Safety clothing and Volvo software swim with Beep Beep Arrow
21-05-18 22:31 Grandchildren,Family
Here in Santa Barbara, Mid-May brings the seasonal ‘May Gray’ climate ‘feature’. Morning fog and chill gives way, grudgingly, to blue skies and warm afternoon temperatures. This year, the chill has been overly chilly and the grudge disgustingly long. It’s hard to believe that..
“ …. fire season is on the way,” Nazy proclaimed.
“Foggy fire is unheard of,” I replied, looking out the window. “It will be sunny this afternoon.”
“So afternoon fire will be permitted?” Nazy replied.
As a regular reader, you probably know that I take both Tiger and Arrow to weekly swimming classes. Once a year the class has a safety week: the kids are required to swim in their street clothes. It is not a popular idea.
“No, Dan.” Tiger exclaimed as I described the concept on the way to Class.
“It’s a safety rule, Tiger. Everyone will be wearing their clothESS in the POOL You can too.”
“No.” Tiger replied. “Not everyone,”Tiger thought. “Because nothing REPLACES a swim suit.”
We compromised by having him wear a child’s wet suit. The previous day, Arrow had been equally articulate (and repetitive) with one of his favorite words (‘Na&rsquo
which is Persian for ‘No’.
During Tiger’s class, the head of the swim school complained that parents…
“… and grand parents, Dan, are not helping with safety week. The children must wear their street clothes including shoes and socks. We’re going to do this again next week.”
“I’m in favor of safety,” I replied. “We won’t be here next week,” I thought.
“I’m sending a note to all the parents,” Wendy continued.
“Good idea,” I agreed. “At least it’s not just me (and Tiger),” I thought. “They’re DRAINing the fun.”
Unsurprisingly, we skippED swim class this week.
This week, Nazy and I joined Tom, Melika, Tiger and Arrow for breakfaSt at Lucky’s in Montecito. The breakfast was great even though the WAffle selection caused a one day dietary lapse. Nazy, naturally, had a cholesterol-free, healthy egg-white oMelet with a side of spinach accomPanied by a tall glass of air.
We visited the playground (and the 'land' shark) at the..
“… Alice Keck Park,” Nazy concluded.
“Believe it or not, Nazy, the official name is the Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens.”
“So Alice’s last name is Gardens?”
I was reminded of the Alice Peck Day facilities in Hanover, New Hampshire and..
“ … Lyman Hall at Georgia Tech, Nazy,” I explained. “I ‘fondly’ remember Freshman Chemistry classes at Lyman Hall taught by A.C. Topp." (He had a cane and a temper.)
“Lyman Hall?”
“That’s right. I THOUGHT that the Lyman Hall building waS named after someone named Lyman. Then I realized, after watching the movie 1776, that a ‘Lyman Hall’ had signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative from Georgia.”
“So the Lyman Hall Chemistry Laboratory is named after..”
“… someone named Laboratory. That’s what I thought. But I found out that a different Lyman Hall was a Chemistry Professor at Georgia Tech AND that the building was named after him.
This week, Volvo in Thousand Oaks called to let us know that the part needed to fix the outside mirror had arrived. We scheduled the ‘short’ repair and the..
“ …. somewhat inconvenient drive,” I remarked as we set out.
“Yes, but the car is great,” Nazy replied.
“I like the car, but I hope they open a service center in Santa Barbara,” I replied. “At least that’s my PRAYER,” I thought.
When we got there, we were told that it would take ‘about 2 hourS. Nazy and I went for a walk around Thousand Oaks. Two hours later, we WERE told that they were ‘updating the software’ and it would take..
“ …. about two hours.”
“What?!” I exclaimed. “You morons,” I thought. Nazy negotiated a loaner car and we drove to a local Persian Restaurant for lunch.
“You know, Nazy,” I began getting right to the POINT. “It took 72 hours for BMW in Switzerland to update the software on the green car.”
“It won’t take that long, Dan. It will be LESS.”
“I remember, because the Cassini probe at Saturn had a faster data transfer rate.” I RESPONded.
“They said two hourS..”
“TwicE.” I concluded.
I can confidently report that Nazy enjoyed the stroll through Thousand Oaks. (The second GO-around took a bit more than the second two hour estimate.)
“ …. fire season is on the way,” Nazy proclaimed.
“Foggy fire is unheard of,” I replied, looking out the window. “It will be sunny this afternoon.”
“So afternoon fire will be permitted?” Nazy replied.
