Axiom: Redux

And Hellllooooooo Monday. I'm on support phone detail for the next 4 days. I'll be grumpy, irritable ... curmudgeonly, cantankerous even. However, all this flummery about my attitude means little when the change is nearly invisible to my peers and associates. Yep, happy-happy corporate suckup, I am. Enough of that incessant whining though. Let's talk about the incessant whining I did this weekend.

What was left of Friday ended up being quite mild. The Tyrants had fun at TSD practice and even more fun with the 15 last minutes being dedicated to dodge ball. One small concern was the persistent cough that Alexis first developed a few days ago. It was sticking around that that was not a good sign. She was going to get a 'sticking' on Saturday morning and if she was ill, she would not get her booster shots. So, Saturday rolls around and we are at the Pediatrician's office. We did the eye test, weight, height and all the other semi-routine inspections. Nothing note-worthy. Just two normal kids except for the Neural Implants and Cybernetic Augmentation. Then, came the shots. Jacob watched as each yard long garden-hose sized needles were thrust into his arm and the 55 gallon drums of weakened polio, typhus and other associated biological crap was emptied into his tiny body. 4 shots in all. He calmly watched with detached interest. Like watching an snail crawl over a hot driveway in the waning hours of an August day. Alexis witnessed this and became exponentially distressed at the appearance of every needle. When it was her turn, she was nearly hysterical. I could tell she got this 'needle phobia' trait from me. I am not entirely tolerant of such things. When she finds out what is involved in getting your ears pierced, I'm almost certain she will forgo the 'enhancement'. So, to through the shots, I had to restrain her in my lap and try to circumvent her 'grip break maneuvers' that we had taught her in Tang So Doo. This was extraordinarily difficult ... I am suffering for teaching her how to escape the restraints of adults. After applying the gauze and splints, and a few band-aids on her, we departed the house of pain for a house of Ice Cream and Pizza. You have to understand, we were not rewarding her for the anti-needle/anti-adult behavior. Of course, I do not have to worry about her taking any sort of illegal injectable drugs now, do I?

After the torture incident and the conciliatory pizza lunch, we returned to the manor where I commenced with mowing the front pastoral expanse and slicing up boards for the Twins to practice their Karate on. Breaking cinder-blocks is their weak link so I went out and got some fairly fragile pine boards that they could practice on. While I was puttering about the Mile Long Driveway, I spotted our Greek Neighbors and waved. It's been a bit since we have talked so we felt compelled to talk. One thing lead to another and Alexis wandered out of the Manor and spotted Gus and Irene and HAD to be involved. They have become our 'Fallback Grandparents' for the Twins. Soon enough, Alexis had disappeared into their home to go play with their piano and engage in other sorts of activity. Hours later, she had forgotten about the shots, and emerged from their home clutching a stuffed plush cat toy who she has since named 'Rose'. So now, the spoilage is complete. I think we can look forward to Alexis forming a tight bond with Irene who is quite intelligent once you have the time to speak with her in detail. Most likely a good influence in her life.

Sunday: Lets make it quick, eh? Sunday School - the kids love it and the New Teacher is appreciative to have someone with a bit of pluck to lead the kids in the 'wake-up' exercise. She is a bit older (Grandma status) and is not entirely keen on prancing about with a bunch of 5 year old whipper-snappers. We are talking potential broken-hip here. She knows not of my condition, which is for the best. Donuts afterwards and then back to the manor so I could finish mowing the Back Pastoral Expanse. The blanket of falling leaves make this an extended effort so I cannot go very long before I need to empty the bag. I discovered another issue with falling leaves beyond its ability to obscure the mountains of doggie-dip ... sticks. Sadly, one stick has managed to cause me an extraordinary bit of grief. One of the sticks popped up and got wedged between the belt that drives the front wheels and the central spindle that the blade is attached to. well, it snapped the belt off it's track and right into the path of the blades. So, now I need to purchase a replacement belt so that the front-wheel drive will work. It may be the last time I mow down the jungle this year .. but it would be best if I take care of this ASAP.

Other Sunday Accomplishments: Laundry, Made a pot of beef stew, Discarded dead plants, put polyurethane on the molding and some boards, fixed some letters on the CrossBeam of the TwinTower AA Platform. Then I rested. Of course, Alexis had drawn a thank-you picture for Gus&Irene that she had to present. That was a multi-hour activity, don't you know. So, there are multiple things that were not addressed on my list. This next weekend we are going to the Sesame Place Trick-or-Treat activity so we may not have time to do it then either. And I'm on pager detail this week. That, is a long and sordid tail for another post.

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