January 24, 2007

The weather here in Cooks Creek is mild for this time of year but it is chilly in our home. We had an accident. I came home from work yesterday and as luck would have it I ran over and killed my youngest daughter's kitten. My youngest daughter is a tough yung un. I know she was feelin bad (as anyone would) but she knows how I feel about animals and she kept it in. There were tears but she never let me see them. I went up to her room and gave her a hug and told her I was sorry and she said that is ok Dad. The wife ain’t so tough and had a hard time with it because she actually saw me run over the little guy and watched him die. My up bringin is animals are animals. They are not one of us. I have animals around for a purpose. The cats are there for mouse/rat control. I never have/will put a human spin to pets or animals but my wife is more of a pets are part of the family type of deal. Anyway we are down to 2 cats now. What’s done is done and we move on.

On a brighter note, I had a great Monday. My youngest daughter had to go into the city to see a sawbones about gettin her tonsils out. They are huge (tonsils) and have been causin her no end of grief for some time. I have a mess of vacation time I have to use up before the end of March so I took a vacation day and picked her up from school and took her to her doctor’s appointment. We made the appointment and when we came out my first instinct was to get her back to school so she wouldn’t miss much class time. As we were headin back to the truck I saw a Sals restaurant. It was lunchtime so I asked her if she would like to go out for lunch or have her bag lunch Mom had made her. She said she would really like to go out for lunch. So we did. Just me and her. We ate the most greasy unhealthy hamburger and french fries you could imagine but it was great. We talked and I had a big time (I think she did too). She is 12 years old and I don’t think we have ever done something like that before. It is a real fine memory and one I will never forget. Best 12 bucks I ever spent. Ya all are probably thinking, what’s the big deal; ya went out for lunch. The lunch was lunch; the memory is the time I spent with my youngest daughter. Just me and her talking and such. Life is getting away too busy around here. Got to get more and bigger and better and more and sooner. It is time to start goin out for lunch more around here.

Something that has my interest for awhile now is home schoolin. I have read some on the subject over the last two months. One of the negatives to home schoolin is, yung uns that are home schooled lack social skills. I have read this many times and the public school system seems to hang onto this belief and preach it every chance it gets. Let me tell ya about an experience I had on the same Monday my daughter and I went out for lunch. After I took my daughter back to school I went to pickup my beautiful wife (just in case she reads this deal) from her job. She works at the high school cafeteria. I think I have mentioned that before in a previous post. Anyway, back to my story. I got there about half-hour early so I went in the cafeteria and was settin and waitin. Now I experienced/witnessed the most interesting social behavior since I was knee high to a grasshopper and visited the monkeys at the zoo. I watched a yung lady with a handful of pennies throw them at yung fellas as they walked through the cafeteria. Not every yung fella was pelted with coins, only certain ones (not sure how she decided who received the attention). On more than 4 occasions a yung fella would come through and make a noise that was similar to noises gibbons make. One of his buddies would return the call with a similar noise but in a different pitch and tone. I have no idea what it meant but they seemed to be communicating with it. I watched 6 yung fellas standin on the tables and lift the suspended ceiling tiles in and out. Not sure why but they did it for the whole half-hour I was there. Another yung lady must of got a late start in the mornin because she came to school in her pajamas. I’m not yankin your chain. Saw it with my own eyes. Another yung lady must have got her little sisters clothes and hers mixed up because the shirt she was wearin only half covered her. The public school system is right. No home schooled yung un is goin to learn these social skills at home. I have not been in a school for 30+ years. I don’t remember it like that but then again much of my time when I was that age was spent on the business end of a pick and shovel. Still shakin my head.

Wife is at the church tonight. First nite of the dinner theater. Deal goes for three weeks, 4 nites a week. She is goin to be tired when the curtain goes down on this deal. Late nites and early mornins are goin to catch up on her in short order.

I’m goin to say good nite and go read for a bit. Talk to ya all real soon.