Boyd with his toy snakes

Boydee got these for Christmas.

Reminds me of a scene from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure...

The weekend that was

How was your weekend? Ours was solid.

***

I got home from Cleveland Friday afternoon and was exhausted. Judy stayed home with Boyd because he was sick that day. We made some frozen pizzas and just relaxed... After too many nights in hotel rooms over the past two weeks, I was ready to get some sleep in my own bed.

***

Saturday I stayed home with Boyd while the girls (Adro, Evey and Judy) went out to get their nails done. That was the snow day. That morning I went to the grocery store to get stuff for breakfast. Then, later, Boyd and I made run # 2 to get stuff for vegetable beef stew. 

A lot of Uno was played during the day between Boydee and me, along with the Batman board game. Boyd drank from his snack/drink cup, mostly munching on crackers all day. Pretty chill day.

The snow started hitting and we just sort of watched it whole also watching college basketball. The OU game, then the UK/UNC game, then the KU/Davidson game.

I had concert tickets that night, but elected against going with the dangerous weather. The tickets were for Local Natives and Band of Horses. That's the second time I've missed Local Natives this year, guess I'm just not meant to see them in 2016.

It was so cold out on Saturday night (a wind chill of something like -10, right?) that we all snuggled up together and turned on the new episode of Saturday Night Live. By the end of the monologue, three out of four Joneses were asleep. 

I watched a little bit of Empire Strikes Back myself before going to bed. By midnight I took both kids to their own beds... just not enough room for the four of us, with the kids getting so big. 

At about 3 a.m. I heard the dog bark, and then I saw Boyd run from his room to our room. He was having a nightmare. He then bunked with us the rest of the night.

***

Sunday morning we all decided not to do anything — church for the wife and kids, basketball for me. Boyd slept in until almost 9:30 a.m., remarkably late for him.

I made breakfast biscuit sandwiches for everyone again. The vegetable beef stew was ready and waiting in the wings. Adrianne and Evey worked on wrapping presents all day while I cleaned up the basement, did laundry, organized some stuff, while watching football and listening to music on the jukebox (I'm a big multi-tasker.)

The veggie beef stew was for late lunch and dinner (accompanied with grilled cheese sammiches at dinner) and was a huge hit. Hardly any left!

Now Evey is baking cookies while Adro is getting ready for the week. Boyd's probably watching "Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer." The dog is asleep on the floor pillow next to me.

***

I only left the house twice all weekend (both to the local grocery store) and while I was frustrated about eating those concert tickets on Saturday night, it was a great weekend. Productive, quiet, relaxing. 

I'm shutting this down — Boyd just paged me on the intercom system and shouted, "THE COOKIES ARE READY!!!"  

My favorite moment

From last weekend -- and there were a lot of good moments to choose from!

Evey's b-day party

Was a smashing success! And yet we didn't even break any ceramics!

Thanksgiving 2016

 Wng!

What a great Thanksgiving!

Boydee at the park

Took Boyd to two parks on Saturday. He also accompanied me on a trip to the auto parts store, the hardware store and the grocery store. 

He scored two toys, a "dino" and a hot wheels car, for hanging with me. It's a lot of fun to have Boyd hang with me on Saturday mornings... he does great staying close to me, but exploring at the same time. 

Also, Koko the dog joined us. She's always down for a ride in the truck...

Boyd Jones Construction

There's a construction company in Omaha called BOYD JONES. I saw their signs all over a construction site when I was last up there in May.

The other day I emailed them and asked if they had a T-shirt, or anything I could buy, for my son who is named Boyd Jones.

They emailed back and said, "no sweat, we'll mail you something — and great name!"

Now Boyd has his hat with his own name on it. And he loves it!

Looking good, Boyd Jones!

Pic

Boyd's golf swing, Age 5

Looking good, Boydee!

He parred # 9 at the pitch-and-putt. Sure, I teed him up closer to the green than the actual tee. But still, from 30 yards he hit it on in one and two-putted.

These two

Have a special bond, it's neat to watch.

I took this Sunday afternoon at the farm. Boyd instigated the hug.

