Our Hero Jake

Our little puppy is turning one this Sunday. We have had him around 10 months and he is now one of the family - like he has always been with us. The day we brought him home he fit in my two hands. He is not a large dog by any means but compared to what he was - it's quite a change. His snobby AKC registered name is 'Our Hero Jake'. It comes from letters from everyone name in our immediately family (although the 'J' in Jake caused us to go to my middle name). Jake, as he goes by, is my second dog. When I was a boy I had a beagle/basset hound name Henry. He was a great dog, but short on common sense. Of course, much of his day was controlled by scents through his nose. We lived out in the country and when he was let outside he would run as fast as he could, body flat to the ground and his ears flapping along sided him as he bayed at whatever scent caught his attention and no matter how loudly I called after him, his one track mind was off to the races. I guess as a kid I didn't mind or notice his natural odor, but now as an adult, I see what my mother complained about when it came to Henry. After a few weeks Jake gets pretty ripe. As cute as he is when he gets up in your face when he hasn't seen you all day and breathes his dragon breathe on you, it's any wonder we have domestic pets at all. But we would not trade Jake for anything. He is apart of the family for good. We also have two cats. Anyone want one?

Music Camp

The boys participated in the M.A.D. camp last week (Music and Day Camp) and they had their music performance Sunday night. They both got small action parts. Luke was a bumblebee and Christian was one of the bug catchers. Susan also participated in the camp. In the morning she worked on the set and props and in the afternoon she worked with the photography group. All in all the camp was a success and everyone had a good time. The musical (called Life School Musical) was done very well and the boys really enjoyed their parts (although I know they wanted some lines of their own). The summer is quickly slipping by and the days of sleeping in and going to bed late are coming to a close. The chapters of their childhood seem to literally be flying past me and I am not taking enough chances to read each chapter carefully and in enough detail. Susan has spent many hours putting together scrap books of the life events of our family and looking back at these memories stirs up happy and sad feelings and shows me just how precious the time is that we have with our children.

Changes

What does my darling wife and one of the greatest basketball players of all time, Larry Bird,
have in common? Other than both being extremely dedicated and hard working her age now matches his retired jersey. Her birthday got me thinking about the time I turned 30. Susan threw me a surprise birthday party but I was not in the mood for the celebration. I looked back at the past 30 years and thought life is basically over now. I dreaded the change. Being 29 was as least still being 20. But being 30, well I thought I might as well buy a grave plot and put my name on a waiting list for some nice retirement home. Even though I had children of my own I still thought of myself as a child of my parents. How had 30 came so quickly and how did I get so much responsibility and how did everything get so expensive? I remember when it was eighty-five cents for a gallon of gas, one dollar for a gallon of milk and what happened to wacky wafers? I remember being dropped off at the community pool (which only cost a quarter) and being able to spend the day without my parents having to worry about who or what was going to happen to me. I think of simpler times and that was only 25 years ago. What is the next 25 years going to bring and how much more complex and in a hurry is everything going to be?

Baseball in Richmond

Last week Susan and I took the boys to see Pawtucket play down at the Diamond. The R-Braves won the first game with a bases loaded wild pitch in the 7 inning. It was quite a let down and somewhat uninspiring win. Pawtucket did come back and win the second game. It was a double header game because the Monday night game was called because of poor field condition from some rain Sunday night and early Monday morning. The weather was awesome for a game in July (low humidity and a nice breeze). We sat right behind the 3rd base dugout (1 row back). There were quite a few Red Sox fans out to support Pawtucket. Even the guy running to be the governor of Red Sox's Nation for Virginia was in attendance. The boys really enjoyed the game but to tell the truth what they wanted the most was to catch a fly ball or have one of the players throw them one during the inning change. We are going back to see at least one more game at the end of July before the R-Braves leave Richmond at the end of this season.