A Weekend Trip to the L.A. Zoo

After an early lunch Friday, we packed our family into the car for the long drive to Los Angeles, California, anticipating our long Memorial Day weekend getaway together as a family.

We stayed overnight with friends in Long Beach, and got up early Saturday morning to meet up with Uncle Butch and Aunt Frances for a trip to the L.A. Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

As the family photographer, I was really looking forward to the prospect of taking dozens of pictures of not-often-seen animal and plant species, and capturing a couple of memorable shots of our boys in these unusual surroundings.

This might have gone fairly well, except that I somehow missed the memo that it was mating day at the zoo.

Though there are many species of primates at the zoo, my pictures of the day are entirely devoid of monkeys, because (to keep this blog G-rated) there was an awful lot of monkey business going on in those particular habitats.

It was the same story in the tortoise exhibit, where there was much territorial pushing and shoving amongst the males, competing for the attention of the lone female.

And did you know that female camels find foaming at the mouth attractive on a male camel? Blech!

I will spare you the details of the flamingo courtship, except to say that it was perhaps the most awkward and ungainly thing ever to happen upon in polite company.

Except perhaps having your 11 year old son suddenly blurt out in an overly loud voice, "What are they doing?!!" his face all screwed up in morbid fascination.

Made even more awkward by the fact that Jericho knew full well what the flamingos were doing (we're pretty frank about such things in our home) and just wanted to embarrass his poor mom, who was the unfortunate soul who happened to witness the spectacle with him.

If you've not yet had discussions on the "birds and bees" with your young children, I don't recommend going to the zoo in the spring.

Because that is a sure-fire way to launch yourself full-tilt into having to answer all manner of curious questions about the facts of life...things you might not be prepared to discuss with your child right then and especially not in front of amused strangers crowded around you at the exhibit. *blushes*

Now normally, when in vacation-mode, I am able to concentrate and take great photos. But due in part to the mating going on in every other exhibit we visited, it turned out to be a day of disappointments for me photographically speaking.

During our lunch break on some benches outside of the Aviary, I was enthralled by local hummingbirds coming to sip nectar from the giant African bird-of-paradise plants.

Being my favorite bird and the giant specimen of plant a close cousin to one of my favorite flowers, I absolutely had to capture one frameworthy shot for use as a screensaver on my laptop.
However, for the better part of a half hour, I'd painstakingly get the camera set up just so, hold perfectly still for a period of time until another hummingbird would happen by, and just as I would go to depress the button on my camera, the slightest movement would cause the elusive little bird to zip out of the frame.

It was frustrating, to say the least.

What I ended up with is one that includes what appears to be an impaled hummingbird.



You may be able to find the hummingbird in this one if you look really closely. With a magnifying glass.



Then there was the little problem of the zoo animals simply not cooperating with me as I was trying to arrange my photographs properly.

Here, the kangaroo jumped out of the picture just as I pushed the button.



These antelope refused to either stand still and graze, run or leap as would be expected of them.



NoOOooo, instead they spent the entire time standing up on their hind legs and eating the ivy at the edges of their habitat.

And the prairie dog exhibit? B-o-o-o-o-ring.

The only little cuties I saw popping up out of the holes were my own kids.

And my sister-in-law, Frances.



The solitary inhabitant in that so-called exhibit wouldn't even turn around for me to take a picture of his face.

Neither did the rhino or the hippo.

(And in case you're wondering why in the world I would take a picture of such a thing...the backside on this rhinocerous was easily the width and heighth of a Volkswagon bug. Nature shows don't do these things justice. They are enormous animals.)

Or the giraffes or zebras, come to think of it.

And do you see the zebra on the left, shaking his head just to mess up my picture? Outright defiance, I tell you!

In fact, the only creatures that did show their faces were the ones that felt somehow threatened or agitated by our presence there.

Like this ginormous vulture, which came hobbling towards us as though trying to scare us away.

We merely laughed at his absurd movements, which I'm pretty sure took the wind out of his sails, as he hung his head in shame. A more homely bird I'd be hard-pressed to find.

After this zoo experience, I have developed a theory that the animals may actually be conspiring together against zoo visitors. Showing only their worst sides or sleeping during visiting hours, thinking that if they bore the visitors for long enough then they'll all go away, the zoo will close, and they'll eventually get released back into the wild.

Case in point? The big cats.

They either turned away or slept the entire time we were there!

How very rude of them!

While standing in front of the sleepy lion habitat, we were wondering aloud where the male lion was hiding, when suddenly from up behind us someone bellowed in a very deep, very loud masculine voice that echoed off the walls like a gunshot, "GET UP!"

The male lion, who had been sleeping peacefully behind a tuft of grass and some other vegetation shot up suddenly as if to roar, "Who dares to disrupt me from my slumber?!"



The deep, 15-foot gulf separating the lions from the spectators suddenly seemed rather paltry and insufficient to contain that creature in light of his aroused anger and powerful presence.

I actually felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and urged our little party towards the next exhibit as quickly as I could.

But I needn't have worried. He just yawned, flashing his menacing jaws and teeth, and then rolled over on his back and slept like a spoiled and overfed house cat.

While the majority of my animal photos were a bust, I did get some pretty good shots of some of the beautiful botanical specimens in the gardens, which helped to redeem the occasion somewhat, at least for me.

This delicate blossom was about six inches in diameter at the bottom, and was called Angel's Trumpet. It looked as though it were made of silk.

And at long last, a nice candid and loving shot of our boys.



Though we had a nice time visiting with Butch and Frances, I doubt we'll be going to a zoo again anytime soon.

There is something about going to the zoo that makes our oldest son go absolutely ape, resorting to very odd and unusual behaviors.

Like climbing into the rafters in the Lemur exhibit, and making sounds like a howler monkey.

(Which made it difficult to get a decent picture with Aunt Frances and Uncle Butch)

Then again, maybe that is normal for boys his age.

Parenting Challenges

Some days I find myself almost hoarse from repeatedly barking out instructions to my boys.

"Don't hit your brother!"

"Don't touch your brother!"

"Quit tormenting your brother!"

"Stop provoking your brother!"

And yes, I say "your brother" a lot.

That is because we made the mistake of naming both our sons names beginning with "J".

Coming from the long distinguished line of mothers that I came from, I first try to say their given names but usually end up stammering and stuttering and hopelessly tongue-tied, saying the wrong child's name first, "...J-J-Jer-Jud-YOU! I'm talking to you!"

