December 2020

Nick spends any free moment buried in his office upstairs on the laptop, chatting with friends who could be anywhere, about building who-knows-what. When he's forced from the chair, then he creates memes on his phone or tablet and shares those, most of which I don't understand.  I get the penis jokes with pop cans, but generally speaking the humor eludes me.  We try to coax him down for a little TV, but if it's not awful television like the fifth sequel to Tremors, it can't hold his attention.  And his mother likes shows where people die, which he hides up the stairs peeking down when someone is about to die.

Under quarantine there aren't many places to go, which is OK with Nick.  I dragged him out of the house on a Saturday morning for the donation drive at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. Bring a toy donation and take laps around the track in your own vehicle.  The idea got out of hand in a quarantine year, though, so many bored people showed up it was a mess... a three hour wait to get onto the track, two laps instead of five, it made for a long day.  But it was worth it, and the crowds relegated the rules irrelevant, so we were passing on the track, no forms to sign, just to get through the crowds.  Nick shot some cool video from inside our 300.

My favorite line of the month wasn't from Nick. I get an aggressive call from the Tailor that we've left clothes for pickup, so I ask Brandi what could be there. "I left some clothes there that Nick outgrew."  "How long ago?" "I don't know, maybe he was 4 or 5."  Perhaps she was calling with a storage bill for nine years.
I missed half the month traveling for work, from Houston to Orlando, and returning to a negative test for COVID so I could enjoy the holidays after an exposure in Houston.  I made a long drive to take equipment to the Orlando Auto Show, since the kids couldn't cover the work, so it was generally a shortened holiday (no two week break, just a couple of days.) I didn't enjoy Florida, just worked and returned with crappy oranges.  It was just good to return to a quiet Christmas at home.  My reward was listening to Nick play the piano, which he only practices now when we leave the house, but his play is outstanding, and he's writing some music for a school project.  He has talent, if he can hold the interest.

Photos here.

Jason

November 2020

Think kids aren't paying attention?  Nick is more in-tune at 14 than I was, for sure.  As the end of election day drew to a close, Nick walked through the great room, glanced at the TV for all of one minute, and mumbled, "Next comes the lawyers," and continued upstairs. Wow, was he accurate.

There was an exposure to COVID at school, and Nick was required to get a test, which he cooperated admirably.  We played dueling zippers while we waiting in the car, took over an hour to get through the test, despite having an appointment, which they didn't find, and were taking us as a drive-up.

He had an outstanding school report, from grades to teacher feedback, so no complaints.  (That was before he bombed his exams, which he can't explain... he doesn't seem to study, he plays the averages and calculates what he can get away with.)  That said, he mentioned in passing he had his scheduled changed for Q3 to get gym at the end of the day, so he can plan ahead, make inquiries, and adjust.  That in itself was a bit surprising.

Nick got braces in November, which seemed like no big deal until he tried to eat, and the pain set in hard. It was slow chewing for about two weeks, but it's still an easier process than thirty years ago, they had him out of the office quick, few brackets, minimally invasive.


Brandi made an amazing dinner at Thanksgiving, as always, with more food than we could consume.  Nick doesn't see to appreciate the meals, food is just always there for him, the mini-fridge is always stocked.  But he understands value, his grandmother asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and he says, "How about $500?"

Photos are combined with December, to save time this month.

Jason

October 2020

It continues to be a warm summer and fall, we took an afternoon hike on the trails behind the Library. There was a relay that afternoon so the paths were fresh, cleared and marked, it was a perfect walk.  Beforehand he was eager to take mama for a drive in the parking lot, which he's very confident now in his driving.

We skipped Halloween this year, Nick has lost interest, and with COVID it's for the best. Brandi still decorated, so the pumpkins were present, along with random trinkets throughout the house. Instead he and I went south to watch Kiersten play in her MVCA volleyball playoffs.  I'm desperate for live sports, the girls were impressive to watch play, and I thought Nick would enjoy it more, but I guess not.  We had a nice hotel, ate well, and then spent our second day at the Air Force Museum in Dayton.  We arrived early, had the place to ourselves for most of four hours. He impressed the guides, old guys who flew many of those planes back in the day, at one point a guy was asking Nick questions and he was educating the guide in return (something about turbos).  Got a Hot Head Burrito on the way home, the highlight for me.  At one point we passed an awkwardly named car wash, which Nick noticed sounded like a strip club. He observed a drive-thru car wash plus strip club is a good business idea in the age of COVID, very true.  On the drive, we practiced memorizing the Big Ten mascots, which is just part of earning his man card.

