cheerfulmonk.com

May 17, 2025

A father walked past his son’s bedroom and noticed the room was unusually clean. On the pillow, he saw an envelope with his name on it. With a sense of worry, he opened it and began reading the letter with trembling hands.

Dear Dad,

I’m really sorry to have to tell you this, but I had to run away with my new girlfriend because I didn’t want to cause trouble with you and Mum. I’ve found true passion with Stacy. She’s so nice, but I knew you wouldn’t like her because of her piercings, tattoos, her tight motorcycle clothes, and because she’s much older than I am.

But it’s not just about the passion, Dad. Stacy’s pregnant. She says we will be happy together. She owns a trailer in the woods, and we have enough firewood to last all winter. We dream of having more children together.

Stacy has also shown me that marijuana doesn’t really hurt anyone. We’re going to grow it ourselves and trade it with others in the commune for cocaine and ecstasy.

We’re hoping science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it.

Don’t worry, Dad. I’m 15, and I know how to take care of myself. Maybe one day we’ll come back to visit, and you can meet all of your grandkids.

Love, your son Josh

P.S. Dad, none of this is true. I’m actually over at Jason’s house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the school report on the kitchen table. Call me when it’s safe for me to come home.
—Zakia Wilson

May 16, 2025

From Christine’s Wednesday Memes:

Sometimes I hear the voices of cookies and ice cream at night, calling to me from the kitchen.

The veggies, however, are oddly quiet.

That made my day.

May 15, 2025

This teacher had the students write instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then she demonstrated what happened when she followed their instructions. Click on the picture to see the video.

Great lesson!

May 14, 2025

May 13, 2025

That was the subject line of an email from Kaitlin the other day. She attached these two pictures:

I laughed when I saw them. That is so typical. Tempi happily comes when she’s told food is ready, but she doesn’t hover around waiting for it. Zoe is extremely food oriented and unfortunately she always has to wait 15 minutes after they start preparing her food. She watches that food until she gets it.

Why the wait? She has exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI), which means her pancreas don’t produce enough enzymes to digest her food. She was literally wasting away until her vet figured out what was wrong and prescribed the enzymes. As long as Kaitlin and Torben mix her food with the enzymes and wait 15 minutes for them to work, she’s a happy, healthy, hungry pup.

Bless her vet!

May 12, 2025

Tempi posted these two photos on her blog.

She says she and Zoe are well behaved at the vet’s and the people there love them. But Kaitlin wrote,

At the start of the visit the vet asked us who was first. We proceeded to ask the girls “who wants to go first?” Tempi hightailed it over to me and turned away from the vet. Hilarious! So Zoe went first.

Tempi was still extremely good when it was her turn to get her shots. But Zoe was concerned for her,

Zoe sat with her ears flat and a very concerned look on her face staring at Tempi and whimpering until the draw was over for Tempi.

How incredibly sweet is that?

The vet is especially thrilled with Zoe because she’s so healthy — he saved her life a few years ago. I’ll tell you that story tomorrow.

May 11, 2025

They went to the ocean often when they were in California. After the first time Kaitlin could stay dry when Zoe went into the water:

And Tempi only waded:

May 10, 2025

This pup loves water. Click on the picture to see the video.

It reminds me of one of the sweetest videos I have ever seen. Kaitlin is very sensitive to cold, but when they were in California she knew how much Zoe loves water, so she went out into the cold ocean to help Zoe understand how to swim in the new environment. The resolution of the video isn’t good, but it’s one of my favorites.

You can see from the end of the clip that Tempi is not a water-lover.

May 9, 2025

Today is the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, the end of World War II in Europe. Three memories come to mind.

Rationing: Even though I was only five when the war ended, I was aware of rationing. I still remember having a good time skipping up and down the concrete stepping stones in our front yard. I knew that some things were hard to buy and felt grateful that our stones hadn’t been affected, so as I skipped I starting singing,

You can’t buy
stepping stones
in wartime.

I was surprised when my mother said that wasn’t true, they weren’t affected by the war. Concrete seemed so important to me that I couldn’t understand why that would be true. We moved from that house when I was about four and half years old, so that must have been 81 years ago, and I still remember it.

War Movies: I remember watching The March of Time newsreels about the war and world events around that time, and also watching a ton of war movies afterwards. For years when I was playing outside and a plane flew overhead I would partially duck and check to make sure no bombs were being dropped.

The Attitude of Europeans: This was in 1960 when I was in Stanford in Germany from January though June and spent another six weeks hitchhiking with a friend before flying back home. A lot of the people we met went out of their way to be hospitable, mainly because of America’s part in the liberation.

That was a long time ago and things have changed, are changing, a lot.

Most of you are a lot younger than I am, but do you have any feelings/memories connected to the war?

May 8, 2025