Turtle Heaven

Tonight changed the way I look at this picture. I snapped it on the drive into work because of the way the sunlight broke through the patchy cloud structure. I didn't know it'd have a deeper meaning tonight.

I'm a softy. That's not breaking news. I always try to do the right thing, no matter what, because right is right even when nobody is doing it, and wrong is wrong even when everybody is doing it. Here's what happened.

After dinner, I put our turtle, Clod, into the small pool we have outside so he could swim around outside of the aquarium he lives in. That's something I do everyday. He swims around and hunts for pieces of dried shrimp we bought for him at the pet store. Tonight was no different. But somehow, I got distracted and simply forgot where he was. I also assumed the dog was in the house.

Well, you can put two and two together to figure out what happened next. Clod was missing and I couldn't find the dog. (I refuse to use his name because I'm still so mad at him.) A little frantic searching in the backyard and I see the dog and I know immediately what he's up to. After shooing him away, I inspected Clod and immediately noticed how serious the damage was. Without going into detail, this was serious damage to Clod's shell. I thought he was gone, but after watching him for a couple of minutes, trying to decide what to do, he started moving. The guy had to be in pain. Serious pain. Andrew was with me and we decided to carefully pick him up and put him back in his aquarium to rest, and hopefully just fall asleep and go to turtle heaven during the night.

I know it's just a small turtle I'm talking about here, but I'm just sick thinking about it, knowing that my absent-mindedness played a large role in this situation. I know that the dog was just doing what dogs do. But I'm still disappointed in him. Tonight, I failed in a big way. I have a heavy heart for the pain I caused to an innocent turtle and the sadness I brought into the house.

Meat My Grill

Labor Day weekend. It's one of my favorites. I'm always looking go a good reason to cook outside and Labor Day is always one occasion. But this year was better. Our old hand-me-down grill finally ruined enough food with its uneven cooking antics that we put it out to pasture and brought home a slick new model. Putting it together became an afternoon activity of father/son bonding where we both learned patience and precision while I practiced "vocabulary control", which has never been a problem for me anyway. But, you never know what might sneak out when faced with an adverse situation such as this. The grill came together fairly easy and we fired the guy up tonight for an inaugural run. It performed great, it didn't ruin any food, and nothing today ruined my Labor Day holiday.

Holiday Weekend

Spent some time outside enjoying the 2nd day of a 3-day weekend.

Football Weather

College football started today. Well, there were a few games on Thursday, but today is Saturday and that's college football day. So, in this guy's world, it started today. Especially with all of the Big XII games being played. It was so nice outside that we sat out in the driveway to listen to the games on the radio. It was sort of like being at the game, except we had great parking, the snacks were a lot cheaper, the seats were more comfortable and our dog was sitting on the field under the tree growing in the middle of it.

Line Judge

Tonight was the first VCHS football game with our new head football coach. The beginning of the game was exciting and full of electricity. The energy of the coach and the team cheering and pumping their fists really penetrated the crowd. It was great! Things took a turn, though, and we ended up losing. But you know, this is just game one of the beginning of a new era of Valley Center football. The potential this program has is great and the crowd in the stands proves that hope springs eternal and there's a community surrounding this coach and these boys that continues to believe.

Ocho Cinco 90210

It was a big day today. We had the first football game of the season and it was Andrew's birthday. We were excited about both, but neither really turned out the way we had hoped. The football game was a nail-biter going into several overtimes and lasting much longer than anyone at the stadium expected. We lost in a heart-breaker 22-24, but the boys put up a good fight. Now that we have that loss out of the way, we can focus on winning. Unfortunately, when we got home, Andrew wasn't in much of a mood to celebrate his birthday, so we'll postpone it to another day. Losing a game that close and playing for nearly three hours really wears on a guy so I understand. Good thing birthdays last all week around here.

Pharmacy Phor Phido

Our dog has been going darn near crazy scratching and itching. It's like the Itchy & Scratchy show over here. During the day, during the night, during a walk...he's gotta be going mad. I swear his back legs are looking more buff from the workout he's been giving them. Poor guy. It's not fleas causing the problem, we know that much. It's gotta be some sort of allergy. My wife was talking to someone about the problem and heard about a possible remedy. So, I ran to the grocery store and picked up some very human medicine to hopefully relieve the irritation. We're crossing our fingers that the jingle of his dog tags are silent tonight while he gets a decent night's sleep, and a lot of relief.