If the woodland creatures unite, we're in trouble, y'all.

Though yesterday was a Very Disappointing Day, there were a few things that happened that made me smile. Nay, laugh, even.

There is an empty lot on the highway at I-40 and Soncy that used to be a HUGE field, with cows and everything. Seriously. Thirteen years ago, when I started dating Nolan and he brought me to what I affectionately called "That windy, dry town with no trees and too many farm animals," (or Amarillo, to those unfamiliar with my former feelings about my home), across from The Mall (No, really. Just ONE mall) were hundreds of acres of grazing land for cattle.

I thought it was weird and a little funny. I took a picture.

"Okay, and then when we came out of Dillards - Cows!"

This is not so anymore; restaurants and boutiques and stores and shopping centers have all cropped up, leaving this one tiny corner empty. What does this corner have on it?

Prairie dogs.


( Like, BIG trouble. )

And a Cute Kid Story with metaphors & morals.

(Carrie's family is having lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse yesterday, and Ethan is particularly animated, telling us a story about what happened the last time he was at church)

Ethan. You know how you always tell us to eat whatever is put in front of us without complaining?

Nolan. Yes.

Aaron. (Pipes up) You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!

Carrie. That's right.

Ethan. (glares at his brother) Anyway, we had cupcakes last week after the lesson, and our teacher's son asked for a cupcake with no icing. (playwright's note: This bit in italics is delivered as if it were "dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.")

Nolan. You don't say.

Ethan. Yeah! She knew that her son didn't want icing, so she saved one without just for him. She must really love him!

Nolan. Love doesn't necessarily have anything to do with that. The world isn't going to scrape the icing off your cupcake, Ethan.

Aaron. (pipes up again) That's okay with me. I like icing.

(There is a silence, in which we all ponder what's been said and the ramifications thereof...)

Aaron. Oh. That was a metaphor, wasn't it, Dad?

Carrie. (narrowly stops herself from swearing) What the-- A.J., what kind of eight year-old knows what a metaphor is?

Ethan. (preens) The kind with a ten year-old brother!

Aaron. (glares at Ethan) The kind that ignores his brother and listens to his mom.

---

I don't know of what I'm more proud: The fact that Nolan USED a metaphor, or the fact that the eight year-old listens to me talk enough to know what that particular figure of speech means.