Which, when big brother is at fault usually results in him smirking, snorting and coughing, trying to cover his amused laughter.

Which, when I try to compensate by putting on a fearsome look, results in a smirk of my own and his outright laughing in my face while I'm trying to be the big bad disciplinarian, all of which serves to make correcting his behavior very difficult.

So you can see it's imperitave that I just use the catch-all phrase, "Your brother" if I'm to be taken seriously at all.

When the bickering in the car gets bad, I might have to whip out the trusty old standby that is highly inconvenient to them, "Sit on your hands!", or it's close cousin, "Zip your lips!" That's pure torture to my boys.

But when it's really bad, I might resort to flipping down the rearview mirror so they can see my "big eyes" frowning at them, and yell firmly say something like, "Do I need to pull this car over?"
That's usually when they realize they'd best not cross the line.

And lest you think our 11 year old is the only one to blame at times like this, the "Do not touch your brother" kinds of comments are used interchangably and fairly equally between both boys, the 11 year old and our toddler.

Who at 2 1/2 knows far more than folks give him credit for.

Yep, he can dish it out with the best of 'em, taunting big brother and knowing exactly how to get his goat and push his buttons.



I know, he looks so sweet and innocent, doesn't he?

Don't let that fool you.

Well-intentioned comments like, "He's just a little tyke" or "He doesn't know any better"...those just don't fly with me.

He might be little, but he does know better.

I know this because I have (for about 6 months now) observed him numerous times purposefully doing things, understanding exactly what he was up to: instigating and provoking others like a champ.

The kid can hold his own, and I'm quite sure I'll never have to worry about him getting picked on at school.

In fact, it actually worries me a little, thinking that with his strong will and the way things are going now, that I might be the parent getting the calls saying that my kid was picking on other kids. And I'll know there is truth to their accusations.

Lord, help me is my earnest prayer whenever I even think about such things.

Getting back to my story, however, this morning was one of those "I have one nerve left and you're getting on it" kind of mornings.

We started off a bit rushed, because moments before we had to leave, big brother had a backpack emergency.

The bottom of this year's backpack suddenly split open beyond hope of repair.

No amount of duct tape could contain the 30 pounds of books and papers about to explode all over the living room.

I was shocked to discover that the old 'fix-all', the ultra-tacky duct tape we've used countless times to MacGyver our way out of all manner of household dilemmas seemed to have insufficient hold over the slippery silver-gray nylon-weave fabric the backpack was constructed from.

The same duct tape that Jericho suggested we use, and yea, apparently even preferred trying it (with intent of actually taking the patched up mess to school) over the three other new-looking backpacks we happened to have around the house.

Jericho immediately nixed the first two options, the first of which was a solid blue backpack with a virtually indestructable space-age fabric bottom. The same backpack that I used briefly in college and later as Jericho's diaper bag. That one was clearly out of the question on account of it being so "old and out of style".

Never mind that it was well-made, still looked brand new, and would take whatever beating his textbooks could dish out without busting at the seams.

The second backpack was one of the freebies daddy picked up at a teacher's conference a few weeks ago, and is bright red. Neon red, really. Which I should have known would never fly with Jericho.

That I would even deign to suggest it earned me an exasperated roll of the eyes, which meant, if my parental radar is correct, that I have absolutely no sense of style where backpacks are concerned.

Pardon me for not realizing there was a 'style' in backpacks. If they're all a solid color, they look pretty much the same to me. And if you ask me, any backpack beats the alternative...lugging all his gear around in an Albertson's reusable cloth grocery sack.

To my way of thinking, having a new-looking backpack was preferable to a patched up duct-taped cheapo quality backpack that couldn't even hang with him til the end of the school year.

I knew this wasn't as big a deal as he was making it out to be, and time was ticking away.

In an act of last-minute desperation, I finally dug daddy's all-black backpack out of storage.
It was a roomy solid black backpack roughly the same dimensions as Jericho's ruined one.

Jeff obtained this thing from a military surplus store for the express purpose of hiking and for lugging gear around on youth group outings. It has a couple of pockets on the side for water bottles and plenty of room inside to haul along anything one might need to have along.

Jericho tried one last tack. "Mah-ahm! People will make fun of me!"

"They will not! Nobody is going to be watching your backpack closely enough to even notice."

Brooking no argument, I forced firmly insisted that big brother transfer his stuff to his dad's backpack, while I dashed around trying to locate little brother's other sandal, get them on him and then usher the boys out the door so we wouldn't be late to school.

I was already sweating like a farm animal when we stepped outside to already hot temps at 8:45 am.

The day was destined to be a scorcher.

I opened a sunbaked car door to the lovely heat-absorbing black interior of our old Mercury Cougar.

And immediately felt a bad case of the crankies coming on.

I don't do heat well.

On a side note, matching issues aside, how and why did the automobile manufacturers ever come to the conclusion that black would be a good color for the interior of a car?

It does little to make the car warmer in the winter, shows every speck of lint and every crumb that falls to the floor...and absorbs the heat like a solar cooker in the summer.

Not to mention that if one is wearing a skirt or shorts and unwittingly touches leather-look black seats that have been sitting in the sun for hours with bare skin, there might conceivably be an immediate need for a skin graft.

These are big strikes against the color as suitable for a car interior, and all things considered, I once again strongly suspect that there were no mothers of small children on the panel making that decision.

If it doesn't have a light neutral and yet multi-colored, water-resistant upholstery that will disguise greasy handprints, withstand mustard and ketchup smears from cheeseburgers, muddy feet and the occasional sticky candy or cough drop, and on which will puddle spills from sodas, bottles and other liquids for easy cleanup...it simply has no business even being in a vehicle.

Days like this, when we're only two minutes into the drive the kids are already bickering and using forbidden phrases like, "Shub up, Jay-co!", and an under-the-breath, "Make me!"being hissed in reply...well, it was enough to get on my last nerve.

After invoking a gag order forbidding any talking, and then spending a little time in our usual way-to-school family prayer time, we managed to make it to school without further incident.

This in spite of big brother's continuing crisis over dad's totally uncool hiking backpack and little brother's just-woke-up meltdown over not getting to play with big brother's action figure which he could see from where he was sitting but nobody could reach for him.

At school, we exchanged our goodbyes and Jericho got out, still none-too-happy about the backpack, and sulked onto campus his head downcast.

