BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

So… Long story short, my kid got herself one of those small, Nintendo hand held games for Christmas…DX or DS…something like that…As I predicted would happen, she got just a bit wrapped up in it lately and ended up getting herself grounded from the thing for a week. (It all has to do with it interfering with her chores and such. I’m sure the parental units reading this know EXACTLY what I am talking about…)

Anyway, her favorite ongoing game is called NintenDogs or some such… Basically, she has a virtual dog she has to take care of…Well, of course, taking the thing away from her put the onus on US to look after this dog. Why? Because they actually get sick, etc, like a real dog if they aren’t taken care of daily… Now, in my opinion this is actually a good way for kids try their hand at responsibility without a real, live animal suffering from their young-age-induced forgetfulness… However, it doesn’t make life easier for the parents when situations like this occur… What they really need to add in is a “parental code” that lets you put the damn thing into suspended animation for a while… But, as usual, I digress…

Anyhow, EK has been taking NintenDog for her virtual walks since she seems to be a bit more savvy about this toy than me… She has also been giving VirtuoDog its baths… Feeding it…. All the necessary jazz to keep it healthy and happy…

But, we seem to have run into a problem… EK hasn’t been doing EVERYTHING she is supposed to…

Apparently, she has been neglecting to pick up the virtual dog poo.

So…I guess I’m glad this isn’t a virtual zoo animal like an Elephant or something…

Given that this little game device has voice recognition, etc, I am now dreading the day they decide to add olfactory upgrades, and such…

More to come…

Murv

Okay, I’ll stop there, because we all know what comes next…

So anyway, a comment on my last blog begged not only a response, but its own blog entry as well. Paula wanted to know if we got Puck into a warm, dry place. Obviously, she remembers the pics from the ice storm of late 2006 where the little beggar got turned into a snow capped Puckcicle.

For those of you unfamiliar with Puck, he is a mischievous nature spirit who takes many forms. One of the most common manifestations you will see represented within the Pagan community is that of a small Roman Satyr. To put it in more conventional terms, he’s half goat.

The Puck in question here, however, is a wonderful piece of garden statuary representing the little beggar…It is something we picked up several years ago and has graced our home ever since, albeit in various locations throughout (both inside and outside) over those years. Below is a picture from a website where one can be purchased, just to give you an idea of what he looks like without the ice and snow…

Quite obviously, you can get one at The Magick Moon…(very cool store, BTW… I have one of their “babe on a broomstick” T-shirts)…

But, anyway, here is the picture Paula remembers, and it will show you what Puck looked like back in 2006, when he was making his home on our back deck and the ice storm rolled in…

And finally, here is how he looked this morning…Well, kinda. I had to point him out in the picture. Just follow the arrow to the circle…

You see, Puck now resides in the rock garden at the back of our yard… Why? Well, it’s a long story, but let’s just say he likes it back there with the spirits of the many mischievous felines we’ve rescued over the years who have since grown old and gone on to the great yarn basket in the sky.

Oh, and before I forget. In the previous blog I mentioned something about the neighbors being too damn close. Well, that’s true (even though we actually have great neighbors) but I wanted to clarify something – that grey building off to the upper right of the picture is our shed, not one of our neighbors. We actually have a pretty sizeable back yard.

Okay, so there you go, Paula. Puck chose to remain out in the elements yet again. It’s probably for the best. When he lived inside the house he used to steal my socks… But never a pair… just singles. I wonder what that’s all about.

More to come…

Murv