We’re still thinking about getting a dog. We really want one, but one thing after another has forced the actual procurement back week after week after week. The other day, Cowgrit contacted me through instant messenger with a link to some puppy pictures. Then we started talking about names for a new dog.

Instant Messenger Conversation

Cowgrit: http:<link>

Cowgrit: look at pictures

Bullgrit: very cute

Cowgrit: :-)

Cowgrit: i am gooing to send her an email…….

Cowgrit: how cute is the name “tinker” for a pup? Bubbles? River?

Bullgrit: Tinker maybe. Bubbles, River, no.

Cowgrit: :-)

Cowgrit: :-(

Cowgrit: autum?Summer, storm? Bella, Edward?

Bullgrit: LOL

Bullgrit: Arwin

Cowgrit: ?

Cowgrit: Twilight? Vamp?

Bullgrit: Lord of the Rings

Cowgrit: Disney, bell, Snow white?

Cowgrit: Lord, hhmmmm

Bullgrit: Arwin is from LotR

Bullgrit: Eowyn

Bullgrit: also LotR

Bullgrit: Though I like the character, not so much the name.

Cowgrit: i guess if we are getting a girl, we need to think girl names, Princess, Lilltle Lady……

Bullgrit: I was picking girl names.

Bullgrit: Mary Jane?

Cowgrit: Lord of the rings?

Bullgrit: LOL

Bullgrit: Mary Jane = Spider-Man.

Bullgrit: Geez

Bullgrit: Keep up.

Bullgrit: :-D

Cowgrit: Calfgrit4 does NOT like SM

Bullgrit: Bella is okay.

Cowgrit: kinda of a nice ring to it…..

Bullgrit: Tinker or Disney is good, too.

Cowgrit: :-)

Bullgrit: Cerebus

Bullgrit: Hell Hound

Cowgrit: <roll eyes>

Bullgrit: Veramathix

Cowgrit: <stop smiley>

Bullgrit: :-D

Bullgrit: Killer

Cowgrit: <stop smiley>

Bullgrit: Silver Slayer

Bullgrit: Buffy!

Cowgrit: Cinderella

Bullgrit: Rella

Cowgrit: sleeping beauty

Cowgrit: Rella is cute

Cowgrit: minnie

Cowgrit: daisy

Bullgrit: Sleeping Beauty = Aurora

Cowgrit: :-)

Bullgrit: too much of a mouth full, though. Say it out loud.

Cowgrit: you are right, kids might have a problem

* * *

Our first dog’s name was Geordi — from Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. We were both STTNG fans, and we both liked the name. For this time, though, it seems we don’t have a commonly-liked source to pull from.

Bullgrit

From this recent raid in the junk of my dad’s attic, I brought home the box of Star Wars action figures, the Millennium Falcon, and my two of the Shogun Warriors. (Dragun and Mazinga are my two, Godzilla and Raydeen are my brother’s.) The Falcon and Warriors, I’m giving to my boys.

I had to clean them up before handing them over, though, as they were covered in a dirty dust from around 30 years of being stored open in an attic. I gave both boys a wet paper towel and let them clean up their respective Shogun Warriors.

When I first showed the boys their new toys, Calfgrit8 immediately jumped to picking which he wanted. Calfgrit4 had a sad face as he looked at the unpicked one, “I have to take the serious one,” he said with a pathetic frown.

Both Warriors have robotic faces, but Mazinga (the one CG8 initially picked) has a big metallic grin, and Dragun (the “serious” one) has a simple frown-like expression.

CG8 is always jumping first to claim a toy over CG4. This presumptuousness combined with CG4’s disappointed eyes made me say, “Wait, wait. I was going to give Mazinga to CG4 because he’s mostly blue (his favorite color), and Dragun to you, CG8, because he’s red (your favorite color).”

CG8 paused a moment, but he took the suggestion. CG4 burst into a grin as big as Mazinga’s and ran to grab up his new toy.

While the boys cleaned up their robots, I set about cleaning the Millennium Falcon. I tried just wiping it down with a wet paper towel, but good lord it was dirty. And all the nooks and crannies of the ship made wiping it only half effective. I eventually had to actually take it apart, removing all the screws and carefully removing the top.

I filled the bathtub with water and soap, and let the ship soak while we ate dinner. You can see in the picture how dirty it was compared to the white of the bathtub.

I did eventually get it mostly beige instead of dirty tan. I dried it off with a hairdryer, but I have to glue back some broken pieces — 30 years in a non-temperature-controlled attic made some of the smaller plastic pieces brittle.

Watching me wash the Falcon off like this prompted Calfgrit4 to want to wash the little spaceship brain from Mazinga’s head. He filled the bathroom sink with water and soap, and cleaned that little red spaceship to sparkling.

After dinner, the boys played with their new robots toys and seemed to be having a real ball. They’re very anxious to include the Falcon in their play, but they’ll have to wait till at least tonight for me to get it all back together.

* * *

This morning, Calfgrit4 came out of his bedroom carrying his new-old Shogun Warrior. It’s almost two-thirds his height. It stands on the floor next to his chair as he eats breakfast.

Bullgrit

My brother and I were in our hometown this weekend, and one of the things we got together to do was go through our dad’s attic to get rid of a bunch of junk. Our dad lives in a new house in a new neighborhood way out in the country with his [relatively] new wife. But he still owns and upkeeps his old house on the edge of town, though it is not lived in by anyone.

We found lots of old treasures in the boxes from the attic. I took pictures of the items (a mixture of mine and my brother’s) that most made me smile
— all this stuff is from the 70s and early 80s:

Bullgrit