As of Late...

There have been other reasons for my lack of posting lately: I can't seem to write a full thought anymore.  By the time my mind finally puts itself into a place where a topic has formed enough to explore, something comes up.  Even just now.  Always, something breaks, some timer goes off, some chore must be done, someone's yelling at my from across the house, or some dumb animal gets themselves into trouble.

In that last paragraph, for example, Austin complained about me moving the ottoman, my sprinkler timer went off, the laundry needed to be switched, and Puma cornered himself behind the armoire.  I don't even know how Puma got his stomach through the small gap between the furniture and the wall.  He's a pudgy cat.

My mind is all over the place regularly too.  I can't keep things in my head anymore, so I remember things piecemeal.  Little chores, emails that must be sent, work to be done.  I can no longer fit an actual list of things that get done.  I know I need to start writing to do lists down, but I can't remember to do that either.

To top it off, I do feel like quite a failure and a bum for the summer.  I haven't written, and work has been less than sparse.  What I thought I had did not pan out to be as extensive, and by the time that realization came around, it was halfway through the season and past the time for getting decent work.  Now we've pulled Austin out of daycare for most of the week, now going in three mornings a week.  So of course, I'm even less productive.  Partly it is my fault, since I refuse to let him sit before the television and become just another dull and rude child.

Oh yeah, and along with Michelle's restrictions, I am doing my best to cut out alcohol and caffeine from my diet.  The alcohol is easy, it's the caffeine that is the tough one.  I have already failed so many times in the past month that I am on only the start of day three of no Mountain Dew (my only real caffeine source).  The headaches, lack of energy, and irritability sucks to deal with, particularly when I really want to set a good example of being a level-headed fellow for Austin.  So I still may falter today or the next, I don't know.

Sorry for all the complaints.  I've just been venting.

For Gram and Granddad...

I apologize for the lack of updates this summer. But there has been a small reason weighing on my mind...



Cheers, everyone!

For My Wife...

I duly apologize, before my mass readership, to my wife for being a jackass.

Oh Boy...

imaginative
adj.
1. Having or showing creativity or inventiveness.
2. My son, Austin.

This morning, Austin was playing at his corner Lego table. He was chattering away at me as usual, this time with the tale of him being on a baker's blue airplane. When I told him to play nicely while I was going to take a shower, the following conversation ensued:

"You can't take a shower, Daddy."
"Why not?"
"It's the Baker's shower."
"Oh it is, is it?"
"Yeah. It belongs to the Baker in the kitchen."
"Okay, Austin, I'll just ask the Baker to use the shower."
I walk over to the kitchen. "Hello Baker," I began, "mind if I use the shower? *insert gibberish as baker's reply* Okay sir, I will keep it clean in there; no splashing around." I turned back to my son at the table, "The baker said it was okay for me to use the shower. You play nicely and I'm going to go take–"
"You can't, Daddy. You didn't ask Tony the Baker."
"Oh? I thought I just had."
"No, you didn't say Tony."
"Ah, I see."
I stepped back to the kitchen. "Hey Tony," I said with a bad Jersey accent, "Mind if I use the shower? *More gibberish reply* Thanks, man!"
Back in the living room, "Alrighty, Austin, Tony the Baker said I could use the shower."
"Okay, Daddy."

I had to negotiate with an invisible baker named Tony in my kitchen in order to take a shower this morning. If that's not a sign of a free mind at work, I don't know what is.

Oh The Trees

Still Reeling, and not from Fishing...

It is absolutely mind-boggling just how much we did last weekend. Last Thursday night, we caught a plane from Saint Paul to San Francisco. Taking the red-eye flight was not as rough as one would think, even with our three year old boy. We slept a little bit, but not as much as we would have liked to. By 3 am, we were finally resting peacefully at my parents' house.

So the next morning, we got up a little late, but managed to get out and headed north to see my Granddad in Sacramento. The poor boy got a little antsy sitting in the car for so long (it was about 8 hours worth the previous night) but he pulled through well. He was excited to be in Great Grandpa's backyard to wander around and inspect things. Granddad hasn't been in the best of shape lately, but he was in plenty good spirits for our visit. Somewhere, my dad even has a picture of now four generations of Fryer boys.

