Family Gaming

I got really excited about playing Forgotten Waters with Carrie and Shane. It was a pirate game, but it was cooperative, story-telling, and fully narrated! The narrator was none other than All-Might from My Hero Academia, too! Carrie recognized him right away and couldn't believe it. She rushed to the computer to look it up and confirm.

This is going to be awesome, I thought. 

We pulled out sheets to make our characters. Carrie was a Thespian Pirate. I chose the Seasick Pirate. Shane wanted to the the Gunpowder Guy. Shane's sheet asked him to pick a number between 2 and 8. Shane said, "7" and that was the number of fingers he'd already lost playing with explosives! 

We started the adventure, our three pirates (and Shane's pirate's three fingers!) and I thought it was a neat system.

This is my type of game.

I looked up at Carrie's and her face told a different story. She stuck it out for a while, but eventually excused herself from the table. 

Shane was a big factor. He fidgeted constantly with items on the table, made sound effects, and dragged out making a decisions on his turn to make everything as dramatic as he could. 

And once Carrie left, Shane lost interest quickly. I cheered him on and got him to finish with me, but I doubt we'll play together again.

Such is the problem I have getting the family together to play games. Carrie likes a degree of calm and for things to move snappy. Shane only wants to play if everyone plays, but then proceeds to (unintentionally) do everything that drives Carrie up a wall! 

I cleaned the game up quietly later on.

A week later, Shane agreed to play The Crew with me. I was thrilled. I didn't care if we won or lost. Shane wanted to practice shuffling, so I let him manhandle the cards for a while before dealing out. 

Carrie decided to join us. She wanted to participate, but it was clear she was worn-out. I didn't want to discourage family gaming, but it ended predictably. You're not supposed to say what cards you have and Shane kept calling out his. He misunderstood another rule and Carrie realized he was picking up the tricks he took back into his hand, too. 

Carrie was cross and snapped at him for it. Shane left the table and went to his room.

Carrie and I talked for a little bit after and I insisted she needed to be the one to go check in on him. She felt terrible about it later on and resolved to hug him extra tightly. 

Shane had a rough day at school the next day. Kids at recess were mad at him for not throwing the ball quick enough in kickball and yelled at him. Carrie saw a parallel and felt even more awful for snapping at him herself when she heard. I think it made for a good discussion point with Shane later on. 

So for the moment, family gaming is on pause unless it's a quick, small game. Maybe once every couple of weeks we'll play three person Gin or Shane will pull out Don't Break the Ice. I hope as Shane gets older, he'll be a little calmer, and Carrie will be a little more patient with his antics and we can play other sorts of games. I'd love to GM an RPG for Shane at some point, but we're not there yet.

More Snow!? What a January!

More snow was predicted....for Friday night. The absolute worst time for snow.

Thankfully, the county decided to close early. Otherwise, it would've been all bad weather for no gain. It may not have been the technically correct choice as things didn't get started until near 5:30 PM. There could've been buses still on the way back from runs or bus drivers driving themselves home after stowing buses, but I don't know the timetables the county uses to make their decisions. 

By 8 PM there was a small coating. I believe that was it.

It looked pretty the next morning.

It looked even prettier when it started melting by the afternoon! I've enjoyed the days off, but I'm ready to be done with the snow (We already have to make up one snow day in May).

It made for a quieter day at home. The roads were still okay, so we had some visitors. Jess came out to check on Indy and gave Shane some DBZ cards as a present!

Shane's never watched DBZ and we have no idea how to play, but Shane was happy to rip open packs and say, "Whoa! Rare!"

I started to punch out chits and setup a board game next to him.

I wanted Carrie and Shane to play with me later, so I was determined to have everything set up to give the game the best possible chance of success (More on that in a later post).

And I can't say I remember too much more about the day. I think we watched TV, played video games, and hung around (It seems like a safe bet). I'm writing this 3 weeks later, so I'm going off the pictures.

Which includes this next one. I was surprised to see horses outside my bedroom window on my way in from night chores. Either the boys' gate wasn't latched or it wasn't latched perfectly, because there was a jail break! Lane and Indy were hitting the grass together.

I walked up and grabbed Indy without issue. Lane didn't want to be alone and followed after, so it was no problem recollecting the boys. Eddie seemed confused about it all and greeted our return. 

I wasn't the first, but I am having fun!

