The Backyard Flower Garden Today

Last Night's Sunset

The camera does not do it justice.

The Case of the Missing Red Licorice

Six-year-old Greg and seven-year-old Jon will go to any lengths to find where candy is hidden. Greg, the one with the curiously red lips, has already found the red licorice, and has climbed up on the kitchen countertop to get a plate to put it on. Jon is caught red-handed on an opposing countertop.

Last Night's Sunset

Boulder, Colorado

One of the prettiest places in Colorado is Boulder. My work took me there this week. This picture of the mountains they call "flatirons" was taken looking straight into the sun at about 3:30 in the afternoon.

Boulder is often in the news. This week students at Boulder High School were objecting to the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. Isn't it amazing how such a beautiful place produces such misguided leftists? This is also where Ward Churchill came to infamy. Boulder is very expensive. A house there costs twice what it would cost twenty miles down the road in Golden, which also has its share of leftists.

With Deep Appreciation!

Most of you already read the Ambulance Driver blog. He is one of the best writers on the web. Yesterday he wrote some very kind words about Colleen and me, for which we are deeply appreciative.

One of the many things I like about Ambulance Driver is that even though he is very, very knowledgeable about all things medical, as well as humanity in general, he chooses to identify himself merely as an "Ambulance Driver". His medical competence is astounding, yet he chooses to identify himself with all of us who are just trying to overcome our human foibles and be decent human beings. One of the things I enjoy most about reading his blog is how he uses humor to bring down to size pompous, greedy, or hypocritical people who abuse positions of power in families and in various institutions in today's world.

Words Matter

The Denver Post has a story today about an animal shelter volunteer who has been accused of coaxing a basset hound to perform oral sex on him. The same gentleman was arrested in 1998 in a Denver park for "unlawful public indecency". Just wondering: what would be lawful public indecency?

Turning To God For Strength and Courage

In my last post I urged readers to check out a wonderful new blog entitled Walking On. What I did not tell you about the blog is that the woman who writes it has six children, some of whom are losing their vision to a disease called retinitis pigmentosa. On her blog she has written poems to two of her boys who are losing their vision. She talks about how they continue to hold their heads high, not complain about what is happening to them, and share the beauty that they both have within. These children are so fortunate to have such a wonderful, loving mother who turns to God to find the strength and courage to carry on.

Blogger is doing its thing to her, too. The comments section is not working at the bottom of her posts. I am sure it will be fixed in a few days. Don't let that deter you from visiting her blog. You will be inspired by her faith and courage, as well as by the wonderful children she is raising.

Domestic Violence

In my career as a child protection caseworker and county director of social services, I had many cases where domestic violence was occurring. In those cases, my clients were the children and also the adult who was the victim of domestic violence.

Recently I have found a wonderful blog entitled Walking On, in which a wonderful woman tells how she and her children escaped the abuser and made a life for themselves. I highly recommend this gritty woman's blog to my friends in the blogosphere!

And while we are on the subject, there is another blogger I want you to know about. Skywriter can write like nobody's business. She also escaped an abuser, but not before he beat her during her pregancy, causing her to lose her child. She is now a federal agent, and previously did a career as a pilot. You will enjoy both of these bloggers immensely, as they are both individuals of substance, who are living very worthwhile lives.

My own wife was the victim of domestic violence in her first marriage. He was convicted of false imprisonment. We have later learned that he taught his oldest son to touch his sister's private parts when he was seven and she was two. He is living underground to escape prosecution for his crimes against his own children.

Of course, abuse is not confined to the male species. Males can be victims of females as often as females are of males, in my experience. Certainly children are abused and/or neglected as often by their mothers as by their fathers. Sexual abuse of children is thought by our society only to be done by males. My experience, though, is that females perpetrate as often as males. You would never know it by visiting convicted sex offenders in prison. About 90 percent of them are males.

Boys At Play

I decided to pay attention to my six and seven-year-old sons tonight, as they were playing. The six-year-old used his powers to kill the Ice Monster. However, the Ice Monster had a red crystal heart. When he died, he got too close to a post that was filled with demons. The red crystal, which was made of ice, crashed against the post, causing a fire. The sun came. The demons could not stand the light from the sun and the red crystal, and they flew out of the house and died. Then there was no more evil shown in the universe. The only evil left was down in Satan's house.

But wait! There was one more evil demon: The King of the Second World (our six-year-old) defeated the demon. The General (our seven-year-old) killed all of the "callers". The job of the callers was to call the devil to make more demons.

Boys need to see themselves as powerful; able to protect people from evil.

The Nativity Story, According to Our Six-Year-Old Son

Three-year-old Sara asked her mom, "Why did Mary have the baby Jesus?" Colleen tells Sara all about the need for a Savior, so that our sins can be atoned. Not liking that answer, Sara turns to her six-year-old brother and asks the same question. He answered, "Back in those days, you had to be married to have a baby. She did not want to marry that Joseph guy, so God put the baby Jesus right in her stomach, so she would not have to marry him."

Proactive

Today a school official called our house. My wife, Colleen, answered. The official told Colleen that a teacher had noticed that our fifteen-year-old son, who has very large bones and is slightly obese, (got the gene from his biological father's family) has not seemed to be eating lunch at school the last two weeks. The school official started to tell Colleen about the free lunch program. Colleen said, "Stop right there. It will take me thirty minutes to get to the school. I want to meet with you, the principal, the teacher who made the allegation, and our son." The school official said, "but, but." Colleen said, "I will see you in thirty minutes."