I'm glad he didn't spell RED RUM

Friday O'Pomp

Remember a hundred years ago, when I blogged nine times a week?

Evey plowed through book 5 of the "Land of Stories" series. 430 pages, bought it on Friday, she was finished by Tuesday afternoon.

Well, ok, yeah, sorry. That's not me anymore. Maybe that guy will make a comeback, who knows. Life has seasons, I've learned. Right now I'm in a "shut up and brood" season. Not much blogging goes in this stage, but I strive to brood hard. 

What'd you just say? You insensitive...

Here are a couple photos I took...in time for Friday Old picso ffa my phone...

Adrianne bought this new back deck beer trough. I dig it. But we need more than just me drinking out of it, or else the ice melts pretty quick.

I texted back and forth with Abasolo over the weekend. Admitted I was in the  midst of a BIG PROJECT.

Painted the garage. Turns out I survived the ordeal AND actually made Adrianne happy. That happens again in 2145, when some random comet cruises by again. Looking forward to it!

So that's my weekend update, we'll try harder soon next week!

Is that Ice T?

No! IT'S LEMONADE!

Read the sign...

To think, it was 10 years ago today...

...that we got married. Sorry I'm not in Kansas when you (probably) see this, but happy anniversary, Babe. I'll be home this evening for a quiet celebration, you, me and the kids.

(Don't worry, Adrianne and I already did a preemptive celebration at Red Rocks over the summer, then did another celebration in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.)

Ten years ago things were a lot different, in general. But one thing was very much the same: you were willing to put up with my dumb ass, and the two of us were very much in love.

Thanks for still putting up with my dumb ass, thank you for still loving me, thank you for this life you've led me to. I might still be a dumbass, but I'm smart enough to hold on tight to you.

Happy 10th anniversary, Adrianne Anita Jones. I love you.

Evey got a new book

She's tearing through the "Land of Stories" series... just finished book three, on to book four.

I usually buy these for her when I come home from business trips. This time, I bought two, stashing one for my next trip.

She got off school early today and had been reading upstairs all afternoon. Once she finished book three, she came down to tell me how she was FREAKING OUT about the cliffhanger ending of book three... that she almost threw the book and wanted to kick the dog.

I told her to relax... I was going to go check the mail.

I retrieved this book out of my hiding spot... and then started recording as she came out of the bathroom...

Jonesy's Jukebox, circa 2015

Noteworthy: CD 3 and 4 had Boyd confused, thinking that was my leg on CD 4. "Dad, why are you wearing those shoes?" "Well, never in public, son..." CD 11, "Eudora Kansas" is a mainstay and will never leave that jukebox... unless we move from Eudora.

I just came across theses photos... wanted to post them before they got lost forever. 

This is what I had in the jukebox for most of 2015. The theme was mostly, "random stuff" and less "my favorite bands ever." 

Also of note, I moved the jukebox into my new office for much of the year. It's back in the downstairs living room, now.

Lot of mix CDs here, "best of" and what not, just to mix it up in the jukebox. Evey's mad I took out Ghostbusters. Songs from KU remains, for game days... 

Favorite here is the photo of Boyd and Snickers, on the Beastie Boys album. I didn't listen to that "songs that inspired Led Zepp" CD much. Yes, that's Limp Bizkit. 

Lot of Pearl Jam in the juke back then. A rare (for me) Nirvana CD made the juke.

Pretty good page here. That Elliott Smith tribute album is great. Miss that Self CD.

Another good page, with TOOL, White Stripes, Kanye and Femmes. Can't complain. You'll notice the lower lamp was burnt out last year, my pal Copy Jesus showed me how to fix it (there was a part that needed replacement, not just the bulb!)

Missing a lot of album art, that drives me crazy. Soundgarden remains at CD 78. 

Good to have some Thorogood in the juke. Beck's Odelay and Radiohead's OK Computer are two of my all-times, I did remove them both. That Sonic Youth CD was fun, now I have Goo in there. Interpol's self-titled album, which I kind of forgot about. And of course Queens of the Stone Age! Another great page, minus the missing artwork.

