Denver: Day 3

These late nights are taking their toll with the lack of sleep. But hey, it's politico season -- when in Rome...

Wednesday night at the Democratic convention will feature President Clinton and Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden.

Today the pundit class is dissecting Hillary's speech from last night -- did she go far enough? Was she convincing enough? Was her heart really into it? Why didn't she reassure voters that Obama was in fact experienced to be President?

Personally I think the talking heads were going to ask these questions regardless of what she said. I thought her speech plain and simple was an attempt to unite her supporters behind Obama -- especially with that "I want you to ask yourselves. Were you in this campaign just for me or were you in it for the [cause]" line.

And in true melodramatic fashion the drama is building for President Clinton's speech tonight. Will he put his ill feelings on the shelf and wholeheartedly endorse Obama? (see "Obama and Bill Clinton: So Similar, So Distant") Again, I think too much is being made of this. I think Bill Clinton has everything to lose -- including the legacy of his accomplishments -- if he sulks and doesn't give a rousing full endorsement. But we'll see -- I could be wrong. Either way it is fun drama.

Hopefully we are treated to Mr. LeDuc's guest blogging again tonight.

9:00
Amy & I are dragging a bit tonight. We are loving all this wall-to-wall coverage of the convention and people talking about important issues of our day. Just need some sleep.

Here comes Bill.

"Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" -- shades of 1992.

9:04
Crowd giving him a HUGE ovation. Still going on 5+ minutes into it.

"You all sit down. We gotta get on with the show here."

"Sit down." (laughing)

So much for the Obama crowd not giving Bill any love.

9:12
Bill likes him some Joe Biden. "With his [Obama's] first presidential decision in selecting a vice president, he hit it out of the park."

9:13

"Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States."

There it is. That was our biggest question. He wouldn't answer this very question to an ABC reporter a few weeks ago ("You could argue that nobody is ready to be President."). Glad to see Bill has come around.

9:16
Clinton brings the house down:

"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

Wow, what a line.

9:23
Clinton is crushing balls over the fence like they're slow-pitched softballs. He is drawing the line between McCain's (Bush's) policies and the Democrats like no speaker at the convention yet.

James Carville will sleep well tonight.

9:28
I cannot imagine any pundit saying the Bill Clinton didn't do his part to throw his full support behind Barack Obama. (Of course, I'm not watching Rove over on Faux News.) Seriously though, he showed how powerful of a politician he can still be when he wants to.

"Fantastic," quoteth Amy B.

9:32
Bring us out some Joe Biden. I bet we have to endure an hour of analysis and spin before JoeBi graces the stage.

10:07
Pundits -- you just have to love their sense of reality sometimes. On MSNBC Mike Murphy (former advisor to McCain) just claimed that Bill and Hillary Clinton would now leave Denver and vote for John McCain in the voting booth.

Chris Matthews: "Where would you find an audience in sane America that would believe what you just said?"

Filler, filler, until Biden speaks.

10:12
I really think that MSNBC is trying to carve out a niche as the antithesis to Fox News. Fox -- for all its bogus "Fair & Balanced" claims -- really champions Republican causes and points of view very, very well. My beef with it has always been that Fox claims to be down the middle when it is not. Now MSNBC has begun to lean Democratic. Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews -- these folks are definitely very -- ahem -- supportive of the Dems.

I think that's the trend we are in now that these cable networks are just saying screw it, we're not going to try to be something we're not. We can't please everybody so let's please a group of people really well.

10:17
David Letterman's Top 10 ways to make the Democratic Convention more fun:

10. Offer John McCain $1 million if he correctly guesses how many homes he owns.
9. Every night, one lucky lady gets to go home with John Edwards
8. In honor of party mascot, serve assortment of delicious donkey and mule treats
7. Each delegate gets a kitty, superdelegates get a super kitty!
6. Special appearance by the exhumed remains of Lyndon Johnson
5. Call the Pepsi Center something crazy like the Bird's Nest or the Water Cube
4. Give John Kerry's crazy wife five minutes to say whatever she wants -- remember her?
3. Kick things off with a song from Dennis Kucinich
2. Five words: hot volleyball babes in bikinis
1. Try to squeeze Al Gore into the same suit he wore at the 2000 convention

10:23
It's Biden time.

10:31
Rumor that Obama is about to make a cameo after Biden.....interesting. Most Presidential candidates build up the suspense until they speak on the last night of the convention. Obama has appeared Monday (after Michelle's speech), Tuesday (shown watching Hillary's speech), and now apparently tonight.

10:34
Biden (to his wife): "The only one who leaves me both breathless and speechless at the same time."

10:36
Biden takes a shot at Cheney. No longer will you have to dread the words, "The Vice President's office is on the phone." Funny.

10:38
Over/under on how long Biden will speak - 4 hours, 11 mins. He's been on for 7 minutes and he hasn't even stopped thanking his family.

10:47
I have never been a fan of the call & response in political speeches. Kerry/Edwards had "Help is On the Way" four years ago which I thought was corny. Biden tries to light up John McCain with the "That's not change, that's more of the same" chant in which the audience joins.

Maybe I just need some sleep...

10:52
Amy points out that Biden has the red light. He is just getting fiery in pointing out instances where he thinks Obama has shown better judgment than McCain.

10:55

"I'm ready. Barack Obama is ready. This is his time. This is our time."

I am reminded of Mikey's "It's Our Time" speech from the Goonies. I think the Democrats are like the Goonies -- the lovable, idealistic losers.



11:02
Springsteen sings Day 3 to a close. 70,000+ will be on hand tomorrow night from Mile High.

Cheers!

Denver: Day 2

Democratic Convention, day 2. The Rutledge household is tuned back in. Owen is ticked that he missed Michelle Obama, but that's what the internet is for, son.

9:15
Just got back from walking the dog. Amy has paused a segment on MSNBC where Chris Matthews gets snippy with co-host Keith Olbermann. This is classic. Apparently Olbermann was making fun of a long-winded diatribe by Matthews, and Chris just got testy with him right on the air.

This after Joe Scarborough went nuts on David Shuster on Morning Joe this a.m. What the heck is happening to MSNBC.

Our pal Chris thinks Matthews is keeping Olbermann's seat warm for him as the network's chief political anchor. Russert would have had these guys in his office and whipped them into shape.

9:34
We are now 15-20 mins behind what's actually going on since I've watched the MSNBC anchor soap opera over and over on the DVR. I'll catch up once they go to a network break and show the Matt Damon commercial a dozen times.

Matthews just cut Olbermann off cutting to Andrea Mitchell. This is great. Anything to kill the time until Hillary speaks in an hour.

9:38
Every guest now has to answer the token "What will Hillary say?" question. Personally I think she'll be good soldier Numero Uno and will pledge her support earnestly. Tomorrow night with Mr. Bill is the wildcard.

