I Kind of Hate That Heraclitus Guy

 I always say to Daphne at the end of each school year, "Can you believe that Charlotte is going to be in ______ next year?'

But hit me a little harder this year when I received this letter from Charlotte's principal. 

It's the principal's last sentence that gets me, but not because we are already at 100% in person learning.

I've been driving Charlotte to daycare or to school for the last ten years. I used to think I had drawn the short stick in that deal. I handled the screaming/tearful drop-offs when Char was an infant and a toddler. Daphne got to be the hero that Charlotte ran to when the day was over. Often I was the first person out of bed in the morning and the only one who was late for school. Now those mornings are almost over.

These are Char's last weeks as an elementary student. Next year she'll be at the middle school where Daphne teaches, and Char will ride with mom to UMS. For the first time in a decade I'll be flying solo. I won't know what to do with myself.

To make matters worse, the RAV4's motor took a dump a couple of months ago, and while it was in the shop, I had been driving a loaner from my father-in-law. It's a Ford Focus, and because the back seat is so small, Char began riding in the front seat next to me. 

I saw no reasen why she should return to the back seat when the RAV returned. Daphne agreed. It has been really nice to carry on conversations face-to-face instead of through a rear view mirror. Char also enjoys not having to yell to be heard. 

On Monday we discussed the pros and cons of Pop-Its vs Simple Dimples. Yesterday Char wanted to talk about, "Positions that everyone seems to enjoy, but aren't comfortable to you." Today she explained to me why 5th grade has been the best grade so far. We've been listening to the first Maze Runner book on CD, and it's fun for her to be able to pause the story whenever she wants to comment on the action or make predictions about what might happen. More so than ever, taking Charlotte to school has felt like a privilege.

5th grade:

6th grade:

"There is nothing permanent except change." - Heraclitus

The More Things Change...

In 2016, I wrote, "I don't know when it first happened, parenting can be a blur, but one time when we were at Costco I lifted Charlotte out of the shopping cart and placed her amongst the huge stacks of bath tissue. I then declared, "All hail Queen Charlotte! She's the queen of toilet paper!" 

Five years later, Charotte still appreciates that joke. She just doesn't fit anymore.

Bonded

 This is how Char likes to watch YouTube videos with Ellie.

They've been hanging out like this for some time.

For the Birds

Last year I read an online article that listed all the things you could do while being trapped inside your home during a pandemic. It was pretty depressing. I did laugh out loud when the author suggested that I could pick up bird watching as a hobby. Seriously? Bird watching?

No businesses in Iowa were open besides gas stations and grocery stores in March of 2020. The grocery store shelves were almost empty, and I felt like a hero when I found liquid dishwasher soap for Daphne. I texted this picture to her and asked, "Is this the soap you're looking for?" 

She replied, "YES! THANK YOU!!!" She asked me to buy both bottles so her sister could also have one.

Toliet paper was such a hot commodity the stores didn't bother putting it on the shelf. This "one-per-person" supply was gone in less than an hour.

No one was driving anywhere. The busy street by our house was as empty as a grocery shelf. For the first time since I was teenager, I paid 98 cents for a gallon of gas.

The schools weren't open, and Char didn't have the option of attending school remotely, yet. Zoom was still a foreign territory. The weather was bitterly cold, and all of the free time inside was driving Charlotte (and us) crazy. We played board games, but you can only play "Life" so many times before it feels like you don't have one. 

Daphne developed a 9 to 2 schedule that Char could follow to occupy our time. To quote my mother-in-law, Deb, "Everybody does better on a schedule." 

Daphne and Charlotte repainted Char's dresser to look like something you'd find in Minecraft. They also added Minecraft curtains, sheets, and pillow cases. 

By May Char was doing actual 4th grade school work and attending Google meetings with her classmates and Mr. Kirby. We didn't tell her the work was optional (shhhh...). When June arrived, Charlotte exclaimed, "I am sooo glad school is over!" 

I grilled quite a bit. I only use charcoal, and I'm a huge fan of two zone cooking. Those brat burgers look like they're almost done.

Daphne and I walked together every morning, and that's about as much traveling as we did. I set my step goal at 13,000 steps, and we hit that almost everyday. 

I didn't blog much. I average about 130 posts a year. I wrote 49 posts in 2020, and only 10 during that summer. I wasn't busy or being lazy. I just didn't have anything nice to say.

With a life stuck on repeat, nature became much more interesting. This squirrel on our deck spied on us for over an hour. It was such a big deal I used to reminisce about it, "Remember that time when that squirrel..."

It was also pretty exciting when this duck took a brief liking to our pond.

Fast forward one year...

When we came back to school after spring break 20212, everyone noticed that some geese had taken a liking to the UHS building.

Since then, this has been a typical view from my classroom

I'll have to admit, I find them really entertaining.

Holy cow! I have become a bird watcher.

Bridges to Cross

I would often put events from my life in my lesson plans when I taught in the English department. When I taught the short story, "By the Waters of Babylon", by Stephen Vincent Benét, I would read this paragraph to the class.