Waiting in the exit lane, I sat there wondering if anything we've worked so hard to instill in these boys would ever stick.

Mr. Gene, the traffic director, was his usual enthusiastic self trying to speed things up with his, "Hurry up, let's go" motions.

Just as I reached the exit, I had to swerve a bit to avoid an incoming car that turned too wide into the parking lot, and suddenly from the backseat Judah yells out in a very firm and, ahem, familiar tone, "Don't hit that guy, mama!"

**Hallelujah Chorus sounds in background**

In one of those silver-lining, sunbeams-streaming-down-from-Heaven kind of moments, I realized with sudden clarity that he gets it! He really, really gets it!

And that little bit of Divine insight was just enough to encourage me to keep at what I have been doing as a parent, even when I don't see the results right away, because something is getting through!

Perhaps there is still time for him to learn all he needs to avoid the principals office after all, lol.

**edited (the morning after this story was originally written) **

Jericho decided this morning that my old college backpack wasn't so bad after all.

Apparently 'retro' is in.

All About MeMeMeMeMe's

Recently, I had a rare and blissful Saturday morning with absolutely nothing else on the agenda and daddy had the kids helping him outside, so I thought I'd get caught up on a few things in bloggyville.

I know some of you aren't wild about MEME's, so I'm going to forewarn you that I'm doing three at once.

Yes, because you don't already hear enough about FrumpMama and her family on a day-to-day basis here at Stuck in Frump, I thought you should all be forced to read through not one, not two, but three meme's all. about. me. Mwahahahaha!

For those of you that love meme's or are having a bit of trouble finding blog material due to spring fever...CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED. Grab one of these and run with it. ;)

Meme #1

One Word Meme, courtesy Rosie at Nobody Asked Me.

*disclaimer* You sharp-eyed bloggy peeps may notice that I far exceeded my one-word limit in some of my answers. For this I apologize. I'm at home with a toddler most days with 30,000 words a day to expend, and I'm afraid the excess wordage oozes out everywhere else--my blog, conversations I have with my friends that live nearby, and all the poor souls that make the mistake of calling me during the week (even the telemarketers, lol). It's pathetic, really.

But without further ado, adieu delay, here goes:

You're feeling: happy

To your left: shelves

On your mind: an extended family situation

Last meal included: salad

You sometimes find it hard to: cook

The weather: perfect

Something you have a collection of: rocks (isn't that just so interesting? Woo. Hoo. Exciting stuff going on in FrumpMama's life, huh? Well, it gets better. Jeff has, at various times throughout our dating years and married life actually given me Rocks as gifts. And I LIKED them. These aren't just any rocks, though. It's a specimen collection of many types of rocks from around the world...the kind that geologists sometimes have in their offices. Maybe one day I'll blog about that. Perhaps after we move and I FIND the heavy box with my best specimens in it...)

A smell that cheers you up: brownies baking

A smell that can ruin your mood: bus exhaust

How long since you last shaved: this morning

The current state of your hair: Long overdue for hairapy

The largest item on your desk/workspace (not computer): stack of paper trays

Your skill with chopsticks: I wouldn't starve, but eating rice is a bit tricky

Which section you head for first in a bookstore: inspirational fiction

Something you're craving: sleep

Your general thoughts on the presidential race: ignore it, it will go away? (kidding)

How many times have you been hospitalized this year: none

Favorite place to go for a quiet moment: bedroom

You've always secretly thought you'd be a good: carpenter

Something that freaks you out a little: clowns

Something you've eaten too much of lately: chocolate

You have never: bungee-jumped

You never want to: break a bone

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Meme # 2

Random Meme, courtesy Maria at Mommy of Four

Rules:

1. Post these rules at the beginning of the meme

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves

3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment to let them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. (I'm fudging on this one for the above mentioned reasons)

What I was doing 10 years ago: Getting ready to move across country

Five Snacks I enjoy: Dove chocolate with Almonds, Double Chocolate Almond Biscotti, Bruchetta (homemade), beef jerky, macadamia nuts

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Build well-run and self-sufficient (foodwise) orphanages, establish feeding programs and hospitals in needy areas around the world, establish college scholarships at my alma mater, pay off debts of those I know and care about

Five jobs that I have had: nanny, Christian radio show hospitality host, grocery store cashier, computer lab supervisor in a school, school picture photographer

Three of my bad habits: staying awake late into the night reading, scrapbooking or other crafts (and paying for it the next day); procrastinating; not getting enough exercise

Five places I have lived: in a house by a pond, in a rundown duplex, in a dorm, in an apartment next to the freeway, in a basement

Five people I would like to get to know better: all my bloggy peeps

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Meme #3

Linking Post, courtesy Cathy at Keeping it Real

Rules:

Go through your archives and link to five of your favorite posts in the following categories...

A link to a post about family: A Frump Family Weekend This one covers a little of everything.

A link to a post about friends: Good News

A link to a post about yourself: What Would I Like For Christmas?

A link to a post about something you love: Car Rx A post about car problems, which seems to be a recurring theme here on FrumpMama's blog.

What I love? The Lord, and His wonderful care of and provision for our family.

A link to a post about anything you want: The Family Dog Is Jacking This Blog The day our dog jacked my blog. Prior to my foray into blogging, she regularly snuck letters into the family Christmas cards. Where you see the picture of FrumpMama now with the curlers in my hair, she'd had this picture up:

She'd also changed the name of the blog to "Stuck in the Master's backyard, Striving to get Free".

She is quite possibly the world's most techno-savvy dog.

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OKAY, ENOUGH WITH THE MEME'S. I'm done for now.

Wordless Wednesday: A Door Washed Ashore

And Boy, Was Her Face RED!

Have you ever had something so embarrassing occur that you can hardly think about it without cringing in utter mortification and embarrassment? Or perhaps you just thought you did, but weren't really sure, and so were embarrassed nonetheless?

Well, I think I had one of those things happen on Sunday evening.

Naturally it would occur in Church in front of dozens of people I see twice weekly, instead of, say a mall, where I don't know the vast majority of the folks milling around there.

Against my better judgement, I walked in the front door of our church with my family, and was chatting with people on our way in as I made my way back to a row near the back of the sanctuary.

After getting the boys settled in the pew, I slipped away to the restroom to finally check my skirt. Something about it hadn't felt quite right since I'd gotten out of the truck and patted my skirt down.