Mad Season, Starsailor, Toadies and Snatch soundtrack. If you made it this far back in the jukebox... safe to say you were REWARDED.

Boyd's 5th birthday party

I don't have great photos of the party, but here are two of Boydee following his big 5th birthday party!

5 candles

Happy 5th birthday, Boydee!

Photo above taken in April 2014, when he was 3-years-old... and the pic below taken a few weeks ago on Evey's first day of 4th grade and the beginning of his last year at Montessori School.

Beautiful KS night to hang out in the truck

RIP, Mr. Palmer

Cool pic of BJ at the park on Saturday. He and I ran errands on Saturday together, we made a mostly good team. He's growing up.

***

I had the honor of meeting Arnold Palmer once. It was really cool. Kinda crazy, but cool.

I was lucky that I wasn't a life-long fan, or else I would have been reduced to mush. But I did recognize who I was meeting.... and that made me nervous.

I've met most every golfer out there — Watson, Player, Billy Casper, Tiger, McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Mickelson...

I've met celebrities — Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong, Stan Lee, Kurt Russell, Tom Morello, Owen Wilson, Cal Ripken Jr. — Mr. Palmer was one of the few times I was nervous.

Because he's Arnold Palmer!!! Legend.

Cheers, Mr. Palmer.

***

I'm so pissed off, re: concert tickets. I think I kinda/sorta got scammed on Saturday night, when a fake website led me to believe the Local Natives concert at Crossroads was going to be live-streamed. So I signed up, and it just didn't work.

I called their customer service rep (of course by now I've plugged in my credit card info for a FREE five-day trial) and she's curt, tells me live-streaming isn't what they do.

ANYWAY, I call the CC company and tell them, they say cool, we'll keep our eyes open, not your obligation anyway...

(But what if I just wanted to see Local Natives in Kansas City?)

***

Now I see that Banks and Steelz are in town, featuring the lead signer of Interpol, with the RZA. And yep, I'm on the outside looking in.

Whatever.

The origin of Koko Jones

The kids made "vote for Koko" signs to campaign
for us choosing that name for the dog.

Adrianne and Koko enjoy nice weather on the back deck.

The ride home for the yet-to-be-named Koko. She likes the truck.

Last Saturday, we had nothing going on. It was great. No soccer games, nada.

Adrianne said to me in the morning over breakfast (I love making breakfast on Saturday), "You need to run to Office Depot, I would like to go to Tuesday Morning... so let's do that. And then, want to stop by the pound?"

A couple hours later we were in Lawrence, and I kind of forgot about it. Evey went with her grandma, so it was just Adro, Boyd and I in the truck.

We debated stopping, but we had time, so we popped in. Saw my pal Gaus there with his family, his boy and my son are now classmates at Montessori. We entered the kennel...

I thought we were done. I saw a few dogs I liked, but I wasn't going to make any recommendations. It was nice to look. Lots of nice animals there.

Then I said to Adrianne, "See anyone you like?" This was after we had finished the tour, and were standing at the next-to-last dog kennel.

"Yeah, this one!" Adro said. "Will you see if we can get her out?" So I did.

Adrianne fell in love right away. She's a sweetie. Approximately two-years-old, a labrador retriever/beagle mix. Adro liked the dog's demeanor (real mellow) and thought maybe it was a sign that the shelter acquired her on Adrianne's birthday.

The dig was great with Boyd, so I was interested. It's been a year since Snickers died. Felt like the right time to try again.

Koko enjoyed the drive home, and explored the backyard. Our day of no plans turned into a day of sitting in the backyard on a beautiful day, day-drinking, smoking meat, hanging with my sister, surprising Evey and Judy, and watching the dog explore the backyard.

I traveled this week, so I was only around her for a day and a half and then I left. When I returned on Wednesday night, she barked at me when I entered the house — the first time any of us had heard her bark.

