February 20, 2008
L.A. Kohl
On a trip to Columbia one day this winter, I found myself in the vehicle with only our three youngest children. As we were buzzing along Highway 124 – I spotted something several hundred yards ahead of us that made me do a serious double-take.
I quickly glanced in my rearview mirror to make sure no one was behind me, then let off the gas and began slowing down. I knew if what I thought I was seeing really turned out to be what I thought it was, every child in the back seat needed an opportunity to get a good look at it.
Sure enough, the closer I got, the more apparent it became that I was staring straight at our majestic national bird, the bald eagle. Except this guy wasn’t soaring high above us, like a little speck in the big, blue sky. He wasn’t even perched far away on some high treetop, where I could just barely make out his proud, white head. No, this fellow was just a few feet off the side of the road, sitting straight and tall, right smack in someone’s nicely manicured front lawn. His height was comparable to that of my six year old…maybe even taller. He was so big and attention-grabbing that I never got the opportunity to say a thing. Before I had time to draw anyone’s attention to it, I heard a small gasp from the back seat, and then, “Oh WOW! Look at that!!!”
All three of them saw it, and we were all equally amazed and impressed. By now I was crawling along at about 10 MPH. The eagle eyeballed us without so much as a blink or a ruffling of feathers, and continued to stand there as if it were perfectly normal for small, nondescript vehicles to creep by a few yards in front of him.
It was then that I saw his purpose in claiming that particular spot. Just a few feet in front of him, lying alongside this lucky individual’s driveway, was a dead deer. That explained it; our eagle had found a free lunch.
Several hours later as we were headed back towards home, I couldn’t help slowing down again as we approached the yard from the opposite direction. I knew in my head that the eagle could not possibly still be standing there, posing for us again…but my heart still couldn’t resist hoping. Ah well, my head was correct – no eagle this time…but there was a red-tailed hawk perched atop the same feast that attracted the eagle.
Later that evening, as we excitedly told Nate about our discovery along the road to Columbia that day, he found it rather amusing. I didn’t understand his chuckles until he voiced his humorous take on the whole thing.
“Wow,” he exclaimed, “I thought throwing out a little birdseed was good enough, but those people must take feeding the birds VERY seriously!”
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Eggnog, Love, and Archery…from a Preschool Point of View
By L.A. Kohl
November 15, 2007
I know…I probably write about the funny things my children do or say too often. But, if I may be allowed to relate with and paraphrase Anne of Green Gables, “If you only knew how much I could say and don’t!”
With that being said, I thought I’d fill you in on some of the cute things our four-year-old son has done lately.
Yesterday, after my weekly grocery shopping outing, I came home with a bargain-priced carton of eggnog. I knew there would be a few children anxious to taste the season’s first glass, and as I was pouring it for any who wanted some, my ever-eager Josiah said, “Sure, I want to try it!”
I knowingly gave him a small amount, and after a few sips of it he declared, “Mom, I don’t like this chicken milk!”
Dad quickly announced that that one was good enough to go down in the “Kohl Kid’s Journal of Funny Quotes."
A week or so ago, my younger children had been reading silly little jokes from the Laffy Taffy I had bought on clearance after October 31. Thus, they had been rattling off quite a few silly questions/answers to whoever would listen to them. At one point, while we were driving to Columbia, our six-year-old daughter asked, “How do you make a girl fall in love with you?”
Josiah assumed it was another joke, and he piped right in…
“Oh, I know this one! I love this one – it is so good!” he exclaimed, while bouncing up and down with excitement, but pausing for effect before blurting out his brilliant answer, “You KISS them!”
“No! That’s not right,” replied his all-knowing sister who is an entire year and a half older than him. “You give them a Valentine heart, silly!”
With all this female influence, he should be an extremely well-trained young man someday.
And now, in honor of deer season, I’ve saved this next story until last…
My husband Nate has bravely let Josiah tag along with him on a couple of bow-hunting outings this fall. He knows that when he does, he hasn’t much chance of even seeing a deer, much less shooting one…but he has lots of fun anyway.
Josiah excitedly gets on all of his hand-me-down camo clothes, and his mini, hand-me-down compound bow (many of our friends with sons take pity on Josiah and pass on all kinds of stuff to him, so he doesn’t have to wear and use his six big sisters’ stuff). Once, dad even did Josiah’s face up with the camo make-up – he didn’t bother washing it off for the rest of the day.
On their first outing, they were both just getting settled onto a nice, secluded log, when Nate heard a “whoosh." Josiah had already shot off his first arrow.
