Margie and Lavina go to Starbuck's and get me in trouble with Lisa; Kalib visits a firetruck for muscular dystrophy; I hear gunshot as I photograph goose decoy frozen into pond

"Dad!!!!!????? Starbuck's?????!!!!! "Lisa accused. "You went to Starbuck's???"

I was innocent. Margie and Lavina had committed the sacrilege when they drove into Anchorage the other day to get the ultrasound of the new baby that now brews in Lavina's womb and, afterward, stopped at a Starbuck's. They carelessly left the evidence in the car.

Lisa was in the car with me because she came out today for about two hours and we went out to coffee together. There is no Starbuck's in Wasilla (yet) but I can assure you, even if there were, we would not have gone there.

Lisa is pretty liberal and tolerant of the foibles of her fellow human beings, but not when it comes to buying coffee from Starbuck's. This she will not tolerate.

After I made my case and told her the true story, she said something like this, "I'll bet that they told each other, 'Lisa never needs to know.'"

This evening, after the five-month pregnant Lavina returned home from her volleyball game in Anchorage, I told her how much trouble she and Margie had gotten me into.

"We didn't think Lisa would find out," Lavina said. "We told each other, 'Lisa never needs to know.'"

The money Jacob is handing to Kalib is not for the tot, but for the tot to drop in the fireman's boot. But the tot does not want to take the money and drop it in the boot. Before the incident is over, Jacob, Lavina and Kalib will drop about ten dollars into the boot. 

After dropping the money, Jacob and Lavina check out the firetruck on display in the Carr's parking lot.

It was the wheels that most impressed Kalib.

After awhile, he was ready to go.

This is fireman Danny, who explained that the money goes to send local children with muscular dystrophy to summer camp. They display the truck for two days each year. Last year, they raised over $10,000.

After we returned home, I jumped onto my bike and took a short ride. I crunched my way through frozen puddles.

As I passed the pond the kids named "Little Lake" when they were small, I saw a goose decoy, frozen into the surface. It used to be, several years ago, that each summer a number of ducks would nest around this pond and geese would drop in, too. 

Soon, we would see the little ducklings following their mothers about the pond.

There were no homes near the pond, but then Red and his wife bought a piece of property on the corner of Seldon and Wards that overlapped half of it. They built a home there. Red liked the idea of ducks and geese coming to their pond and so he put duck and goose decoys into the water to attract them.

Of course, they had been coming anyway.

Red died a few years back and his wife, who has remarried, twice, began to spend her winters in Arizona. About a year ago, she put the house and property up for sale. It is still for sale. 

This decoy still drifts in the pond. We have not seen ducklings in the pond for the past few years.

The water level has just dropped too low. I don't think it can support them.

Despite the ice, the weather is still warm and beautiful for this time of year. Little Lake may have frozen over, but the big lakes don't even appear to be close to doing so.

As I photographed the decoy, I heard a rifle shot that sounded to be about 200 yards away and like it came from a yard.

I didn't think too much about it, because gunshots are common around here and usually just mean someone has plunked at a target or that they just decided things were too quiet and they wanted to make a little noise.

Then I got to wondering what if, sometime, I heard a gunshot and thought it was nothing, when it was actually somebody shooting somebody else, perhaps to death. Unless someone started screaming and shouting, I would just go on about my business thinking that everything was okay.

I'm pretty certain everything was okay, today.

After I left the goose decoy in the pond, I got onto the bike trail and pedaled down the shadow of a guardrail.

CM*D29: Kalib gets naughty at IHOP, I spot a hunter on Church

We took Kalib to IHOP today and he was naughty. Very, very, naughty - the naughtiest that he had ever been during any outing that we had ever taken him on.

He even hurled a crayon that struck a lady at the next table in the back of the head.

That's how naughty he was.

We were all quite proud of him, because he was acting just like a kid in his "terrible twos." Kalib has over too months to go before he reaches his "terrible twos."

So we knew that he is above average, advancing fast. We were so proud, our chests swelled and our bellies damn near burst right through our shirts. 

Even so, we kicked him out, shooed him away from the table and sent him outside. His dad went with him. 

Soon, he was at the window, eager to come back in and raise more chaos.

If you wonder why the two glasses and Cholla sauce are on the window sill, it is because we put them there while he was still inside so that he would not knock them across the table.

Later, in the afternoon, I was driving down Church Road when I spotted a hunter on a fourwheeler.

I wonder if he got his moose?

Do you think he was naughty when he was a toddler?

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.

Cocoon mode,* day 24a: Following in the tumbles of his grandparents, Kalib takes a fall

Kalib contemplates taking a fall. Mom wonders if he will.

Still thinking about it, Kalib teeters...

...then he falls...

...he is courageous, bold and brave...

He hits the bed.

I move. He is not sure how it will work with grampa there.

He decides to go for it, anyway, although he aims a little to the left of where I had anticipated.

Down he goes.

He hits the bed. 

I know. It kind of defeats the purpose of "Cocoon Mode" to post twice in one day, but, when you've already made a post and then your grandson does something like this, what choice do you have?

Truth is, I didn't get any real work done today, anyway.

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.

Cocoon mode* - day 4: The firewood twins, bike at the Little Su, an old van at Metro Cafe

This was actually yesterday, when I came home from my coffee break and found these two identical guys throwing split birch into our yard. It was a big surprise to me because I had not yet ordered any and I was wondering how, at $200 a cord, I was going to pay for it.

Turned out Jacob, Lavina, Caleb, and Melanie bought four cords for us. It usually takes about five - six cords to get us through the winter, but since this is going to be an El Niño winter, and the north is growing warmer, anyway, maybe four will do it.

We used to gather all of our own wood and saw it up and split it. It was great fun, but those days are gone. I had told myself that this year I would get all of our wood in June, but I didn't.

Before I got to work today, I took my bike out for a ride. I went down to the Little Su the long way, about five or six miles. I wanted to try to pedal across the Little Su through a shallow stretch, but I have never succeeded in the past and I did not want to soak my shoes, so this is as far as I went.

Margie, Lavina and Kalib all accompanied me on my coffee break. We went through the drive through at the new Metro Cafe. That is Carmen, the owner, waving. Remember the cute car and van?

Just today, this old van showed up, too. They bought it somewhere down in the Lower 48. They plan to fix it up nice, like the others. They plan to park a fleet of such vehicles.

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.

Cocoon mode* - day 2: From Monument Valley to Wasilla, with love and longing; Margie hobbles into the grocery store; Obama stands as my warrior

Lavina received some pictures in the mail from her sister, Lori, showing her two children, Sage and Jayden, in Monument Valley, where Lavina's father originated. Lori, who is on top in a hard battle against cancer, now lives in St. George, Utah, but had returned with her family to her ancestral home for a visit.

Lavina wished that she could go down, too.

Actually, when I look at this picture, I kind of want to go wander around down there a bit, myself.

Margie got out of the car and went into Carr's to do some shopping. It was the first time that she had been in a store since she fell and broke her femur at the knee on July 26.

Tonight, we ate spaghetti.

Earlier, I took a break from work to join her to watch Obama deliver his health care address. Our President made me proud - and hopeful. He laid out his plan with force and clarity and called lies lies. I have made some of my complaints about my insurance company known here and I won't bother to again, but this is a battle that he fights for me.

*Cocoon mode: Until I finish up a big project that I am working on, I am keeping this blog at bare-minimum simple. I anticipate about one month.