Music Videos

Most of this blog's readers know that there is no television in the Northern household. Physically, yes, there is a TV upstairs with a DVD player hooked up for watching the random movie, and there is a computer for streaming a show or two, but nothing is watched regularly. NorthernMommy watches maybe two shows per week and NorthernDaddy feels that he has wasted enough of his life in front of the idiot box (but he'll watch snippets of "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" if Mommy has it on when he's doing the dishes. That show's inspirational.) NorthernToddler? Toddler would sit in front of a screen for hours and watch Dora or Sesame Street or just about anything that is on. He is kept away from the TV as much as possible to prevent the development of the Thousand-Yard Stare/Brain Rot.

Because of the no-television leanings in the Northern household, Toddler hasn't been exposed to very many (if any) music videos. He got a glimpse of Eric Church's video for the song "Homeboy", where the title character lives a rough life, is arrested, and eventually returns to the farm where he was raised. The expression below is Toddler's reaction the video....

 

 After the bazillion questions that "Homeboy" generated, NorthernDaddy decided to switch over to Dave Matthews Band - less questions, more rocking.

--

Twelve seconds into the video for "You Might Die Trying", Toddler ran off to grab his guitar. NorthernDaddy cranked the volume and he and Toddler danced and played guitar and sang along. It was a high-energy, rocking-loud good time...

 

...until NorthernMommy came home from her run to announce that she could "hear the music clear across the street and what kind of crazy are you two?"

--

Oops.

 

 

 



Discipline

Y'all remember this? New Method of Discipline

--

It works.

--

PapaFrank and Grandma Shannon rode over on their Harley for a visit today. (NorthernDaddy really misses having a motorcycle some days...) They brought a pineapple, some strawberries, a canteloupe, and ........BACON! PapaFrank had left a message on the machine earlier in the week saying something about winning ten pounds of bacon in a raffle or something. NorthernDaddy doesn't know - he doesn't listen to any phone messages for more than five seconds. Anyway, it doesn't matter - when someone shows up on your doorstep presenting you with five pounds of bacon, you take it. It doesn't matter if it was purchased, raffled, stolen, or hacked right off the pig - bacon is bacon! (Okay, it isn't bacon until it's cured, so maybe that last option isn't good.)

 

Later in the day, on the way back home after picking up NorthernMommy's race packet (she's running a race to the top of Mount Mansfield)(DUMMY), the discussion turned to the topic of dinner. NorthernDaddy had no interest in going to the grocery store, so a mental inventory of items on hand was created. There's fresh home-made bread, some shredded cheese, tomatoes from the garden, and....bacon! That's the fixings for a world-class meal right there!

 

When NorthernToddler learned that there would be bacon for dinner, he was jazzed. Elated. Truly happy enough to rock his version of a celebration dance (funny when he's strapped into a car seat!).

 

At home, Toddler managed to act up a bit and get on NorthernMommy and Daddy's nerves as dinner was cooking (and the wonderful smell of bacon wafted through the house). After the normal time-outs and re-directions failed to tame the little monster, NorthernDaddy finally uttered the lines that created an angel, "Once more, and you get no bacon."

--

It works!

 

(Photo sourced from coolmaterial.com)

Battle Armor!

It's been a tough week for the Northern Household. The internet connection for the "big" computer went wacko and stopped working. The iPad continued to connect, but has proven itself to be a less than acceptable method of updating the blog. As soon as internet connectivity was fully restored, the NorthernToddlerAdventureMobile started triggering fault codes. It started with the ABS light, added a 'Service Brake System' message, and then killed the radio. Finding nothing wrong with the tone rings or sensors for the ABS, NorthernDaddy did a quick search of the web and found that low voltage can trigger codes. A new battery was installed, and a voltmeter seemed to show that the charging system was doing its job. The next day, the NorthernToddlerAdventureMobile left NorthernMommy stranded. Battery died and the engine stopped. Luckily, she could limp it almost all of the way home - it died safely parked at the town green and NorthernMommy ran the half-mile home. NorthernDaddy managed to get the battery charged just enough for the run to the dealership for repairs. It's eighteen nerve-racking miles to the nearest Ford dealership, and NorthernDaddy creeped into the service lane with every trouble code/warning light there is triggered. No way that he's gonna pay for a tow if it can be avoided! The service department says that the problem is a defective alternator and was nice enough to replace it for the bargain-basement price of an arm and a leg. It might have been a DIY project, but another web search (what did anyone ever do before Google?) showed that replacing the alternator required pulling everything down to the axle half-shaft. The two hours of labor that the shop quoted seemed quite reasonable, what with NorthernDaddy needing to repair the Prizm and the J-truck (and hold down a job, run a household, and be a husband and a dad). Follow the internet and car(s) trouble with a particularly stressful harassment episode at work (NorthernDaddy was only involved because it was reported to him)(nobody harasses NorthernDaddy except Toddler).

