Turn about

As you know Tina will not save me from an attacking frog.  Well she learned something very important about me the other day.

I was sitting in the living room a couple of evenings ago playing Words With Friends on my iPhone.  This is one of my favorite aps and games and it keeps me occupied in a positive manner.

While sitting there minding my own business trying to think of a four letter word that ends in either C or J Tina screams from our master bathroom.  It's a blood curdling scream that conveys pure terror.  So naturally I think it is either a zombie, Jason Vorhees, or a frog.  I pause the baseball game that is supplying background noise for my scrabble like game and then charge to the bathroom at a light jog.  Tina and Amanda are on on side of the bathroom which measures twenty feet across and are pointing towards the other side.  I don't see the walking dead or a hockey masked murderer so I look down and see...

Yes, that blur is the worlds smallest lizard.   I had my iPhone with me so I was able to capture the creature with my camera.

I then put it in some tissue and took it outside and released it to the wild.  Tina and Amanda were safe and I was able to return to my games.

Now, I'm not saying I'm better than my wife, because I'm not.  I'm just saying that when it comes to small little creatures you're better off with me than with her.

No need to panic

I answered my phone yesterday afternoon from a number I did not recognize.  I love caller ID, but have you ever had an anxiety rush from not recognizing the number?  That doesn't happen to me, but I'm just wondering about you..

Anyway, I answer the phone and of course say "Hello."

The person on the other phone identifies herself as Agent Britney.

So now I'm trying to remember what I could have done that would require an agent to contact me.  Nothing comes to mind  for the last few years but then again I am over forty and starting to loose years of my life, especially the ones where New Orleans was part of my sales territory.  I don't panic but start to form an alibi just in case.

Then Agent Britney tells me she is from the Geek Squad and my Blu-Ray player has been diagnoised as dead.  I'm cool with that because now I get to go pick up a new one from Best Buy.  So, I get my trusty sidekick, AKA Amanda, and off we go.

When I bought this player last year it cost $249.  I am allowed to pick out any player that costs less than that.  Funny thing about it is Blu-ray players have gone down on price so much that I get one better than the one I'm replacing.  I telling Amanda that very piece of economic windfall and we have to high five in Best Buy.  She likes it when Daddy has things go his way.

The only bad thing about this is, I think Netflix had to get rid of the last five movies I watched because I reported them as damaged.

School and the end of summer vacation

School has started and Amanda is loving it almost as much as Tina and I.  Her homeroom class is small this year and we hope it can stay that way.  During the day Amanda attends a lot of other classes and activities.  Her favorite is art followed by adaptive PE and dance.

She also has therapy sessions throughout the week and is helping in the front office, so she is constantly on the move.  A major benefit to all of this mobility at school is how relaxed she is in the evening.  She just likes sit and visit or play a game of Uno instead of committing 100% to dominating her known universe.  It makes for a nice evening.  Then by 8:00 is actually demanding to go to bed.  She is asleep by 8:30 and then Tina and I have an opportunity to watch a movie, read or whatever.  I just love school.

New Ride

GeoTagged, [N33.42982, E94.11875]

I have lived in Texas for 34 years, which is most of my life. But you have to understand I'm not the typical east Texas male citizen. I don't hunt anything larger than a noisy cricket that keeps me awake, I don't worship UT football, I don't consider macaroni and cheese a vegetable and until very recently I have never owned a pickup.

This last point is important. Three weeks ago I traded off my beloved Malibu LTZ which was sneaky fast and fun, for a 2010 Crew cab Dodge Ram pickup. Why did I do this when I haven't even worn my boots in ten years? Well it is simple really. If I am ever to take my family with me beyond the borders of Texarkana I need to be able to take our necessities with us.

We aren't just a special needs family, we're a special needs a lot family.

Amanda's wheelchair and my golf clubs require more than even a Tahoe can accommodate. So I joined the Dodge revolution

This monster has nearly 400 horsepower, independent front suspension, rollout bed cover with locking tailgate and more interior room than my parent's old Buick Estate wagon.

So we've made our first road trip in it last week and it was the perfect vehicle. For the first time in ages we had everything we needed including space. When you are as together as much as we are personal space is very important. The front seats are even divided by a console with shifter.

So I'll have this vehicle for a while as we have discovered how much Amanda likes to travel.

I must admit, she's pretty dang smart

We went to the bench rather late this evening and were promptly met by mosquitoes.  I told Amanda we should go back in the house but she had a better idea.  "Back porch.  Use the fan and no bugs."  The kid is a genius.

While on the back porch I decided to follow one of the wild rabbits around the yard.  I was within four feet of him for ten minutes as I followed him all over the yard.  I only stopped because Amanda was calling me back to the patio.  That was a lot of fun.

Disney like

In the backyard tonight we had two young rabbits and a squirrel. We've had rabbits for years because my house is completely encircled by concrete roads and the backyard is fenced. It keeps the predators at bay.

It is quite peaceful.

Keeping it fresh

What I think is so great about being in a life long committed relationship, aka marriage, is that you never stop learning new things about your spouse.  Just last week I learned something new.

Years ago we moved into a new house.  Tina and I were setting things up in the kitchen when I heard a noise come from one of the bedrooms.  Being curious as to what it was I went back to check it out.  It was nothing more than a sound that came from the neighbor's air conditionor, but when I turned around there was Tina standing right behind me with a claw hammer.  I said, "What are you doing?"

My sweet young wife told me she was there to protect me.  I have to tell you, that made me feel really good and for the last seventeen years I have always felt like Tina was on my side. 

Now fast forward to last week.  Tina, Amanda and I are splashing around in the pool on a hot summer's day when I feel something hit my ear.  I reach up and start feeling around my head and ask Tina if she saw something.  She said she has seen a dragonfly buzzing around.  I turn my head and she screams and runs, splashes, swims and eventually leaps out of the pool.  I reach up to my ear and grab a small frog.  My response is a little different than Tina's.  I show the frog to Amanda and then toss it into the bushes.

Meanwhile, Tina is panting and pointing and telling me to check the rest of the pool for more frogs.

So what I discovered is this: if I am attacked by a frog I had better be able to defend myself because Tina will just let it eat me.