As a regular reader, you probably know that I take both Tiger and Arrow to weekly swimming classes. Once a year the class has a safety week: the kids are required to swim in their street clothes. It is not a popular idea.
“No, Dan.” Tiger exclaimed as I described the concept on the way to Class.
“It’s a safety rule, Tiger. Everyone will be wearing their clothESS in the POOL You can too.”
“No.” Tiger replied. “Not everyone,”Tiger thought. “Because nothing REPLACES a swim suit.”
We compromised by having him wear a child’s wet suit. The previous day, Arrow had been equally articulate (and repetitive) with one of his favorite words (‘Na&rsquo
which is Persian for ‘No’.During Tiger’s class, the head of the swim school complained that parents…
“… and grand parents, Dan, are not helping with safety week. The children must wear their street clothes including shoes and socks. We’re going to do this again next week.”
“I’m in favor of safety,” I replied. “We won’t be here next week,” I thought.
“I’m sending a note to all the parents,” Wendy continued.
“Good idea,” I agreed. “At least it’s not just me (and Tiger),” I thought. “They’re DRAINing the fun.”
Unsurprisingly, we skippED swim class this week.
This week, Nazy and I joined Tom, Melika, Tiger and Arrow for breakfaSt at Lucky’s in Montecito. The breakfast was great even though the WAffle selection caused a one day dietary lapse. Nazy, naturally, had a cholesterol-free, healthy egg-white oMelet with a side of spinach accomPanied by a tall glass of air.
We visited the playground (and the 'land' shark) at the..
“… Alice Keck Park,” Nazy concluded.
“Believe it or not, Nazy, the official name is the Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens.”
“So Alice’s last name is Gardens?”
I was reminded of the Alice Peck Day facilities in Hanover, New Hampshire and..
“ … Lyman Hall at Georgia Tech, Nazy,” I explained. “I ‘fondly’ remember Freshman Chemistry classes at Lyman Hall taught by A.C. Topp." (He had a cane and a temper.)
“Lyman Hall?”
“That’s right. I THOUGHT that the Lyman Hall building waS named after someone named Lyman. Then I realized, after watching the movie 1776, that a ‘Lyman Hall’ had signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative from Georgia.”
“So the Lyman Hall Chemistry Laboratory is named after..”
“… someone named Laboratory. That’s what I thought. But I found out that a different Lyman Hall was a Chemistry Professor at Georgia Tech AND that the building was named after him.
This week, Volvo in Thousand Oaks called to let us know that the part needed to fix the outside mirror had arrived. We scheduled the ‘short’ repair and the..
“ …. somewhat inconvenient drive,” I remarked as we set out.
“Yes, but the car is great,” Nazy replied.
“I like the car, but I hope they open a service center in Santa Barbara,” I replied. “At least that’s my PRAYER,” I thought.
When we got there, we were told that it would take ‘about 2 hourS. Nazy and I went for a walk around Thousand Oaks. Two hours later, we WERE told that they were ‘updating the software’ and it would take..
“ …. about two hours.”
“What?!” I exclaimed. “You morons,” I thought. Nazy negotiated a loaner car and we drove to a local Persian Restaurant for lunch.
“You know, Nazy,” I began getting right to the POINT. “It took 72 hours for BMW in Switzerland to update the software on the green car.”
“It won’t take that long, Dan. It will be LESS.”
“I remember, because the Cassini probe at Saturn had a faster data transfer rate.” I RESPONded.
“They said two hourS..”
“TwicE.” I concluded.
I can confidently report that Nazy enjoyed the stroll through Thousand Oaks. (The second GO-around took a bit more than the second two hour estimate.)
Nazy in Thousand Oaks 
Sone readers (“I’m talking about you, Mitra&rdquo claimed that Arrow’s “Exit Sign” did not qualify as a two word sentence. I have, therefore, this week’s improvement:
On the mornings that Arrow stays with us, I go out with him to wave ‘Bye-Bye’ to his Mom. She backs away and then, as she Pulls out toward her office, she beeps the horn. Twice. So: last Tuesday, as she was backing out:
“Mama Beep Beep”, Arrow exclaimed.
Personal Note: This qualifies as a two word sentence… I’m SPEAKing with the complete language and artistry that can only be acquired at an engineering school.
And, meanwhile in Bellingham, Washington, the lovely Leandra is just about to turn one year old. We’re looking forward to seeing her join her parents in Santa Barbara to celebrate.
For last week's letter, please click here
The Boys together
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