Random Thoughts VIII: The Ocho

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Many moons ago old Uncle Boxster took his three young nieces to the St. Paul zoo while sis and BIL attended a wedding here. Was in the nocturnal exhibit which is dark and down stairs. It was VERY crowded, and of course, pretty dark. Got to the top of the stairs exiting and only had two little girls. Youngest, maybe 3 or 4 at the time, was missing. Freak out. Instructed older girls to freeze in place and pushed back through the crowd. Littlest had backtracked and was there with her nose against the glass looking to try and see some animal. As a childless dude it's as close as I have come to parental like freakin'.

It's a horrible feeling!

KC, it is sad and horrible.
 
It's a horrible feeling!

It was 25 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. "Oh, my god she's been abducted!" and pulse rate jumped to 5k race rate.
BTW, had supper with her this week. She's 6 months PG. :smile: Maybe she'll let me take her child to the zoo some day.
 
It was 25 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. "Oh, my god she's been abducted!" and pulse rate jumped to 5k race rate.
BTW, had supper with her this week. She's 6 months PG. :smile: Maybe she'll let me take her child to the zoo some day.

Back when we lived in SF East Bay, we used to love going into the city and wandering down along the wharves to Ghirardelli square. Street performers were everywhere; musicians, mimes, clowns (this was before my boys watched It with me!) and the boys loved them. R was 4, D was 3...we were there one afternoon on a crowded touristy day, and we stopped for a bit to watch a guy making balloon animals. He gave each of the boys a balloon animal hat which delighted them, and we tipped him & continued on our way, each of us holding the hand of one of the boys. I'm still not sure how, but about two blocks later while watching another performer the ex realized D was no longer holding his hand. General panic ensued, with us searching the immediate vicinity and then retracing our steps. Thankfully, we spotted him sitting crosslegged in front of the balloon animal guy with a lap full of balloons. The guy smiled & said when D showed up, he figured we'd be following pretty quick, so he just kept him entertained so he wouldn't wander farther. D was happy as a freakin' little clam, R was jealous because D had more balloons. I was just grateful that the street performer was one of the good guys. :)

Point being, most of us parents have at least one child escapee story. Thankfully, the majority of them end well...but the ones that don't are the ones that remind us we need to be vigilant...right, Rev?
 
Back when we lived in SF East Bay, we used to love going into the city and wandering down along the wharves to Ghirardelli square. Street performers were everywhere; musicians, mimes, clowns (this was before my boys watched It with me!) and the boys loved them. R was 4, D was 3...we were there one afternoon on a crowded touristy day, and we stopped for a bit to watch a guy making balloon animals. He gave each of the boys a balloon animal hat which delighted them, and we tipped him & continued on our way, each of us holding the hand of one of the boys. I'm still not sure how, but about two blocks later while watching another performer the ex realized D was no longer holding his hand. General panic ensued, with us searching the immediate vicinity and then retracing our steps. Thankfully, we spotted him sitting crosslegged in front of the balloon animal guy with a lap full of balloons. The guy smiled & said when D showed up, he figured we'd be following pretty quick, so he just kept him entertained so he wouldn't wander farther. D was happy as a freakin' little clam, R was jealous because D had more balloons. I was just grateful that the street performer was one of the good guys. :)

Point being, most of us parents have at least one child escapee story. Thankfully, the majority of them end well...but the ones that don't are the ones that remind us we need to be vigilant...right, Rev?


Absolutely! Toddlers are fast and just learning consequences. They don't automatically apply/realize the danger all the time or not.
 
I hate snakes, really hate snakes.

Strunk, nice seeing you in the wrestling room.

This Hispanic family that we barely helped for graduation won't stop bringing us stuff. We appreciate it, but don't deserve their reciprocation.
 
00, I want to get into home brewing sometime. You and me should be friends.

I'm a little rusty, as I said, that was my first batch in 5 years.

http://howtobrew.com/

Also, check out BIY homebrew in Marion, in that old little strip mall by the McDonald's there where Blairs Ferry hits 1st Avenue, by Thomas park.

You can do a lot with extract kits. It's like anything, you can go crazy on equipment or all grain brewing, but you can also get going without much. One thing I'd advise, though, if you can, don't bother with the small batch starter kits. Northern Brewer sells a 1 gallon batch kit...unless space is an issue for you, you're going to spend darn near as much time making a 1 gallon kit as you would 5 gallons. 5 gallons makes around 2 cases...so with a 1 gallon kit, you're still going to spend a couple hours prepping, doing a boil, and cleaning up...for a little more than a 12 pack? Not this guy.

Looking at Northern Brewer, this kit is actually a pretty decent deal:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brew-share-enjoy-homebrew-starter-kit

The only other thing you'd need is 2 cases of empty bottles. You can re-use most pry off (not twist off) bottles, just have to clean them.

There's probably better resources out there than me, but I'd be glad to share any info that I have. Not sure how much I'll be doing it, the kit that I brewed today sat in my basement for like 6 months before I actually did get time to do it.
 
Got some more apple pineapple sausages.

But I really mean bratwurst.


The funny part is that I'd be more accepting about the term "bratwurst" than your abomination of the word Barbecue. I mean, I've come to terms with the fact that grocery stores call everything a brat because for some reason, if you call something a brat, people will buy it 10X easier than if you call it a sausage, I just won't use it myself.
 
I hate snakes, really hate snakes.

Strunk, nice seeing you in the wrestling room.

This Hispanic family that we barely helped for graduation won't stop bringing us stuff. We appreciate it, but don't deserve their reciprocation.

Get up on the funk.
 
Don't care what you call, just not a tube steak. That has too much slang. Old man I was in a service group with, would get excited at brats and yell we're all getting tube steaks at everybody. I figured he had no idea what he was saying.
 
Don't care what you call, just not a tube steak. That has too much slang. Old man I was in a service group with, would get excited at brats and yell we're all getting tube steaks at everybody. I figured he had no idea what he was saying.

We called them "tube steaks" because steak was expensive, so when the adults had steak for dinner, the kids got "tube steaks". I didn't know it had a different definition until I moved here to Iowa (I was in my late twenties). It might actually be a midwestern thing.
 
I agree that we don't have enough info to condemn the mother or the zoo. We can make guesses based on the available information, but I think it will be a perfect storm of failure on the part of humans that resulted in a captive gorilla being killed.

A child was in a place that he should NOT have been, and should not have been able to reach. Whether it was a lack of parenting, or a lack of planning on the part of the people who designed the enclosure, the net result is a dead gorilla...and that makes me sad.

That doesn't mean I value the gorilla over the boy, it just means I think the adult humans collectively failed to protect both the child and the gorilla.

The story I read in the Honolulu Star Advertiser said the kid was playing around the opening and multiple times saying he was going to go in to live with the apes and the mom just kept telling him "no you're not" and "don't do that."

Hindsight is always 20/20, but I guess I feel like at some point you've got to go over and get the kid away from where he's not supposed to be playing.
 
Jalapeno poppers and strip steaks on the grill for dinner sounds pretty good... About to head to the pool and indulge in a few adult beverages. I can't hit the bottle too hard because I start my first day at my internship tomorrow.
 
Drove by a lake. A lot of people fishing. A lot of those fishing wearing tank tops. So....people who like to fish like to wear tank tops. Probably why I don't fish.
 
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