Then we would talk about 5th grade and 8th grade promotion ceremonies, high school graduation, and going off to college as examples of rites of passage. If I was to teach "By the Waters of Babylon" again, I would have a new video to show. 

Last week Charlotte had her Girl Scout "Bridging Ceremony." I thought is was cool that they actually used a bridge to symbolize the passage from one step of Girl Scouts to another. I know that Char isn't interested in moving on with this organization, but it was a fun event nevertheless.

Like every other parent, I can't wait to take pictures of my kid without a mask covering her face.

I like the fact that she's getting older, but Char is still not too old to want to jump around on play equipment.

Makes me think of her graduation from Safety City in 2015. That program was for children about to enter kindergarten. 

Now she's about to become a middle schooler... There are so many more bridges to cross. 

(Why does looking at that picture of five-year-old Charlotte make me feel a twinge of sadness? I suppose it's because I'm looking at a snapshot of time that can never be recaptured. 

You know what? The first thing I'm going to do when Charlotte gets home is hug her.)

Fingers Crossed

Charlotte had the idea to take Daphne to Bath & Body Works for Mothers' Day. It just so happens that the Gameday arcade that Charlotte likes so much is also in the Merle Hay Mall...

Flix Brewhouse is at the mall, too, but the theater has been closed since November 17. I often check for signs of life when we walk pass their brewery equipment. On Sunday we noticed that two of the brewing vats had blue handles reinstalled. 

We also noticed that the other vats' thermometers read about 68 degrees, but the two with the blue handles were quite a bit cooler:

I'm 🤔, but this looks like a good sign... 

Char had fun at the mall:

Maybe soon we all will...

A Last and Some Firsts

 On Monday Char had her last Girl Scout meeting. She's been a good sport about Zooming with her troop, but the GSs are just a little too "crafty" for her tastes. She will go to Girl Scout camp this summer, and I think she'll join the Scouts next year. (She's wearing her blue light glasses for practice.)

Wednesday was Char's first day of school wearing prescription glasses. She went with a Harry Potter look when she picked out the frames. No surprise there.

"Everything looks so clear! I can see the board and the clock now!"

Later we went back to Flame to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Daphne had their mango shrimp tacos.

I had the birria tacos again.

This was Char's first time at Blaze, and she loved their fries and the cheese quesadilla, "This place is so good! I could bike down here with my friends!" Actually, she could. 

On Thursday night Daphne realized a dream she's had for over ten years - for the first time she got to sit in the audience at a band concert as a parent.

Charlotte doesn't care for dresses, but she did dress up. She's worn the Harry Potter tie before, but this was her first time in khaki pants.

She reminded me of Diane Keaton in Annie Hall. 

I was glad we got there early, there really weren't many seats to choose from. Each student received only two tickets for family members. 

She's in the back with the other percussionists. 

I'm not going to do this at every band concert, but since this was the first, I recorded her band's first warm-up.

Here's the first round of applause. 👏 

And here is one song all the way through.

During the drive to the concert, Char was lifting her glasses from her nose to her forehead and back again to see the improvement in her vision. All of the sudden she froze, and her face squeezed into a grimace of terror. "Oh no!" she cried, "I'll be able to see the audience!"

After the concert, we asked Char if her glasses made it easier to see the music, "No. But I could see my teacher for the first time." 

Daphne and I just looked at each other. 

Go Fly a Kite: 2021!

It was cancelled last year, but Kites on the Green was back for 2021! Before this event, I had no idea how cool kite flying can be. The No Knots kite team put on a demonstration, and I think its amazing that they can get their strings to wrap around eachother's and then get them free again. Here's a short video:

We didn't have a kite, but the city provides kits so you can build your own.

It was almost too windy for kite flying, but Char did her best.

Daphne and I didn't wear masks because the event is outside. It felt liberating to walk around people without a face covering. 

Retro Stereo on a Budget: Another Three-Legged Dog

R.I.P., Sony STR-AV330...

My Sony receiver stopped working when I accidentally slid the volume control all the way to the right. I immediately realized my mistake and turned the volume down, but it was too late. The Sony had gone dark. I removed the receiver's lid and discovered that I had blown a fuse.

I replaced the fuse, but that didn't fix the situation. The Sony kept blowing fuses. I don't know why. I didn't want to spend any more time or money on it, so I removed the receiver's legs and put it on the curb. That was during junk weekend, and the Sony was gone in 20 minutes.

I went back to shopgoodwill.com and won an auction for another Sony receiver that was missing its front leg. I guess I'm a sucker for those.

The Sony STR-VX550 pumps out 50 watts per channel and was manufactured in 1983. So, it meets my nerdy 1980 -1985 criteria. It was $48 with shipping, so it was close to my price target of $40. The auction listing stated that Sony "turns on," and that was all that was tested. It was true that it turned on. My problem was that none of the other buttons worked. Not. One. Other. Button. 

