Feb 152013
 

Senility.  Some days I wonder if I am on that path or if i am just having brain overload.  It seems the world now is trying hard to break people.  Break them and crush their spirits and very souls.  I look at my kids now, out of school and, well, sitting in the house.  They don’t go outside very much saying “I’m bored” or “It’s too hot”.  Well it isn’t as hot as the first ring of Hell, or Florida for that matter.

Kids Watching House Burn Down

Kids Watching House Burn Down (Photo credit: Kiwi NZ)

Kids do not remember how to play with an old can for hours.  Or a stick that is both baseball bat and sword, sometimes in the same game.  Have you ever had to win a duel to reach first base?  (And not with your girlfriend.)  Yes these kids like to sit inside and watch TV or play video games.  My 12 year old will read for hours and hours.  I can’t complain about that too much, I used to do the same thing, but she has friends to play with.

I have 3 bikes collecting dust in the garage that only get pulled out now and again.  So, what am I to do?  I would really like to get some work done on the old computer here, and try to make some money, or heaven forbid, a podcast.  I could try one but the screaming of the kids would most likely have DCFS over here to find out how I was torturing them.

I have tried unplugging the TV.   They just go to their rooms and scream at each other.  I have sent them outside.  The only time they want to stay out there is when the sprinklers are on and they can get wet.  My yard could grow rice some days.  I guess all that I can do is wait for 3 more weeks and then 3 out of four kids will be back to school……I’ll tell you, I don’t know which I am looking forward to, the NFL season or the kids being in school.

I think the kids being in school will win.  Have a good weekend.

-Justin

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Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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Apr 022012
 
A fishing icon.
Image via Wikipedia

Sunday was Father’s Day.  The great day when we honor our fathers and try to come up with something meaningful for a gift.  My 10 year old made a plaster mold of an apple that she was very excited about.  They can’t make ashtray’s in school any more.  I did manage to curtail the sarcasm and embrace the meaning of the gift as well as toss some change in it.

I love my kids and they are a lost of fun, and a great source of frustration and cantankerosity.  If you are ever going to be a real Cantankerous Old Coot, you must have kids, they bring out that certain…something that you just can’t get organically.

So on Sunday, Fathers Day, I get to do what I want right?  Well I wanted to sleep all day but that wasn’t happening so I went to my backup, Fishing.  Always ready to go fishing.  I did need to get my little boat ready and set up so we could take it.  This is where I start to notice I am turning into my father.  I have avoided that for almost 36 years but it is now coming on me.

I was busy getting things from my shed to put in the boat and was trying to get my 7 year old to help me.  You know important things like seats, or life jackets, or gas for the motor.  it was getting hot, and I actually said to my son, “If your not going to help just get the hell out of the way!”  Wow, that is what my dad used to say to me.

After the third or fourth time I had to stop and think “Stop it!” I took a breath and tried to reset and pull away from that black hole of A-type personality that has my Dad at the center of it like some evil emperor sitting on a throne of my crushed dreams and abandoned hopes.

I really don’t want to burden my kids that way.  I would like to leave them hopes and dreams as they grow.  While that may not be very Cantankerous, it will at least keep my kids close to the family.

I finally got everything together all the while muttering under my breath very cootishly.  Eventually we hit the lake and got actually fishing.  I took my son out for the first round and he “fished”  and darn near caught something in his first 10 minutes.

Me? I was fighting the boat in the wind and the waves so my pole sat in the rod holder and bent with the speed of the boat.  Eventually I swapped my son for my daughter who didn’t want to fish until I told her I would leave her in the middle of the lake to swim back unless she fished.  She fished.

Didn’t catch anything with her either.  I still had a great time out on the water fishing with my kids.  I know they will be out on their own way too fast and these are important times.  I also wish they would be some sort of luck when it came to fishing.

My dad always caught twice as many as I did even using the same bait.  I can’t wait until I hit that point.

Then maybe I wont have to load everything back up by myself and mutter again at how much crap we need to take.

Have a good one, Coots lesson #6 is up for Friday and Ralph has a great cantankerous rant for Monday.  Look for Coots products coming soon!

-Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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