We kicked around names for a while, and I kind of think I was the first one to suggest "Cocoa" or "Coco" or "Koko," but I may be wrong. We were sitting on the back deck, enjoying the weather, and we were bouncing around names. Evey really liked Lea (after the princess) but Adrianne and I weren't as excited. There were a few others, I can't even remember them.

She's changed the dynamic in the house, mostly good. Boyd really adores this dog, and Koko allows him to put her in headlocks, to lay with her, etc. Evey's quite fond of the dog as well, and likes taking her for walks. Koko sleeps in Evey's bed at night, which means now Boydee sleeps in Evey's bed at night. There's enough room, and the kids really enjoy this, so we're cool with it. And me and Adrianne get our bed back to ourselves (Boyd oftentimes would come over to snuggle with his mom.)

The dog has chewed up a few items in the house, a couple stuffed animals and one of my old T-shirts. So we've got to be careful what we leave on the floor.

She's only had a few accidents and she doesn't beg for food, or hunt for food under the table. She does not like other dogs, so when we're walking her we keep her separated from other dogs eager to sniff her butt. She has tried to run out the front door a couple times, even though she doesn't know where to go, but we've got to kind of watch her getting out the front.

All in all, she's been a really nice addition to the family.

Welcome Koko Jones!

The weekend that was, 9.16.16

Me, Ted, Heather and Adro at the Urge concert at VooDoo Lounge.

The kids and Koko lounging on the new upstairs furniture.

What a great weekend! A little bit of everything...

***

On Friday, Adro, Judy, Evey and Boyd went to Ikea and Adrianne bought these new seats that fit perfectly in front of the upstairs windows. Even better: Adrianne even assembled them Friday night! She got the whole thing assembled and put together, no problemo.

That night Evey had a sleepover at her friend Kali's house, so it was just the three of us (and the new dog.) It was kind of quiet, but productive.

I'll admit I was in a bad mood for a bit on Friday. A cluster headache, combined with driving the truck to Ikea in the rain, plus a vet appointment for Koko, had me a little keyed up. I managed to settle down with a few cold beers and some errands around the house, though...

***

Saturday morning was just perfect out, after all that rain on Friday. We opened the windows wide and enjoyed the new view. I went and picked up Evey from her sleepover, she had a great time. I whipped up a serious breakfast burrito breakfast for everyone, and we chilled out and enjoyed the weather.

Boyd celebrating Batman day.

Watched the KU football game for a little bit, that was awful. Then Judy came over, and Adrianne and I loaded up and went to meet Ted and Heather for the Urge concert in KC.

The show was solid! I hadn't seen those guys since college, probably. The opener played rap covers, that was fun. Then out to the casino for a little gambling afterwards. I hit four 7s on video poker, for a net gain on gambling. I won't tell you what my bar tab was, though...

***

Sunday morning Judy took the kids to church, allowing me and Adro to sleep in, which was great. We headed to Lawrence early and took everyone out to Pie 5, the new pizza place in Lawrence where you choose your own toppings for your pizza... kinda like Subway, but for pizza.

Me and the Mrs. toast a beer at VooDoo Lounge.

The kids LOVED it. Evey said it was her new favorite restaurant, Boyd said it was his new favorite pizza.

The Urge, still getting hectic.

Then we hustled up to the Rod and Lupe's pool, where we swam for the last time this summer. The Johnsons joined us, I grilled burgers and dogs (Jess later saw that it was "National Hamburger Day," so we did in fact celebrate that day.)

It took me about 40 attempts (not exaggerating) but I finally nailed the diving board basketball shot at the pool. Jett made it, so I couldn't not make it. Diving in and getting out of the pool that many times really wore me out.

Now I'm chilling at the house, watching NFL football. Kids are tucked in. Adrianne has been fervently cleaning for the last few hours, and the house is looking great.

I'm going to sleep the good sleep tonight, get off to a good start for the week. I feel very alive!

Great weekend, let's do it all again.

Guess

Who got a dog this weekend!?!

Surfing with the Alien

I grabbed a bag of toys out of my bedroom last time I was down at Mom's house. It was a ziplock baggy full of old action figures. I remember each toy vividly.

I brought it home and gave it to Boyd.

