Sick of Sports

I am a big supporter of keeping kids active. Getting them moving. Ensuring they are fit. But there is a downside -- or at least in our family. That downside? My house. It gets taken over by sports gear. Frankly, it's driving me crazy!

 

I hit the wall today. It started when I went for groceries this morning. I opened the back of the van to pile my bags in and there is a HUGE lacrosse goalie stick and bag of goalie gear for tonight's game (Ben is in net so we have the team gear). I had to wedge my groceries in around all of the stinky lacrosse stuff.

Then I got home, put groceries away, and set out to get an article finished for my deadline tomorrow. En route to the office I was tripping on soccer cleats and lacrosse sticks (which are often propped in the corner by the dog's food dish where the hockey sticks are for the rest of the year -- I fear for that dog every time he goes for a drink, expecting those precariously balanced sticks to crack him on the head as they crash to the ground). We also have a giant lacrosse bag of hand-me-downs from a friend sitting in the office waiting for us to go through it. Then there are golf bags sitting by the door ready for the next lessons or round and baseball mitts and footballs by the backdoor in case there's a game or skipping ropes handy for a quick jump. And the water bottles. God help me for the water bottles on every flat surface so they can always find one before a game. ARGH!

At least the hockey stuff (and most of the lacrosse gear) is downstairs, out of sight. This happened only after I freaked out. I was tired of the first thing you saw when you walked into our house being a stinky hockey tree drying out gear. It really didn't go with the beautiful WWI piano.

I guess I should be thankful my kids are exercising regularly, making friends, learning teamwork and keeping healthy. I just wish they would find a better place to store their stuff!

Squirrel Mind Games

There is a black squirrel that lives in our neighbour's tree. Okay, I'm not POSITIVE that it lives in the tree but it hangs out there a lot at any rate. It also likes to hang out on our back fence. I'm quite sure the reason for this is to torment our dog.

This squirrel sits on the post at the half-way point of the yard and waits. It stares at the back door, stock-still, and waits. Farley must have some kind of radar because he will jump up from a dead sleep and race to the door to be let out. He has a special bark that we all have come to associate with squirrel invasion. We let Farley out, the squirrel swishes its tail a few times and scampers across the fence and into the neighbour's yard. But it doesn't leave it at that. It then sits just beyond reach and listens to Farley's crazed barking and looks at him smugly, as if to say "Sucks to be you, stuck in your yard."

Perhaps I am giving this bushy-tailed rodent too much credit (yes, I know squirrels are mammals but this one is an honorary rodent for certain). Perhaps its pea-sized brain doesn't remember there is a dog in this house that will chase it off as soon as it's spotted. Perhaps it just likes the look of our yard and that is why it chooses to stop there for a rest after a busy day of squirrel activities. Perhaps it is a very kind and decent creature who helps underprivileged squirrels build nests and gather acorns.

But I don't think so. I think this squirrel enjoys the mind games. It enjoys getting Farley riled up and frothing. In fact, I expect it to bring its squirrel buddies with it one of these days to taunt him even more. Maybe Farley likes the chase, likes getting his 14-year-old heart pumping over this interloper. Maybe the squirrel is his buddy. Who knows? All I know is that the urgent yapping bark to get out and the quickness with which that 14-year-old body moves to charge at the squirrel suggests that the visitor is far from welcome in Farley's yard. So we'll continue to let him out when he yaps and watch the squirrel torment him, and wonder if it will ever get tired of the game and move onto a new target. I doubt it - given the squirrel's daily visits, it seems that Farley is entertaining it just fine.