We stayed for about an hour and a half, then we were off toward the coast to visit the rest of my dad's family in Saint Helena. We met up at my Aunt and Uncle's winery for a light lunch and visit along with one of my cousins and my Grandma Mary (the Queen Mother, as she is in our family). It was so good to see them all, and Austin continued to be extra good, and impressed the family. He's the first of the new generation, and I'm glad he was welcomed.

The big thing was when we finally got back into town and visited Grandma's house. She had books and toys from when my cousins and I were young and visiting Grandma. He dove right in (there were big legos) while I took Michelle on a tour of the house. We wound up standing in the library and just pouring over all the titles on those shelves. Michelle especially was utterly impressed with it all, and it turned out that Grandma Mary was impressed with her interest in it all. As if I could marry anyone who isn't a bookworm!

We piled back into my mom's car and headed back to Turlock that evening so we could wake up and not have to go anywhere. That morning, Ken and Rachel come over with their baby boy, Evan. It was amazing to finally see him. He was wide awake in my arms and muttering and kicking with a strong pair of legs. He'll be a tree climber in no time, I say.

For lunch, my Grandma and sister Leann came over and visited for the afternoon. It was all too brief seeing my Grandma, since I had to take off for the wedding rehearsal. At least she got to spend a little more time with my wife and son. I got up to Modesto and saw Ian for the first time in what felt like years. It was beyond good to see him, as well as Jaime and his family. The rehearsal was quick, then we were off to a pizza place where the rest of our brothers and Michelle joined us. It was grand, particularly when Ian fell over his bench.

It's amazing that nearly every time we brothers are together, stories for the ages seem to be written right on the spot. After pizza, we went and gathered all our preferred beverages and headed back to my parents' place for the evening. We did nothing but sit and talk, and it was grand. Warren's dad even came out to visit for a while, and I tell you it was damn good to see him too. It may have even finally proved the fact that I did wind up growing up and having a family. Since he knew me since Junior High, he along with everyone else was pretty darn sure I'd screw up somewhere along the way (as he tends to put it). It was totally a gas having us all together, just as always, only substituting Mountain Dew and Dungeons & Dragons for beer and wives. We're all just dopes who consider each other family.

The wedding on Sunday was perfectly lovely. The ceremony was short and sweet and we could then quickly get to celebrating. Erin looked absolutely stunning, and I tell you, Jaime's parents were nothing but smiles. Sadly, Warren, Eric, and Bee couldn't stay too long, but at least we finally made sure to get a picture of we five brothers together before the departures happened. It's getting increasingly hard for me to say goodbye to them or anyone out west, for that matter. I get too choked up to talk most of the time, which is surprising considering that Jaime's family from Mexico dubbed me the 'radio announcer' because I had the longest and apparently most clearly spoken speech of the evening.

Michelle, Austin, and I had to take off early to catch the plane home, and so we boarded our plane just after midnight, and by 7 am, we were home and sleeping in until noon. Next time we go anywhere, it needs to be when we don't have a specific event to attend, so we can actually relax with our families; no more of this in and out in three days nonsense. But it seems that anytime we go anywhere, the family keeps on growing, and that is even true here in Minnesota...

Over the weekend, we adopted another cat. Puma is a fat orange tabby that belonged to someone Emily knew and had to find a home for. We figured Tyrone needed a brother, and it turned out Puma is just about a month older. They're getting along okay, though Ty is quite a bit more territorial, of course, since it was his house first. But otherwise, it's fun having more animals around. Although Puma is playful, he makes Ty look like a genius. Puma has managed to get himself trapped up by the ductwork above the furnace twice today. Boy do we know how to pick 'em...

It's wonderful to be home, except when things around here are falling apart a bit. There turned out to be another leak in the basement, this time getting under the carpets a bit. Apparently over the weekend, our—wait for it—air conditioning system has leaked water (somehow) through our rusted-out ductwork. I am hoping it will have a simple solution, but fretting about it has delayed my writing this post a bit (that and recovering from the trip).

I leave you now with a few pictures, and hopefully more later. Toodles~
The Brothers: Ian, Eric, Jaime, Warren, Myself

Austin and his Tio, Jaime.

Fatherly Duties...

It's odd that when growing up, one hardly has an inkling of just how much a father does to keep a house and family running. So now that I have my own house and family, it is a near constant feeling of dawning realization of just how much dads do. This is not to say that moms never do these things. I think it is more a case of if there is a dad around, these jobs more often than not fall on him. Hence, I am now billed with having to do what I affectionately call Fatherly Duties.

