More random

1. Our van succumbed to a faulty ignition coil...again (there are 6 on this vehicle. This was #3 to replace). For the first time it broke down in the state of Wisconsin, so we were able to send it to our favorite mechanic. He fixed it all up nice and purty and it's back in our hands.
(I'll skip over the part where ShankRabbit had to walk 2.5 miles to the nearest car rental place in dress shoes. Yeah...that's more his story to tell)

2. My brother-in-law and his wife are on a lovely vacation in Mexico right now. Aside from being super jealous, we get to watch their two bundles of snuggly doggy love while they are gone.
2b. I still can't believe dogs crap this much
2c. I do not care for 5:30am wake up calls
2d. No soft paper product is safe in this house
2e. But they are soft and cuddly...so it's ok

3. My kid has phased through several favorite movies. We were on a constant "Tinkerbell" kick for a while. Now we've moved on to "Toy Story." Every time I watch it I think back to the days when my cousin (who is a day away from coming home) was obsessed with it. His mom and I even made a birthday cake with Buzz Lightyear on it...complete with army men accents.

4. I'm hoping to report back soon on the status of our garden. We've spent the last several weeks trying to make seeds grow in our house for transplanting, but they are in a sorry state. I'm hoping we have more luck with seeds planted outside...which will happen by the weekend I'm guessing.

How nature made me cry

The minivan story will be up soon...I have to wait for someone *cough, cough* ShankRabbit *cough* to finish writing. In the meantime, here is my story about nature:

It was a typical Wednesday. I had just dropped off ShankRabbit at work, and Peanut and I were heading back home. A few miles away from the house I remembered that I wanted to stop by the bank. I decided to take Highway 100 all the way there (for those non-Milwaukeeans, Hwy 100 is a six lane road. Fairly busy any time of the day). Oddly, not a lot of traffic on the road, "Cool!" I thought. As we were coming up over a bridge, I notice a few cars had stopped or slowed down. I then spied a mother duck and her (8-10?) ducklings crossing the road. They were already in the far right lane (and I was in the middle) so I was able to pass them with no incident. But, my heart got the better of me and I pulled into the right lane, just ahead of them, and turned on my blinkers. A guy in a pick-up truck did the same thing, only he stayed behind the group. So, between our two vehicles, the ducks would be safe.



There was only one other problem - about 5 of the ducklings were unable to make the jump from the road up to the sidewalk. I got out and tried to offer them a makeshift ramp (a book I found in the car), but they were too scared of me. So, I sat in my car and waited. It took about 5 minutes, but they found a crack in the curb they could leap through, rejoining their mother and the other ducklings. SUCCESS! Now, they were all safely on the sidewalk, but next to a (typically) really busy road, about to head over a large bridge. Oy.

Knowing that this mama duck was looking for a nearby water source (and not knowing how close that would be, or how many other streets she'd have to cross) I called the Wisconsin Humane Society's wildlife rescue department and explained the situation. They agreed to look into it.

Now, you're probably thinking, "how did this make you cry?"

Well, just as I was about to leave the spot where I stopped (thank goodness traffic was fairly non-existent), I noticed something in the middle of the road - a duckling that wasn't quite fast enough for traffic, lying in the middle of the street. Mutilated by the continual passing of cars.

Something about seeing that dead duckling, after helping the others, just made my heart sink.


Thanks nature, for making me cry.

Eau de Doggie

For the next week, we have a full house.  Meet our 2 furry house guests, Dante and Capri:

          

(Dante kept trying to kiss me while taking his photo, hence the blurriness)

I love animals, especially dogs.  But the first 24 hours of herding dogs and a one year old make me thankful that this is temporary.  Too many small beings dancing around my legs...I'm just waiting to fall over.

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Herb update:  Sprout city!

Basil

Chives

Cilantro / Coriander

Oregano

I'm sad to say I don't think the oregano will do well.  Maybe the seeds are slow to germinate (though that's hard to imagine...the seeds were the size of dust particles)?  I'm just happy our basil and cilantro look promising.  These are the ones I'm most excited about.

Just a photo

I was in the middle of writing a post and couldn't find one of the photos I needed to include (I have a feeling someone emptied out the camera's memory card on his computer but didn't put it on our server. Hmm...). So, you are getting this cop-out post instead - Peanut falling asleep with Bernie (our friend's Italian Greyhound):



"Whatever you do Bernie, don't fart. kthx."

