From the home office in Tick Bite, North Carolina:

Top Ten List of Star Wars characters or Al Qaeda terrorists.

#10: Musab al-Zarqawi

#9: Padme Amadalla

#8: Obi Wan Kenobi

#7: Abdelmajid Dahoumane

#6: Yoda

#5: Umar

#4: Lando Calrissian

#3: Mon Mothma

#2: Usama Bin Laden

And the #1 Star Wars character or Al Qaeda terrorist…

…Jar Jar Binks

Bonus Game:

Can you identify these names as Star Wars characters or Al Qaeda terrorists?

A: Shaak Ti

B: Ramzi Yousef

C: Mir Aimal Kansi

D: Aayla Secura

E: Polis Massan

F: El Hoorie

G: Mas Amedda

H: Faker Boussora

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I’ve mentioned my Captain America action figure that I keep on my work desk. I bought him two or three years ago while in a toy story with Calfgrit7 (then just 5 years old). At the time, I felt that I had to say I was buying it for the calf, (I don’t remember why I thought this), but I was really buying it for me. I had all intentions of digging it out of his toy box once he forgot it was buried in there.

He had three variations of Spider-Man action figures, so surely he wouldn’t miss this guy he wasn’t all that interested in anyway. Once I had swiped this Captain America from the pile of toys, he forgot all about it.

I took Cap’n A to my work and proudly displayed him on my desk. I even dressed as the Captain for Halloween that year. Since then, he’s been a regular part of my desk. At work. Out of my boy’s sight.

But now that I’m home, and have no away desk to keep him, Captain America is on my home desk. Calfgrit7 immediately saw him and asked for him back. <sigh>

So, I went on ebay to find a replacement. (These figures are out of production, now.) I bid on one figure (new, in box), but lost the auction within the last hour. I bid on another figure (also new, in box), but lost that auction, too, within the last hour. Geez. I found another figure, and thought about bidding on it.

It’s been a while since I did anything on ebay, so I had forgotten about the “Buy Now” options and stores. Fortunately, I remember this before bidding on the third figure. I checked out the buy now listings and to my happy surprise, I found a figure (still new, in box) selling for even cheaper than I had bid on the others. I clicked to buy that thing faster than Cap’n A can take down a squad of Nazis.

So Calfgrit7 gets his action figure back, and I get a brand new one all for myself. It’s like a half-hour sitcom resolution. But without any funny.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

As you know, I have two boys: ages 3 (4 in two weeks) and 7 years. They both have boy friends they’ve made at school (or preschool), but they’re otherwise completely surrounded by girls.

Next door neighbor: two girls, 2 and 4 years old.

Across the street: two girls, 3 and 6 years old.

Cowgrit’s best friend: two girls, 7 and 8 years old.

Cousins (close enough in age and geography to count): two girls, 7 and 9 years old.

We have the Calfgrits’ boy friends come over to our house to play occasionally, and they sometimes go to the friends’ homes, so both calves get boy play. But they play a lot with girls, too. Interestingly, none of the children seem to care about the others’ gender. When the genders are mixed, the play tends to be “neutral.” I think this is good. Maybe neither of my boys will grow up shy around girls.

But there is definitely a distinct difference between boy-boy play and boy-girl play. Last night while getting the boys out of the bath tub, Calfgrit3 showed us how he had assembled a “gun” out of the foam letters and numbers bath toys.

“This is what I use to shoot them,” he proudly proclaimed.

“Who is ‘them’?” asked Cowgrit.

“The bad guys and robots,” CG3 explained.

We chuckled, and I said to Cowgrit, “I bet [neighbor] has never heard this kind of conversation.”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

The house next door has been vacant for a few months — it’s up for rent, not for sale — but some new folks just moved in last week. We saw many people helping in the move, so we weren’t sure who exactly the new neighbors were. We saw one young boy (around 8 years old?) helping move, and we assumed our boys might make a new friend.

We were going to let the folks have a few days to get settled in before we said tried to say, “Hi.” But after the first two days of actually moving in, we didn’t see anyone outside at a time when we could walk over and greet them. (I’m not one for walking over and knocking on the door, but I will walk over and greet and chat in the yard.)

Cowgrit had me outside working on the yard yesterday. Cutting the grass, cutting back the bushes, trimming this, that, and the other, etc. I knew it would be just my luck to first see and greet the new neighbors looking like this. I was dirty, sweaty, and generally not real presentable. The “man of the house” (or so I assumed) came home in the afternoon, and seeing me in the front yard, he walked over.

We greeted each other, exchanged names, and shook hands. He’s probably about my age. He was in clean jeans, clean shirt, clean shoes, and clean skin. I was wearing a sweaty t-shirt, dirty work pants, nasty old shoes, and equally un-presentable skin. Not exactly the way I wanted to make a first impression with a new neighbor.

He seems like a nice guy. He’s from California, but I won’t hold that against him. He’s been in our state for three years, and I think I could like him just fine. He complimented us on the weather, of all things. He said he’s used to “sunny and 72 degrees all year,” and he likes that we get a good range of weather through the year.

Well, God bless him. I’d love to experience sunny and 72 for even just a whole month. With our climate, in the spring and fall (the only time the temp hangs around 72 degrees), the temperature can fluctuate 15 degrees in 24 hours. If it’s 72 today, it could have been 60 yesterday, and it might be 80 tomorrow.

Anyway, it seems our neighbors are not a family. It’s this guy and his roommate. Oh well, I guess that means there’s no new friend for my boys. Too bad. We’re still surrounded by 2-6 year old girls.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com