Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

The Smell of Skunk

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

I never realized it until I was away from home for several years, but the area near my parents’ house in rural West Tennessee is full of skunks. I rarely see them alive but their smelly corpses frequently accompany the dashed lines on the windy roads.

And although they are somewhat shy and elusive, skunks are known to venture into yards where they startle, and subsequently spray, neighborhood dogs. My brother even got sprayed by a skunk once when he was camping out. Of course he brought himself inside and the whole house smelled like a skunk.

It turns out that some people can’t smell skunks at all. My wife is one of them. After several instances of running through some skunk stank while driving down the road, she kept saying she couldn’t smell that horrible funk that was pushing me to nausea. So she did some research and found out that one in one thousand people cannot smell a skunk. Go figure. I guess that explains a lot.

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Valentines for Dogs

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day for the most part. It has always seemed like a “Hallmark Holiday” that pressures us to do a bunch of goofy stuff to prove that we love the ones we love. I like birthdays, Christmas and surprises. Since my wife’s birthday is pretty close to Valentine’s, I get a bit of a pass. But I still need to at least get a card.

I recently went shopping for Valentines cards and, aparently, most of the husbands out there have a great need to apologize for coming up short, not always being there or somehow being a skrewup. I checked out about 10 cards and 8 of them started with, “I might not always be the most…” or “I’m sorry that I’m…” Really? Is Valentines really just “get out of the dog house day”?

Personally, I grow my own flowers and I think it’s much nicer to bring those in as frequent surprises rather than having a one-time day of over-priced roses. Chocolate is a regular treat in our household. And if I’m in the dog house, I’m sure not going to wait for a Hallmark holiday to make ammends.

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Henderson Park Community Garden

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

After a few friendly gatherings, several trips to the proposed space, some donated time by professional landscapers and some good advice from a Dekalb County advocate, we finally turned in the proposal (thanks Susan!) for the Henderson Park Community Garden.

We should know something about the official granting of the park space in the next few weeks but in the meantime we will be planting some seeds and starting to accumulate supplies.

There are some 150+ gardens in the Atlanta area but none are currently in Tucker. So we will be the first. With any luck, we will be able to break ground for a spring planting and start building this community project.

Here is a picture of the proposed site:
Henderson Park Garden Site

Here is a picture of the lake and waterfall that are a part of Henderson Park:
Henderson Park Lake

Henderson Park Waterfall

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Welcome 2009

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Dang. I just looked up and realized I had not made a blog post in more than a month. Maybe that’s because my daughter has been super active during the day and not very sleepy at night. Maybe it’s because every night for the past few months has been interrupted by at least two crying episodes. Maybe today’s post is related to the fact that she slept 12 hours straight last night! After the initial panic (is she ok?! what could be wrong?), we realized that normalcy just paid us a visit. And it is long overdue.

Hopefully 2009 will bring more restful nights and productive days.

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First Steps

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Molly started walking about a week ago and I have found it more terrifying than anything else. I am certainly proud to see her summon up the courage to take those un-supported steps. And the unrestrained glee she has can’t be denied.

But the part that scares me is that she is so fast and not very responsive to commands such as, “No, don’t (fill in the dangerous thing)!” She loves to throw her arms in the air and scream as she goose-steps out the door. She climbed the stairs so fast yesterday that it was all I could do to keep up. And she doesn’t really understand gravity.

The next few months are sure to keep me busy.

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