a long gap

So here I am near the border of Colorado where I’m a Senior Trial Prosecutor. Rylee says that means I prosecute people over 50 years old.

There’d be a lot to say about this move, but my job has never been the focus of this blog and so, for now, it may be enough to describe my commute back home, all 216 miles, usually on Friday afternoons, lately in spots of rain, until I arrive and I’m greeted enthusiastically, first, by Rylee, with Cyndi standing nearby, a smile on her face, partly a look that says, thank God, you’re home, please deal with these boys and give me a break. Jackson is invariably upstairs on his computer, and he will stop whatever he’s doing and give me a hug.

Jackson has a birthday coming up, and we are once again talking about building a computer. He needs to start a parts list. He has many ideas, and he is doing research, even comparing costs. He's still wrestling whether he wants Linux or Windows for the operating system. The idea is that he will use his birthday money. About the start of July, we started a new computer policy, limiting the total time he’s on the computer each day, as well as the length of time he’s on at any one sitting. He still gets his unlimited Friday evening session. The limits mean that Cyndi and Ry get to see some of Jackson during the day. He plays more with Rylee. Sometimes he gets anxious and just doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself. For the first week or so, he feigned that he was very cross with me for limiting his computer time. I think he’s largely gotten over it, and, of course, once school starts, he’ll be too busy to spend all day on a his computer. The Academy assigned two books to read over the summer. He was reading about two short chapters a day. Last week, I called and said I thought if he read three chapters a day, he could get some bonus computer time on Saturday. He did and by Saturday night he had finished the book. On Sunday, we went to the library to find his second book.

Rylee is collecting baseball player cards. He’s already got a couple of notebooks organized by year and by team. The favorites are inside sleeves, which are inside hard plastic cases. We go to Bubba’s now every weekend. The owner knows him well. Ry’s the only 8-year-old kid in the shop. He usually has a list of players he wants.

“Who are you looking for this time?” Bubba asks from the other side of the counter. “And don’t say Dan Johnson, because we still don’t have him.”

Ry looks up and says, “Rickey Henderson…when he played for the Mets.”

I tell Bubba that Ry wants to collect a card for each team Henderson played for. Henderson played for at least nine major league teams. Bubba pulls the book from the shelf and they flip through it.

“Here’s one with the Mets,” he says. “I know you got one from the Red Sox last week.”

He pulls out five cards from five different teams, but only charges Ry for two, at 50 cents each. And he finds a Cody Ross Ry asks for, too, along with more plastic sheets for Ry's notebooks and a packet of Series 2 cards for 2013. This is not the first time Bubba has thrown in extras for Ry. Ry opens his envelope with his birthday money and hands Bubba a five.

It’s fun to watch. Ry consults his baseball rule book. He looks up players in an almanac. He watches video clips on YouTube. He diagrams plays. (He diagrammed Jeter’s flip play against the A’s). We watched the All Star Game together by telephone. (He wrote out the roster in excellent penmanship and discovered designated hitters). When we play catch on the weekend, he wants to talk about free agency and trades. Ry and I went to an Isotopes doubleheader. He brought his glove and hat, and his messenger bag, and wore the little league Dodgers jersey David found in Mom & Dad's basement. We bought a program with a card and we scored the game. We got peanuts. Ry got the baseball cards for the Isotopes. We whooped it up when the final visiting batter struck out. As a bonus we got to see a fireworks show, and Rylee ran the bases.

Ry's signed up for fall baseball; Jackson will play soccer.

Some pics will come soon. There's pics from 4th of July and me and Ry kneading pizza dough and a mini-cation Cyndi  and the boys took to Santa Fe. Ry got a rabbit for his birthday, and looks like I've already posted some of her. Her name is Limes. That's worked out very well. Jackson likes her company when he is on the computer, and Cyndi loves her. Ry plays and cuddles with her. It's like a quiet dog, hopping around the house, hanging out with the boys. Ry and I went to a feed store in the valley for more food, hay and litter. I'm not kidding when I say we got more than 4 times the amount for less than a quarter of what we paid for at the big box pet store. Cyndi does much of the caring, but she doesn't appear to hate any of it...that's how much she loves Limes. She lets her roam more and more about the house, and the only damage has been a phone charger cord.