Freestyle Friday- Installment III

http://stevedaycare.blogspot.com/2008/05/there-lived-young-man-in-small-village.html


http://stevedaycare.blogspot.com/2008/05/short-nap-day.html

As he came too, several things became immediately apparent. The high wattage fluorescent lights appearing overhead as his stinging eyes pealed open left no question he was no longer walking the street. The small group of concerned looking people standing over made clear that he must have passed out, most likely from heat exhaustion. He wore on him three jackets, so he wouldn't have to carry them in a garment bag adding to his already long and heavy aventure. He was completely doused in sweat.
He sat up quickly and felt a jarring pain shoot from his right temple to matching shoulder. "I must have been running when I fell." He wasn't sure if this was said aloud but judging from several nods in the room it was quite likely.
"I don't have much time. I have to find my horse before the races begin!" He was surely speaking aloud now.
"OK. Calm down, we'll find your horse. Everything will be OK, but you really must rest your head. You fell very hard, sir." The man speaking was a rather rotund man with a large red nose that shone like a glass christmas ball. His gaze was piercing and determined like that of all race horse owners.
"My head is of no concern to me right now. Please, just let me get to the stables."
"Sir, the stables are directly behind our trailer. What is your horse's name? We will have someone go check on him for you."
"It doesn't have a name! It's not even a horse yet!!"
The man took a step back and turned his head to the man standing in the doorway.
"Helmut, call the hospital and have them send an ambulance right away. It seems our friend has a nasty concussio-."
"Don't you dare touch that phone, Helmut! I'm just fine! OK...see, I'm lowering my voice right now. See. Calm."
He was tired of attempting to reason with this man. Time was wasting. As he looked around the room he could see obvious American Midwestern decor suggesting these people either came from, or possessed relatives from far away; possibly Ohio. Possibly western expansion beer emmigrants manning the breweries which paved the road to the wild west where much harder things were known to dwell.
"OK. Maybe you could help find a horse for me."
"I will see what I can do."
"Her name is Helen September."
The man suddenly wore an expression of utter bemusement.
"Ahaha..oh, hoho. Oh-"
"Why is that name so funny to you."
"We won't have to go very far to find her. Just stand up and look through that window back there."
Slowly, he rose from the couch and split the blinds with his thumb and forefinger. In front of him was a magnificent sorel mare saddled up and ready to race.
"That is her?" He turned his head to face the pudgy man beside him in soicitous disbelief.
"Yes, boy. She's my horse."

Stay of Execution

Only seconds away from turning my laptop PC into Amelia's newest bath toy and buying a Mac, the Governer called and ordered a brief stay of execution. The governer in this story is my friend, Shane, who seems to think that, for one, computers are like little animals that must sometimes be coaxed into good behavior, and two, that Mac computers will remain a bit overpriced until all PC harware can be integrated (sorry Ryan and Jen). My point is, if it can get me from point A to point E without frying its motherboard, it may be worth the extra dough. However, being a loyal citizen of Cyberg I figured I would at least give my laptop a shot at repair before giving it a shot of windex.

After several failed attempts to reload windows from the partition (evidently you need a functioning windows operating system to run the recovery program, which, obviously I did not have. Bill Gates, you so crazy!!) I decided to turn it over to a professional. Shane was able to get windows loaded back onto the machine from a source disk temporarily breathing life back into my hard drive. Even though various drivers seem to keep disappearing on me (definitely a hardware issue), I am able to connect to the internet with a network cable...somewhat taking the point out of owning a laptop, but cest la vie. At least now I can give my shout out to my peeps during laptime as you have grown accustomed to. This one goes out to my boy, Shane dogg. Thanks for your help. Peace in the middle east. 4 real.

Kaput

My laptop has died and cannot be resurrected. It feels a bit like being trapped in a remote mountain cabin after a blizzard, except that I live in the middle of a city and it is really hot outside.

