Archive

16 OCT 25

Yali's sitting by his snake's tank early that morning watching him roll lethargically through the mulch the day after horking down some kind of huge Canadian green worm... “He's a fat cow” Yali laughs at him as he pushes his plate of scrambled eggs

15 OCT 25

Oxbear's off work preparing for his flight to Quito the next morning... ...while Puck is gathering together the pieces of his car... the whole drive-shaft and disassembly in a large Tupperware to deliver to a mechanic in Lemay for further analysis and many hundreds of dollars... An hour

14 OCT 25

Yali is already busy toasting tiny marshmallows with a handheld lighter walking into the living room before classes that morning... don't roast and drive please... They're chugging through work sheets... after some dramatics from Yali... math flashcards are his apocalypse-now... he roars right into Abram in

13 OCT 25

Aware in the early morning that something is standing over me... waiting... patiently... open my eyes to a pair of other eyes staring down at me from above... “Can I make pancakes?”... While Patience busies herself with a bowl of batter in the kitchen before classes... …Puck throws himself out

12 OCT 25

Yali leaving Sunday School in his new black suit which he now wears to help Oxbear “elder” at the early service... pulls two quarters from his jacket pocket... slaps them into his friend's hand... his friend confirms payment and is pleased... Yali's two thousand dollar betting

11 OCT 25

Thick mist over the world early that morning... Oxbear gone to a business meeting... returns with a paper sack of breakfast sandwiches to share... Yali's already busy at the bathroom mirror... applying fake blood cuts and scabs to his face with an old toothbrush... hopefully an old toothbrush.

10 OCT 25

Patience is already in a furious scribbling of drawing pencils and cootie catcher templates with a mug of hot cocoa... Yali hack-coughing into convincing me he needs a break from math class that morning... Mobile mechanic hacking open Presley's dashboard to finally remove the plaguing driveshaft... Classic Halloween

09 OCT 25

Oxbear already at an early coffee meeting mostly without the crutches now... I'm prepping tea and toast for the young ones and organizing paints for Yali's day of art and printing off cootie catcher templates for Patience... “She might need to use your crayons for this

08 OCT 25

Oxbear's knocking around the house on crutches and Yali's feeling sore all over from dragging the trampoline across the yard yesterday and a little “ick”... but they still scoop themselves out the door with bowls of eggs over easy pushed into their hands from Mama “for

07 OCT 25

Hand vacuum whirring in the living room in the seven o'clock hour... Yali sucking up the ant invasion... no evil villain cackles though... As I pull eggs and bread for breakfast... he's organizing cardboard in the living room before class... “I'm making the Armor

06 OCT 25

Everyone's home in the afternoon for awhile between Walgreen's for athletic wraps and back from overnights and neighborhood jogs and play therapy and Red Robin with friends and making more fake blood in the kitchen and fencing class... just missing rain shedding somewhere south and east.

05 OCT 25

“YOUR SON OWES ME TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS BECAUSE I ATE AN ORANGE PEEL! HAHAHA!”... one of the three boys of Yali's Sunday School posse half-shouts in laughter at me as they tumble out of the building together... “I do! I owe him two thousand dollars!” Yali laughs in

04 OCT 25

“And remember Yali... you need to get your fishing equipment prepared for your Scout outing Tuesday evening...” // **dramatically throws his head backwards** “Oh gosh...” // “What... is your social life just too demanding for you?” // **grins** “No...” // “What are your plans for today anyway?” // **bigger grin** “SCIENCE!” While I leave Yali

04 OCT 25

Nine AM out in Byrnes Mill dropping off Yali with a friend and his grandpa for exploring Meramec Caverns... leave him watching “Floor is Lava” playing with their one-eyed dog after chatting with the grandpa about the cave on his property that needs exploring once the debris gets cleaned out.

She's 10!

