This Happened

[Kyle]

Oh yeah! I have a new granddaughter! Olivia June was born on February 27!

[Tahlvin]

Oh yeah! My trans child officially got married to their trans partner! They legally married a few months ago in order to get their partner on their insurance through work. But this weekend they had an "elopement" and had a ceremony to make it "official". It was just the two of them and a photographer they hired to take some pictures, at a nice little cabin along the Mississippi River.

[Phoebe]

Ah, congratulations! It is not possible that we have kids old enough to marry, is it? Yet how exciting! Glad they were able to celebrate in scenic locale.

[Mike]

A. Congrats Kyle! Baby Oli is adorable as all get-out.

B. Congrats Tahlvin! Adding someone new to the family can be pretty awesome.

C. More important than either of those: I bought a truck. 2008 Ford F-150 Lariat Super Crew Cab. One of Lisa's coworkers is married to a diesel mechanic, and he buys vehicles to work on when there's downtime at the shop. He fixes them up and then sells them for enough to keep him in vehicles to fix (plus a little extra). He gave us this one for $4,000. That's with a new engine he had just put in it. Holy shit... we bought it to have as an extra vehicle and because we're tired of having to borrow a truck when we need one, but I LOVE my truck. I normally gravitate towards small, fuel-efficient things, and I've always viewed trucks as pretty wasteful as a day to day car... a view I still hold... But I love driving it! If it didn't average 12.5 miles per gallon, I'd use this as my full time car.

[Kyle]

Trucks are so much fun until you have to fill the gas tank. But I’m jealous. A lawyer I work with lives on 20+ acres out in the hill country and has an old truck that he keeps just to haul and move shit. I’m so jealous- I hate having to borrow my dad’s sports pickup to haul off brush. But with five drivers living in my house and five cars crowding my driveway and curb, I can’t justify it. But I’m super jelly.

[Mike]

Also, immediately after buying the truck, I wound up with a huge hillbilly beard. It's like I murdered Tim Allen and woke up with a full Santa beard the next day. Must be a truck thing.

[Phoebe]

The truck has control of you. Can you be sure you're the same person? It's pretty exciting to have a new truck though, even if it means letting it rule your facial hairs.

[Mike]

But the truck's convinced me that it looks good on me, so I'm not complaining

[Kyle]

I wish I had a talking truck that only complimented me.

But on the other hand, I have a car that basically drives itself. You know what? I'll start a new thread.

[Akiva]

Two fights on my floor before 2nd period started. I got body checked dealing with them.

[Kyle]

I was the guest teacher for a four hour math and economics class for a dozen homeschoolers. I thought it was going to be horrible and no one would pay attention- but it went so great! Very fun.

[Mike]

My eighth and final stint as Post-Prom party chaperone begins now. In four hours, I shall be free!

Plus I get to see a hypnotist. That's always a good show.

[Phoebe]

A hypnotist like therapeutic or performance based? We have become the default pre/post party house for my current high schooler. I thought I would hate this but it's actually pretty good - everyone is present and accounted for and reasonably safe in this spot, I don't have to drive much besides back and forth to the school twice, and the kids generally don't hurt the house and are good kids. Hopefully it will stay like this into the future.

[Mike]

Performance. A hypnotist show. I have seen four such shows at proms (they do it every other year so each kid has a chance to see it once), and I've been to two others... one at a Ren Faire where my oldest, Jacob, was hypnotized and once at the Funny Bone in Omaha. The shows have never failed to entertain, and they are generally family friendly. The one at the Funny Bone involved raunchier jokes, but still nothing that the participants would be mortified at taking part in. Plus there's generally 6-12 people be hypnotized at once, so it's less individually embarrassing to know you were just one of many.

[Mando]

I saw a bald eagle on my way to work. I had to turn around and go back to be sure. I take a video on my phone.
I have never seen one in the wild before.
Hide your cats, hide your kids!

[Phoebe]

Wow, amazing! I would like to see one closer - we've seen them from a distance but even small with aid of binoculars. One cannot go close to the nests at all.

[Mike]

I met a possum in my yard this morning! Or rather, I watched as my dog met her. It was 3:30 and Cricket was peeing when this possum peeked it's head around the corner of the neighbor's house. So the two were maybe 10 feet apart... both obviously startled by the other... and the possum looked way bigger than my little 8 pound dog, but a lot of that may have just been a bristled coat. Either way, they locked eyes for maybe 3 seconds and then both of decides there was nothing to see here. They each turned around and walked slowly away from each other.

But it was exciting to see one of the possums that close for even that short bit. We have a healthy and stable population of them in the neighborhood. Neighbors see them from time to time. But the possums and I don't keep the same hours, so in 25 years in this house, this is maybe my sixth or seventh sighting on our block. It just makes me happy knowing they're around. Same as the squirrels and the rabbits and even the occasional raccoon... although I don't think the raccoons are locals.

Anyway... uh... Hey! Possums!

[Kyle]

Oh man- my dogs would kill a possum so quick. Squirrels are a regular thing for them. A possum? I think one dog would pounce on it while the other one announced in a booming voice, "FINISH HIM!"

[Phoebe]

I believe this very thing played itself out once among my dogs and a young, small possum, which was terribly unfortunate because the possums are quite valuable. Luckily we have many possums and the larger ones are too intimidating for them to approach. The possum is so beneficial to have around.

[Akiva]

In an actual lockdown. Reports of a guy with a gun during afternoon dismissal.

[Akiva]

In an actual lockdown. Reports of a guy with a gun during afternoon dismissal.

Ended without incident. False alarm it seems.

[Tahlvin]

Active shooter situation at a small town middle school just a short distance southwest of us. Sounds like the suspect was "neutralized" before getting into the school and no kids are hurt, thank goodness.

[Akiva]

Scary. To put it mildly.