Mom is Almost Moved!

This last week and a half has been horrendous. I finally got moms house that she had rented painted. It took A LOT of paint! I had one room that was dark red with black trim and a midnight blue cieling, one room that was pea green with brown trim and a dark purple (eggplant) wall, a bathroom that was midnight blue with black trim, and a living room that was brown with pea green trim and a burnt orange wall. WOW! It took took two coats of Kills2 Primer paint and two coats of regular latex (dove white) to cover all of that garbage. I also had to fix electrical outlets and a few light fixtures.

Jeremy was so funny. He loves to paint! He was one happy camper when I set him up with a roller and a paint brush and let him loose on the closets. I’m not sure whether he got more paint on the walls or on him.

After spending last Monday through Thursday painting and getting the house ready we started the move from San Andreas, CA. to her new home here in Reno. This was a calamity of failures. While I was driving over the pass between here and there towing an empty trailer my radiator on my truck sprung a leak! I had to turn around and baby it back here. So Saturday was a wash. Sunday we borrowed another truck and went after Church. We met a panel truck at her place in San Andreas to load. The Driver of the moving truck was no help as he has bad emphysema, so it was just me and Jeremy. My nine year old son is one heck of a mover. He jumped right in and moved boxes and packed them away with me. If he came to one that was too big he just told me so I could get it. He also learned how to pack a truck using every available inch. I got him to point out where he thought a box should go and we used that spot. If I saw a better one we would put it in his spot and then I would just ask if he thought it might work better in the spot I saw. We worked great together and he learned a lot. I am very proud of him.

He is in that in between stage of big boy and Boy. He’s going through a little clumsy stage and I think it’s funny. Seeing him grow and learn is the best experience in the world.

We got home at 2:30AM Monday morning and I barely was able to get up for work at 5:30AM. After the twelve hour work day I got to go unload the truck! Again Jeremy was there to help. I have tomorrow off and will be leaving EARLY in the morning to get the rest of her stuff, but I won’t have my moving partner with me and I will miss him.

Wish me luck with the rest of this move. My butt is seriously dragging.

DaddyPlace Goes Miniature Golfing

I got up early, 1:00PM, to take the family for a fun time miniature golfing with one of my fellow Daddyplace members. Early? You might ask. Well, yes, early because I am on my night rotation of shift work, so I am working from 6:30PM till 6:30AM.

We all had fun especially paying by Mackenzie (4yo) rules. She showed us all how to play and have fun. Theres the herding method, that’s when you take your putter and kind of push/herd the ball to the hole; the snatch and drop method, done when the ball just won’t cooperate snatch it up and drop it nest to the hole; last there is the toe tap, for when the first put doesn’t quite make it to the green.

The age difference between Jeremy and Mackenzie didn’t phase either one of the kids. They were there to have fun and that is what they did. It was kinda cute how Mackenzie thought Jeremy was the greatest thing since the invention of the all day sucker. They met for the first time today and she ran right up to him and hugged him. He was doomed from that moment on.

Back In The Saddle

I like to write. The problem is I have not been and am out of practice. As you can tell if you look at the rest of this blog, it has been far too long sinxe I have posted. Will I do better? I sure hope so. I find this an outlet that is needed and lord knows there are not enough blogs out there for people to peruse and I would hate to deprive any from reading my fine words of wisdom and whit.

Most of my posts will be fairly boring tidbits from my life. Woohoo! I can feel your excitement bleeding through the ether. I tend to be a tad sarcastic so hold on to your socks.I have no special cause or odd happenings in my life to write, other than being a dad. If you do not consider that odd enough then you need to reassess what a dad is. A dad is someone to lean, climb, hang from, and climb on. He is a hero, a confidant, and best sidekick in the world. He sees things that no other can see and does things no other can. You can laugh at him and he laughs right back. This all can be interesting if it can be written about in a way that makes sense or at the very least is fun or funny to read. Wish me luck.

Looking back at this post I see one thing wrong with it. It is a tad bit self centered. News flash here. Blogs are the epitome of self contentedness. They cam also be fun for those that read them and for those that write them.

I hope I can keep this up and would be thrilled if anyone read it and commented on it.

Climbing Walls and Knocking them Down

Children are different in many ways. This is true in all aspects. Physical, mental, emotional, and developmental are but a few. All have different hopes and fears that can guide or confuse what they want.

We as parents have a duty to help them figure out what path through life is best for them. I don’t believe we should dictate the path. I see it more as advising and guiding them toward the best path for the individual child, letting them make their mistakes so that they can learn from them.
For some children heights are not an issue. For others it is a really big deal. I was able to be there when my son made a huge accomplishment this summer. He, like his grandfather, and yes me his dad, is afraid of heights.

While we were at Cub Scout adventure camp this summer the boys were given the opportunity to climb a twenty foot vertical wall. I’ll have you know that twenty feet, especially when it is straight up is a huge distance. Jeremy (seven years old) and I sat in line watching all the boys from his den climb this wall. Each boy, including Jeremy, had a climbing harness and helmet on. One at a time the boys would stand, hook up to the belaying line, and call out, “on belay!” The belayer would answer back, “belay on!” Then the climber would get his first hand hold and call out, “climbing!” “Climb on!” the belayer would answer. Up the boy would go quick as a cat up a tree and honk the horn mounted at the top. During all of this as we kept getting closer I could feel the tension raising in my boy. Just before he got up for his turn I squeezed his shoulder and told him that all I ever want to see is his best, that I didn’t care if he made it up all the way I just wanted him to try and to do his best at it.

I can still see and feel his tension as I write this. I wanted so much for him to succeed and banish that hight demon. He hooked up and called out his commands, got his answers and started to climb. Slowly he climbed five feet and froze he couldn’t go on. Finally he had to call out, “descend!” answered by a, “descending” and down he came. He was devastated. I have to give all the boys credit that were there. They all cheered and told him he did great and that it was cool. He would make it. He came to me and I hugged him telling him how proud I was that he did his best and that it was great he made it as high as he did. He squared his shoulders and got a determined look and asked if he could try again. Sure he could if he wanted to. He got back in line. He tried three more times, each time getting just a bit higher on that wall. Each time getting more support from his friends, every man and boy there willing him to move up to the next foot hold and the next hand hold. All activities would stop and everyone would concentrate, helping him, and cheering him on. The fourth retry he moved ever so slowly up that dang wall till he made it to the top and honked that horn! Everyone went nuts cheering him almost to the point where the belayer couldn’t hear him call out, “descending!”

It was one of the proudest moments of my life standing back watching him do this by himself and seeing him succeed. I never told him he had to make it up. There was never any pressure from me for him to make it all the way. I just made it known that I wanted him to do his best, whatever that may be. I believe that this is what made the accomplishment so great. It was all him doing his best.

Father’s Day Camp Out

We had a lot, and I do mean al lot of fun. Though I am drag assed tired now. On Friday we got to the camp ground late in the afternoon and set up camp and got dinner ready just as it was getting dark. The new tent went up slick as heck. The next morning we went fishing with all the boys from the pack that showed up. It was the first time for Jeremy. We fished till lunch time. After lunch we hiked two miles to a cool water fall and then back. All up hill I swear! Saturday night we had a pot luck dinner that was great. It’s amazing the stuff that people can come up with while camping.

This morning we got up and broke camp, packed up, then went to breakfast at the local diner near the camp. All the boys gave the dads there gifts and we all had a great send off breakfast. We got home earlier this after noon and this is the first chance I have had to get in here and share.

Jeremy Fishing

Me and Jeremy Fishing

Me and Jeremy by the falls we hiked up to

Jeremy on the hike

Jeremy in his section of tent