9:42
Spike Lee looks less than thrilled to be answering the 50th question on race relations in America.

Bob Casey is up. His dad (pro-life Dem) was snubbed in 1992 at Bill Clinton's DNC convention. Now he's trying to pitch the big tent message for the party. Interesting...

9:47
Casey just brings up the abortion issue as a difference between himself and Obama. Calls McCain Bush's "sidekick" rather than a maverick. Leads a "four more months" cheer instead of the traditional "four more years." Funny.

9:53
Testing, testing... CL

9:56
I'm in, DR. First of all, thank you for letting me be part of this historic occasion in the life of your blog...

9:58
Warner clearly watched the "John Adams" mini-series on HBO.

10:01
(DR) Sorry, I just had to do this.

10:03
(DR) Good line about Bush not tapping the resources of the American people to deal w/ our problems. I think that is a fair criticism. I have always thought that if you level with people with the truth then people can deal with these problems we face -- energy, environment, national security, etc. Just shoot straight for crying out loud.

Amy just mentioned that Warner has an estimated net worth of $200M. Wow. He tops Spuds McCain.

10:08
(DR) Line of the night:

"This election is not about liberal vs. conservative. It's not about left vs. right. It's about the future vs. the past."

Hear, hear....

10:18
(DR) Just about showtime. Warner wrapped up. DNC offers this reassurance in its preview of the highlights of Hillary's upcoming speech. I think she'll be a team player. If for nothing else it's in her own self interest. It will be interesting to see if her heart is in it.

*You will see a completely unified Democratic Party tonight as Americans from all walks of life come together to work for change. Senator Clinton has been and continues to be a passionate campaigner for Obama, and will be important force for the Democratic Party throughout this election and beyond.

10:22
(DR) MSNBC pundits -- especially Buchanan -- can't fathom that Warner hasn't tried to "gut" McCain in his speech. "Where is the fire, the scream, the heart?"

Gene Robinson brings up the point that Dems need to bring up torture, Iraq, domestic surveillance. Good point.

I think there is something to be said for taking the high road. But there is also a time to draw that sharp contrast that clearly exists between Obama and McCain this year.

10:25
(CL) Okay, let's try this again...

Hillary coming up any minute. Let me catch up on a few things. Casey's speech was good. I loved how he was beaming when the "Four More Months" chant started. He looked like a guy who successfully started the wave at a ballgame.

To your earlier point about the little tiff between Matthews and Olberman. All kidding aside, I really feel like Matthews is being push out and he knows it. A bit later he went on some semi-coherent rant about how he longed for the old rhetoric where you tear your opponents down. Olberman just sat there smirking, giving Matthews just enough rope to hang himself.

10:29
(CL) I really resent the fact that the networks now get advance copies of the speeches and tell us the gist of what we are going to hear prior to the speech. Totally unnecessary. We can listen for ourselves. They always frame it like it's great reporting on their part. "We learned...". In other words, someone has handed them an exact copy of the text. Nice work... And then the run the sound bytes across the screen seconds after the speaker says them. Apparently we can't retain information either.

10:35
(DR) Showtime.....the hour is here.

10:37
(CL) I wonder if there are signs in the arena that que the delegates to chant, cheer, and quiet down. Seems like these things start and stop a little to abruptly. I'll bet there are...

10:40
(DR) Are you suggesting that there are rehearsed cheers at the DNC like Duke basketball? Or pumped-in crowd noise like the Dean Dome?

10:44
(CL) I am...

10:45
(DR) In the first minute of her speech:

"The time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team. This is a fight for the future and it is a fight that we must win together."

11:02
(DR) "We don't need four more years of the last eight years."

11:03
(DR) Zinger about McCain & Bush being together in the Twin Cities next week as it's hard to tell them apart.

11:07
(DR) What did you think CL? I thought she did what she had to do -- unite her supporters to the cause of electing a Democrat. Simple as that.

Olbermann: "Grand slam, out of the ball park, across the street." Would you expect anything less?

11:09
(CL) She did exactly that. In hindsight, all of the concern about her somehow undermining Obama or not coming over to him in this speech were ridiculous. She wasn't going to abandon the party. It was all media-driven.

11:13
(DR) Yep, the line (paraphrasing here) about "Were you in it for me or were you in it for the cause?" was core.

Now tomorrow night with Bill will be interesting...thanks for joining amigo. See you tomorrow!

Cheers everybody!

Denver: Day 1

At the request of my buddy Chris, the Rutledges are live blogging the Democratic convention from the comfort of our living room. Still waiting on Chris to accept the invite to be a guest blogger.

8:55
Amy & I just wagered a back rub on whether the kids that are pictured with Joe Biden are his kids or his grandkids. I think they are his kids from his second marriage. Amy thinks they are grandkids.

8:59
From the wonderful Wikipedia one of the kids is his daughter from his second wife; the other must be a granddaughter. I have a feeling I will be giving the back rub even though neither one of us was right.

9:03
Owen just got up for the second time -- doesn't want to go to bed. He says he wants he can't sleep without his dragon. But I think he's just stalling just to get a glimpse of Michelle Obama.

9:06
Just switched over to Faux News. I don't think I'd buy a car from Terry McAuliffe. Not the most believable or trustworthy individual I've ever come across.

9:10
The media is going nuts over this rift between the Clintons and the Obama campaign. Enough already. I am so ready to move beyond the Clinton grasp on the Democratic party.

9:15
Amy just informed me that the kids are Biden's grandchildren. About.com just trumped Wikipedia.

9:16
Gus is singing "happy Birthday" instead of going to bed. Owen just came out to tell us that his toenails were too long. I'm telling you, he's got a thing for Michelle.

9:17
Caroline Kennedy is reading off cue cards. Emotion, dear, emotion. Nice tribute to Ted Kennedy though. I read today where he was supposed to make an appearance.

9:22
For a party that just nailed McCain on his gaffe for not knowing how many houses he owns, I'm not sure showing Ted Kennedy on a sailboat is quite the consistent message they were aiming for.

9:30
Fiery, emotional speech from TK. He looks great for a guy that just had brain surgery. "I pledge to you I will be on the floor of the Senate in January." That's how to bring a crowd to its feet.

Crowd is eating this up. "Ted-dy, Ted-dy"

9:35
Michelle Obama just emailed supporters. We have to stay up til 10:30 to see her. Owen will be disappointed.

9:40
Just had the third John Kerry sighting of the night over on MSNBC. For those of us that are still bitter about 2004 it's not a pleasant reminder to see Sen. Kerry. Must......resist...urge.....to.....complain....about....Swift Boaters.

Amy just informed me that Joe Biden is married to a teacher. And also that he is 1 of 5 Senators that is not a millionaire. Respectable in this day & age. Gotta love those educators.

