When I was Young...

 While driving in to work today, I caught most of a song I have not heard in many years..."When I was Young," by Eric Burdon and the Animals.  Burdon's haunting voice accentuates the message of how life changes as we age and not always for the better.  We become jaded, sometimes enjoying what we call the "little things" less and less.  Even though I caught most of the song while it was being played, I was moved enough to pull it up on YouTube Music once I got to work.  Burdon's voice boomed throughout my dimly lit, empty classroom via a Bluetooth speaker.  It was soothing in a melancholy way, bits and pieces, tiny vignettes of memories flitted about in my mind's eye.  So much so, I paused setting up my classroom for the day and replayed the song sitting quietly at my desk.  As the song ended and the memories once again faded into the recesses of my past I realized something I often forget, one must never lose sight of those "little things" in life and take time to smile at what we once did as children.

Songs such as this are why I love listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage on SiriusXM.

Things you can do on a rainy day

My daughter Arianna was having a fundraiser for Alex's Lemonade Stand today to coincide with the neighborhood yard and garage sales.  Well...the rain cancelled the yard and garage sales, But Arianna and her friend Maddie braved the weather and held the lemonade stand.  We would line to thank everyone who donated to the stand.  I do not have the total yet, but it is okay considering the weather.

While it was storming during the stand I sent the girls inside and monitored the stand from the front porch.  I came up with a list if things I could do while this was going on:

Watch the lemonade stand.

Watch it rain.

Watch the grass grow from all of the continous rain.

Listen to music.

Drink coffee.

Watch people drive past the lemonade stand.

Daydream.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Read my neglected Facebook feed.

Watch the weather radar on my phone.

-----Become depressed because the rain stretches back through two states.

Catch up on Twitter.

Weed the flower beds in my yard when the rain slows to drizzle.

Get soaked when rain suddenly increases and I am weeding.

Decide to post to one of my blogs.

Grade summer school Moodle work until rain begins driving onto porch.

Do an ancient Pagan Sun Dance...I must have done it incorrectly, the rain came down harder.

See all of the #ISTE2015 posts on FB and Twitter.

Drink more coffee.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Read the Pittsburgh, PA conservative newspaper and try and count all of the hateful comments about the recent Supreme Court rulings.

-----I lost count.

Feel bad that we have so many hateful people around.

Learn to knit.

Drink more coffee.

Count more raindrops.

Twiddle my thumbs until they cramp.

Knit a comforter.

Learn Russian.

Recharge my phone battery.

Read War and Peace.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Listen to more music on my phone.

Translate War and Peace back into Russian.

Learn to put Einstein's Theory of Relativity to everyday use.

Count backwards from 365...in Klingon.

Make sure our life jackets are accessible.

Check my translation of War and Peace vs. an early Russian Version...I am spot on!

Think of more things to do while watching it rain.

Drink way too much coffee.

Begin to to post to my blog.

Prove that you CAN divide by zero.

Promise myself to never watch "Singing in the Rain," again.

Watch the lemonade stand.

Answer my daugter's question via walkie-talkie, "Yes, it is still raining."

Dose off into a nap.

Finish my blog.

Begin to build a life raft...just in case.

Summer Musings

The sun is settling behind the trees, my reading of Hunter S. Thompson's personal collection of letters has motivated me to begin writing again.  However, before I can start a bevy of black carpenter ants march across my deck.  The do not live here,, we pay an exterminator do drive them to the neighbor's.  They just use our yard as a pathway between their main home in one neighbor's tree and our other neighbor's fence.

Distracted by their presence, I fail to begin my authoring endeavors.  I smack one ant with a flip flop and the rest scatter. I disdainfully wipe the crushed bug from the bottom of my flip flop as I track the remaining interlopers.  

Two more are crushed with quick certainty and my cat-like reflexes.  They distract me long enough for one of their compatriots to get beyond my direct reach.  Unbeknownst to them, I could have qualified for the Olympics if flip flop tossing were on their list of accepted competitions.  With a casual, almost nonchalant toss of my flip flop the running charlatan is smothered by cheap imported plastic/rubber footwear.

