QuestionAbel Parenting

Sam is working with a horse right now that has flu.  Hooray!  They don’t know what kind, but the horse is “contained.”  Which is awesome.  To have a wife working with animals who can transfer deadly flu to her.

Pardon me while I freak out.

Yes, friends, a short story.  Did it turn out as good as my brain imagined it?  No, but there is humor here, nonetheless.

Sam Smith had had it.  His home was awash in junk.  The years had passed by happily with his children and wife, but in the passage of time, they’d accumulated enough things he was sure he could fill an airplane hangar.  he told Jed as much over the fence.

“Throw it out,” Jed said.

It was sound advice, but Sam couldn’t help but think that something bigger and better could be done with his junk.  What was that saying?  One man’s junk was another’s treasure?

He remembered as he tripped over his youngest son’s fire truck in the living room.

“Sorry, Dad,” Billy said.  “I don’t even play with that anymore.”

“Oh really?” Sam replied.  He furrowed his brow.  “Billy, get your siblings and mother in here.”

“Okay, dad.  Why?”

“Just do it.”

When the family was fully gathered, Sam spoke.  “I’ve had it with all this stuff,” he said.  “I want all of you to look through everything you own.  If you don’t want it, or you don’t use it, put it in the garage.”

“But, Sam,” Flo said, “what about the Pontiac?”

“It can sit outdoors for a few nights,” Sam replied.  Flo gasped.  Sam didn’t even leave the car out during the daytime.  She hurried the kids along with their task.

Sam stood in the garage with all the books and toys later.  Throw it away?  Ha, Jed was crazy.  Some of the toys were brand new.  People would probably buy some of this stuff in the store.  Buy it.  He had an idea.

“I just don’t understand why we can’t throw it out,” Flo said to him when he told her the idea.

“It’s still in good shape,” Sam said.  “There’s no reason to do that.”

“But, Sam.  Who ever heard of selling things out of the garage?  It’s crazy.”

“Not just the garage,” Sam said.  His mind was racing.  “I’ll get some tables and set them up in the driveway.  We’ll put everything on them.”

Flo sighed.  Sam was generally knew what he was doing.  “Okay, Sam.”

Jed was less accepting, as were the other fellows at the weekly poker game.

“So, it’s all used?” asked Ben Jackson.

“Yeah,” Sam said.  “But you can’t tell with a lot of it.”

“Ha,” Jed said.  “Damn crazy idea.  You’re wasting your time.  You know that?”

“Maybe,” Sam said.  “But better to try and fail than not try at all.”

Jed snorted.  “You’ll be the laughingstock of Rock Springs.  That’s whay you’ll be.”

The editor of the Rock Springs Picayune certainly laughed at Sam.  “An ad for what?”

“I’m selling our old things,” Sam repeated.  “I just want to know how much a small ad will cost.  I want people to know they can come over Saturday from eight to four and look at everything.”

“Ha!” the editor laughed.  “That is a crazy idea.  Tell you what, I’ll run your ad for free.  What are you calling this ‘event?’”

Sam thought.  “Well, I’m selling all of it out of the garage.  Call it a garage sale.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Smith.  I got some extra space this week – we’ll run it Monday, Wednesday, Friday.”

“Thank you.”

The Picayune not only ran the ad, they sent a reporter to the Smith residence to interview Sam.  Flo looked worried as Sam said goodbye to the young man.

“Sam,” she said.  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“It’s not a big deal,” Sam said.  “And if it is, it’ll be over after Saturday.”

“Okay,” she said.  “I can handle it for a week.”

Flo wasn’t so sure after her beauty appointment Tuesday.  All the girls had seen the ad in the Picayune and asked her about Sam’s folly.  She had been mortified when Mary Beth had asked if they’d be selling any undergarments, and laughed at her.

She was more upset when her oldest son, Chet, came home without his coat on Wednesday.

“I sold it,” Chet said.  “Doug Kent offered to buy it as a joke, but I took the five dollars.  It’s an old coat anyway and it’s almost summer, mom.”  Sam talked with her that evening about it.

“Sam, you know I support you, but this thing is crazy,” she said.  “Please, it’s not too late to stop.  We can take everything to the dump.”

Sam looked at his wife.  She was close to tears.  He held her shoulders.  “Flo, this is bigger than us now.  I can’t explain it.  It’s something we have to do.”

At dinner on Thursday, there was a short speech.  “Family,” Sam said, gesturing with meatloaf.  “I know this week is rough for you all, but after Saturday, it will all be over.  I know people probably think I’m a little crazy, but I have a good feeling about this.  I know some of the kids are making fun of you for it, but it will blow over after Saturday.  Are we together?”

“I’m with you, Dad,” Doug said.