Yali's feeling good apparently... doing “the worm” across my bed early that morning... “How're your teeth feeling today?” // **braces shine back in a big grin** “Good!”... Patience is in the kitchen already celebrating her most-looked-forward-to day of her year... assisting Oxbear in mixing chocolate chip pancake

01 OCT 25

Yali feels like his teeth are attacking him that morning... so after a dose of Tylenol switch on some Harry Potter for the mopey fellow while he stays home with the big boys... ...as Patience and myself spritz over to the old school for another volunteer shift... a little conversation

30 SEP 25

Braces time... Yali is slouching in a chair in Dr. K's office suspiciously watching the twenty minute informational video with me before his appointment and not feelin' it... his eyes read a dark “I HATE ALL OF THIS AND I'M GOING TO BE MAD AT

29 SEP 25

Patience is busy cutting white cheddar cheese with a pocket knife in the kitchen before sitting down to class... ...while Yali wearing his Harry Potter robes turned inside-out is carefully popping 3D-printed claws onto each of his fingers... then something about face paint halfway through Creative Writing... ...and Patience gets

28 SEP 25

Radio's featuring some high-powered American Gospel that morning while Yali's snake contemplates these tunes resting his chin on a stick in his tank... Yali walks out of the bathroom his hair split down the middle and slicked 90s style to check out live fat bear week

27 SEP 25

Yali's crooning Bruno Mars probably louder than necessary on an early Saturday morning down the hall... cracking into the high notes that aren't as silky anymore since his voice changed in the summer... makes him laugh... Oxbear is already gone to an early business meeting with

26 SEP 25

Head cold doubles down in the night... and it's hopped quarters down to Patience now too... Yali is already buzzing the RC Tesla in the living room... Patience asking for the location of the jar of apple butter... both of them sketching jack 'o lantern designs at

25 SEP 25

Head cold is crackin' that morning but not enough to stop our trip to the Eckert's country store in Belleville across state lines... Puck even returns early from an overnight at J's to join our 48-minute drive through a patched and crumbling East St. Louis

24 SEP 25

Bee garden heavy in bold gold and bright white in night rain... Yali is already awake with SpongeBob... carefully tracing costume accessory prototypes into cardboard... slide him a slice of peanut butter toast before he leaves with Oxbear for play therapy... but not before testing out four empty La Croix

23 SEP 25

Oxbear still a little travel-logged that morning adjusting twelve hours back... Puck researching running shoes on my laptop while his siblings molasses their way through math class... ...while Mama serves cream cheese bagel sandwiches to the hungry crowd... they (and also apparently the dog) have blasted through almost two full

First day autumn

Oxbear takes a day after travel to rest a big head cold and cough by accompanying a passel of staggered morning dental appointments the next county over... ...as Puck calls me wondering about the laundry status for his morning date with a pair of running shoes around the neighborhood... Two

21 SEP 25

Yali is very busy hot gluing strings to his 3D-print web shooters before church that morning... ...while Oxbear is in Detroit waiting for his last flight... A few hours later when I ask Puck if he plans to join our Toyota shuttle to the airport... his Pavlovian response kicks in.

20 SEP 25

Puck is up in the six o'clock hour asking for breakfast... Mr. Prepared doesn't have to report to his first Army drill in Festus until nine o'clock but he's ready well-early... Throw out plates of scrambled eggs and toast to the tribe

19 SEP 25

Somewhere between Yali flipping a bag of almonds through the air which then splashes Patience's glass of chocolate Milo drink across the table and Puck sleepily emerging from his den for a plate of breakfast... “You all want to go to the zoo?” // “YES!” It's only

18 SEP 25

5:21 texts roll in... video of Oxbear cooking with fire.. pad Thai and sour spicy soup and curry... preparing to meet a group from Myanmar the next day... A few hours later... bees feeding in their perfumed jungle of gold in sunlight... Puck watches amazed by the volume of

17 SEP 25

Between classes and volunteer shifts and the dance studio... afternoon is still feeling a little spicy... kids lounging on a baking trampoline with cherry-pineapple monster pops elevated above a crispy yard... Puck finished his yard sprints earlier before the heat got too hot... and by evening is back whacking at

16 SEP 25

Head popping with seasonal allergies... all that pollen stacked through a chunk of the Midwest bristling in drought... Oxbear calls for morning updates ending his day across the Pacific... Patience decides to spin him a somewhat specific fiction for a little flavor in the conversation... “Puck got a girlfriend yesterday.

