Thirteen IS a lucky number...
Tristaan
Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
last.
<happy lovey-dovey sigh>
Tristaan (still in love...)
--
Beware Spam Trap!: "us" is an "ogre"
*******************************************************
Ogre-Monk, AIM TristaanOgre
"So good-bye for now and I'll see you again
Some way, some how
When it's my time to go to the other side
I'll hold you again and melt at your smile
Now I have all the ones that I am with
You taught me not to take for granted
The time that we have to show that we care
Speak into their lives and their hearts while they're here
And say I LOVE YOU!!"
~Disciple "Things Left Unsaid"
Theologian in training http://ballymennoniteblogger.blogspot.com/
*******************************************************
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
"Tristaan" <trist...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:fqm264llf8316gs15...@4ax.com...
> ...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>
> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
> last.
>
>
> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>
> Tristaan (still in love...)
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! {REALLY BIG GRIN, HUMONGOUS GRIN}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Sasha Rowan
>
> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
> last.
>
>
> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
Congrats! Last Sat. (the 21st) was 16 for us. We got to go out for dinner
with no munchkins for the first time in 5-6yrs. Hope you had a nice time
too.
Sasha
John Oliver
wrote:
>...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>
>Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>last.
>
>
><happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>
>Tristaan (still in love...)
Congratulations!
--
John Oliver
jdol...@westnet.com.au
AIM or MSN jdoliver98
Mummy Az
wrote:
>...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>
>Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>last.
>
>
><happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>
>Tristaan (still in love...)
Congratulations to both of you!
Ross and I rack up 16 years in December. 12/12 (a nice date, reads
the same no matter what side of the pond you're on). Like you two, we
find our love just gets stronger and our relationship better each day,
Az
Edna
Tristaan <trist...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> ...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>
> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
> last.
>
>
> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>
> Tristaan (still in love...)
Happy Anniversary! We are coming up on 18 years next month :-)
Edna
---|)--- Edna Huelsenbeck (huelsenbeck@gmailDOTcom) ------------
---|---- Goddess of the ABML Out-of-Practice-Musicians Band -----
--/|---- Member, Brute Squad, Mommy Division --------------------
-| |')-- Provisional Member of the Sisterhood of Mess -----------
--\|/----Official Bard of the Book and Bridle -------------------
|
'
Bookwyrm
> In article <fqm264llf8316gs15...@4ax.com>,
> Tristaan <trist...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> ...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>>
>> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>> last.
>>
>>
>> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>>
>> Tristaan (still in love...)
>
> Happy Anniversary! We are coming up on 18 years next month :-)
>
> Edna
<mumble> <mumble> 38 years in Nov. <faints>
'wyrm
Aaron Kemtek
> >> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
> >> last.
> >> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
> >> Tristaan (still in love...)
>
> > Happy Anniversary! We are coming up on 18 years next month :-)
> > Edna
>
> <mumble> <mumble> 38 years in Nov. <faints>
> 'wyrm
Gosh, *only* 29 years this fall (just FEELS like more). :)
Aaron
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> ...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>
> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
> last.
>
>
> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>
> Tristaan (still in love...)
<mumble, mumble> I have the perfect song to sing for the
occasion, but I can only remember the tune and half the lyrics...
not, crucially, the *name*.
But the memorable bit of the lyrics sings, "so happy togeeetther..."
("Imagine me and you, and you and me..." <hum, hum> "so happy
together"...)
--
Megan
Journeyperson Dancing Barbarian
Keeper o' the FAQ: http://home.earthlink.net/~m_thomas3/abml/
Mummy Az
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Tristaan wrote:
>
>> ...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>>
>> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>> last.
>>
>>
>> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>>
>> Tristaan (still in love...)
>
><mumble, mumble> I have the perfect song to sing for the
>occasion, but I can only remember the tune and half the lyrics...
> not, crucially, the *name*.
>
>But the memorable bit of the lyrics sings, "so happy togeeetther..."
>
>("Imagine me and you, and you and me..." <hum, hum> "so happy
>together"...)
Could it be Happy Together by The Turtles?
Imagine me and you, I do
I think about you day & night, it’s only right
To think about the *guy* you love and hold *him* tight
So happy together
If I should call you up, invest a dime
And you say you belong to me, and ease my mind
Imagine how the world could be, so very fine
So happy together
I can’t see me loving nobody but you
For all my life
When you’re with me, baby the skies will be blue
For all my life
Me and you, and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together
I can’t see me loving nobody but you
For all my life
When you’re with me, baby the skies will be blue
For all my life
Me and you, and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together
Me and you, and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it had to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together
So happy together
How is the weather
So happy together
We’re happy together
So happy together
We’re happy together
So happy together
So happy together
victoreia
> Edna wrote:
>> In article <fqm264llf8316gs15...@4ax.com>,
>> Tristaan <trist...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> ...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>>>
>>> Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>>> last.
>>>
>>>
>>> <happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>>>
>>> Tristaan (still in love...)
Wow! Congrats & double-dark-chocolate fudge!
>>
[snip]
> <mumble> <mumble> 38 years in Nov. <faints>
>
> 'wyrm
[wince] That was my folks a week & a half ago.... [don't ask how I was
present at the wedding.....]
--
victoreia [oh wait......theirs was [[choke]]
39!][i'm-not-old-i'm-not-old-i'm-not-old.......]
Goddess of Dark Chocolate
Tristaan
brain with:
>...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>
>Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>last.
>
>
><happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>
>Tristaan (still in love...)
There is only one problem in my mind right now with this time
period.
13 years ago on June 24th, 1995, I married the love of my life
and my best friend.
1 year ago on June 24th, 2007, I found out that the first woman
in my life was terminal.
1 year ago, coming up on July 3rd, I celebrate the anniversary of
her death.
I know, I know... I keep on hashing the same old stuff... but my
heart is so conflicted this week. I love my wife and I love our
life together and, on our anniversary, we had a great time
refreshing our memories of our life together, talking about our
favorite memories, those things that we did in the past that were
fun...
...but at the same time, unspoken sometimes, but there all the
same, my wife and I are remembering my Mom...
It's weird how you can be so incredibly happy and so incredibly
sad at the same time... Really odd to be laughing through
tears...
Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:29:13 -0700, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>Tristaan wrote:
>>
>>>...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>>>
>>>Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>>>last.
>>>
>>>
>>><happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>>>
>>>Tristaan (still in love...)
>>
>><mumble, mumble> I have the perfect song to sing for the
>>occasion, but I can only remember the tune and half the lyrics...
>> not, crucially, the *name*.
>>
>>But the memorable bit of the lyrics sings, "so happy togeeetther..."
>>
>>("Imagine me and you, and you and me..." <hum, hum> "so happy
>>together"...)
>
>
> Could it be Happy Together by The Turtles?
>
> Imagine me and you, I do
> I think about you day & night, it’s only right
> To think about the *guy* you love and hold *him* tight
> So happy together
>
> If I should call you up, invest a dime
> And you say you belong to me, and ease my mind
> Imagine how the world could be, so very fine
> So happy together
<snip>
Yeah, yeah, that's the one!
And I guess I did think of the name of the band, I just didn't
believe it. ("Turtles? Nah, that can't be right; no one would
name a band after turtles.")
For some reason I think of that song as a great one for happy
marriages and weddings and whatnot.
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:39:21 -0400, Tristaan stomped through my
> brain with:
>
>
>>...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>>
>>Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>>last.
>><happy lovey-dovey sigh>
> There is only one problem in my mind right now with this time
> period.
>
> 13 years ago on June 24th, 1995, I married the love of my life
> and my best friend.
>
> 1 year ago on June 24th, 2007, I found out that the first woman
> in my life was terminal.
<snip>
> It's weird how you can be so incredibly happy and so incredibly
> sad at the same time... Really odd to be laughing through
> tears...
It is weird. Upside, you know you aren't getting heartless and
callous in your old age. Downside... serious weirdness.
Fortunately, it does seem that the heart is a resilient organ,
and can survive mega-mood-swings, even if they give the head the
urge to go hide in a cave for a while.
I had a year, quite a while ago now, that went that way. Someone
died one month, the next month was all wedding broo-ha-ha for a
close friend, someone close died the month after that, and more
wedding broo-ha-ha for a different close friend the month after
that. Down, up, down, up. Phone call one day to discuss how my
aunt was doing as an unexpected widow, and the next day to
discuss what the groom should wear to the wedding.
Not quite the same scale as your swings, but more than enough to
flatten me.
Just remember to breath, ok?
Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>I had a year, quite a while ago now, that went that way. Someone
>died one month, the next month was all wedding broo-ha-ha for a
>close friend, someone close died the month after that, and more
>wedding broo-ha-ha for a different close friend the month after
>that. Down, up, down, up. Phone call one day to discuss how my
>aunt was doing as an unexpected widow, and the next day to
>discuss what the groom should wear to the wedding.
>
>Not quite the same scale as your swings, but more than enough to
>flatten me.
>
>Just remember to breath, ok?
<let's out gasp and blue color fades from face>
Whew! Thanks for the reminder. ;-)
Seriously though, this week is a bit shaky... not sure what next
week is going to hold (what with July 3rd being Thursday Next...
Whoops! There I go, getting sucked into a book again).
The week after that, we have a family reunion in Delaware on the
beach... Could be odd...
Sasha Rowan
Remember the best thing for both is lots of hugs from your loving wife and
two great kids. We go through the same thing at Christmas. A happy season
followed by the death anniversary of my FIL NYeve, almost 17 yrs ago.
(Although after 17 yrs, it's much more muted and less sharp than the 1 yr.)
Sasha
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> brain with:
>
>>...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>>
>>Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>>last.
>>
>>
>><happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>>
>>Tristaan (still in love...)
>
> There is only one problem in my mind right now with this time
> period.
>
> 13 years ago on June 24th, 1995, I married the love of my life
> and my best friend.
>
> 1 year ago on June 24th, 2007, I found out that the first woman
> in my life was terminal.
>
> 1 year ago, coming up on July 3rd, I celebrate the anniversary of
> her death.
Those last two are rough anniversaries. {sympathetic smile}
> I know, I know... I keep on hashing the same old stuff... but my
> heart is so conflicted this week.
You don't have to apologize. Greif has it's own schedule, and it will
follow that schedule whether we want it to or not. {sympathetic smile}
> I love my wife and I love our
> life together and, on our anniversary, we had a great time
> refreshing our memories of our life together, talking about our
> favorite memories, those things that we did in the past that were
> fun...
>
> ...but at the same time, unspoken sometimes, but there all the
> same, my wife and I are remembering my Mom...
>
> It's weird how you can be so incredibly happy and so incredibly
> sad at the same time... Really odd to be laughing through
> tears...
Yes, it is. Yet that's what happens sometimes. It's part of living, and
loving, and caring about those you love. {Warm Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Aaron Kemtek
I do not know if it was originally by the Turtles, but didn't the
Partridge Family sing it?
Aaron
Tristaan
my brain with:
>Remember the best thing for both is lots of hugs from your loving wife and
>two great kids. We go through the same thing at Christmas. A happy season
>followed by the death anniversary of my FIL NYeve, almost 17 yrs ago.
>(Although after 17 yrs, it's much more muted and less sharp than the 1 yr.)
I'm a bit better off than my SIL. The song I have quoted in my
sig I can actually listen to now without sobbing...she can't even
hear the song title...
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
news:17eb1ea6-cc43-42d0...@79g2000hsk.googlegroups.com...
>> >>>...especially for an ogre who married an elf.
>>
>> >>>Thirteen years... and counting... and each day is better than the
>> >>>last.
>>
>> >>><happy lovey-dovey sigh>
>>
>> >>>Tristaan (still in love...)
>>
>> >><mumble, mumble> I have the perfect song to sing for the
>> >>occasion, but I can only remember the tune and half the lyrics...
>> >> not, crucially, the *name*.
>>
>> >>But the memorable bit of the lyrics sings, "so happy togeeetther..."
>>
>> >>("Imagine me and you, and you and me..." <hum, hum> "so happy
>> >>together"...)
>>
>> > Could it be Happy Together by The Turtles?
>>
>> > Imagine me and you, I do
>> > I think about you day & night, it’s only right
>> > To think about the *guy* you love and hold *him* tight
>> > So happy together
>>
>> > If I should call you up, invest a dime
>> > And you say you belong to me, and ease my mind
>> > Imagine how the world could be, so very fine
>> > So happy together
>>
>>
>> And I guess I did think of the name of the band, I just didn't
>> believe it. ("Turtles? Nah, that can't be right; no one would
>> name a band after turtles.")
>>
>> For some reason I think of that song as a great one for happy
>> marriages and weddings and whatnot.
>
>I do not know if it was originally by the Turtles, but didn't the
>Partridge Family sing it?
>
>Aaron
I watched that show so much as a kid, I'd think I'm remember. No such
luck; I can't remember any of "their" songs. {rueful Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:47:44 -0400, Sasha Rowan stomped through
> my brain with:
>
>>Remember the best thing for both is lots of hugs from your loving wife
>>and
>>two great kids. We go through the same thing at Christmas. A happy
>>season
>>followed by the death anniversary of my FIL NYeve, almost 17 yrs ago.
