This is Fall?

Because it sure doesn't feel like it. No leaves changing colors, no snow spitting down on us, no waking up in the morning and finding frost on the windshield. I mean... come on, that's what fall is all about, right? But we really haven't seen real fall in quite some time. It is getting cooler though. For the first time the other day I stepped out and said, "Wow, maybe I need to wear socks." That's how you know that winter is coming in Florida. But the sun has been out today, and it's been another beautiful Saturday afternoon.

It's amazing after more than two years of living here we can drive around this city and still see things we've never seen before. It's a really big city, I know, but we have done a ton of driving around it. Probably 50,000 miles worth of driving around it, if you look at the odometer on our car. But we stopped at Riverside Park today in historic Five Points for the first time.

Paul and his mother hit up the slide and swings for a bit, and I hid in the shade to keep from burning my bald spot. You may think that's funny, but it will hurt for days, and that's not something I laugh about. I buzzed my head yesterday (as I feel stupid paying someone $15 for 5 minutes of work... uh, even if lawyers charge more than that) but I stopped short of shaving it all off, as I have been threatening to do. When I remembered that I'm abnormally pale, and that I live in the Sunshine State, I decided it was best to have some hair to cover my sensitive scalp, to keep it from being continuously bright red. If I wasn't careful, it would burn, peal, and burn again pretty much every day. So for now... and probably forever, I'll just be hiding here under this tree.

Paulmo's World

As many of you know, Becky is currently enrolled in an online photography class. It's a great opportunity for her to get some tips, take some pictures, and post them online for instructors and classmates to comment on. This week's lesson was on group shots.

Of course, when you abandon your family and move to Florida, it's a little difficult to find willing groups who actually look like they belong together in the same photo. So we had to improvise. Basically it was a lot of her pushing a button, running, and leaping into position as the camera snapped. But overall it turned out good, and she got plenty of exercise (as if watching Paul all day is not enough).

Paul also found some time to hang out with his favorite weekday morning character, the always enjoyable, and often annoying, Elmo of Sesame Street fame. It's actually amazing that the show is still on after all of these years, and it's still fairly entertaining. Especially when compared to all the other annoying garbage they have on Saturday mornings. And he'll sit through the whole show, which is also pretty incredible.

I still love the Cookie Monster myself, even though he exposes kids at too early an age to the life-long struggles associated with addiction problems. He was never the same after Keith Richards presented the word of the day back in '74. We all know "cookie" is a metaphor for crack cocaine, you wigged-out, shag blue hand-puppet... you can't hide those freakishly large pupils.

This post was brought to you by the letter M, the number 17, and contributions from readers like you.

Got any change?

Let me start this post by informing my far right-wing radical western readers (most of you) that this blog in no way endorses the Obama Biden ticket. But when you're as poor as we north Floridians are, after eight long years of Republican policies tearing apart both the financial stability and spirit of this once flourishing nation, you have to find cheap entertainment. So today we went downtown and listened to some dude in the park ask for change (which is common in downtown Jacksonville). In truth, it was Becky who was dying to go. Apparently, she's a socialist, bleeding-heart liberal. Just joking, of course. But we did go down to see Obama speak, just for the heck of it. It was entertaining to say the least, and loads of people turned out. Even the Republicans flew in with their banners stating "Florida is McCain-Palin Country." Anything that annoys all of the whining Democrats is pretty funny. It ended up taking longer than we had hoped, but since it is going to be a pretty big election, historically speaking, it was cool to see a part of it.

Paul enjoyed the speech, but he's not a big supporter of Obama's health care plan. I think he's a Ralph Nader fan, actually. And he's also not a big fan of when really big flags attack. As you can see, he almost pulled me down trying to escape.

After that, Becky dragged me to see a bunch of old guys in strange hats put on a circus. It was surprisingly entertaining, though Paul was pieved that they didn't have any elephants. But he did get all sorts of excited about the flying trapeze people (but I think he was hoping they would fall... he's sick in that way), and he ate some popcorn and a snowcone, which is always good. I enjoyed the guy who juggled his kids with his feet the most, so when we got home Paul and I started practicing, or at least until I failed to catch him the first time. Someday maybe we can be in the circus... or at least we can dream.