Franco Harris Washes My Socks

Most of the time, I will try to keep you filled in on the subject matter of my photography so that you may feel as though you share in our experiences here. That is not what today's entry is about. Although the photos being posting are incredibly cute, instead I will share something amazing which occurred the moment right before taking them:

After changing Amelia's diaper, I carried her around the corner to find Elijah and Zach laughing with one another. The reason for their laughter was because of Zach who had emptied the toys from one of our canvas bins and was sitting inside pretending to be a ship captain. When I asked Elijah if he had climbed in there himself, he replied that he had. I must get a picture of this, I remarked as I set Amelia down to get the camera off of the entertainment center next to me. I grabbed the camera and pulled it toward me not realizing that the strap had been wrapped around a vase Nadine and I had purchased from a Gainesville art show. My eyes were still on Zach as I heard the unmistakable ping of an artsy fartsy vase tipping over and tumbling off the edge of a shelf. With reflexes of a tiger who really likes coffee, I lunged for the deco-ware, threw my left hand underneath (I am right handed, by the way) and caught it about three inches from the floor. Looking over at Elijah who had seen the entire incident unfold, jaw agape in amazement, I quietly declared, "I am Batman."

Hello, my old friend.

What is that really bizarre sound? I can't quite put my finger on it. It sounds so strangely familiar but seems as though months have passed since I heard it last. Let me ask Elijah if he knows what is causing it...oh, that's right, Elijah is at the library with his friend, Evan. Hmm, perhaps Amelia and Zachary might be able to shed some light on the subject... no, that won't work either as they're both asleep for their naps at the same exact time today. Maybe you can help me figure this out as I'm sure you've heard it before. It's a very distinctive sound and doesn't resemble any of the noises which come from books on cd, tvs, lego dot coms, bouncy zebras, music choices, leap pads, leap tables, leapsters, learning cubes, little people sets, screams, laughs, cries, jokes, jingles, jabs, or any other sounds which emanate from the surprisingly loud cavern appearing under little tots noses. How about you, Simon and Garfunkel, do you know what that sound is?

Fast Forward Friday

My memory card in my camera is full. It's time to dump my assorted pictures and videos onto my hard drive. While I do that, let me give you a brief run down of this week's events; tennis camp, baby lap time, blocks, baseball, brownies, the park, the pool, a short story written, several novels read, running along the river, met Jen a.k.a. Zach's mom for lunch, Craig's list items sold, art projects, band practice, backgammon, and Benjamin.

It went that quickly, too.

But what kind of day care provider would I be to leave out the most significant development of the week. This of course is the news of Zachary's first step. His first official tread on terra firma was this past weekend when he walked from his dad to his mum. I'm certainly glad both of them were able to witness such a milestone in the creation of being who, in time, will become much quicker and more agile than they could ever hope to be. Did I mention slippery? Yeah, they become really slippery, too.

A Fish Called...

After almost a month trial run to make sure our tank was non-lethal to aquatic creatures, I'm happy to say that all of the fish (even Goldie) are doing just fine. In celebration of the continued consciousness of our proverbial coal mine canaries, the family and I made another trip to our favorite fish vendor to acquire a couple additional components to our own slice of eco-system situated within our dining room.

Our second fish mission to the pet store ended without anybody losing their job, unlike our Father's day mishap, so no news is good news on that front. It was somewhat a challenge, though, finding fish big enough not to be terrorized by the barbs and not too big as to terrorize the barbs, but after a ceaseless search we finally found a fit everyone could live with. We drove home with two additions to the family; a spotted catfish and a plecostomous, known to most as the common suckerfish.

We soon arrived at home and Elijah rushed into the house, followed by a slightly less rushing mom, Amelia and myself.

"What are you going to name your fish?" Mom asked while lifting the small plastic bags out of the large paper bag and setting them into the tank to acclimate.
He replied, "I would like to name the catfish Whiskers and the sucker fish will be named Sucky." with the stoic reverence of one who speaks of their own beloved children.
"Those are fantastic names." I smiled and looked over at him. He was stooping down and peering into the tank with his face up to the glass making sure his new friends were comfortable. It struck me as such a beautiful thing that in his six year old innocence he saw no possible negative connotations with his new fish's name.

It is, after all, the most logical name for a sucker fish.