{"id":10182,"date":"2012-06-25T13:00:26","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T20:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=10182"},"modified":"2012-06-25T13:01:49","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T20:01:49","slug":"dry-wet-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=10182","title":{"rendered":"Dry<\/font><\/strike> Wet Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re hosting the neighborhood 4th of July brunch this year, so yesterday’s pool party was sort of a dry run. \u00a0A somewhat moist dry run, that is.<\/p>\n

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The idea was to introduce our grandson Quentin to the neighborhood kids. \u00a0We were hoping he’d find a new friend or two to play with during his visit, and he did, a boy named Michael from down the street. \u00a0Michael has a Wii, Q has an electronic something-or-other, and they both have bicycles. \u00a0This is a good thing; otherwise I wouldn’t have time to blog.<\/p>\n

We have an old school pool: deep end, diving board, no safety fence. \u00a0When it was built, in the mid-1980s, there weren’t as many safety regs as there are today. \u00a0There’ll be even more children in it after the neighborhood 4th of July parade, but not many younger than the ones who swam in it yesterday. \u00a0And our daughter Polly will be on hand to serve as lifeguard. \u00a0Still, the rest of us will be keeping an eye on the pool too.<\/p>\n

The dogs aren’t in the photo, but they were right by the pool all afternoon. \u00a0Dogs live for children, I think. \u00a0Neither one of ours was willing to leave the excitement; periodically we’d have to pick them up and carry them inside to cool down. \u00a0They can both swim — I’m sure all animals can — but they don’t like it, not one bit. \u00a0No water dogs here!<\/p>\n

So anyway, today I’m home with number one grandson. \u00a0We put Q’s bike on my new maintenance stand this morning and he stripped off the old 4th of July bunting (his bike was still decorated when we hung it up inside the garage after last year’s parade). \u00a0I showed him how to use the floor pump and he inflated his tires. \u00a0That maintenance stand is going to come in handy.<\/p>\n

Donna and Polly are at work. \u00a0Michael just came over and brought along his stuff for an overnight stay. \u00a0I’d like to see the boys outside riding bikes, but it’s too hot to insist on it. \u00a0TV and electronic games are the order of the day. \u00a0Maybe I’ll take them to the feed store later — the dogs are out of food. \u00a0And maybe they can ride a bit around sunset. \u00a0I hate to see kids just sitting around playing games.<\/p>\n

That’s how my quiet day is shaping up. \u00a0As usual I have a ton of books to read, but two are pressing: a book club selection to finish before our next meeting, and a library book with a due date around the same time. \u00a0These books are keeping me from the third book in the Game of Thrones series — damn but I can’t wait to get back to GOT! \u00a0Oh, well, at least it’s summer and there’s nothing on TV, so I have plenty of time to read.<\/p>\n

They want me to take over as walking tour team leader at the air museum. \u00a0More administrative work, fewer tours. \u00a0I’d just as soon not, but there’s no valid reason to say no, and they say I’m the only man.<\/p>\n

The only man. \u00a0Where have I heard that before? \u00a0Oh, yeah, in every squadron I ever flew with. \u00a0You’re the only man who can take a train from Amsterdam to Bitburg on Saturday and fly a broken jet back home on Sunday. \u00a0You’re the only man who can escort the Indian Air Force VIP and his entourage on a two-week tour of US bases. \u00a0You’re the only man who can pull a week of alert duty north of the Arctic Circle, and you have to be packed in an hour. \u00a0Actually, I feel right at home, and it’s curiously comforting.<\/p>\n

Life is good. \u00a0I hope yours is too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re hosting the neighborhood 4th of July brunch this year, so yesterday’s pool party was sort of a dry run. \u00a0A somewhat moist dry run, that is. The idea was to introduce our grandson Quentin to the neighborhood kids. \u00a0We were hoping he’d find a new friend or two to play with during his visit, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10182"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10200,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10182\/revisions\/10200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}