>>(Although after 17 yrs, it's much more muted and less sharp than the 1
>>yr.)
>
> I'm a bit better off than my SIL. The song I have quoted in my
> sig I can actually listen to now without sobbing...she can't even
> hear the song title...
{sympathetic smile, pat hand comfortingly}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:49:42 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>I had a year, quite a while ago now, that went that way. Someone
>>died one month, the next month was all wedding broo-ha-ha for a
>>close friend, someone close died the month after that, and more
>>wedding broo-ha-ha for a different close friend the month after
>>that. Down, up, down, up. Phone call one day to discuss how my
>>aunt was doing as an unexpected widow, and the next day to
>>discuss what the groom should wear to the wedding.
>>
>>Not quite the same scale as your swings, but more than enough to
>>flatten me.
>>
>>Just remember to breath, ok?
>
> <let's out gasp and blue color fades from face>
>
> Whew! Thanks for the reminder. ;-)
>
> Seriously though, this week is a bit shaky... not sure what next
> week is going to hold (what with July 3rd being Thursday Next...
> Whoops! There I go, getting sucked into a book again).
Not a bad idea, getting sucked into a book. Can be an excellent
distraction from what is bugging a person. :>
> The week after that, we have a family reunion in Delaware on the
> beach... Could be odd...
Hmmm. Beach. Deep waters, strange animals. And you have small
children. I'm fairly sure you'll have distractions.
Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>Not a bad idea, getting sucked into a book. Can be an excellent
>distraction from what is bugging a person. :>
Especially when one is sucked in as Thursday Next is. You know,
I REALLY enjoyed those books... And Nursery Crimes.
Ah, gotta love a good pun (The right to arm bears....)
>Hmmm. Beach. Deep waters, strange animals. And you have small
>children. I'm fairly sure you'll have distractions.
Plenty... although my girls are pretty good at being safe at the
ocean. It's the strange animals that are the distractions...
Lessee... At Cape Henlopen we've seen brown pelicans, plovers,
welks, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, sting rays, horseshoe crabs,
ghost crabs, a large variety of terns, mole crabs, hermit crabs,
moon jellies, herrings, sea bass, tree toads, and a number of
North Eastern pine grove song birds...
And that's the short list. :-)
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:03:43 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>Not a bad idea, getting sucked into a book. Can be an excellent
>>distraction from what is bugging a person. :>
>
> Especially when one is sucked in as Thursday Next is. You know,
> I REALLY enjoyed those books... And Nursery Crimes.
>
> Ah, gotta love a good pun (The right to arm bears....)
Hmmm. Must remember to start the next novel in my re-reading of
Pratchett project. :>
>>Hmmm. Beach. Deep waters, strange animals. And you have small
>>children. I'm fairly sure you'll have distractions.
>
> Plenty... although my girls are pretty good at being safe at the
> ocean. It's the strange animals that are the distractions...
Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals.
(They run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first,
in order to scare/greet the dogs.)
> Lessee... At Cape Henlopen we've seen brown pelicans, plovers,
> welks, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, sting rays, horseshoe crabs,
> ghost crabs, a large variety of terns, mole crabs, hermit crabs,
> moon jellies, herrings, sea bass, tree toads, and a number of
> North Eastern pine grove song birds...
>
> And that's the short list. :-)
Hmmm. Most of those sound like they might have gosh knows what
poisons, diseases and parasites all over them, just waiting for a
small girl to touch.
Yep. You've got distractions, all right.
Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>Hmmm. Must remember to start the next novel in my re-reading of
>Pratchett project. :>
Whatcha up to?
>Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
>canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals.
>(They run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first,
>in order to scare/greet the dogs.)
Eh, well, our girls have been taught better than that (we like to
think, at least). :-)
>> And that's the short list. :-)
>
>Hmmm. Most of those sound like they might have gosh knows what
>poisons, diseases and parasites all over them, just waiting for a
>small girl to touch.
Well, of course! What's the fun of being a little person when
you can get messy and germy!
>Yep. You've got distractions, all right.
:-D Wouldn't trade them for the world.
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:03:43 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>Not a bad idea, getting sucked into a book. Can be an excellent
>>distraction from what is bugging a person. :>
>
> Especially when one is sucked in as Thursday Next is. You know,
> I REALLY enjoyed those books... And Nursery Crimes.
>
> Ah, gotta love a good pun (The right to arm bears....)
{GRIN} It is nice to find a punny book. {SMILE}
>>Hmmm. Beach. Deep waters, strange animals. And you have small
>>children. I'm fairly sure you'll have distractions.
>
> Plenty... although my girls are pretty good at being safe at the
> ocean. It's the strange animals that are the distractions...
>
> Lessee... At Cape Henlopen we've seen brown pelicans, plovers,
> welks, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, sting rays, horseshoe crabs,
> ghost crabs, a large variety of terns, mole crabs, hermit crabs,
> moon jellies, herrings, sea bass, tree toads, and a number of
> North Eastern pine grove song birds...
>
> And that's the short list. :-)
I have to wonder what the long list is like. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:HvWdnUfHWfm2TvbV...@earthlink.com...
> Tristaan wrote:
>> On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:03:43 -0700,
>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>
>>>Not a bad idea, getting sucked into a book. Can be an excellent
>>>distraction from what is bugging a person. :>
>>
>> Especially when one is sucked in as Thursday Next is. You know,
>> I REALLY enjoyed those books... And Nursery Crimes. Ah, gotta love a
>> good pun (The right to arm bears....)
>
> Hmmm. Must remember to start the next novel in my re-reading of
> Pratchett project. :>
{BIG GRIN}
>>>Hmmm. Beach. Deep waters, strange animals. And you have small
>>>children. I'm fairly sure you'll have distractions.
>> Plenty... although my girls are pretty good at being safe at the
>> ocean. It's the strange animals that are the distractions...
>
> Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
> canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals. (They
> run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first, in order
> to scare/greet the dogs.)
That sounds rather unnerving. Especially until you get used to it.
{Smile}
>> Lessee... At Cape Henlopen we've seen brown pelicans, plovers,
>> welks, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, sting rays, horseshoe crabs,
>> ghost crabs, a large variety of terns, mole crabs, hermit crabs,
>> moon jellies, herrings, sea bass, tree toads, and a number of
>> North Eastern pine grove song birds...
>>
>> And that's the short list. :-)
>
> Hmmm. Most of those sound like they might have gosh knows what poisons,
> diseases and parasites all over them, just waiting for a small girl to
> touch.
Fortunately, some sound like they'd rather not let a small girl get
close enough to try. {Smile}
> Yep. You've got distractions, all right.
{SMILE} Little girls are good at providing distractions. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>
<snip>
>>>>Hmmm. Beach. Deep waters, strange animals. And you have small
>>>>children. I'm fairly sure you'll have distractions.
>>>
>>> Plenty... although my girls are pretty good at being safe at the
>>>ocean. It's the strange animals that are the distractions...
>>
>>Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
>>canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals. (They
>>run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first, in order
>>to scare/greet the dogs.)
>
>
> That sounds rather unnerving. Especially until you get used to it.
> {Smile}
I keep freaking out that a car will come at just the wrong moment.
And a little girl, in that moment of little girl happy-saw-doggie,
just doesn't even see or hear me. So I, standing way above both girl
and dogs, can shout about stopping and looking and being careful all I
want -- they don't hear.
Fortunately, there is usually a parent around, and that voice shouting
the little girls will hear. Weird.
And, at least half the time, the girl is on the same side of the
street as I am. So I have to be quick, to remind the dogs to be on
"good manners", but I don't have to worry about badly timed cars. I
just have to talk like an auctioneer, whipping through the fastest
possible version of my "how to properly greet strange dogs" speech.
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:12:40 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>Hmmm. Must remember to start the next novel in my re-reading of
>>Pratchett project. :>
>
> Whatcha up to?
'Witches Abroad' is the next one up. I'm spacing them out a bit --
Pratchett's novels are like chocolate torte. I love 'em, but I don't
think it wise to read them one after another at full speed. They need
a little space between them for proper appreciation.
>>Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
>>canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals.
>>(They run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first,
>>in order to scare/greet the dogs.)
>
> Eh, well, our girls have been taught better than that (we like to
> think, at least). :-)
Many girls have. Most young girls still approach a little faster than
the owner of an excitable terrier can feel entirely comfortable about.
Fortunately, having been run up to by about a bazillion little kids in
the past half-dozen years, Pepper is now *much* calmer about it.
Downright civilized. Gets a bit twitchy and backy-uppy when
surrounded by a half-dozen excited kids at one time, but, so far, has
behaved himself. I try to give the world's fastest explanation of
good dog manners and dog body language, if surrounded by what seem
like dog-ignorant little kids.
("Let the dog sniff you, stay away from ears and tail when petting,
let the dog sniff you, don't wave any sticks, let the dog sniff you...")
>>>And that's the short list. :-)
>>
>>Hmmm. Most of those sound like they might have gosh knows what
>>poisons, diseases and parasites all over them, just waiting for a
>>small girl to touch.
>
> Well, of course! What's the fun of being a little person when
> you can get messy and germy!
Freaking your parents out is just a bonus.
Some friends of mine took their eyes off their tiny angel for three
minutes and she tried to eat goose poop.
>>Yep. You've got distractions, all right.
>
> :-D Wouldn't trade them for the world.
:>
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:12:40 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>
>>Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
>>canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals.
>>(They run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first,
>>in order to scare/greet the dogs.)
>
> Eh, well, our girls have been taught better than that (we like to
> think, at least). :-)
The trick is getting them to remember what you've taught them at the
right time. I hope they're good at that. {GRIN, cross fingers}
>>> And that's the short list. :-)
>>
>>Hmmm. Most of those sound like they might have gosh knows what
>>poisons, diseases and parasites all over them, just waiting for a
>>small girl to touch.
>
> Well, of course! What's the fun of being a little person when
> you can get messy and germy!
Of course. That's one of that highlights. {BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
>>Yep. You've got distractions, all right.
>
> :-D Wouldn't trade them for the world.
{BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>'Witches Abroad' is the next one up. I'm spacing them out a bit --
>Pratchett's novels are like chocolate torte. I love 'em, but I don't
>think it wise to read them one after another at full speed. They need
>a little space between them for proper appreciation.
That's one of my faves. :-) And yes, Pratchett needs a bit of
space between books. :-)
>Many girls have. Most young girls still approach a little faster than
>the owner of an excitable terrier can feel entirely comfortable about.
Then, of course, it IS an excitable terrier and I'm sure that a
snail approaching at any speed would excite the little critter,
too. ;-)
>("Let the dog sniff you, stay away from ears and tail when petting,
>let the dog sniff you, don't wave any sticks, let the dog sniff you...")
"Eeewww! I got dog snot on my, Mommy!"
>Freaking your parents out is just a bonus.
And what a fun bonus at that...
>Some friends of mine took their eyes off their tiny angel for three
>minutes and she tried to eat goose poop.
<shudder> Mine are a BIT smarter than that...
Tristaan
<anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
> The trick is getting them to remember what you've taught them at the
>right time. I hope they're good at that. {GRIN, cross fingers}
That, of course, is the challenge of all parents. Interestingly
enough, when the girls are at home being supervised by us, they
find all SORTS of ways of disobeying...
...but when they are with a sitter, or at a friend's house, or in
any other location, they are good as gold. I don't understand
it...the places where they are in familiar environments where
they know the rules they disobey at every turn...but in the
unfamiliar places, they behave like little angels...
<sigh>
Ah, well... I love them. :-)
Tristaan
<anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
> I have to wonder what the long list is like. {SMILE}
Well, I'd need to have time to sit down, research on eNature.com
all the different species of animals and bugs we encountered,
link each one here, the quantities and locations of each one,
etc....
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:44:53 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>Many girls have. Most young girls still approach a little faster than
>>the owner of an excitable terrier can feel entirely comfortable about.
>
> Then, of course, it IS an excitable terrier and I'm sure that a
> snail approaching at any speed would excite the little critter,
> too. ;-)
Used to. He is (finally!) calming down with age.
The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
(Upside, I may have finally found a way to rid my yard of snails.
Chihuahua plays "ball" with them.)
<snip>
>>Some friends of mine took their eyes off their tiny angel for three
>>minutes and she tried to eat goose poop.
>
> <shudder> Mine are a BIT smarter than that...
Also older. This little angel is only one year old. At the time, she
had barely figured out how to crawl, and I suspect she had recently
upgraded to a higher-speed crawl without informing her parents.
(OOoooo! I can crawl at lightspeed! Zoom!)
Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>Used to. He is (finally!) calming down with age.
That's good. :-)
>The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
You know... no offense... but Chihuahuas... They just don't
LOOK like dogs...
>> <shudder> Mine are a BIT smarter than that...
>
>Also older. This little angel is only one year old. At the time, she
>had barely figured out how to crawl, and I suspect she had recently
>upgraded to a higher-speed crawl without informing her parents.
>(OOoooo! I can crawl at lightspeed! Zoom!)