The carnage makes the survivors scurry in chaotic circles.  I chamber my remaining piece of casual summer footwear in my right hand and begin dispatching the remaining trespassers.  As the remaining ant dives between the decking boards and  away from my capacity to strike, I grow impatient as I am in a hurry to move on to my creative endeavor of blogging.  

"You have to surface sometime!" I find myself calling aloud, almost upbraiding the surviving transgressor as Ahab once screamed at the white whale. 

As if on queue, the last of the transgressors raises to the surface of the decking, making on last gallant attempt at escape.  I pause, not sadistically mind you, but quizzically, pondering if I have some hidden skill or ability to communicate or command insects.  My mind clears of such foolish thoughts and I dispatch the last of the pack.  

I gaze about the field of battle, satisfied there are no more enemies to slay; I pick up my iPhone and begin to blog.

Pool Day

Today at the pool we signed up for our summer pool pass.  It was a great day for being in the water.  It was sunny, hot, and humid countered by a non-heated pool.  I am hoping that eventually the pool will warm up; if not it may be money wasted.  We did not get the pass last year due to the weather being cold and not pool-like.  

Arianna swam into one of her Girl Scout Troop mates and they enjoyed a couple of hours together.  Hopefully these sort of days become the norm.

Facing the fear of failure

I was kicking around the idea of taking a lifeguarding class so I can help out with my daughter's Girl Scout Troop when they are at camp.  As the day drew nearer to start, I began to grew apprehensive about my ability to be successful with the course.  The CPR part would be a refresher since I am already certified.  Any book work would be cake, I am great at studying now that I am older and wiser.  I am a solid swimmer, not fast, not pretty to watch, but I can get through the water and strong currents.  Stamina is a bit of an issue, but that will return with practice.  

My concern was that I cannot dive, which makes reaching the bottom of the deep end problematic.  Eight feet deep is a non-issue, it is ten feet and deeper that caused me consternation.  I began to second guess my decision to take the class, I was not sure I could pass that portion of the course, which would make my efforts all for naught.  

As the day drew nearer for me to start the class, I grew more apprehensive.  I almost backed out of the course, "why waste the money?  Why waste the time?  You are 48, why emabarass yourself?  You didn't even try to do this when you were younger and in better shape..." My brain was giving me many reasons to not go.  I discussed my concerns with the instructor, his idea was to try the course and see what happens.  I ran my thoughts past my wife, she said pretty much the same thing.  Both did not have too much concern about my ability to pass the course.

Well, I took their advice and went to the class.  As expected the CPR is pretty much what I already know, just more breathing since water is involved.  We practiced some rescues, I still need work on some of them, but that will come with practice.  Then, the moment that I was almost dreading arrived, the pull a weight from the bottom of the pool test.  I went last out of the group of students, bouncing ideas on how to succeed at the task off of my fellow classmates.  They were encouraging and helpful with ideas.  

I went with my old reliable move, feet first into the water which put me almost to the bottom.  However when I flipped to reach for the weight I started to float up to the surface.  I could see the weight just out of my grasp, but achievable to reach.  For what seemed to take minutes, but surely only took seconds I kicked and flailed for the bottom of the pool.  I grasped the weight as water began to fill my swim goggles.  I was fired up at grabbing the weight, but now I realized I still had to get to the surface.  I did not get a good push off the bottom to assist my upward movement, but the ten pound weight was not an issue.  I kicked and pulled, weight in hand, eyes closed since my were goggles filled with water, until I broke the surface.  I am sure the entire spectacle was not pretty to watch or look very coordinated, but I succeeded at the one thing I feared most.  

