Category Archives: Mr. Boy

Inner peace through bean curd

Posted on February 8, 2008 | Comments Off on Inner peace through bean curd

One of Mr. B.’s classmates and fellow cub scouts, is half-Chinese, so, it being the Chinese New Year of late, the kid recently brought some Chinese candy in nice little red paper packets with golden dragons on them, one for each kid in the class. Nice thing to do, even if some of the candy was so old the rice paper wrapping had congealed. It was still tasty, apparently, as Mr. B. wolfed it all down in a flash. I was reminded of it reading this funny post at the House of Eratosthenes about some not-so-bright American teens getting Chinese character tattoos without checking to make sure they really say what they’re supposed to be saying.

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Tryouts

Posted on February 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Tryouts

Mr. Boy did okay at the Little League tryouts this morning. He got a piece of the ball three times (two grounders and one foul tip) in five overhand pitches–the first overhand pitches he’s faced and from a lefthanded pitcher at that, while he was batting right-handed. He stopped all of his thrown grounders, even if he didn’t catch the pop ups, and his throwing was weak but was off target only once in four tries. He was pretty disgusted about his performance, but he’ll get to play. All the boys his age will. The tryouts are misnamed. They aren’t really to eliminate anybody, just to help the coaches make sure the best players aren’t all on the same team. Now we wait to see which AA8 team he gets, and hope some of his school or Cub Scout friends are on it, too.

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Cedar pollen declining at last

Posted on February 1, 2008 | Comments Off on Cedar pollen declining at last

Current_Allergy.jpg

Says here, via KVUE, that it’s medium, but it feels like a lot less, at least around the rancho. Yesterday when I ventured out to pick up Mr. B. from school I came back with a snootfull, itching eyes and plenty of sneezing. Today, nothing. Usually, all the high wind we’ve been having the last few days, stirs more pollen into the air. But, this time, it seems to have blown what was there away, which probably means the season is almost over. Which is fine with me.

UPDATE:  Down even more Saturday morning. No more Prisoner of Zenda routine for me. 

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

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Third Place

Posted on February 1, 2008 | Comments Off on Third Place

Mr. B. got a very nice note from his teacher about his science fair project. "You would make a great teacher," she wrote, which surprised me as much as him, though his paternal grandfather was a college professor. I missed his classroom and competition presentations on his collection and classification of sharks, but having judged the fair last year I knew to warn him to be sure not to read off the display, though he could point to parts of it if he wanted to. His oral must have been really good, because he won Third Place out of about forty other second graders who entered voluntarily. I went by to look at the entries after the judging. His seemed to be the only one on sharks. Next year, in third grade, he’ll be required to enter, as he will be each year through fifth grade. We have all year to decide what to do next time.

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Backtalk

Posted on January 31, 2008 | Comments Off on Backtalk

Mr. B. got his ears pinned back, as they used to say, the other day at school. His teacher, who is rather a stern disciplinarian, which is a good reason in itself for being careful around her, told the class they could not have recess because it was too cold. Mr. B., who is quite a bit like I was in school days of yore, especially in that he lives for recess, said he could not stop himself from piping up with, "It doesn’t seem too cold to me, Mrs. (X)." He agreed that he deserved his punishment–sitting out for five minutes at the next recess–and a note home for, as she put it, "arguing with me."

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Mr. Boy’s Dictionary

Posted on January 26, 2008 | Comments Off on Mr. Boy’s Dictionary

Wet and Despair: What he calls these gray, overcast and rainy days we’ve been having. More here.

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The Werewolf of the Round Table

Posted on January 25, 2008 | Comments Off on The Werewolf of the Round Table

Reading Mr. B. a bedtime story from a collection of classic tales published a hundred years ago, we encountered the story of Sir Marrok, a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table. But it took until Chapter Three in the story to discover that the Lady Irma mixed a potion to change Sir M. into a werewolf. Whoa. I thought I knew the Arthurian tales, but I somehow missed this one. Mr. B., always attentive to stories about knights and castles, was duly surprised and impressed. He never expected this, either. We do know, however, that the werewolf of the Harry Potter tales was a good guy. So there’s hope.

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Posted in Library, Mr. Boy

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