At age 4, he knew the name of Kang the Conquerer, who was an obscure character when I was a kid. He also told me he believed that the Silver Surfer was the most powerful toy in the bag.

I agreed.

We played with these guys for a while. They're his now. I'm glad he likes them.

***

I pulled the old license plate off Dad's truck today and replaced it with a new one. This one is registered to me and Jess, and has Douglas County tags on it.

I guess the truck is kinda-sorta ours now, unofficially. It's not Mom's, it's not Dad's. It's mine and Jessica's... I think.

I don't like the feeling.

***

Boyd was so proud that I was impressed that he knew who Kang was, that he went and got one of his books where Kang is the main villain, to show to me.

Keep in mind, this would be frowned upon by his current school, Montessori School in Lawrence. They say fantasy is bad for kids' minds. Yet fantasy makes my son's mind race, fills him with imagination...

Sure enough, Boyd was right. There's Kang! He showed me in his book.

Good recall, Boyd.

I liked Kang for a few reasons when I was a kid. One, this toy came from the Secret Wars line, which I didn't have many of (they were just a little before my time, but all the toys came with hologram shields, which was cool.) Two, his weapon was sound, which I always thought was interesting. And three, my dad worked for KANG — Kansas Air National Guard — and that acronym was around a lot in my childhood. I liked to imagine that it was like HYDRA or SHIELD, and that it was secretly run by Kang the Conquerer.

Obscure Seth Jones trivia, right there.

Also, I also once bowled a 114.

***

Does anyone happen to have an extra copy of this issue of Lawrence Magazine lying around?

If you did and wouldn't mind gifting it to me, I'd be grateful.

I did the sidebars to the cover story of that issue... which means I was the guy who interviewed Mario Chalmers, Danny Manning, Wiggins, T-Rob, Rick Barnes and Jay Bilas.

I have one copy but would love to nab a few more as I'd like to mail them to a few KU b-ball fans who are out-of-state.

Let me know, thanks.

And no, I had no input on the cover.

***

Mexican week continues at the house, and while we enjoy the food, no one is enjoying Dad's gas*.

***

I think I decided tonight that I'm going to draw another comic book.

Not a 22-page epic, like "What Would Jacko Do?" but a short, six-pager.

I'm really fond of the Fantastic Four comic I did several years ago. It was only 10, maybe 11 pages? I'd like to do something like that again.

I just need a story. Maybe Doctor Solar? But what's he doing? Man, I used to love doing those spoofs of Dr. Solar, where he was a 1970s terrorist. Hmm...

It's always important that there are no female characters in my stories. Not because I'm sexist, but because I don't know how to draw women.

***

Extra points to you if you got the title of this blog post.

***

HOLY CRAP, ADRO... The National just popped up into my Pandora stream!

It's "Start a War" from The Boxer.

I'll admit, in a small dose, it ain't bad.

I'm listening to Cold War Kids radio, btw.

***

You should come with us to see Phantogram in October.

***

*That's called bathroom humor right there, Evey. It's the most base form of humor there is. But it still makes me laugh at times. You have to be careful with "fart jokes." At the end of the day they're "beneath us," but at the same time, there's occasionally a "rumble down under" that has to be mocked.

Tread lightly with bathroom humor, Sis. That's my advice.

New Radiohead is playing

"A Moon Shaped Pool."

Really good so far. I wish they would have hyphenated "moon-shaped."

***

I used the word "goner" in a sentence tonight, as in, "that marker is a goner... throw it away." 

Boyd then said, "Who knows what 'goner' means?" So I explained it to him, it's when something is dead, so long, goodbye.

Then he yelled out, "Snickers is a goner!"

I then tried to teach him the meaning of insensitive, which Adrianne said was a good word.

***

It's been Mexican week here at Casa de Jones. Cousin Melissa came up and her and Evey cooked some amazing enchiladas. There are three left (one more will be gone tomorrow when I devour it with over-easy eggs.)

Adrianne cooked a bunch of taco meat and fajita chicken meat for her office last Friday. A lot of it came home on Monday (she stayed home with a sick Boydee.)

