Off the Pan, Into the Fire

My journey through the realm of raising our sons...

Thursday, October 30, 2008

All's quiet on the; what was that beep?

Of course this would happen while Shanna's traipsing around Washington DC. Liam was quite easy; dinner, play, PJs, bottle, book, and sleep. Galen wasn't too difficult either; dinner, play, draw, PJs, teeth, and sleep. Afterward I got the dishes done, a few other chores and settled down to watch some TV and wait for my sweetie's call. Boris settled down on my lap and Natasha was curled up in her bed. All in all, it was a peaceful household, exhaling and relaxing towards a good night's sleep.

Beep.

I know that sound, it's the high pitch warning that a smoke detector's battery is low. Arrrrggh. But where did it come from? Next step, wait at the stairs; upstairs or downstairs? Hmm, Downstairs. OK, down to the play room; is it in the playroom, basement, or the kid's room. Nothing. Wait some more, still nothing. Drats.

About half an hour later, beep. Pause the TV and it's off to the play room again. Beep. Ahhh, it's the kid's room. So I open the door, reach up to the detector, twist, and the whole assembly pulls out of the ceiling and into my hand. OK. So I go downstairs and discover that we don't have any 9V batteries. Well, tomorrow it is.

I went to Target and picked up a package of batteries. When I got home it was time to change a battery and find out that the detector's mounting ring won't budge. I can't get it off to remount to the ceiling. A fine piece of engineering there. Don't buy a First Alert model SA303 unless you want to keep the manual around to figure out how to remove the bracket.

Back to the detector. We just happened to have a few extras in the garage so a replacement went quickly. The kid's room is monitored again.

Both kids slept through the entire affair. Good for them.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

This past weekend was a treat. Shanna didn't have school so all of us were able to spend some good time together. On Saturday we tripped over to Deardorff Orchard. Galen & Liam got to wander around, playing on a haystack, stare at some horses, and eat some fresh apples. It was their last Saturday of the season and were out of apple butter. Nuts. And we got a wagon ride back to the car. One the way back home we visited At The Farm for some pumpkins, a gourd, jam, and maple syrup. It was a blue, crisp, and wonderful day to be out and about.

Galen arranged the pumpkins in our front yard, all seven. There are five small, one medium, and one large. Sunday's mystery was what happened to one of the small ones. It was found halfway across the yard, or at least half of it was found. It was plainly eaten upon. Monday morning it was missing all together, someone liked that particular pumpkin. Wonder why it was chosen?

Galen almost likes autumn. He likes the color of the leaves, and their subsequent carpet. He likes pumpkins, hay bales, and corn stalks. He doesn't like the cooler air. And Liam? He just likes to be.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Sleepless in Chanhassen


May I introduce you to Boris. He's a seven week old male Rhodesian Ridgeback. We picked him up Saturday afternoon, Shanna holding him during the entire ride home. He had already met the kids a couple of times while we visited him at the breeder's house. And now he got to meet the matriarch, Natasha. All in all, that went well.

The crate must be pure torture. After dinner I placed him in while I did dishes. For fifteen minutes he filled the house with a soulful howl, so sad, so sad. And he hasn't attached himself to it yet. Just about every time he gets crated we get 10 to 20 minutes of singing.

His first night was better than expected. He didn't howl until 3 AM. A quick trip outside and he was back to sleep. But he was up again at about 4:30, just in time to ruin any expectation of additional Sunday morning shuteye.

Rocky passed on last October, we know that Boris will never fill his void. But he will create his own niche all the while rounding out our pack. We look forward to new stories, and getting a full night's sleep.