My kids went from inchworm, to scoot, to roll, to crawl, to
run-at-top-speed-and-be-slipperier-than-a-watermelon-coated-with-Vaseline-in-a-swimming-pool.
SAMK
> I keep freaking out that a car will come at just the wrong moment. And a
> little girl, in that moment of little girl happy-saw-doggie, just
> doesn't even see or hear me. So I, standing way above both girl and
> dogs, can shout about stopping and looking and being careful all I want
> -- they don't hear.
>
> Fortunately, there is usually a parent around, and that voice shouting
> the little girls will hear. Weird.
>
> And, at least half the time, the girl is on the same side of the street
> as I am. So I have to be quick, to remind the dogs to be on "good
> manners", but I don't have to worry about badly timed cars. I just have
> to talk like an auctioneer, whipping through the fastest possible
> version of my "how to properly greet strange dogs" speech.
Wow. You need to practice up your "parent" voice, even if you are not.
It is not the particular parent's voice which gets attention, but that
tone. Some parents don't have it. I'm good with it. Small children
stop and take note when I use my Mom voice. Even small children to
whom I have absolutely no relationship.
SAMK
Mummy Az
wrote:
>On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 20:30:19 -1000, "Anne Elizabeth Baldwin"
><anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
>
>> The trick is getting them to remember what you've taught them at the
>>right time. I hope they're good at that. {GRIN, cross fingers}
>
>That, of course, is the challenge of all parents. Interestingly
>enough, when the girls are at home being supervised by us, they
>find all SORTS of ways of disobeying...
>
>...but when they are with a sitter, or at a friend's house, or in
>any other location, they are good as gold. I don't understand
>it...the places where they are in familiar environments where
>they know the rules they disobey at every turn...but in the
>unfamiliar places, they behave like little angels...
>
><sigh>
>
>Ah, well... I love them. :-)
>
>Tristaan
Tris, this is ABSOLUTELY typical of kids! Still, when would you
prefer perfect behaviour - at home when no-one but parents can see or
out in 'public' where all the world and his dog will notice the
slightest misbehaviour and comment loudly and in detail on How Lax
Parents Have Become And How In My Day Children Learned Respect? If
you could only choose ONE situation in which to have perfectly-behaved
kids?
I always figured that at home my kids felt relaxed and comfortable
enough to 'push the envelope' and that's why they did it then. They
knew they had my unconditional love and that I could hate what they
did while never losing my love for them so it was 'safe' for them to
try and get around the rules. With (relative) strangers around things
were less secure and thus not a time to try out something new.
Mine are heading into the Teen years now - Athena is 13 1/2 (and
taller than me, darn it!) and Ishtar is 12. Life should get ...
interesting ... from here on in. They are annoyed with me, though.
Since MY teen rebellion was picking up a novel and reading it (my
father didn't approve of novels and was quite proud of the fact he had
never picked one up in his adult life) they figure they can't do THAT
one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
I love mine, too and will continue to do so no matter how they manage
to try me over the coming years.
Az
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
<snip>
> Since MY teen rebellion was picking up a novel and reading it (my
> father didn't approve of novels and was quite proud of the fact he had
> never picked one up in his adult life) they figure they can't do THAT
What, never??? Not one Hardy Boys, not one Nero Wolfe, not even the
Maltese Falcon or Tarzan?
Never?
What a weird experience that must have been for you.
(My dad is a reader. 99% non-fiction, but he has read fiction. Even,
in his 60s, made a clean sweep through the collected works of Jane
Austen! I found that reading choice fascinating, since he was a Tom
Clancy guy in his 40s-50s. [That was back when Tom Clancy was good.])
> one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
> to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
> it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the
Pacific Ocean should keep *me* safe.
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
I have a 'voice' that is highly effective on strange dogs. I don't
know that I could bring myself to use it on strange children -- what
if their parents get mad at me?
Maybe the experience of being a mom trains a person in how to use that
particular 'voice'. I'll have to steel my nerves and try the Strange
Dogs Voice on small kids sometime.
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:47:55 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
<snip>
>>The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>
> You know... no offense... but Chihuahuas... They just don't
> LOOK like dogs...
I agree. But Chihuahuas are very popular in my area, so when I get
followed home by a lost dog... well, just my luck. He followed me
home, no one called after I put up flyers, and the news on TV had
several reports on how animal shelters in my area were overwhelmed
with dogs abandoned by foreclosure victims. I just couldn't bring
myself to turn him over to the system under the circumstances.
Gonna make for some very interesting dog socialization exercises, when
I finally am able to get a properly sized canine. (Big, like the dogs
I grew up with.)
>>><shudder> Mine are a BIT smarter than that...
>>
>>Also older. This little angel is only one year old. At the time, she
>>had barely figured out how to crawl, and I suspect she had recently
>>upgraded to a higher-speed crawl without informing her parents.
>>(OOoooo! I can crawl at lightspeed! Zoom!)
>
>
> My kids went from inchworm, to scoot, to roll, to crawl, to
> run-at-top-speed-and-be-slipperier-than-a-watermelon-coated-with-Vaseline-in-a-swimming-pool.
Your kids might not be the only kids to make that leap. Without
telling their parents ahead of time. :>
Mummy Az
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Mummy Az wrote:
><snip>
>> Since MY teen rebellion was picking up a novel and reading it (my
>> father didn't approve of novels and was quite proud of the fact he had
>> never picked one up in his adult life) they figure they can't do THAT
>
>What, never??? Not one Hardy Boys, not one Nero Wolfe, not even the
>Maltese Falcon or Tarzan?
>
>Never?
>
>What a weird experience that must have been for you.
He had done SOME reading as a child, mostly books assigned by his
teachers for school. Once he left school, at 16, he NEVER EVER picked
up a novel to read again. He did read, always read the newspaper,
some magazines and liked non-fiction but never a novel. He could
happily go through weeks on end with never reading a word except the
newspaper and work things.
It was very strange. I LOVED to read (and still go through at least
one book most days of the week) and so did my mother. We grew up with
very few books in the house because Dad didn't believe in 'wasting
money' on them - but we made a trip to the local library almost every
week for a new Stash for us kids and for Mum!
>(My dad is a reader. 99% non-fiction, but he has read fiction. Even,
>in his 60s, made a clean sweep through the collected works of Jane
>Austen! I found that reading choice fascinating, since he was a Tom
>Clancy guy in his 40s-50s. [That was back when Tom Clancy was good.])
>
>> one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
>> to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
>> it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
>
>Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the
>Pacific Ocean should keep *me* safe.
Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
Az
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:52 -0700, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>Mummy Az wrote:
<snip>
>>>Since MY teen rebellion was picking up a novel and reading it (my
>>>father didn't approve of novels and was quite proud of the fact he had
>>>never picked one up in his adult life) they figure they can't do THAT
>>
>>What, never??? Not one Hardy Boys, not one Nero Wolfe, not even the
>>Maltese Falcon or Tarzan?
>>
>>Never?
>>
>>What a weird experience that must have been for you.
>
> He had done SOME reading as a child, mostly books assigned by his
> teachers for school. Once he left school, at 16, he NEVER EVER picked
> up a novel to read again. He did read, always read the newspaper,
> some magazines and liked non-fiction but never a novel. He could
> happily go through weeks on end with never reading a word except the
> newspaper and work things.
>
> It was very strange. I LOVED to read (and still go through at least
> one book most days of the week) and so did my mother. We grew up with
> very few books in the house because Dad didn't believe in 'wasting
> money' on them - but we made a trip to the local library almost every
> week for a new Stash for us kids and for Mum!
How awkward for you! My dad went years without reading novels (though
he read a *lot* of non-fiction -- journals, books, magazines, on all
kinds of topics), but he didn't have any issues with paying for novels
for his kids. Maybe not as many novels as we read; that would have
cost a fortune. But he even payed for some fairly awful teenage
schlock reading without much more than mild grumbling. :>
Thank goodness you had a local library!
<snip>
>>>one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
>>>to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
>>>it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
>>
>>Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the
>>Pacific Ocean should keep *me* safe.
>
> Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
> good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
Hmmmm. Do those robot parts include plastic casings and plumbers
tape/glue to seal up holes? If it doesn't (and those are not at all
standard robots goodies), I won't worry. The robot can't escape your
continent unless it is thoroughly water-proofed. :>
Hmmm. Or flies. But I don't think *anyone* has yet built a UAV that
can navigate across the Pacific... and, upon reflection, I am less
reassured. That sounds kinda like something a teenage roboticist
would try...
Well. Just don't let her buy rocket or airplane fuel. :>
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:2M2dnVC2xcwhAvDV...@earthlink.com...
Those are great, even if my parents are both Readers who are into
science fiction and fantasy too. {BIG SMILE}
>>>>one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
>>>>to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
>>>>it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
>>>
>>>Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the Pacific
>>>Ocean should keep *me* safe.
>>
>> Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
>> good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
>
> Hmmmm. Do those robot parts include plastic casings and plumbers
> tape/glue to seal up holes? If it doesn't (and those are not at all
> standard robots goodies), I won't worry. The robot can't escape your
> continent unless it is thoroughly water-proofed. :>
>
> Hmmm. Or flies. But I don't think *anyone* has yet built a UAV that can
> navigate across the Pacific... and, upon reflection, I am less reassured.
> That sounds kinda like something a teenage roboticist would try...
>
> Well. Just don't let her buy rocket or airplane fuel. :>
That's easier said than done if she decides to take up model rocketry.
{BIG SMILE, wink}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>>Tristaan wrote:
> <snip>
>>>>>Hmmm. Beach. Deep waters, strange animals. And you have small
>>>>>children. I'm fairly sure you'll have distractions.
>>>>
>>>> Plenty... although my girls are pretty good at being safe at the
>>>>ocean. It's the strange animals that are the distractions...
>>>
>>>Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
>>>canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals. (They
>>>run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first, in
>>>order to scare/greet the dogs.)
>>
>>
>> That sounds rather unnerving. Especially until you get used to it.
>> {Smile}
>
> I keep freaking out that a car will come at just the wrong moment. And a
> little girl, in that moment of little girl happy-saw-doggie, just doesn't
> even see or hear me. So I, standing way above both girl and dogs, can
> shout about stopping and looking and being careful all I want -- they
> don't hear.
That would be unnerving. {sympathetic Smile}
> Fortunately, there is usually a parent around, and that voice shouting
> the little girls will hear. Weird.
>
> And, at least half the time, the girl is on the same side of the street
> as I am. So I have to be quick, to remind the dogs to be on "good
> manners", but I don't have to worry about badly timed cars. I just have
> to talk like an auctioneer, whipping through the fastest possible version
> of my "how to properly greet strange dogs" speech.
{Chuckle, Smile} That does sound like an interesting version of that
speech. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Tristaan wrote:
>> On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:12:40 -0700,
>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>
>>>Hmmm. Must remember to start the next novel in my re-reading of
>>>Pratchett project. :>
>>
>> Whatcha up to?
>
> 'Witches Abroad' is the next one up. I'm spacing them out a bit --
> Pratchett's novels are like chocolate torte. I love 'em, but I don't
> think it wise to read them one after another at full speed. They need a
> little space between them for proper appreciation.
Some books do. {Smile}
>>>Speaking as the frequent walker of small, strangely gravitational
>>>canines, I'm aware of how little girls are around strange animals. (They
>>>run, screaming, across roads, without looking for traffic first, in
>>>order to scare/greet the dogs.)
>>
>> Eh, well, our girls have been taught better than that (we like to
>> think, at least). :-)
>
> Many girls have. Most young girls still approach a little faster than
> the owner of an excitable terrier can feel entirely comfortable about.
>
> Fortunately, having been run up to by about a bazillion little kids in
> the past half-dozen years, Pepper is now *much* calmer about it.
> Downright civilized. Gets a bit twitchy and backy-uppy when surrounded
> by a half-dozen excited kids at one time, but, so far, has behaved
> himself. I try to give the world's fastest explanation of good dog
> manners and dog body language, if surrounded by what seem like
> dog-ignorant little kids.
>
> ("Let the dog sniff you, stay away from ears and tail when petting, let
> the dog sniff you, don't wave any sticks, let the dog sniff you...")
This speech really seems made for auctioneer's speed speech. {BIG SMILE}
>>>>And that's the short list. :-)
>>>
>>>Hmmm. Most of those sound like they might have gosh knows what poisons,
>>>diseases and parasites all over them, just waiting for a small girl to
>>>touch.
>>
>> Well, of course! What's the fun of being a little person when
>> you can get messy and germy!
>
> Freaking your parents out is just a bonus.
But it's a bonus many children seem to like. {SMILE}
> Some friends of mine took their eyes off their tiny angel for three
> minutes and she tried to eat goose poop.
>
>>>Yep. You've got distractions, all right.
>>
>> :-D Wouldn't trade them for the world.
>
> :>
{BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Rex Reynolds
"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:2M2dnVC2xcwhAvDV...@earthlink.com...
I suppose that mentioning the 'vac-u-boat' website is a no-no...wouldn't
want to be responsible for some child to be terrorizing the local pond
denizons with a vac-u-duck :)
rex
Mummy Az
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Mummy Az wrote:
About teenage rebellion...