Billy, Joy, and Flo nodded.  Flo’s face still spoke of worry and indecision.

She was even less happy the next day when Joy came home in tears.

“The girls made fun of me all day,” Joy hiccupped out.  “They called me Garage Girl.  They wouldn’t stop.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Flo said.  “It’s okay.”

Sam was in the garage, putting little stickers on everything.  Flo look around.  An old whisk for a dime.  Billy’s fire truck for a quarter.

“Have you seen your daughter?”

“Yes,” Sam replied, not looking at her.

“And you still think this is worth it?”

Sam put his hands down and looked Flo in the eye.  “This isn’t about selling things anymore,” he said.  “It’s about a new idea.  If I don’t go through with this, what kind of man am I?”

“A man with a family,” Flo said.  “Please, Sam.  What next?”

“The sale is tomorrow,” Sam said.  “And then it will all be over.  Please try to relax until then.”

“Okay, Sam.  But I can’t promise what I’ll do if this blows up.”

Sam looked at her.  “Do you really mean that?”

She looked at Sam, the man she had loved for twenty years.  He’d never done anything without thinking it through.  His sense of self-awareness had always guided them through tough times.  But she’d never experienced the whole world against her like this.

“Flo?” he asked.  “If it means that much to you, I’ll stop.”  Their eyes met and she knew he meant it.  Flo went back in the house.  Sam sighed and peeled a sticker off of a book.

Flo came back with the three children.  Tears were in here eyes.  “Kids,” she said, “grab a sheet of stickers from your father.”  She walked to Sam.  “He’ll tell you what to write on them.”  The children obeyed as Sam crushed Flo to him in a passionate embrace.  Billy gagged.

The next morning was sunny and warm as Doug helped Sam move the last table into place.  It was quarter of eight and a small crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle.  Rock Springs had always embraced a spectacle, and the young reporter from the Picayune was accompanied by the editor.  Flo saw all her friends and held back her fear.

“Whose going to buy that junk?” Jed yelled and laughed.

At eight sharp, Sam walked to the crowd.  “If you see something you like, make an offer,” he said.  “The prices aren’t set in stone.”

The crowd laughed and moved into the tables.  They joked about the madness.  And then Ned Cross saw a wrench for fifty cents.

“Hey, Sam,” Ned yelled.  “Is this a Craftsman?”

“Sure is,” Sam replied.  “I’ve got two.  Christmas present from my dad.  Hated to get rid of it.”

“Will you take two bits?”

“Sure.”

And it was as if Ned had opened a floodgate.  People who had been silent walked up to the family and asked about prices.  Some paid the price on the sticker.  A few even offered to buy the tables.  For the next eight hours people came and went, calling relatives and telling them about the crazy event.  And at four, Sam looked at the few shirts and marbles left on the tables.  The Smiths had rid themselves of clutter and made well over a hundred dollars.

“Oh, Sam,” Flo said.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said.

The paper the next day told of the success of the garage sale.  Jed told Sam over the fence he, he himself, would have one the next weekend.

“That’s crazy,” Sam said and watered the roses.

Today begins Sam’s internship.  She is excited.  Months and months of classes and papers are replaced in a flash by real doctoring – albeit with a net.  Gone are the carefree days, too, of her returning home early from class and us spending the day together.  We have grown up a little.
For my part, I will now be getting serious with my schoolin’.  Perhaps it has been mentioned that a science project needs doing.  I am failing at a great idea.  Boiling water with varying levels of salt added is the best I thought of.  Sam offered to help and give me access to the vet labs, but I didn’t feel quite right.  There is also the constant fear of animal diseases.

I also forsee an uptick in my writing.  Now that Sam will have a schedule I can recognize, it will make it easier for me to recognize.  Zachary and I are currently at the coffee shop and I am typing with him on my lap.  He’s very good – I think the clickity clack of the keys is amusing to him.  Many new things are around for him to view, as well, which he likes.  It is a shopping day, so I do not know how much writing will be done.

In addition to this blogging, It is my goal to prepare a number of poems for blogification before the 30th.  It is my want to fulfill my 30 poems in April obligation.  Does anyone have a favorite type of poem they’d like me to attempt?  The poems will certainly be of a Ded Jimmy theme.  There may be some of the “Your Parents Hate You And You’re A Horrible Child” variety as well.  Perhaps I’ve not posted the poem “My Son,” written before Sam and I reunited.
So, I will now divulge that Space Pirates will also be worked on.  Perhaps not as originally planned.  Far more seriously, I hope to return to my 2000 words a day.  Seriously.  This is the best hope I have.

I also want to post at least one coherent story a week here.  These will be short shorts, throwaway stories I may return to later on.  But I want to increase my writing.