Pics here.

Jason

School Picture 2020

 

September 2020

Coming to the end of our Summer 2020 To-Do list.  We finished painting the garage, which was two weekends of work, and I hate painting, but Brandi took charge and the results are great.  We closed the pool mid-September after a summer full of swimming, right up to the end. Grandpa jumped in on the last swim of the year.  Brandi made us fried green tomatoes, and two more batches of salsa as the garden was winding down.

Brandi and Nick went to a train store during a free weekend while I was traveling south for work (and Atlanta clinic where Trump held a rally down the hall... and tested positive one week later!)  As you can see from the photos, Nick masks up appropriately.  He'd earned some spending cash from working a little over the summer, and was eager to spend.

His best quotes of the month:
"I have two-and-half words for you... don't ask."
"I slept like a kitten last night."
When he walked into the kitchen with a bag of potatoes after a grovery run: "I got a bag of hashbrown potential."

A few pics here.

One random observation as he matures: the kid vomits like a man.  He feels sick, wanders downstairs, hurls, and goes right back to bed with no whining or issues. I can appreciate that.  Although we're going to knock him back into adolescence here quickly, braces go on his teeth in a couple weeks.

Jason

August 2020

From the pictures, you'd swear he's the most active, athletic kid on the block (we live in a 55+ neighborhood, so technically that's true.) He painted the backboard and has been shooting baskets (his form is outstanding), even on his own, regularly. He's back in karate as businesses open up. He's been in the pool every couple of days all summer.  And to see him at a piano recital, he is even musically inclined.  But alas, the real Nick is still face into a laptop every moment he gets, pried away only to eat and sleep, begrudgingly.

School is slow to start, back in the classroom at SFS all five days each week, but testing all the equipment with some class-at-home days so they are prepared for a shutdown. Nick's quite comfortable in his second year, he knows the routine, and has roughly all the same teachers.  We went into Packo's one evening for a late snack, and there was a kid named Sam there working that knew Nick, and they chatted it up like they'd known each other their whole lives; it's good to see him connecting with folks.

He can be independent, but prefers to lean on his mother, and she obliges.  He can fix dinner on the grill, he can back the car out of the garage and wash it, he's handling his work on the laptop mostly on his own (except for some basic tenants of security, he

got hacked this month.)  Send him in for a sandwich, he can figure it out on his own.  Although, he'd rather be a sloth at home, and nuke a bagel sandwich with one hand on the keyboard.

I was the first one out of quarantine at work, went to Chicago to moderate groups for HATCI for a couple days. Felt good to get out, distancing was fine.  Had my first Portillo's Beef and Sausage, was right across the street from the facility.  Awesome.

(Is that all we do is eat?!)

Photos here.

Jason

July 2020

Maybe it's the quarantine, because we're certainly all losing physical activity opportunities (he had no karate for months) but Nick's been doing pushups in the evenings, and it shows. Besides being taller than me, his strength has improved significantly, which he's asserting. He wants to shoot hoops more often, which I enjoy (now that our backboard is good), and he's trying to play defense on me.  Feels like the first time he's trying to impose some dominance, in any respect.  I love it, bring it on.

Brandi and Nick visited the Sugar Creek Roundhouse and Train Museum in central Ohio for a day trip, lots of photos, of course.  It's out in farm country, without much else around it, Amish buggies passing you on the rural roads. Funny to see photos with masks on, but Nick is already eager to go back.

He and I returned to Cincinnati for a short trip to see everyone together, Carrie drove in from St. Louis with her boys.  The older boys are all on the same page now, and essentially disappear together for most of the weekend.  Noah is the ring leader ('Mo Mexican' as his friends call him... he tells Nick, "you need a street name," funny how the churchgoers provide the 'bad' influence), Nick is the instigator, Mason is the middle-man, and Myles who is the youngest, just tries to keep up.  They created a skit on WWII and shared it with all of us at the end of the day, which was fun to watch. The scene where Nick and Noah disappear behind a curtain, start simulating a bar fight, and Nick yells, "That's my wife," was the highlight.  We made a stop at the firing range on Sunday morning before heading home.

Nick got an A/C unit in his room, because the upstairs in our home will not cool (incompetent builder ran the duct work wrong). He dials it down like an icebox and sleeps with his face pressed up against the fan.

