Kathy came down the steps cracking up. She handed me this sticky note found in the kids’ bathroom.

Front:

Kelly & Danny

The yellow tooth brush is mine.

Just in case you didn’t know.

I changed toothbrushes.

YELLOW = CLAIRE

Back:

Claire –

I used the yellow toothbrush.

It feels good on my teeth!

Can we share?

I like it a lot!

Just let me know how you feel

about this!!

Love, Danny

Kelly’s birthday started off with a plot set up by her younger sister and her mom. I was an unknowing accomplice. When I dropped the two of them off at school, Claire and I went to get what I had heard was a “big balloon” in my trunk. It was HUGE. It was bigger than Fiona. Giant. Filled up my whole trunk. Claire grinned handing it to Kelly who shouted, “NO I DON’T WANT THAT!” and several other statements.

As I was driving off, Claire pleaded with me, “What do I do?” I said, “Tie it to her locker!” and off I went to work wondering how that was all going to work out.

I called Kathy to report. Apparently having a giant birthday balloon handed to you to haul around for the day is a thing that happens in high school. It is embarrassing, everyone knows it is your birthday, and really you get a lot of fun attention.

Not Kelly. She would have none of it.

Fortunately, her good buddy Jessie came upon Claire attempting to tie the balloon to Kelly’s locker, asking Claire, “Is it your birthday?” When she found out it was Kelly’s she immediately joined the conspiracy and took it to Kelly’s first period class to hand her. Kelly couldn’t believe the giant balloon had found her. “AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!” she yelled like Charlie Brown.

The balloon soon passed from person to person and class to class, not by Kelly. Anyone carrying it was asked if it was their birthday.

That night the three conspirators (Kathy, Claire, and Jessie) and 6 other girls along with Danny and I joined it for a loud and fun birthday slumber party. One thing different this year is the girls all showed up with their own cars (and one truck.) Kathy and I had to play traffic cop to get all the vehicles parked in the driveway and cul de sac.

I’m now hiding in my room, two levels away from the… festivities. Happy birthday Kelly!

In this photo: Danny Cashin, Elisa R., Nina E., Ashley B., Megan M., Sarah H., Cow, Christina S., Jessie G., Claire C., Kelly C., Grapes

Can you dejumble these? HINT: If you get one you will quickly get the others.

1. TICKLISHLY ENABLE HAZE

2. SHOD IN JAIL CHEAPENS

3. ANARCHICAL MISERY

4. JAUNTIER, CLASHING

5. RICH ANATHEMA CLINGS

6. IRON-JAWED CHAP SHEDS

7. HIS ILL-CONCEALED INANE

8. REJOICE! LUSH ON TALENT

9. I’M AN ETHICAL HEN HECKLES

10. JAIL NICE SHAME

[E-mail copy/paste.]

Nicole,

Updates from this morning, or things we forgot to bring up…

Mom found the boots in a giant box she had not seen earlier. She is sending the brown pair which are the pair in better shape.

Heather Watson was laid off at work (among others.) She had a ticket to the Chieftains at the Fox that she wanted to sell because she did not feel right about spending that money. In part because she is a friend of mine and in part because I like the Chieftains, I bought it. It was a very enjoyable show, although I would have preferred paying about half. Mom thinks it is funny I went to a concert by myself. I think it is funny too, but it was mainly about helping out Heather.

Mom forgot to tell you some gossip, and she doesn’t want me to tell you about it on e-mail, so just remember to ask about the gossip.

I’ll get to wear jeans on Friday for the rest of the year thanks to a United Way campaign. $40.

Harland Clarke announced a salary freeze, so no raises this year. Plus my bonus opportunity has been cut in half, so we’re going to be watching every dollar. Didn’t buy a new shoulder pack today that I really liked. Will make the old one last another year or two.

March 21 is the anniversary of Grandaddy dieing. If they have any candles you can light anywhere, it would be good to do that. We’ll go to a mass on that Saturday evening at Holy Cross, then I will go again with Gramalie to another one that Sunday morning.

I challenged Kelly, Claire, and Caroline Still (who was over hanging out) to a stick ball challenge. I had a “bat” I had cut with the chainsaw and a plastic golf ball. They got 2 practice swings and then 5 swings to hit the ball past me. For everyone they hit past me they could get an iTunes song. Kelly got one. Claire got two. Caroline got one. So 4 songs all together. Seemed like something Grandaddy would have done, except he wouldn’t have known what iTunes was or how to get songs.

