The worm turns

There was an article in today's paper reporting that mountain lions are migrating east. It is predicted that soon, they may be populating states like Ohio.

I can't wait for the day when mountain lions are roaming around our back yards. I will be especially interested in how the animal rights people who are currently protesting the culling of deer in Solon, will react.

The Blessings

My secretary was not the brightest crayon in the box. I was out with a client most of the day. Upon my return to the office I asked if anything was going on. Her common answer was; “A little of this, and a little of that.” I went into my office and began sorting through my phone messages. After about 15 minutes, my private line rang. It was my wife. She asked why I had not returned her earlier call. I explained that I had just returned to the office and hadn’t seen it. She went on to say, that she had called about 30 minutes ago, and really needed me to come home. She had left that message with my soon to be unemployed secretary. (This was pre-cell phone days.) It seems that she had sneezed, and her water broke. The twins were on their way. Without discussing her future, I informed my secretary that I was leaving to take my wife to the hospital…

Just a few months before we had been surprised to find out that we were expecting twins. From the time we first discussed marriage, we had debated; she wanted four children. I wanted one. On a cold December afternoon in 1983, we found out that God had other plans. The ultra-sound technician showed us the baby’s head, and "the other baby’s head". I don’t remember much else about that afternoon. I know that we had driven separately, and ended up forgetting one of the cars at the hospital.

Now it was March 22, 1984. The babies weren’t due for at least another month. Robin hadn’t been able to breath or move well for a few weeks, so the early delivery wasn’t a surprise, but it was a concern.

Stefanie came out first. Evidently she had broken her water. Most likely in an attempt to get away from her brother who was next in line. Stef looked like a small but full term baby. She had good color. Tim…he looked really premature. His skin was still kind of transparent. So it was really surprising when all of a sudden there was a commotion around Stefanie…she had stopped breathing. After a few scary moments, she started breathing on her own again, and my attention turned back to Tim. The doctor indicated that while Stef was a month premature, Tim was 2 months premature. Robin never heard him say that…it was four years later that she finally asked the doctor and he confirmed what I had been telling he all along.

They came home when both were over 4 pounds. It took them a long time to eat. Since they both ate at different times,I don’t think we slept for the first three months. After that, raising them was no different than raising single birth children. Just more expensive, and with no breaks!

Tim is about 6’ and around 210 lbs. Stef is 5’3”. If they are seated next to each other you can see the resemblance. Standing however, there is an obvious difference. Their personalities are vastly different as well.

When we found out we were having twins, we wondered if we were going to be able to cope. We wondered if we could be good parents to multiple children. We were kind of scared. I remember our friend Phyllis from church telling us that God chose us to be parents of twins because he knew we could handle it. She told us we were blessed.

Tim is spending his birthday at work. I am sure he will celebrate like most new 21 year olds celebrate. (Be careful T…) Stef is celebrating in Vegas…(Be really careful Stef…)

We’re really proud of both of them. The last 21 years went way too fast.

Phyllis passed away a few years ago. She was however right on. We were blessed.

Happy Birthday Tim and Stef.

Perfect

You never know what to expect on a domestic violence call, or what might jump off. We rolled up in front of a house that was worth somewhere around half a mil. There was a Hummer in the drive and a BIG BMW in the garage. The house was decorated beautifully, and nothing was out of place…except the residents. The husband was threatening to beat his wife to death. She called 911 from a downstairs bathroom, while he retreated to the upstairs bedroom to feign innocence. Their 20-year old son, sat on the couch indifferently watching “Gladiator” on TBS.

Outside the house, the neighborhood probably thought these folks had it all together. Beautiful home, nice cars, good looking people… who wouldn’t want their perfect life?

At the end of the shift, he was in jail. She was filing her formal complaint.

I drove home in my 3-year old Impala, parked in the garage of my still mortgaged home, and gave thanks for my perfect wife, my perfect kids, and my perfect life.

What a difference a day makes... or does it?

Two of our kids are turning 21 years old this week. ( Yes, twins. More about that in a later post )

On Sunday ( yesterday ) we planned on having a birthday celebration dinner with them. Our family tradition is of course to have them plan the menu. Since they are twins, they split the decision. One was to choose the type of cake, the other was to choose the entrée’.

Tim chose the cake; banana with chocolate icing. He made that decision very quickly. Stef spent several days choosing the entrée’ It went from grilled hot dogs, to Chicken Cordon’ Bleu. In the 11th hour it became chicken fingers, asparagus, and cheesy potatoes.

That’s 21 years old. It is neither hot dogs, or Chicken Cordon’ Bleu. It ends up being chicken fingers and cheesy potatoes; Too old to be allowed “childish” errors, yet too young to always make the right decisions.

Yesterday, you couldn’t legally consume an alcoholic drink without dire consequence because you weren’t old enough to be responsible. Today you are totally responsible.

What an amazing 24 hours.

St. Patrick is rolling in his grave...

I find it fascinating that for 364 days a year, the media, and most governmental officials spend volumes of time and countless dollars discouraging excessive drinking. Then on March 17, those same individuals are on TV/Radio joining in the excessive drinking that occurs on this day.

A day that is supposed to be a religious celebration of the introduction of Christianity to Ireland. How did this become a day where it is OK to be a drunken ass?

"The man who came in with a cold...

I went to a trade show on Weds. of this week. Hundreds of people crammed into too small a space, pretending to be nice to each other in order to get business. Everybody shaking hands and passing out materials and logo emblazoned trinkets.

All I got out of it was a cold.

Oh "Deer"...

There has been an uproar lately in the local media about the City of Solon, Ohio, and their “deer culling” program. Like most cities in N.E. Ohio, the area is overrun with an uncontrolled deer population. Across the area there are literally thousands of car vs deer accidents occurring each year. Some local governments are attempting to correct a problem that they created years ago when they banned deer hunting, and allowed developers to build homes and businesses on every square inch of available land. Now the deer have no where to go except grandmas garden and I-271. So the city fathers of Solon and other ‘burbs” have decided to hire sharp-shooters to cull the deer population.

I don’t have a problem with this. I do have a problem with the morons who are interviewed on the local news whining about how cruel it is to shoot the deer. They bemoan their fears of their children being mistaken for deer and shot to death in their beds by the hired guns. They cry in fear for their horses that might also be mistaken for deer. After all, the sharpshooters are just bloodthirsty cave dwellers who only want to pull the trigger. They have no intelligence or ability to distinguish deer from any other warm target.

Give me a break. I could only hope that the sharpshooters might take aim on a couple of these idiots who are also the first to complain when the deer run out in front of them on the road, or destroy their flower beds, or jump through their front windows.

Don’t get me wrong, I think deer are beautiful. I love to watch them feeding in the fields. It is still a thrill to see them crossing through my yard, or playing with each other in a meadow. I’m not a hunter. I don’t know if I could pull the trigger on one. But I see the need to “cull the herd” because overpopulation can be dangerous to humans and to the deer themselves.

Now, we go to Independence, Ohio…that city is attempting to prosecute a man for feeding the deer. It seems that Independence has a law against “putting out animal feed in proximity to private property”. His neighbors have complained so he faces criminal charges.

The bottom line is there is no bottom line…shoot them, don’t feed them, don’t hit them with cars, or don’t shoot them, keep feeding them, hit them with cars. Keep cutting down the trees, paving the meadows, and building homes where the deer used to live, or stop taking their homes. Man has created quite a conundrum. ( I love that word, and I’m glad I finally found a forum in which to use it.)

I do have a solution to give us some relief from the topic… Let’s enact legislation making it a felony for any media type to interview anyone else from Solon.