Soldiers will Always be Soldiers

This is one of the reasons I miss the Army. Soldiers, no matter the situation, no matter how bad it sucks, can always find the time and energy to play a little grabass. I pray for the safe return of all of our soldiers in harm's way. I hope making this video brought some levity to them in an austere environment, thousands of miles from their loved ones.

God Bless America!



(For those with the email dispatch, go to www.doughuber.blogspot.com to watch the fun)

A Wonderful Piece of Journalism

I have written about Matthew Tully's journey through Manual High School in this blog before. He continues his quest to explain some of the challenges that the young men and women of Manual High School face.

His matter-of-fact portrayal as told through the stories of these children is heart-breaking at times and inspiring at others. This latest work is both.

You can find the article here. Be sure to read the entire thing. Bravo to Matthew Tully and the staff at the Indianapolis Star.

Accuracy, Redefined

This is the most accurate portrayal of the war in Iraq, aside from Generation Kill. I am not kidding. It is scary how true to life this is.

(if you get the email blast, go to the blog for the video).

Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

One Third Gone

As I was walking Mason into school this morning, I came to the sad realization that a full one-third of my time with Mason as a child is gone. I love spending time with him and will miss him when he is attending Ohio State. It made me understand how precious the time with the children truly is.

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. Zionsville, Indiana celebrated with a small festival/awareness campaign at the Zionsville town hall. The kids got to learn about snapping turtles, owls, cicada killers (quite a nasty insect) and how water cycles throughout nature.

Mom and dad were treated to information on how terrible phosphorus is for the water supply, how Zionsville may vote to hold ourselves responsible for the quality of our water runoff (good luck with that), the fact that we live in the Eagle Creek water shed, that six in 10 streams in Indiana have dangerous levels of mercury (whooda thunk? Note to self: stay out of streams) and how a geothermal HVAC system can save you money (in the loooong run). As the kids travelled from booth to booth, they earned tickets to redeem for facepainting. Clearly, the most rewarding part of the day.

Tooth #2

This weekend, Mason lost his second tooth. This time with a bit of help from Mommy. Mason, like his father is cursed with adult teeth that don't want to see to wait their turn. So, adult tooth number two was being a bit pushy coming up behind its counterpart. So, we helped the first tooth out, literally.

Dandelions

This weekend I declared war on the dandelions. Not one for chemical warfare (that is sooo WWI), I hired a mercenary. Mason Huber is his name; Baron von FlowerSlayer is is nom de guerre.

His price was right. $.01 for each dandelion plucked from the yard. After the battle (in which the dandelions were wiped from the lawn ... or so we thought), we had a bucket full of dandelions, leaves and grass. Unwilling to count dandelions, I struck a deal with Mason. I asked him how many he thought were in the bucket. "Thirty-five!" he shouted.

"Let's try again," I suggested. "How about 300."

"Three hundred cents!?" Mason exclaimed. "Alright!"

Mason was rich and the yard was cleared.

Sunday morning, we went out to get the newspaper. Reinforcements had arrived on the front lawn ...

More questions about the 1900s

Today Mason asked me if there was food in the 1980s.

Yes, I explained. Except beef. In the 1980s, everyone kept asking, "Where's the beef". We'll see what he does with that information.

Feeling Old

Here is a conversation I had with Mason on the way home from school.

Mason: Daddy, did they have roads in the nineteens?
Daddy: Do you mean the 1900s? Like last century?
Mason: Yes.
Daddy: Yes, we did.
Mason: Where could you go?
Daddy: The same places we could go now. Florida or Texas.
Mason: Did you have cars in the nineteens?
Daddy: Yes.
Mason: What did they look like?
Daddy: They didn't look as cool as they do now.