15 SEP 25

All three kids have already stashed themselves back in my room in the seven o'clock hour to chat through thoughts... ...before Puck splits to the treadmill in the basement... he hates running... decide it's probably not a convenient time to share how his aunt ran ten

14 SEP 25

Early morning hours... Oxbear somewhere in North Korean air space... texts me later at 5AM from Seoul... two flights left... Ninety minutes later Yali blasts from snores to shooting-down-the-hallway-to-the-shower in under ten seconds... he will not sit in the pew without a freshly washed scalp of midnight locks... Twenty minutes

13 SEP 25

Deliver Oxbear to the airport about seven-thirty for his flight to Minneapolis... Breakfast nachos back home... (only for Mama)... Patience gets stomping at the studio half the morning... Rumblings about Taco Bell from the soldier-man down the hall... back to his fat cat with more cash wads from roofing and

12 SEP 25

After the grab bag morning class mix of fights and crazies... Yali and Patience suddenly find equilibrium in the mutual activity of creasing and tearing and folding and pencil-labeling squares of red and blue paper for nearly three hours... by the end of it they've labeled two hundred

11 SEP 25

Yali and Patience sitting across the table from each other... spelling work sheets and pencils... glares of annoyance at each other... smooth jazz not helping... “Patience I'm gonna SHRINK you and then once you're SHRINKED I'm gonna STOMP on you!”... Patience's response

10 SEP 25

To the races... While I'm out running errands before eight... Oxbear and Yali buzz south to play therapy... Then I'm back to grab Patience for our volunteer shifts... Oxbear and Yali return for Puck to bring the car out to Wentzville... he and J have a

09 SEP 25

Exit my room that morning to Yali talking loudly down the hallway... “Patience! I picked up Justin while he was eating worms and he was smacking and it was SO GROSS! Haha!” Another water main break is announced via phone/text/email around eight o'clock as Patience inspects

08 SEP 25

Monday begins with another water main break in the area... while Yali is busy modifying a face mask with gaffer's tape at breakfast... and Patience totes out a full liter of milk to drink with an aluminum straw... Yali then grabs his snake from the terrarium to join

07 SEP 25

Leaving early for church that morning in a frosty plume of sunlight... Patience squawking way too loudly for the sleeping neighborhood about french fries... Yali shooting rubber bands from his 3D-printed Spiderman web shooter wrist cuffs... Oxbear playing some sea chanty about beans and rice from his phone as he

06 SEP 25

Couple of cold crab rangoon for breakfast... yum... Oxbear sleeping in to tackle a sore throat picked up in Nashville... Late in the morning when Patience gets backs from the studio... it's a battle of preference in the living room between Patience's “Little House on the

05 SEP 25

A soft pop-pop-pop from the roof before seven that morning suggests that workers have arrived to finally begin replacing the scalp of this old house and all the damage from Mr. Timber back in the spring... Kids are already a splatter of giggles crawling around on us before exiting the

04 SEP 25

It's fifty-seven degrees at the alarm that morning... Yali is already pounding around the house – tortured artist – looking for scotch tape... the old VBS t-shirt he spray-painted over for his next costume needs another coating in the basement... Some learning explosion of clocks and nouns and Russian para-athletes

A day in the life : mama

Prepare soft-boiled eggs on toast for everyone's breakfast... Switch on Mozart study playlists while reviewing borrowing in subtraction with Patience and wishing Elmer a happy 37th birthday on the sibling group chat... Work on place value and flashcards with Yali as Patience interjects with a... “Morgan taught me

Back-to-school

Hazy sunrise washed over by a low and unexpected rain before breakfast that morning... Slip on Yo-Yo Ma's Baroque cello album in effort to calmly transition the nine year-old and twelve year-old from summer break to back-to-school... It's mid-morning and classes are rolling out well... Patience

01 SEP 25

It's early for a holiday morning but Patience is already in the kitchen making a stack of pancakes on the stovetop... “Mom!” Yali hurries over to me... “My snake ate four worms!” // “Wow he's a hungry boy today... did you... guys... why is the box of

31 AUG 25

August wraps with a breakfast potluck at church where Patience fills her plate with so many heavy layers of savory and sweet that she almost drops it by the time she reaches the end of the buffet table... Afternoon... Oxbear is driving towards Nashville again with Theodore and Gloria for

A little later

Celebrating twenty-one years two days late... looks like dropping kids off at Nana's and Papa's for a few hours to sort through old jewelry and bake two-layer chocolate cake and play UNO with cousins... ...then drive south through thick green of the northern Ozarks under August

29 AUG 25

Patience is already wailing... and wailing and wailing... K-Pop around the house early morning... in those sassy braided pigtails... slurping Kool-Aid out of an aluminum straw from a glass mug... Yali walks out in a full panda suit to counteract the K-Pop with a little lip-syncing to O-Zone and '