9:46
Olbermann is just shameless in his drooling praise on Kennedy's speech. I know he gets grief for being an unabashed liberal. But Fox has an army of hacks -- MSNBC can have its own as well.

9:52
The DNC is about to lose the "Thirty-something parents with young children who delay their bedtime with toenail & dragon stories" audience. A 45-minute wait for Michelle's speech for crying out loud.

9:58
Faux has Karl Rove on spinning. "The Architect......more like "The Train Wrecker" if you ask me. Split screen with Sean Hannity. Spin, spin, spin. Yawn. There may not be two more despicable human spinsters on the planet.

10:03
Preview of Michelle's speech.....great line here. I needed an uplift after slumming over to the Rovian gloom.

"And in the end, after all that's happened these past 19 months, the Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago. He's the same man who drove me and our new baby daughter home from the hospital ten years ago this summer, inching along at a snail's pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands, determined to give her everything he'd struggled so hard for himself, determined to give her what he never had: the affirming embrace of a father's love."

10:14
Rachel Maddow just reiterated a fantastic point that Maureen Dowd made in the NYT yesterday about McCain going to the well over and over again with the P.O.W. defense for any criticism he receives.

Apparently McCain will be on Leno tonight where Jay asks him about knowing how many houses he as. McCain's response? He was a P.O.W. for years so he can relate to average Americans' difficulties.

10:20
While we're waiting for Michelle Obama, here is the snippet from the Dowd column about McCain going to the well too often:

So it’s hard to believe that John McCain is now in danger of exceeding his credit limit on the equivalent of an American Express black card. His campaign is cheapening his greatest strength — and making a mockery of his already dubious claim that he’s reticent to talk about his P.O.W. experience — by flashing the P.O.W. card to rebut any criticism, no matter how unrelated. The captivity is already amply displayed in posters and TV advertisements.

The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the pastor who married Jenna Bush and who is part of a new Christian-based political action committee supporting Obama, recently criticized the joke McCain made at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally encouraging Cindy to enter the topless Miss Buffalo Chip contest. The McCain spokesman Brian Rogers brought out the bottomless excuse, responding with asperity that McCain’s character had been “tested and forged in ways few can fathom.”

When the Obama crowd was miffed to learn that McCain was in a motorcade rather than in a “cone of silence” while Obama was being questioned by Rick Warren, Nicolle Wallace of the McCain camp retorted, “The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous.”

When Obama chaffed McCain for forgetting how many houses he owns, Rogers huffed, “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison.”

10:24
It's Michelle time.

10:25
Barack, on meeting Michelle for the first time: "I didn't see a ring on her hand."

Classic. As someone who met his wife on the job I have a soft spot for this story -- regardless of how sappy & produced it may be.

10:31
Craig Robinson giving the introduction to his sister. Great line on Barack, in the context of playing basketball with him: "He's confident but not cocky. He makes those around him better. He'll take the shot if he's open. And he won't back down from any challenge." I'm a new Oregon State fan. Go Beavers.

10:38
Michelle definitely comes across as a family person. Gives tribute to her mom, dad, brother, husband and daughters. Very genuine.

10:44
Amy: "Can we vote for Michelle?" Hear, hear...

10:52
"This time we listened to our hopes and not our fears...."

10:54
Cindy McCain just popped a couple of pills to cope with the stress of living up to that classy, genuine speech. (Low blow, I know, but I couldn't resist.)

10:56
Barack, via video feed about his wife: "Now, you know why I asked her out so many times....even though she said no. You want a persistent President."

11:02
The wrap-up. It's hard not to miss Tim Russert at a time like this. I'm sure he's smiling down....

In case you missed Michelle's speech, it's worth watching. Amy & I are fans.



Good night everybody....we'll try to blog this Tuesday night if we can stay up. ;-) Hillary's on tomorrow.

Cheers!

Politico Thursday

I have consciously taken a break from politics since June when Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination. The primaries were so long that I had to pace myself to make it to November. Now as we approach the Democratic and Republican conventions in next couple of weeks and Obama and McCain are about to choose their nominations for Vice President, I am gearing back up for the sprint to the end.

Here are a few good political reads I have come across in the past few days....

The first is a light piece from Slate on the parallels between the Obama campaign and Pepsi.

Perhaps more significant, the prevailing theme of Obama's campaign meshes well with Pepsi's corporate messaging. Pepsi's marketing has for decades tried to exude youthful energy, from the early '60s attempts to adopt baby boomers as the "Pepsi generation" to the '90s fantasy commercials depicting Pepsi as a veritable soda fountain of youth, transforming nursing-home residents into skateboarders. Pepsi's advertising slogan not too long ago was "The Choice of a New Generation," which could almost be Obama's. Certainly his strategy in the general election, as it did in the primaries, will rely on youth support that is almost as fanatical and fantastic as the fictional version in Pepsi's ads.

Personally I am a Coke-drinking Obama guy, but I digress....


The second read highlights the trend in the past few days where Obama is starting to go on the attack against the McCain campaign. National polls released this week have shown McCain pulling even with Obama, erasing a strong lead with a steady stream of forceful (I'll use that word instead of "negative") ads -- see Paris Hilton. The Obama campaign is starting to fight back. I wish I had the problem of not knowing how many houses I owned....

"Dems Pounce on McCain Admission He Doesn't Know How Many Houses He Owns"

Sen. John McCain said in an interview that he did not know how many houses he and his wife own, a comment that Democrats immediately seized on as evidence that the Republican nominee is out of touch with the economic plight of most Americans.

"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told reporters for the Politico. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."

Finally this blog post from a London Guardian writer hits hard, and personally I think there is a lot of truth to it. Republicans have always attacked much better than Democrats. Look no further than 2004 when John Kerry's perceived strength of serving in the Vietnam War was turned into a liability against a candidate who haphazardly showed up for his Air National Guard duties due to political connections of his family.

"Why GOP attacks are more effective than Democratic ones"

The McCain attacks, by contrast, are almost all aimed at character. Obama's a celebrity, he's like Britney, he's a lightweight, he's a hypocrite and so on. They throw in some policy stuff for good measure – he's gonna raise your taxes, he's to blame for high gas prices. But the gist of the GOP strategy is to turn the other guy into a person that most Americans just wouldn't want to have as president.

..................

For example, we now know that John McCain wears $520 shoes, owns an obscene number of homes (variously placed at seven to 10) and has probably never written a check to a utility company or a home contractor or a dentist in at least 26 years (since he married La Hensley). And Saturday we learned that he thinks someone with a net worth of only $4.9 million is not rich. He can be painted as – and indeed is – out of touch with what regular Americans go through every day.

