Everyone Loves Fireworks

Fireworks at the Morrison Funny Farm.

Don't need anything more, crying with joy!

"Life is good when children sing their summer song of play and sleep deep from an exhausting day."

Summer has Arrived at the Funny Farm

I can now say that summer has arrived at the Funny Farm. Tonight I was home cutting the grass after work and looking forward to jumping in the pool to cool off. The sounds of summer at our house were presenting themselves in force. The mower was going, little girls were running around making noises of joy that only they can make and Suzanne was cooking dinner to be brought out pool side. The best part was when it got dark out and we turned on the underwater pool light and the Christmas lights hanging on the fence around the pool. I sat there by the water listening to Sydney, Erin and Jessica romp around in the water like seals in the ocean. Diving and surfacing, looking for one another, pouncing on anyone that may have let their guard down and slipping away just as fast. Their little bodies sliding through the water effortlessly, moving like only children can move, like their bodies where as light as air, weightless in the water, and throwing shadows all around the pool bottom and the trees above. Then to add to the summer scene where the lighting bugs blinking through the air and the hundreds of spring peepers singing their love song. 

Life is good when children sing their summer song of play and sleep deep from an exhausting day. Now I must carry each one of them up to bed. A true labor of love, for each day they get heavier and trip harder but one no parent ever wants to not be able to perform.

Escape from Sowlcatraz

So I get a call from Kass on my way home from work asking how far away from home I am? I asked why and she said that mom needs me home right a way because the pigs broke out of their pen!  I still had half an hour to go so Suzanne was on her own. It takes a truly strong woman to take on four, hundred pounds or more pigs and three screaming kids in the rain and mud. Apparently the pigs were all over the place when she pulled in the driveway after work and they had no intention of going back into their pen or anywhere Suzanne and the girls wanted them to. In the end, Suzanne said the pigs got tired and decided to return to their pen all on their own. Moral of the story: over build everything and marry a strong woman! I have a strong one and yesterday was our twenty year anniversary.

Sometimes I feel like Noah

There is nothing as cute as a box of kittens. Friday night we were just settling down to relax by the pool when our daughter Kass had a text from one of her friends that they found a litter of kittens with no mommy around. I got that, come on Dad lets go save them look from her and off we went, with quick stop at McDonalds because, how can you save some helpless animals on an empty stomach. We drove to King of Prussia were her friends had the kittens in a box. One had already died and the four left were very cold and hungry. They still had their umbilical cords attached. A women there took one and we took the other three. We have been bottle feeding them for the last few days every four hours.
On another note I found a Jefferson's Salamander near the pig pen. I have never found one before and understand they can grow to about 6 inches or so. Very cool. 

Jefferson’s Salamander

Scientific Name: Ambystoma jeffersonianum

Size: 4.75-8.25 inches (12.1-21 cm) in length

PA Status: Species of special concern

Click on the photos to make them larger.

Another beautiful day

There's nothing like a beautiful morning to make you feel good. I shot a few photos during this mornings wonderful light and thought I would pass them along. I guess you could say I took time to stop and smell the roses, but in this case is was grape vines and little kids and animals that I took time to appreciate. Look around you and be thankful for what you have, whatever it may be.

Don't let sucky people ruin your day

When you reach a certain age you feel you no longer need to take any crap from sucky people. Some times you run into people during your daily activities that just make you crazy, like the receptionist at the doctors office that gives you the sit down and I'll get to you when I'm ready speech, or the rude person at the checkout. Well, this is my take on those folks that ruin your day. First of all don't let them, second have fun with it. When I have the chance to encounter with one of these wonderful folks my first response would have been anger, but now I turn that into calm and deliberateness. If I am treated poorly or rude, my verbal response is two words, excuse me? I say it in a manner that has no implied tone or attitude. I say it as if I have not heard what the person assaulting me has said. Their response is often very interesting. Often they question their own attitude and recognize that they have been rude and didn't mean it and all seems a bit better with their next response. Sometimes they come back with the same type of rude behavior that prompted my initial comment. If that is the case then I have been given the green light to seek satisfaction in any way I desire. I am often content to just enjoy that fact that I have pointed out the rude behavior and be on my way, but if I feel the need to take it a little farther I deffinately tell their boss. He'll want to know this stuff. After an encounter I forget about it.