St. Augustine: Land of the quirk

My wife came around the corner of the house carrying two chickens, one under each arm. They were backwards — tail feathers out for all to see. Hen heinies saluting the world. Let’s face it, you look ridiculous walking around with chickens under your arms. Like you’re carrying basketballs. And it’s worse when their hindquarters do all the greeting. It must have been a sight to see downtown. And she didn’t expect anyone to see it. Which is why the mailman walking up was such a surprise. “I must have looked like a crazy person,” she said. She expected a strange look. Maybe a question: “Mam, you do realize there are fowl growing out of your armpits?”

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A (big kid) Christmas list for Santa

Dear Santa, How are you? I am fine. How is the weather up there in the North Pole? Did you get a vacation this year? I hope so. I hope you went somewhere nice and sunny. Did you get a suntan? You look really pale in your photos. Sunlight is very important for vitamin D. Anyway, my daughter sends you lists every year. She makes out pretty well. Sure, she didn’t get the full-size Barbie Jumbo 747 with the Ken pilot last year, but only because you couldn’t land it on our street. We’re expecting the Public Works permit any day now, so gas that sucker up! Anyhoo, I thought I would give it a shot this year, too. I’ve been good. I’ve been nice. I ate all my broccoli. So here is what’s on my Christmas list: • Answers – To big questions. Like why is it when you’re running late for school and work, your child just sits at the table singing and drinking her orange juice one molecule at a time? And do children hear any of the 1,300 times we say, “Hurry up! We’re going to be late! Are you listening to me?!?” A simple “yes” or “no” in my stocking will suffice.

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Coming to terms with a bed-eating dog

“Cool dog,” said the college student. I was walking my beast, Lily, down the street. I thought I misheard him. Because what he said didn’t quite connect. I’ve had this animal for two years now — exactly two years — and I’m still not used to the compliments or comments I get as we walk. Usually they fall into one of two categories: Her looks, or her unusual looks. No kidding, people have actually said, “Damn, that is a GOR-GEOUS dog!” “This thing!” my family will say pointing at the animal in question. She has a stump — no tail. Her markings are unique at best. As if pre-schoolers had a couple mocha lattes and went to town during painting time. It appears that someone spilled white paint down her snout and off the side of her nose.

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Recipe for a relaxed Thanksgiving

Every year on Thanksgiving it’s the same thing. I cook. Lots of family come over. My nerves get frayed. The stress builds up. I yell at my mother because she wants to take a family photo just as the food comes out. I black out. Wake up a week later. Wonder why a turkey giblet’s lodged in my ear canal. But not this year. Even though I have roughly 1,700 family members coming over — and my house only seats two! — I’ve developed a Thanksgiving recipe for a calm, Zen-like day that will alleviate stress and make it enjoyable for all. Here are a few steps you might want to try, too: ? Put on cooking apron before scalding hot turkey grease spills down new dress shirt. In fact, why cook in dress clothes at all? Maybe this year I’ll go au naturel in the kitchen. Relaxing, quicker cleanup and much cooler.

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Friday nights and the death of Blockbuster

I didn’t realize Blockbuster Video was still around until I read a story about its demise. Well, it’s final demise. Because rental videos died a long time ago. So did video tape. Remember VHS? That ancient device called a VCR? It had wires and you jammed clunky plastic things inside it. What was that all about? There’s been much written about Blockbuster going the way of the dinoVCR. CNN posted a story on 10 things they wouldn’t miss about the stores. Others said “good riddance” and “that’s what you get for late fees!” But the video store’s closing has actually made me quite sad. For me, Blockbuster is more than just an obsolete video store. It was once part of a Friday night experience. A cultural event. When I think about Blockbuster, I think about weekends with my dad. My parents were divorced, and no Friday night at his place could begin without a trip to the blue and yellow video store. My brother and I frantically searched the stacks in hopes that the latest release of this or that was still clinging to the wall. Fat chance. Blockbusters on a Friday night were like a grocery store before a hurricane. Shelves picked clean. Mad scrambles for second tier selections. Blood-curdling screams from disappointed families: “We’re doomed! ‘The Goonies’ are all checked out!” That always started a stampede for the exit. We combed the store in search of something worthwhile … and preferably with mild nudity! A couple movies, a […]

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Apparently Christmas is already here!