If he were the Democrat, everyone in America would know the above. The Republicans would have run ads featuring those Ferragamo loafers and aerial photographs of the seven, eight, nine or 10 houses. For good measure, the script of these ads would have cleverly made sure that viewers knew that this emasculated sissy-man didn't earn a penny of the fortune that purchased all this. He married it!

..................

In general: Democrats try to turn the Republican into someone you disagree with on the issues. Republicans try to turn the Democrat into someone you wouldn't want to live on your street or let near your children. Is it any wonder the latter is more effective?

Finally the Veep picks are coming in the next week. My prediction is an Obama/Biden ticket on the Democratic side and a McCain/Pawlenty pick for the GOP. Speculation is heavy that McCain will pick Tom Ridge or even Joltin' Joe Lieberman (who is speaking at the Republican convention). But I can't see McCain sticking it to the social conservatives with either of those picks. We'll see.

Veep predictions in the comments?

Cheers!

The Genius of Jon Stewart

I am all over the web today. Great article on one of the gems of television, the Daily Show's Jon Stewart.

"Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Name in America?"

Over time, the show’s deconstructions grew increasingly sophisticated. Its fascination with language, for instance, evolved from chuckles over the president’s verbal gaffes (“Is our children learning?” “Subliminable”) to ferocious exposés of the administration’s Orwellian manipulations: from its efforts to redefine the meaning of the word “torture” to its talk about troop withdrawals from Iraq based on “time horizons” (a strategy, Mr. Stewart noted, “named after something that no matter how long you head towards it, you never quite reach it”).

For all its eviscerations of the administration, “The Daily Show” is animated not by partisanship but by a deep mistrust of all ideology. A sane voice in a noisy red-blue echo chamber, Mr. Stewart displays an impatience with the platitudes of both the right and the left and a disdain for commentators who, as he made clear in a famous 2004 appearance on CNN’s “Crossfire,” parrot party-line talking points and engage in knee-jerk shouting matches. He has characterized Democrats as “at best Ewoks,” mocked Mr. Obama for acting as though he were posing for “a coin” and hailed MoveOn.org sardonically for “10 years of making even people who agree with you cringe.”

It's in the Mail

Hat tip to my buddy Scott K. for this find.

"Postal carrier pleads guilty to delaying mail"

Steven Padgett, of Raleigh, was a veteran mail carrier, employed with the postal service since 1995, and began an Apex route in 2001.

Recently, a utility worker spotted a large amount of mail in postal boxes at his home. The postal service was contacted and agents from the U.S. Postal Services' Inspector General's Office went to Padgett's house. On May 6, they discovered dozens of mail pallets stacked to the top of his garage and filled with third-class mailings, mainly store circulars and coupons.

Padgett had been under pressure to deliver all his mail in a timely manner and began skipping the sorting of junk mail in order to save time, his lawyer Andrew McCoppin said.

Personally I think this guy should get a medal and is welcome to deliver mail to my house any day.

Cheers!

Garfield's Wisdom

When I was growing up I thought Garfield was the funniest creation in the history of man. An overweight cat who ate nothing but lasagna, hated Mondays, pelted the goofy dog Odie and the cutesie cat Nermal, and made fun of his dorky owner Jon -- what could be funnier? I used to take the Garfield books into church and try to suppress my laughter during the sermon. Garfield was my elementary hero.

Looking back on the comic strip now the humor just doesn't stand the test of time like a Far Side or a Calvin & Hobbes. Perhaps my funny bone has matured or maybe it has just hardened. But today as I drove into work I couldn't help think of that little fat cat and his loathing for the beginning of the week.

Amy & I are sleep challenged today as Tess had us up at 3am. We think her stomach has been bothering her since we started introducing more cereal in preparation for the pureed vegetable diet she's about to embark upon. Then Gus was up this morning at 6am wanting to make cinnamon rolls. Amy & I unknowingly pawned him off on each other as we barely raised an eyelid from our respective sleeping places where we had settled from caring for Tess. Suddenly from upstairs I heard what sounded like the jingling of knives and my eyes shot wide open. From downstairs where Amy had settled with Tess she raised up out of bed hearing the same thing.

I bolted down the steps to find Gus at the kitchen counter with his array of skillets (thankfully not knives) preparing for his early morning cooking adventure. He was happily arranging all the things one would need to cook canned Pillsbury rolls -- skillets, cream cheese, Crayola markers and construction paper -- chirping and boasting about how he was going to make breakfast all by himself. What these two parents wouldn't give for his energy.

So the wife and I are putting our game faces on today for the week ahead. We will get Tess acclimated to solid foods this week so her sleep will return back to normal. She did get a great report last week at her 6-month checkup. Right now she's long & lean -- 25% in weight and 75% in height. The boys have one more week of summer freedom before school starts. And we are keeping an eye on the weather as Tropical Storm Fay may impact a potential weekend beach trip that we had in the back of our minds. On one hand we desperately need the rain; on the other, it would be nice to be able to get a little R&R for just a couple of days to send off the summer in celebratory fashion.

Maybe that little fat cat was onto something.


Cheers!

The best things come...

...to those who wait. Good Riddance, Roger.

"Blake Finally Breaks Through Against Federer"

BEIJING — Roger Federer walked off of Center Court at the Olympic Green Tennis Center to a quick burst of applause. The fans looked like pieces of confetti in their pastel-colored rain ponchos, but this was not the kind of going-away party Federer wanted. He moved quickly out of sight.

Olympics

The Olympics have been a fun to watch the past few days. Where else can you watch sports like swimming, women's field hockey, and badminton in one sitting other than the Games every four years? The records that these swimmers are breaking are unbelievable. Really fun stuff to watch.

The Olympics are a huge deal for China too. The media has focused on this being China's moment as an emerging superpower to highlight the country's progress. I work with a team of people in Beijing, and they are extremely proud of the fact that their country is playing host on such a grand stage. They are excited to show the rest of the world how much they are growing.

China obviously has a ways to go -- you can't see more than 3 blocks in Beijing the air pollution is so bad and reporters there can only access government-approved internet sites. Now stories are starting to emerge showing the lengths that China went to make the Olympics successful.

"Young Olympics singing star didn't really sing"

A 7-year-old Chinese girl was not good-looking enough for the Olympics opening ceremony, so another little girl with a pixie smile lip-synched "Ode to the Motherland," an official said.

In the latest example of the lengths Beijing took for a perfect start to the Summer Games, a member of China's Politburo asked for the last-minute change to match one girl's face with another's voice, the ceremony's chief music director said in an interview with Beijing Radio.

"The audience will understand that it's in the national interest,"

"Well-Trained Fans Are at the Ready, if Seats Need to Be Filled"

Part of the organizing committee’s plan all along was to distribute tickets at little or no expense to thousands of Chinese, from school children to government workers, mostly for lower-profile events. And as part of a grand pre-Olympic effort to build enthusiasm and teach proper fan etiquette, they were instructed how to cheer.

