Ros, the stinkin' dog

Due to the fact that I was working in the area, this past week I was able to go to Steph's parents for a couple nights. On the particular night in question... a Tuesday... I was casually reading through my 'how-to' book on coaching a girl's basketball team... when Ros the stinking dog came along.
"What stinks?" asked I.
"Oh my goodness, can't you smell that Simon?" asked Mrs. Shirley VandenDool to her husband, Mr. Simon VandenDool.
"Well I can't tell!! It stinks outside!" replied my father-in-law.
"Oh, send her back outside! That's horrible!" demanded my mother-in-law.
"It's hard to breathe," observed I, as I rose to a walk to another corner of the living room, where there was equally less air to breathe.
You see, Ros the dog, went out at approximately 9:45 pm to do her evening business, when she came across a skunk underneath the deck. Naturally, as all dog's are persuaded to do, out of cordiality, she probably stuck her nose up close to the skunk in an attempt to say, "hello". The skunk of course, being a prude, promptly turned face and sprayed Ros. Henceforth, Ros became Ros the Stinking Dog.
Something needed to be done.
My father-in-law decided he would kill the skunk. One way or another.
I observed.
He challenged me, saying, "Well, David, what kind of a man are you?"
I, knowing full well what kind of a man I am, inwardly rolled my eyes and followed my father outside.
I tip-toed across the deck. I didn't want any sudden noises to alert the skunk to my presence.
I watched as my father in law tried shoo-ing the skunk out from under the deck using an old flat-headed shovel.
This didn't work.
The skunk went further away from the edge of the deck. We were outsmarted.
"I'll go in after it!" said my father-in-law.
I contemplated. Visions of my father-in-law crawling underneath the deck to try and get a skunk crossed my mind. Yes, we were being outsmarted.
I thought some more.
"I could use the hose and try to spray it," said I.
"Oh, that might be a good idea. We can try that," said my father-in-law.
We tried it.
The skunk didn't come out.
We tried it again.
The skunk still didn't come out.
If I could only get closer... thought I.
I tried it again, this time by walking on top of the deck and above the skunk. Oh, if it sprays me through the deck... thought I...
It worked. The skunk came out. Somewhat nonchalantly. Somewhat ticked off. Skunk emotions are really hard to tell.
It hugged the wall, and wandered through the flowers before having no-where else to go.
"It came out!" I shouted.
My father-in-law swung the shovel.
Nothing really happened.
I think the skunk was a little ticked off now. Skunk emotions become a little clearer as you get to know them.
The shovel came down again.
My father-in-law had succeeded in getting the skunk away from the flowers, where he would be free to swing away without worrying about wrecking the flowers.
I could tell you without a doubt that the skunk was quite irritated by now. It's tail was raised.
Many things happened at once.
The skunk's tail was raised, and its back was arched. It was ready to let loose.
It was aiming at my father-in-law.
I stood to the side and wondered where I would run to should this turn ugly.
The shovel came down.
I don't think that could have been any closer.
The skunk was dead. My father-in-law was this close to sleeping in the garage. And Ros still stank.
This just happened to have happened when Steph and I were seriously thinking about looking for a border collie for ourselves....

Oh... What have I got myself into?

Well, I've made it to head coach! (*applause* "Thank-you -- Thank you...")
Yep, Head Coach. The big cheese. Master playmaker. The big guy.
And all I had to do was study "The Complete Guide to Coaching Girls' Basketball - Building a Great Team the Carolina Way" for an evening before the first practice!
Who knew that coaching a girls sports team would be different than coaching a boys sports team?...
I did. I still haven't forgotten the last girls team I coached who gawked at the opponents and complemented their hair and shoes and then asked what clothes they were going to get to wear - while playing a volleyball game!
But the book has given me some good advice. I think. (I don't really know if it's good advice because I'm not a girl...) But the book said that girls are more interested in just being on a team than the actual competitiveness of it all.
Okay. Well. We'll see how this goes.
At least I haven't heard anyone complement anyone elses hair yet.
Oh wait. I can't say that truthfully...

Kids need something to read?

We don't actually know if anyone bothers with our 'recommended reading' lists on the side panel of our blog here. Nevertheless, Steph has found a Christian series of adventure novels she really liked and told me to read, and now I guess I'm saying that it's worth a read if you think you want something to read.
The "Dragonkeeper Series" by Donnita K. Paul has a total of 5 stories and is probably in the reading range of grades 6/7 and up. So... really, it's children's literature. Which is fun stuff really.
Now... I'd probably have to recommend reading the first novel first. But I don't know what the first novel is like yet, because Steph told me the second novel was the first novel. So I really can't say that the first novel is good, because I've only read the second one. But the second one was good. And I believe I've gathered most of the information I needed about the first novel by reading the second novel. If you feel that you would rather save money but still understand what the series is about, perhaps you could skip to the third or fourth novel in the series. But then you would miss a bit of the earlier 'backstory'. If you're really short on time. I suppose you could just skip to the fifth novel. But then you would beat me to the punch, because I haven't read the fifth novel. Only the second novel.

