There and Back Again

Continental breakfast.

9:30 service at our old church.

Shane got to play on the indoor fields. We were still in the computer system amazingly.

After church, we tried to surprise Jama.

I hadn't told her we were coming to town. Sadly, she wasn't there (which can happen with surprises).

We waited around for a little, but had to move on.

The Jeffers are around the corner, so I decided to drop in there next.

Gerry Tom Sawyer'd Shane into vacuuming.

The most amazing thing was Bill called shortly after we surprised Diane and Gerry. He was in town, too! Plans were hastily made for a pizza party. Bill talked to Igor. I recruited John. Diane called Dan and Shar.

I wasn't 100% sure what to do with Shane until everyone gathered. Then, another kid appeared.

Jackson lives two houses down from the Jeffers and is Shane's age. I actually knew his mom. She'd grown up in the same house when I used to visit the Jeffers.

The boys played outside until Jackson had to go in.

Gerry told us he was taking Oreo to the lake and asked if we wanted to come along.

While at the lake, we came across a baby squirrel.

It had been a windy night, so the little guy must have fallen from his nest. He hopped up to us from the woods.

I heard another baby squirrel squeaking up in a tree. Gerry spotted the nest and I scooped the little guy up in my hat and took him to the base of the tree.

I hope his parents came down to look for him. He tried to follow us out again. The online "What to do?" site I pulled up said to give the parents a couple of hours to pick him up. Otherwise, he was probably an orphan. With the nest and other squeaks I heard, I figured that all of the people and dogs present on the path probably kept the parents hidden.

I thought about this while Shane played on the playground.

We made it back in time for everyone else to start showing up!

It's been too long since we've all been together! Dan and Shar's wedding was the last time....and that had been the first time in years!

It was like old times trading stories and joking around.

I pointed at Dan and told Shane, "This one makes funny noises if you tackle him."

Turns out he's also very good at wrestling!

Shane and I left a little after 6 PM to give ourselves time to get home.....and do one last stop by Jama's!

Jama left me a voicemail earlier. She was sad to have missed us.

We almost missed her again. She wasn't in her room. Despondent, Shane complained he missed her the whole way back to the front desk. However, the front desk lady asked us who were looking for. When she found out it was Jama, she espoused, "You can't go yet! She'll be so sad! I know she's here!" She gave us Ed's room number and said to check there.

Which we did. We found her, too! She gave Shane a bunch of candy to hype him up for the car ride home.

We stayed until 7 PM, but then we had to get on the road.

We got home just before 9 PM and it was straight to bed for Shane. There were still two days of school before Thanksgiving break to go.

North to NoVA!

Carrie's out of town and I have a new nephew, so Shane and I were off to NoVA for the weekend! Our mission: To see the newest member of the clan. Aiden, Matt and Renee's son, is one-month old.

Our first stop was the library to meet up with John.

Pokemon cards were on display. It's like they knew Shane was coming.

Since John's the manager, we get to hang out in the staff area and explore.

That includes behind the library.

Shane inspected the book drop and trash cans from up close.

He wanted to crawl under desks, too, but a line had to be drawn somewhere.

Matt slotted us for a one-hour time slot to visit. He and Renee have been busy and sleep deprived.

We got to hang out for about 40 minutes. Aiden filled his diaper. Matt attributed it to John's charm.

Shane was curious about Aiden, but he quickly got distracted.

John pulled out a Nintendo Switch.

That let the adults talk. Matt is extremely focused on Aiden and his needs and moods. I know I was the same. We didn't get a chance to see Renee. She was upstairs showering, getting ready, and possibly napping.

Matt kicked us out when Aiden fell asleep. He had to get ready himself. Shane hung from a tree.

John, Shane, and I walked downtown for Subway, to see the game shop, and drop by the library.

John got us a meeting room when one opened up. I showed John a handful of games....and wouldn't you know it? Shane put the tablet down long enough to win at King of Tokyo.

Shane and I weren't in a huge hurry to go to our hotel, so we walked around with John.

We all went to the mall next.

I bought nothing. Honestly, I looked at all the prices and thought, "NoVA is expensive. I could get this stuff cheaper elsewhere....if I wanted it." I didn't.

Shane wanted everything he laid his eyes on, though.