--

Those many previous words only serve to set up the next string of photos. NorthernToddler insisted that Daddy make him a shield to go with his sword. NorthernMommy's been reading Chronicles of Narnia to Toddler, and he deems it necessary to have all of the proper equipment to fight off dragons. So, with a bit of imagination and gaff tape, an old pizza box was recycled into a shield.

 

Please don't comment on the knight's shield combined with a pirate hat combined with the Japanese sword - Toddler doesn't know anything other than that he's got enough hardware to slay dragons...

 The best/only laugh of the week comes from Toddler. Shortly after the creation of his new shield, he stood in front of the big picture window in the living room and started yelling "BATTLE ARMOUR!" at each passing car as he held up his sword and shield. After five or six cars, he stayed silent as one passed. As the next car approached, he resumed yelling as loud as he could. When NorthernDaddy asked why Toddler didn't yell at that one car, Toddler turned around and said, "I didn't yell at them because they didn't have their windows open."  Wow. Good point, kid....

Weather Forecast

The weather forecast calls for it to rain buckets. What do the Northerns do?.....They go camping. Bunch of Dummies! NorthernMommy and Toddler have already braved one night in the soup - NorthernDaddy joins them tonight....he's taking a kayak with him - just in case.


7-Day Forecast for Latitude 44.51°N and Longitude 72.98°W

Trimming

One of the perks of NorthernDaddy's job is that there is a loaner program that allows employees to try out the equipment that is manufactured by the company. This weekend it was time to try out the trimmer. When it's time to trim grass that is eight feet tall, what better piece of machinery to use than a string trimmer attached to a 6HP engine?

--

The goal was to reclaim sections of the yard that have been neglected over the past five or ten years - and to not break the lawn tractor in the process. (NorthernDaddy's lost two mowers in two years due to trying to brush-hog this stuff, remember?)(Right now, he's temporarily lost his mower due to a bad ignition coil. Who woulda thought that a coil could cost $55?)

--

Below are some "before" photos. Things are a little overgrown.

There's an old wood-post fence somewhere in there...

Behind the chicken coop/duck house/tractor shed...

The mighty machine ready to take on the world.

NorthernDaddy doesn't want to sound like he's trying to sell his company's products, but this little machine is pretty capable. Pin the throttle and send it into the tall stuff, and the heavy trimmer cord does the job. It's kinda cool seeing the green puff of 'smoke' as the line literally vaporizes plants. The downside is that green mist ends up covering the machine operator as he mows. Definitely gonna want the safety goggles for this gig.

(Without bashing the product, NorthernDaddy does have to mention that mowing rough terrain with this little puppy is quite a workout. Muscling this machine over logs, across ruts, and around root balls will whip your butt. Daddy thinks he might try to talk the guys in the Demo Shop into lending out one of the self-propelled units next time...)

--

Here are the results

 This is the back of the coop/shed. The Northerns have never really seen this. It has always been overgrown. In the winter, the grass died down enough to see that there was a rusty old burn barrel and a cracked-up truck cap half buried in this area. Those have been removed from the property along with a truckload of trash that was hiding in the tractor shed (and sheltering the woodchucks and mice)(and skunks).

 Found a tree! Actually, just cleared around it to make the yard look better.