I joined the Wordle craze. Boxes kept popping up on my social feed and I got curious.

Wordle ### Date goes here

⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜

🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

It turned out Worlde was my type of game! Words? Puzzle? I was in! The one puzzle a day raised the stakes and kept the commitment low. I almost lost a round learning the game (The word was "proxy") and haven't stopped since.

It's become a friendly competition between Carrie and I. She doesn't play every day, but when she does she wants to beat me! 

I taught one class how to play and compare scores with some of my students, too.

Scott showed me a few variations of the game. Hello wordl allows you to pick the size of the word you're guessing (from 4 to 11 letters!). 

The version I like the most is dordle. It involves solving two words at once (just crunchy enough without being too much of a brain burner!).

Since Wordle got popular, I've had students show me Worldle (a variant where you guess countries) and Patrick has shown me Reversle and Mathle (which may become something I show my classes).

I doubt the Wordle craze will last the years, but it's been a fun few minutes every day lately. Enough so I even wrote a post on it!

Are you trying to tell me something?

Shane bought me a Christmas gift, but he didn't remember to give it to me until the end of January. Do you think he was trying to tell me something?

The "$35 value" horrified me at first, but it wasn't a price tag. Carrie confirmed it was much less than that.

I thanked Shane, but I wish he'd given it to me early in case I wanted to return it. I'm not normally the kind of guy to return a kid's gift, but it took Shane a month and a half to remember he bought it. I don't think he's going to check to see I used it.

Ernie's Back

Ernie came back from the equine hospital! He stayed there from 1/18 to 1/25. Carrie and Laura trailered him home.

He's lost weight. I took this picture 2/9.

I scanned around for a comparison picture that wasn't too old and here's how he looked during the summer (He's wearing a coat in most of the more recent pics).

Ernie's going to be on stall rest for 4 weeks. He's on equine senior feed now and the portions are small. Since he's a turd and refuses to drink much water, Carrie made the decision to put his feed in his water bucket. If he's hungry, he has to drink to eat! It's the only way we've been able to guarantee he's getting the minimum water each day the doctor recommends. 

Ernie's supposed to get a few 30 minute grazing sessions and 10 minute walks throughout the day. Carrie was stressed, sore, or something one morning, so I took Ernie out while drinking my tea.

Right now, Ernie's on a three bucket meals a day program: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Carrie normally handles the first two and I handle the 8 PM dinner feeding to get him through the night.

After 4 weeks of stall rest, Ernie will be promoted to limited turnout. He'll get to go in one of the pony dry lots by himself.

Colic surgery and the follow up hospital stay are not cheap (over $10 grand). If one of our horses needed it, I'd argue that the most fiscally responsible thing to do would be to say our farewells. Ernie's an older guy, so I thought there was a chance Laura and Amy wouldn't have done the surgery. However, they've been through some tough times and losses recently, so I knew there was a chance they'd roll the dice on surgery even if it would be a financial burden.

Amazingly, God provided. An old job owed Laura backpay from over a year ago that she'd thought she'd never see. A check arrived a week before Ernie's colic that covered 98% of everything! 

So here's to hoping Ernie has a speedy recovery and a lot more years in him. He's part of the herd and Laura and Amy are part of the barn! 

Wrestling in a Pandemic Recovery Year

Wrestling has felt odd this year. 

My first year at Monticello, I didn't have a 4th block, so it was easy to head over to help. This year, I have two 4th block classes and they're the most exhausting classes of the day. I typically need some time after class and it makes me arrive late to practice.

It's a small team this year and probably averages 6 kids in the room. Who the kids are changes as someone is sick, injured, or not in school that day. We've missed at least 7 practices due to snow and it started a week late. I've only been to a couple of matches and I've left practice early several times due to family needs. There have been some practices over the breaks and on teacher workdays, but I only went to one and no kids showed up. I think I only needed to put on my wrestling shoes and wrestle one day for 45 minutes with a kid in all of January. 

This week there were only three practices. One of them I showed up and helped direct kids to roll up mats.

There was an even number of kids, two other coaches, and Carrie's still recovering from pneumonia so I left afterwards to watch Shane, make dinner, and do barn chores instead.

I feel less committed and it makes the season feel less satisfying.