I reached the bottom of the pool and successfully brought the weight to the surface.  It doesn't sound like much, but it was a major confidence boost to this old man.  I now believe that I can successfully complete the rest of the course, which was in doubt because of my fear of that test.  Make no mistake, I have plenty of room for improvement, but now I know I can do it.  Once you know something can be achieved, improvement is something to look forward to.  It was a lesson I need to relearn.  

Family Sharing

Watching my daughter's face as she perused my previous blog posts was priceless.  "Daddy did you write this?" brought on a sense of nervousness within me.  "Yes, " was my response, followed by, "Do you like them?"  I held my breath awaiting a response...when she stated rather matter of factly,  "Yes," a sense of pride welled up within me.

My daughter was not trying to placate my pride, she truly enjoyed some of the posts.  She shuffled through the posts picking and choosing various posts.  But the fact that she read them and found some interesting was wonderful.  Hopefully they spark her creativity and get her posting again.  I am hoping to pass on the urge to contribute and share with the world to the young girl who has so much to offer.

Stories for the Future

A friend of mine was telling me a story about a dream he had...he was negotiating with Saddam Hussien to free American prisoners.  During negotiations Saddam tasted my family's Easter Pizza recipe and  loved it; it became part of the negotiations.

I want to work on writing up dream into a story and video...we shall see how that goes.

First drawing

Here is my most recent drawing...it is not finished...hit a block.

I need more practice, but that is okay.  I have the rest of my life to improve.

Art

I have recently begun to use an app called PicsArt on my iPhone.  It allows me to snap photos of my drawings and post them online.  

I guess I could do that here to, but the app is set ip specifically for art.  You can also edit and draw on the app, which you cannot do in Blogger.

My username there is very original: dominicsalvucci.  Check it out.

Lemonaid Stand

Today was to be the big community garage sale, I am not big in to garage sales.  A lot of work for very little payoff; people haggle for pennies.  Me, in most cases, I would just rather give away stuff to someone who could use it, or to a charity.  But I digress, this is why I do not blog as much as I should...

Anyhow, Arianna and her friend had an idea to have a lemonade stand, we thought the community garage sale would be the best day for it.  Turns out that the threat of rain and the actual rain washed out the garage sale, but the girls' efforts to sell lemonade went rather well. 

They not only made some money, but they learned many things while they had fun.  The girls worked collaboratively together to serve their customers.  The ice and money box tasks were shared between the two girls, no small task for kids their age.  They were polite, "Thank you," You're welcome," smiles and small talk were emphasized.  The girls worked on their patience, a skill that definitely needs strengthened.  The cars and people were not as numerous as they hoped and there were definite lulls, but they held up well.  The girls worked on their money skills to male change for the customers, I helped and coached as needed, but it was their show.  I had to pour the lemonade for them at first, a gallon pitcher is too big for a six year old to use without spilling.  Once Arianna's friend's mom found a pitcher with a button pour spout, so it would not need tipped to pour, the girls worked together to run the entire service.

They enjoyed their effort and learned several good lessons.  I got to watch them have fun while they worked and learned. The day turned out better than I expected.

On a related note, the title is such due a misspelling on their sign, a flattened Scentsy box painted white and taped to several old metal posts.  I did not help with the labelling of their sign, just the preliminary set up; flattening, cutting, painting white, and delivering to have the words painted on.  Typos happen, the girls learned about that too, I promised to fix it for the next lemonade sale.  I commented that the typo was intentional, they we raising money to save lemons from being crushed by big corporations. 

Cheesey humor, but then again I liked "Sharknado," it was no "Class of Nuke' em High," or "The Toxic Avenger," but few movies are.

Grill Smoker Lesson

I was given a new grill as a combination Father's Day/birthday present this year.  I recently bought a smoking box to use on the grill top...I learned today that you need to add the firebox well before you put the food on the grill.

I added some water soaked wood chops along with dry wood chips to the box about five minutes before I put chicken on.  Not even close to smoking, next time I wait about fifteen minutes before adding meat to the grill; by then the chips should be smoking...at least that is the plan.