The Linus Chronicles

Small bit of back story:
As you know (unless you've been under a rock for a couple of weeks), our fair city is once again headed to the Super Bowl. As you may not know (or at least may not realize the extent of it - unless you're familiar with said fair city), football is a bit of a religious thing here.
When we first moved into this house, a dear neighbor of ours (in keeping with the friendly nature of the place) brought us a bag of groceries. It had exactly what you'd want for your first night in a new place - milk, eggs, bread, toilet paper, paper towels etc. Though a smashingly fine neighbor, this man is not a native Pittsburgher. So while his gesture was universally accepted as a great neighborly thing to do, it wasn't a soul-saving kind of gift. When another of our neighbors caught wind of the grocery gift, he countered with one of his own. "I heard Gerald brought you groceries. That was really nice of him. So you have some sustenance. Now here's some RELIGION." And he handed us a terrible towel. Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl five months after that.


Fast forward three years.
Linus and I were in the store the other day stocking up on some Super Bowl snacks and he was wearing his new Steelers shirt (which is a whole 'nother post in and of itself). He also had on his rubber boots which are a bark blue (but look black, so shhhh don't tell) with yellow trim. We're cruising the frozen section scouting wings and I hear this, "Ah Bahb - loogit dat lil' Stiller fan!" I turn around and there are two older gentlemen, decked out in their "Stiller" best likewise stocking up on grub for the big game. "Yeah, he's even got on Stiller boots! Hey Lil' guy - you ready for the big game? You ready for the Stillers to win?" Linus, tending to be a bit shy with complete strangers quietly said "Yeah." I managed some quick "Yep, we're getting all set!" comment and we parted ways.
As they walked away I heard one say to the other, "'At dare's some good parent'n".
So to all you parents out there: If you feel like you're falling short - temper, apathy, or the like - and you need some validation that you are indeed a good parent, simply deck your child out from head to toe in Steeler gear and take a stroll through my neck of the woods. Chances are some old men will reassure you in the frozen section.
Conversely, don't even think about leaving the house on a "Black and Gold Day" if you're not wearing Black and Gold. You're likely to hear from DCFS. Just ask my pal Amber.

We purchased "The Silver Bullet" in November in anticipation of the first usable snow. After a couple of weeks of the sleek slider of superbitude biding time in the basement, the snow finally came and it was the Silver Bullet's shining moment in the snow. We were on the hill by 9 am with a wind chill of 9 degrees - we were not to be daunted!


Linus eventually tired of hiking up and down but he was a good sport and dinked around in the snow as Richy and I kept pushing the envelope of what was possible on our neighborhood slope. We discovered a jump on the back side of the hill crafted from a log and a board. Clearly the work of a structural engineer (of the highest caliber the 8th grade can offer, I'm sure). I, being the intrepid if not impulsive adventurer I am, immediately lined up the bullet to deliver a straight shot to the launching board. It wasn't until the last split second that I reconsidered, let out an expletive I have not released in quite some time, and realized it was too late to abort the mission. Let me just say "ouch" and I wish Richy had been filming because it was impressive. Then it was his turn:


That last movie of Richy doing the jump (don't worry -he's fine....now) was the final voyage for the Silver Bullet. It just couldn't handle two nutty grown-ups squeezing into it and launching off of a make-shift jump (well, let's get real, it couldn't handle the landing).
Anyway, it's been a couple of weeks and we now own "The Silver Bullet II". It got Christened this last weekend - and survived!- but the camera was left at home.