“What are you shooting at?” his dad asked curiously.
“I shot that tree right there!” Josiah exclaimed excitedly, and then went on to say, “Come on dad, now you shoot something!”
“Well, I was planning on waiting until a deer came by,” was his father’s optimistic reply.
A few minutes later, Nate drew Josiah’s attention to some squirrels that were frolicking in the nearby treetops.
“Hey, I bet I’d be good at shooting squirrels,” was Josiah’s enthusiastic response, “since I’m so good at shooting trees!”
I think he gets his optimism from his father.
November 15, 2007
I know…I probably write about the funny things my children do or say too often. But, if I may be allowed to relate with and paraphrase Anne of Green Gables, “If you only knew how much I could say and don’t!”
With that being said, I thought I’d fill you in on some of the cute things our four-year-old son has done lately.
Yesterday, after my weekly grocery shopping outing, I came home with a bargain-priced carton of eggnog. I knew there would be a few children anxious to taste the season’s first glass, and as I was pouring it for any who wanted some, my ever-eager Josiah said, “Sure, I want to try it!”
I knowingly gave him a small amount, and after a few sips of it he declared, “Mom, I don’t like this chicken milk!”
Dad quickly announced that that one was good enough to go down in the “Kohl Kid’s Journal of Funny Quotes."
A week or so ago, my younger children had been reading silly little jokes from the Laffy Taffy I had bought on clearance after October 31. Thus, they had been rattling off quite a few silly questions/answers to whoever would listen to them. At one point, while we were driving to Columbia, our six-year-old daughter asked, “How do you make a girl fall in love with you?”
Josiah assumed it was another joke, and he piped right in…
“Oh, I know this one! I love this one – it is so good!” he exclaimed, while bouncing up and down with excitement, but pausing for effect before blurting out his brilliant answer, “You KISS them!”
“No! That’s not right,” replied his all-knowing sister who is an entire year and a half older than him. “You give them a Valentine heart, silly!”
With all this female influence, he should be an extremely well-trained young man someday.
And now, in honor of deer season, I’ve saved this next story until last…
My husband Nate has bravely let Josiah tag along with him on a couple of bow-hunting outings this fall. He knows that when he does, he hasn’t much chance of even seeing a deer, much less shooting one…but he has lots of fun anyway.
Josiah excitedly gets on all of his hand-me-down camo clothes, and his mini, hand-me-down compound bow (many of our friends with sons take pity on Josiah and pass on all kinds of stuff to him, so he doesn’t have to wear and use his six big sisters’ stuff). Once, dad even did Josiah’s face up with the camo make-up – he didn’t bother washing it off for the rest of the day.
On their first outing, they were both just getting settled onto a nice, secluded log, when Nate heard a “whoosh." Josiah had already shot off his first arrow.
“What are you shooting at?” his dad asked curiously.
“I shot that tree right there!” Josiah exclaimed excitedly, and then went on to say, “Come on dad, now you shoot something!”
“Well, I was planning on waiting until a deer came by,” was his father’s optimistic reply.
A few minutes later, Nate drew Josiah’s attention to some squirrels that were frolicking in the nearby treetops.
“Hey, I bet I’d be good at shooting squirrels,” was Josiah’s enthusiastic response, “since I’m so good at shooting trees!”
I think he gets his optimism from his father.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Fun from a College Girl's Viewpoint
By L.A. Kohl
September 4, 2007
(published in the Sept. 12, 2007 edition of "the bullseye")
It just sort of happened as the child-rearing years went by – our children developed a knack for having and creating fun in very simple circumstances. The cute thing is this: the enjoyment of simple things continues even into the college years.
Our eldest is now in her second year of college. We talked on the phone recently, so I could find out what kind of things she found to do over her Labor Day weekend, since she chose not to come home. Here is her recounting of just one evening’s worth of “fun” with her friends…
It was the first night of the weekend - Friday night. One of her friends from Wichita loves baseball, and she wanted a bunch of them to go together down to Springfield to watch the Springfield Cardinals play against the Wichita...ummm…I have to show my baseball ignorance and admit that I don’t know the mascot of the Wichita team.
Anyway, several were going, so she said, “I decided I could spend five bucks to go watch the game, even though I’m not into sports.”
“Besides,” she continued, “I have never been to a professional baseball game, so I thought, ‘why not?’”
(I chose not to inform her that she still has not actually been to a professional baseball game.)
