Bike shoes, cashews and parcusis

My daughter and 3-year-old grandson, Elliott, were visiting yesterday and met me outside as I returned from a bicycle ride. Many questions and comments ensued about the bike, bike gloves, shoes, bike gears, etc.  Elliott has a lot to say about almost everything. As I sat on the lawn to loosen and remove my shoes I explained to Elliott how shoes needed to fit snuggly for some endeavors such as biking or climbing. 

Elliott remarks as I am pulling off my shoes "I don't like cashews"

Me "I have seen you eat cashews, I thought you really liked them""

Elliott, more emphatically "I don't like cashews."

Me - puzzled look

My daughter while laughing "Dad he is saying he doesn't like tight shoes"

Me "Oh"

Parcusis is not hearing properly from hearing loss.  If you have spoken with me and I make a remark that doesn't make sense or answer the wrong question, parcusis is probably at play.

New Friends

Dad recently mentioned he would like to have a dog.  Probably not having a dog for the past couple of years was the longest time in over 90 years he was without a canine companion.  One of my sisters found a rescue dog for him a few weeks ago.  Bear, the dog is sort of a big puppy, so not surprised it chewed a couple of things and retrieved food from the kitchen counter a couple of times. Dad complained about the dog, threatened to send him back to the pound and even blamed Bear for his lost cell phone. But pretty sure he was bonding to the dog anyway, those hair shedding, flea infested critters still make their way into our hearts.

At dad's house this past weekend and noticed dad talking to the dog a bit more.  I was doing a few things around his house, on this warm sunny day.  About the middle of the afternoon, dad says "Let's sit outside and have some ice cream". Dad got a single serving size carton of Blue Bell ice cream out of his freezer. Bear and I joined him for conversation, ice cream and sunshine on the back porch. Dad finished his ice cream down to about the last bite and then said "Here you go Bear" as he handed the remainder to the ice cream serving to Bear.  Bear was quite happy with this little treat.

For any reading this who are not from Texas, note this.  You only share Blue Bell ice cream with true friends.

Ice cream is happiness condensed.     

Jessie Lane Adams

When I was a Dinosaur

Oh, I used to be a dinosaur
I thought I was so cool
Opening line from When I was a Dinosaur 
by Trout Fishing in America

Selfie from grandson's "Three-Rex" birthday party

Just Out for a Run

Driving on a sparsely traveled Farm Road a couple weeks ago. On this stretch of road it is not uncommon to meet motorcyclists, bicyclists or runners. This day it was a runner.  This runner was going at a good pace and he was wearing the same clothes and shoes he might have worn in the Boston Marathon.  Except for one thing;  he was wearing a cowboy hat with an extra wide brim that was bouncing several inches with every stride.

Fantasia

The Disney movie Fantasia is at the Bass Hall tonight with music by the Fort Worth Symphony. Any time Fantasia comes to a theater or a symphony hall, I always remember a conversation from sometime back in the late 1970s.

Elizabeth, who was married to my very good friend Bob. She met Bob, got married and had a couple of kids. One day, a door to door Mormon missionary knocked on her door and converted her.   Before this time Elizabeth was a true flower child of the 1960s.  But I only knew her a converted Mormon. 

Fantasia was coming to town and they were taking the kids  She confided to me that she dropped acid (LSD) just before seeing the movie a few years before Bob and the kids.  This was not an uncommon activity for a flower child from the 1960s.  

If you attend the show tonight watch out for those silver haired former hippie/flower children. They might be in an altered state of mind.

Pulltight Honey

From my sister the beekeeper. The nickname for Paluxy and the name of my blog, mostly about the area, is Pulltight. Smiled to see the name of the honey. Her bees dine on the flowers of the Paluxy River valley. In my mind, these flowers providing nectar to her bees are flower descendants of flowers growing here over 100,000,000 years ago.  Those flowers of so many years ago were fertilized by the droppings of dinosaurs who used to roam this same valley.

If you are a paleontologist or just like dinosaurs, you can see the traces from the Paluxy valley in a few places.  The New York Musem of Natural History
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dinosaurs-among-us  has an exhibit of dino tracks from the Paluxy River. The Fort Worth Museum of Science History has a skeleton of Paluxysaurus jonsei, the Texas state dinosaur who was found within the range of Sharon's bees https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/texas/state-dinosaur-fossil/paluxysaurus-jonesi. Or probably best of all you could visit Dinosaur Valley State Park, a national natural landmark.  There are over 90 dinosaur tracks exposed in the river bed.https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/dinosaur-valley

Any can enjoy learning about seeing the remains of the dinosaurs.  But to enjoy the honey from where they roamed, you need to know my sister.

Where are you mentioned?

Reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Paraphrasing a passage that brought a nod and a smile. As adults, we attempt behavior that keeps our names out of the news. As parents/grandparents, we hope our behavior lands our names in the content of school essays and children's stories.