Kalib rocks in the canoe, Jobe rocks on the piano and then they are gone; fantasies of life as a dedicated and successful "Grampa Blogger"
Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 11:42AM 
Yesterday, I posted but one picture and a bit of text, noting that even as I did so, I was hearing the sounds of Kalib and Margie outside and I wanted to go see what was up.
After I made that post, I went outside and this is what I found.
Kalib, in the tiny remnant of this season's pitiful snowfall - perhaps the least that we have seen in all of our 30 winters here.
I mentioned the sound of him tapping a canoe with a stick? Actually, he was filling the old, green, Coleman canoe with rocks. We must drain this water out of it soon, before it becomes a breeding place for mosquitoes.
We kept the boys with us all day so that Jacob and Lavina could accomplish all that they needed to accomplish before they had to go to airport to board the plane and begin their trip to New Mexico/Arizona. We brought the boys home a bit after 8:00 PM.
Jacob was still at work, working on a project he had to complete before leaving. Lavina still had much to do, including some shopping.
So Margie and I told her we would come right back after we a paid a visit to Larry Aiken at the hospital.
That is what we did - although Larry was in deep and needed sleep and never knew we had come.
Soon, Jobe was rocking up a storm on his little piano.
My goodness! This tot has talent!
Those were actual notes that he played, several at a time.
The boys with their mom, not long before their dad came home. I think this would be a good one to make black and white, but I don't have time right now.
This morning, the rock-filled water in the canoe had frozen over. Lavina sent me a text from LAX, where they have a long layover before continuing on to Albuquerque. "Kalib loving all the planes... he's screaming "jet" for all to hear!"
For awhile, I was getting worried about whether or not Kalib was ever going to start talking. It seemed to me that it was taking longer than it ought to. But now he is talking all the time.
I cannot understand everything that he says, but I understand a lot.
Like, when we drove them home the other night, the light turned yellow on us at the awkward time - the time when you are not sure if you should continue or stop, because it is that close. I decided to stop, and so stopped quickly.
"Gosh, grampa!" he said.
Then I bought him an ice cream cone at McDonald's and handed it over the seat back to him. It was kind of stretch and I did not know if he could reach it.
"Can you get it?" I asked.
"I get it," he answered. And he got it.
Last night, just before we left them, his dad had returned. They had been playing with a toy shark maybe three inches long, but it disappeared.
"Damnit, Daddy!" Kalib swore.
This time, I'm not teasing, either.
That's really what he said.
"Damnit, Daddy!"
Damnit, anyway. Now they are gone and I am not going to see them for at least three weeks, maybe longer. Maybe a month. They will only be gone for two weeks, but I will be gone when they get back.
Sometimes, I think maybe I should just drop all other ambitions and be a full-time "Grampa blogger." There's lots of "mommy bloggers" out there, you know, and at least a few of them have figured out how to make a very good living doing it.
If I were a grampa blogger, I could be at LAX with them right now, waiting to board the flight to ABQ.
And then I could go tag around with them in ABQ. I could then follow them to Lavina's childhood home in the Navajo Nation, where they are going to help shear sheep. Oh, the photos I could take! Next, I would follow them to the White Mountain Apache Res, where grandma is going to go down and meet them, too; where everyone but me and a few billion other people will get together in Carrizo Canyon on Easter Sunday, have an Apache style cookout and hunt Easter eggs.
These are the kinds of things that I could be doing, right now, with my grandsons, if I were a dedicated and successful Grampa blogger.
I think my love and dedication for and to Alaska ought to be clear to anyone. But I would really like to be there for that sheep shearing. I would really like to be there for that Easter Egg hunt. And one time, in Albuquerque, Lisa and I paid a visit to the acquarium.
Oh, my goodness! Kalib is going to go nuts when he sees those sharks swimming around! "Shark! Shark! Shark!" he will be hollering. Jobe will watch the sharks in quiet fascination. He will study their every move and gesture.
And if I were a dedicated and successful Grandpa blogger, I could catch it all.
And then we could return to Alaska. Jobe will really be walking by then. We could go hiking. We could go canoeing. I could begin to show my grandsons this great place they call Alaska. I could take them to Prince William Sound when the Copper River King and Red salmon come in; I could take them to the Arctic Slope to witness the landing of a whale by their large adopted family, onto the Yukon to see fishwheels turning. We could do it all, my grandsons and I - if I could but be a dedicated, successful, Alaska Grampa blogger.
I wonder why I never thought of this before?
Reader Comments (6)
You definitely are a dedicated, successful, Alaska Grampa blogger. Those boys are beautiful!
I miss them already! Can't imagine how busy you're going to need to be not to get so lonesome without them.
LOL Jobe playing the piano! What a great shot,
super pictures today, you have a beautiful family...and i think you are a great grandpa blogger now.
Dearest Uncle Bill, you are a dedicated blogger for sure and THE BEST... and if there is a grampa in between then I'l be the happiest of all!!! :) :) :)
Well... I miss my two sons. I really want to hug them but I really need to work so that I can give them a better life in the futures to come.