Rise and Shine --- Summer's past

Good Morning and wasn't it nice to be able to leave the windows open last night?




A couple of weeks ago (on the last day of school), the little ones asked me what we were going to do this summer.

I gave my usual answer: "Depends on how everybody is going to act. A lot of fighting or arguing means a summer spent in a perpetual state of punishment. Acting good will mean more trips and more things to do."

Then, they asked what I did during the summer.

For some reason, I really don't know why, I flashed back to spending time with my cousins at their little farm (well, it had a barn) and tossing rocks into the creek.

It wasn't exactly a Mayberry time, but I remember having fun. The cousins were a little older than me and we didn't see them a whole lot, but every summer we'd spend a few times just 'messing around.'

My Aunt would make some kind of lunch, we'd eat, then head back and run around. We'd sneak in and get some ice cream or cookies, then do more of the same.

As the year's went by, I saw less and less of those cousins. As we got older and jobs or school got in the way, it went from a few times a year to once to none. They still lived in the area (my aunt continued to live in the old house), but I guess it's just the way some things go.

I haven't seen them in close to 20 years.

After I had told the stories of those summers to my children, my dad told me my aunt was sick and had to be hospitalized.

I found out she died yesterday.

I still don't know why I remembered those summer moments above others, but, maybe, it was a way of saying good bye.

Rise and Shine --- Get in the pool!

Good Morning and has anybody been able to hold off on the air conditioning yet?




When it gets hot and school's out, one of the first requests I get is "Can we go to a pool?"

I can pack everybody into the car and take a drive to Mom's house, but the pool is not open yet.

I can try to find somebody with a membership to a local pool who has some extra guest passes. With the work schedule and all, that's not the easiest thing to pull together.

So, I did the next best thing. We went out to a local store and picked up a little something to put in the yard.

"But, it's too small," was the first complaint.

Ah, you'll get wet and cooled off. That's all we need right now.

"But, it's too hard on the bottom," came the second.

We'll put in a little padding.

So, after what seemed like hours and hours air transfer, it was finally blown up and filled with water.

"The water's too cold."

Ahhhhh....

Rise and Shine --- Star Trek stuff

Good Morning and how about the Heat?!?
You know, I usually leave the cool space stuff to my co-worker in the Armageddon Watch blog
Then I saw something this morning that was too cool to wait.
Apparently, scientists believe the Voyager 1 spacecraft is about to leave our solar system.
The ship was launched in 1977 and is about 11 billion miles from earth. If the ship actually does leave the solar system, nobody really knows what kind of data or photos it will send back, but it's still really cool.
 I remember watching old Star Trek reruns when my Dad walked through the room.
"Think we'll ever have stuff like on this show?" I asked.
 "No way," he said. "It's just made up. "
Well, it's funny because we now have talking computers. tablets, holographic images and even more that was on the show.
Now, we have a ship that was made right here on earth about to find out what else is out there.
Sure, it's taken 35 years to get there, but what about the next one?
Then again, I don't think we are going to want to fight the Klingons.

Rise and Shine --- Summer's here

Good Morning and welcome to another one of "those" weeks!

OK, school's done.


Summer, maybe not officially until Wednesday, is here.

Now, what am I going to do.

It would be very easy to let the children run free. Have a "Do what you want" kind of summer.

I think that would last about a day. Besides, if I really let them do what they wanted, it would be hiding in the basement all summer playing video games.

Sure, it would make the rest of the house quiet, but, you know, it's kind of nice outside.

How about we ride bikes? "No"

How about we throw a Frisbee? "No"

How about we put on the sprinkler and run around? "Water's too cold, so No"

OK, this is going to be a bit harder than I envision every June.

So, I'm in the process of planning out as many activities as possible. Keep them busy and they can't complain.

Yeah, right.

Rise and Shine --- Too much?

Good Morning and how about that sun!!

I think we've hit the end. If not the end, we can certainly see it from here:

Rise and Shine --- Ad break

Good Morning and wouldn't it be nice if we could all sleep in late?




Maybe we could make it a new holiday: National Sleep in Late Day.

Target could have a 'Sleep in Late Day Sale,' with doors not opening until noon. We could see Toyota commercials for the month leading up to the day.

Speaking of commercials, they have become really annoying of late.

Let's not even talk about the car ads where a bunch of people are running to the dealer to get the best buy. Now, I know cars might be selling a little better than 2 years ago, but, come on, don't insult me with a bunch of stupid people running to the dealer before the sale is over. I have a feeling if you go into the dealer a day after the sale is over, you can still get the same deal.

So, anyway, the one that is really annoying me right now is the credit card commercial where some town combines their points to watch 'the London Olympics in true London style.'

Excuse me, but the Olympics don't start for a month. How did this town watch them already? Are they in some kind of time vortex where they can live in today, but watch the Olympics in the future?

I know ad agency's are struggling to come up with ideas, but whoever green-lighted this one should be forced to watch hours of Angry Orange.

Never mind, that would probably be illegal torture.

Rise and Shine --- Win, lose, draw?

Good Morning and how about them Phillies!?!




You know, it's OK to laugh at professional athletes when they make mistakes. It's OK, because, well, they are making millions and should be held to a higher athletic standard. Besides, when you watch Ty Wigginton boot a ball it makes all those errors you made in high school seen kind of OK.

I played baseball until I left high school. I know I wasn't very good. By sixth grade, I knew I'd never become a professional player.

Through all those years, my teams only came in first one time. After winning, we went to the pizza shop that sponsored the team and, hoping to get some free pizza, told them we won. Great, the guy behind the counter said, that'll be 10 bucks.

This past spring, a 10-year old I know lucked out and was drafted by a pretty good team. He improved through the season and went all the way to the title game.

So, in the bright sunshine and the heat of Sunday afternoon, we were at the field for the league championship game.

We cheered for our team to win. When they did with an unlikely hit in the last inning, we smiled, yelled and gave them all high-5s.

Quickly, though, I looked over to the other side. Sure, we were happy, but there was another group of players who weren't so upbeat.

I know the feeling on both sides of the field. I know the elation of winning. I know the pain of losing.

We all want our children to know the first one, while hoping to take the sting out of the second.

In 15 years, it'll be OK to laugh at them if they mess up on TV. For now, though, the only laughing should be because they are having fun.

Rise and Shine --- School days...

Good Morning and do we really need a remake of the 'The Munsters?'


So, here we are about a week and a half away from the end of school and the homework wars continue.

I get it, homework is of the lowest priority. I know it ranks below sitting around on the couch or sneaking a couple of cookies out of the jar or even fighting with your brother, but it still has to get done.

It's not like the middle of the school year where you were burdened down with homework. The teachers understand it's getting near the end of the year, so they aren't giving as much.

That project weeks in the making? Yeah, that doesn't need to be done the night before.

The math worksheet? Uh, all that time you just spent arguing with me about doing the work could have been used to get it done.

Reading? Shouldn't we all be reading every day anyway?

So, let's just work out a truce, OK? Get the homework done and everybody will be happy.

Rise and Shine --- Alarming

Good Morning and what are the MTV Movie Awards supposed to be?




Anyway, I've found the sure way to be tired throughout the weekend: set the alarm every day.

I really hate to have to set the alarm on the weekends. It's one thing to have to get up early every day for work, but it's quite another to have that beep, beep, beep going on when you are off.

Unless, of course, you are going on an exciting trip or something. I wouldn't mind it if, say, I was traveling to London in the morning.

This weekend, though, I knew was going to be a long one. When the alarm went off Saturday morning it meant the whole day at the baseball fields. By the whole day, I mean the WHOLE DAY.

The first game started at 9 a.m., which meant we had to be at the fields by 8. That one stretched to 11. We then had an hour break before the next one.

A win there, would mean a game right after, a loss (which is what happened) forced a 3 p.m. game.

Then Sunday we had to be out at Rose Tree Park by 9 a.m. to set up for our live stream from the Italian festival.

Each event (events?) was fun, but I'll look forward to this weekend for one reason: No alarms.