There's only a week left of the regular season. One wrestler has a chance to place at Regionals, but that's it. What's next year going to look like? Will coaches still have to wear face masks? Will more kids come out, because there's less COVID anxiety? Or will we get fewer kids, because everyone got used to not doing after school activities? I like Coach Brian, but will he come back or will there be a 3rd head coach in three years? 

Part of me wonders what it would look like if I tried to be the head coach. Would I be able to inject life into the program? Or would it overwhelm me with everything else going on in my life? I like the idea more if Shane was older and wanted to wrestle, because coaching would also count as child care. Sadly, he's not interested.

And a large part of me is going to be glad when the season is over. I'll check it off the list and use the extra time to plan or head home and rest.

We're Related, but Definitely Different!

If I were to limit myself and point out what I think are Shane's three best traits, they'd be: Clever, compassionate, and creative.

Clever - Shane's a smart kid. He likes learning about animals (even bugs). And science (especially extreme weather). He's got a strong math brain and an excellent memory in general. 

Compassionate - Shane's incredibly tender-hearted. He's quick to hug and to smile. He's people focused and does an amazing job playing and being gentle with younger kids. Shane gets upset when people get hurt in TV shows and tries to fast-forward or run out of the room during embarrassing/cringe moments.

Creative - Shane's always thinking up something. He doesn't draw or write, but he's more than willing to dictate to someone! I don't know if it will be music, art, theater, or writing (probably not art), but when Shane finds a medium to record his thoughts it'll be a lot of fun to see what he comes up with.

I can point out more things, but I tried to stick with the top three. I'm thankful that God made me a father and that I got to have Shane as my son.

And like most parents I spend a lot of time thinking about my child, reflecting on my own childhood, and comparing the two.

There are a lot of ways Shane and I are alike. 

When Shane's interested in something, he's all in. He's super high energy, likes to climb, tries to tease Carrie even when he shouldn't, and farts constantly. 

There are a lot of ways he's different, too. 

Nana calls Shane her "Little Italian." He's the only one on my side of the family who doesn't fry in direct sunlight. Shane has a sharp ear for musical notes. He's a braver eater. And if you've ever met Shane in real life, you'd recognize he's 100% extrovert. He will talk to anyone, anywhere, at anytime and hates to be alone.

There are some newly developed/discovered ones as of late.

Shane's been picky in stores. If he has something he's looking for, that's what he wants. I took Shane to the comic book store, offered to buy him a couple of things just to be nice....and he said "There's nothing I want."

Free. I offered free gifts. I rarely do that, and Shane said, "Nah."

That's very different from me growing up. I could always find 1,000 things I wanted in any store we went. Nana said I was easy to shop for! If she said, "You can have _______ of something," I went right up to the limit (and sucked up if I went a little over). 

I force Shane to stay in the shop while we looked around. He eventually picked a single thing to focus on and wouldn't look for anything else.

Shane's got strong interests, so I feel like he's usually easy to shop for. He's been a little bit more negative lately, so maybe that's a sign the teenage years are starting?

But if someone offered Shane a new pet (even a fish) he's 100% there (He clearly gets it from Carrie). 

If it were up to me, we'd have a dog. That's it. 

We don't just have a dog. 

I bonded with Baby and Jazzy growing up, but we had other pets, too. They were cool for a while, but I never attached to them. There was the hamster that bit me, the birds that went crazy, and the mice that bred like mice. Most met unfortunate ends or were "set free." I don't think I spent much time worrying about it and moved on quickly. 

Meanwhile, Shane sometimes brings up past pets we've had. He asked about what happened to Min recently. He got sad when I told him the details and I showed him some old posts from the blog. Shane's asked about Lester, as well. I told Shane that Lester made his choice to move on from the barn (true) and left out the part where I thought he was probably coyote food.

And somehow, Shane even cares about his fish. He called me in to his room to show me a red spot on one guppy he'd noticed.

I'm glad Shane and Carrie can bond over the fish tank, because I lose interest in it fast (Which works out for me, because when things like the heater break and smoke it's up to them to deal with it!).

Shane's far less competitive and more tender-hearted than I was growing up. It shows with the fish, but also with how he reacts to shows. In Star Wars, he wondered aloud what happened to Storm Troopers who were shot or fell from a height. 

"Did they die?" Shane asked.

"Who cares!? The good guys are awesome and winning!" <Queue "Another One Bites the Dust>

I didn't really say that, but I know that's what Young Mike would've felt!

