game time ...

it is a boys' night in
at the casa del cooper
mom is at yoga class
leaving dad and me alone

methinks i will take it easy on him
give the "try to stand by pulling on
everything in reach" act a rest
and just enjoy the first night of

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

sunday ...

i'm gonna hit you
with the good news first ...

it only took the 'rents two dollars
which buys you a basket of 25 balls
to score three goldfish
on our way out of the fairgrounds

on the drive home
three out of four cup holders
were sporting cups o' fish
leaving one for the bottle of water
which one requires to quench
a case of kettle corn thirst

it could not have worked out
much better than it did

now for the bad news ...
it turns out that the top socket
on every outlet in the living room
is wired to the wall switch

as luck [bad luck] would have it
the aquarium's air filter
was plugged into which socket ?
yup ... you guessed it

now ... i am not saying it is dad's fault
he did not wire the house
but the realization that led to this
current [pun not intended] understanding
of our home's circuitry was poorly timed

it's just not fair ... see what i did there ?

saturday ...

flush with moonlighting funds
dad took us to the fair ...

mom learned why tractor "races"
are actually called tractor pulls

it was a beautiful day
and good times were had by all

however ...

as a widely read social commentator
i would be remiss if i were not to
point out the following exceptions ...

1 - we could not find a single vendor
willing to deep fry a cheerio for me

2 - as hard as we looked
we could not find the monkey barn

maybe next year ...

friday ...

i've known for a while
that we are not rich
mom buys most of my clothes
from stores that look like garages
and for lunch ...
dad has to pull plants from the back yard
to build a full sandwich

but now i fear we have reached a new low
as it appears that dad has had to
pick up a second job
running the bases at medlar field
dressed as an eyeball

as demeaning as it sounds
it must pay pretty well
because dad was pretty happy after the race
and he didn't even win ...


pictured above ...
dad as lazy eye [brown] nudges past
aunt monica as iris [blue]
evil eye [green] is obviously cheating

not pictured ...
out of breath & dazzled by the stadium lights
lazy eye loses his bearings
and begins to spin like a deranged top
allowing iris to glide by to victory

when i grow up ...

... maybe i will be a teacher like mom

with this potential vocation in mind
i am heeding dad's suggestion
that i start compiling some
resume-building experiences

while the black cat is my favorite by far
it is the striped one that is proving to be
more receptive to my lesson plans
























every good student
deserves a little
positive reinforcement

feeling greight ...

not being critical here ...

but three balls do not a ball pit make
it's a fact ... you can look it up

on the plus side ...
i think we are making progress
soon we may achieve critical mass