Frenzied Daddy

We’re here for vacation. Posting may be erratic, or may be terrific. Stay tuned.

I heard Boy Named Sue again on Charlie; it prompted me to find out who wrote it.

Shel frickin’ Silverstein.

I was laughing about this unicorn taking a stroll, when I decided to find the lyrics to one of my favorite children’s songs. It’s called “the Unicorn Song,” surprisingly enough, and it explains why the unicorns aren’t around today (they were playing unicorn games and didn’t make it onto the ark). And who wrote this?

Shel frickin’ Silversten!

One of my favorite of his poems was “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (Would Not Take The Garbage Out),” and I thought he was just … a funny poet, for kids, you know; a kid’s guy, like Raffi, but edgy, twisted. But every month I’m stumbling over him in new ways. Adult ways. Scary ways.

I had one of his books around here; I think I wound up selling it back to the bookstore. It was an example of me buying a book that I think Miss B would like (well, ok, that I hope influences her enough to keep her from being completely mainstream), but Miss B didn’t show any interest in it. Maybe I ought to find another copy. Or at least some good music.

Oh and by the way, that thebards.net site has some great free celtic mp3s.

b_dragon

Originally uploaded by rgilmanhunt.

Miss B presented me with this lovely dragon before she left for her grandparents’ house for the weekend. Dang, I have a talented kid.

Oh f’r crying out loud. Some girl Miss B’s age climbs over a driftwood barrier, up three feet of rock wall, and over four feet of plexiglass – to pet the cute little meerkats. And the vicious feral meerkat, rightfully so, bit her finger.

Rather than getting the kid her six belly-puncturing rabies shots, they euthenized the entire meerkat family; five animals, an entire display. Of course, after they were dead, they could be tested- and no, they didn’t have rabies. Let me tell you; not that she would, she’s been in Zoo Camp for five years and she knows the rules, but if Miss B were to pull that stunt, she’d get the rabies shots. And I would too, because where was I while she performed her acrobatic meerkat feat?

grimnor

Originally uploaded by rgilmanhunt.

This is our cat Grimnor. When the people who lived in our house before us moved, they moved across the street. Their cat had kittens, and we would up with one of them. He was our first male cat.

He’s a strange cat. He doesn’t like being picked up and cuddled. He walks kind of hunched over, as if he were raised by raccoons. He likes the dog grooming the back of his neck. And he doesn’t really want attention unless he’s in the mood; and if you lay on his couch, he will run to the couch and meow incessantly until you pet him. But don’t pick him up, or he’ll run off.

I don’t remember if I mentioned it; but I’ve garnered another “client.” — Full time working for a big website, with three other contracted programmers and a system admin. I’m also reading Joel at Reddit trying to get programming/business tips, because I made Arghwebworks more of an official business.

Shane and other non-technical types, keep reading, I won’t get too deep.

I keep seeing references to this book, “Design Patterns” by a group called the Gang of Four. I’ve been coding in PHP for over six years now, and I don’t consider myself “too bad” when it comes to Object Oriented programming. I can see it, recognise it, and even do it.

But holee-crap. I started reading about different patterns of Object Oriented Programming, things like ‘singletons’ and ‘factory methods’ and ‘visitors’ … and suddenly my vision blurred, the desk slid sideways and tilted to the left and my cheek was pressed against the floor. Reading these descriptions is like being plunged back into college and Philosophy courses where Kant or Wittgenstein are using language in a way I’m not really ready to read.

I’m missing a whole layer of understanding that I need to grok what they’re saying in the book. And as it happens, my Object Oriented code isn’t really all that object-oriented; it’s just a bunch of old-style (procedural) code wrapped up and pretending to be object oriented. I think. I don’t really “get it” but I think that’s accurate :S.

I’m not saying I suck or anything- some of my code is pretty decent. Nice even. But this whole ‘design patterns’ thing is really … flexing my brain in a way I haven’t experienced since college. Fifteen years ago.

olddog

Originally uploaded by rgilmanhunt.

Honor was being really patient with me. Actually, with Miss K, who was enjoying her pasta a little too much.

I was inspired for pictures like this one, from a book I read every time I go to the vet’s (it’s the vet’s book). It’s a small book of some excellent portraits of dogs, and the stories around them.

Honor is aging, faster than I imagined she would. She gets very upset with new people coming to the door; especially the letter carrier, but she really just wants some love. When this smart dog escapes from the yard, she wanders down the street; to get her back, we just have to call her, and she runs as fast as her little legs will carry her. This is the dog who had the Femoral Head Ostomy surgery for her dysplasia.

Now that we’ve moved our offices to the basement, and we spend a lot more time down there, Perrin comes down a lot, but Honor winds up trapped upstairs, because the stairs hurt her hips. I feel sorry for her; she’s always happy to see us when we come up for water or whatever. Generally, though, she sleeps on the pile of clean clothes in the papasan chair in the bedroom, or on the couch near the basement door, waiting for us to come play, pet, or most importantly, feed her.

Hot; it’s been so hot, it’s been unbelievable. I’ve just recently tried crawling out of the basement, only to survey a dry, dessicated land around the house. Hot.

It’s so hot, I was considering moving the hammock into the sprinkler.

It’s so hot, the 2 year old handed me the squirtgun and ran off, giggling “HEE-hee”

Hot.

How’re you’all taking it?

… is nigh. Very nigh.

And our shopping list for her this year is extremely short. She really likes big playground balls; we’re going to get her one of those. One of the playground kind, not the thin beach kind, so that Perrin won’t pop it. He loves to play with the balls. And she needs a little wagon to pull around; we’ll get her one of those. One thing we’ve found that she loves is Crayola’s Color Wonder. She’s taken Miss B’s markers and Ms B’s pigment permanent scrapbooking pens and drawn all over the house; I think even the dogs have been decorated by her artistry. But the color wonders will only color on the paper. She loves them