In the first few days of the Olympics, clusters of Chinese fans with matching shirts and perfectly timed cheer sticks have become regular sights at many of the lower-profile venues, particularly prominent at events without Chinese competitors. They provide quick bursts of noise and an air of neutrality, showing little allegiance beyond the person leading their cheers. They are noticeable mostly for packing tightly into various sections of venues otherwise dotted with mismatched fans and empty seats.

“Not many people know handball,” said a woman who identified herself as Ms. Zheng. “That is why we come here — to cheer both sides. We are friendly Chinese.”

Maybe we should give China a break. So they took queues from Duke basketball fans and packed the stands with phonies with rehearsed cheers. And so they didn't learn the lesson from Milli Vanilli and lip-synched the national anthem with a cuter kid. China's heart is in the right place, right? ;-)

Enjoy the Games. Cheers!

Summer Vacation

Just a couple of weeks of summer left before the boys head back to preschool and life becomes a bit more organized. On one hand I think Amy and I are ready for school to start so we can get the boys back on more of a schedule. As a parent it is a challenge some days to keep the boys entertained during the morning so Amy can work. On the other hand children have a lifetime of schedules and routines ahead of them so we want them to enjoy their summer break as much as we can.

The Rutledge clan was fortunate to have GJ with us the past couple of weeks to help out with the kids and visit with us. She kept the boys busy with trips to the library, the swimming pool, Hopper's House (how great a place like this is for a kid), and lunch outings. GJ also gave Gus dancing lessons to silly songs as the two of them pranced around the house, stomping, dancing and singing. Like grandmother, like grandson.

Pappy joined GJ this past Friday before driving down to Charleston to see the Crumpton crew. As always we appreciate the helping hands & nuggets of parenting wisdom.

After company leaves the boys typically have a down day so Amy and I tried to line up a "nature walk" for Owen and Gus on the American Tobacco Trail to divert their attention. We loaded up a backpack for Gus and an insect net for Owen with the thought that the walking would wear them out and they would nap hard later that afternoon to catch up on sleep. The boys really enjoyed the walk, collecting leaves, pine cones and checking out spider webs. But neither of them really napped that afternoon so Amy & I were stuck with two high-strung kids while we were dragging tired. Funny how things don't go as we parents plan them no matter how hard we try!

Tess was just incredible on the walk. I strapped her into the Baby Bjorn, and she happily tagged along checking out all the trees and smiling at the people that walked by. The little girl didn't cry once. She continues to just amaze us with her mellow disposition -- she is certainly a content little child.

Finally on Friday night Amy & I treated ourselves to a night out as one of our favorite bands, Wilco, was playing over at the amphitheater in Cary. It was a gorgeous night under the pine trees next to the lake as the temperature dropped comfortably down into the 60's. We had seats under the pavillion 20 rows back so we had a terrific view of the stage. The band treated us to many of our favorites, including several songs off the early A.M and Being There albums. What a fun night -- it was good to hang out as husband and wife and take the night off from being mom and dad.

Many of the Wilco fans were in their 30's like Amy & me, and several brought their kids to the show with them. It was funny on the way out when Amy & I overheard a girl complaining to her boyfriend that "there were too many kids and babies at the show." We could not have disagreed more. For the parents with their children in tow, they were giving the kids an appreciation of good music and the great spirit among Wilco fans. I look forward to the day when we can pack up a blanket with our three and have our whole crew singing along!

Cheers!




Hot summer nights call for ice cream in the driveway. The boys' strategy was to see if they could get more ice cream in their mouths or more down the front of their clothes. Tess has to settle for a plastic chew toy. Your time is coming for ice cream, dear.


The slip n' slide -- another tried and true method of keeping cool on hot, humid North Carolina summer days.


The 8/8/08 show at Koka Booth.



"If I could you know I would just hold your hand and you'd understand...."

Heavy Metal Drummer

Shiny shiny pants and bleached blond hair
A double kick drum by the river in the summer

--"Heavy Metal Drummer," Wilco

August 5, 1988

Twenty years ago today as a thirteen year-old I piled into the car with my middle school friends and ventured down to Nashville's Starwood Amphitheater for my first concert ever -- the one, the only Def Leppard. My bedroom was plastered with glossy pictures of long-haired lead singer Joe Elliott. MTV showed the "Pour Some Sugar on Me" video 500 times a day. Girls sporting a gallon of hairspray in their teased mullets worshiped these rockers and thus so did mullet-touting teenage boys.

Touring to promote their comeback Hysteria album, the band featured one-armed drummer Rick Allen, who had learned to play an electronic drum kit with his feet and one arm after a car accident. The seed was sown for my affinity for the drums, and years later I would save up my money for my own drum set. I remember the lead-up to the show as my group of friends called each other on the telephone for tips on the proper way to shred & bleach our blue jeans so we could dress like our beloved rock star heroes. I vividly recall begging my mom for an advance on my allowance so I could buy both a Def Leppard and a Europe (the opening band) t-shirt. My parents accepted chaperone duties to drive us down to the show as long as my then 17 year-old sister agreed to go to keep us out of trouble. (Belated thank you to Mom, Dad & Melanie for appeasing my irrational teenage quest.)

The show as I remember it was everything a 13 year-old could hope for -- loud guitars, raucous crowd, lights, lasers, a Rick Allen one-armed drum solo. I remember wearing those t-shirts proudly for months.

Eventually the love for hair metal music -- thankfully, oh so thankfully -- wore off. Grunge and substance replaced glitter and glam in my musical tastes. Def Leppard is still around, albeit playing to much smaller audiences. (The mullets will never die though.) A couple of years ago I heard on the radio where these guys played the parking lot at the grand opening of a Super Wal-Mart in Fayetteville, NC.

Ah, how times change.

Do you take sugar -- one lump or two?

Brutal Bitter, Ron Paul & Baseball

Twice a year TMOTT (Triangle Mothers of Twins and Triplets) rents out a massive building at the NC State Fairgrounds, and members can participate in the clothing and equipment sale. The place is filled with all kind of kids' gear that accumulates in the first few years of modern life -- onesies, pajamas, shirts, pants, coats, strollers, car seats, bottles, big wheels, toys, souvenir messy diapers from embarrassing potty-training incidents. Ok, so maybe not everything. But the piles of things that people sell were massive.

Amy normally goes to the sale as a buyer as we have stocked the boys' closet with some really good buys over the years. I'm sure the day will come when the kids will demand that everything be brand new, hip, fashionable and name-brand. Until then we have no qualms about second-hand.

