It's a safety issue

Last week was a short week for Jordan. Holiday on Monday, Mom home on Friday, and Dad not feeling up to par, so we didn't do much. That has followed through to today when instead of going to school and karate, we stayed home and played video games and didn't take a bath till almost evening.

We have good reasons. Mom's not home since Saturday, having left for Ohio for work. Coming back tomorrow. So we have till then to clean up.

Also, it snowed another half a foot on top of the 18 inches still on the ground. Best to stay off the road in such cases, right? Right. It's a safety issue.

There will always be time to stress out on getting ready to get someplace, do something, blah blah blah. Days when we can lay back and enjoy beating each other a game or 50 of video bike racing, those days are fleeting.

Giraffic Park

We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on New Year's Day. It was a little cold, but enjoyable, nonetheless. One of Jordan's favorite parts is feeding the giraffes. He trusts these giant animals because they are calm, friendly, and quiet. Obviously, one could knock him for a loop if it decided to use its huge head as a club, but Jordan trusts that it won't, as apparently do the zookeepers and parents of little children who allow them to feed crackers to the small herd.

What would happen if one did lash out at someone, especially a child? You wouldn't see that giraffe around for long, that's for sure. The whole feed-the-giraffe scenario would be rethought and probably ended. Baby giraffes would resent their parents for causing them to have to grow up not knowing the joy of receiving treats from human children.

But maybe zookeepers could make it possible to force the giraffes into behaving certain ways under certain circumstances. Such as, by putting an authority figure in place, and when that figure loomed over the giraffes, they would be afraid to do anything but be nice, like big Stepford-wife giraffes.

Of course, that wouldn't be normal, would it? And if the authority figure ever left, the giraffes would return to being their normal giraffe selves, which is better anyway, because as we all know, giraffes aren't deceitful creatures. They just like to use their 24-inch tongue to lick crackers out of kids' hands.

But hey, what if a kid got knocked around by a giraffe and then decided to grab hold of the giraffe's head? I can picture Jordan doing that, yelling, "Look at me" over and over again until everyone within hearing distance had heard him, and then he'd yell it a dozen more times just to be sure everyone was paying attention. He's like that. Doesn't take no for an answer. Not even from a giraffe. Especially from a giraffe.