Some Blog Site

My wife posted a this on Facebook, so a couple of you might have already seen this. Since I’m not on Facebook I figured I would share it with the general internet audience.

Here is what the sky in front of our house looked like a week or two ago:

Thanks to our almost-neightbor Erin, we now know that such an occurrence is called a murmuration of starlings.

And since Gamma likes chasing birds, he was excited to see them.

Here is what our front lawn looks like when the birds land:

I stitched two photos together for that one. Click on it to enlarge it.

They don’t stay for long though, especially when we open the front door and Gamma runs out to get them.

Just a few random thoughts this morning, related to some aspects of parenthood.

• It’s fun to go out in the yard with the kids and play catch. But to get to that point, you have to play many games of throw.
• For many people, daylight saving time is a chance for an extra hour of sleep. But for parents of small children, DST is a chance for an extra hour of playtime in the morning. Those kids don’t care what the clock says. Whether that’s good or bad depends on your attitude.
• Once you’ve successfully completed the task of clipping an infant’s pinkie toenails, you can try something less stressful – like open-heart surgery.

Here’s some more schoolwork. They asked for a pattern, and Alpha found one.

That’s my boy!

Tip: If you’re putting together a classroom assignment, aim for directions that are more specific rather than vague. Ask the question that you really want answered. “Describe a numerical pattern that you see.” might have been better than “What patterns do you see in the chart?”

If I were me, I would have gone with “All the numbers end in 0”.

We’ve been having a nice fall here. There was a chilly spell of about a week or so, but it’s been on the warm side since then.

One of the nice days was the day of the half-marathon. It was right near Lake Michigan, so we stopped by the beach after the expo the afternoon before the race. The weather in general was nice, but the beach was a bit windy.

To get to the beach, you have to go over a sand dune. It’s a moderately-sized dune, but big enough to be impressive to young kids. This is the view after climbing from the parking lot to the top of the hill:

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This is one of the first papers that Alpha brought home from school this year. I’m guessing it was when the teacher was reviewing the rules for the classroom.

I’m glad they start with the basics, although I wonder what rules 1-23 are.

But we discussed this rule at home and we had to amend it, or modify it. Because there are more things on which to stand that aren’t chairs. Like tables, or siblings.

Now in our home, the rule is no standing on anything that’s not the floor.

I reserve the right to update that rule as needed. Because I’m sure they’ll find a way around it (such as “I’m not standing – I’m jumping!”).

Or, How to Clean Your Tub Without Scrubbing

Some of you may recall that we had an iron filter installed.

In case you’re wondering how bad our iron was, you can peruse this photo of our bathtub.

I tried CLR without much success. Soft Scrub seemed to do a little better. No matter what I used, I had to do a lot of scrubbing and it removed much of the staining but not all of it. You may be wondering what the best product is for cleaning rust stains, not only from bathtub but also from sinks and other porcelain fixtures. The answer?
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It’s time for another quiz. Follow the conversation below, then answer the question after. Yes, I realize the topic of the conversation is several months old; just pretend you’re back in March of 2011.

W: Kate Middleton and Prince William have been together for 8 years and they’re getting married in April.
H: How’d they meet?
W: Art class or something
H: Let me guess – she would love him even if he weren’t a prince?
W: Yep.
H: And would you love me even if I weren’t a prince?

Quiz:
What answer should the wife give?
A. Well you’re certainly no prince.
B. I love you no matter what.
C. You’ll always be my prince.
D. Would I what?

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