This is due partly to Twitter, believe it or not.  I have been following Neil Gaiman and few others he’s lead me to, and it has hastened my desire.  So that’s the scoop and we’ll see how it pans out.

Sam mentioned I didn’t mention the large amount of strollers we saw at the zoo.  I don’t know if we only notice now that we push one, but it was ungodly.  As if an army of babies had descended to view orangutans and dinosaurs.

As I said, we trekked to the Tulsa Cinemark to spy This American Life – Live! on Thursday.  Sam was excited; I was more excited.  We generally catch Ira on the weekend in the middle of some story about cannibal squirrels or middle-aged gymnast hopefuls.  At these times, during the odd music break, Sam will clockwork “What is this?”

“This American Life” I will reply.

I vaguely recall listening to TAL when if first emerged.  NPR was the standby station for my mother and growing up, I was not too fond of talk radio.  Like most people, I wanted music to sing along with.  Mom wanted Carl Cassel’s smooth baritone reading the news.

Alaska, among the sea of horror I found there, delivered me into Morning Edition’s arms.  Galena has but one real radio station and it is an NPR affiliate, so I soon discovered ME and quickly turned junkie.  I still prefer it to All Things Considered.  Morning radio shows on the FM dial are generally hilarious which limits my listening at times.  Unless I can manage to get up early.

I caught TAL a few years ago and was enraptured by Ira’s voice.  This guy could be on the radio?  How excellent.  This was before I could download podcasts reliably, so I would often make my weekend plans around the Grand Rapids’ broadcast so I could listen.  TAL provides the maximum driveway moments per capita of any show I hear on NPR.  This is despite the fact I have the podcast every week.

I was worried that the radio show asthetic would be diluted on the big screen, but it did not disappoint.  The show had an excellent curve of visual interpretation to accompany its vocalized stories.

There was a cartoon that didn’t make much sense; the lowpoint of the experience for me.  Ironic as that was the most visually planned event from a planning standpoint.

As I stated, Mike Savage’s piece contributed the most from a visual standpoint.  And it lacked the props and pictures of the other speakers.  Both were good.  Savage’s face portrayed the raw emotion he was feeling as he talked about his dying mother, and it added far more to the story than if we’d just heard it broadcast.

Ira was quite fun to watch.  He seemed to make a bit of a show as he pushed his buttons and read his script.  I knew going in that it was a live “show” with a few things thrown in, but was surprised when he went through all the “This is This American Life.  Our show in five acts…”  There was a surreal feeling to it.

Ira talked to the audience a bit about when the show would cut to a station break and commented somewhat on the strangeness of the things he had to say.  It was interesting to see.  The experience gave him a chance to show the audience the opening to the Showtime show – an introspective on the life of seven men named John Smith.  None related, but all at different stages in life – birth to death.  It looked extremely interesting.  Interesting enough that if billed as “This American Life – Feature Film For Theaters” I would go watch.  A cleaned up, slicked hair Ira appears in the opening as well, and it is this Ira that fit the vision in my brain.  Ira (Mr. Glass) looks a slightly older version than what I imagine him to be.  His voice has a very youthful sound to it.  The job he has is one I would love to be a part of.

I wish I could have been in New York and seen it right on stage in front of me.  That is my only caveat.  I suppose mention should be made of Joss Whedon and his hilarious commentary song for Dr. Horrible.  There.  it’s mentioned.  It was entertaining.  Not the highlight, though.  Whedon is awesome and funny, but the show was amazing along with him.

I was very happy to have gone and look forward to it again should they do it next year.  As it is the second year in a row, I think the chances are good.

Ira and Company did not disappoint with This American Life. It was a very fun experience as we watched the crew record the show. They managed to add a nice visual element whilst retaining the radio feel. Dan Savage perhaps had the most added to his piece. Ironic as the other two main performers had visual aids to help them.
Joss Whedon – hilarious.
The Prchals were a fun couple to go with. They are easy going and excited about Ira Glass, which made it very fun even though we had to rush to the theater and almost died. I hate the highway.
I am sleepy, and will now go to bed. Perhaps tomorrow I will write in greater detail.

Samantha and I took young Zachary to the zoo yesterday.  Since it was Earth Day and all, we drove our SUV an hour to the zoo.  I’m a little ashamed, but it was the day we planned it.  On the way home we stopped for the worst BBQ I have ever had.  The place in question was in Guthrie and all I can think to say is that one’s hot links should be better than a gas station’s.  The baked beans were okay, though.  So that all works out.

