Legends of the Fall

 Just the boys on Friday night, as Sophia was off at birthday slumber party, splashing in a the waves of a hotel pool.  Bruiser and I headed south to watch Grace and Ella perform in "Fiddler on the Roof."  We discussed the meaning of the play on the way down and soon, in Merrick's world, everything was a foolish as a fiddler on the roof.  Pointing out the absurdity that surrounds us, quickly wore him out and I had to wake him up to go into the Theater. The morning found us rested and raking leaves before heading off to his soccer game.  I had to clean the gutters alone, but the weekend long process of raking leaves certainly found him by my side as he often had to check the depth of the piles, while hollering "Cannon Ball."  Soccer is now a split shift on Saturdays with Sophia not playing until 1ish.  We had some lunch in between and raked a little more then headed back over to the play a bit. Where Merrick promptly crushed his finger in the door for a second time in as many weeks.  Then ran around like a banshee until he fell down the stairs. Sophia scored a goal and the level of play in this league is certainly a step above what she has been accustomed too.  I am looking forward to watching both her skills and mental growth of these new challenges.  Sophia ran the lawn mower as Merrick and I continued to finish the leaves in the back yard in the late afternoon light that so quickly dies this time of year.  We finished off the evening with a solid poker game and plenty of laughs. The front yard wasn't finished until Sunday morning, with the kids still sleeping.  We did make it out into the woods for some small game hunting before the Packer traffic crushed the city.  We found a scrape line from a small buck as well as a porcupine living in a hollow tree. Sophia pounded on the tree and then shrieked, jumped and hid under my left arm when the porcupine readjusted itself inside the tree with audible scuffling.  The kids took turns driving down the dirt roads and I getting pretty good at that as well.  Sunday afternoon was spent getting the house cleaned up and making it ready for our favorite thespians coming up for a late dinner.  Both a good end to a busy weekend as well as relaxing start to a new week.