Saw this linked to on a site that I can’t remember now. 

Someone has finally figured out how to make Girl Scout cookies at home!

Yes, this will destroy my diet, thank you very much.

But for an occasional treat, you can’t beat Samoa’s.  Mmmm, coconut.

Today was the first day of my vacation with BooBoo.  I have today and tomorrow alone with him, then I share a day with Irish Woman.  Junior Bear is in California for spring break, and Little Bear and Girlie Bear are with their mom.

Today, BooBoo and I slept in until 8, which around here might as well be noon.  Breakfast was served, followed by medicine for him and a bath.  After getting dressed, we went to a coffee shop to get DaddyBear his medicine. 

We then went to Target to get him some warm weather clothes.  He’s outgrown almost all of his clothes from last summer, and the clothes that Irish Woman got him a few weeks ago are too nice to play in.  Church yes, sandbox no.  I ended up getting him a couple pairs of shorts, some tee shirts, and a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor tennis shoes.  Yes, my kid wears Air Chucks.  They were good enough for his father, they’re good enough for him.

After returning home, we enjoyed a simple lunch.  I had a bowl of tomato basil soup with red pepper flakes and cheese crackers.   He had a soft meal of pear slices, macaroni and cheese, and apple juice. 

Afterwards, we watched a Disney movie and fell asleep on the couch together.  We woke up at about 4:30 when Irish Woman called to let me know she was on her way home. 

I quickly tidied up the house a bit and awaited her return.  We just finished a good dinner, and are looking forward to a relaxing evening at home.

Yes, this was a good day.  I didn’t think about work at all, and didn’t even check email until a few minutes ago.  Usually I have to spend thousands of dollars to get away from the rat race this completely.  I’m enjoying being a stay-at-home dad for these few days.  I think I could get to like it.

BooBoo had his tonsils out on Friday, and spent Friday night in the hospital with Irish Woman attending.

He came home yesterday afternoon, and is doing well.  The doctors gave him some very nice pain medicine, which he will be taking regularly for the next few days, so he’s comfortable.  He’s enjoying on-demand popsicles and juice.  He’s not too happy about a diet of macaroni and cheese, bananas, and mashed potatoes, but it will get better.

I’m going to be going kinda quiet for a few days.  BooBoo is going into the hospital tomorrow to have his tonsils out and tubes put in his ears.  Hopefully this helps with all of the ear infections and such that he’s been having in the past few months.

It’s no big deal, but Irish Woman and I will have our hands full with a stoned, cranky two year old for the next few days.

I’ll pop in and post a few things every now and then if I have a chance.

Have a great Easter!

I just finished reading several books, and I thought I’d share.

First, one of my managers loaned me a copy of “Andersonville, The Last Depot“.  It’s a very well written history of the Andersonville POW in the Confederacy during the Civil War.  Conditions weren’t that great, and got pretty horrific pretty quickly.  Statistics in the book show that 35% of the prisoners that walked into the camp died there, mostly from malnutrition and disease.  Extremely good read, but not a very happy one.  It’s a good look at how POW’s were treated prior to the Geneva conventions, and how they’re treated today when those conventions are ignored.

I also read the four books in the Joe Pitt vampire series by Charlie Huston.  Sparkly vampires do not make an appearance in this.  Again, if you’re looking for a happy read, look elsewhere.  The main character of the books is very much an anti-hero.  He’s a good guy, but he is not above doing some pretty bad things to stay alive.  Huston is an excellent novelist, and I look forward to reading more of his stuff. 

I read these using the Kindle software on my iPhone.  For those of you who haven’t tried ebooks yet, their time seems to have come.  Amazon has a large percentage of their books available electronically, and there are a lot of other places to get them, including Baen books.  When I have the money for a dedicated reader, I’ll be off to the races on these.  I can read the books on the iPhone, but setting the font to something I can see comfortably has me turning pages often enough that it’s a distraction.

I cleaned up and added to my blog roll.  If I took you off or missed you, please drop me a comment and I’ll add you.

