Grindlewylde The Ninja

Mrs. Grindlegrowl liked an orderly classroom. She liked rules, rules, rules. She had so many rules, that little Grindlewylde couldn’t help himself. It seemed like he was always getting into trouble.

Mrs. Grindlegrowl frowned when he crawled under the chairs, pretending to be a guinea pig. And she scowled when she discovered that he had fired staple-shaped projectiles at the class, using the stapler from her desk. But when he made origami throwing stars and pretended to be a ninja, she had three words to say: Detention, Detention, Detention.

Little Grindlewylde was not happy about this. He fussed all the way home, to anybody who would listen. He argued that Mrs. Grindlegrowl never told him that he couldn’t play ninja, that this was a silly new rule that she invented because she was just plain mean.

His mother, Grindlewyse, being a very loving and kind dragon, would hear none of his excuses. She patiently explained that little Grindlewylde had broken a rule, and that he needed to be punished. Then, she told him that his punishment was fair, and that she agreed with Mrs. Grindlegrowl.

Grindlewylde huffed & puffed and a tiny wisp of smoke came out of his throat. But Grindlwyse did not change her mind. And neither did Mrs. Grindlegrowl.

Copyright 10/15/2008

"I'm Not On Drugs, I'm On Cookies" -- Little Boy #2

you know...sometimes it's fun to just sit back & listen to what your kids tell their friends...

If Your Cat Has Gas, Don't Point The Stinky End At Your Face

little boy #1 learned this lesson the hard way...

Geography Lesson Part 3 - The Badlands & Omaha

outside of rapid city is badlands national park...the formations were delicate pastels & my camera washed everything out to an even shade of taupe...

i'm still trying to understand the geology of the badlands...the contrast between grassland and badland was so distinct...absolutes like that fascinate me...

however, the little boys were bored with my enthusiasm...and they only got out of the car once, to use the restroom...soon after, we stopped at an authentic sod house and i was practically giddy, because i had always wanted to see one...


here is a link to the Prairie Homestead website so that you can learn more...i wish that the website had interior pictures, because my camera couldn't take pictures under those lighting conditions...

the left portion of the house has authentic sod walls...i think the ceiling was sod too, held up by beams...although if i remember right, the front wall was just wood...there was a front "room" that was essentially a kitchen...the back "room" was partitioned off by a curtain & it held a small bed with a quilt...the floor was dirt, with planks here & there, probably to cross mud puddles...everything was so dirty...i couldn't imagine living that way, but it was inhabited until 1949...my mother would have been 1 year old...absolutely mind-boggling...

the right side was a small shack that was later attached to the house...it was not made of sod, so the walls were only a few inches thick...it had a normal wooden floor and it seems to have been used as a parlor...it contained a little couch with many antiques in the room...a handful of linens, etc...stuff that would normally have been roped off, but was available for people to touch...i couldn't bring myself to do it...

the thing that fascinated me the most was that they had to cut a hole in the wall to make an interior doorway from the sod house to the shack...and because the sod wall was about 18 inches thick, the arch of the doorway lasted forever...it was too short to be a hall and too long to be a normal arch...to keep the sod from crumbling, they had wallpapered the opening with newspapers...they were very old...barely in the 1900's...i would have loved to read them all, but the boys were not enjoying themselves being inside of something so anti-modern...

having said that, the boys were absolutely fascinated with the white prairie dogs...many people in the west view prairie dogs as pests...and the sioux were going to poison a large colony, so the current owner of the sod house caught one white male and started a breeding program...now most of the prairie dogs around the sod house are white...it's not a blinding white, probably because they are always covered in dirt...they are very skittish & if you throw them a peanut, eventually they will scurry out to get it...(if you're patient)...on the other hand, the chickens are not afraid of anything & if they think you have peanuts, THEY WILL CHASE YOU DOWN...little boy #2 will attest that it's pretty darn freaky when you are being stalked by a chicken... : P

we wrapped up the vacation by stopping at the henry doorly zoo in omaha, ne...we had gone there several years ago, but the boys were young & there was too much zoo & not enough time...last year, we finished the zoo in record time (since their legs are longer)...the highlight was the "budgie experience"...which was an enclosure that easily contained at least 500 parakeets...

you could buy a tongue depressor covered with peanut butter & seed...

the boys had a blast feeding the budgies...after the zoo, we went back to the hotel for a swim...and the next day, we headed to iowa to spend (quiet time) with family & friends...

it was a good vacation...but it was a lot of driving...and i don't have any intention of doing that again any time soon...

