The Moose stayed behind but the boys left

"I like moose!" Jobe said.

"The moose is my friend," Kalib chimed in.

I know – the moose is kind of hard to see, especially at Instagram size and in the strange color unbalance I wound up with, but if you look closely you should be able to make it out on the other side of the picnic table.

The boys went home last night and today Margie and I awoke to a very quiet house. Tomorrow, I will take Margie into Anchorage for her babysitting duties and then I will awake to an even quieter house for the rest of the week and will certainly wind up at Abby's for breakfast almost every day. Now I plan to do what I failed to do yesterday – take the rest of this Sunday off from blogging.

Depending on circumstance, I could fail again – but that's my plan.

Boys in the office, part two: disrupted hard drives and endangered fish

Suddenly, I thought about Lynx and looked over at my computer. There he was, punching lighted buttons on my hard drives - five altogether, including the two you see at the lower left, two terabytes each. While only one light was now turned off, Lynx had managed to knock all five off-line. I restarted the computer. They did not come back up. I shut the computer down completely, then did a fresh start. The hard drives did not come back up. I kicked all the boys out, shut everything back down and then went through a process I will not take the time to describe.

After another tense 15 minutes or so I brought everything back up. I felt bad about kicking the boys out, so I let them come back in. The older two wanted to feed the fish. I gave each of them three pellets and told them to give those to the fish and no more. As they fed the fish, I gave Lynx my full attention so that he could enjoy the glowing buttons without shutting anything down. Then, I looked at the fish tank. There were scores, perhaps hundreds, of pellets floating on top. The fish food container was nearly empty. I sent Jobe to the kitchen to get a cup and then scooped out scores and scores of pellets. Too much food in the tank can contaminate the water and kill the fish. I believe I got enough of it out. I will know for sure in the morning. I sure do love these boys. They have such enthusiasm for life they make everything interesting.

Boys in the office part one: in the train and plane excitement one disappeared

Boys in the office, part one: For some reason, my grandsons love to come into my office. I can't quite figure it out.

"I like your new train, Grandpa!" Kalib tried to explain.

"I like your planes!" Jobe expounded.

But there was a third boy in the office, Lynxton, who, in the train and plane excitement, we had momentarily lost track of. Thus things were about to get most interesting. Tune in to part two.

A book I must write

For reasons previously explained, I have suffered a dearth of sleep for sixteen nights straight and I feel it. Late this afternoon, I Keuriged myself a cup of coffee and then sat down on the recliner to drink it. As I sipped, drowsiness overwhelmed me. I sat the hot coffee aside and then dozed off almost instantly.

Just minutes later, I was awakened by a knock on the door. It was Brother Bowen of the Mormon Church, a fourth grade public school teacher. He said the Hess family had been on his mind a great deal lately and, just now, as he drove down nearby Seldon Road, we had come so strongly into his thoughts he was moved to come and visit us. He said this must mean The Lord badly wants us to come back to Mormon church, a place into which we haven't stepped for 30 years - except for funerals.

He was very sincere and we had a nice visit. I hate to disappoint him and The Lord, but it just isn't going to happen. I honor my ancestors and strive not to be bitter, but my church days are over.

Kalib and Jobe drink lemonade at The Bell

When it comes to taking a lazy Saturday completely off from blogging, I fear I am not very disciplined. So here is a shot of Kalib and Jobe at the Bell. When Kalib comes to visit grandpa, he always likes to go to the Bell. It's the lemonade – lemonade is the reason he likes to go to Taco Bell. It was chaos.