This year Amy decided to be a seller as well and spent the better part of last week compiling, sorting, pricing, tagging, organizing, etc. three years worth of boys' clothes that had accumulated. As a seller you also have to work the sale -- either in an 8-hour shift supervising one of the areas or in a 4-hour shift setting up all the racks and tables for the sale.

So Friday I took a vacation day to help at the sale (spouses can sub for the wives if they volunteer for the 4-hour setup). I arrived Friday morning bright and early only to be handed the keys to a Budget rental truck so I could drive it to a storage facility where all the metal clothing racks were stored. I must admit I was dreading this setup work and after my last experience driving a U-Haul (where I got a 26-foot truck stuck behind a line of impatient cars at the solid waste disposal site only to then drive over a pole) my stomach quickly sank even further.

But driving the truck and the whole setup ended up being much easier and more fun than I thought. I got to meet two interesting people. First was a mom of identical twin girls that was wearing a Rogue Brutal Bitter t-shirt -- one of my absolute favorite beers. She explained that back in the days before kids when she played on a traveling ice hockey team (!) she and her husband had developed a pallet for craft beers. And second was a University of Georgia grad with a Ron Paul sticker on his truck. He hailed from Macon, Georgia which was the site one of the funnier episodes many years ago that deserves its own blog post someday. I bonded with the guy immediately as he was the only other guy there and had three small kids himself that provided him with adventure. (I didn't show him my Obama sticker on my car though.)

The whole experience was another one of those where the things you dread in your mind end up being really pleasant experiences. Maybe I should be more positive......

Nah.

Amy sold most of the clothes and bought some things for the boys & Tess for winter. It's hard to believe how big the kids are getting when you look at the sizes they are about to be in. Where did the time go?

Finally I stumbled onto a great column over the weekend - Non-Prospect Diary. On Bob Edwards' weekend show on NPR a sportswriter recommended it as it is written by Dirk Hayhurst, a minor league relief pitcher for the AAA affiliate of the Padres. The guy is a great writer and his posts focus on his observations living the life of a minor leaguer -- from how fans' impressions of people change once the uniform is put on to the daily grind of traveling in buses, staying in cheap hotels, and pursuing the major league dream. A couple of recommended posts -- Gorillas are Cool and the Offeseason job.

One gentleman is larger than the rest. I call him Hammer Pants because of what he wears: baggy, American flag print, Hammer Pants.

Hammer Pants is freakishly bigger than any man ought to be, like something out of a cartoon. It seems as if he tried to cut his shirt sleeves off but missed, because all that remains is a thin strip of fabric and collar.

Chest hair, arm hair and back hair all are there to be seen, beads of sweat dangling off each follicle, eagerly awaiting their chance to slather over any equipment I may want to use.

Watching Hammer Pants ride the exercise bike is like watching a bear ride a unicycle. Hammer Pants probably could bench my car. He's pretty impressive, if only a tad scary. Yet, I'll bet no one showed up last night to watch him take a whiz.

Have a good week everybody. Cheers!

Wanted: Superhero

As my wonderful but overwhelmed wife struggles to keep up with a plate full of life, including (but not all-inclusive)...

• demands of three small kids,
• running a household,
• keeping up with a job that is a) worked from home where aforementioned children are running around and b) frequently demands more time than she gets paid for,
• organizing a closet full of baby & toddler clothes by Friday to sell at a multiples club sale,
  
• dealing with a well-intentioned but challenging (my word), difficult and high maintenance (her words) husband,
• coming up with a plan for dinner,
• playing part-time therapist, peacemaker, and referee for multiple people,
  
• nursing an infant, and
  
• trying to find a snippet of time for herself
  

...I have decided to place a help wanted ad for a superhero to help us get through the next few weeks until preschool starts again.

As you can see Gus has accepted the challenge with both feet running. Little does he realize that he is a good portion of what's on that plate.

Ah, parenthood. When the plate gets so full we just have to find time for a little humor to squeeze through the challenges.

To my Wonder Woman Amy B, hang in there.



"What'chya need Mom? Need the Yellow Baron to carry your load away on my motorcycle?...."

"....or do you need me to pop a cap in your troubles?...."


"...I've got my lasso, my lizard boots, my sheriff's hat, and my whistle at your service."

The Boundary Push

The Rutledge crew had a bit of a challenging weekend, led by our twin terrors Owen & Gus. Since our return from the Kentucky trip Amy & I have been trying to get the boys back between the guardrails so to speak with regular bedtimes, more of a summer routine, etc. The weekend was a contest of wills with 2 three year-olds pushing the limits of what they can and cannot do. Minute things like which shoes they would agree to wear, how much noise their parents would tolerate at the dinner table, and what books they wanted to read at nap time became issues of war and peace. I share these things with you not to whine -- ok, maybe a little bit -- but also so our readers who are also going through this same thing with their kids can relate and also so those of you that have already paid your dues with rearing children can say, "Ha, ha! Been there, done that. Glad we're not you."

To add to the boundary pushing issues Gus has decided that he is too scared to sleep. The kid absolutely melted down on the way home from church yesterday, ranting mad at me for putting him in the left car seat instead of the right car seat -- an issue on par with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What he really needed was a nap because he was truly exhausted. When we got him home Amy and I proceeded to battle him for 2 hours to get some sleep. Unfortunately he caught his second wind and then claimed that there were noises and monsters that were preventing his slumber. Last night it was the same thing -- he was so wound up that he couldn't sleep and again the fears of a three year-old were rolling around in his head and keeping him up late.

So Amy and I are treating it with a combination of kid gloves and hammer -- reassuring him that there are no monsters in his room (with teeth anyway) and then finally walking away at a certain point when we think he is doing more stalling that anything else. Ah the joys...

The weekend had its good points too. Amy & I took the kids to a birthday party for one of the boys' in Owen & Gus's preschool class. While frankly kids birthday parties can be exercises in excess -- more pomp and circumstance done for the parents to compete with each other and show off than they are for the kids -- this party was nothing like that. It was very refreshing. There were 4 families total at the house, each of us with children at about the same age so we were all at that same place and stage in life. All the dads were engaged with helping take care of the kids so I felt right at home. (Plus Jeff, the dad, had a great selection of ales from which to choose -- always a bonus for us dads.) Amy got to connect with the moms which is something she doesn't often get the chance to do. So all in all that ended up being the highlight of the weekend. Who would have thought?

So this week we will be treated to a visit by GJ mid-week. The boys are excited. Amy is preparing to sell a load of kids' clothes at the multiples club sale this weekend. And the rest of the time we will be chasing away monsters and trying to get little boys to get some rest so their parents can do the same!

Cheers!



Our friend Tracy is an amateur photographer and got some great shots of the kids playing at the birthday party. This was my favorite one of Tess -- she looks so studious.