I was wearing a white blouse with my new Mother's Day skirt, which is a breezy see-through white floral on black outer skirt, and an attached underslip to which I'd added another slip.

Before even getting to the full length mirror in the ladies room, I leaned over and tugged on my slips, and felt something give way in the back and slide into place, and suddenly everything felt 'right' again. I pirouetted before the mirror, and sure enough everything was as it should be, and so I headed for the door.

Suddenly, my eyes widened with the realization of what might have just happened, and I said aloud, "Oh, NO!" I could feel myself blushing.

Had I just sashayed through the sanctuary of our church with my slip (or, God forbid, both slips) somehow hung up inside my skirt after stepping down out of our high seat in truck and in the wind, with only that thin filmy outer layer of my skirt covering my, um, backside?!

HORRORS!

Oy, sometimes it's just better NOT to know.

I think there is a lesson to be learned from this, however.

Yeah...always listen to those inner promptings to go directly to the nearest ladies room to check on such things (or at the very least, inquire of your children or husband) before exposing yourself to public scrutiny.

*blushes*

Mother's Day Mushy Stuff

I'd like to say "Happy Mother's Day" to the special mom's in my life....

To my mom (otherwise known as FrumpGram): Without you, mom, I would not be the woman I am today. Thank you for all the sacrifices you made through the years, training us up in the ways of the Lord, and instilling character and a fun-loving outlook and good sense of humor in us all.

Thank you to my MIL Bonnie for all the effort she put in training up her children to be good, honorable people, and God followers. I will always be thankful that she did such a fabulous job instilling all the wonderful things she did in her youngest son, because I became the beneficiary of that when he became my husband.

:: :: :: ::

My guys all surprised me this past Tuesday evening while I was in Bible Study.

I came out to my car in the dark, and thought, "That almost looks like a bouquet under my windshield wipers."

And I was pleased to find that it was.



At home, I promptly arranged it in silver tea service which I inherited from my Mamaw a few years ago. It happened that it was freshly polished for my dad's visit, as I thought he might enjoy seeing it in use in my home.

After seeing how gorgeous the flowers looked in it, I think I'll be using it more for flowers than for tea.

:: :: :: ::

This is one of the adoring looks that Judah gives me when he comes running to the front door to greet me when I get home from somewhere.



"I wub you, mama."

:: :: :: ::

The other night, around the kids bedtime, Judah hopped up on my bed with me, hoping that if he could charm his way into delaying his bedtime in his own room.

I was reading, and he had his blankie and after a while his eyelids started to flutter shut in that almost-asleep-yet-fighting-it thing that happens when they're just so tired they can't keep their eyes open much longer.

I was laying on my tummy reading my book, and he looked over at me and got this adoring look, and I thought he was going to say his usual, "I wub you."

Instead, he got all whispery and affectionate and said, "Yee-ohh so cute, mama" and patted my cheek tenderly and fell off to sleep.

And my heart melted into a puddle.

He was allowed to stay in there until he was sound asleep, and daddy carried him to his own room when he came to bed.

:: :: :: ::

After making kissing sounds towards the boys across the breakfast table this morning and thanking them for giving me my mother's day cards and special breakfast, Judah looked at me and holding up pudgy arms asked sweetly, "You kith me, mama?" Like he wasn't going to let the moment pass without his deserved kiss, lol.

:: :: :: ::

Aside from the hugs and kisses and moments where I see flashes of spiritual understanding and insight in my kids, probably one of my very favorite things about being a mom is when the kids bring me gifts...drawings, bouquets, or other things they've made.

Or things they want me to come see.

"Mama...wook what I make!"



"Hey mom, come out here and watch me do my new trick!"





But another thing that blesses my heart is when my boys are getting along well.

When big brother is being sweet and kind, and little brother isn't being a bruiser, and they are hanging out together just enjoying their time together as family.

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers

live together in unity!" ~Psalm 133:1

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Happy Mother's Day to all my bloggy peeps! You are all terrific mothers!

Of Pomp and Circumstance and Childhood Illnesses

This past Wednesday evening was our Awana Club Award's Night at church.

This is the night where all the kids that attend club are given awards for completing books and for memorizing dozens of scripture verses.

It's a night eagerly anticipated by many of the children, as they receive ribbons and plaques for all their work.

It's also the night where the young people in middle and high school are given their Incentive Award points prizes. Here are a few of the kids from my class receiving their 'giant checks', for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.



Here is a picture of Judah, which is representative of the disruption he caused during the long awards ceremony. Here he was laying on the floor and making raspberry sounds. Later he bolted across the front of the church to get to his dad on the other side. Not long after that, he ran back across to get to me. We're so proud (sarcasm intended).



Here is the only picture we got of Jericho and his award ribbon. I must've caught him just as he was chewing gum or the lighting was bad or something, because his face doesn't usually look like this.



After the Awards ceremony, there was a little cake and punch reception in the fellowship hall.

It was around this time that Jericho slipped out for a game of tag on the church lawn with a bunch of his friends. When we were ready to go, we rounded him and his stuff up, and I noticed that his face was flushed and he was all itchy.

Whenever Jericho comes in direct contact with grass during tag-turned-wrestling match, he comes home feeling a little itchy, but after a shower, it goes away.

Early the following morning around 6 am, he called out for me, and when I got to his bedroom door, he told me his face and neck were still itchy and that they kind of hurt.

When I looked him over, he did look itchy and miserable, and his eyes looked puffy, so I opted to keep him home from school. He looked like he had bad hives.

I kept an eye on him during the day, trying my best not to go into one of my all too common maternal hypochondria panic attacks.

To rule out possible contact dermatitis, I called the guy who maintains the lawns at church to see if there were any chemicals applied to the grass recently. Sure enough, there had been on Monday.

Oh, boy. Now the waters were further clouded. Was this hives or contact dermatitis?

I vascillated off and on throughout the day between what I knew to be symptoms of each, but when he ate normally, argued with his brother and spent time playing with his toys as usual, I finally decided it was just a case of hives. I even wondered if maybe he was making more of it than he needed to in order to stay home from school.

I felt pretty proud of myself for making it all the way through dinner without having googled his symptoms. Perhaps I was making progress?

However, after dinner, it appeared that the hives had gotten worse, and Lanacane didn't help relieve the itch like it should have. Neither did the antihistamine.

After a shower, he felt worse. To the point where he got all worried. "My throat hurts now, too, mom."