“I’m putting out the tree, and I don’t care,” said my co-worker. He was referring to his little office Christmas tree. He reached up into a cabinet and extracted the ornament. Bam! It was Christmas. At the St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, Christmas music was already playing from the speakers. The sky was sunny, people wore shorts and there was Andy Williams telling us, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” I don’t need to tell you there have been singing Christmas trees, lights and snowmen sledding out on store shelves since, I don’t know, July? Stores always get in on the act early. Forget Halloween. Forget Thanksgiving — “Turkeys? Who needs stinkin’ Turkeys?” We’re moving on. It’s Christmas time, baby!

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Fear and grilling in the backyard

The sense of fear, dread, terror — of taking my life into my own grill mitts — is gone. No longer do I consider wearing silver, asbestos-lined fire suits or welders’ goggles. No longer do I kiss my wife and child before marching out to the backyard with a plate of frozen burgers: “If I never see either of you again, remember I love you. Write epic poems about me. Tell the world I went down in a blaze of glory … literally.” My old grill — that flaming death trap — is gone, and to honest with you, I kind of miss it. It was my first “real” grill. One that didn’t need charcoal and a blast mask. Nothing like the eruption of lighter fluid on those old-style briquette grills. A mushroom cloud of roaring flame that could be seen three blocks over. Children would dive for cover. Men would take off their hats, bow their heads and somberly say, “A man just died grilling a burger. Amen!”

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Big brotherly advice on fatherhood

So you’re a dad, little brother! Now what? Oh, the fun has just started. Snicker, snicker, snicker. First bit of advice from someone who’s been a father for almost eight years: When you hear someone say, “Oh, you’re a new father. The fun has just started … Snicker, snicker, snicker …,” resist the urge to run them over with your car. Because you will hear this a million times. They will tell you how you have no idea what awaits you. Because they do know what awaits you, and you don’t. Parenthood isn’t easy. Especially those first weeks and months. It’s like going to Army boot camp, only there you actually get sleep and pretty much everyone is potty trained. Not so with this.

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Dreams of new furniture in a dog-free world

I almost asked the sales clerk behind the counter. Shame — and the thought of further public embarrassment — kept me from it. I was flipping through a catalog in the high-end furniture store. Looking through pictures of rugs that weren’t on the floor. This one? No, too light. That one? Nice, but the pattern is too static. It would never hide anything. I was about to drop some cash on a rug for the living room. My wife has been wanting one for a while. A replacement for the one we threw away. Why did we throw it away? Ha! Well, that’s the question, isn’t it? Like the one I wanted to ask the retail clerk as I thumbed through the catalog gasping at prices and agonizing over what would go with the sofa and the wall color and my general mood and the futility of it all.

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The ‘imprecision’ of waiting on a baby

“Could still be a week, a minute, three days …” said the text from my brother. “The imprecision of this process is a hoot.” Amen! Children. Especially the non-born kind. They have no respect for time. Due dates. Promptness. That people might have lives and need to get on with them. Masters of imprecise processes. Boy, if that doesn’t sum it up! My brother and sister-in-law are due pretty soon. Any day. It’s their first child, and as we all know, it can be an agonizing wait when you’re down to the final days. Uncomfortable. Anxious. Excited. Nervous. Wondering why in the world you thought this was a good idea. How you are ever going to use all the diapers stacked up in the baby’s room. What horrors will await you as you change those diapers! The more you wait, the worse it gets. I mean, it’s great practice, right? A taste of the patience you’ll need throughout parenthood: Waiting for teeth to get brushed. Waiting for shoes to be put on. Waiting for them to remember you told them 18 times to brush their teeth and put their shoes on. It’s a wonder we get anywhere or do anything.

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