Adorbs. We don't really speak Spanish, most of these folks really don't speak English but it didn't seem to matter as long as we don't talk about Bruno, No no.

I could actually understand a lot of what they were saying. They appreciated Olive's speed in making balloons and what a balloon buffoon I am.

I loved watching the hilarious exchange when i would say something goofy, then the child had to translate what i said to the parent in Spanish then the parent had to translate that Spanish to older relatives explaining why it was funny. The adults were mostly silent until we mentioned (in English) we had a 15 year old at home. That created quite the buz as they pondered loudly in Spanish how Olive could have passed a kid that age. LOL!

This is at a school gig with one of those endless line situations. Everyone was in our line. So many people that Olive went as far back as she could, picked a spot and gave them a bucket. "This is the end of the line, please tell folks you are the last ones. They understood and did it well. These folks did a great job. By the time they got to us, everyone else at the festival was gone. They were rewarded for their line marshaling by having us all to themselves.

Test is in. We have some important family news to announce...(ahem..)

We don't have Covid 19. Weeeee. Clowns are again free to move about the cabin.

 

If you have an amusing name I Will vote for you.

 Operation: civic duty. We did some voting today. I don't know who most of these folks are so i let my dice choose thier fates. Olive's ballot had way more stuff than mine. My ballot says "Non partisan" no idea what that means

If you have an amusing name I Will vote for you.

So many bikes! Portland. Last min. voting reminds me of the grocery store at 11pm when almost everyone in line is in pajamas and is buying ice cream. Same vibe with this voting. Those fellows in front of us were cracking us up. The one dude dropped his ballot but forgot to vote for anyone.

On the way home we passed a ball field with a couple of little league games going. Someone stood up and yelled "Look, it's Olive and Dingo!" We got massive cheering and a standing O just riding by. Olive was grinning ear to ear. "That was marvelous. So encouraging." I agree. That was tight. We should vote more often.

operation gasslight-light

 I love it! I ran out of coffee so I took a walk to the local cafe. On the way back a Dad was strapping lil-uns into car seats with his back to me. A three year old was standing beside him yelling "It's Dingo! It's Dingo Daddy!" Dad without looking "Ok Hon, we will take you to see Olive and Dingo sometime...(unintelligible mumbling)"

True to form the kid persists "Daddy it's Dingo!" Then Dad starts handing the kid that rap about it not being her birthday. I walked by silently smiling and waving. Quickly I scooted by them and around the corner before Dad looked around.

I first learned this trick riding a tallbike near a commuter train. Now it's a challenge I look forward to every time.

Wanna rent my groundbreaking Air-D&D?

 Wanna rent my groundbreaking Air-D&D? I didn't want to get into renting tunnels but eventually I caved. It's got central air, apparently everywhere is a bathroom, free spiders, and great people watching. Only 69.95 per night. Don't pay me, just deposit the money directly into the Willamette river. Sanctuary much.

unhelpful helpfulness.

 My son asked me to accompany him home yesterday because there was a shooting outside his school. I usually accompany him but i still said "So you want me to go down there and get shot too? Thanks a lot buddy." He is very used to my brand of unhelpful helpfulness. I wouldn't miss picking him up anytime. Those long bus rides are giving us some time together. We were separated a long time and have a lot of conversations to make up. :)

There was some gunfire close to our house last night. Odd to be trying to comfort my friend in Ukraine while there are shots going off here. Gunshots and then louder gunshots. There wasn't the normal screaming and cars peeling out so I'm thinking it may have been some kind of thug mating ritual.

Compelling story this morn. A friend brought Olive a sewing situation.

Compelling story this morn. A friend brought Olive a sewing situation. Boudoir laundry!

She had collected a lot of weight over the last few hard years. She was bedridden and down in the dumps. Fortunately she has been living for life of late, smiling, dancing and shedding the pounds she didn't want. Empowered, she is having Olive refit her sexy clothes to her post plague bod. High five to empowerment! I thought this may be compelling. I'm in the other room and somehow all the talk (and measuring) of breasticles compelled me to accidentally dump the coffee grounds into my cup instead of the coffeepot.

So Y'now...that basically makes me an expert at fashion and fitness. Anyway...that's why I moved myself to the shed out back.

Small battles 2000 episode 28

 

 Guarding the horses while Olive runs in this bank to pay rent. In line ahead someone had a little dog. It was barking at some folks at a desk so they were asked to leave. "This is my service animal." The dog then puked (not kidding) and continued barking at people. There were no service dog markings but also nobody had the motivation for that fight so they stayed. I thought they should at least have a marked collar even if it said "disservice animal." We usually do not like being in stripmall hell. Dangerous traffic, no small biz, lots more folks smoke cigs, "cookie cutter culture". But it was noticed that the people who see us are beyond happy. They were elated. In our hood we get a lot of waving and a little cheering, this was all cheering. We plan to go those places more. We live to bring smiles where they are most needed.

Yesterday we had two meetings by phone.

 Yesterday we had two meetings by phone. One was making plans with a journalism student to shadow us for a story and the other was meeting our marriage counselor. Counselor's first words were a riot. "First impressions you two are sharing a chair, giggling and petting one another....why are you here?" A. we wanna keep it that way. It was a great meeting full of tools and we even took notes and stuff. 

Like everyone else we have been thru a tough few years. All our limits were pushed (with smiles painted on) and here we are. Counselor informed about confidentiality. "The only ones on my end that will know your story is myself and my supervisor occasionally. That is only if it helps me serve your case. We were both very excited that I was going to work with clowns." LOL! It was a wonderful meeting. I recommend. 

This gotz me ta thinkin...So many guys talk about how to impress women. I think I cracked it. Have a rice dish, a vasectomy, hold hands, don't be afraid of children/old folks/make-up/emotions/others, and do counseling from time to time. Works a treat fer my life.