Friday Fun

Cashlin is becoming such an interesting little being. These are Camron's current favorite cars and I was so engrossed in the little girl entertainment that I almost missed seeing them.

Winter Wildlife

Late yesterday afternoon I was in the yard and noticed Camron standing by his porch, looking at his house. It was very cold, and as usual, he didn't have a coat or shoes on and I could see he was shivering. I went to his yard and said, "Hey Camron. What's wrong?". He was looking at the windsock and said, "What is that thing?". "It's a windsock.", I told him. "What's it doing there?", he asked. "Your mother put it up for a Christmas decoration." I replied.
"Oh.", he said. "I thought it was a big spider."

I feel sort of badly about it but am still laughing. I forget how easy is is to be trapped outside of your own house by a gigantic green and red spider when you are in the second grade.

An evening with the grandparents took much of the chill away.

Indian Daze

Camron just read a book about Sitting Bull and is now making a "real Indian headband". So far we have found one real feather and he hopes to have it finished by Thanksgiving. He seems to think that everyone will be wearing one. His little sister watches me when I am around the pond, and has been through the dog door several times.

Autumn Festivities

Camron called about noon yesterday and said to meet him in his front yard at sunset for a free concert where a free tootsie roll pop and toy would be provided. At 5 PM he called to say that the concert would start at 5:30 and asked me to tell my brother about the time change. We showed up at 5:30, received our tootsie roll pops and toys (I got a top and my brother got a small plastic pumpkin), and waited for his grandparents and mother to show up. They walked up a few minutes later and of course his grandfather wanted three tootsie roll pops and immediately started complaining about the quality of his toy, which would be a hard thing for any artist to deal with, but he did. When we were all seated he climbed right up on (in to?) his trampoline and put everything he had into the performance. The concert turned out to be lots of jumps, kicks, and bounces, with almost no music, but we were all entertained. My brother said it was the best trampoline concert he had ever attended - and you know - I think he is right.

New Robots - New Trampoline

He almost has too much going on for a 7 year old, but still manages to build robots, ride his bike, make straight A's, and bounce for an hour each day on his trampoline. What a great kid.

The Bear Dogs and some Spy News

Rat-dog and Cleo both have their favorite bears, and are ferocious with them. A real bear (miniature) will be in serious trouble if it walks through their yard.

Camron has called me twice today and catches me everytime I go outside. He had two spy missions for us to take care of (we tracked down a distortion bobber hidden on the property by an evil fisherman, then later had to disassemble it and get rid of the components), and then he wanted me to help him make a big salad for his parents. He collected the last of the spinach and lettuce from the garden and was going for tomatoes but I think his grandfather ended that. I haven't seen him since.

His parting words were that I return my spy identification rubber band so he can make a sling-shot just in case we need to be armed later.

Ready for Halloween

Yesterday Camron walked toward my house wearing a Mardi Gras mask, and when Kilo saw him, she became as wild as usual. He said,"I didn't think she would recognize me when I'm wearing a super secret identity". I said, "she can smell you", and he said, "darn, I thought it would help".

Today he asked me to help him draw a Pumpkin Family. I only watched, but he is very good (for a left-handed 7 year old).

Camron's Sister

Cashlyn has almost learned "Pop Goes the Weasel". Her mother sings, and she bounces and laughs on Pop.

Today's Project

Camron has been building bionicals (roboticals? Modern science is so confusing for me.) and this is his latest one. He has hundreds of parts and pieces, a lot of them in my driveway, and is building them in families now.

Today's Project

Camron has been building bionicals (roboticals? Modern science is so confusing for me.) and this is his latest one. He has hundreds of parts and pieces, a lot of them in my driveway, and is building them in families now.

Camron meets Aggie Pelvic ExamBot

He merely smiled.

Cam News

I haven't seen him in a while, but we talked right at sundown and when I left he was thinking of something interesting that we can do tomorrow afternoon. For now, his basketball is flat and he seems real interested in standing by the side of the road, watching cars fly by to the ball field

Something is Definitely Up

I went to the store earlier and when I got back there was an envelope stuck in my gate. It is addressed from Camron to Kenneth and even has a one of a kind stamp. The letter inside read, "Meet me at the pond. I will give you a hint." He wasn't at the pond but will catch me later for sure.

Camron Update

Camron is happy to have his privacy back and will soon be peering through my gate with his binoculars once again. He enjoyed having his uncle here, for a while, and now is enjoying having him gone. I think they are both probably relieved.

Golf Story

Camron and Jake found some of the missing golf balls and have been playing the one hole that Camron and I made. Jake was talking about once when he had done the Tiger Woods trick of bouncing the ball on the head of the golf club and Camron was thinking he wanted to learn how to do that (as opposed to the work of actually getting a ball into the hole) so I told them that I once watched a guy ramp a hot-rod over a burning truck and right before the hot-rod smashed into a brick wall, the guy ejected, did a flip and while he was upside down, spit a golf ball out of his mouth and drove it 275 yards and made a hole-in-one. Both of them said, "really?", so I had to tell them, "not really".

For Sale - Robot

Camron wanted to show me what he had built during the past five days because I "might be interested in buying it". It is his first robot and it is made out of a large plastic coffee container, a nut can, duct tape, electrical tape, a flashlight, and some other things that I couldn't identify. He had already completed it before he watched I Robot yesterday. I have decided to invest one dollar and help him create a display for his new line of robots.

Where Were We?

I still see Camron most days, but his Uncle Jacob is here and they spend a lot of time doing other things.

Mario Party Six?

Camron's Uncle came back from Louisiana with them, and I haven't seen him very often for the past week. Just now he called me over to the fence to show his new creation. It is a friend he made after playing(?) Mario Party Six. It is different.

Just another Tangent

Camron called and asked me to meet him at the pond to look at his new project. I did, and my first impression was of the moon landing. He was standing on the berm with a flag, and he saluted when I walked up. He has created a special Mario flag and wanted me to be there while he "made the dedication". Kilo barked the entire time so I couldn't hear everything, but did leave with some bewildering parts of statements:

"Mario invented golf. Well, first he invented the putter (for no apparent reason), then later he invented a little white ball, and when he had those two things, he thought of golf."

"All of us, even the dogs, have a little (of the) Mario personality in us. It makes us jump up and down and turn circles. And some of us have a little (of the) Luigi personality in us.

I apparently also have yellow mushroom personality and my sister has blue mushroom personality. Following the personality lecture, he described the last of the Grandfather Ridge Backed Turtles. It came to Earth in a space ship and three years after the first dinosaurs showed up, they killed the Ridge Backed Turtle - and that is why all turtles today have smooth backs. (???) He then tried for some time to plant his flag. Lots of hammering and no luck until he finally got it to stick in the herb garden. Later in the evening he called and invited me to a grand opening today. I can't be completely sure, but I think we are celebrating the opening of a portal to another dimension. I hope it isn't a dimension of bionical doom or anything else that will tie me up for the afternoon. I really have work to do.

What Has Happened With Water Guns?

I was in the yard and heard Camron asking him mom to have a water-gun fight with him. She didn't have time and I could tell by his voice that he was upset. I told him to fill the guns and I would meet him at the pond for some water-gun fun. I should have guessed it's a new game when the water guns looked like his robots, with big holding tanks, but was still remembering the 5 cent water guns of my youth that could only shoot a small stream maybe up to 10 feet away. He gave me a hefty looking gun with a malfunctioning water tank line, and drenched me with something that could hurl a large stream of water probably 100 feet. We could have just used water hoses. Anyway, the water felt good in the heat, and his mood always improves with even a little attention.