We tried Cincy Crab this month (in Toledo, coincidentally), where they drop a trash bag of boiled everything in a pile on the table and you put on your gloves and dig in.  Nick enjoyed it, wasn't bad.  I still prefer a Chick-fil-A, simple is good, even when they forget the fork in the bag (forcing Nick to get creative and use a nugget sauce packet as a scoop... it's good to test his creativity/survival skills.)

Photos here.

Jason

June 2020

We opened the pool a little late this year, with a new liner coming, we weren't sure it would be in one piece and swim-able when we pulled the cover.  It was, and we had a hot few weeks of June to use it. Nick was huge help in opening this year, we're getting close to retiring Grandpa out from the assignment. Nick still generally struggles to finish his chores and get paid, he'll stop 90% of the way in, or not write it down, and not collect.

A family of killdeer nested in our yard (because they nest in the rocks, and you know, my yard is so awful from the lawncare and crappy topsoil, they figured it was rocks.) They sat on that nest for 28 days, we surrounded them with reflective posts, and we fought of the stupid lawn guys together.  They hatched, and left the nest right away, but I caught the moment on film. Very cool.

Brandi decided to return to work part-time (in the middle of a pandemic), and picked up some RDH days at two offices.  She comes home one evening, and says, "I'm exhausted.  If you're expecting me to provide dinner, your best bet is breast milk." She had a good run and made a little money, now both states are offering her an opportunity to add a nursing degree if she'll help in this COVID mess.  We shall see.

Overall, with quarantine still in effect, we've gotten out a little (went out to dinner with Eric and Deana @ Manhattan's, and I got out to see Becky for dinner, that's about it), still have our private room for breakfast on Saturdays, and got to visit family.

Brandi and Nick made a trip to Atlanta at the end of the month.  You'll see photos of go-carts, fireworks, and paddling on the lake. The kids generally stay to themselves, don't interact much with each other.  When Thatcher gets grumpy with Nick (who is eternally optimistic), they grapple a little, in a struggle for space and dominance, and rumor is that Nick can hold his own just fine (three years of martial arts has helped.)  I asked him how it went, he says "I'll play hardball when I need to."  They cut their trip short, and met me in Cincinnati on the way home where I watched Noah play ball in 14U, and Kiersten took me for a ride in her new Jeep (which I didn't know at the time she's not yet tested for her license, a little detail that got missed.)  With Kiersten, and now Seth, both getting their license, and Nick confidently driving, all the kids are creeping up on adulthood now.  Nick says, "You hope I'm the same chill self I am now."  Yes, I do.

Photos here.

Jason

May 2020

Full lock-down quarantine in Michigan lasted from mid-March to mid-June, then lifted for nearly all services. Inability to get a haircut nearly started civil war in the state (because...priorities; people didn't consider hair dryers spreading a COVID, the reasons are essentially too sensitive and complicated for the average Joe.) So Brandi places the beard trimmer on #6, and attempts to cut my hair.  Nick walks by, looks at me and says "I’m glad you went first," and refuses to have his head touched.  He looks like a mop, but no one sees him, with piano and school all virtual. He watches the world go by from the window in his study. "The old people in the neighborhood are gathering outside," he tells me.  "Are they coming for you?" "I don't think so." "Then you have nothing to worry about." They sit on their lawn chairs and drink wine in the cul-de-sac. I do love my 55+ neighborhood.

So our time outdoors is on Spring chores, from mowing lawn, to tying up tomatoes, and cutting dead branches from the trees. We had lots of clearing needed this year with extending the privacy fence in Grandpa's yard coming soon. Nick was a big help in opening the pool, which was the toughest year, with lots of water and crud, and his effort to save every tadpole.  He's earning money from his work, puts the cash in his 'fee shark' (the name of the bank on his nightstand that holds his cash.)

School finally ended, and he passed every class, with plenty of unnecessary anxiety. They better have a plan for Fall, or we'll be second-guessing the school. With time on his hands, he's usually building/coding stuff on his laptop, or pressed against the window to my home office making faces at me. "I'm just trying to keep my feet off the ground," he says.  I don't know if he's confused or has a self-awareness at his age that I didn't reach until my late twenties. We're starting to slowly get out of the house, Brandi is getting impatient, such as threatening to hurt me with a box of Mac & Cheese (she's running out of possibilities.)

Jason

March & April 2020: COVID-19 Quarantine

We've been inside since March 13, with me working from home and Nick's school forced to online instruction for the remainder of the year. Nick could not leave the house for months and not care, as long as his laptop works and the cupboards are full of food, we forced him into the yard to plant some grass seed at the point we realized he hadn't walked outside the doors for over a month.