Superheroes?

I don't know if anyone else has this problem. But Steph finally made me aware that I wasn't the only one who had this 'tendancy'.
You see, having our new house and all, we have something magical called a garage door opener. It's great! Your press a button and the garage door majestically opens with the power of hydroelectricity.
Such fantastic majesty automatically makes me want to grab my whip, run, jump, and roll through the door (as it closes) only to realize I have dropped my dusty brown hat, reach back and pull it through with my arm still intact just as the door closes completely.
It's really a natural instinct. For men. I suppose.
But then, when we were leaving for church (through this fantastic mechanism called a garage door) Steph said, "Every time that door opens, I wish I had a cape or something. Kinda like a superhero coming out of the lair... or something..."
I said, "That sounds like a blog entry."
She said, "Don't you dare."

One More Week....and then the inevitable!

Well, I can't believe it! One more week and then summer is over for another year. So much has gone on for us this summer, it's been a little nuts at times! So much moving, commuting, painting, organizing, and it's still going on. I am sad to report that we did not get the whole house painted before school started, which was our original goal...but it's our house, so we'll be here for a while and can do it whenever we get the urge (which will have to be more like a shove, because I've discovered that I really don't like painting...). But we are pleased to inform everyone: Dave has been accepted on the Simcoe County Board of Education's Supply Teacher List! We're very excited that it's happened so quickly! And hopefully he'll begin getting lots of phone calls so he can stop this ridiculous drive to Oakville everyday! So he's really excited about that! And I'm also excited about my new position....I get to teach the subjects I love and I switch kids often during the day so we get a break from eachother! I'm hoping for a very positive year! It'll be nice to get into a routine again, I think. I may be taking that back in a few months, but such is life! So I'm going to schedule in some serious relaxing and doing nothing time around my meetings next week and then go at it for another year!

L'eau

Every once in a while, a day comes along where you just get to do what YOU want to do.
Today was one of those days for me. (David). I had a day off from work. I could have done some work on the house, but an email from an old friend from college stopped any work from being done.
Instead I went golfing! And had a fine day enjoying a battle of the balls. The front nine, I lost. Quite horribly. But on the back nine I cleaned up until a snowman tragically stomped all over my score on the 18th hole. Until that snowman came, I was doing quite well. On the back nine.
Then I came home, and could have started working on the house.
But any work that could have been done, was ended before it began by the heat. A car without air conditioning makes a man think of the beach. And that's what I thought about.
So I came back into the house and said,
"Honey, put on your swimming suit, we're going to the beach!" Or something like that.
But first we had to walk through the mall. (to get to the licence bureau) I wasn't fully expecting to have to walk through the entire mall. In my bathing trunks. But I did. I felt a little sheepish. Especially with my wallet in my trunks. But that was over soon enough, and so Steph and I made our way up to Wasaga Beach.
That was quite lovely.
The sun had quite dissappeared by 5 o'clock. Rain clouds were brewing.
But I said, "We had better just get our feet wet."
And so we did.
And then steph got hit by a big wave and said that the water wasn't cold at all.
And she splashed me.
So then I got hit by a big wave. The kind that makes a man shiver. And so I got into the water.
When we were both in the water, we found that we liked it. And so we stayed in the water for a good while until we decided that really we didn't like being in the water so much anymore, and so we got out of the water.
Our bathing suits were wet, and so we walked up the beach a bit.
Until Steph said, "We had better turn around"
So we did.
And we got back into the car, got changed. That was weird. (especially with some guy getting into his truck next to us).
And then we left Wasaga Beach.
Really, it was a good day. I would like to repeat it, but I have to work tomorrow.
Why? Oh why?

Admissions

I didn't want to admit it earlier, but after talking it over with Steph, I thought maybe I could.
When Naomi asked me to put her to bed, which involved reading a story (or two), and then singing a song - I couldn't think of any children's songs to sing!
Adding insult to injury, the only song I could think of on the spot was "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". But after starting the song, I suddenly realized that I hadn't sung that song in soooo long that I couldn't remember all the words to it!
I felt like a really bad uncle.
Her second song (her request) I had no clue about, and had to go consult with Katrina to figure out.
So for a while I've felt a little sheepish, until tonight, when I was talking to Steph about "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".
She laughed at me. Then started singing it. And got the words messed up too!
Now I don't feel so sheepish.