These jobs around the house are hardly of boasting quality. The first task, and the one that brings me back to the idea of Fatherly Duties nearly every time, is the emptying of the litterbox. This is also, I think one of the lowest jobs a person can do. It's the job where, if extra terrestrials were watching, the obvious conclusion would be that I am not the master of this particular domicile. While it is probably true on other levels, I am still not a fan of thinking it in this way.

There are, of course, the maintenance and handyman type of things that abound from owning one's own house, too. Frames need to be nailed back into place, electrical circuits need to be monitored (or in this house's case, figured out just where they go, since what would be logical is not often the fact), furniture to be set up and/or moved, etc. I am also the designated mower of lawns and maintainer of yards. Nothing was decreed in as such, and of course I was not elected to this post, I simply do these things.

I actually like to maintain my house, and recently did enough cleaning of my garage to give me the hope of parking in there during this decade. But mostly what really falls on me to do is the unfortunate things. I've had to take care of a good many dead birds on my doorstep. And the truly unfortunate falls on me as well.

This morning, I was woken up by a knock on the door. Now, normally it is Austin waking up and coming to get me to basically yell in my ear that he's going to the bathroom now. Today, however, it was our roommate Emily. I opened up the door when she said 'It's Tyrone...' She explained that she saw him a couple blocks away in the street. My heart stopped for a moment, but I more or less froze. She felt so bad, so I hugged her as I thought of how I was going to take care of this while my boy was still sleeping in the next room.

I asked her to just stay at the house while I went and gathered up a box and a plastic bag and prepared to head out to collect my poor cat. It's easier to hold down the emotions choking me when I have a job to do. My mind was racing as I tried to think of how I would break it all to my poor boy and my wife. We're Fryers, so even the dumbest of our little animals is a part of our families. Austin is Tyrone's big brother. This duty falls on me. I'm the father.

I opened up the door to the garage to fetch a shovel, and from the dark came a meow and Tyrone flew into the house as if nothing was going on (because he's cat; nothing's going on for him). He was in the garage as he usually is after following Michelle out and getting trapped in there when the doors shut. Emily and I both gasped in sweet relief.

I dodged the awful today. I can't believe the luck I have in life sometimes. I do not shirk my duties, however. I live to take care of my family, no matter how terrible the things I must do are. I'm the commander of the submarine, and the responsibility to make us move without sinking is mine.

Whew...

I made it through the end of the year no more scraped and bruised than I began. Plus, I managed to make off with a bunch of new toys to play with for the summer. (I'm doing 'research' on how to make readily usable mobile recording studios for the school). This decked-out MacBook I've snagged is pretty sporty, if you ask me. Once I'm in a position to upgrade (and I actually need to), it will probably be what I get. Though the black is nice and sleek, it shows greasy finger spots and scratches more readily than the white, so I will mostly likely spare myself the fifty bucks to go black, and thus also allowing me to go back if I so choose.

The past weekend was spent turning into something more akin to vegetation than animal. I've been reading and playing games and doing a few chores around the house and the yard. The lawn, as of today, has finally gotten fertilized and will hopefully soon be returning to its former green glory. We've also planted a few flowers in pots out front and on the deck, which, while rather sparse, do make a little difference in how those spaces feel.

At this point, I am still looking for summer work, and have been going through the classifieds in the local shopper, as well as word of mouth and fliers for summer lessons. Though I know I could be trying harder, it's a little tough to get motivated for it. I do rather enjoy reading and working on things around the house that have long been postponed and, at some point, writing again. Because of those personal things I'd like to do, I hope that summer lessons or some website work could come along, and then it could be done on my own time from my home.

Michelle and I are keeping Austin in daycare for the summer. He is doing far too well there and loves it too much to just pull him out and slow down that progress. He just moved into the next room up, where there are only about ten kids, and so he gets even more attention. Plus, Austin's with kids closer to his age, instead of anywhere from a year younger to half a year older. That kind of disparity at his age means that things had to be a bit simplified so the younger ones wouldn't just lose it and start veering.

I keep trying to reflect on what I've done at work, and I feel there's nothing really to tell. I did my job, apparently, well above par, and have job security there for as long as I want it. It's a great place to be, and aside from the occasional annoyances that crop up for every service position I couldn't be more pleased to work with the staff there. And if I could ever wind up with a proper teaching gig there, with my own classroom and everything, I'd be one happy little camper.

Ta~