Schoolwork is the biggest struggle, Brandi helps as much as she can, and he stays on it for the most part, but the school hasn't made it easy.  Six different teachers on six different platforms, moved him from an 'A' student to nearly failing some classes in only a couple of weeks (assignments we submit but the teachers can't find.) Brandi has been on top of the school to get answers, and in the end, it won't matter, but it's been considerably frustrating.

I spend my days in the office downstairs, while Nick has a space above the garage adjacent to his room to focus on his schoolwork. There's an old table up there, and a TV and beanbags, and of course, a good internet connection. I get to experience his workspace habits when we switch, such as when he has remote piano lessons and needs the piano in the corner of my office.  He doesn't keep his desktop as organized as I do, I need to clear space between the cans and planes and books and empty cracker boxes to function.

Inside we fill the time by tossing socks up the staircase and swinging at them like baseballs with a stick, or polishing cars or working at the train table.  And lots of cooking.  Brandi is trying new recipes all the time, and Nick is heavy into her Chinese run... fried rice and beef-and-broccoli being consumed in mass quantities (when we can find rice in the stores. We do have plenty of TP.)  I needed a TV show that I could stream that would last me the entire quarantine, and most new shows are 6-10 episodes per season, so I had to reach back... been watching the original Dallas on Amazon Prime, for free, which should keep my occupied (350+ episodes.)

Nick's best quotes of the month, those random things he says for no reason that fit into no conversation.
"Can you imagine a life without pose-able thumbs?"
"Beavers invented refrigeration."
"I'm going to take a lap." (He says this when he's headed for the bathtub, because he runs enough water to go for a swim.)
"I lost track of time due to daylight savings time." (When we was scolded for being up until near midnight on his laptop... over a month after daylight savings time switched.)

Jason

Easter 2020

First major holiday under quarantine, it could have come and gone without being noticed, losing track of time.
Family gatherings were held over FaceTime.

Brandi hid baskets for Nick around the house like he's still age seven, which he awoke unannounced at 4:30 AM, found them all, consumed half the candy, and went back to bed. That didn't go over well when she woke up. But not without a Plan B, Brandi advised there were 36 plastic eggs throughout the house, and some had $20 bills in them. Of course, I engaged happily, and so did Nick.

I still got my turkey dinner, and Nick got Chex Mix, which he walked up to the kitchen island and planted himself in the spread face-down, because, of course, they were meant for him.

Quarantine Life

This is what a quiet house looks like when there's nowhere to go.

Yes, Brandi's Christmas tree was still up into April.

January & February 2020

(Nick's getting to the age where he can write for himself.  So this is what you get!)

January was a great month for Garry's Mod and school alike, February wasn’t as shiny, however. What happened in February is that 14 days in, some infection thought, “Oh! This 13 year old will be great!” That 13 year old is me. On Saturday, I got messed up VERY bad. My joints hurt like hell (please don’t kill me Dad, or take away my computer, I apologize about using the H word for that, trust me you would do the same thing) and I couldn’t move for a VERY long period of time, being 5 days. I also had a lot of drainage of snot down my throat and my already sore throat was getting watered on even more. On Sunday through Tuesday, it got progressively worse and I was hacking up HUGE snot balls. I’m sorry for any weak-stomached readers who are about to read this next passage, please forgive me. What happened next is that I went to the doctor for a strep test, the doctor touched the back of my throat and that made me hack up an enormous honker that had some blood in it. On Wednesday I was hacking blood and that was the final straw for my mother, she had some left over antibiotics because she had a stockpile of medicine if fallout happened early. I took some antibiotics with some Dr. Pepper and it tasted HORRIBLE, but I powered through it without any trouble. Friday I was able to go back to school but I was still honkering up blood. Anyway, that day was the kick-off of Funarama week and it was a huge fundraiser of $100,000 for a lot of things. If we reached our goal, out at 1:00 and dress down on Fridays. However, my family and I sold about 1/1000 of that at around $112 dollars, others followed suit and played their part like mine. However, some others decided it would be a brilliant idea if they sold NO TICKETS AT ALL. In the end, we reached over $92,000 and that shattered the previous record the school had. Our principal was nice enough to give the early dismissal to us and that ended up being a pretty good idea. 