We went to Best Buy to pick up a pair of ear buds before saying, "farewell," to John.

Shane and I had a CFA dinner and called it a night.

Or we almost did. Shane was looking forward to the hotel pool! We almost had it all to ourselves for half an hour.

He slept soundly!

New Wrestling Challenges This Year

The HS Coach is going all-in on social media this year. He snapped off some pictures I didn't realize he snapped off.

I'm Facebook Famous showing how to 'clean your wrists.'

My non-exisitent recruiting skills have somehow drummed up a team!

HS Coach: "Where did you find all these great kids! It feels like we have a REAL TEAM!"

Me: "Not a clue. Third year's the lucky charm?"

I had 12 or so kids, then a new one showed up to ask to join, and another parent sent me an email asking to sign up. I had been worried I'd only have four or five, but we outnumber the high school! My large crop has given the HS coach a newfound sense of hope for the future.

However, there are some new challenges. The Middle School AD has had some significant health problems. He's out of the picture. I hope he's doing better, but I really don't know. I'm never at the school I coach for so sometimes I'm the last to know things. I thought he was making a schedule for the year, but he's had more important things in his life to deal with. I found out as the season started, "Oh yeah, you're it. Make a schedule. Good luck!"

And so the scramble began. Most coaches already set their schedules a month before. I found out my AD had set up a couple matches. I found out one match with a school I had asked about was actually after break started and had to cancel it. The schedule is looking sparser than years prior and some people takes days to respond (if at all). I may have to help out with the city tournament more than in previous years due to another health issue, as well.

Coaching keeps me busy. I wrote four different emails responding to different parents and sending out an update before writing this.

I get around $30 a week during the season for my efforts. Pre and post season are unpaid.

Which I bring up to contrast with the $25 an hour I get to work for an hour and fifteen minutes once a week with 6 elementary school kids. The much larger job with more responsibility pays pennies on the dollar compared to the club sport with little accountability. How crazy is that?

Speaking of the elementary school kids, we've had some good practices but they were absolute turds this week. They were yelling over, not listening, and I ended practice early with an ultimatum: "Shape up or you won't get to go over to the HS practices as the season goes on."

Which will only be possible if the activity bus I was promised ever shows up. I email once a week. Sometimes I get a reply.

I hope the bus will be ready after Thanksgiving. Then I hope the kids will do okay in the wrestling room. If they're crazy and a risk or a distraction I'll have to cut the club schedule short even if it pays 10x more per hour than the MS team.

Our first match is early December. It should be exciting.

What the Cluck?

An unexpected visitor snuck into the coop last night. I heard a hen singing out, and went to investigate. An unfamiliar set of eyes reflected back at me from inside a nesting box. The girls were all crowded together in the opposite corner save Corran (who tried to run out the door when I went in).

I found out the hard way possums don't herd easily. I left the door open to provide an escape. Then I stepped behind the propane tank and banged on the nesting box to scare it out. The sucker hunkered down. I had to lift the nesting box to make it run out only the stupid thing ran into the box next door. I had to rinse, wash, and repeat, and instead of running for the open door the possum cornered itself under the stairs.

I walked outside the coop to keep a barrier between me and the visitor. Again, I left the door open to provide an avenue for the thief to egress. Then I banged on the stairs, poked a rake through the lattice, and the damn interloper wouldn't budge.

I stopped to take a picture or two while deciding my next step. An easy scare wasn't working, I had no trap, it was really cold outside, about to rain, and I wanted the possum gone without getting bit. Four of the hens seemed to forget how to move, so they weren't a problem. Corran stayed still after I threw her into the flock.

I had a pitchfork. I didn't want to kill the possum, but if it refused to leave that was quickly becoming my back up plan. Thankfully, I used some (chicken poop covered) siding to poke the possum from afar until it sprinted out the door.

I cleaned out the broken eggs and chucked anything I thought might be contaminated. Frankly, I wonder if this isn't the first time the possum visited. Carrie normally sleeps with the TV on. She's out on business (a later post), so the house was quiet. That allowed me to hear the clucking (which was more of an egg song than terrified squawking).

