AND INCIDENTALLY

...the one October post here in which I vowed to post more often was about the very last thing I did before Ye Olde Laptop went Brad Lidge on me and needed a full Windows re-install. Which is done, but now it's the secondary machine in the house...and blogging will proceed once the new computer's fully set up.

CHICKEN SNAILS!

Her Awesomeness busted this one out while yours truly was rolling around in the annual Epic Huge Pile of Leaves with the now-4-year-old Beast. Oh yes, there was very much of the OM NOM NOM NOM at the dinner table last night. (hat tip: Clumsy Wife, Careless Mom)

RIP VAN WINKLE AWAKES

(insert rote haven't-posted-in-ages grovel here)

The light bulb actually did go on over my head for once, while playing a board game with Noodle and Beast that was initially enjoyable but proving to be a hair too long for their wee attention spans, not to mention Dad's. Interruptions because of a die flying under the kitchen table or the baseboard heater were common. And then from the distant mists of my socially-awkward past...

Behold...the d20! And a board game that goes one heck of a lot faster, not to mention helps teaching the smaller one his two-digit numbers.

PRESENTING MR. J'S HOUSEHOLD TIPS

Tip Number One:

When making the bed, do not be overly enthusiastic about getting the top sheet some air while the ceiling fan is running.

First in a recurring series!

PHIL, YOU NUT

Busy times at the house...we're about to try something new for our semi-staycation: camping out.

Not full-blown Bear Grylls stuff, certainly not. We've got a cabin for starters, and if that works out for Noodle and Beast we'll try something more rustic in the future. Her Awesomeness has been camp-supply hunting all week, and me? I've been watching stuff like this:



It's assuring to know there are places where it's not raining.

TRANSLATION TIME

And now, radio-weather-forecast-speak translated into plain Hudson Valley English:

Scattered storms = six hours of relentless torrential downpours (see today's forecast)
Isolated storms = isolated...over you
Slight chance of storms = if you leave the umbrella in the car, the skies will open up when you're a country mile from the clubhouse and knee-deep in the rough
Sunny, clear, dry = archaic terms, no longer in use

AND THEN THERE ARE THOSE DAYS...

...where everything works wonderfully:

Congratulations, my darling Noodle.

ANOTHER THING ONLY PARENTS SAY

"Stop licking the maracas."