>>>> I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
>>>>to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
>>>>it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
>>>
>>>Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the
>>>Pacific Ocean should keep *me* safe.
>>
>> Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
>> good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
>
>Hmmmm. Do those robot parts include plastic casings and plumbers
>tape/glue to seal up holes? If it doesn't (and those are not at all
>standard robots goodies), I won't worry. The robot can't escape your
>continent unless it is thoroughly water-proofed. :>
>
>Hmmm. Or flies. But I don't think *anyone* has yet built a UAV that
>can navigate across the Pacific... and, upon reflection, I am less
>reassured. That sounds kinda like something a teenage roboticist
>would try...
>
>Well. Just don't let her buy rocket or airplane fuel. :>
Should I mention now that the current project involves a flying robot?
Or that she REALLY wants a Retropolis Ladies' World Domination Society
T-Shirt from
http://www.printfection.com/retro-future/Retropolis-T-Shirts-Page-2/_s_62638
(although she wouldn't mind an Ask Me About My Death Ray or
Certifiable Mad Genius one from other parts of the same website) I
can't fault her on taste - I'd like those ones as well!
Or that she got 6 As and 2 Bs on her first-semester Report Card that
she brought home today - including As in Science and
Design-and-Technology classes. At that she's being marked at a
standard of a year *above* her nominal year level (she's in year 8 but
her Gifted class gets assessed at year 9 level) Not that I'm bragging,
of course!
Ishtar also did well - 3 As, 4 Bs and 1C (for PE - can't blame her
there for not liking the subject matter). I'm just glad that we never
established the policy of 'paying' for As and Bs as I know some
parents do to encourage high marks. If I did it the way I know some
parents did when I was at school ($20 for each A, $10 for each B) I
would be well out of pocket and they would have a nice little Stash of
Cash to spend over the next two weeks of Winter Vacation.
Az
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 20:30:19 -1000, "Anne Elizabeth Baldwin"
> <anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
>
>> The trick is getting them to remember what you've taught them at the
>>right time. I hope they're good at that. {GRIN, cross fingers}
>
> That, of course, is the challenge of all parents. Interestingly
> enough, when the girls are at home being supervised by us, they
> find all SORTS of ways of disobeying...
>
> ...but when they are with a sitter, or at a friend's house, or in
> any other location, they are good as gold. I don't understand
> it...the places where they are in familiar environments where
> they know the rules they disobey at every turn...but in the
> unfamiliar places, they behave like little angels...
>
> <sigh>
If they have to misbehave, at least they pick the right time to do so.
{SMILE, wink}
> Ah, well... I love them. :-)
Yes, I can see that. {BIG SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 17:57:41 -1000, "Anne Elizabeth Baldwin"
> <anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
>
>> I have to wonder what the long list is like. {SMILE}
>
> Well, I'd need to have time to sit down, research on eNature.com
> all the different species of animals and bugs we encountered,
> link each one here, the quantities and locations of each one,
> etc....
>
> :-)
>
> Tristaan
I see. That would be a longer and more complicated list. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:RJGdnU8AktEgn_DV...@earthlink.com...
> Tristaan wrote:
>> On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:44:53 -0700,
>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>
> <snip>
>>>Many girls have. Most young girls still approach a little faster than
>>>the owner of an excitable terrier can feel entirely comfortable about.
>>
>> Then, of course, it IS an excitable terrier and I'm sure that a
>> snail approaching at any speed would excite the little critter,
>> too. ;-)
>
> Used to. He is (finally!) calming down with age.
>
> The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>
> (Upside, I may have finally found a way to rid my yard of snails.
> Chihuahua plays "ball" with them.)
I take it he likes these little "playmates?" {Smile}
> <snip>
>>>Some friends of mine took their eyes off their tiny angel for three
>>>minutes and she tried to eat goose poop.
>>
>> <shudder> Mine are a BIT smarter than that...
>
> Also older. This little angel is only one year old. At the time, she
> had barely figured out how to crawl, and I suspect she had recently
> upgraded to a higher-speed crawl without informing her parents. (OOoooo!
> I can crawl at lightspeed! Zoom!)
{GRIN} Babies have a way of doing that. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:47:55 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>Used to. He is (finally!) calming down with age.
>
> That's good. :-)
>
>>The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>
> You know... no offense... but Chihuahuas... They just don't
> LOOK like dogs...
>
>>> <shudder> Mine are a BIT smarter than that...
>>
>>Also older. This little angel is only one year old. At the time, she
>>had barely figured out how to crawl, and I suspect she had recently
>>upgraded to a higher-speed crawl without informing her parents.
>>(OOoooo! I can crawl at lightspeed! Zoom!)
>
> My kids went from inchworm, to scoot, to roll, to crawl, to
> run-at-top-speed-and-be-slipperier-than-a-watermelon-coated-with-Vaseline-
> in-a-swimming-pool.
That sounds all too like what healthy kids do. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
news:j0lq649v8npoca9p8...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:11:57 -0400, Tristaan <trist...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>>On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 20:30:19 -1000, "Anne Elizabeth Baldwin"
>><anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
>>
>>> The trick is getting them to remember what you've taught them at the
>>>right time. I hope they're good at that. {GRIN, cross fingers}
>>
>>That, of course, is the challenge of all parents. Interestingly
>>enough, when the girls are at home being supervised by us, they
>>find all SORTS of ways of disobeying...
>>
>>...but when they are with a sitter, or at a friend's house, or in
>>any other location, they are good as gold. I don't understand
>>it...the places where they are in familiar environments where
>>they know the rules they disobey at every turn...but in the
>>unfamiliar places, they behave like little angels...
>>
>><sigh>
>>
>>Ah, well... I love them. :-)
>>
>>Tristaan
>
> Tris, this is ABSOLUTELY typical of kids! Still, when would you
> prefer perfect behaviour - at home when no-one but parents can see or
> out in 'public' where all the world and his dog will notice the
> slightest misbehaviour and comment loudly and in detail on How Lax
> Parents Have Become And How In My Day Children Learned Respect? If
> you could only choose ONE situation in which to have perfectly-behaved
> kids?
Good point. {SMILE}
> I always figured that at home my kids felt relaxed and comfortable
> enough to 'push the envelope' and that's why they did it then. They
> knew they had my unconditional love and that I could hate what they
> did while never losing my love for them so it was 'safe' for them to
> try and get around the rules. With (relative) strangers around things
> were less secure and thus not a time to try out something new.
It is nice to know they have your trust, even if the way they show this
is frustrating. {Smile}
> Mine are heading into the Teen years now - Athena is 13 1/2 (and
> taller than me, darn it!) and Ishtar is 12. Life should get ...
> interesting ... from here on in. They are annoyed with me, though.
> Since MY teen rebellion was picking up a novel and reading it (my
> father didn't approve of novels and was quite proud of the fact he had
> never picked one up in his adult life) they figure they can't do THAT
> one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
> to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
> it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
I don't suppose they'll take my approach. I had enough problems with the
kids at school, I was too busy rebelling against teenage society to rebel
against my parents. {smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> I love mine, too and will continue to do so no matter how they manage
> to try me over the coming years.
I'm sure you will. {WARM SMILE}
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Mummy Az wrote:
> <snip>
>> Since MY teen rebellion was picking up a novel and reading it (my
>> father didn't approve of novels and was quite proud of the fact he had
>> never picked one up in his adult life) they figure they can't do THAT
>
> What, never??? Not one Hardy Boys, not one Nero Wolfe, not even the
> Maltese Falcon or Tarzan?
>
> Never?
>
> What a weird experience that must have been for you.
That would be strange. My father is a slower reader than I am, as surely
as I'm slower than Mom. However, we're all avid readers in our own way.
{Smile}
> (My dad is a reader. 99% non-fiction, but he has read fiction. Even, in
> his 60s, made a clean sweep through the collected works of Jane Austen!
> I found that reading choice fascinating, since he was a Tom Clancy guy in
> his 40s-50s. [That was back when Tom Clancy was good.])
Sounds like my surprise when Dad liked _Sarah_Plain_and_Tall_, and _The_
_Hob's_Bargain._ He's usually interested in science fiction and fantasy,
but he tends to prefer ones with less romance and more other stuff going
on. That's why I didn't expect _The_Hob's_Bargain._ He couldn't get into
_Sorcery_and_Cecelia_ at all. He's more into Tolkien, MZB, McCaffrey, early
Honor Harrington, Heinlein, Anderson.... {Smile}
>> one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
>> to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
>> it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
>
> Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the Pacific
> Ocean should keep *me* safe.
{cross fingers, BIG GRIN}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Marian Griffith
> Should I mention now that the current project involves a flying robot?
> Or that she REALLY wants a Retropolis Ladies' World Domination Society
> T-Shirt from
> http://www.printfection.com/retro-future/Retropolis-T-Shirts-Page-2/_s_62638
> (although she wouldn't mind an Ask Me About My Death Ray or
> Certifiable Mad Genius one from other parts of the same website) I
> can't fault her on taste - I'd like those ones as well!
Maybe she would be interesting to read about the adventures of Agatha
Heterodyne (Certified Mad Girl and capable of building a death ray :)
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
I do not think they have T-shirts though, so that is a slight negative
point.
Eri
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...
Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>Fortunately, having been run up to by about a bazillion little kids in
>>the past half-dozen years, Pepper is now *much* calmer about it.
>>Downright civilized. Gets a bit twitchy and backy-uppy when surrounded
>>by a half-dozen excited kids at one time, but, so far, has behaved
>>himself. I try to give the world's fastest explanation of good dog
>>manners and dog body language, if surrounded by what seem like
>>dog-ignorant little kids.
>>
>>("Let the dog sniff you, stay away from ears and tail when petting, let
>>the dog sniff you, don't wave any sticks, let the dog sniff you...")
>
>
> This speech really seems made for auctioneer's speed speech. {BIG SMILE}
I've had practice, and learned to pare it down to the key essentials.
I also wave off any kids that are holding ice cream cones or what
have you -- make them stay out of reach until the ice cream is gone.
Pepper is a good dog, but he's not a saint. :>
I work in nuances about how dogs have better noses than humans, and
socialization/training is important for dogs, and how good dog owners
clean up after their dogs (I can try to get that idea out there,
right?), after the peaceful petting is well under way.
I walk my dogs daily, and they are very cute. I get approached by
small kids *often*.
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>Tristaan wrote:
>>
>>>On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:44:53 -0700,
>>>m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>
<snip - dogs>
>>Used to. He is (finally!) calming down with age.
>>
>>The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>>
>>(Upside, I may have finally found a way to rid my yard of snails.
>>Chihuahua plays "ball" with them.)
>
> I take it he likes these little "playmates?" {Smile}
He likes anything round-ish and throw-able. He's not picky about his
toys. :>
I mostly see him with round things that have fallen from trees. But
I've seen snails suffering his attentions, too.
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:00:52 -0700, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>Mummy Az wrote:
>><snip>
>>> Since MY teen rebellion was picking up a novel and reading it (my
>>> father didn't approve of novels and was quite proud of the fact he had
>>> never picked one up in his adult life) they figure they can't do THAT
>>
>>What, never??? Not one Hardy Boys, not one Nero Wolfe, not even the
>>Maltese Falcon or Tarzan?
>>
>>Never?
>>
>>What a weird experience that must have been for you.
>
> He had done SOME reading as a child, mostly books assigned by his
> teachers for school. Once he left school, at 16, he NEVER EVER picked
> up a novel to read again. He did read, always read the newspaper,
> some magazines and liked non-fiction but never a novel. He could
> happily go through weeks on end with never reading a word except the
> newspaper and work things.
>
> It was very strange.
Yes, it was. I've never heard of anyone with quite that strict an
attitude before. {half-smile}
> I LOVED to read (and still go through at least
> one book most days of the week) and so did my mother. We grew up with
> very few books in the house because Dad didn't believe in 'wasting
> money' on them - but we made a trip to the local library almost every
> week for a new Stash for us kids and for Mum!
I'm a little surprised your Mom didn't object to his objections to
fiction. {lop-sided smile}
>>(My dad is a reader. 99% non-fiction, but he has read fiction. Even,
>>in his 60s, made a clean sweep through the collected works of Jane
>>Austen! I found that reading choice fascinating, since he was a Tom
>>Clancy guy in his 40s-50s. [That was back when Tom Clancy was good.])
>>
>>> one - but I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
>>> to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
>>> it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
>>
>>Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the
>>Pacific Ocean should keep *me* safe.
>
> Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
> good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
Does she plan to follow her father into the sciences? {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
SAMK
> Ishtar also did well - 3 As, 4 Bs and 1C (for PE - can't blame her
> there for not liking the subject matter). I'm just glad that we never
> established the policy of 'paying' for As and Bs as I know some
> parents do to encourage high marks. If I did it the way I know some
> parents did when I was at school ($20 for each A, $10 for each B) I
> would be well out of pocket and they would have a nice little Stash of
> Cash to spend over the next two weeks of Winter Vacation.
