Friday, July 06, 2007

And Then July!

After a record wet month of May, we had one of the driest Junes on record. I've had trouble blogging because I can't sit down at the computer without falling asleep. We've been hauling irrigation pipe, planning Independence Day Celebrations, hauling hay, and mowing weeds.
THE FOURTH
We had a great get together. It included a Birthday party for one of my sisters, a surprise family baby shower for our youngest and his bride, and a few lady fingers and parachutes to fire off. Nothing says America like grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, homemade ice cream and fireworks from China.
We found the perfect compliment to Homemade Cherry Nut ice cream, it turned out that if you put a scoop of that on top of a scoop of Homemade Vanilla you had a combination that was hard to beat. We also had a chocolate cake for the birthday and a white cake for the shower. A great day indeed. My oldest son Dan and I finished it off with a quick nine holes of golf at just before sunset. He and I both had new fairway woods (metals) we wanted to try out. We came home and changed the sets on two of our irrigation wells, said our good byes and we collapsed into bed.
As a follow up to this. My 8 year old grandson ended the day with some 'delayed fuse' lady fingers. (not to worry, these fire crackers have the same power as cap gun with a two second fuse.) He was only allowed to light them with a punk. Punk, used in this manner, is a new word for him. He used up his last punk and was distraught because he had a few more to light at the end of the day and his Mom wouldn't let him use matches. Then yesterday, he found a couple of old punks in his Uncle Toms old room upstairs in our house. He came downstairs just beaming, held them up to show Grandma and said, "Look what I found Grandma, JERKS!" Apparently someone in this family, (ahem) uses the word 'punk' interchangeably with the word 'jerk' .
One last thing, I want to see if you think I'm correct. Last night my Daughter and I came into the house. We'd been hauling some hay and Grandma had the kids. They were watching a high def nature film. Fish were jumping out of the water. My Daughter said, look at all of those fish jumping. I told her, "I don't think fish jump out of the water on purpose." Then I imparted my theory on her. A theory I had developed thru years of taking the family camping and fishing at Harlan County Reservoir. I told her "Fish don't jump out of the water on purpose, I think they are just swimming upwards and suddenly run out of water, they then say to their buddies, Oh crap, AIR and turn around and dive back into the water."
They must have thought I knew what I was talking about because they all stared at me for a second and left the room. It seems that I often get the last word in these discussions. I think they are in awe of me.

22 comments:

True_Floridian Momma said...

Oh yes, I'm sure they are so **ahem** dumbfounded by your brillance, they blankly stare and without a word leave the room....yep, I'm sure that's it.


on another note...sounds like your 4th was just perfect!!

PinkCat said...

Funny Cliff real funny!!

Glad you had a great 4th of....

Take care xx

nora leona said...

"Awe" is a good word. So is "awwww"
I'm glad you had a good day and some rest from all of the work.
Two kinds of cake, you're living right my friend!

Jim said...

Cliff, I'm sure you had them in 'awe.' Since they all left, this one must have been more 'awe' than they coulld witstand!
Thanks, for checking on me this morning. No, I didn't break a one of those balloons with my weakly air pressure!
You can't be too old for the Tekamah fireworks. Mom and Dad went when they were in their eighties, even without us. Besides the grandkids like them.
..

Peter said...

Who could not be in awe of your waer/air theory Cliff?? and leaving the room is probably the only polite thing to do.

1 plus twins said...

you are so right, your brilliance is something for everyone to step back, takc notice and and just listen!!! lol

the ice cream and cakes sound wonderful!!!

ok i am must be having a real blonde moment and i am in need of your brilliance now. what in the world are punks and jerks?? i know what they mean to me but they are not somehting you can hold up!!

Paul Nichols said...

Awe? Awe?
That's a mighty small word for such a tall tale, Cliff.

However, for what it's worth: I think you're right.

Jamie Dawn said...

I read your fish theory to my hubby and this is his response: "Those fish jump out of the water just to mock Cliff. The fish are saying, 'Here we are, and YOU can't catch us!!'"

You've been working hard and eating good.
That sounds great to me!!

I love that your granson said jerks instead of punks.
Very cute.

Congrats to your son and his bride as they expect their first baby!!! How VERY SUPER wonderful!!

I have a theory as to why your family members leave the room after you explain your various thoughts and theories about things.
They don't want you to see them laughing.

EV said...

I think they're in awe, too, Cliff. I am.

Anonymous said...

Awe. Yeah. That's what it was.

Sounds like you had a full forth!

Rachel said...

What a grand time you had on the 4th Cliff with ice cream and cake!! Plus all those other grilled goodies. Nothing that exciting here.

I didn't know (did I??) that Tom's wife was pregnant! More grandkids for you to spoil and teach about life!!

I think your theory about the fish is a good one. Since the water is so low in some places in the lake here now, someone said that the fish were jumping out of the water a lot down around the dock. So with the lower water level that means they rush up and run out of water and hit AIR more often........hey, makes sense to me! No wonder others are in awe of you. You are just a genius of course. Hey, I'll stick up for you!

Lee said...

Hahahaha! You certainly are a man full of wonderful wisdom and knowledge, Cliff! ;)

Great post...lots of fun.

Take care

JunieRose2005 said...

Cliff,

I enjoyed this post soo much!

I always leave here with a smile! :)


Junie Rose

Anonymous said...

I don't know Cliff, but after reading about the fish and the jumping or not jumping out of water, I am in awe.
So much in awe, that I can't think of a clever response so I am going to just sit here and stare at the computer for awhile.

Ralph said...

Cliff
Sounds like the fourth was a lot of fun. Maybe next year we'll be able to get out.
About the fish - don't you just hate being right and having people ignore it? I know I do.
Ralph

1 plus twins said...

ok i stopped by in hopes that you answered my question about the punks and jerks cuz lord knows this arizona blogger is feeling a bit neglected by you!!! lol stop by some time!

1 plus twins said...

thanks for stopping by and telling me what a punk is, i have never heard of those. in the winter i am sure you will be wishing you lived here. lol

Unknown said...

Awwwwwwwww...

Jim said...

Were those jumping fish from Florida?
"Leaping sturgeon have injured three people on the Suwannee this year, including a woman on a Jet Ski and a girl whose leg was shattered when one of the giant fish jumped aboard her boat.
"Eight others were hit last year, and with traffic growing on the storied river, sturgeon are joining alligators and hurricanes on the list of things to dread in Florida."

The article said they weighed up to 200 pounds.
Just another reason to stay away from Florida besides the ones mentioned.
The article forgot to mention the classic misquito problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/us/04sturgeon.html?em
..

Kendra Lynn said...

Just wanted you to know that I am still alive and breathing...just busy as can be!
Thanks for caring.

Kendra

LZ Blogger said...

Cliff ~ Either it was that... or else they were just getting out of the room instead of laughing in your face. Sounds like a GOOD 4th of July for you. Makes me want to go buy some ice cream! ~ jb///

Rhodent said...

I know that your family is grateful that they can always count on you for enlightened views and words of wisdom. I, for one, am grateful that you keep the rest of us humble with your unending wit!!!