She went on to tell me that the first half of the game was okay; kind of boring, but she was getting into it a little bit. Then, she said, the real fun began in the second half of the game.
I started imagining the game getting much more exciting and tense, fans standing, yelling, cheering, all that stuff…you know, typical sporting event kind of fun. I was mistaken.
“Kyle and Casey left for a few minutes,” she said, talking about a couple of her good friends, “then they came back to get me because they said they found this really incredible hill for rolling down.”
Thus, she continues to tell me how she spent the second half of the ballgame rolling down an amazing hillside with a couple of friends. That’s what made the second half of the game more entertaining?
“I just had one problem though,” she laughed, “I kept rolling into Kyle and Casey. I guess I roll downhill crooked – so what’s up with that???”
I have to admit, I didn’t have an answer to that question. I did kind of want to ask her a question, something along the lines of, “So what’s up with baseball having a first and second half?” But once again, I chose not to say anything. Besides, she was busy telling me that only one of them actually broke their cell phone in the midst of the rolling antics, and it wasn’t her. That was good news, since she has already ruined one in the washing machine.
“And then after the game and a great fireworks show, we all decided to go to Braum’s for ice cream,” she continued. “We only got lost three or four different times…it was great!”
“Then, when we finally found it, we all decided we’d go to the grocery store side, and just buy one big tub of ice cream and share it all together…so we sat in Braum’s, all of us trying to eat this hard as a rock tub of sherbet with little plastic spoons, knives and forks. We broke a TON of them, and it was just a blast – I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much!”
Rolling down hills, getting lost, and sharing a half gallon of ice cream with friends…that’s what makes life rich for her. And from my point of view, I can say it is quite a relief when I can remain so calm and collected while listening to my college daughter’s Friday night escapades.
September 4, 2007
(published in the Sept. 12, 2007 edition of "the bullseye")
It just sort of happened as the child-rearing years went by – our children developed a knack for having and creating fun in very simple circumstances. The cute thing is this: the enjoyment of simple things continues even into the college years.
Our eldest is now in her second year of college. We talked on the phone recently, so I could find out what kind of things she found to do over her Labor Day weekend, since she chose not to come home. Here is her recounting of just one evening’s worth of “fun” with her friends…
It was the first night of the weekend - Friday night. One of her friends from Wichita loves baseball, and she wanted a bunch of them to go together down to Springfield to watch the Springfield Cardinals play against the Wichita...ummm…I have to show my baseball ignorance and admit that I don’t know the mascot of the Wichita team.
Anyway, several were going, so she said, “I decided I could spend five bucks to go watch the game, even though I’m not into sports.”
“Besides,” she continued, “I have never been to a professional baseball game, so I thought, ‘why not?’”
(I chose not to inform her that she still has not actually been to a professional baseball game.)
She went on to tell me that the first half of the game was okay; kind of boring, but she was getting into it a little bit. Then, she said, the real fun began in the second half of the game.
I started imagining the game getting much more exciting and tense, fans standing, yelling, cheering, all that stuff…you know, typical sporting event kind of fun. I was mistaken.
“Kyle and Casey left for a few minutes,” she said, talking about a couple of her good friends, “then they came back to get me because they said they found this really incredible hill for rolling down.”
Thus, she continues to tell me how she spent the second half of the ballgame rolling down an amazing hillside with a couple of friends. That’s what made the second half of the game more entertaining?
“I just had one problem though,” she laughed, “I kept rolling into Kyle and Casey. I guess I roll downhill crooked – so what’s up with that???”
I have to admit, I didn’t have an answer to that question. I did kind of want to ask her a question, something along the lines of, “So what’s up with baseball having a first and second half?” But once again, I chose not to say anything. Besides, she was busy telling me that only one of them actually broke their cell phone in the midst of the rolling antics, and it wasn’t her. That was good news, since she has already ruined one in the washing machine.
“And then after the game and a great fireworks show, we all decided to go to Braum’s for ice cream,” she continued. “We only got lost three or four different times…it was great!”
“Then, when we finally found it, we all decided we’d go to the grocery store side, and just buy one big tub of ice cream and share it all together…so we sat in Braum’s, all of us trying to eat this hard as a rock tub of sherbet with little plastic spoons, knives and forks. We broke a TON of them, and it was just a blast – I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much!”
Rolling down hills, getting lost, and sharing a half gallon of ice cream with friends…that’s what makes life rich for her. And from my point of view, I can say it is quite a relief when I can remain so calm and collected while listening to my college daughter’s Friday night escapades.
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