I knew exactly how the thief snuck in. I grabbed a shovel once he was gone. The bottom of the door had not been shutting flush. Debris from the chickens rooting around kept falling between the stone barrier and forcing it out. It bothered me, because when I go in the coop I like to shut both latches. However, I don't have much interest in being a full time chicken farmer. Carrie didn't think the gap was big enough for a predator and we let it be. Now that Carrie works at home, she normally takes care of the coop when I'm at work.

I couldn't let it slide now. I inspected the door the next morning to see if the culprit returned to the scene of the crime.

If he did, he didn't get back in.

TV at Night? Video Games!

Carrie likes to have the TV on to unwind. Shane is attracted to the screen like a moth to the flame.

However, with Carrie out of town, we've played a video game each night for about an hour.

It was Shovel Knight Tuesday and Wednesday. Tonight was Desktop Dungeons.

I'd like to finish Shining in the Darkness or play more emulator games, but I'm not going to pick for Shane how he gets to spend his free time.

TKD Update

Still working on focus. Here, Shane was making faces and oogling in the mirror while he was supposed to be at attention. The instructor spooked him by clapping the pads behind him.

Shane's got a solid axe kick, though. I don't recall him trying that one for a board breaking test before. Nailed it.

And Shane started a new trend. He was rolling after every jump, so Master Instructor said, "Rolls for everyone!"

The kids loved it. Shane wanted to race. I was dizzy just watching.

It's Dark and Cold Out

Daylight is limited now. We see more of it on weekends (hence Shane wrestling with Appa and probably rolling through dog poop).

Despite the dark, Rah has been waiting for us outside whenever I pull up with Shane around 5:30 PM. The little light left trickles away and Shane's normally hungry, so there's not much time to play.

It's beginning to look a lot like winter even though it's officially a month away. I scraped my windshield for the first time this week. It was back up above freezing the next morning, but a taste of what's to come? I hope we get some snow days.

Separate Needs

It can be tough to balance Carrie and Shane's needs at times. They love and want to be around each other, but some of their tastes are polar opposites!

      Shane                                                      Carrie

Wakes up early                                       Wants to sleep in

Wants to jump on couch                         Falls asleep on couch

Loves to make noise                    vs       Woken up by noise

Super social/wants visitors                     Home is her retreat at end of day
Wants to run, climb, and jump               Wants to snuggle calmly

Nova working nights lends weight to Carrie's side of things during the day. We try to keep the house quieter, because we're not really sure when Nova is or is not asleep (and we're not about to knock to check either!).

So far what works for us are busy days and quiet nights. Shane gets his energy out and then there's TV and video games to rest when it's dark and time to cool down.

Side note: I tried to be a little clever with the formatting. I hope it holds up. My interest has waned, so if it doesn't tough cookies.

SFM Comics

While Carrie crashed on the couch, I took Shane upstairs. We decided to make a comic book.

I ripped out and folded the papers, but mainly Shane wanted me there as an audience to his creation.

I need to find a stapler so that I can 'bind' it. I took some pictures of the mostly finished product.

We never got around to adding words. Shane said something about a "disguised pizza delivery alien trying to take over the world," but that could have been the TMNT's influence.

Final U8 Soccer Game of the Season

It was 40 °F out. Seven of the kids showed up for the finale.

Coach Jeanluc was there, but Brian couldn't make it. I ended up as a walk-on coach. I went to help with the warm-ups and was labeled 'it.'

My coaching philosophy for U8 Soccer is simple: Give a kid a task and find something to congratulate them on.

Shane gets the bonus instructions of "Stop spinning!" "Heads up! The ball's in play!" "Eye on the ball! Don't get hit in the back of the head again!" His Achilles' heel is paying attention to the game. Ironically, that's the one thing that bothers me.....and that I probably had issues with myself at his age (which may be why it bothers me).

Oh well. He's made great progress in that he's able to stay on the field for a whole game without marching off in protest and complaining. Shane got knocked over one play, kept playing, and got up without a fuss near the end of today. I was proud of him. I would have been more proud if he got up and continued to play instead of raising his arms to turn to me and say, "Look! I didn't cry!" The other kids all around him continued to play and the other team scored about three feet away and three seconds later.

Makes for a funny story, at least.

Carrie needed to rest, so I took Shane out for lunch and errands afterward. I figured I earned a burrito and he earned a frozen treat from Wegmans.