I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be a hero and kick butt. I remember looking through the Chuck Norris Martial Arts supply catalog in Beaumont. I thought belt knives were cool. So were the swords...the sais....and I wouldn't have said to nunchuks, either. Donatello used a staff, but I could find sticks in the yard. One year, Nana Jama made the mistake of buying my siblings and I bullwhips at the fair. We all went Indiana Jones and it's fortunate nobody was scarred for life. 

I could be timid with sports. I was middling at best. The one year I played soccer, I would've loved to have been a good offensive player and score points....but I stunk. I was relegated to defense. 

Shane, on the other hand, has no interest in being anything other than defense. He really wants to be a goalie to block shots and save the game with everyone watching.

Keep all that in mind as I go into this next: Marcell gave me a pellet rifle before he left to Thailand.

It's a .17 caliber that shoots metal bb's. It's one pump for one shot and it takes more strength than Shane has, so I felt fine accepting it from Marcell.

I've meant to take Shane outside to teach him some basic firearm safety and how to shoot. I didn't do it until the second set of snow days. A young me would've jumped at the chance. Shane balked and worried he'd hurt himself or something else. It took a little convincing to get him to try it. 

I wanted to make a small target shooting game like the ones at carnivals. I set up a carboard target in front of  a stack of pallets in the hay barn. The pellet gun was heavier for Shane than I thought it'd be, but I thought it'd be fun. 

I pulled out my phone to take a quick picture for the blog and Shane put the gun down.

He did NOT want a picture of him holding a weapon. He said he'd refuse to pick it up unless I put my phone away. Shane didn't anyone to see him with a gun (even a pellet one) much less to think he'd try to hurt anything.

Very different from young Mike. 

We're rural enough that a large portion of his school population comes from hunting families, and kids talk about it at school. I've never been, but I probably would have tried it if a group of friends offered growing up. Hunting is a non-starter for Shane (but maybe fishing is fine?).

We used the pellet rifle for 15 minutes at the most before Shane wanted to go inside. He's never asked about it again.

I don't view any of these differences as bad. They're interesting. Shane is half me genetically, so I can trace Shane's extroverted-ness straight from Jama to Nana to me and then him. Pop thinks he's got Nana's literal mindset, too. 

It's not really a New Year's Goal so much as a general one

Shane does a weird thing with pushups. He twists and dips his hip on the right side. I don't remember him doing that when he was younger.

The number of push-ups Shane can do has gone down. Some of that is he's grown and is heavier. Some of it is he doesn't get enough exercise. He's athletic enough, so I decided to start a workout program with him.

I kept it simple: Push-ups, squats, and planks. From what I've read (and in my opinion), younger kids shouldn't use weights. I want to keep Shane fit and let him benefit from feeling confident about himself. I'd like him to see the value and enjoy exercising with me rather than forcing him to comply.

I'll hopefully do an update and say "PROGRESS!" after a couple of months. It's off to a slow, giggling, and excuse-filled start.

It's motivation for me to start a focused routine again myself. I get enough basic exercise through rural living.

Example A: The driveway was so frozen the shovels didn't work. I grabbed a mattock.

If I'd known the driveway would be that much of a pain in my back I would've rushed out to scoop the snow as it fell!

A few "workouts" and some time allowed the sun to work some of its magic.

I stopped working out when I got the tendonitis and golfer's elbow around Labor Day. The tendonitis faded quickly, but my left elbow felt off for months. It still feels more tender and weaker than the right. 

My plan is to take it slow and see where it goes. I'd love to start doing some light jogging with Shane and turn it into a joint accountability thing. 

Entertain Me

Shane's into video games right now. Carrie's into anime. So what's keeping me busy?

Work. 

But aside from that I do find ways to entertain myself.

I like to listen to audiobooks while I do barn chores. I recently finished Hail Mary by Andy Weir and really enjoyed it.

Rather than starting the next book, I've been listening to the Top 100 Countdown from the Dice Tower.

I like the friendly banter and picking at each other. It reminds me of the dynamics of my friend group growing up. I spend more time listening to Dice Tower material each year than I spend on Netflix, so I'm happy to support them through their Kickstarter.

Actually, the puzzle I bought from them last year just arrived! I poured it into our gaming table while Shane was doing his Thursday night lesson with Ryouma. 

