Power to the People!

The Northerns' plan to go kayaking on the lake today was postponed at the last minute due to the threat of thunderstorms.

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NorthernToddler has mounted a sit-in protest.

Miniature Golf

 NorthernToddler's first time ever mini-golfing. He sank a hole-in-one on the seventh.

Toddler discovers that the holes are removable. Quickly puts cup back into place and looks around to make sure nobody saw him disassemble the golf course....

Monkeyboy shot an 81. Daddy had an awful outing and put up 56. NorthernMommy won the round with a 47.

Blankety-Blank Duck

That's him. The fugitive. After three days on the run, winging through the neighborhood, and busting his best dance moves at the local pond parties, the "lost" duck has been captured. The shackles are secure and this duck has been promoted to Freezer Duck Number One when the time comes.

Details later - it's a tragic/funny story, and it deserves a proper telling.

Lost Duck

Lost one duck. Jailbreak.Full story to come.



They Grow Up So Fast

They grow up so fast. The chickens, not NorthernToddler. Just a few weeks ago, these six chicks were living in the brooder in the garage. One week ago, they moved to an isolated area in the coop. Two days ago, they were released into general population - and got schooled on the finer arts of being a chicken by the older ladies. There has been some squabbling, beat-downs, and hesitation to step outside on the part of the younger ones, but things are working themselves out.

NorthernDaddy went out tonight to close up the coop, and this is what he saw when he stepped inside - all six of the little ones roosting just like the old hens. Aren't they cute?

Poisoning NorthernMommy

One of the first things that NorthernMommy's future in-laws learned about her was this: NorthernMommy cannot tolerate "instant" mashed potatoes from a box. They're fake! It's not right! Those aren't mashed potatoes, they're not even potatoes - it's poison! I won't eat them!

One of the first things that happened to NorthernMommy after she married NorthernDaddy was that she was assigned the post of Official Potato Masher at family meals. Her mother-in-law even presented NorthernMommy with a shiny new potato masher tool to help in the job.

When NorthernDaddy was planning the meals for last week, he decided that he wanted mashed potatoes to go with the grilled chicken he was planning. Now, it's busy at NorthernDaddy's work this time of year. When he gets home, there isn't a whole lot of time to peel and chop and boil potatoes and then smoosh them all up with butter and milk. (NorthernMommy doesn't cook during the week. Daddy's rules - whole 'nother story.) Since NorthernDaddy does the grocery shopping, it was easy enough to slip some poison into the cart:

If one looks at the ingredients, there is not much more than dehydrated potatoes in the box. No rat poison or growth-stunting syrup that might make them bad for eating. So, NorthernDaddy made them up for dinner, and NorthernMommy ate them without complaint.

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It looks like NorthernDaddy is paving the way to easier holiday dinners...

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Oops! NorthernDaddy always has Mommy check over the blog entries before he posts to make sure that he doesn't post 'bad' things. She checked this one and, somewhere in the middle of the waving arms rant that is still going on an hour later, NorthernDaddy is catching bits of phrases like "didn't like them one bit" and "didn't fool me" and "bit my tongue and kept quiet"..... Guess that the mashed potatoes will be 100% authentic and hand-made at Thanksgiving.....

Helping with Chores...By Being a Daredevil

NorthernToddler has to do chores every weekday after preschool. He has a list of five or six chores that he can choose from. He has to pick two each day - and they can be whatever he wants to help with that day as long as it's on the list. (It's easy stuff;  recycling, running the vacuum, putting away laundry...) 

Today, Toddler wanted to help with the dishes. He can put away the silverware, his plates, and the plastic containers - all stuff that he can easily reach. This fine day, after putting away his normal dishes, he decided that he wanted to keep helping and put away some coffee mugs. NorthernDaddy told Toddler that there was no way that a little guy like him was going to be able to reach the upper cabinets to put away the mugs. Toddler had other ideas. He went and got his step-stool and put it in place. Daddy wasn't too concerned - even with the stool, the cabinet was still too high. Daddy kept on with putting other dishes away.

A few seconds later, Toddler says, "See?"  Daddy turned to find Toddler standing on the counter top beaming with pride about the fact that he had proven Daddy wrong.

What did NorthernDaddy do? Instead of helping Toddler down from the counter and making sure he didn't fall, Daddy grabbed his camera in the hopes of catching Toddler standing up there (NorthernMommy requires photographic proof of crazy stunts performed in the house). Well, Daddy wasn't quick enough and only caught Toddler on the way back down to get another mug. Not good - that can only be used as proof that Toddler was breaking the rules by climbing on the furniture  and that Daddy is a bad parent for not stopping him.

(Please wait while Daddy deletes the picture before Mommy sees it!)

Flip-Flop

Last year, when the raised-bed gardens were built, NorthernToddler had a little sign warning off any bugs that might stop by.

This year, the nutty little kid has flip-flopped - he's setting out a table and chairs and welcoming the bugs! He set up this tiny bistro set and he and NorthernMommy stop by the garden every morning before heading off to preschool to see if there are any bugs sitting at the table enjoying their morning lattes.

Crazy....

Chick Update

A quick update on the new layer flock: the six chicks are now residing in the coop. They're segregated in their own pen to protect them from the four old ladies already living there - kind of a "get to know you" introduction to the established flock. After a few days or a week of letting the chickens get used to seeing each other, the six young'uns will be turned out into general population for a proper hazing and setting of the pecking order.

The real good news in this is that for the first time in a few months, there are no animals living in the garage. First it was the ducklings, and then the chicks. NorthernDaddy has been parking outside for way too long.(Or, just maybe, there are too many stinkin animals running around here!) He has an ulterior motive in pushing the chicks out to the coop: once all animals are out of NorthernMommy's side of the garage, the garage door opener can be fixed. Once the garage door opener is fixed, NorthernMommy can get out of Daddy's side of the garage and start parking on her side again. Once that happens, NorthernDaddy can start using his side of the garage for important things like working on his truck!

The animals are out, the plan is in motion. NorthernDaddy shall reclaim his garage space in short order!

Goofer

NorthernToddler is fond of calling his Mommy and Daddy "goofers" if they do something stupid less than intelligent.

Now, they get to toss the GOOFER label right back at him - see the first photo below. (The rest of them are there just because he's cute sometimes...)

The Boo Boo Incident

Yesterday, NorthernToddler bumped into another child at preschool. By "bumped into", we mean that he darn near knocked the head off of the poor little girl that he hit. We can only assume that, because there was a Boo Boo Incident Report in Toddler's cubby when Daddy picked him up. Now, neither NorthernMommy or Daddy has ever seen a Boo Boo Incident Report before. Didn't even know that they existed. Judging by some of the war wounds and battle scars that he's been sent home with in the past, this collision must have been colossal if it prompted a report!

One of the teachers was kind enough to explain what happened and assured us that the other child was okay. On the way home, NorthernDaddy was debriefing Toddler on the incident when Toddler told him how the accident happened: Toddler was trying to find out how fast he could run with his eyes shut. 

Can you imagine if NorthernMommy and Daddy had to fill out one of these forms every time an 'incident' occurred at home? There wouldn't be enough time in the day to do anything else!