So long Older Son!

Older Son and the Missus left Wednesday to drive to D.C. so Older Son can start his new job and new career there.  I wish I could have gone too but school, work, and the menangerie at home forced me to stay here on the left coast.  I am really going to miss Older Son but this new job is what he has hoped and worked for his whole adult life.  

Now we'll have even more reasons to visit back east!

Off they go!  

How'd he get so tall?  And who is that old guy with the grey hair?

Meanwhile at the 4th of July cookout....

After the 4th of July parade we had a cookout at Grouch estate.  One of the families brought the ingredients for root beer floats which everyone enjoyed immensely (thanks Rick and Debbie!).  Kerby and Molly wanted in on the floats too so they both got a taste.

Molly wants to get the last drop of sweetness from the cup.  Kerby is thinking that she has to get in on this.

Kerby's turn.  Yep, it was that good!

4th of July at Grouchland

As I have written before, the 4th of July is my absolute favorite non religious holiday.  It is fun and excitement from sun up to fire works at night.  

This year was no different; we started with the Rotary club pancake breakfast near the start of the city parade.  We claimed our spaces along the parade route right near the start by the reviewing stand so we could see the groups perform for the judges and make a quick getaway once the end of the parade passed by.

Our town's parade is eclectic....anyone who fills out an application can be in the parade.  No matter what the theme of the parade is, we always have the core elements that must be in the parade or its not a parade!

These are just a few of the many entries.

So, here we go!

Mr. and Mrs. Grouch and friends eagerly wait for the parade to start (I'm taking the picture so I'm not sitting there but my empty chair is present)

Got to have a Revolutionary war themed group!

And a marching band!

Smokey Bear always makes an appearance

Dogs are a must!

Then there are the 'just because' participants

If there aren't kids on bikes there's no point watching

Native Americans too (I'm a native American - I was born here)

Some guys who like to fly fish

Very energetic dancers from Bolivia

More Bolivian dancers.  This group was working hard!

Got to have horse and carriages!

Pretty girls are always part of the parade

And pretty ladies!

A miniature horse

More horses!

A yellow guy

Super heroes!

All sorts of vehicles

Imagine doing a high speed pursuit in that!

Antique cars

And more antique cars

And not so antique cars

You have to love a Jeep this ugly!

Whose bulldozer is bigger?

I think it is a tie!

Citizen Grouch recommends...

The Missus and I went to see World War Z last Friday.  I'm always up for a good zombie movie and this one delivered the thrills and chills although not always in a logical and coherent way.  Brad Pitt was the U.N. official who gave up the world trouble shooting job (and here I thought the U.N. only caused trouble and didn't solve it, but what do I know?) who gave it up to be at home with his cute wife and cuter girls.  Apparently Brad's new job with the U.N. pays less because he can't afford a haircut or a new blade for his razor.  Anyway he and family are out for a drive when zombie hell breaks loose right on the streets of Philadelphia!!  No one seemed to know that a mysterious infestation of zombies was breaking out in the U.S., let alone Mr. Brad I'm the very well connected U.N. trouble-shooter Pitt?  But anyway, many chills and near death experiences occur along the way.  I give points to Mr. long hair Pitt's character for not being a namby-pamby when a loaded Remington 700 falls into his hands but instead using it to save his wife.  Bravo!  I do deduct points for the incorrect French made helicopters standing in for U.S. Navy Blackhawks, the ArmaLite AR15 in the hands of a Navy Seal (the U.S. military doesn't use ArmaLite brand rifles - I saw the brand name on the magazine well in a close up), the Soviet era AN-12 that morphed into a C-130 and back again, and the very elastic time frame for the zombie spin up to zombiehood once a person was bit.  Sometimes ten seconds, sometimes ten minutes, and to spread a world-wide plague like the movie portrayed, a number of days from infection to full on zombieness.   But other than that it was $20 well spent.  The Missus said it was suitably scary but the children of Brad in the movie were bad.  She should know being a mom and all.

http://www.worldwarzmovie.com/

Saturday we watched Trouble with the Curve with Clint Eastwood as an old and very grouchy baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves.  Amy Adams was his long suffering and ignored lawyer daughter with her own life to lead who must accompany her father on a scouting trip of high school baseball teams.  I don't know much at all about baseball and when I go to a game it is for the snacks, but I enjoyed the movie very much and to my surprise Justin Timberlake did a very good job as the romantic interest for Amy.  Clint was suitably grumpy and reminded me of myself which wasn't a good thing so I decided right then and there to try to be less grouchy because if I am like that now what will I be like when I'm his age?   The Missus and I give it  four stars.

http://troublewiththecurve.warnerbros.com/dvd/home.php

Uninsured motorists

So the Missus got rear ended in her Escape the other day.  The other driver gave the Missus her insurance information and her apologies.  All seemed well until our insurance company called to say, well actually the other driver didn't have insurance after all.  This is the third time this has happened to the Missus.  Once in a parking lot the other driver told her that not only did he not have insurance but no driver's license either.  A guy in a rattle-trap pickup rear ended me in my Jeep a couple years ago.  When I got out of the Jeep he popped out of his truck shouting Illegal, Illegal!  No driver's license!   That was apparently the extent of his English.  Since the jeep had no damage but the grill on his truck was pushed in I waved him off and drove on.  No point on calling the LAPD for this type of incident; they take forever to show up for a shooting so they don't even come for a vehicle accident.

Grrrr!

The most profound and the silliest....

 

It is a slow week in Grouchland and not much to post about.  So, I was thinking today about the most profound rock song and the silliest, both by major artists. 

 

For your viewing and listening pleasure I offer Kansas performing "Dust in the Wind" and Jackson Browne with "Lawyers in Love"   You decide which category the music falls into.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Gentler, kinder Citizen Grouch?

So, the other day at work I had to attend four hours of diversity training.  The instructor was an earnest fellow and did his best to enlighten and entertain us while making us more sensitive and less judgemental which the Missus says I need to be more of and less of to be a better person.

The instructor told us that we shouldn't judge a person and be impatient; the example he used was two cars at a red light:  the light turns green but the car doesn't go.  the second car's driver blows the car's horn to get the first one to go but he doesn't because....there is a child walking in front of the car!  Of course that is why the first car didn't go and that is probably why when this happens to me that  the car in front of me doesn't go when the light turns green until the light is turning yellow and it zips through stranding me at the red light again.  It has nothing to do with the driver texting or whatever.

So, this morning when I was out driving and I was the second car in line at the red light and the right turn green arrow illuminated so we could all make a right turn I remembered what the instructor said and didn't tap the horn because who knows, maybe a small child was walking in front of the guy's truck?   So anyway I waited patiently until the guy behind me blew his car's horn, quite rudely I thought.  But, what do you know, there was no small child in front of the truck, and the driver was texting, or fiddling with his cell phone or something and he made the turn and drove off at high speed!  Image that!  Good thing I wasn't judgemental and impatient like the driver behind me who gave me a dirty look as he swerved from behind me and zoomed past after we all made the turn.  Too bad the cars behind us didn't make the light because the first guy in line was fiddling with his cell phone or texting or something instead of paying attention to what was happening and delayed so long that they didn't get through the light.   At least I  wasn't judgemental.  I even felt more sensitive for a couple minutes.