So we're in the midst of Mexican week. Boydee hasn't been fighting us on eating his dinner, for once.

Hmm.

***

I've been walking Evey to school every day, and she's been walking home with her friend Regan.

It's been nice not driving to school, fighting the traffic, and we're both getting a little exercise at the same time.

***

Can you believe it's almost September?

The Boydee Whisperer

Boyd's been sick for 24 hours, he looked lousy today at 3 pm so I took him to the doctor.

They think croup, maybe. Gave him a steroid. 2.5 pills, smashed, in his food.

We tried cheesy pasta first, and he said no. So then I committed to chocolate pudding. He took one half-ass bite, then paused when he saw green powder in his pudding.

I was like, "Are you kidding me? Eat the chocolate pudding!" I was so mad because, even when he's sick, he'll eat chocolate pudding. And who taught this kid to be such a fickle eater that he balks at the sight of green dust in his chocolate pudding? It's chocolate pudding! Do I really need to disguise the medicine that much!?!

I excused myself from dinner so I wouldn't upset Boyd by telling him to man up and eat the one spoonful of chocolate pudding.

About 30 minutes later, Evey came down to tell me the deed was done.

Guess who got it done? EVEY JONES!!!

I don't know how. But she is the Boydee whisperer.

Well done, Evey.

The weekend that was, August 19-21

It was quite the weekend here at the Casa de Jones.

On Friday I left work early to get down to Wichita. Needed to meet a real estate person to discuss Mom's house, and the guy working the estate sale asked if I could mow the backyard.

I took the mower down there. Got to Mulvane just in time to meet the real estate person... and just in time for the storm to start!

By the end of the storm, 7 inches fell on Mulvane, enough for the town to make national news and for a downtown building to partially collapse. It was nuts.

***

Mom's house is progressing nicely. The guy I've contracted is amazing. So lucky he's on our side.

***

Got back home early Saturday and the fam took Judy to the farm. She took a nice trip to the DR and needed to be reunited with her car. Popped in and said hello to Virginia while we were there.

From there, we went to Lawrence, where I took the kids to see the DeBruce Center. We wanted to see the original "Rules of Basket Ball." It was a cool experience!

I told the kids we were going to a museum, because that's what I thought what we were doing. But according to the kids, despite the $3.8 million dollar document hanging on the wall, it did not qualify as a museum...

I just heard Adrianne say, "Ask Dad, he's running the show." (Which I've never heard uttered by my wife before.) Then they were all, "DAD! Can we PLEASE go to the museum that Grandma takes us to?"

Well, of course. I told the kids that the Natural History Museum was my first ever "beat" as a journalist, when I was just a sophomore in college. They were unimpressed.

First time I've been there in years. It was nice. Fun. The triceratops skull wins for coolest exhibit.

***

From there, Pyramid Pizza, where we all had a slice then played some Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man. Apparently Adro didn't know who she was messing with when it came to Ms. Pac-Man. But stop by Pyramid when you have time and check out the new high score... yeah, THIS GUY.

***

I smoked a brisket on Sunday. It was a'ight.

Need to talk to Stark about smoking brisket.

***

CDs I want to get: New Radiohead. Glass Animals. Head and the Heart (maybe.) New Local Natives. Robert DeLong. (This list is just for me.)

***

Boyd dressed himself in the above photo. He did a nice job.

While we drove from DeBruce to Dyche, we saw all the sorority rush stuff going on. The Chi-O fountain as overflowing with college girls. The neighboring sorority was throwing colored chalk dust in the air, or something. Music was blaring. A school bus (Perry!) was blocking traffic. It was all quite the spectacle.

Evey was somewhere between horrified and disgusted, I couldn't tell which, but she wasn't having it.

She voiced her disapproval, saying it looked scary, and not like a good time, and for sure not like a party.

Then Boyd piped up. "I think I could go to that party!" he said. "I think I can go, because I saw there were two boys there."

Those two boys were photographers. But I was happy to hear that Boyd was down for whatever the hell that was.

***