Words, actually

Sunday afternoon was devoted to putting up Christmas lights.
I don’t have a ladder tall enough to reach our front-porch roof. But we have one of those heat-wasting two-story foyers, and there’s a window right above the front door, about 12 feet up, and it opens onto the porch roof. So I took our 8-foot ladder [...]

I’m not proud of this … but I’m trying to be better

Hello. My name is Clinton, and I’m a sugarholic.
I’ve been addicted to sugar as long as I can remember. I’ve tried stopping many times, but I always go back. As a kid I’d stuff as much bubble gum in my mouth as possible, chew all the sugary juice out of it and start again, three [...]

Thanksgiving trip

Have you ever experienced a moment — a flash of thought, no more than a nanosecond — that separated having a good time from a disaster?
In third grade, it was an exuberant moment with the PE aide, a high school girl, that went from pulling on her belt loops to breaking them, that led to [...]

Lions and wolves and bears … no sleep!

Ella has now watched Flicka 127 times in the past week.
It’s a pretty scary movie, as she’s pointed out. Rocket the loco horse dies when it rears up wildly in the  back of a truck and hits the ranch sign. The dad and Gus find a colt a mountain lion has killed, and the lion’s [...]

Model behavior

I work with an amazing woman. The kind of person that makes me feel inadequate as a human being.
Dianne’s not one of those people with ample skills in spelling AND math.
She’s not physically intimidating; she stands about 5-feet tall in heels and weighs all of about 100 pounds.
She wears two hearing aids and has an [...]

One animal movie at a time

Trish and Ella checked out from our friendly local public library, was “My Friend Flicka,” the 1943 version with Roddy McDowell, who later stared with Lassie.
First of all couldn’t someone have worked with McDowell a little more to drop his British accent? Then again, his Montana-rancher father, Preston Foster, had a Jersey accent. And what’s [...]

Out to dinner

I love going out to eat with Ella.  It’s especially fun when Trish isn’t with us.
I feel an incredible sense of pride when I walk into a restaurant with my little girl. I admit, there’s a little voice that says, “hey, look at me. I’m a cool dad, going to dinner with his kid.” And [...]

The mess … signed, sealed, delivered

What finally convinced Ella to pick up her mess?
She didn’t sleep on it and awake contrite and reasonable.
She wasn’t motivated by the prospect of losing her bike riding privilege today, or by time out, or even by delaying her ritualistic morning cup of milk.
Trish told her, “you can’t go to the post office unless you [...]

Away

I know I’ve been away a while, my longest dry streak.
I’ve delivered a couple new posts, below.
I’ve posted an essay at thisoldporch.wordpress.com
It was intended to be a workshop submission, but I mis-read the cost of the program and didn’t want to fork out nearly $600. So, I offer it up to the blogosphere.

It’s not about winning … right?

Tonight, I was pulling for my kid.
Against myself.
Trish and I were both running late this afternoon, so Trish had the babysitter meet her at a bus stop on campus around 6 p.m. They didn’t get home until after 7, and Ella was tired. She was taking it all in stride, though, and was munching the [...]