Love,

Dad

Today I took Claire to the post office to pick up a birthday package from Gramalie. The postman attempted to deliver it on Wednesday, but only left a note with “Failure to Deliver” reason: “Dogs.”

We then went to Starbucks where she got a banana muffin and then camera shopping. She is very excited to have her own camera. A Fuji Finepix electric blue like Madison’s.

Later we fed an earwig* to my Venus Flytrap. Within 2 minutes, the little critter crawled right into one of the traps and was quickly and neatly captured. How much fun is that? Claire wants to video the next feeding with her new camera. We’ll post it here.

* The name comes from the old wives’ tale that earwigs burrow into the brains of humans through the ear and therein lay their eggs.

I made this snapshot because I thought it represents the phenomenon of Facebook. Grandmother, son, and granddaughter. And a couple of aunts in the mix: Aunt Patsy and Jami! Funny.

Kathy and I had a nice anniversary dinner at Fishbone Grill. Claire, Kelly, Madison, and Jessie all gathered around as the two of us exchanged gifts before heading out to dinner. These were mine, and I think they are an example of perfect gift giving. An artful combination of green and romance.

Pictured: Venus Flytrap, green m&ms, and Baily’s Irish cream flavored with chocolate mint.

We had a good time having everyone over to Stonegate for Christmas. Michael’s Obi Wan Kenobi mask appeared in far more photos that I’ve posted here. I sent the “Merry Christmas Nicole” photos to her via e-mail since she can’t always browse the web.

+

Since I FAILED to call Carol on her birthday, I thought I’d try to call her for her birthmonth. But according to David, she is out celebrating the pending New Year with Bob and GJM. So I’ll just sing here…

[Sung to the tune of Happy Birthday to You.]

Happy birthmonth to you!

Happy birthmonth to you!

Happy birthmonth dear sister,

Happy birthmonth to you!

Kathy and I took Claire down to Egelston Children’s Hospital early this morning to have whatever was left over from spring break removed from the swollen part of her heel. The doctor said it might be a fish or hermit crab, but since whatever it was had not gone away for a month, it was time to dig in.

Since he might have to work close to the bone, the surgery required that she get knocked out, so that made it serious enough for Dad to be at her bedside.

After getting all set up in the examination room with her hospital gown, bed-on-wheels, and getting everything measured that needed to be measured, the nurse marked the correct foot with an “x”. I asked should we write “not this one” on the other foot, but the nurse did not think that was necessary. Fortunately the doctor came by just before surgery and examined the “x”.

Claire got to drink a shot of something that she reported tasted like bad coca-cola. This helped calm her nerves as they whisked her off to surgery. Going down the hall, she raised both hands over her head and said goodbye to Kathy and I. That was a bit before 11 a.m.

The doctor came in around noon, and said all had gone fine. He had not had to dig too close to the bone, nor did he have to create a very big hole. Using his binocular glasses and spotlight, he saw something “sparkley” and took that out. He also removed some scar tissue and there seemed to be some embedded sand that came with that. No fish or hermit crab. Probably a piece of barnacle or oyster shell. He only had to put in one stitch.

About 12:30, they wheeled a very groggy Claire back into the examination room where Kathy and I waited. Her voice was very quiet, and she started asking questions. Over the next hour she dozed and asked all of these questions 5 to 10 times. Kathy and I would repeat the answers:

1. Where am I? (In the examination room where you started.)

2. Did they do the surgery? (Yes.)

3. Did they take anything out? (Yes. Something sparkley.)

4. What is this wire? (Measures your heart.)

5. What is this tube? (An I.V. for medicine.)

Other comments she said multiple times:

1. My foot hurts. (Yes, you had surgery.)

2. I see my finger twice. (Double vision.)

3. That chart has 3 columns. (It had two.)

4. Can you tilt the bed up?

5. Can you tilt the bed down?

By the time we left at 2 p.m., Claire was in pretty good spirits. She had eaten a cherry popsicle, had a sprite, and had some jello. She should be able to go to swim practice later this week.

Her only regret is that she cannot remember eating the popsicle.