Thoughtful Thursday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm doing a lot of thinking today but not about the things I should be thinking about!

I now have both a new laptop to set up and a new Theme journal system to customize for myself.

I also have a sermon and service deadline! Plus I have got to get the food truck thing set up.

These distractions are not useful in my life.

(I'm drawn to the Theme Journal.)

[Harriet]

LadyM!!! Will you pullleeease keep those snakes over at your house!?!

My family plus neighbors in a fight with one today as the nasty acrobat tried to eat our baby wrens on our porch. He killed one before I understood the parents' hysterics. Dd20 and HRH rescued the other 3, we hope, into a cardboard box and put it back onto the porch on a chair underneath the nest. I think the parents know where they are but the box is probably a hindrance as much as a protection. Just a guessing game to know how to help.

My screeching for HRH brought neighbors on their 4-wheeler and she found another baby when we thought we'd found them all. Hopefully no human smell touched them, but good grief they have snake smell, so how bad could human be. Blacksnake or chicken snake - ordinary. Dead thanks to HRH chasing him down or he'd have been back to finish what he started. HRH would have probably protected him if he hadn't messed with HRH's little princes and princesses on his porch, lol. And they are virtually flying so maybe there's one or two who can be saved. One seems hurt or weak, but the three are together now. I'm breathing.

Parent birds dive-bombing dd20 was a hoot. She was trying to tell them what she was doing but they were having none of it.

Betting all the logging has shooed wildlife around and that's why we got a new predator.

HRH quoting Danny Glover now - "I'm getting too old for this ...."

[lucylee]

Oh my, Harriet! Good job saving the birds!

Dh here is in a “I’m too old for this” mood too, although his problem is t-ball. This is too ridiculous to even tell, but it’s a real problem. Dh’s expectations are just too high and ds kinda told him so tonight, so there were some tense feelings/words between the two of them. Dgs did much better tonight actually... and dh told him so... but of course, dh also told him where he had fallen short, too. And dh has a point — how can they learn if they are never corrected? But dh’s constant grumbling in the stands is what gets to ds. So — y’all just say a prayer for both these men in my family.

[Harmony]

Lucylee, golly your poor DGS with all that pressure put on him to be the perfect athlete at his age!

Hope all the baby birds survive. Harriet, it's all the cycle of life. We pick our favorites, but you know, snakes are part of the eco-system and they need to eat and survive too. I get it, though, if it was up to all of us the lions would be lying down with the lambs.

DH brought home an egg he found on the ground a couple weeks ago. We think it's a gopher turtle egg. He put it in a box on a rag on top of the hot water tank, which is a warmish spot. I didn't think it would hatch, but every day he goes out there and looks at it. Turtles don't sit on their nests, they just bury them in sand and they fend for themselves. I really think this egg has a snowball's chance of becoming a turtle; I just hope it doesn't break and let the rotten smell out.

Blessed, aw so sorry DH fell. Here, DH says it's a good day if he only falls once. He has a bad ankle which doesn't bend .... So far he hasn't knocked himself in his head. I hold my breath every day he goes out and we watch diligently for wet spots on the tile, wrinkled carpets, etc. There's very good reason I want him done with this work.

Dee, I wondered why your DH was still working at his age. Do you ever try to encourage him to quit like I do?

I cooked us a nice dinner tonight and cleaned all that up. Got all I needed at the store and filled up my med boxes. Also read a chapter in my book.

[Ramblinrose]

Lucylee... my dad was way too hard on my brother when he played ball... my dad played semi-pro baseball. My brother eventually quit cause my dad seldom had kind words for him.

Years later my brother had three boys and each played baseball and he became their coach. He was pretty strong with the parents especially when they were younger to let their kids play for fun. He coached for many years and eventually became athletic director for the county. He was a rough and tumble coach once the kids got older but never tried to yell at them. Parents learned to appreciate his coaching style and I attribute it to the way my father treated him.

I’m not surprised at your son’s reaction nor your dh, but he needs to remember he is the grandfather and not the father. My brother and father has strong words several times over the same situation, but I’m sure your son knows who to ask for advice if he needs it.

My dad had to learn the same lesson with his son and grandsons. Eventually he earned to sit back and just enjoy the game, but I’m sure it was difficult for him a s well.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

My giveaway was more successful than I thought it was. When I packed up, almost half the items were gone.

I was there in the lobby 90 minutes longer, though. People kept coming to visit. It was really pleasant and reminds me of how much people need to connect to others. I even got a hug from Washington DC (yes, that's his name!) He thinks Ken and I are the most wonderful people and we often chat quickly as we pass coming and going. Tonight he stayed for a bit. He was in a terrible car accident and is still using para-Transpo as he is recovering. It has been 10 months. Eventually, he'll be able to walk to the bus. I just hope the bus still goes to where he needs to go.

So I'm happy but concerns about others were shared by people and I need to track them so I can be ready with encouragement if necessary. Again, it is all about being in community so when you come out of your apartment, you still feel at home. I met a lovely woman who still feels like she's surrounded by strangers, even after living here a year. I've never seen her before. She saw my note on the bulletin board and came down to talk about Marie Kondo since she just started reading the book.

I loaded the car with the leftover stuff to donate and put away the dolly in our storage locker so that's out of the apartment along with all the stuff. I'm starting to feel like I'll be ready for dh to return.

I worked a bit on the service while it was quiet (I was there for 6:30 and from 7 - 7:30 it was quite quiet.)

We're in the middle of a good storm right now so I'm enjoying the lightening and thunder.

[lucylee]

Yes. Yes. To all the above.
Dh does NOT appear to put a lot of pressure on dgs personally, he just tries to remind him before and after the game — don’t sit down in the dirt, run hard, etc. (I know that sounds like pressure! But dgs doesn’t seem to bothered by it, and dh really did give him some heavy praise for getting those two outs.)

The big problem is his expressions of aggravation DURING the game, right in ds’s ear. The solution is for ds to sit apart from us, and I hope he and ddil will do that next time. The only way would be to sit in lawn chairs, which they have done occasionally. But they video the games (for ddil’s parents) so they are trying to get a good viewing spot.
Sigh.
I think ds is a little sensitive as well, and that may be because he feels himself that he should be working with and teaching dgs more himself, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t/hasn’t.
Sigh some more. There’s no real solution to it.
At 67, dh is unlikely to learn to just be quiet and relax. He’s too much an old coach and too competitive himself.
He also thinks seriously that this culture of everybody gets a trophy, everything you do is fine, just be happy and have fun, if it feels good do it — etc — is a big problem in the way we are raising children today. And I agree. BUT... I also think there’s got to be room for us all to just sit back and take a breath.