Worried, I felt his forehead, but it was cool. I was relieved. "You're fine, Jericho. You don't have a fever or anything" I said, tucking him into bed. "There is really nothing to be done for hives but to rest and let them go away on their own."

I got out a fan, thinking it might help cool off his face, and the white noise helped him to finally fall asleep, and I wearily fell into bed.

Around 4 am, he called out weakly from his room, "Mom? Come here..."

He'd thrown up. Not good.

While Jeff cleaned things up and Jericho got another shower, I got out my trusty Complete Book of Baby & Childcare manual, and looked up the symptoms for dermatitis and hives, thinking that maybe the chemicals had brought this on. Maybe it was a more severe reaction than usual to the chemicals or something.

Except that I made the mistake of looking up hives in the Emergency section of the book.

Where it mentioned that allergic reactions associated by both hives and difficulty swallowing and vomiting could be a sign of anaphylaxis.

More specifically, Ananphylaxis may lead to cardiac arrest and death if not treated promptly.

And for the second time in a week, my blood went cold.

I showed Jeff what the book said, and at at my pleading he immediately hustled him off to the E.R.

I stayed home with Judah and prayed, both for Jericho and for my own peace of mind. It was a definite battle between trusting in the Lord or giving in to my fears.

About forty minutes later, I finally couldn't take not knowing another second, and called Jeff on my cell. I happened to get him while the doctor was writing out the prescriptions.

"You're never going to believe this" he told me.

"Was it from the lawn chemicals? Is everything okay with Jericho? What did the doctor say?" I asked, obvious concern in my voice.

"Jericho has Scarlet Fever."

"Scarlet Fever?" I could feel the blood drain from my face. I was well aware of what happened to Beth in Little Women, and Mary Ingalls in the Little House books.

Jericho, too, remembered reading through the Little House series as a family last winter, and yowled to the doctor, "I'm going to go BLIND?!" (He doesn't get it from a stranger, I'll admit. His early childhood Samurai training has been a complete bust, I'm afraid.)

The doctor reassured him that he'd gotten in to see her in plenty of time, and that those things were no longer a worry in this day and age.

Already sitting at my computer, I immediately googled Scarlet Fever.

"The doctor said it's been going around like crazy and that they've seen a lot of cases of it" Jeff added. "Jericho has all the classic symptoms...the reddish sandpaper rash, the strawberry tongue, the sore throat, the itchy skin. Oh, and he has an ear infection in his right ear."

"What do they need to do for it?" I asked, still worried about anaphylaxis.

I also second guessed the doctor, peppering Jeff with questions to ask her as though she'd overlooked something. I couldn't bear to think of Jericho coming home and having been misdiagnosed.

You hear stories like that all the time. For crying out loud, people go in to get a kidney removed by a surgeon and end up with a masectomy instead. If that can happen, a misdiagnosis at the E.R. was entirely possible.

I think she was annoyed, but graciously answered all my over-the-phone questions via Jeff.

"They'll give him an antibiotic for 10 days and some pills for the itching" Jeff managed to get in.

"Years ago, it could get really bad and last for a week to ten days with all kinds of possible complications from the fever."

"Yeah, like blindness", I thought, thinking of poor Mary Ingalls.

"With the help of antibiotics, however, it will more quickly run it's course, and he can go back to school once he's been medicated for 24 hours. Some cases are worse than others, and may or may not include all the same symptoms. Jericho doesn't have a fever, so his case seems to be pretty mild."

I heard the doctor mumble something in the background, and Jeff added, "It's basically just a strep throat infection that manifests in a rash in young people."

Those were the words I needed to hear to set my mind at ease. Thank you, Lord!

It was just a li'l ol' strep throat infection?

Aw, shoot...I'd had two or three of those before I'd entered my teen years. No big deal. Take some antibiotics, and it'd clear right up.

I suppose that Jericho was long overdue for something like this having never had to take antibiotics for anything to date.

I never thought I'd be so happy to hear my kid had Scarlet Fever, but when you're worrying yourself into a dither about scary things like anaphylaxis and six-week long chronic hives and a battery of allergy tests, Scarlet Fever sounds pretty good in comparison!

Now, I'm off to catch up on my sleep.

The Stunts Kids Pull

It's come to this.

It's now a daily occurance that our toddler son will pull a fast one on us daily.

A real doozy.

The big shebang.

I guess you could call it living in 3-D, because before a day is over, he's either going to do something dangerous, devious or destructive.

I feel very much like my MIL did when she commented once that with her older son (my hubby's brother Butch) was a tot, she might as well have just spanked him first thing in the morning, because within minutes of waking up he was going to need it.

For instance, today's dangerous:

Leaping off our dining room table and landing on his feet.

It didn't appear to bother him, but it sure makes mama's heart skip a few beats. Especially given that the table top comes to about his nose when he's standing beside it. I don't know how kids can do this. If I jumped off something proportionately high, I'd probably end up in the hospital, having broken something important to my daily functioning. You know, like my back or a femur or something.

Not him. He springs up like Tigger, and just keeps on bouncing around the house.

Then there was yesterday's devious:

I left him in the kitchen to finish his breakast of cereal while I folded laundry in the next room. I could still see the top of his head from where I was standing, and was chatting with him as I worked.

Suddenly, I heard the telltale slosh of milk on the kitchen floor, and walked in to find him silently but rapidly spooning bite after bite of soggy Cheerios into the garbage so he wouldn't have to eat them.

A recent destructive:

After dinner a couple of nights ago, I went to clean off the table, and was horrified to find that markers had been used to draw all over one of the oak chairs.

Not surprising was that it was Judah's chair at the table. With Judah's telltale marker abstract work done all over the seat.

"What is this?" I asked sternly, squatting down to get a better look at the chair.

"My maf home-erk" he tried to tell me, as though I were going to buy that that one.

He does like to sit at the table each evening when big brother is working on his homework, but Judah's 'homework' usually involves jabbing the tip of a marker over the surface of the paper a couple hundred times.

"I don't think so." I replied. "What did you do to the chair?"

"My cee-we-uhl?" he asked hopefully.

"Uh uh. That's not cereal, Judah. What is on the chair?"

"Um, my juith?"

I was beginning to see that trying to get him to own up to drawing on the furniture might be an exercise in futility.

"What did you do on the chair?" I asked, pointing specifically to the marker lines drawn all over the seat.

A flash of brilliance lit his countenance. ""I dwahed da hthhnake-th" (that's nasal toddler-speak for "snakes").