Twenty-one

Our 21st wedding anniversary begins with Oxbear's first attempt at bread-making already being consumed by all the kids in large quantities... as Patience simultaneously feasts on more watermelon-with-mustard before leaving for her next babysitting job in St. Charles County... At the Big House young R is ready for

27 AUG 25

Puck has cleared out the all-fruit lime popsicles in the night... guess the “they're only 80 calories each” really went to the heart... and the stomach... While I step outside to text back-and-forth with the dentist about rescheduling an appointment for one of the kids... ...Yali's

26 AUG 25

Sitting for their first “listen” to the St. Louis Symphony's annual “Picture the Music” contest music selection that morning... Patience closes her eyes and envisions “pirates fighting in England”... while Yali sees himself “eating a giant sandwich”... later he confesses that the music didn't inspire this

25 AUG 25

Yali warily follows the orthodontist back for another set of X-rays that morning... he knows braces are coming... but not today... Patience finishes her appointment early... running a finger over the new rubber chain of ocean blue bands across her bottom teeth... “It's gonna feel weird when these

24 AUG 25

Chatting with the new vicar about his background as a kid-missionary in Africa and his Korean wife that morning during Bible study while Oxbear tries to help Rev. Karg with more technical issues for the lesson on Daniel... Yali and Patience walk back from Sunday School with paper bags of

23 AUG 25

Oxbear gone to an early meeting before all-day shooting club and burgers and coffee for his buddy's 44th birthday... Yali shaking a tub of “Favorite Day” trail mix like maracas slowly turning it into dust before I realize what he's doing... peanuts and raisins are extracted

22 AUG 25

Patience is riding back towards Forest Park to babysit cousin R that morning... ...while back home Yali is eyes deep in dinos and plastic ferns and fake blood... ...and Puck is wrapped up in his plush fuzzy blanket with his big fat yellow cat after a plate of avocado toast

21 AUG 25

With the cooling air and bunched cover of gray cloud... comes something else too... a little insanity in the house... Begins simply with Patience reading off endless jokes from her joke book to me while I wash the dishes... she's not stopping either... “What do ghosts use to

20 AUG 25

Back to the old school over freshly paved road now finally free of those horrible angry potholes from winter... The air is new too... cooling... as if from another planet... Patience spends an hour with tiny tots new and old back in Spanish for another year... she awards each a

19 AUG 25

In yet another “dangerous heat” day for St. Louis to the choirs of surging cicada... ...kids are asking for pancakes... so Patience begins mixing batter while Yali eagerly stands at the island waiting for the first stack... about half an hour later all batter has been griddled and consumed in

18 AUG 25

By early afternoon Yali is outside in a 111 heat index cinched up in a long-sleeved collared shirt, pants, Converse sneakers, completely soaked under the spray nozzle on the garden hose... recreating dinosaur carnage scenes with action figures as a river of fake – very red – blood courses down the front

August rumble

It's early afternoon in a thick heat... ...half the family is sitting around at the Big House... Elmer already seems half-asleep on the floor under the glass coffee table... somehow a common napping spot... ...small cousins are soon running in and out for more metallic balloon creatures prepared

16 AUG 25

It's already afternoon and Yali is in a sweet rage over the cat leaving puddles across his turquoise Adidas... ...as Patience – wailing more K-Pop while helping with the dishes – drops an IKEA dish into the sink and chips it... Oxbear is preparing lunch... it's another short-order

15 AUG 25

Patience is back with more cousin-tots that morning... young master R comes running up in a matching set of firetruck prints with a great smile to meet his playmate... Then I get back to the boys who need things like tea and lunch and laundry... ...before scooting Yali down to

14 AUG 25

In an unexpected change of plans that hot morning... the two youngest and myself are driving south to watch the little cousins for a couple of hours... Yali and Patience immersed in Game Boys on the way... Indiana Jones and CLUE and Sonic and things... Upon arrival... the tiny tots

13 AUG 25

While St. Louis begins sending their kids back to school – already!... ...my kids are still lifting weights and sucking down green tea and watching K-dramas and providing detailed babysitting reports where avocados were sliced and tangerines peeled and attending play therapy and reenacting dramatic deaths with more fake blood drenchings

12 AUG 25

Patience is in the kitchen – early – mixing chocolate chip muffins for breakfast before relaxing on the couch with her sketchbook and a pack of colored markers working on dress designs... Yali marching around the house carrying a gallon of milk for a “work out” he informs me... Puck walks out

What must the neighbors...

