Last week, Wifegrit called me at work shouting that there was a “giant snake” trying to get into our garage. She was very upset, so I immediately jumped in my truck and raced home. Unfortunately, it takes me 35 minutes to get home, so by the time I got there she had scared it off into the woods behind our house. I was proud of her even though she admits her scaring it off was by yelling and screaming in terror.

I was disappointed that I couldn’t get home in time to take care of it myself. I wanted to be a hero. *sigh*

But then my chance came a few days later when I was actually already at home. I got the alert that there was a “really big spider” in our garage trying to get into the house proper. Well, I will protect my home and family against any intruder, two legs, no legs, or eight! I rushed downstairs ready to deal with the arachnid intruder.

“Ya broke into the wrong goddamn recroom, didn’t cha, ya bastard!”

OK, okay, I didn’t shoot the monster. (Especially not aiming like that, against that concrete floor.)

I got a paper towel, reached down relatively gently, and scooped it up. I took it out into the far edge of the yard and let it go. So long as the snakes and spiders stay in the yard or woods, out of the house, they’re welcome to do their natural business.

Bullgrit

As far back as I can remember — I guess as far back as I’ve known what one was — whenever I see dark, stormy clouds in the sky, I look to see a tornado forming. And I’m always disappointed to never find one.

But even without a whirlwind of destruction, just looking at the roiling forms is often very cool. I laid down in our driveway to take these photos of the storm clouds passing overhead.

The below is a GIF of two images taken in quick succession. This is an experiment to see if it looks 3D:

Bullgrit

A long time ago, I designed a grocery list form with Microsoft Word. We can print it out each week, (or every few days it seems), and go through the refrigerator and cupboard checking off things we need to pick up at Food Lion or Target. This has been a pretty helpful thing for everyone in the family, especially when it’s left on the fridge door for anyone to check items as they finish off the last of whatever.

This week when Wifegrit mentioned she was going grocery shopping the next day, Calfgrit8 decided to help her out by filling out the checklist all by himself. He took it and sat down at the kitchen table with a pencil. This is what he checked off for his mom to pick up on her shopping trip:

I’m pretty proud of some of his choices. Grapes, apples, blue berries, peaches, bananas, strawberries. I have to give credit to Wifegrit for our boys’ better-than-average eating habits. They love fruits. Although I like some fruits, too, I’ll too often take a processed snack over a natural one.

But to balance out the healthy fruit choices Calfgrit8 made on this list, I see he actually scribbled out “Frozen Vegetables.” Ha!

I’m not sure what the arrows are for, but I notice the items he had to write in. I’m surprised I missed french toast sticks and gummies on the standard list — they’re regular items in our house. Lunchables and chocolate (chotlete) ice cream are special treats that we don’t always keep around.

I see a couple items that need to be dropped from this check list. The Tropicana Light Orangeade and Pineapple OJ are my items, but I haven’t had either in couple of years. I drink 100% water, now. The Diet Dr. Pepper is Wifegrit’s one vice. (Our boys have never had a soda.)

In addition to having this check list, each Sunday we sit down at the kitchen table with the boys and plan out our dinners for the week. They pick what they want, (main dish plus a side), for each day, Monday through Friday. We write the choices on a note card and post it on the fridge. That makes it easy for whichever of us, (me or Wifegrit — about a 40/60 split), happens to be the one to make dinner that night. And the kids can’t complain about the meal we set in front of them because they specifically chose it.

This combination of dinner list and grocery list has worked out really well for us for as long as we’ve been doing them. I highly recommend this process to anyone with children, (and maybe even for those without kids), as it makes planning and shopping so much easier.

Bullgrit

Having referred to my running the Rugged Maniac obstacle run in my previous post, I just realized that I never posted my official photos from the race.

Near the end of the run, there is a fire obstacle — a line of burning wood you have to leap over. You can feel the heat as you pass over it, but it’s the smoke and fumes coming up at you as you’re breathing heavy from the run that gets you.

Bullgrit