Friday Funny

Hat tip to my buddy Dave O for the link -- hilarious! (Language alert)

Cheers!

Neil on Rose

This interview with one of the most fascinating living artists is incredible. Hat tip to my buddy Chris for sharing it. He points out, "Neil is one of a kind -- a crazy mad scientist. I love him." Indeed he is.

There are so many interesting discussions on a whole host of topics in here -- from music to his 30-year marriage with the same woman to energy independence to faith. Charlie explores them all.

Good lunchtime viewing.

16:00 - Young on the changing perspectives in life as you grow older and identifying with the things you've done in the past:

Young: I've heard Bob [Dylan] say he doesn't know the guy who wrote those songs anymore.
Rose: Do you feel that way about songs you've written?
Young: I understand what he was saying. I understand the feeling behind it. I look at it and I go, "Wow, I must have been in a really different place doing that." But I was, and that was it. I wrote those words, and I said that and I believed it.


37:00 - Young on the war in Iraq:

Rose: Do you see w/ respect to the war, do you see the end?
Young: The end of this war?
Rose: Yeah.
Young: The end of this war is when we solve the energy problem. This war is going on for a long, long time. This war will not go away until we figure out what we're doing on the planet. This is a bad war. That's how I feel.



46:00 - Young on learning faith after suffering a near-fatal brain aneurysm:

Rose: What did the brain aneurysm teach you?
Young: It gave me more faith.
Rose: Did it really? Faith in...?
Young: I don't know. I have faith. I don't know what it is. I know there's a lot of stories. There's the Bible, the Koran. Everybody's got one. Everybody has a faith. And there are stories that have gone through the ages, and I respect all of them. But I don't know where I fit in. I just have faith. I believe in nature. I love nature. My church is my forest.

52:30 - Charlie closing the interview with this summation of Young:

Rose: If Bob Dylan had been for years our best guide to explore the complexities of human experience, Young may be the songwriter who expresses most eloquently the simple ties that bind us all.

Reflections

Amy & I continue to go back & forth about which one of the boys Tess most resembles. Some days it's Gus; other days it's Owen. Here's a pic we snapped of her after a bath & it took us back to Owen's days as a wide-eyed infant.


In reality Tess probably has pieces of both of the boys in her -- she came from the same parents after all (sorry Mr. Federer). Tess still doesn't nap during the day unless she sleeps on someone. Putting her down in her crib to sleep is a no-no unless it's nighttime when she's ready for slumber. When she is awake she is constantly checking out the activity around the house -- she'll turn her head when she hears a familiar voice, she'll watch the dog walk within her line of sight, and as we've mentioned she is fascinated with watching the boys.

Aside from the attentiveness she is a remarkably mellow little baby. (Knock on wood, knock on wood...) When she wakes in the morning she often chills out in her crib for an hour before we know she is awake. Amy & I will hear through the baby monitor that a foot has kicked on the fish aquarium or hear a squeal when something has delighted her. That is our signal that she is awake rather than her crying to announce her presence.

Yesterday saw a couple of firsts. Tess had solid food for the first time last night, devouring a bowl of rice cereal. And Dorothy (who takes care of her in the mornings while Amy works) pointed out another first. While Dorothy was holding her, Tess reached out her arms for Amy. When Dorothy reached out her arms to take Tess back she turned away and clung to Mom -- the little girl definitely knows her mom. Our little one continues to grow & change...


"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest....."

Silly Sounds

The things we do as parents and grandparents to entice a smile from a little girl...

Bluegrass Adventure

The Rutledge family just completed a pilgrimage to Kentucky to introduce Tess to family and friends and see some familiar faces. Amy & I woke up early at 4:00am on a Saturday morning and finished the last of the packing before trying to sneak the kids into the van before it was light in hopes that they would stay asleep for a few more hours. An hour later we pulled out of the driveway with three kids who were wide awake. So much for stealth mode.

The trip to Kentucky was an all-day event. Gone are the days when Amy & I used to be able to make a stop or two for Tucker and be back on the road in 5 minutes. With an infant and 2 three year-olds there were many more stops and longer ones at that. But we made the most of it. Our highlight was a stop in eastern Tennessee off the interstate where we found a gravel parking lot for semis that was the site of our peanut butter & jelly picnic. Tucker happily sniffed around in open space while Amy fed Tess and the boys made lunch. Who said truck stops weren't for minivans?



PADUCAH
Once we arrived in Paducah there were many anxious folks ready to get some Tess time. Nana and Granddaddy opened up their house to aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, and the fun began. Tess was more than happy to oblige as she (mostly) quietly ate up all the attention.

On Monday Owen and Gus ventured over to their cousins' house while Aunt Ashley was kind enough to watch all the kids. Mason, Gavin & Brooke entertained the boys, and all five kids ended up taking a nap in the floor as they had expended so much energy with each other. Amy & I appreciated the time out as we went out shopping for a couple of hours. I needed shoes as my tennis shoes and sandals were inadvertently thrown away instead of packed in the van. Doh! Also I got to visit my favorite store in Paducah -- Roof Brothers, home to one of the best India Pale Ale selections I have ever seen in any sized town. Whatever magic Aunt Ashley has that will get five kiddos to sleep at the same time should be bottled and sold!




The Tess collage (clockwise from top left): Aunt Pam & cousin Lauren; grandmother Mary Margaret; Aunt Kay; Uncle Ken & Aunt Rhonda; Aunt Rhonda (solo); Aunt Susan (with the magic hold); Granddaddy (with the enticing newspaper); Cousin Mason; Aunt Susan and Uncle Shan; Cousin Allee; Aunt Melba; Granny



Cousin Mason brought over his acoustic guitar that we restrung and tuned. Then we dove in to the land of chords. Mason mastered E, G, C, and even a D-minor. Before you know it he'll be touring the country singing to audiences and melting hearts.



While Tess was eating up all the attention of being the new kid on the block, the cousins proved to be fantastic entertainment for Owen & Gus. The boys were mesmerized with all the activity -- playing monster, chasing each other through the house and the yard, and watching Gavin climb trees. Baylee dips Gus while Brooke, Owen & Mason pause under a good climbing tree.


Granddaddy provided some fun as he took the boys and the Posey kids to the golf course for golf cart rides. When they returned it was time to fire up the lawn tractor for rides up and down the street.


Amy & I got to see some of the Sturm family while we were in Paducah as well. We spent a morning over at Craig and Melisa's house where the trampoline and pizza were huge hits.

[Craig (standing), Aunt Ashley (with Gus), Whitney (holding Tess), Amy (with Owen), Papa Jack, Brooke, Mason & Gavin]

Finally, when you have a question about technology chances are it's best to ask someone younger than you. Billy found this out first-hand as Allee introduced him to the world of customized ringtones, radio stations on his cellphone, all through the wonders of a headset. Nothing like those young whippersnappers to keep us all in line.