And yep, I guess that IS what he was drawing.

Lots and lots of colorful snakes.

Oh, well...now the chair just matches our table better.

From the incident a couple of months ago when big brother was drawing a Florida Marlin's picture using my spanking new package of assorted Sharpie colors.

Except that in his case, it was permanent markers which sunk through his masterpiece and stained the top of the old oak table in my kitchen.

The same table that graced my mom's kitchen, and her mother's before her.

Yes, the antique heirloom oak table.

*sigh*

Guess I'm going to have a refinishing project to add to my list of to do's this summer.

"Poison Control?" "This Is Judah's Mom Again..."

So I was loading the dishwasher when I see our toddler son Judah walking past in his onesie pajamas (to which he'd added his sneakers minus socks), marching with determination towards our front door, a book in hand.

"What are you doing, Judah?" I asked mildly as he passed by.

"I kee-o da thpie-dough." (Which, for those of you who may be rusty with your interpretation of toddler-speak, means, "I kill the spider.")

Instantly, I was in full alert mode.

"What spider?" I asked, slightly freaking out that some big bad spider had managed to get past my keen spider radar into my domain.

Judah runs to the front door and squats down to the corner behind where our front door opens, and points.

Sure enough, hanging from what looked to be the beginnings of a little web near the floor behind one of daddy's shoes is a dark colored spider about the diameter of a penny all told.

But at first glance, it looked dark enough to be a smaller black widow, and seemed to have the same familiar outline.

Not caring for a moment about his early childhood Samurai training, my motherly instincts flared, and I snatched the book from him and promptly squished the spider into a little grease spot on the wall. *shudders*

"Mama killed the spider," I stated. Then, as a precaution, I added, "Never, EVER touch the spiders, Judah. Okay?" Bugs are one thing, but I figure he needs to know a fear of touching the spiders with his fingers like he needs to know a fear of touching a hot flame.

"O-kay, mama."

Fifteen minutes later, after a couple other menial household chores, I sat down to log onto my computer.

Judah walked up and said, "I hoe-d you?"

I picked him up and set him on my lap, and he's inspecting the palms of his hands.

"Do we need to wash your hands?" I asked, noting they were kind of dirty from his recent stint with markers.

At that moment, he uttered words that I never knew were capable of such a complete physical, emotional and even psychological reaction in me.

"Da thpie-dough bite me, mama."

Almost instantly, my blood ran cold. I suddenly felt clammy, sweaty and more than a little panicked all at the same time.

"Where? Show mama where the spider bit you!"

He seemed to be favoring one hand, and held it up for my inspection.

"Show mama."

He held up the palms of both hands, not understanding that I needed to know the specific location of the bite.

So I pointed to my own hand with my index finger (demonstrating) and asked, "Where did the spider bite you on your hand?"

And then he pointed to a spot on the pudgy part of his hand just below his index finger.

And there was what looked to be a tiny pin-prick of a scab...or, yes, what looked suspiciously like a spider bite!

I freaked out. "Is that where the spider bit you?" I asked, trying to ascertain the truth from toddler exaggerations.

He nodded, then jumped down off my lap to go play, oblivious to my concern.

My blood, having already run cold, was now surging through my veins, adrenaline pulsing through my spine. What should I do?

So I promptly called my husband, who with our son Jericho had gone to take Uncle Butch out for his birthday.

"I think Judah's been bit by a black widow!" I said, fearfully, and launched into the story.

"Oh, man..." he said. "How big was it? You're sure it was a black widow? Is he in pain? He'd probably be in pain if it bit him. When my dad got bit that time he was in immediate pain, and his hand swelled up and he had to cut off his wedding ring..."

Scenarios were suddenly running through my panic-filled head.

Adults, I knew, could survive black widow bites...but could a two-and-a-half year old child? And what if it wasn't a black widow, but the dreaded brown recluse?!"

My mind strayed to a horrific e-mail circular with some guys gnarly looking gangrenous hand, which was nearly lost due to a virulent infection caused by the brown recluse bite. And then this recent post by one of my favorite Missionary bloggers Jackie.

I felt a cold sweat on my neck. "What should I do?!" I asked, my fear running away with me.

"Call Dr. Mike first" he said, calmly. It might be nothing to worry about at all. If you're still worried, then go to the E.R.."

In his mind, E.R.'s are really more for mom's that need to be convinced not to worry than they are for the actual patient with a health concern. He, meanwhile, was calm as could be, not a bit worried.

"Humph" I mumbled. Easy for him to say, he wasn't the one sitting here looking into our son's big brown eyes, worrying that a spider bite might kill him at any moment, and that time was of the essence.

And horror of horrors, I wasn't even dressed for the day yet, which could mean further delays! I got off the phone, dashed in to get dressed just in case I would need to rush Judah to the E.R., praying fervently as I pulled on my clothes.

Should I call my mother-in-law to borrow her stun-gun (which she takes on evening walks) to shock the site of the bite? (And before you laugh, I've heard of this from a couple of independent sources now, and know that there are missionaries in the Amazon and Africa that for years have used these or similar devices to prevent ill-effects from venomous bites.)

In spite of my fears, that seemed a bit extreme for a toddler.

Then I remembered in a nutritional and remedies book that those who have been bitten by a black widow should be given a large dose of vitamin C right away and then every couple of hours afterwards (to keep the vitamin in their bloodstream to help combat the venom). The only problem was, I wasn't sure if the 2,000 mgs of Vitamin C was for an adult dose, or would be okay for a child, too.

I suddenly thought to call my sister Jami, who I was sure would remember the exact amounts.

Sadly, I'd forgotten that they were out of town. But my brother was there house-sitting, and so I told him the story.

"I'd go online..."

"I don't have time!" I said, panic rising. "I've got to get him to the E.R."

"Maybe just call poison control first" he said, his usual calm, reasonable way. "They'll know whether or not it's cause for concern."

Oh, yes. I hadn't thought of that.

"Okay. Bye."

Before I forgot, however, I went ahead and got out the vitamin C crystals I often add to fruit smoothies, poured 2,000 mgs worth in a spoon along with a little water, and spooned it into Judah's mouth. A necessary precautionary measure.

He looked up at me with a sour face, wondering what he'd done to deserve having to take such icky medicine. I gave him some juice to wash it down.

I flipped through my phone book, then the yellow pages, trying to find the number. Where were the emergency numbers listed, anyway?