>
> Az
Yeah, we don't pay for grades either. We have the expectation of As.
My parents, it was "What? YOU GOT A B? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
My daughter, I have to convince her that an A- is STILL an A.
SAMK
SAMK
> Mummy Az wrote:
>
>> Should I mention now that the current project involves a flying robot?
>> Or that she REALLY wants a Retropolis Ladies' World Domination Society
>> T-Shirt from
>> http://www.printfection.com/retro-future/Retropolis-T-Shirts-Page-2/_s_62638
>>
>> (although she wouldn't mind an Ask Me About My Death Ray or
>> Certifiable Mad Genius one from other parts of the same website) I
>> can't fault her on taste - I'd like those ones as well!
>
> Maybe she would be interesting to read about the adventures of Agatha
> Heterodyne (Certified Mad Girl and capable of building a death ray :)
>
> http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
>
> I do not think they have T-shirts though, so that is a slight negative
> point.
>
>
> Eri
Oh, yes they do. Cafe Press linked right from their site.
SAMK
SAMK
The thing is, if the small children are subject to the parent voice, and
their parents are not correcting them, then the parent voice tends to
have a similar effect on the parents. That is, don't mess with me, just
do what you're told. I have noted that it will, in many cases, also
cause the parents to do their job.
SAMK
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:57:44 -0700, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>Mummy Az wrote:
<snip>
>>>Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
>>>good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
>>
<snip>
>>Hmmm. Or flies. But I don't think *anyone* has yet built a UAV that
>>can navigate across the Pacific... and, upon reflection, I am less
>>reassured. That sounds kinda like something a teenage roboticist
>>would try...
>>
>>Well. Just don't let her buy rocket or airplane fuel. :>
>
> Should I mention now that the current project involves a flying robot?
> Or that she REALLY wants a Retropolis Ladies' World Domination Society
> T-Shirt from
> http://www.printfection.com/retro-future/Retropolis-T-Shirts-Page-2/_s_62638
> (although she wouldn't mind an Ask Me About My Death Ray or
> Certifiable Mad Genius one from other parts of the same website) I
> can't fault her on taste - I'd like those ones as well!
Perhaps she could be persuaded to go for a 'Smart Chix' t-shirt
instead? http://enssc.com/Products.aspx?subcat=12
Maybe the lack of death rays or world domination would put her off. :>
> Or that she got 6 As and 2 Bs on her first-semester Report Card that
> she brought home today - including As in Science and
> Design-and-Technology classes. At that she's being marked at a
> standard of a year *above* her nominal year level (she's in year 8 but
> her Gifted class gets assessed at year 9 level) Not that I'm bragging,
> of course!
Of *course* not! You would never do anything like bragging! <g>
Good for her!
> Ishtar also did well - 3 As, 4 Bs and 1C (for PE - can't blame her
> there for not liking the subject matter). I'm just glad that we never
> established the policy of 'paying' for As and Bs as I know some
> parents do to encourage high marks. If I did it the way I know some
> parents did when I was at school ($20 for each A, $10 for each B) I
> would be well out of pocket and they would have a nice little Stash of
> Cash to spend over the next two weeks of Winter Vacation.
Great googly. You'd be out a fortune if you paid them for high
grades! ($20 an A? Hot diggity!)
My parents used to let the kid who came home with a good report card
pick the restaurant on a family dinner outing. Or the cuisine, for
take-out. That gives the kid a reward, without putting the parents
out of pocket for anything but a meal (which the parents need to pay
for anyway). Perhaps you could try something more like that. :>
(Although, if memory serves, you have some diet restrictions which may
keep you from eating out often. Take-out, just for the girls?)
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>
>> SAMK wrote:
>>
>>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>> I have a 'voice' that is highly effective on strange dogs. I
>> don't know that I could bring myself to use it on strange
>> children -- what if their parents get mad at me?
>>
>> Maybe the experience of being a mom trains a person in how to use
>> that particular 'voice'. I'll have to steel my nerves and try
>> the Strange Dogs Voice on small kids sometime.
>
> The thing is, if the small children are subject to the parent
> voice, and their parents are not correcting them, then the parent
> voice tends to have a similar effect on the parents. That is,
> don't mess with me, just do what you're told. I have noted that it
> will, in many cases, also cause the parents to do their job.
Kids have a startling ability to spot something fascinating, on the
other side of the street, jjuuuuuust at the moment a parental head
turns away. Lean over to pull a weed, and that's the moment the
little darling will spy my dogs. Zoom!
Me calling out does usually get the parent looking, and (more
effectively) calling out to the kid. But some of those kids can
really scoot -- halfway across the road before any adult notices.
Most of the time, the kid is slower, or the parents (or an older
sibling) are watching more closely, or I'm on the same side of the
street. It is only every heart-stopping once in a while that a child
does something that scares me.
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:57:44 -0700, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>Mummy Az wrote:
>
> About teenage rebellion...
>
>>>>> I picked the one that they would have preferred. They have
>>>>>to pick something entirely different! I'm sure that whatever it is,
>>>>>it will be creative and quite out of the ordinary just like my girls.
>>>>
>>>>Errrrr.... that's a faintly worrisome thought. Fortunately, the
>>>>Pacific Ocean should keep *me* safe.
>>>
>>> Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
>>> good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
>>
>>Hmmmm. Do those robot parts include plastic casings and plumbers
>>tape/glue to seal up holes? If it doesn't (and those are not at all
>>standard robots goodies), I won't worry. The robot can't escape your
>>continent unless it is thoroughly water-proofed. :>
>>
>>Hmmm. Or flies. But I don't think *anyone* has yet built a UAV that
>>can navigate across the Pacific... and, upon reflection, I am less
>>reassured. That sounds kinda like something a teenage roboticist
>>would try...
>>
>>Well. Just don't let her buy rocket or airplane fuel. :>
>
> Should I mention now that the current project involves a flying robot?
That sounds like an interesting project. Fortunately, it would take a
LOT of fuel for it to get to me, never mind Megan {SMILE}
> Or that she REALLY wants a Retropolis Ladies' World Domination Society
> T-Shirt from
> http://www.printfection.com/retro-future/Retropolis-T-Shirts-Page-2/_s_62638
> (although she wouldn't mind an Ask Me About My Death Ray or
> Certifiable Mad Genius one from other parts of the same website) I
> can't fault her on taste - I'd like those ones as well!
Those are some nice shirts. {Smile} I particularly like the death ray,
personally. If I was more into tees and sweats, I'd be tempted. {SMILE}
> Or that she got 6 As and 2 Bs on her first-semester Report Card that
> she brought home today - including As in Science and
> Design-and-Technology classes. At that she's being marked at a
> standard of a year *above* her nominal year level (she's in year 8 but
> her Gifted class gets assessed at year 9 level) Not that I'm bragging,
> of course!
{GRIN} Very good job! {BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
> Ishtar also did well - 3 As, 4 Bs and 1C (for PE - can't blame her
> there for not liking the subject matter).
She's doing well, too. {BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
> I'm just glad that we never
> established the policy of 'paying' for As and Bs as I know some
> parents do to encourage high marks. If I did it the way I know some
> parents did when I was at school ($20 for each A, $10 for each B) I
> would be well out of pocket and they would have a nice little Stash of
> Cash to spend over the next two weeks of Winter Vacation.
I don't like that policy anyway. I think it rewards grades the wrong
way. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Mummy Az
wrote:
>Mummy Az wrote:
>
>> Should I mention now that the current project involves a flying robot?
>> Or that she REALLY wants a Retropolis Ladies' World Domination Society
>> T-Shirt from
>> http://www.printfection.com/retro-future/Retropolis-T-Shirts-Page-2/_s_62638
>> (although she wouldn't mind an Ask Me About My Death Ray or
>> Certifiable Mad Genius one from other parts of the same website) I
>> can't fault her on taste - I'd like those ones as well!
>
>Maybe she would be interesting to read about the adventures of Agatha
>Heterodyne (Certified Mad Girl and capable of building a death ray :)
>
>http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
>
>I do not think they have T-shirts though, so that is a slight negative
>point.
>
>
>Eri
She (and her sister and her father) have been reading about Agatha for
months. They LOVE that strip. One of these days I'm going to have to
find the time to sit down and indulge in it!
Az
Mummy Az
aloha . net> wrote:
>> Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
>> good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
>
> Does she plan to follow her father into the sciences? {Smile}
>
>
> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Engineering is her preference right now. Specifically, Robotics
Engineering! Big surprise there. At 13 she has already been checking
out Universities that carry Robotics on the syllabus! She has been
considering several - but fortunately one of the local campuses
(short bus ride away!) is one of the country's leaders in the field.
If not engineering it will be some branch of science. She loves
Science at school (and it was one of her As this semester). In fact,
both of my girls are looking to one of the sciences for a career in
the future.
Az
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> <snip>
>>>Fortunately, having been run up to by about a bazillion little kids in
>>>the past half-dozen years, Pepper is now *much* calmer about it.
>>>Downright civilized. Gets a bit twitchy and backy-uppy when surrounded
>>>by a half-dozen excited kids at one time, but, so far, has behaved
>>>himself. I try to give the world's fastest explanation of good dog
>>>manners and dog body language, if surrounded by what seem like
>>>dog-ignorant little kids.
>>>
>>>("Let the dog sniff you, stay away from ears and tail when petting, let
>>>the dog sniff you, don't wave any sticks, let the dog sniff you...")
>>
>>
>> This speech really seems made for auctioneer's speed speech. {BIG
>> SMILE}
> <snip>
>
> I've had practice, and learned to pare it down to the key essentials. I
> also wave off any kids that are holding ice cream cones or what have
> you -- make them stay out of reach until the ice cream is gone. Pepper is
> a good dog, but he's not a saint. :>
{GRIN} An ice cream cone does sound like an awful lot of temptation to
expect him to resist. {BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
> I work in nuances about how dogs have better noses than humans, and
> socialization/training is important for dogs, and how good dog owners
> clean up after their dogs (I can try to get that idea out there, right?),
> after the peaceful petting is well under way.
Those do sound like good ideas to get into little heads as early as
feasible. {BIG SMILE}
> I walk my dogs daily, and they are very cute. I get approached by small
> kids *often*.
{Chuckle} I can believe that. I experienced it, since we've never had an
animal who required regular walks. {Smile} However, I can certainly believe
it. {REALLY BIG GRIN}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>>Tristaan wrote:
>>>>On Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:44:53 -0700,
>>>>m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>>
> <snip - dogs>
>>>Used to. He is (finally!) calming down with age.
>>>
>>>The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>>>
>>>(Upside, I may have finally found a way to rid my yard of snails.
>>>Chihuahua plays "ball" with them.)
>>
>> I take it he likes these little "playmates?" {Smile}
>
> He likes anything round-ish and throw-able. He's not picky about his
> toys. :>
I see. {SMILE} I've known a few four-foots like that too. I swear Alban
thought anything and everything was a potential kitty toy. Even being large
didn't save the couch from wrestling matches with him around. {BIG SMILE,
REALLY BIG GRIN}
> I mostly see him with round things that have fallen from trees. But I've
> seen snails suffering his attentions, too.
{chuckle} It sounds like he's very good at finding dog-toys. I hope he
doesn't find many you have to take away for his own safety. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>>
>>><"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>>>The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>>>>(Upside, I may have finally found a way to rid my yard of snails.
>>>>Chihuahua plays "ball" with them.)
>>>
>>> I take it he likes these little "playmates?" {Smile}
>>
>>He likes anything round-ish and throw-able. He's not picky about his
>>toys. :>
>
> I see. {SMILE} I've known a few four-foots like that too. I swear Alban
> thought anything and everything was a potential kitty toy. Even being large
> didn't save the couch from wrestling matches with him around. {BIG SMILE,
> REALLY BIG GRIN}
Wrestling... with a couch?
A good workout, I suppose. The little Chihuahua has not attempted
anything *that* ambitious. He does find the couch a trifle
frustrating -- it is one of the few pieces of furniture he can't fit
under. (And the Roomba can.)
>>I mostly see him with round things that have fallen from trees. But I've
>>seen snails suffering his attentions, too.
>
> {chuckle} It sounds like he's very good at finding dog-toys. I hope he
> doesn't find many you have to take away for his own safety. {SMILE}
You've hit on my one concern. I do patrol the yard regularly looking
for anything "bad". But the little dog is much better at finding
things than I am, so there is always that niggling worry...
I had to visit the neighbor's kids, once, to give them a stern talking
to about paintball guns and the aiming thereof. The idiot canine was
trying to eat the paintball pellets that had fallen into my yard!
(What were those kids doing? They must have the most miserable aim on
the planet!)
Pepper, fortunately for my nerves, disdains most items found in the yard.
Rex Reynolds
"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
unfortunatley paintballs(and spheres in general) are not ideal
projectiles...they either pick-up an odd spin from the barrel, or have
imperfections that catch the air and develop a spin. however they start
spinning doesn't really matter, once they are spinning the flight path gets
erratic, moreso as the airspeed increases. thus they are only 'accurate' out
to 40-50 feet. I've seen paintballs deviate by 40-45 degrees from the
intended path( granted those were traveling about twice as fast as the
'standard' paintballs...) however I agree they should have been more
carefull with their aim.
rex
Kat Hein
> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>>>
>>>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> <snip - dogs>
>>>>> The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>>>>> (Upside, I may have finally found a way to rid my yard of snails.