Patience comes out to sit at the patio table with me that morning to chat... Meanwhile Yali performs a wild bear fight on the trampoline... Build-a-Bear Teddy has recently turned “murderous” and Yali is in a very concentrated battle to take him out with all necessary flips and tackles and

10 AUG 25

Yali – freshly showered – is chasing Patience around the house that morning before church... crazy laughing... “I'm gonna BREAK YOU little man!” he declares (his new favorite phrase)... Mama cuts in... “Yali. Stop breaking little men”... “HAHAHAHA!” Skip ahead to post-church service... Patience keeps burning her lips on a

09 AUG 25

Wake to a loud announcement from Patience that the cat has once again defiled the quilts on the couch in the night... we live in a lawless zoo apparently... But Oxbear has already cleaned up the mess and left for his weekly meeting with AJ before joining Theodore at the

08 AUG 25

It's a quick day of the usual logistics and scheduling and cleaning while the kids camp out around the house avoiding the 102 heat index on the other side of the windows... Before Puck leaves for work that afternoon he and Oxbear discuss Presley's vehicle repair

07 AUG 25

Patience is back again as paid companion to young master R that morning... pull up to their new location aged 111 years in a beautiful old neighborhood for B to lead us in a house tour through master woodwork and all new “innards” as Patience and R get busy playing

06 AUG 25

Black smudges all over the basement tile... apparently yesterday when Yali realized he needed some footwear for the creek he grabbed an old pair of black sneakers... patched up the holes with painters tape... didn't like how the blue looked too obvious against the black... spray painted the

05 AUG 25

Driving south for the creek... Yali and Patience whipping each other with bath towels in the back seat arguing over who should get which towel... “This is MINE now!” Yali declares // “NO! YALI! I WANT THAT ONE!” // “Okay. KAREN!”... **laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh** It's loud at the

04 AUG 25

It's mid-morning... city strapped under a cache of Vermeer cloudscapes... Yali has returned from labs and needles joyfully running into the house with a new kind of boxed lunch to try out with Patience... Puck is in the basement post work-out carefully spray-painting a console addition for “Presley”

03 AUG 25

Patience lounging on my bed that morning about half-ready for church... “I should get ready but... I'm too busy looking cute!”... Yali meanwhile is fully ready to leave almost an hour before it's necessary... walks up to me with an aspirin bottle spinning the lid around

Creek walk

It's about one-thirty in the afternoon and a pack of Snicketts sisters and cousins walk down a country road to the creek... Sun is bright and we're all going to burn... but there's breezes and cooling water for the eager rock hunters ready to

01 AUG 25

Dangerous heat has been replaced with a poor air quality alert all day in St. Louis... those big fires up in the north... but it's only in the 60s that morning... nearly an inexplicability for August... and just in time for Puck's campout down south... Still.

31 JUL 25

Last day of assistant-teaching Irish dance camp sends Patience wailing Bruno Mars lyrics over and over and over again around the house before and after breakfast... ...while Puck packs for his weekend camping trip with friends in some place four hours away but he's not really sure what

30 JUL 25

In another baking morning... ...check updates on the massive 8.8 quake fallout in Russian waters... ...studio for Patience... ...play therapy for Oxbear and Yali... ...treadmill for Puck... ...cleaning and laundry for Mama... Puck calls me several hours later while driving Patience back from the studio... “Is it over?” he

29 JUL 25

Back to the studio for Patience... while we drive there she sighs like a seasoned instructor over the would-be students and their poor listening skills of the previous day... Between meetings... Oxbear and Yali are in the kitchen whipping red food coloring and cocoa powder and psyllium husk in the

Heat does stuff to people

It's hot... Patience is at the studio for three hours that morning assistant-teaching a very full camp for first-time Irish dancers... Meanwhile Puck is at home wondering if he should try to replace the door handle in Presley... but he hates the heat... he hates the heat a

Little silver lady

Seven-thirty in the morning... Patience stretching with friends in a frigid ballroom waiting on the judges panel... Swishing through soft shoe... stomping through hard shoe... Miss E meets her at the end with an “I am over the moon about your dances! That was beautiful!”... Patience appreciates this... then is

Everybody dance now

Patience is awake before six o'clock that morning excited for competition... Something else was up before six o'clock too and decided to leave vomit all over the living room floor... maybe that explained the pitiful meowing waking us in the night... never checked on it because

25 JUL 25

Patience and I are at Target early that morning... Patience has shopping to do for her “first feis buddy” which includes things like Jolly Ranchers and Tootsie Pops and poster-making supplies... At home Puck is attempting to replace the brake light in “Presley” but the connection has rusted out... Inside.

