White Lightning Axiom: Redux

So, Jake wanders into the bedroom where I'm still trying to shake off another restless night of sleep. He comes over to my side of the bed and whispers: "Daddy, I want to play some more chess, please." Ghaaa. My attempt at exposing him to higher strategy has backfired in the most awful way. Monday night, I got out the marble chess set that Big Little Brother had given me as a Christmas Present nearly 20 years ago. I set up the pieces and explained to Jovial Jake what each piece does. He gravitated towards the Knights but he mimicked my standard pawn opening moves. Here is the rough part; I gave him no quarter. After the 3rd loss, he was quite upset that I kept taking all his pieces. He was a bit watery eyed, but I explained to him that if he kept playing, he would get better and better and some day, he would take all my pieces. I want to make sure that he is a gracious winner as well as a good loser. Having nobility in success and failure is something that is not really taught these days. You see, everyone gets to be a 'winner' so nobody gets their feelings hurt. So, I hurt his feelings but explained to him that it can be ok to loose as long as you try your hardest. In successive games, I showed him how he could put me into check so as to force me to give up pieces ... he was quite giddy to have a modicum of power over his father even if it did not involve fists. After a bit, I let him know it was time for bed ... which lead to the morning confrontation. On top of that, I gave him that book; Dangerous Book for Boys ... he was THRILLED. So much so that he insisted that I teach him to read 'RIGHT NOW!'. Heh, let's try the little words first buddy.

We had quite a rain storm yesterday afternoon. If the rain came down any harder, it would have left dents in the roadways from the kinetic energy dissipation. Spot flooding was inevitable, Noah was dusting off his tools. Indeed, this only happened because I left my car windows open a crack so the interior would not be molten. Somehow, the rain radically changed direction to a horizontal vector as it neared my POS Saturn and the drivers seat was completely saturated within minutes. Nothing like driving with a 'moist' seat. When I did manage to pound through traffic and get to the Day Care/ReEducation Camp, I found a woman and her two small children woefully gazing out the front door ... probably watching to see when her car would float away. She was wearing Hospital Scrubs and I knew that the only material more transparent when wet would be one of those Hollywood sheer gowns that the 'Beautiful People' like to flaunt their bodies about in. Not something you want your children to observe though. So, the gracious being that I am, I offered to escort her and her children to their car. It worked out well except she got a bit wet on the back of her blouse. The kids were dry ... mostly. I had to grab her daughter's hand and lift her over Lake Superior when we got to the parked car. There was about 2 inches of standing water in the lot at the time. My boots are still wet. Smelly too. No matter, I did my best to reverse the karmic slide I've been on lately. Maybe I'll get to sleep in this weekend ... fat chance.

Finally, I found this somewhere ... but lost the source. The wise words of Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

Technorati Tags:Rain | Chess | Swimming | Children | Family

Labels: Chess, Children, NorEaster, Traffic, Weather

Yes, I managed to log on again. I've been so awful of late ... too many distractions. Especially the Haupertonian Agricultural Sector. I tilled and prepped the soil for another year of projected bumper crops only to be snowed out. Snow! Of all things I would expect the lack of energy or time to waylay me in my pursuit of veggie perfection. But not this. Alas, plans of men and mice. One brilliant point of light in all this bone-chilling cold and gloom is that I did manage to get my lawn mowed before the nor-easter cane down to lay us low. Sooo, that means I had to buy a new lawn mower. It has a KEY START! WOOT! Not more yanking my arm out of it's socket to get that warped old mower going again. Nope, it's 'Out with the old, in with the new' time here in the Domain Haupertonian. Of course, I had to buy some efficacious potted tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage while I was picking up the 'Lawn Machine of Reaping'. They are currently residing in the garage. The garage that only saw a car parked in it once. That was to discover that even the super saturn pos would not fit unless I sawed off the side mirrors. Along with the greenery, I also picked up a few bags of fertilizer, crab grass control and grub insecticide. And it lays there in 50 lb bags because of the rain. Cant put it down till the nonsense weather clears up. Oh, and I started a new fast-track project on Monday so my minute bit of time I have left in my life is whittled down to an atomic iota now.

Oh, and gasoline is at $2.78USD here. I need to get a more efficient car.

Technorati Tags:Gas | Gardening | Spring

Labels: Banalities, NorEaster