Today, after taking care of our suicidal kitty, we have been cleaning.  The house is a sty and we are having Company on Saturday.  This Company will only be coming indoors to use the bathroom, hopefully, but it still needs doing.  Astonishingly, the house still has an “unpacking” feel to it, especially the nursery.  The room I am in the most as that is where my computer is.  It is getting better at a progression.  With the baby’s crib and things in the main bedroom, it will take on more of an office feel once more.  For this, I am thankful.  My artist’s desk is currently being used as a computer desk and I am not very pleased about that.  Drawing upon it may not be done enough when its use is proper, but it remains something I enjoy.  Of course, the purchase of a new desk may never happen.

What will happen is a new laptop by myself and Sam.  With this purchase, I am debating the fate of my iMac G5.  It’s a great ol’ computer and will no doubt live much longer than any other computer we may buy, but we will each have our own computers to use and its use as family computer is in question.  I will probably keep it.

Kona is destroying her eye.  This eye was removed and there is a sealed up bit of skin over the socket which is the target of her paws lately.  Attempts to keep it clean are failing especially since she has figured out the secret of the Cone.  String has made the Cone more puzzling, but she’s very smart.  A little emo kitty.

Tulsa is tonight’s destination.  The reason?  This American Life, Live.  The Prchals and we are travelling the journey together and we hope to have a good time.  Excitement and fun shall be had by all.

I forget, time and time again, to have my journal at the bedside when I wake up.  Dreams are interesting, quite often, and I had some crazies last night.  One was of my grandpa asking me if he’d see me in heaven, which was creepy and makes me want to call the parents – which I will probably do.  The other one involved a battle against alligators.  In this dream, I was an ex-superhero who could still fight a little and I had to fight these alligators.  The cat stabbed me with a claw in real life.

I almost knocked Sam out of bed.

We shared a good laugh at the timing on that.

We are on vacation this week, which should prove interesting.  It’s the same as usual for me, except Sam will be home.  But Sam is excited to be home and we’re hoping to find some fun things to do in OKC.  There is talk of the zoo.  This American Life Live will be seen.  Fun things will be done, but today is still housecleaning and gardening.

Sometime this week, I have to do a science experiment for school.  I haven’t thought of anything awesome yet, so I’m open to ideas.

I have some links to share, perhaps I’ve shared prior.  The first is Garfunkel and Oates, whom I find hilarious.  This is perhaps my favorite song by them, but there is strong language..  I also thought I’d share the link to the WTF Blanket.  I also find this concept inane.  With strong language.

Today in Abel-icular news we have purchased a dishwasher.  Did I say?  It is portable.  Sixty dollars was the price paid with five dollars for sink connection devices.  Such a marvel of modern technology!  It is true that certain technologies are difficult to live without once y0u’ve had them.  Various washing devices are my favorite such things.  It reminds me of this link.

My last post was short and exhibited my boredom with the poetry month.  What I think will transpire is me writing my own poetry.  Inspired by none other than my noodle.  The hope is to still have thirty poems by the end of the month, but I have run my course of interest with Lee Bee.

I feel antsy.  There doesn’t seem much other way to put it into words, but I am antsy.  Aching for some sort of project to get a hold of so that my brain can fire up again.  Luckily, Sam has this week off so we can do some fun things with the baby.

I’ve grown bored with the April Poem a Day challenge.  Last year, it was pretty fun.  Checking Poetic Asides everyday and reading the poems and writing my own.  But the prompts bore me and I’m just not into it this year.  So there was no poem yesterday and maybe not today.  That could change, of course.  Maybe I’ll just throw out poems of my own making, which would certainly be in the spirit.  A few Rondels or something, who knows?

As mentioned prior, Sam and have purchased a Wii Fit. Sam hasn’t had much time to use it, but I have managed to use it every day. It’s very neat and the main problems I have with it stem from our living room setup (the ceiling fan gets in the way).
Sam made a good point as well. There is no “workout” function that we’ve found. Each exercise must be selected individually and we are forced to sit through the intro fly-in, the “report” after, and the fitbank feature at the end. It would be nice if there was a “playlist” function so certain exercises could seque automatically into each other. It makes the yoga a bit awkward.
Holding on the Wiimote makes things a bit awkward as well. I don’t see myself spending money for a holding pouch (they sell ‘em!). Instead, the wiimote goes on the couch and then gets grabbed when needed. Like for boxing or something.
The aerobic workouts are the best feature as far as fitness goes. Aerobics are hard to pull out when you’re on your own, so having the onscreen support is helpful. Yoga is nice, too, as you’re given a view of your balance throughout the poses. Which is nice, as well as getting a good view of what the pose should look like.
The strength training is pretty cool as well, although it seems silly to have a “trainer” for them since I know all the exercises already. But it keeps me doing them.
I think it would work ideally as a supplement to a larger fitness program, so I’m hoping it can motivate me to start jogging again. Definitely worth it.