Major news outlets are reporting that a pair of bombers have blown themselves up in two different subway stations in Moscow.  The FSB is going on the assumption that the perpetrators were Chechen.  Chechen rebels have threatened to bring their fight to Russian cities.  Russian forces recently killed several Chechen leaders, so this may be a revenge hit.

Here’s the deal.  It’s really hard to defend against either lone bombers or small groups of them.  Even if they are foreigners or have gone overseas for training, in a free society, the police cannot watch everyone all the time. 

What’s to stop radicalized Muslims from adapting such small-scale terror tactics to strike the American homeland?  Nothing.   Talk about effective, cheap, economy of force tactics to strike fear in the root of your enemies society.

So far, except for 9/11, we’ve gotten lucky in the United States.  But those who would do us harm have struck targets overseas, including London, Madrid, and Bali. 

Al Qaeda so far seems to be continually going after the long bomb touchdown against us.  They succeeded on 9/11, and the government has reported on stopping several groups that were in the planning stage of other large scale attacks. 

But could they stop one or two people who learn how to make small wearable bombs and walk into the neighborhood Kroger and blow themselves up in the produce department?  Or the young woman with a child who walks into a school bus terminal in Louisville during the morning rush to get kids to school and taking out a group of kindergarteners waiting for their bus?

My guess is no.  My other guess is that if Al Qaeda ever does start using such tactics, it will break Americans out of their current state of not caring too much about these kinds of threats and either go or get off the pot.  We will either get serious about neutralizing the terrorists either military or socially,  or we will show that we do not deserve our role in the world. 

Saw this link on Blackfive.  Kim Zigfield over at Pajamas Media has an excellent write-up on why the United States should not send soldiers to march in Red Square on the 65th anniversary of VE day.

I have to say, I agree with her.  By appearing with Putin’s government like this, we give his actions legitimacy.

But if we are going to send troops to march in front of a pro-Communist, former KGB agent who actively planned the destruction of US forces in West Germany, then I suggest a subtle snub go along with it.

In order to let the people who oppose the neo-communist regime in Moscow know we stand with them, we should send elements of the 27th Infantry Regiment to march.  You see, the 27th is known as the “Wolfhounds”, a nickname they were given by Russian Bolsheviks they fought in Siberia during the Russian Civil War.  They can even bring along their Russian Wolfhound mascot.

What better way to appear at this event and still give a boost to those in Russia who want to continue down the road to freedom than to send a unit that spent most of its rich history fighting Communists?

OK, I indulge my children.  Actually, sometimes I verge on spoiling them.

Today, I rode that edge between indulgence and spoiling very closely.

BooBoo will be turning 2 soon, and as an early birthday present, Irish Woman and I took him to see a Sesame Street show.

Imagine a theater filled with about 300 children aged 0 to 5, along with their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  Give the kids snow cones and cotton candy which is being hawked by vendors before the show.

Then turn down the lights and have Elmo, Big Bird, and Grover get up on stage and dance for an hour plus. 

BooBoo had a great time, and we enjoyed it through him.  But thank the Lord for Excedrin.  By the time the show was over, all of the adults were ready to go on a 3 day drunk.

Irish Woman went to the range today for a beginner pistol class.

A friend of ours loaned me his Ruger Security Six for her to use, but the range provided Ruger .22 pistols. That was probably a better choice, but I thought that putting .38 rounds in the .357 would also give her a good experience.

She said she was a bit intimidated, and acknowledges that she needs a lot of practice with semi’s and double action revolvers.  But she was able to pinpoint places where she needs practice, and has decided that she needs to go to a gun store and try on pistols to fit her small hands. 

She seems to have enjoyed herself, and is agreeable to doing it more.  I’ll take her to my gun store one of these weekends and let her figure out what she likes.

And her shots got better as the class went on.

Her first few shots were off, but still hit the paper.  As you can see, her last 10 or so chewed up the X ring.  Not bad for a first time shooter at 15 feet.