My swingset story

I was a young'un - maybe 9 or 10. My brother (we'll call him "T") and I were playing in the backyard of my Aunt M's and Uncle J's house. They lived in a quiet little suburban neighborhood on a cul-de-sac. Compared to the north side of Chicago (where we lived), this area was beautiful and clean.

Aside from the odd apple-producing tree in the backyard, there was a metal swing set that, I believe, came with the house. It was basic - two swings (interchangeable with a pull-up bar), monkey bars, and a slide. That was how you rolled back in the day - no tree houses, ramps or rock-climbing walls like they have now.

One afternoon, T and I were running around when we heard a loud, deep dog bark. We knew immediately who's dog this was - the corner neighbor owned a Rottweiler that would bark and snap at us when we passed on our bikes heading to the park. But something wasn't right about this bark. It was too close.

That's when we saw the dog on the street. We panicked. We knew the dog was on its way to get us. T was closest to the house, so he immediately ran indoors. I was on the other side of the yard...and knew there was no way I'd make it inside before the dog entered the backyard. So, I hastily made my way to the top of the slide...hoping he didn't know how to climb up.

I remember a lot of screaming and crying atop the slide, with the dog barking and snarling at the base (he made it pretty far up the slide just by standing on his hind legs). I remember seeing my brother, horror-stricken and helpless, watching me from the door.

I don't remember what made the dog go away - was it the owner's call? Who knows. But I will always be grateful for that metal swing set.

I am sharing this story with you for two reasons:
1. I plan on sharing little bits and pieces about my memories of this house and my aunt and uncle (and their kids). This is a good place to start - get the bad memory out of the way.

2. There is a big spring contest over at Dad Blogs. You write a blog post and reference their giveaway and you can possibly win this:



A fully-loaded wooden swingset from Kid's Creations. Valued at $5,000!
And if that wasn't enough, they are throwing in a Canon PowerShot SD 1100.

Though this swingset won't protect Peanut from big, scary dogs (that wall would certainly do her in), it would still be a blast for us her to play on.

So, If you happen to check this giveaway out, please mention my name.

Because I can

Random photo time!

ShankRabbit and I have naturally (very) curly hair...so it is expected that our daughter will have the same. When dry, Peanut's fine baby hair is stick straight...but when it's wet, curl city! Look, I have proof:



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Imagine our shock last spring when we saw flowers sprout up next to our house that we didn't have to plant. Gotta love those...uh...plants that come up every year (perennials? annuals? I never know which one). Our resident bunny does the garden upkeep (he lives under our deck...I've grown to like him. As long as he doesn't bring any floozy bunnies home and start babymakin', he is welcome to stay). We should probably check his credentials, though. He never takes care of the weeds, just the flowers. Hmm...



We really do have flowers this year. I'm sure it will be short lived if Mr. Bunny has anything to do with it.

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Dance Party Time!
(Have no idea what I'm referring to?...read the bottom of this post)

Artist/Band: Gin Blossoms
Song Title: Hey Jealousy
Kid-friendly?: Yes (thematically, not really)

Random Thursday #1

Since I started doing Fatherhood Fridays last week, I decided it was best to save my random post for a different day and focus my Friday post on one idea (lest the new readers get all sorts of confused).

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Peanut learned how to pivot-crawl in a circle. This lead to a hilarious scene the other night of her circling a toy. If only I had thought to capture it on video.

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Peanut's "Silent Night" book is losing its battery power. She was playing with it yesterday and it sounded like a distorted horror movie tune - complete with creepy flickering lights. Who knew "Silent Night" could be so fear-inducing? I was freaked out. So, it shall remain turned off until we buy a replacement battery. I'm not looking forward to the day when her stand-up monkey toy starts to do the same thing.

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We are raising a howler monkey. She loves to screech, as loud as she can, whenever ShankRabbit and I are hugging...or when we are playing tag around the house she uses this ear-piercing holler as a defense mechanism.

Upon researching 'teh intarwebz' for a picture of this crazy monkey (the real one, not Peanut), I realized our nickname of "howler monkey" is more appropriate than we thought:

...the din can be heard up to three miles (five kilometers) away. ...The noise sends a clear message to other monkeys: This territory is already occupied by a troop.

Wouldn't it be great if I could share video of this with you? Oh, you don't want your ears to bleed? I understand.