Ed's Marathon

OK sometimes men fail to see the potential in their children and need to be reminded that challenges can make one's strengths visible when there was no prior indication that these skills were available.


H is questioning Ed's skills at marathon running. I find this short-sighted. Focus instead on this....

A RABBIT obstacle course:

Or this... a shepherd bunny (please ignore the song):  

But these are mere rabbits!  Can you imagine what a cat can do?  Imagine a cat that needs to be a cross-cultural ambassador!  Try this:

 

Or a NASCAR cat like this!

And here in the Northeast where winter is a long proposition, and winter sports are an important part of life?  Try this...

Last but not least, the boys are going to be in training shortly. If their father wants to help, well fine... If not?  We will see you at the finish line! 

A Day at the Races

Over the space of a single week, we've gone from the ground completely snow covered to the ground almost fully bare. The only ice left is in snowplow piles and some places where the roof shed its load eight or ten times during February and March.  We can work outside in just long-sleeved shirts, and have started walking again on our newly re-navigable road.

You may remember our discovery last fall of the FitBit, the little walking monitor that you can stick in your pocket or clip to your shirt collar.  January and February were disappointing months for our FitBits, as we stayed in the warm house and wrote; it seemed like the only mileage I got was shoveling, carrying firewood, and a weekly stroll through the grocery.  But I had four 10,000-step days last week without even trying, so spring is here.

Anyway, we were discussing the FitBit this morning, and Nora suggested that we should put one on Ed (the cat) and see whether he'd get twice as many steps because he has twice as many legs.  He has a little harness that we put on him in unfamiliar locations, and Nora thought it looked kind of like racing colors, and it wasn't twenty seconds before she was imagining training him to run the Boston Marathon.  I replied that I thought his powers of concentration probably weren't sufficient to have him take on a four-hour run…

[cue:  fade screen and harp music to signal fantasy sequence…]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Middletown Downs for the running of the Vermont Derby.  [trumpet sounds]  They're called to the post… and they're off!!  Ed takes a quick lead, and then sits to clean his paw.  Simon veers cross-track to chase a moth, then returns to bite Ed's hocks, and now they're both on their way.  Ed is in the lead and looking back as Simon continues to bite the backs of Ed's legs.  Now they're on the ground wrestling, and now Simon has the lead with Ed in pursuit.  But Ed discovers a toilet paper roll, while Simon eats a blade of grass…

[cue:  fade screen and harp music to signal return to present…]

So no, I don't think this cat racing thing has a viable business model.  But I never would have developed the Puppy Bowl or Twitter, either, so what do I know.

We also had an extensive discussion of the Newman's Own empire, and of machines that put six-pack rings onto cans, and how pre-computing manufacturing relied on ingenious combinations of parts that could move only linearly or rotationally.  Just another morning on the hill...