Clean It or Cover It Up

My brother was living large last year and bought a pool for his back yard in August. They got a couple moths use out of it before it got too cold to swim in the afternoons, and they eventually drained it for the winter, pretty much forgetting about it until now that the temperatures have started climbing.

He’s never had a pool before, so I guess he was surprised when he went to fill it up with water this weekend and realized that he had to clean it out first. I tell you what, cleaning out a pool that was not covered over the winter is a nasty, exhausting job. I’ve helped friends back in the college days do that and I had a vested interest in getting the pool clean – so we could have a wild college pool party.

When he told me how hard he had to work at cleaning the pool, I flat out told him to start pricing pool covers so he doesn’t have to go through all that again next year. It is a matter of covering it up or cleaning it – you are going to pay one way or the other, by spending two days scrubbing and cleaning or by spending a little money on a cover. Shouldn’t take a rocket scientist which way to go on that one.

For the Baby Mamas

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and I know that a whole lo of mothers are dealing with raising up their kids without the baby daddy helping much, if at all. I know a lot of guys who brag about having different baby mamas, but I think ti is not a good thing and noting to be bragging about. How can these guys ever be a good role model for their kids if they have to spend time with 3 or 4 different women and their different kids?

I hope if you are a baby daddy that you find a way to honor the mothers of your children tomorrow. Even if you just help your kids draw and color a homemade card that says Happy Mother’s Day – at least do something to help the kids tell their mothers they love them. Better than that, take the kids to the store and let them pick out a small gift for their moms. Its the least you can do.

Music Online

Years ago there was a special feature on Yahoo Messenger that let you listen to free music online. You could choose from a couple dozen different types of music channels and it played on your computer in the background while you did other things online. But then they stopped it. I don’t remember why, but I miss that.

A friend of mine recently told me about an online music web site called, Pandora. This is a very cool site and is now one of my favorites. You sign up for a free account, which gives you up to 40 hours of free music every month. You only have to endure a few commercials – it’s not that bad, plus that is what makes the music free. But if the commercials really bug you, you can pay for an upgrade of only $36 for a whole year, and that is a real bargain.

Pandora lets you select your favorite music and create different channels with just the song types or artist types that you like. You get thumbnail of the album playing and links to information on each song, including a biography of the performer, the song lyrics, and where to buy the song download or the whole album. I really like this website!

Help With Breathing

I remember when I was just a kid and my Aunt Rose brought all her kids over to our house for a weekend visit. I don’t know what was really going on in the adult world, but that was unusual to have all of them come over and spend the night. My and brother and I had to give up our bedroom so Aunt Rose could have our bed. Us kids all slept in the living room. Mom had kids lined up all across the living room floor, everyone in a sleeping bag, like Army barracks without the cots.

I remember my youngest cousin was still in diapers and he was toddling around with a runny nose and coughing a lot. My mom called him, “our Booger Baby.” But that night he had to sleep with my Aunt Rose so they could use a Vaporizer to help him breathe.

Sick babies are stressful on everyone. The babies can’t talk and tell you what i wrong with them, so you hook up Vaporizers and take their temperature and give them stuff to reduce fever. And if the fever gets worse, you take them to the pediatrician.

I was reminded of all that when I saw a Volcano Vaporizer and memories of that weekend with my sick Booger Baby cousin came rushing to my mind. Of course, he is OK now, and I wonder if he even remembers any of that.