July 5, Starting the next Hundred Years

Camron is 6 years old, getting ready for the first grade, and the training wheels are off of the bike. Until they moved onto his Grandfather's place he never had anywhere to ride, and when he was here while his mother worked, there were too many other things to do. He works at it every day but has problems with turning and stopping. He reminds me of my ski trips. Even after hundreds of dollars for lessons, once I stand up, I just looking for a place to fall. Today I have been mowing and pulling dandelions off of the berm and earlier had a hard time making him understand that the mower throws rocks and other things that could hurt him. When I quit mowing I had him park beside me and I pulled weeds while I gave the lecture. I guess I was already belaboring the point, but the dog was beside us and went over and grabbed something out of the water and started chewing it. Camron asked "What's Ratdog eating?" I looked at the dog and said "It's a snail", and kept working. It took me a second to realize that Camron then said "They do that in Paris." I looked at them and Camron was intently watching the dog chew up the snail, shell and all, and apparently eat it. The thought of a 6 year old imagining French people eating snails wiped me out and I started laughing. He looked at me and said "well it's true." I said "It's probably mostly true, but how do you know about that?" "Movies," he replied.