Goodwill auctions offer no returns or refunds, so I had purchased a Sony brick. Dang! I wasn't ready to give up, though. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, our hero:

I removed the lid and faceplate and did my best to spray the back of the switches with the DetoxIT. Then I pressed each switch about 50 times. I sprayed more DetoxIT and worked the switches again. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Very slowly the receiver began to show signs of life. At first I could only activate the radio. A  few minutes later I could move the volume up and down and the balance from left to right. After two hours and a sore finger, I had most buttons reliably making contact. I had to clean a couple of switches again a few days later because they had stopped working. It is a work in progress. But at least it is not a brick.

For a guy like me, DetoxIT is quite a handy product. I just bought a second can. 

Since I had legs from the other Sony receiver, I was able to replace the missing one in seconds. I also soldered in a new 3V lithium battery for the radio's preset memory.

 Right now the receiver is paired with a Technics SL-P150 CD Player and Minimus 7 speakers. They're all on the freezer in the garage until I can be reasonably sure the button contacts have stayed clean. 

I was happy to learn that this Sony receiver works with a remote. That's a first for me with an old receiver. I could get an offical Sony remote on eBay for $25.

But this Gemini Universal Remote does almost everything the offical RM-S750 would do. I really like how these Gemini remotes work with older electronics. I bought another Gemini off the 'Bay instead of the Sony remote.

While testing the AM reception, I listened to a couple of sports radio personalities discuss the Star Wars "May the Fourth be with You" day. I thought that they were going to make fun of it, but instead one said something like this, "I'll be honest, I don't understand the guy who dresses up like Darth Vader and goes to those conventions and hangs out with other adults in costumes. But I bet he looks at guys like me going to a ball game and says, 'Look at that guy wearing a uniform to the ball park. What does he think? That he's one of the guys on the team?' I think it's the same for pro wrestling and NASCAR fans. I might not understand the Darth Varder guy, but I get him. I might not understand the rabid NASCAR fan, but I get him and I get the pro wrestler guy, too." 

Again, I am paraphrasing what I heard, but I think I captured the spirit of their conversation. It was refreshing to hear someone say, Hey, I'll admit that we're different. I don't really understand your enthusiasms, but I can respect them, and I can respect you. 

Thrift Store Show and Tell: A Loooong Search and other Musings

Mr. Randy Slobe was one of my high school teachers and coaches. I liked and respected him. He gave good lectures, and he knew when to throw in a joke or an aside. 

Mr. Slobe told a story about being on a trip to California and finding a John Denver record that he wanted to buy, but he didn't know how he could bring the LP safely home in this luggage. "It had these great songs dedicated to Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon. John sang, 'I'll sing you a song of Spiro Agnew and all the things that he's done...' and the song just stops there. It's hilarious. "The Ballad of Richard Nixon" is even shorter. There's just a few seconds of silence and then he starts playing the next song."

Mr. Slobe lamented that he never found the record for sale in Iowa, and all he could remember about it was that it was green. I remember thinking, I bet I can find that record for him. But I couldn't find it. 

I don't have "Find that record for Slobe" on any obsessive to-do lists, but if I'm in a record store and I pass by the D section, I often flip through it looking for a green, John Denver album. I've found the "ballads" on YouTube, but I couldn't get my hands on a physical copy.

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by Goodwill and flipped through a box of records. I found this John Denver LP from 1969.

I laughed out loud when I flipped it over and read the song list. There were the Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon ballads!

I bought it, cleaned it, and gave it a listen. Errr, it's John Denver... I had hopes for his cover of the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty Four" , but he used that ragtime style that was briefly revived in the late 60's. I don't think I'll play this album often. I also don't think I'll call up Mr. Slobe and ask, "Hey, this is Brent Monson, class of '87, do you still want that record you were talking about in '85?" That would be way too weird. But it did feel good to finally itch that scratch after 36 years. 

This Flying Burrito Bros is a bit more interesting, and it also came out in 1969. This is an early country rock release, and The Gilded Palace of Sin is also hard to find "out in the wild."  It's in pretty nice shape, but I got so excited when I found it, I dropped it on my foot. Then a small strip of the cover came off while I was carefully removing the sticker price tag. You can see the damage on Graham Parson's right knee. The longer I own this LP the less it is worth...

Here's Moby Grape's 1967 psychedelic rock release. This is the uncensored cover with Don Stevenson's finger before it was air-brushed away. Don is expressing my feelings about Goodwill price stickers. The damage is by his hand. I don't know why I thought I could skip the hairdryer method.

How can you not buy a  jazz-funk-soul record titled Autophysiopsychic? Just playing this record makes me feel cooler, even if Mr. Lateef knows I'm not.

I can now use these vintage Columbia SH-21 headphones if I don't want to share this music with the rest of the house.

Pint glasses also pair well with vinyl records. The Bad Weather Brewing Company is located in St. Paul, MN. Bobbers Bar is also located in Minnesota at the Williams Narrows Resort. I like how the waves in their glass mimic the movement of a bobber on the water. Check out the bottoms of those Top O'Mast glasses; they won't tip over very easily. I suppose that would be handy in a busy nightclub, but the Top O'Mast lounge at Fort Myers Beach closed in 2014. 

Hellboy lunchbox: totally unnecessary, but will look cool in my classroom on a shelf.

Look out! He's coming for ya!