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We had a nice spring day last weekend, so we took the family to the local botanical gardens. They are not a scenic as they would be during the summer when more things are in bloom, but it was still good for the kids to get out and about.

Here are photos of the various paths, ranked from best to worst for walking with kids.

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Since graduation season is just around the corner, there may be commencement speakers who are starting to write their speeches. I expect that most of those speakers were chosen because of some skill or accomplishment, which indicates they have the capacity to plan ahead and write well.

But for those commencement speakers who like to fly by the seat of their pants and are looking for some last-minute help, here is a handy guide.

The go-to phrase for graduation speeches is something about how the wish is for the students to not just survive, but thrive.

Don’t use that phrase.

I’m sure it wasn’t so bad the first dozen times, but now everyone has tired of hearing it.

My suggestion: find a different word from thrive.

That will throw off the audience. Start with the “not just survive” bit, but change it. Here are some other words that rhyme with survive.

• strive
• drive
• chive
• jive
• dive
• five
• hive
• alive

These words might or might not make any sense for your graduating class. But at least the audience won’t tune out the rest of the speech like they would with “thrive”.

Any other suggestions?

There’s a company logo based on the Titanic. They won’t admit it, of course, but I found the connection.

First off, the Titanic:

Next, the Titanic as it is sinking (artist’s rendering):

Finally, the corporate logo:

Looks about right, doesn’t it?

The cereal companies have their brands pretty well established. Everybody knows the brand names, and the kids are familiar with how they taste. In order to save money on the kids’ cereals (which is in order to spend that money on my fancy granola (Berries and Dark Chocolate Love Crunch)), I’ll buy store brands when it makes sense.

The store brands are always cheaper, but it doesn’t always make sense to buy them. If the kids don’t eat them, then it was a waste of money to buy them.

Brand Names that are …

Copied Well

• Frosted Mini Wheats
• Honey Bunches of Oats
• Special K Red Berries

Copied Ok

• Frosted Flakes
• Cocoa Pebbles
• Instant Oatmeal

Copied Poorly

• Honey Nut Cheerios
• Life
• Lucky Charms

Your store brands may not align with this assessment, because I don’t know which stores you frequent. Mine are Kroger and Meijer.

I thought I was safe.

I got the Home Depot credit card so I would be left alone. When the cashiers would ask if I would be paying with a Home Depot credit card, I could answer “Yes” and then I wouldn’t be asked if I would like to get one.

I also have a good answer for when one of their specialists is standing in the main aisle and asks me about my furnace. I don’t have a furnace, so I don’t need it tuned/replaced/fixed/updated/serviced or anything. The house is heated via a combination of hot water and electric baseboard and burning corn. But that’s another topic.

Last week I was buying some routine items from Home Depot and the cashier asked me if I would be paying with a Home Depot credit card. “Yes,” I answered, secure in my immunity from further questioning.

“Would you like to add another authorized user?” she continued.

What is this? Are they never happy?!?!

“No thanks.”

Maybe the Pro Desk cashier doesn’t have to ask upselling-type questions. I’ll try that check-out and see. If they do, then I’ll have to stick to the self check-out lanes.

We met some acquaintances at a state park: Nelson Ledges.

It’s a fun place for kids and a stressful place for parents. If you read my review of Letchworth State Park last year, this may sounds familiar to you.

Nelson Ledges is a scenic place, although on our day there were a number of rambunctious and/or reckless teenagers (or they could have been in their lower 20s, but I don’t have a good term for them that fits like “crazy teenagers” does).

Now for the pictoral tour through Nelson Ledges:

This was the start – just a walk along a forest path.
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One of the joys of buying a home is finding all the things the previous owners did to it. I know I used my first house as a learning experience to know how to and how not to do certain repairs/improvements.

I am redoing one of the closets in our house. I pulled off the boards that held up the old shelf in the closet and found this:

Apparently there was not a studfinder handy when he installed that shelf. And just in case you think it was an isolated case, here is the other wall of the closet:

The board wasn’t that long, about 15″ maybe.

On the plus side, I now know where exactly the stud is and where it isn’t.

A little bit of spackling and paint, and no one will ever know. As long as they don’t read this post.