>>>>> Chihuahua plays "ball" with them.)
>>>>
>>>> I take it he likes these little "playmates?" {Smile}
>>>
>>> He likes anything round-ish and throw-able. He's not picky about his
>>> toys. :>
>>
>> I see. {SMILE} I've known a few four-foots like that too. I swear
>> Alban thought anything and everything was a potential kitty toy. Even
>> being large didn't save the couch from wrestling matches with him
>> around. {BIG SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
>
> Wrestling... with a couch?
>
> A good workout, I suppose. The little Chihuahua has not attempted
> anything *that* ambitious. He does find the couch a trifle frustrating
> -- it is one of the few pieces of furniture he can't fit under. (And
> the Roomba can.)
>
>>> I mostly see him with round things that have fallen from trees. But
>>> I've seen snails suffering his attentions, too.
Want to bring him for a visit? I have lots of snails he could play with!
I hate snails! *GGG*
>>
>> {chuckle} It sounds like he's very good at finding dog-toys. I hope
>> he doesn't find many you have to take away for his own safety. {SMILE}
>
> You've hit on my one concern. I do patrol the yard regularly looking
> for anything "bad". But the little dog is much better at finding things
> than I am, so there is always that niggling worry...
>
> I had to visit the neighbor's kids, once, to give them a stern talking
> to about paintball guns and the aiming thereof. The idiot canine was
> trying to eat the paintball pellets that had fallen into my yard! (What
> were those kids doing? They must have the most miserable aim on the
> planet!)
>
> Pepper, fortunately for my nerves, disdains most items found in the yard.
>
Good catch! Yikes! I know someone whose dog got into their kids stash of
paintballs, resulting in a nice vet bill. :( I hope they've been more
careful since your talk!
Kat
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>I had to visit the neighbor's kids, once, to give them a stern talking to
>>about paintball guns and the aiming thereof. The idiot canine was trying
>>to eat the paintball pellets that had fallen into my yard! (What were
>>those kids doing? They must have the most miserable aim on the planet!)
>
> projectiles...they either pick-up an odd spin from the barrel, or have
> imperfections that catch the air and develop a spin. however they start
> spinning doesn't really matter, once they are spinning the flight path gets
> erratic, moreso as the airspeed increases. thus they are only 'accurate' out
> to 40-50 feet. I've seen paintballs deviate by 40-45 degrees from the
> intended path( granted those were traveling about twice as fast as the
> 'standard' paintballs...) however I agree they should have been more
> carefull with their aim.
> rex
Particularly after the first paintball went (way) off course. They
could have *stopped* shooting the balls. Or gone somewhere else,
where neighboring yards were not so close.
I fished at least a half-dozen balls out of the weeds, scraped up a
few fragmented remains from next to my wall, and scooped a few out of
the jaws of a guilty-looking dog. He was pleased when he found the
first one, but, after he figured out I was going to take them away, he
started hunching up and looking guilty whenever he found a new one.
Perfect size/shape to choke him, if he'd figured out how to swallow one.
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>
>> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
<snip>
>> A good workout, I suppose. The little Chihuahua has not attempted
>> anything *that* ambitious. He does find the couch a trifle
>> frustrating -- it is one of the few pieces of furniture he can't fit
>> under. (And the Roomba can.)
>>
>>>> I mostly see him with round things that have fallen from trees. But
>>>> I've seen snails suffering his attentions, too.
>
> Want to bring him for a visit? I have lots of snails he could play with!
> I hate snails! *GGG*
I don't know that he's figured out how to "hunt" the snails into their
hiding places. He won't be terribly effective until he figures that
out. :>
I am wondering if, next spring, I should help him learn. :>
<snip>
>> I had to visit the neighbor's kids, once, to give them a stern talking
>> to about paintball guns and the aiming thereof. The idiot canine was
>> trying to eat the paintball pellets that had fallen into my yard!
>> (What were those kids doing? They must have the most miserable aim on
>> the planet!)
>
> Good catch! Yikes! I know someone whose dog got into their kids stash of
> paintballs, resulting in a nice vet bill. :( I hope they've been more
> careful since your talk!
I think they were just being (very) thoughtless. Not looking, at all,
at where the paintballs were going when they didn't hit targets, and
not thinking about the neighbors' opinions (or pets). Once an irate
adult came stomping around the corner, the consequences of their
actions belatedly occurred to them. I haven't found paintballs in my
yard since then.
Although, they have dogs too. I hope they are keeping the balls away
from their own dogs!
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
news:7sadnS-dg8E1D_PV...@comcast.com...
I think that is a bit too much pressure. Obviously others disagree.
{smile}
> My daughter, I have to convince her that an A- is STILL an A.
That is good to hear. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Now that sounds like a useful trick indeed. {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> SAMK wrote:
>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
>>
>>> SAMK wrote:
>>>
>>>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
> <snip -- small kids running across roads, without looking>
>>> I have a 'voice' that is highly effective on strange dogs. I
>>> don't know that I could bring myself to use it on strange
>>> children -- what if their parents get mad at me?
>>>
>>> Maybe the experience of being a mom trains a person in how to use
>>> that particular 'voice'. I'll have to steel my nerves and try
>>> the Strange Dogs Voice on small kids sometime.
>>
>> The thing is, if the small children are subject to the parent
>> voice, and their parents are not correcting them, then the parent
>> voice tends to have a similar effect on the parents. That is,
>> don't mess with me, just do what you're told. I have noted that it
>> will, in many cases, also cause the parents to do their job.
>
> Kids have a startling ability to spot something fascinating, on the other
> side of the street, jjuuuuuust at the moment a parental head turns away.
> Lean over to pull a weed, and that's the moment the little darling will
> spy my dogs. Zoom!
Their timing is really amazing, isn't it? {sympathetic smile}
> Me calling out does usually get the parent looking, and (more
> effectively) calling out to the kid. But some of those kids can really
> scoot -- halfway across the road before any adult notices.
Getting their attention sounds like a good first step. {Smile}
> Most of the time, the kid is slower, or the parents (or an older sibling)
> are watching more closely, or I'm on the same side of the street. It is
> only every heart-stopping once in a while that a child does something
> that scares me.
Oh good. That is a relief! {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Fri, 4 Jul 2008 10:53:38 -1000, "Anne Elizabeth Baldwin" <anneb @
> aloha . net> wrote:
>
>>> Don't bet on it. Given how creative my kids are ... Athena spends a
>>> good deal of her allowance on Robot Parts...
>>
>> Does she plan to follow her father into the sciences? {Smile}
>>
>>
>> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
>
> Engineering is her preference right now. Specifically, Robotics
> Engineering!
That sounds appropriate. Neat, too! {BIG SMILE}
> Big surprise there. At 13 she has already been checking
> out Universities that carry Robotics on the syllabus! She has been
> considering several - but fortunately one of the local campuses
> (short bus ride away!) is one of the country's leaders in the field.
Oh good. I found I liked going to school close to home when I could.
{SMILE}
> If not engineering it will be some branch of science. She loves
> Science at school (and it was one of her As this semester). In fact,
> both of my girls are looking to one of the sciences for a career in
> the future.
That sounds good. I wish them both the best of luck! {BIG SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Tristaan
brain with:
>Tris, this is ABSOLUTELY typical of kids! Still, when would you
>prefer perfect behaviour - at home when no-one but parents can see or
>out in 'public' where all the world and his dog will notice the
>slightest misbehaviour and comment loudly and in detail on How Lax
>Parents Have Become And How In My Day Children Learned Respect? If
>you could only choose ONE situation in which to have perfectly-behaved
>kids?
Obviously, in public. And I'm so thankful for that. They really
do behave VERY well in public. We've had some recent issues with
them not obeying instructions too well when we're out shopping
but that's minor, really. And, compared to the way other kids
act in stores and such, they are absolute ANGELS.
>I always figured that at home my kids felt relaxed and comfortable
>enough to 'push the envelope' and that's why they did it then. They
>knew they had my unconditional love and that I could hate what they
>did while never losing my love for them so it was 'safe' for them to
>try and get around the rules. With (relative) strangers around things
>were less secure and thus not a time to try out something new.
Hrm... that's an interesting insight. I hadn't considered that
before. I'll have to pass that along to the little woman so we
can both take encouragement from that.
>
>Mine are heading into the Teen years now - Athena is 13 1/2 (and
>taller than me, darn it!) and Ishtar is 12. Life should get ...
My condolences...
>I love mine, too and will continue to do so no matter how they manage
>to try me over the coming years.
Isn't that the true test of parenthood?
Tristaan
--
Beware Spam Trap!: "us" is an "ogre"
*******************************************************
Ogre-Monk, AIM TristaanOgre
"So good-bye for now and I'll see you again
Some way, some how
When it's my time to go to the other side
I'll hold you again and melt at your smile
Now I have all the ones that I am with
You taught me not to take for granted
The time that we have to show that we care
Speak into their lives and their hearts while they're here
And say I LOVE YOU!!"
~Disciple "Things Left Unsaid"
Theologian in training http://ballymennoniteblogger.blogspot.com/
*******************************************************
Tristaan
<anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
>> Well, I'd need to have time to sit down, research on eNature.com
>> all the different species of animals and bugs we encountered,
>> link each one here, the quantities and locations of each one,
>> etc....
>>
> I see. That would be a longer and more complicated list. {SMILE}
I am, at heart, a scientist after all. And, with Charis,
classifying the animals is important. You know, most 8 year old
kids sent outdoors to play kick a ball around, climb a tree, or
do something else active... not Charis. She'll play for a bit
and then she'll stop and stoop over in the grass and spend the
next 10-15 minutes watching some sort of insect drama occurring
at the base of the grass blades...
Her biggest joy at the beach is the animal variety that she
discovers..
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
>> Big surprise there. At 13 she has already been checking
>>out Universities that carry Robotics on the syllabus! She has been
>>considering several - but fortunately one of the local campuses
>>(short bus ride away!) is one of the country's leaders in the field.
>
>
> Oh good. I found I liked going to school close to home when I could.
> {SMILE}
That's interesting. I found I liked going away. Getting a little
space to be my own person, etc. Not *too* far away. I classified it
as "too far away to do laundry at home". Wonderful experience for me.
>>If not engineering it will be some branch of science. She loves
>>Science at school (and it was one of her As this semester). In fact,
>>both of my girls are looking to one of the sciences for a career in
>>the future.
>
> That sounds good. I wish them both the best of luck! {BIG SMILE}
Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of
careers in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now
have a stack of four Lego robot boxes in my living room, parts mixed
up gosh knows how between the boxes, that need sorting and organizing.
Gads. There are *zillions* of those fiddly little pieces to count!
Ok, maybe not actually zillions. But it is going to feel like zillions.
Tristaan
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>> Oh good. I found I liked going to school close to home when I could.
>> {SMILE}
>
>That's interesting. I found I liked going away. Getting a little
>space to be my own person, etc. Not *too* far away. I classified it
>as "too far away to do laundry at home". Wonderful experience for me.
Same here for me. Being away from home and, for the most part,
completely independant, was an excellent experience for me.
Yeah, it had its rocky points and such, but over all I think I'm
better for it. It let me discover and define myself outside of
my parents' home so that, when it came time for me to head out on
my own, I felt more prepared to deal with things.
Theologically speaking, it helped me define my own faith and my
own beliefs, too. While I was at a Christian school, the variety
of people and doctrines I was exposed to (being a
non-denominational school) forced me to truly examine my beliefs
and either accept what my parents taught me or come up with my
own convictions or a little bit of both... it made my faith my
own.
>Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of
>careers in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now
Charis wants to be an artistic marine biologist... she loves to
draw and wants to learn more about oceans and those ecosystems.
We've been encouraging her in her art AND her scientific
curiousity, prompting her to draw detailed pictures of the bugs
she finds in the back yard.
Edna
"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
> SAMK wrote:
> > m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] wrote:
> >
> >> I keep freaking out that a car will come at just the wrong moment. And
> >> a little girl, in that moment of little girl happy-saw-doggie, just
> >> doesn't even see or hear me. So I, standing way above both girl and
> >> dogs, can shout about stopping and looking and being careful all I
> >> want -- they don't hear.
> >>
> >> Fortunately, there is usually a parent around, and that voice shouting
> >> the little girls will hear. Weird.
> >>
> >> And, at least half the time, the girl is on the same side of the
> >> street as I am. So I have to be quick, to remind the dogs to be on
> >> "good manners", but I don't have to worry about badly timed cars. I
> >> just have to talk like an auctioneer, whipping through the fastest
> >> possible version of my "how to properly greet strange dogs" speech.
> >
>
> > Wow. You need to practice up your "parent" voice, even if you are not.
