My son, the poet

My son, began creative writing when he was in 5th or 6th grade. Some of his poetry, I think, is quite good, and will post a bit of it here for your enjoyment.

Check All That Apply
I stare down the page
At the desolation before me.
A single sentence stares back at me.
Choose your fields of interest. (Check all that apply)

How do I tell someone I'll never see
About all the dreams inside of me
And what it is I want to be
At some school I'll never see inside of. (Check all that apply)

Square boxes make an even row
Lining up the left side of the page.
Find one that'll do, stretch it to fit you,
Or till you fit it. (Check all that apply)

How do you explain to a piece of paper
That you want to tweak life's nose,
Shake his hand, ruffle his hair,
Pat his back and send him on his way. (Check all that apply)

Suddenly it came to me,
An idea to set me free,
My pen moved feverishly
From agriculture to zoology. (I checked all that apply)

Clean your room

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/05/congo.gorillas/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail


Having had children, I can attest that they can misplace a myriad of things in their rooms. After my older children left home, I cleaned out from under the bed, cleaned out closets and dressers and found things that I had forgotten I even owned.
Jewelry, clothes, shoes, underwear (that was in my daughter's room) And from my son's room, were books, movies, games, and over the counter medicines (bandaids, tylenol, tums, et al)
That is pretty much par for the course if you ask any mother that has ever cleaned up after her children have left home. And I will admit that there were occasions that I opened their bedroom doors when they were teenagers, that I was tempted to firebomb the whole house, just because rebuilding would have been easier than to get those kids to clean up the mess they called bedrooms.
And I have seen lots of odd things get misplaced in the black hole which are teenager's bedrooms. Everything from shoes and backpacks to clothes and homework. But I have never seen anything messy enough where you would lose 125,000 gorillas. And, yes, I've read the reports.....the numbers were underestimated. These gorillas were hiding. Whatever the reason is, I can just see the mother of the head researcher--hands on hips, looking at him with that look that parents use oh so well. "Well young man--I told you that room was messy. I went in there to clean up and LOOK what I found!!! 125,000 Gorillas. "

The County Fair--The Radio

Our town is so small, that there is no local TV station, we get all our tv news from either Louisville, KY or Evansville, Indiana. But we do have a radio station. That's another mainstay of our little county fair--being interviewed on the radio. Local businesses donate everything from keychains and waterbottles, to t-shirts and ball caps. And for allowing yourself to be interviewed on the radio, you get a chance to "spin the wheel" and win a prize.
The wheel is a very small version of the Wheel of Fortune wheel. Instead of listing money, all listings on the wheel are business names, which correspond to that particular prize. I might be dating myself, but I remember when the radio station gave out records for interviews, but I digress.
The interview goes something like this:
Q--What's your name and where are you from?
A--Suzie (or Jane, or Tom, or whatever the case may be) I'm from here in the county.
Q--What brings you out to the fair tonight?
A--(in our case) The 4-H livestock auction.
Q--Did the kids have fun?
A--Oh yes, and so did the parents.
Q--All right, spin the wheel and win a prize...
You've won a ball cap from Wright Implement! Congratulations....

Over the years we've won everything from candy to tote bags, straw hats to fly swatters. It's amazing how people will put up with a few questions from a local "celebrity" for a chance to win a fly swatter from the bank......

The County Fair

If you have never had the good fortune to attend a that small slice of Americana known as the county fair--you are really missing out on a lot. Let me elaborate my recent experience at the fair. Our county fair was held recently. Every night is a different featured event--as well as other smaller events.

Thursday night's main attraction was the motocross races. But the main event for a lot of the kids was the jr livestock auction. Everything was auctioned from chickens to beef cows and all the money went to the kids who raised the livestock. If you have never seen this phenomena, then you need to make a point to go see one--at least once in your life.

The 4-H leader had 15 or so kids, ranging in ages from 3 to 15 holding chickens, which were being bid on by various and sundry relatives, politicians, and business owners. A 3 year old held a chicken bigger than she was and grandad bought it for the humongous sum of $35.00. Chickens got loose from the kids and ran around the pen, with children in hot pursuit.
And when one little brown haired beauty finished showing her bird and it was purchased--instead of putting the bird back in the cage and returning to the "waiting area" for the auction to be over with, she walked out of the show ring, walked up to said politician which bought the chicken and tried to give it to him. "MOMMA!!" she was heard to wail "He won't take it!"

Waiting in the wings for the poultry sale to be over, were the hogs. Not only did chickens get loose and run amok, but one of the hogs got loose and ran into the show ring, which caused another round of laughter from children and adults alike.