Yes, I love cars...

Lately, free time has been very hard to find around here. So when I do get a few minutes, I prefer to spend them doing something that doesn't anger me. Yesterday, we had the joy of spending our entire, beautiful Saturday at the Chevrolet Dealership. In the last month, I have replaced all four turn signals on our car, and yesterday, two of them were out again. On top of that, the passenger side floor of the car was soaked with coolant, so I figured something was up. I got to the car dealership at 9AM, made an appointment for 1PM, got back early to the appointment, and then sat in the waiting room for FOUR HOURS with a child who must have consumed 17 pounds of sugar. What did the dealership do? Pretty much nothing, except charge me $100 to tell me I had a leak in the A/C unit that needed to be resealed. Thanks, I didn't know that. But after wasting my whole day while they took their sweet time opening it up to see where the leak was, they decided they didn't even have time to reseal it. So I'd have to come back and waste another entire day of my life for them to charge me another $300 to fix it. Hooray!

Anyway, we had planned on taking pictures in St. Augustine, but by the time we finally got there, we ran out of light. So Paul and I just sat on a park bench, Forrest Gump style, and thought about going back to the dealership and driving the car through the front door of the service station.

Of course, you couldn't tell how angry I actually was by this smiling picture of me. As much as I love having a day off, I'm glad that one is over. Hopefully next weekend will be better. But the car is still leaking, and one of the turn signals is out again. Wonderful.

Paul could really use a drink...

Bubbles bubbles everywhere!! Ah, September is rolling along and yet here it is in Florida still hanging around the upper 80's temperature wise. Air conditioning is essential to life in this part of the world. But Paul found a new way to cool off the other day, and a great way to quench his thirst. Enter: the garden hose. We went to the park to blow bubbles and happened upon this garden hose lying unattended. Being the nice parents that we are, we thought we'd spray Paul, take pictures, and then laugh at his expense. Someday maybe he'll pay us back... oh wait, he does that at 2AM when he doesn't feel like sleeping. But don't worry, he had fun with the hose, but the fourth picture is priceless. I think he may have gotten some water up the nasal cavity... just maybe.

This is an interesting device, what do you suppose it's used for?

Well, the best way to find out is by trying to eat it...

Aaah! Blabble gah dabble blah...

Alright, not cool... really... not cool.

A Child in Need

As you know, the 2008 hurricane season has brought endless devastation to innocent victims in the southeast. Somewhere, right now, a child sits alone in a broken home, his life torn apart by the fierce winds and intense rains that have fallen on the eastern shoreline. Your donations can open up the clouds above and let in the brilliant sun, helping to bring this child a brighter tomorrow. Just $1.00 a month can ensure that he has a new Elmo sing-a-long book, a twenty-third pair of pajamas, or the fourth balloon this week. A child’s heart is full of endless love, and you can be the recipient of the world’s most pure form of gratitude, with just a small contribution.

Ok, not really. In fact, Paul has yet to even get his toes wet from these storms. The so-called Hurricane Hanna was supposed to hit us the other day, but it barely even rained. I removed our apartment door so we’d have something to float on, but that was a waste of time. We will see if this whole Ike thing pans out.

Rainy Day at the Park

Paul and his mother decided that yesterday was a great day to head out to the park. But of course, as soon as they got there, the rain started to fall. As you can see, this made Paul very angry.

They say it's dangerous when you let the animal out of the cage, and this we discovered last night at Walmart, as the animal tore up and down the aisles throwing bottles of ketchup and barbecue sauce from the shelves. He's got pretty quick feet on him now, which makes a trip to the store ever more entertaining.

But he does love the park. The swings, the slides, catching the football with his forehead when thrown by his mother. Thankfully his head his very solid, because when we're not bouncing objects off of it, he definately loves trying to ram down walls at high rates of speed.