Geography Lesson Part 2 - Rapid City

while in rapid city, we stopped to see mount rushmore...which looks exactly like it does in all the pictures that i've ever seen...


then i let the boys each pick 2 things to do...one picked stopping at a chocolate store and the "roo ranch"...

little boy #2 was lovesick...he adored his (sleeping) joey...

little boy #1 thought it was pretty cool too...

honestly, i wouldn't recommend the roo ranch...it was stinky, boring, & the employees were mostly apathetic...but for a fee (i think $10 per kid) each little boy got to hold a joey and to get their picture taken against a cheesy tourist background...but there were technical difficulties, resulting in little boy #1 being purple...which meant that they got to hold their critters for about 20 minutes, while the staff figured out that the printer needed a new toner cartridge...the boys didn't complain one bit... : )

the other kid picked the black hills museum of natural history...which was an interesting choice, since he's never liked science museums unless it was the hands-on type...but these were the researchers involved in the discovery of "sue" the t-rex which was the subject of a HUGE court battle...ultimately, sue went on display at the field museum in chicago & neither kid cared at all when i fawned over sue when we saw her in person...but they enjoyed hearing the story again, when we were in south dakota...i guess it was familiar to them this time, so it was okay...kids are weird sometimes...no pics of the museum, since none turned out...

that kid also picked reptile gardens...which was a combination zoo / carnival / disney-like theme park...it wasn't a true zoo, because most of the animals weren't in a natural setting...

for instance, these prairie dogs were as fat as sausages from all the peanuts...you could walk down some stairs and pop up in the bubble to get a close up of them...btw, prairie dogs are cute...but they apparently bite pretty hard...the bubble was a nice safety feature...

the sign actually encouraged gently scratching the tortoise's neck...

the animal shows were very educational & extremely funny, which is a hard line to balance...i would definitely recommend this place, but only if you do the shows...

all & all, the boys enjoyed themselves that day...

Geography Lesson Part 1 - Salt Lake City & Yellowstone

we went to yellowstone this summer...except, in my quest to take the boys to as many of the 50 states as possible, we went the long route...we stopped in saratoga, wy...(see the post from 11/03/2008 detailing those adventures)...

we also stopped in salt lake city, ut to see the great salt lake...but the drought was so severe, that the lake had receded at least 75 feet from its banks...so we couldn't get a very good look at it...that afternoon, we went to timpanogos cave...which seemed like a good idea...and while i realized that there was a 1 1/2 mile hike when i purchased the advance tickets...i somehow missed the fact that it was pretty much STRAIGHT UP A MOUNTAIN...i don't do well at high altitudes, but with a lot of encouragement from the boys, i managed to make it to the cave...

80% of the climb is complete...
can you see the shelter area a little to the right of the center of the picture?

using every photo op as a chance to rest...these are sedimentary layers...the tops of these mountains used to be the bottom of the ocean...it's been pushed up & folded by tectonic activity...

looking at a neighboring mountain...we are around 6700 ft above sea level...

using another photo op to catch my breath...

rare cave formations...the curly shapes are called helictites...


a large portion of yellowstone burned in 1988...the forest still hasn't recovered...

there were so many geysers & steam vents that the boys became blase about them...



although they were always fascinated by the streams...

and by the incredible power of the rivers...

ultimately, the boys decided that it's wrong to eat bison...

and that they should be free forever...

Grindlewylde’s Song

Grindlewylde was glad that his brother was gone. It was quiet. And he liked quiet.

Except at bedtime, when he liked to sing. His voice filled the room and it made him feel a little less lonely. Sometimes his songs made sense. And sometimes, they just didn’t. But that was okay. Because sometimes emotions don’t make sense either.

Grindlewyse tucked her son in with a kiss, and she looked sadly at his brother’s empty bed. She would miss her Grindlemyre forever. And, at that moment, Grindlewylde missed him a little too.

After she left, he started singing softly. He sang all the songs that he learned at school. Then he sang about the floor. And the curtains. He tried really hard not to sing about his brother’s bed, but he just couldn’t stop himself.

"Little bed with a cover of blue.
I miss the brother that belongs to you.
He was kind of mean and he stole my candy all the time (especially my chocolate).
But I miss him and I wish he could come back
Because I want to play with him some more.
(Sigh.)
Little bed with a cover of blue.
I miss the brother that belongs to you."

Snot bubbles came out his nose, so he stopped singing. But he still missed his brother. And he probably always would.

Copyright 9/2/2008