> > It is not the particular parent's voice which gets attention, but that
> > tone. Some parents don't have it. I'm good with it. Small children
> > stop and take note when I use my Mom voice. Even small children to
> > whom I have absolutely no relationship.
>
> I have a 'voice' that is highly effective on strange dogs. I don't
> know that I could bring myself to use it on strange children -- what
> if their parents get mad at me?
>
> Maybe the experience of being a mom trains a person in how to use that
> particular 'voice'. I'll have to steel my nerves and try the Strange
> Dogs Voice on small kids sometime.
I find that the "mom" voice works pretty well on our dog, too :-)
We haven't had too many problems with kids wanting to pet our dog.
Probably because our dog is not at all well-behaved--it's a running joke
in our family that my son does not walk the dog--the dog walks him (as
in dragging him out the door and up the street at full speed on her
leash). They probably never slow down enough for anyone to even consider
petting her!
Edna
---|)--- Edna Huelsenbeck (huelsenbeck@gmailDOTcom) ------------
---|---- Goddess of the ABML Out-of-Practice-Musicians Band -----
--/|---- Member, Brute Squad, Mommy Division --------------------
-| |')-- Provisional Member of the Sisterhood of Mess -----------
--\|/----Official Bard of the Book and Bridle -------------------
|
'
SAMK
Yeah, I don't do that to my kids.
But I wish my son would actually get the grades he's capable of...
SAMK
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:38:18 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>> Oh good. I found I liked going to school close to home when I could.
>>>{SMILE}
>>
>>That's interesting. I found I liked going away. Getting a little
>>space to be my own person, etc. Not *too* far away. I classified it
>>as "too far away to do laundry at home". Wonderful experience for me.
>
>
> Same here for me. Being away from home and, for the most part,
> completely independant, was an excellent experience for me.
> Yeah, it had its rocky points and such, but over all I think I'm
> better for it. It let me discover and define myself outside of
> my parents' home so that, when it came time for me to head out on
> my own, I felt more prepared to deal with things.
I also found that it was a great sanity-check for my personal habits.
Family tolerate all kinds of habits that, in fact, other people can
find rude. Toothpaste capped or uncapped kinds of things, mostly.
But roommates, not being related to me, were much clearer about
pointing out what habits I should consider tidying up. :>
Also, it was a fairly safe way to figure out silly things like how to
pay the phone bill. Living at home, I might never have figured that
out -- not until I left college, and got confronted by dozens of bills
all at once!
> Theologically speaking, it helped me define my own faith and my
> own beliefs, too. While I was at a Christian school, the variety
> of people and doctrines I was exposed to (being a
> non-denominational school) forced me to truly examine my beliefs
> and either accept what my parents taught me or come up with my
> own convictions or a little bit of both... it made my faith my
> own.
That wasn't really an issue for me. I clarified my personal belief
system in my college years. What I came up with works for me.
>>Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of
>>careers in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now
>
> Charis wants to be an artistic marine biologist... she loves to
> draw and wants to learn more about oceans and those ecosystems.
> We've been encouraging her in her art AND her scientific
> curiousity, prompting her to draw detailed pictures of the bugs
> she finds in the back yard.
Hmmmm. Maybe she'd like those "Walking with the Dinosaur" type
documentaries. Using art/computer graphics/paleontology to
reconstruct how life may have been in the years waaaaaaaayyyy before
humans were around to see stuff ourselves. Art + science == cool. :>
(Plus, ya know, **dinosaurs**!)
Mummy Az
wrote:
>On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:38:18 -0700,
>m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of
>>careers in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now
>
>Charis wants to be an artistic marine biologist... she loves to
>draw and wants to learn more about oceans and those ecosystems.
>We've been encouraging her in her art AND her scientific
>curiousity, prompting her to draw detailed pictures of the bugs
>she finds in the back yard.
>
>Tristaan
Ishtar also very much enjoys science and art (and we encourage both,
as well). Her current Career Prospects include Paleontology (because
it's giant jigsaw puzzles with no picture on the box!), Archaeology
(same thing when you're putting together pots - we have a friend who
is an archaeologist who specialises in this) Forensic Anatomy (putting
a face on a skull) or Botanical Artist (look at the works of Celia
Rosser - you can find some at
http://www.artworkoriginals.com/EB5TBWMD.htm
which gives an example of her beautiful works)
Of course, being 12 she has a long way to go before she has to tie
herself down to a particular career. However we are certainly
encouraging her in these directions. One of her As this semester was
in Science!
Az
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:02:39 -0400, Tristaan <trist...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:38:18 -0700,
>>m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>>Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of
>>>careers in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now
>>
>>Charis wants to be an artistic marine biologist... she loves to
>>draw and wants to learn more about oceans and those ecosystems.
>>We've been encouraging her in her art AND her scientific
>>curiousity, prompting her to draw detailed pictures of the bugs
>>she finds in the back yard.
>>
>>Tristaan
>
> Ishtar also very much enjoys science and art (and we encourage both,
> as well). Her current Career Prospects include Paleontology (because
> it's giant jigsaw puzzles with no picture on the box!), Archaeology
> (same thing when you're putting together pots - we have a friend who
> is an archaeologist who specialises in this) Forensic Anatomy (putting
> a face on a skull) or Botanical Artist (look at the works of Celia
> Rosser - you can find some at
> http://www.artworkoriginals.com/EB5TBWMD.htm
> which gives an example of her beautiful works)
I was just going to suggest botanical art, particularly if she likes to
draw or paint. It's one place where the art is as important as the science.
The demand isn't going away, either, since a properly trained artist can
illustrate certain identifying characteristics of plants much more clearly
and precisely than photographs and other options. It does require
particular training on what to illustrate and how. {smile}
For the record, I learned that from Dad. As a botanist with artistic
relatives, he's quite aware of the rigors of botanical art. {SMILE}
> Of course, being 12 she has a long way to go before she has to tie
> herself down to a particular career.
{Smile} I love flexible school systems for precisely this reason. {BIG
SMILE}
> However we are certainly
> encouraging her in these directions. One of her As this semester was
> in Science!
Oh good! {BIG SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> In article<snip - kids running at strange dogs>
>>I have a 'voice' that is highly effective on strange dogs. I don't
>>know that I could bring myself to use it on strange children -- what
>>if their parents get mad at me?
>>
>>Maybe the experience of being a mom trains a person in how to use that
>>particular 'voice'. I'll have to steel my nerves and try the Strange
>>Dogs Voice on small kids sometime.
>
> I find that the "mom" voice works pretty well on our dog, too :-)
>
> We haven't had too many problems with kids wanting to pet our dog.
> Probably because our dog is not at all well-behaved--it's a running joke
> in our family that my son does not walk the dog--the dog walks him (as
> in dragging him out the door and up the street at full speed on her
> leash). They probably never slow down enough for anyone to even consider
> petting her!
Upside, sounds like the procedure might tire out your son. That is
probably way, way, way more important to you! :>
"I suffer sooooo much because my dogs are well-behaved." Hmmmm. I
dunno, that statement is not generating a truly authentic woe-is-me
feeling.
I'm going to guess that your dog is larger than 20 lbs. That may be
more off-putting to small kids than high speed. I do think it is the
innocuous small cuteness that little kids most like.
That, and a general air of cleanliness and perky good cheer. (They
are quite cheery on walks -- it is the half-hour before the walk when
they make my life a misery with continual pestering.) And the
leashes. Any kid with half a neuron knows that, in the event one of
my dogs scares them, stepping back a few feet will get the kid outside
leash range. A nice, safe-feeling-inducing knowledge.
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>>Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>>>><"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> <snip - dogs>
>>>>>The new Chihuahua, on the other hand....
>>>>>(Upside, I may have finally found a way to rid my yard of snails.
>>>>>Chihuahua plays "ball" with them.)
>>>>
>>>> I take it he likes these little "playmates?" {Smile}
>>>
>>>He likes anything round-ish and throw-able. He's not picky about his
>>>toys. :>
>>
>> I see. {SMILE} I've known a few four-foots like that too. I swear
>> Alban
>> thought
>> anything and everything was a potential kitty toy. Even being large
>> didn't save the couch from wrestling matches with him around. {BIG
>> SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
>
> Wrestling... with a couch?
>
> A good workout, I suppose.
{Laugh} Yes. You see, you leap on it, and grab a cushion with both front
paws, claws extended. Then you bite right between your paws, and move your
head back and forth as much as you can without letting go. {GRIN} Alban
thought that was just great fun. {REALLY BIG GRIN}
> The little Chihuahua has not attempted anything *that* ambitious. He
> does find the couch a trifle frustrating -- it is one of the few pieces
> of furniture he can't fit under. (And the Roomba can.)
Oh dear. So that's how the Roomba escapes him? {SMILE}
>>>I mostly see him with round things that have fallen from trees. But
>>>I've seen snails suffering his attentions, too.
>>
>> {chuckle} It sounds like he's very good at finding dog-toys. I hope
>> he doesn't find many you have to take away for his own safety. {SMILE}
>
> You've hit on my one concern. I do patrol the yard regularly looking for
> anything "bad". But the little dog is much better at finding things than
> I am, so there is always that niggling worry...
I figured. That seems to be a common problem. Not finding and disposing
of potential problems before pets or small children found them has caused
friends to call Dad several times over the years. They like to tap his
knowledge of poisonous plants. {wry resignation}
> I had to visit the neighbor's kids, once, to give them a stern talking to
> about paintball guns and the aiming thereof. The idiot canine was trying
> to eat the paintball pellets that had fallen into my yard!
Oh great. {very wry smile}
> (What were those kids doing? They must have the most miserable aim on
> the planet!)
From what someone else said, it doesn't sound like paint balls were
really meant to be aimed. However, you'd think they'd look for their missed
shots before they caused trouble. {half-smile}
> Pepper, fortunately for my nerves, disdains most items found in the yard.
{sigh} That is a relief! {SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>>>anything and everything was a potential kitty toy. Even being large
>>>didn't save the couch from wrestling matches with him around. {BIG
>>>SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
>>
>>Wrestling... with a couch?
>>
>>A good workout, I suppose.
>
> {Laugh} Yes. You see, you leap on it, and grab a cushion with both front
> paws, claws extended. Then you bite right between your paws, and move your
> head back and forth as much as you can without letting go. {GRIN} Alban
> thought that was just great fun. {REALLY BIG GRIN}
Good grief. How many couches did you have to replace?
And did he ever "win" such a battle? How would Alban know? The couch
rolls over and surrenders?
>> The little Chihuahua has not attempted anything *that* ambitious. He
>>does find the couch a trifle frustrating -- it is one of the few pieces
>>of furniture he can't fit under. (And the Roomba can.)
>
> Oh dear. So that's how the Roomba escapes him? {SMILE}
Yes, and no. The Roomba pops out the other end, sooner or later.
Tennis balls, on the other hand, can get wedged. The Chihuahua is a
great one for getting his toys stuck under furniture -- mostly couch
and TV stand, since he can fit under almost everything else. He has
learned a little routine. Crouch and look under furniture, look at
human, look under furniture -- if the human sees, the human will come
rescue the toy.
<snip>
>>You've hit on my one concern. I do patrol the yard regularly looking for
>>anything "bad". But the little dog is much better at finding things than
>>I am, so there is always that niggling worry...
>
> I figured. That seems to be a common problem. Not finding and disposing
> of potential problems before pets or small children found them has caused
> friends to call Dad several times over the years. They like to tap his
> knowledge of poisonous plants. {wry resignation}
I bet! That's what happens when you're a plants expert. I'm trying
to minimize the potential problems, slowly. (Fast would require
hiring people with power tools, and I'm sticking with hiring those
folks only for stuff like the new roof, which I cannot do myself.)
I'm not doing *anything* this week. 96 degrees F outside, and it is
only noon -- forecast says 110F later today.
John Oliver
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>>Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
><snip>
>>>>anything and everything was a potential kitty toy. Even being large
>>>>didn't save the couch from wrestling matches with him around. {BIG
>>>>SMILE, REALLY BIG GRIN}
>>>
>>>Wrestling... with a couch?
>>>
>>>A good workout, I suppose.
>>
>> {Laugh} Yes. You see, you leap on it, and grab a cushion with both front
>> paws, claws extended. Then you bite right between your paws, and move your
>> head back and forth as much as you can without letting go. {GRIN} Alban
>> thought that was just great fun. {REALLY BIG GRIN}
>
>Good grief. How many couches did you have to replace?
My cats liked to lie on their backs next to the couch and pull
themselves along the floor by hooking their claws in the couch.
It does give the couch an interesting look!
--
John Oliver
jdol...@westnet.com.au
AIM or MSN jdoliver98
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> On Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:00:49 -0700, "m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>>><"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>>>
>>>>Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>>>{Laugh} Yes. You see, you leap on it, and grab a cushion with both front
>>>paws, claws extended. Then you bite right between your paws, and move your
>>>head back and forth as much as you can without letting go. {GRIN} Alban
>>>thought that was just great fun. {REALLY BIG GRIN}
>>
>>Good grief. How many couches did you have to replace?
>
> My cats liked to lie on their backs next to the couch and pull
> themselves along the floor by hooking their claws in the couch.