24 JUL 25

Patience plunks herself into the orthodontist's chair that morning for another bracket-gluing now that her eye tooth is in... and two shades of blue bands to match her solo dress for the weekend feises... After that we're at the Science Center... visitors squeezing into all the

23 JUL 25

Another scorching morning sends Patience out to the Big House... young R is waiting with a huge smile for her as she walks through the front door... On the way back Yali and I hit the store for therapy expenses like Dubble Bubble... When we get back... Puck is in

22 JUL 25

Yali is busy detailing a Minecraft tutorial for me early that morning before the thermometer starts climbing on the other side of the brick... Bus Patience out to the Big House through a haze of heat settled silent over low green hills... Back home Puck is in the yard... samurai

21 JUL 25

Creek is high from the rain... its usual glass-clear waters nearer a cold hot cocoa running in a hurry around the bend and down towards the Meramec... rock bank washed out some... kids begin splashing against the current while I begin exploring the new rifts in the rubble... it'

20 JUL 25

Wake to a full panel of earthquakes raging off the Pacific coast of Russia ranging from 6.0 – 7.5 early that morning... Yali is having a good day... already two church grannies at the eight o'clock service have commented on how tall he's getting... chest

19 JUL 25

Puck walks into the living room that morning examining his steel-toed boots... “Stepped on a wolf spider last night at J's and all these baby spiders went running out everywhere”... he takes a seat and starts swinging a slowing-unrolling roll of Scotch tape around through the air like

18 JUL 25

“Mom?... Mom?”... sleepily check the time on my phone... 6:40... “Mom? Can I get to class early on Tuesday so I can see 'E' and ask her all about her engagement?”... she then begins asking questions about her impending Nike “bubble shoes”... “Can I wear them to

17 JUL 25

Driving Patience to her next “paid companion” gig that morning... she continues to update me on the large blister on her ankle in all its gory fluid-details... Back on the ranch while Oxbear is gone to more conferences... ...it's me and the boys getting work done around the

16 JUL 25

“My stomach feels a little funny...” Yali informs me as Patience and I prepare to leave that morning... Oxbear is at all-day conferences but Puck is home so... “Okay well... I'll let you stay home just in case and... call me if something comes up... get it?” **obliging

15 JUL 25

It's throwing rocks and slapping clay and splashing creek water for the young ones that morning... “MOM! AN ORANGE SNAKE JUST SWAM OUT OF THAT HOLE!”... but it's no copperhead... so the kids return to throwing rocks and slapping clay and splashing creek water... then the

14 JUL 25

Patience and Yali – wearing three layers in a muggy heat because he likes his too-cool-for-school "look" – are walking the neighborhood with me that morning... tripping over each other... running into each other... laughing every time one of them gets bumped off the sidewalk... Yali pauses at his reflection

13 JUL 25

Tap-tap-tap of Patience's pearl-studded sandals dancing subconscious reels on the tiles under our church pew... preaching Seminarian “E” has just compared Martha of the Bible to the Kool-Aid Man... Yali is living for Sunday School just half an hour and half a slice of reception cake away... Vicar

12 JUL 25

Halfway through scrubbing soap scum build-up out of the bathroom sink... unwashed bangs falling into my eyes... novelty t-shirt coming un-hemmed at the bottom... white paint stains on my old track shorts... I sense a silent presence standing behind me... a silent presence with very loud thoughts... I turn around.

11 JUL 25

Patience is already sitting next to me on my bed early that morning providing a detailed report on her ankle blisters... ...while Oxbear hobbles off to an all-day meeting with his boss in O'Fallon... And there's an army of 186 miniature 3D-printed “pillow buddies” (tiny plastic

All the boys

Yali is fever-free in the morning without pain... though still feeling a little funky in the ear... and while he gets busy trying to convince Justin the snake that his feed worms are not actually his friends... Patience is rolling west to another paid companion gig for the morning... Young

Gotcha again

Patience's 8th “Gotcha! Day” begins with the two youngsters snuggled on both sides of me listening to goofy songs about toast... ...as Puck texts me that his first military drill weekend has been canceled for some unknown reason... While Oxbear and Yali scoot south for Yali's