And why in the world hadn't I programmed that one into my cell phone after his last stint with poison control?

I called information, and was promptly connected.

I explained the whole story and gave his age, explaining about how after the spider was already dead, he'd examined his hands and said the spider had bitten him.

When she could get finally get a word in edgewise, she asked all kinds of ominous questions like, "Was the spider shiny and black? How big was it? Did you get a good look at the spider?"

Cold fingers of dread gripped my spine. "I didn't look at it that carefully before I killed it, but it was dark, and my initial thought before I squished it to oblivion was that it did seem to have the same outline as a black widow, though it was about the size of a penny, not big like the full grown black widow that was in or garage a couple of weeks ago."

Calmly she explained that if he had been bitten by a black widow, he would have felt pain right away. It might increase, and if that were to happen within the next two hours, I should take him to the E.R. to get a treatment for the pain and swelling. But if he didn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort, I likely didn't have anything to worry about.

It seems the poor little Black Widow has gotten a bad rap, and that their bite doesn't usually kill anyone. Not even young children. It just makes them feel a whole lotta pain, and maybe some swelling."

The woman's calm, professional demeanor set my mind at ease.

And so, though it was long past his naptime, I kept Judah up until I was sure he was not in any pain, and didn't have any swelling.

And darned if that spider bite didn't look a whole lot more like a freckle when I got a really good look at it.

And when I went and looked at the remains (legs) of the spider (still stuck to the wall) with a flashlight, I realized they were more brown striped, not black.

And I sighed in relief.

And suddenly I felt like a total dork, having gotten all worked up into a dither over nothing. No wonder I'm getting so many grays so fast!

**Note to self: Don't ever, ever watch Arachnophobia again!**

A Whirlwind Visit, The Usual Craziness

My dad recently retired and called a couple of weeks ago to say that he'd like to come visit us in mid-May.

"Sure, dad, that'd be great." That would give me plenty of time to get ready.

However, with all that retired-guy freetime on his hands he sprang into action, called around, and arranged to stop and visit several people on his trip here and back. In doing so, he had to nail down some specific dates for his plans.

A week or so ago he announced to me that he'd be coming in earlier than anticipated. As in two weeks earlier than planned, leaving me with just a few days to get ready. Eeek!

"Oh. Um, okay. Sure. We can do that." I think.

Needless to say, already in the throes of my spring cleaning, I stepped things up cleaning like mad and trying to get everything just as I wanted it.

Naturally, our washing machine chose that particular time to go on strike.

While all of our bath towels were inside sopping wet and still soapy, the machine refusing to budge to the rinse and spin cycles, and a burning rubber smell emanating from the machine.

I knew I dare not push things, and try and force the machine to continue it's job. My sister Johanna once had a washing machine catch on fire. I had enough to worry about for the moment.

I think it was a case of the washer conspiring against me with the sewing machine again. (Admittedly, I've not upheld the bargain which was struck by getting the sewing machine in for a much needed overhaul after Christmas.)

Which entailed making last-minute arrangements to cart a load of sopping wet towels across town to my MIL's house to wash them if any of us were to have towels for showers the next morning.

True to my dad's Modus Operandi, due to his stops along the way I didn't have an exact time to go by as to when we could expect him.

Lunch passed, and he still wasn't here.

A little later in the afternoon and still no sign of grandpa, I took a short nap with Judah then went to pick up Jericho from school.

My dad got to the house just after the boys and I arrived home.

Thankfully, my crock-pot did not enter into the labor dispute, and I had a hot dinner of spaghetti, salad and garlic bread waiting on our weary traveler.

The boys were ecstatic, as Grandpa had told them he was bringing his fishing poles and his motorcycle along with him in the back of his truck. Jericho was interested in the fishing, and Judah in the motorcycle. And helmets.



This, of course, entailed much trying on of "Kwumpuh's heowmut" and getting up on his "moto-psycho" after dinner.

Later that evening, we took a long drive into the 'country', to look at a steal-of-a-deal home we'd heard about.

Turns out we couldn't even find it, and the desert road we were driving on to get there was so long and bumpy that our driver's side window fell into the door again.

It was at that point that we determined we wanted nothing to do with any house which was that far off the beaten path. Well, that and the fact that the homes in that area had backyards leading to the traintracks.

And because I wasn't tired enough (from all my getting ready for company and driving all over the countryside, and being laundry transport and taxi service for the day) my dad and I ended up staying up late to catch up. Finally, around 1 AM, we called it a night, and headed off to catch some Z's.

Wednesday morning, after dropping Jericho off at school for testing that he couldn't miss, I once again drove my dad all over the desert sight-seeing.

That was when the Automobile Union got involved in labor negotiations in my household again.

That whole window-falling-into-the-door thing from the night before?

It had apparently been a warning of things to come. Sort of like a couple of mafia thugs coming to rough you up a bit before calling in a hit.

This time, the car meant business.

While we were waiting in the long, snaking line going onto campus to pick Jericho up from school, I began to smell the strong scent of antifreeze.

Inside the car.

I remarked about it, but figured perhaps it was the junker car in front of us that was to blame for the smell.

That is, until dad suddenly yanked his foot out of the way and said, "Yeow!" Upon further investigation, he reported, "I believe your heater core just went out. Something hot is dripping out of the dash onto my shoe!"

Turns out it was our junker that was to blame. *blushes*

In spite of 91 degree temperatures outside, the windshield was steamy with anti-freeze vapors. A clear indication of heating core problems.

Yes, we've been down this road before in our journey with junker cars.

Which also explained why I had suddenly begun to feel breathless and a bit panicky while trying to do a little old thing often referred to as breathing.

For a few moments, I wondered if perhaps I was having a heart attack or something, and wished I were home so I could google the symptoms and get myself sufficiently freak myself out.

As it turns out, it was 'just' an asthma attack. I knew this because the very same thing had happened before when the heating core in our truck went out. Or broke. Or whatever it is that they do. Anti-freeze vapors cause wretched asthma attacks.

I don't get these attacks very often. In fact, they're usually separated by enough time that I forget what it's like, and then find myself well into the middle of one before I realize what is happening and that I need to find my inhaler, stat.

This one was a doozy.

Oy.

After picking up Jericho we had some time to burn. With the windows down for ventilation and to clear the steam from the windshield, and being ever-so-efficient, I thought we'd wend our way home slowly via back roads so we wouldn't break down on the freeway to look at more potential properties in order to save on gas.