Our trips back to Kentucky are always loaded with activity. That will always be the case since there are so many people we want to see and we live in North Carolina. We were happy to be able to see as many people and share as much time with folks as we did. The hospitality is certainly appreciated.


GLASGOW
On Wednesday we ventured across the Western Kentucky, Natcher, and Cumberland Parkways to my hometown to see some family & friends in southcentral Kentucky. GJ and Pappy were happy to accommodate our clan in their environment for a change. On Thursday we had a nice visit with my grandmother who lives in a nursing home. Mother was entertained by the boys' activity and very pleased to meet Tess for the first time.

After the visit we took the kids out to the swimming pool, where I had burned many an hour growing up in Glasgow. At the pool Owen found his swimming fins for the first time. He had been swimming several times in our neighborhood pool at home, but on this day he truly decided to break out of his shell. He jumped off the side of the pool, went underwater, and realized that he was going to be ok when I pulled him back up. It was like a light went off. The kid proceeded to wear his dad out over the next two hours, jumping off the side of the pool dozens upon dozens of times articulating the joy through shrieks and shouts. GJ joined in the fun by submitting to the boys' cries for her to go down the slide, which she happily did. I wish I had my camera handy. That's what I call grandparent dedication.

There was another new addition to our family as we got to meet Maren, whom my cousin Jane Layton adopted from Guatemala in January. Maren is an absolute doll who is coming out of her own shell -- venturing over to play with the boys or hand someone a toy before coming back to Mom for reassurance. We were very glad to make young Maren's acquaintance.



Another bonus this visit was to connect with my pal David Downing. David and I have known each other since we were five years old in kindergarten playing Nerf Hoop and Atari. The first thing David noticed was that the tree in the front yard had been taken down -- the very tree he suspended himself from in disbelief after Christian Laettner hit "the shot" in 1992. Sharing a happy hour with David and introducing our crew to him was a great time.


A trip to Glasgow wouldn't be a visit without a stop by Spencer Benedict Stables. The boys roamed around the barn and the fields checking out all the horses and farm equipment. It's a gorgeous place with those great, gentle creatures where kids can run to their heart's content.
Decisions, decisions.....


And of course the boys had to leave their own mark as they fertilized the fence. Gus and Owen are definitely at the point where they marvel at peeing outdoors. (Amy asked that the bum be censored.)

We wrapped up our trip on Friday night with a trip to a Mexican restaurant in Glasgow where for the first time, I enjoyed a beer in my hometown -- legally anyway. The food was great, the cellphone pranks to GJ were entertaining (for me at least), and it was a great way to wrap up a week's visit with our family & friends in Kentucky that we love.

Cheers everyone!

Brotherly Love

Pic of the day. Gus adores his sister.

Wiffle Ball War

Do you ever read something where you can see both sides of an issue so clearly that you can't really make up your mind which side you would take? That is how I felt when I stumbled across this little story about some teenagers in Connecticut that renovated a vacant lot owned by their town into a wiffle ball field as a replica of Fenway Park.

The kids just wanted a place to play wiffle ball outside and saw the lot as a perfect place to have some harmless, healthy outdoor fun. The neighbors living around the lot (valued at over a million dollars mind you) lost privacy, quiet, and a flood barrier that the lot was provided.

So both sides have lawyered up and a battle has ensued. In a way this story is a microcosm of several things -- how we as parents box our kids into an endless sea of structured activities, how we cling to our romantic notions of carefree days gone by, and how our society handles conflict and disagreement (all or nothing, win or lose).

I can completely see both sides to this. The first instinct is c'mon, it's a wiffle ball field for crying out loud. Kids have so many distractions today -- especially unhealthy ones. What is the harm in them channeling their energy on a neighborhood ball field of all places?

Then I remember that I am a homeowner living in a neighborhood and that I would probably not be crazy about the noise and distractions something like this would bring to my backyard.

Interesting read.

"Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come"

All kids deserve a Huck Finn summer. We perhaps have lost our collective minds about our overscheduled, overstressed young. But, in the end, maybe there was a reason that Kevin Costner built that Field of Dreams in Iowa and not in Greenwich.

Reunion

The Rutledge clan was treated to a mini family reunion as our house was filled with family the weekend before the 4th. GJ and Pappy are in town for two weeks as they graciously offered to help us out with the boys while preschool is out for the summer. The Crumpton crew -- Aunt Mel ("sometimes I call her Aunt Mel, sometimes I call her Melanie"), Uncle Dude, and Corinne -- made the trek up from Charleston for a vehicle swap and a visit. So we all piled in for a weekend of festive fun and avoided bloody competitive battles of Scattergories at all costs.

The weather is muggy and hot here -- typical July in North Carolina. So on Saturday we put the swimsuits on the kids and ventured up to the neighborhood pool. It was only the second time this summer that we have taken the boys to the pool so there is a "re-initiation" of sorts that has to take place as they discover their courage to get off the pool steps. Corinne on the other hand was in true water bug form as she happily paraded around the pool with her dad and mom before the need for nap took over.

On Sunday we all ventured to Covenant where we kicked things off with an interesting conversation about South Carolina's new religious license plate offering. Then we followed that up with Tess's dedication, in which she managed being in front of a crowd much better than her hyper brothers.

Finally on Sunday night we invited our good friends John and Jeanne White over for a summer cookout. The Whites are originally from Glasgow and have settled in Cary to be closer to their kids and grandkids on the east coast. Amy & I met them at our church one Sunday and then made the connection that they knew Jane & C.E -- small world. John treated C.E. to a day at the links in Pinehurst on Saturday and was kind enough to bring his camera along for some family shots on Sunday.

The weekend was good to reconnect with family on one of those rare occasions where all the Rutledge grandkids were under one roof. We are all so busy with the demands and routines of our own lives so we appreciate these opportunities to spend the time together. Cheers!


Tess was all smiles as Rev. Joanne showed her off and dedicated her as the boys fidgeted at their mom and dad's feet.



The promise of watermelon on a summer afternoon was made in exchange for a sit-down photo where the kids are still for 5 seconds together.


Owen's favorite shirts are the ones that are two sizes too small that Mom & Dad still haven't removed from his closet. Today, he insisted on being Watermelon Diego.


Gus is a different character every day -- including workin' man, baby dog, mama dog, and motorcycle man. He announces his character de jour each morning and we follow suit. On this day he was "racing man" wearing his 5K running shirt.

"I just know you're going to give me some of that watermelon, GJ. Gimme, gimme, gimme."


Corinne's favorite spot of the weekend was undoubtedly the wagon. Top it off with Dad feeding watermelon to her while she's in the wagon and that's pretty much paradise to an 18-month old.