During this time period, my mom started working again as a dental hygienist. It sounded good on paper, but in practice she regrets it. Every day she has been very tired and moderately grumpy and she apologizes about it. My dad also writes most of these blogs and sometimes he thinks I’m pure insanity, but you would get it if you watched funny War Thunder videos. Well, real life has been a bit of a pain (I need to learn how to build a steam locomotive and do my chores at the same time…), but on my computer, it has been pretty fun. I was able to get three locomotives done in less than a month, those being a CB&Q O5b Northern, a NYCS J3a Hudson, and an SLSF T-54 Mountain Type. All three are done and are rolling around multiple servers due to me giving some of them to friends for private use. Also the airport next to us called Beta Air is up for sale and that for me is a huge belt to the rear. Beta Air is my childhood, I would love how the planes would go over my house and scare the neighbor’s dog sometimes, I have a passion for aviation that I will never get over. I really hope it doesn’t get demolished. 

My Mom also had some issues dying her hair, because the hair dye she used wouldn’t come out for a straight 15 minutes of rinsing. She then had to dry her hair and try and sort it out the knots, but there was a slight problem, about 90 of them. Then she had to pick me up from karate and was like, “Okay, so should I wear a towel and cover my mop of a head or just brush it out on the way?” She chose to brush it out on the way, then we needed to go to Walgreens for an inhaler for my asthma, which turned out to have been increased by 100% in money. We had to turn it down and wait for insurance. This February has been a wild ride but I love it (part of it.) Anyway I hope you have enjoyed my 2nd writing for my Dad’s blog, I’ll write more later.

Nick

February 2020

Nick and I went to the Toledo Auto Show on Friday evening, to pass the time.  It was every bit as pathetic as you could imagine. There were so few people attending we almost couldn't find it.  We passed some former work colleagues of mine on the way out of the show, and of course, Nick's first words were, "My Dad says the new BMW grill looks like Hitler." Because, that's a normal greeting.  Never mind the context that we had been watching and talking about war documentaries. The show handed attendees a photo scavenger hunt upon entry, where you guess the 12 photos of obscure car parts, and return it for some drawing. Of course, he rattles them all off in the first ten seconds and the poor ticket attendant feels bad, so I had to tell him to play along. You can't play '20 Questions' with him, either.  His first clue, is 'they are very illegal', so all the while you're guessing drugs and firearms, you'll never figure out the correct answer is 'lawn darts'.  Good grief.

With Brandi working a few days this month, he got his first phone, so now he can respond to let us know when he's home alone, that all is OK.  Or not... he can text you that he needs you, then set the phone down and walk away for 3 hours and cause a panic.

On a positive note, Brandi has decided we are going to read at the dinner table ever evening (as if eating together isn't enough bonding) so we're reading a book called, "The Summer of Monkeys."  Nick is enjoying it, so OK by me. One evening he's reading, it's his turn, and he's really into his, his voice fluctuating with the characters, and he's trying to sound like a young girl, a character in the book.  He sounded like Gilbert Gottfried.  That in itself was funny, but it cause us to Google the former comedian to show Nick to whom we were referring.  For a good laugh, search for 'Gilbert Gottfried reads 50 Shades of Grey' on YouTube.  You won't be disappointed.

Jason

January 2020

For Nick's birthday, his Aunt Megan sent him an expensive Harley-Davidson jacket, one he'd seen in the bike dealer when they were visiting. He puts the jacket on for the first time and says, "I look like a badass."  I'll have to dust off mine from thirty years ago, now all we need is a bike.

The conversations with Nick never get easier, he lives on a different wavelength (or planet.) Example:
Brandi says, "I'm not seeing that well for some reason."
A normal response would be, "Are you OK?" or "Have your eyes checked?"
Nick says, "You're probably turning into an orangutan."
Simple yes-or-no questions elude him.  I ask him through the bathroom door (where he camps out most evenings), "Can your mother finish the leftover pizza?" I got four answers from him, ranging from, "OK," to "Yes, I'm going to finish it," to, "Uh, I don't know."
But he knows when steer clear, his mother and I were having a debate about picking a new vacuum, and he walks in and asks, "Is it about me?" After the answer no, he says, "Good, I'm going to go hide now." So he's capable of figuring things out.

We did get out for a little variety this month.  One evening our burger joint was unexpectedly closed for inspections, so we stopped into White Tower on Sylvania Ave, which isn't the neighborhood it was thirty years ago.  The place is dated, but the one person running the place keeps it clean, and the food is just as I remember it. We also tried a new pizza joint by the university called Stubborn Brothers' Pizza.  It was outstanding, with some nice craft beer to boot.

The other picture of Nick here is building some model engines he received for Christmas gifts.  My mechanic retired at the end of the year, after 35 years, and I'm in mourning, hoping Nick can step in.

Jason