Right now, you may have gathered, we're in the market for a home on some acreage. The prices are finally in the semi-affordable range, so every spare minute it seems we are out looking at the homes our realtor has found for us, in an attempt to find the one that is just right. It's hard work!

I thought this would bore my dad to tears, but as it turns out, he loved it.

Even coming from beautiful green Washington State, he kept commenting that our arid, brown and dusty desert was 'beautiful' country.

Jeff and I have continued to hold out hope and to pray that the Lord would see fit to allow us leave this place this coming summer, and move to a quaint little hobby farm somewhere in rural America where it was green, and had four seasons, and was far from the exhaust-ridden air of the Southwest. Somewhere that we could grow something besides sage, yucca and a couple different types of cacti.

But alas, after only 10 years into our wilderness experience, it appears we still have another 30 to go. Perhaps from all the grumbling during our early years here, I'm not sure.

We've learned our lesson, however, and are trying to be content in our circumstances, and not go around grumbling and getting angry and striking at rocks (or in our case, cars) or anything.

Later that evening, after church, we were all exhausted and went to bed early.

Thursday, we kept Jericho home from school for the promised fishing trip with Grandpa.



Which was quite an experience with little brother thrown into the mix.

If he wasn't running around yelling, "I want to hoe-d da ducks" and getting perilously close to falling in the water, he was trying to dig around in "Kwumpuh's tacko box" to see all the shiny, feathery, sparkly things inside. Or to play with the fishing knife in there.

Don't let his innocent countenance fool you.



Shortly after this picture was taken, Grandpa was switching out a bass lure for one that he thought might work to attract the catfish our 'neighbors' were pulling up left and right.

Grandpa was half-kneeling, a realistic and rubbery looking minnow-shaped lure waiting atop his tackle box to be switched out for the bass lure.

Judah squatted down beside his "Kwumpuh" to inspect the little "Fithy" lure, and before any of us could tell what was going to happen, Judah's little arm shot out quick-as-lightening, grabbing the sharp tri-hooked lure and flung it into the depths of the lake.

My dad looked up at me his mouth dropping open in utter astonishment. It had all happened so fast!

I laughed uporariously (after offering to pay to replace it, of course).

Minutes later, big brother managed to get his lure tangled in a tree that was bending over the lake out where he'd cast it (catfish are known to lurk in the shade of said tree, but it's difficult to judge casting distances when you're a novice 11 year old fisherman).



While grandpa expertly disengaged the lure from it's bondage in said tree and brought it back to shore unscathed, I again laughed uproariously. "Between the two of you, grandpa is never going to want to take us fishing again!"

Moments earlier, I'd suddenly had a flashback of a similar fishing trip with my dad in the Puget Sound as a young girl. A time when I misjudged the execution of my own casting, and lodged my fish hook in the back of my dad's arm. (Ooopsie! )

Thankfully, my dad was longsuffering and still took me along dozens of times after that. Even when we girls complained and whined about having to bait our own hooks.

Those long ago fishing trips usually involved all kinds of junk food not usually allowed in our diet. Wonder bread and pack-of-Buddig lunch meat sandwiches, Cheetos, and Hostess cherry pies. And soda. And pudding cups.

It was a big deal, and the food alone made it totally worth the long day spent sitting around holding poles at the shore's edge.

We got a late start on our little fishing excursion, however, having to go back for the diaper bag.

Then I had to stop off for gas in the truck. Jeff had selflessly taken the car so I wouldn't get another asthma attack.

And then, of course, we had to stop off for lunch.

Then I had to make a trip to the store for bottled waters, and didn't even think to get extra goodies to make the boys fishing experience complete.

Nope. This time, we arrived at the lake with naught but our water bottles.

But I needn't have worried.

Judah was thrilled to be "fithing" with a pole that had the hook attached to one of the loops at the end of the pole, without a line in the water (because sharp hooks and fishing line do not mix well with 2 1/2 year old boys).

Jericho would have stood on shore for several more hours reeling and casting, content with the knowledge that there were indeed fish in the water, and statistically speaking, there was a chance (however remote) that he might catch one.

We later learned from our neighbors that their secret was to use live worms to pull up the catfish, not lures.

Not that I'd have wanted the boys pulling up those scum-sucking bottom dwellers anyway. Especially from that murky green water. *shudders* I don't 'do' cleaning fish. Especially fish with long, creepy whiskers.

I was content to take pictures and try to keep little brother from meeting an early demise at the water's edge.

Who knew that bees, and deep water, and sharp tri-hooked fishing lures and knives and ducks swimming past our fishing hole could cause such diversions for an inquisitive two year old?

Later that evening, after a short siesta for us all, thanks to Judah not having had his much-needed nap, we dropped the boys off with daddy's mom for a couple of hours, and were off to an Awana leader's appreciation dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Good food, great fellowship...it was lots of fun.

I came home ready to got straight to sleep.

However, instead of going to bed like a rational human being, I decided to stay up late once again yakking with my dad.

I'm quite sure he thought I was insane, expending thousands of words on all manner of mundane topics until the wee hours of the morning.

This SAHM business, and interacting with only a toddler for hours a day on most days, has done strange things to my social skills.

I find I'm a little too desperate eager some days for adult conversation.

So much so that I'm downright chatty with telemarketers and wrong number calls. To the point where they cut me off. And then I cry, feeling dejected.

Okay, so maybe it's not that bad, but you get the picture.

Yes, my bloggy peeps, in real life, I have become one of those obnoxious mothers of a preschooler who yaps incessantly not letting others get a word in edgewise. (I have seen the light, however, and am actively working to curb this behavior.)

However, my dad did a pretty fair job of getting his two cents in. Gave me a real run for my money, truth be told. Finally, about 2:30 AM we had exhausted every possible topic, and headed for bed.

Early Friday morning, my dad left to meet up with a buddy a couple of hours away. My dad had brought one of his motorcycles along in the back of his truck because they planned on going for a scenic ride through Yosemite on my dad's way home.

Thankfully it's nowhere near Sturgis or places usually haunted by Hell's Angels, because I'm afraid dad and his buddy look like a couple of movie stars.



Minus the fancy riding jackets and bandanas.

Maybe more like the GoldWing version of Wild Hogs.

With flannel jackets.

And riding helmets with 2 way radios in them.

"Yep-a-doodle!"

Wordless Wednesday: What IS it?!