Rick Nier...Woo!

As parents, we've all been there. We tell our child to do something and they ask why. Everyone knows what words are about to come out of the parent's mouth.  Because I said so .  We can debate forever if that reasoning should be sufficient or not. The fact is we say it. I say it, and then I preach to my kids about respect and obedience and when I was a perfect child.  So why do the kids ask for a reason? Why do the teenagers bore us with their litany of reasons of how we're old, our ideas are outdated, we're short and not that good at basketball? Yeah, my teenagers have found some specific talking points in their arguments to try and get me to let them have their way.  Why do they think they're so smart? Actually, I'm trying to get my children to write a book. (Cue sarcastic music so you know I'm about to spew a heavy dose.) If they would give me time to grab a pen and some paper, I could jot down some of their pearls of wisdom. They mak...

I’m not a big fan of birds. It’s not that I dislike them. I just don’t get thrilled at bird-watching. Unless you’re showing me a video of some giant bird on a National Geographic show that is about to do something in keeping with their place in the food chain. I’ll watch that. Or Big Bird, from Sesame Street. He was always pretty cool.  But bird-watching? I’m not about naming or classifying, or really even caring about birds. A few summers ago my wife bought a bird feeder and placed it near our big picture window. Apparently she wanted to help feed the neighborhood chipmunks and squirrels. She also likes to see the different kinds of birds that would come along.  I should mention something else. My wife keeps the big window clean, so several times a month we’ll hear a bird run into the window. It’s like a Windex commercial. Sometimes they shake their heads and fly away. A few times we’ve seen birds fly in so fast that I get to remind my kids of that Bible verse where ...