I entertained myself by starting to sort through for edge pieces and obvious color groups while I listened.

Neither Carrie or Shane ever suggests doing a puzzle and will actively groan if I mention getting one. Both of them will wander over and can't resist helping when they see me at it, though!

Carrie snuck behind my back and was working on the puzzle while Shane and I went to volleyball! I came home and noticed there were some puzzle pieces on the ground. 

"I needed something to focus on," Carrie said, " and a cat jumped up into the middle of it! I thought I picked it all back up!"

We sat down to finish the puzzle that afternoon. Part of it was I didn't trust her to hold back and thought she'd finish it when I went to work! 

We almost finished....,but there was a missing piece.

Annoying to say the least. 

I figured I'd be fine if we never found it, but that didn't stop me from looking. I started and stopped a few times until I thought to look under the fridge.

Cleary, a cat had fun. I can't help but wonder if it was Arya from how she gazed at the finished puzzle.

I wish I could say I spent more of my day reading. I got through 3 of the books Grandpa gifted me in under 4 weeks. Being off work (and without power) helped with that. My current rate of reading is two chapters in two weeks.

I spent a lot more time reading articles online and memes online. The best of which I end up being sent to Carrie. I only send some of the hundreds of memes I find.

 I prefer funny and funny-thought provoking or anything serious. 

Carrie replies back and we can have a whole conversation in pictures. 

I could work on the blog and write at night, but Bill and I started playing Deep Rock Galactic.

It's about dwarves and it's co-op. Two things that rate highly amongst us. Carrie's been falling asleep early due to the pneumonia, so I've been available.

As a bonus, the enemies are bugs. It's not gory or scary, so I've been willing to log on before Shane goes to bed. Now Shane wants to play!

Mining space asteroids online has prevented me from doing much writing, but it's been fun. There are a couple of nights that I stayed up later than I should have to finish levels. There was the one time we built a pipeline in a vertical coil that Bill fell into. We thought we'd lost the mission until Bill remembered he was a dwarf and digging is our thing. Another mission we spent over an hour trying to find the last object of a secondary goal. We'd given up, summoned the escape pod, and with minutes left on the timer Bill spotted it and decided to go for it. 

It's been a lot of fun. The next time the game's on sale we may be able to talk Briggs or Dan into buying it (I'd bought the game for John a year ago, but he returned it saying "I don't want anyone to spend money on me.").

When Carrie's awake we normally watch something until she falls asleep. There are a number of series we're working through.

And that pretty much sums up my media/entertainment habits. I'd like it if there were more family board games and reading, but there's only so much time in the day! About the only things I haven't mentioned are the Christian radio I listen to while driving and the random YouTube videos I watch whenever something catches my interest. 

Hopping Out of Hand

 Anthony Hopkins is making himself right at home. Carrie and Shane are both big fans.

The only win I have in the situation is I refused to (and so far avoided) doing any real bunny care.

I sensed that Hopkins may be another "foster fail" before I came home to his new 'pen.'

I'll admit it's brilliant. Using a baby pen keeps all his mess in a single location (and it even came with some toy balls that Shane threw for Loki).

At this point, I've gone on record to say "Merry Christmas and Happy Anniversary 2022." I'd ditch the lop, but if Carrie and Shane bond over him I'm not going to be the joy-killer.

Carrie likes to hop in the pen with Hopkins.

And she's not the only one. The cats like his hay. Arya was torn between chewing and sniffing Hopkin's new litter box (She's more than welcome to use it, too).

Hopkins is a big chewer. He particularly likes the taste of cardboard. He's not afraid of heights and loves to hop up on his box.

And again, anything the bunny likes draws attention from others.

I found this picture particularly meme worthy.

I was a little concerned the cats may try to hunt the bunny at some point, but all signs point to them being friends so far.

I've had to chase Tsuki and Arya out of the pen for eating the bunny's food pellets.

Carrie's the only one allowed to take Hopkins out of the pen (Usually for a snuggle and photo-shoot).

He has his own ideas on that, though. He'll jump out at random times! Hopkins got loose just before I sat down to write!

He's harder to catch than expected when surrounded by cover (Especially when I'm trying not to hurt him).

I think it's official that we can say Hopkins is part of the family. Carrie moved his pen out of the main entryway and into the office once Bucket went home, so it's not a bad spot.