Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

If I ever get to the point where I just need to have one of those strange conversations without thinking too much about it, there is no better person to sit and talk with than the youngest, Max. Over the weekend we spent some much needed Dad/Son time at the I-Cubs game and walking around downtown Des Moines while discussing the age of dogs.

While we both agreed that dogs age seven years for each human years, we got a little hung up on how old the dog would be if it was born on the leap day. If the dog happened to be born on that day and only celebrated birthdays every four years would they age at the same rate as a dog that had a normal birthday? This was followed by conjecture that the reasons dogs age as they do is because they are warmer and have a faster heart rate which causes them to age faster. I found this to be a good sign for me, although I was somewhat concerned because I tend to be on the warm side all the time. At the point that I began to feel sorry for the leap year dogs Max turned to me and asked if I thought that birds flying over the ball park got freaked out by what was going on the ground.

I knew instantly that this was a trap and that it would end up rolling me into a train of thought that would lead me to want to indulge in another order of nachos and one of those fancy vodka lemonades that the concession guy was selling for nine dollars and fifty cents. Being quick on my feet I started to change the subject only to be saved by the group of kids behind us who had begged for everything from sno-cones to dippin’ dots as the game went on. After the fourth time of being kicked in the head by one of them as they argued between themselves as to who was a better team, I had decided that probably we needed to get up and wander around, although that thought was ended quickly. From behind us the following was uttered, “You know that the Cubs players wear necklaces so they don’t turn into dogs on the field when the sun sets.”

My eyes flew open at this and I began to wonder about the parenting of these young people. What are they watching on television if that is what they came up with? I looked over at Max and his eyes had begun rolling into the back of his head. Thinking quickly to keep him from passing out, knowing that I couldn’t carry him the three blocks back to the hotel, I turned the conversation to cats and asked Max how cats age. Neither of us knew but Max later explained that according to google, cats age 25 years in the first two years of their life and then two years for each year after that. The information seemed to satisfy both of us and we staved off the need for nachos and just settled for a bag of peanuts instead. Crisis averted and time well spent…See you next week…remember, we’re all in this together.