Next, a wardrobe change: off with the boots and jeans, on with the hose, Bruno Magli shoes, and a professional-looking dress. The wheels on the van spin just a bit, as she backs out of the driveway.

No official but the lady who called was available to meet with Colleen when she arrived. Colleen asked the lady to take notes of everything that was said, then read the notes back to her at the end of the meeting. First, she asked our son to show the woman how much money he had in his wallet: $41.00! Colleen knew that, of course. She and our son have been working on a ranch this weekend for ten dollars an hour, mucking horse stalls, and doing general barn and livestock maintenance. Colleen noted that he had enough money in his wallet to purchase a lunch today; in fact, enough for several days!

Next, Colleen asked our son to tell how many kinds of lunchmeats she had purchased and brought home for him yesterday. His answer: "Four, and a bunch of other food, too," as he pulled a granola bar out of his pocket.

Colleen told the lady that she appreciated the teacher's concern, and that she has a plan for the rest of the week. She will make up four cards with smiley faces on them. Our son is to take the card to the teacher who made the allegation, show him his lunch every day, and have the teacher sign the card. Our son is then supposed to bring the card home for his parents to see. If he has a signed smiley face every day for the rest of this week, he no longer has to bring the card to the teacher in the upcoming weeks.

People make assumptions about large families. We feel the need to be proactive whenever we encounter those assumptions. One assumption is that because there are so many children, they must need a free lunch. We could not possibly be adequately taking care of them, now could we?

Why is our son not eating, if, in fact, it is true that he is not eating? He knows he is overweight. It was not a problem the last few years when he was homeschooling. Now he attends a school that has cute persons of the opposite gender also in attendance. I predict that in no time at all he will be svelt, even if he does have to eat his lunch!

Update:
Colleen has finally been able to talk with the principal. The principal admitted that she had talked to the staff about talking to parents about free lunches, BECAUSE THE SCHOOL WILL QUALIFY FOR ADDITIONAL FEDERAL DOLLARS!

A Tip From A Loving Brother

Three-year-old Sara has a problem. She overreacts to the slightest thing that goes wrong. She just loves to cry and moan and present herself as a victim.

Today six-year-old brother Greg decided to tell her the story of the "boy who cried wolf." It seems that there was "a village with people in it. Nearby there was a wolf. In the village there was a little boy who cried all of the time, and always pretended that his life was miserable. One day when he was crying, the wolf came and ate him. So, Sara, if you don't stop crying all of the time, the wolf is going to come and eat you."

Sara replied, "Okay, can we play monsters now?"

It Won't Be Long Now

Although we are having summer-like weather on this first day of fall, I know that it will not be long now before the first frost. Here's a photo of the four-tiered garden at the end of summer, as some of you have requested.

Now I am going to try to divide as many of the perennials as possible and plant them in new spots.

An Afternoon At The Salon

This afternoon Colleen and the kids were back in Walmart (We forgive those who trespass against us, sometimes). She noticed that they had a hair salon, and she noticed that we had children who looked shaggy, so the entourage proceeded toward the salon. You know how they have big pictures of models with the latest hairstyle? Well, two-year-old Linebacker Dude was particularly mesmerized by one poster of a female model, whose breasts happened to be showing. He quietly climbed up on the chair to get a closer look. Suddenly he exclaimed to his three-year-old sister, "Look, Sara, balls!"

A West and a North View of Tonight's Sunset

Stress!

Six-year-old Greg came to me with a terribly stressed-out look all over his beautiful face. He urgently sought my attention. "Dad, you have to do something right now, or else the chicken is going to burn really badly. It has been cooking all morning!"

I explained to him how the crock pot works. Of course, it was not the first time we have used the crock pot. What was different was that instead of having it in the back corner of the kitchen, as we did at the house in Golden, now we have it right out in plain sight. I was glad to be able to relieve that stress!

Dreams

Six-year-old Greg asked me tonight, "Dad, have you ever had a dream that robbers came into your house and stole all of your stuffed animals?" "No, son, not that I can remember." "Well I did, and the boss of the burglars was eating a burger as long as the earth!"

Okay Freudians, give me your interpretations.

Wife Accosted By WalMart Greeter!

It's true! It really happened to Colleen tonight as she left with a cart full of diapers, Pull Ups, Wipes, Juices, and a plastic table cloth made in China. Mau was tantruming (just came back from a visit with biological mother). "Let me see your sales receipt," demanded the rather large greeter. Colleen could not find it, could not find it, then finally found it. The woman slowly checked everything, but Colleen was beginning to doubt if the woman really knew how to read. Finally, Colleen snatched it back and demanded that the woman follow her to Customer Service. Colleen then demanded to see someone who could read. Someone came up and read all the items on the list and then profusely apologized to Colleen. As she drove away with Mau screaming, Colleen dialed the store and asked to speak to the manager. The manager explained that the greeter was trained only to ask to see a receipt if the door buzzer goes off, which did not happen in this instance.

Tonight's Sunset

Yes, it is fuzzy. It was getting dark, so I used the zoom to try to capture the colors. Got the colors, but sorry about the fuzz.