Take that, Thomas!

I just wanted to point out this story so you too could anxiously wait to find out to which of Thomas' friends from the island of Sodor we need to send flowers. It's too hard to call from the picture whether this tragic event struck Annie, Daisy, Clarabel, or another unlucky coach:

Angry Argentine commuters torch train in rush hour

"We understand that people get angry when the service is delayed or canceled, but they absolutely can't attack a public service in this way," Gustavo Gago, a spokesman for rail company TBA, told local television.

Now, we all know I hate to hone in on specifics at the expense of the big picture, but I think it's clear that people certainly can attack a public service in this way. I believe what he meant to say was, "Waaaa, waaa, waaaaa! Don't burn my f***ing trains!! ...pleeease."

Developments at our house, Vol. 2

Some more developments at our house in the past day or so:

1. D- declared while standing in our shower yesterday that "it smells like Hot Pepsi." I have no idea what this means, and when pressed, it became clear that he didn't either.

2. M- has developed a need... a need for speed. She got her first taste yesterday of D-'s old Power Wheels Lil' Quad ATV, and she was very disappointed to have worn the battery out. To quote her as she stood up on the running boards in her knee-high leather boots (another story), fruitlessly mashing the red ignition button, "Go, go, go!!!"

3. D- has decided that he thoroughly enjoyed my explanation of how even big kids sometimes make bad decisions (we live right near a junior high school...), because their brains are growing a lot in a short time, just like little kids' brains. His new favorite word to say over and over is "teenagers". I foresee saying that one a lot myself, with a much different tone, in about 10 years.

4. J- has been staying at my parents' house during my sister's Spring Break, as they try to finish the planning and preparation for the wedding shower they are throwing my brother's fiancee tomorrow. We've decided life is much less fun without Mooooommmmma around.

(We aren't all staying over since the shower will be at my parents' house, and they said something about kids and their messes being counterproductive to cleaning...)

5. The TV made a liar out of me after I told D- that there wasn't enough snow yet to go sledding today (which is true). After watching Lilo and Stitch (awesome movie, by the way), the DVR went back to the news just long enough for D- to see a kid "making the best out of this unwelcome return to winter" by sledding down over the vaguely white grass. We just sat and watched in silence, probably with the same unfortunate expression on our faces.

I knew there was a reason I get all my news from the Internet.

Note: Here are the other volumes.

Can you dig it?

You know the best way to derail a quick walk to get Momma some 7-Up to settle her stomach? A giant hole in the street being filled by gravel dumped from a big loud truck and patted by the scoop of a backhoe.

I tried, but not very hard, to push past it and tell D- we'd check it out after our errand, but I knew before I said anything that this was a lost cause. It's like telling Ponce De Leon to make a mental note to further inspect that mysteriously glowing pond at a more convenient time.

So we stood and watched.

And watched.

And watched some more.

For some reason, several people walking by and looked at us like maybe somehow there was something more sinister at work than a 3-year-old boy's transfixion with his favorite toys wrought larger than life. People are weird sometimes.

He didn't get to operate any of the machinery this time, like he did this summer after we watched a crane replace the HVAC unit on the roof of a hardware store, but he was still pretty satisfied. Plus, one of the workers waved to us, which helps reaffirm D-'s carefully cultivated belief in the general politeness of people. Boy, is he in for a rude awakening at some point.

Till then, he's as pure as the new-fallen snow that's kept J- home from work (as a special ed teacher) for the past two days. Once life got word of this windfall, of course, it made sure to leave her deathly ill for the entire time. I guess on the bright side, that's two sick days she can use later.