>
> It does give the couch an interesting look!
Upside-down pincushion?
Ree
They must be related to my Buster (the butthead).
Ree
Edna
> Edna wrote:
<snip>
> > We haven't had too many problems with kids wanting to pet our dog.
> > Probably because our dog is not at all well-behaved--it's a running joke
> > in our family that my son does not walk the dog--the dog walks him (as
> > in dragging him out the door and up the street at full speed on her
> > leash). They probably never slow down enough for anyone to even consider
> > petting her!
>
> Upside, sounds like the procedure might tire out your son. That is
> probably way, way, way more important to you! :>
That's definitely a plus :-)
<snip>
> I'm going to guess that your dog is larger than 20 lbs. That may be
> more off-putting to small kids than high speed. I do think it is the
> innocuous small cuteness that little kids most like.
Golden retriever. A petite one, but possessed of the largest tongue I
have ever seen on a dog.
> That, and a general air of cleanliness and perky good cheer. (They
> are quite cheery on walks -- it is the half-hour before the walk when
> they make my life a misery with continual pestering.) And the
> leashes. Any kid with half a neuron knows that, in the event one of
> my dogs scares them, stepping back a few feet will get the kid outside
> leash range. A nice, safe-feeling-inducing knowledge.
Oh, ours is VERY cheerful. And really, really excited to see new people.
Excited as in let's-jump-on-everyone-that-comes-in-the-door. (As you can
imagine, she's not very popular with small kids who visit our house--we
usually have to lock her up when we have visitors.)
m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]
> In article <Z6Odnbz7M9Hxbu_V...@earthlink.com>,
> <"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>Edna wrote:
>
> <snip>
>>>We haven't had too many problems with kids wanting to pet our dog.
>>>Probably because our dog is not at all well-behaved--it's a running joke
>>>in our family that my son does not walk the dog--the dog walks him (as
>>>in dragging him out the door and up the street at full speed on her
>>>leash). They probably never slow down enough for anyone to even consider
>>>petting her!
>>I'm going to guess that your dog is larger than 20 lbs. That may be
>>more off-putting to small kids than high speed. I do think it is the
>>innocuous small cuteness that little kids most like.
>
>
> Golden retriever. A petite one, but possessed of the largest tongue I
> have ever seen on a dog.
Can I guess correctly, or can I guess correctly?
Small kids aren't always savvy to the nuances of "golden retrievers
usually amiable, pit bulls not-so-much". They seem to react to dogs
mostly as "big == scary, small == nice". (Goofy, since I've met some
mean small dogs.)
So your dog keeps your son's hair clean, yes?
>>That, and a general air of cleanliness and perky good cheer. (They
>>are quite cheery on walks -- it is the half-hour before the walk when
>>they make my life a misery with continual pestering.) And the
>>leashes. Any kid with half a neuron knows that, in the event one of
>>my dogs scares them, stepping back a few feet will get the kid outside
>>leash range. A nice, safe-feeling-inducing knowledge.
>
> Oh, ours is VERY cheerful. And really, really excited to see new people.
> Excited as in let's-jump-on-everyone-that-comes-in-the-door. (As you can
> imagine, she's not very popular with small kids who visit our house--we
> usually have to lock her up when we have visitors.)
Ahhhhh... I miss our big, friendly dogs. Yeah, jumping on strangers
can be off-putting to folks not used to it. Or folks wearing their
nice pants. Or folks who don't like dog-breath... We had to lock up
our big dogs when visitors came, too, when I was a kid. There is such
a thing as too friendly.
My current dogs can only reach a person's head when the person lies on
the floor. They get very happy when they see someone lying on the
floor. :>
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
news:ve4474pmv7ph4kbr5...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:16:15 +0930, Mummy Az stomped through my
> brain with:
>
>>Tris, this is ABSOLUTELY typical of kids! Still, when would you
>>prefer perfect behaviour - at home when no-one but parents can see or
>>out in 'public' where all the world and his dog will notice the
>>slightest misbehaviour and comment loudly and in detail on How Lax
>>Parents Have Become And How In My Day Children Learned Respect? If
>>you could only choose ONE situation in which to have perfectly-behaved
>>kids?
>
> Obviously, in public. And I'm so thankful for that. They really
> do behave VERY well in public. We've had some recent issues with
> them not obeying instructions too well when we're out shopping
> but that's minor, really. And, compared to the way other kids
> act in stores and such, they are absolute ANGELS.
That sounds like a relief, really. {Smile}
>>I always figured that at home my kids felt relaxed and comfortable
>>enough to 'push the envelope' and that's why they did it then. They
>>knew they had my unconditional love and that I could hate what they
>>did while never losing my love for them so it was 'safe' for them to
>>try and get around the rules. With (relative) strangers around things
>>were less secure and thus not a time to try out something new.
>
> Hrm... that's an interesting insight. I hadn't considered that
> before. I'll have to pass that along to the little woman so we
> can both take encouragement from that.
>
>>
>>Mine are heading into the Teen years now - Athena is 13 1/2 (and
>>taller than me, darn it!) and Ishtar is 12. Life should get ...
>
> My condolences...
>
>>I love mine, too and will continue to do so no matter how they manage
>>to try me over the coming years.
>
> Isn't that the true test of parenthood?
I think you're right. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Tristaan
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 23:13:06 -1000, "Anne Elizabeth Baldwin"
> <anneb @ aloha . net> stomped through my brain with:
>
>>> Well, I'd need to have time to sit down, research on eNature.com
>>> all the different species of animals and bugs we encountered,
>>> link each one here, the quantities and locations of each one,
>>> etc....
>>>
>> I see. That would be a longer and more complicated list. {SMILE}
>
> I am, at heart, a scientist after all.
{Smile} Scientists do like to know what they're looking at. {SMILE}
> And, with Charis,
> classifying the animals is important. You know, most 8 year old
> kids sent outdoors to play kick a ball around, climb a tree, or
> do something else active... not Charis. She'll play for a bit
> and then she'll stop and stoop over in the grass and spend the
> next 10-15 minutes watching some sort of insect drama occurring
> at the base of the grass blades...
That does sound different, and neat. {SMILE}
> Her biggest joy at the beach is the animal variety that she
> discovers..
I guess it would be. {Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Tristaan
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:7NWdnf2s24sv_-_V...@earthlink.com...
> Anne Elizabeth Baldwin wrote:
>> "Mummy Az" <ma...@westnet.com.au> wrote in message
> <snip>
>>> Big surprise there. At 13 she has already been checking
>>>out Universities that carry Robotics on the syllabus! She has been
>>>considering several - but fortunately one of the local campuses
>>>(short bus ride away!) is one of the country's leaders in the field.
>>
>>
>> Oh good. I found I liked going to school close to home when I could.
>> {SMILE}
>
> That's interesting. I found I liked going away. Getting a little space
> to be my own person, etc. Not *too* far away. I classified it as "too
> far away to do laundry at home". Wonderful experience for me.
Ah, but you didn't have major health problems complicating things when
you lived farther away. I did, to the point where they were harder on me
than my studies in graduate school. {small smile}
Home gave me the support system I needed to finish anyway. {smile}
>>>If not engineering it will be some branch of science. She loves
>>>Science at school (and it was one of her As this semester). In fact,
>>>both of my girls are looking to one of the sciences for a career in
>>>the future.
>>
>> That sounds good. I wish them both the best of luck! {BIG SMILE}
>
> Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of careers
> in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now have a
> stack of four Lego robot boxes in my living room, parts mixed up gosh
> knows how between the boxes, that need sorting and organizing.
>
> Gads. There are *zillions* of those fiddly little pieces to count!
>
> Ok, maybe not actually zillions. But it is going to feel like zillions.
{Chuckle} Yes, I'm sure it will feel like zillions. {BIG SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:38:18 -0700,
> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>
>>> Oh good. I found I liked going to school close to home when I could.
>>> {SMILE}
>>
>>That's interesting. I found I liked going away. Getting a little
>>space to be my own person, etc. Not *too* far away. I classified it
>>as "too far away to do laundry at home". Wonderful experience for me.
>
> Same here for me. Being away from home and, for the most part,
> completely independant, was an excellent experience for me.
> Yeah, it had its rocky points and such, but over all I think I'm
> better for it. It let me discover and define myself outside of
> my parents' home so that, when it came time for me to head out on
> my own, I felt more prepared to deal with things.
I know that's how it's supposed to work, but for me it really didn't. I
had more time and energy to explore who I am when I had help coping with my
balance and health difficulties. {smile}
> Theologically speaking, it helped me define my own faith and my
> own beliefs, too. While I was at a Christian school, the variety
> of people and doctrines I was exposed to (being a
> non-denominational school) forced me to truly examine my beliefs
> and either accept what my parents taught me or come up with my
> own convictions or a little bit of both... it made my faith my
> own.
I didn't need to leave home to figure this out. I went thru two or three
periods of questioning what I really did believe. Being me, the first thing
I did was hit the books. We have some comparative religion texts right at
home, so I started there. Plus I found more than enough more about religion
at the libraries around town. So I read, and thought, and sorted things
out. I was working on my own even tho I was living at home each time.
{Smile}
>>Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of
>>careers in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now
>
> Charis wants to be an artistic marine biologist... she loves to
> draw and wants to learn more about oceans and those ecosystems.
> We've been encouraging her in her art AND her scientific
> curiousity, prompting her to draw detailed pictures of the bugs
> she finds in the back yard.
{Smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Tristaan
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
news:huelsenbeck-2357...@newsgroups.comcast.net...
I'm not surprised. Mom's got a voice that even works on the cat. Not
that Val is any happier about obeying than Alban was. However, Alban would
reluctantly stop for her, and Val... at least pauses long enough for a
human to go over and discourage him further. {Smile}
Val's very sweet in some ways, but his stubborn streak is particularly
strong at the same time. {SMILE}
> We haven't had too many problems with kids wanting to pet our dog.
> Probably because our dog is not at all well-behaved--it's a running joke
> in our family that my son does not walk the dog--the dog walks him (as
> in dragging him out the door and up the street at full speed on her
> leash). They probably never slow down enough for anyone to even consider
> petting her!
{SMILE} That is a funny picture. {BIG SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
> Edna
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
It is frustrating to see a child "just coast" when you know they could
do so much better. {sympathetic smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
@aloha.net Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
<"m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage]"@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3ZmdnXUJMsZNMO_V...@earthlink.com...
> Tristaan wrote:
>> On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:38:18 -0700,
>> m_thomas[numBksInLastHrldMage] stomped through my brain with:
>>
>>>> Oh good. I found I liked going to school close to home when I could.
>>>> {SMILE}
>>>
>>>That's interesting. I found I liked going away. Getting a little space
>>>to be my own person, etc. Not *too* far away. I classified it as "too
>>>far away to do laundry at home". Wonderful experience for me.
>>
>>
>> Same here for me. Being away from home and, for the most part,
>> completely independant, was an excellent experience for me.
>> Yeah, it had its rocky points and such, but over all I think I'm
>> better for it. It let me discover and define myself outside of
>> my parents' home so that, when it came time for me to head out on
>> my own, I felt more prepared to deal with things.
>
> I also found that it was a great sanity-check for my personal habits.
> Family tolerate all kinds of habits that, in fact, other people can find
> rude. Toothpaste capped or uncapped kinds of things, mostly. But
> roommates, not being related to me, were much clearer about pointing out
> what habits I should consider tidying up. :>
I can see that advantage. {Smile}
> Also, it was a fairly safe way to figure out silly things like how to pay
> the phone bill. Living at home, I might never have figured that out --
> not until I left college, and got confronted by dozens of bills all at
> once!
I didn't have to leave home for this, either. I've been coping with
bills for years. {lop-sided smile}
>> Theologically speaking, it helped me define my own faith and my
>> own beliefs, too. While I was at a Christian school, the variety
>> of people and doctrines I was exposed to (being a
>> non-denominational school) forced me to truly examine my beliefs
>> and either accept what my parents taught me or come up with my
>> own convictions or a little bit of both... it made my faith my
>> own.
>
> That wasn't really an issue for me. I clarified my personal belief
> system in my college years. What I came up with works for me.
I did it in pieces, in both college and graduate school. I didn't have
to leave home for that either. {Smile}
>>>Obviously, I'm always pleased to hear of little girls thinking of
>>>careers in the sciences. Even if encouraging them in that means I now
>>
>> Charis wants to be an artistic marine biologist... she loves to
>> draw and wants to learn more about oceans and those ecosystems.
>> We've been encouraging her in her art AND her scientific
>> curiousity, prompting her to draw detailed pictures of the bugs
>> she finds in the back yard.
>
> Hmmmm. Maybe she'd like those "Walking with the Dinosaur" type
> documentaries. Using art/computer graphics/paleontology to reconstruct
> how life may have been in the years waaaaaaaayyyy before humans were
> around to see stuff ourselves. Art + science == cool. :>
>
> (Plus, ya know, **dinosaurs**!)
{GRIN} I seem to remember that he and Amethyst mentioned how much she
loved those when those documentaries started to come out. {BIG SMILE}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin