The Weeklies #254
(Friday, May 17, 2013)

The Weekly Affliction. Broken foot.

The Weekly Food Nationality. Chinese.

The Weekly Read. I love Chris Grabenstein. His novels might not be the most wonderful ever written but his John Ceepak series is much fun. Hell Hole was no different. Summer in a seaside resort town on the Jersey Shore, a military conspiracy, and a bunch of Springsteen tunes. It doesn't get much better than that. When I truly love a series of novels I find myself doing my absolute best to take them slowly so I don't run out before the next installment hits the shelves. And though Grabenstein just released a new one, that's exactly how I feel about these.

The Weekly TV. I honestly can't decide if I like Game Of Thrones or not. Six episodes in and the jury's still out.

The Weekly Music. If you took the polish of Coldplay, the emotional bite of Snow Patrol and the swagger of The Killers and put them all together, you'd probably end up with something that sounded a whole lot like Imagine Dragons as evidenced by Night Visions. I realize I'm late to the party on these guys but I caught their single Radioactive on the radio the other day and was a little bit hooked. Imagine Dragons are big, and I'm not just talking about their success. They've got big anthems, big beats and big ideas. And I respect them for that. The problem? I wish that Imagine Dragons was a little bigger than the sum of their Coldplay, Snow Patrol and Killers parts. Though I like the album I occasionally found myself wishing it was just a little less derivative and a little more interesting.

The Weekly Movie. Young Adult. What an awkward, uncomfortable film. I mean that in a good way. And, sure, Charlize Theron was great but Patton Oswalt stole the show.

The Weekly Question. What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Cacto-System
(Thursday, May 16, 2013)

We have an awesome backyard, made all that more awesome by the fact that we seem to tame it just a little more each spring. By time we're 80, we'll get it just the way we want it. In the mean time, our kids are vastly entertained by the ecosystem we seem to have inherited.

Robins. We have two robins, one male and one female, who have a nest high in our cherry tree. They have two, maybe three, robin chicks. They're protective parents. They chase anything and everything away including Owen. When one makes food runs the other jumps into the nest and tends to the chicks.

Mockingbirds. Though Owen insists that they're called knockingbirds, we have a pair who have just started their lives together. They're apparently quite wealthy since they're currently creating two nests, one in a short evergreen bush, the other in a rosebush. The mockingbirds take issue with the robins' territorial leanings.

Frogs. After staring as eggs and turning into oddly alien-looking tadpoles, our frogs have returned to our pond. The nights are punctuated by sexy frog mating calls and when we approach the pond we are immediately warned by the biggest and loudest frog that it is his pond we're approaching.

Fish. Our fish weathered the winter and bred in abundance. They're gigantic and their numbers are kept in check only by the blue heron that occasionally visits our pond then looks slightly guilty (yet well-fed) when we catch him in our yard.

Rabbits. We've only spied one rabbit but it is gigantic and where there is one gigantic rabbit there are surely more. This is a nice surprise since the last time we saw rabbits in the yard was the day we put an offer in on the house. As we pulled out of the driveway that day, five little bunnies scurried away. We thought they were strategically placed by the owners.

Deer. Every couple of nights a mom deer and three fawns stroll through our lawn looking for something good to eat. If they make it past the militant frogs and the protective birds, they might make it to our hostas which have deer size bites taken out of them.

I swear, one day Mia's going to go into the backyard and sing and all the animals will crowd around her like our own personal Disney movie.

Photo For Wednesday #1
(Wednesday, May 15, 2013)

With Beth sidelined, the kids have been forcibly drafted into more chores than normal. What they don't know is that there's no going back.

Also, Owen recently fell in love with a fedora. Like chores, wearing the fedora is something we're encouraging.

Damn You, Sheryl Crow!
(Tuesday, May 14, 2013)

Owen likes rock and roll. Mia does not, or so she claims. I like long-winded progressive rock. Beth does not. This makes choosing acceptable music in the car something of a challenge. The kids and I went out over the weekend to hit the grocery store and score some cleaning supplies at Target (yes, we live the life of glamour). We were finally able to arrive at some acceptable listening material. Though there was a price.

Owen: Play some rock and roll.
Mia: No! Well, only if there's a girl singer.
Me: Okay, you guys will like this.
Owen: Is it a girl rock and roller?
Me: Yes, it's Sheryl Crow singing about Steve McQueen.
Sheryl: Like Steve McQueen/All I need's a fast machine/I'm gonna make it all right
Mia: Who's Steve McQueen?
Me: Famous actor from a long time ago.
Owen: Was he related to Lightening McQueen?
Me: Kinda. After a fashion.
Sheryl: I ain't takin' shit off no one/Baby that was yesterday
Mia: Daddy, what did she just say?
Owen: Yeah, what'd she mean?
Me: I, uh, didn't hear anything.
Mia: She said spit.
Owen: Yeah, spit.
Me: Oh, um, yeah. Must have been. That's not very ladylike.
Sheryl: We got rockstars in the White House/All our popstars look like porn
Me: Hey, let's listen to the next song!

...time passes

Mia: Daddy, who's Mister Brownstone?
Owen: And why won't he leave the singing guy alone?
Me: Let's listen to something else? How 'bout smooth jazz. Kenny G is like the Jimi Hendrix of smooth jazz.