This year Skye is playing softball with the Saco Girls Little League. It’s her first year playing and she’s having a great time. Last night was their first loss, but it was close. Today we have a double-header to make up two games that were cancelled due to rain.

The girls switch positions in the field nearly every inning, so they get to try it all, which is nice. It’s fast pitch, but most are balls and there are a lot of walks. The girls’ skills aren’t well developed, but the games are fun to watch and probably more fun to play. They all seem to have a great time and get along with each other well.

It’s fun to sit and talk to the other parents. I have really enjoyed cheering for Skye and her teammates.

Skye and I play catch in the yard nearly every day. She is very good at throwing and her catching has improved dramatically since the start of the season a few short weeks ago. It’s nice to see her progressing and refining her skills. It’s been a nice time for us to spend together doing something we both enjoy.

Slugger Skye

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When I grow up, I want to be a palaeontoligist. There’s a lot to being a palaeontoligist and it would probably be hard to find fossils since predators such as lions and tigers come chew up the bones. Then, you wouldn’t have the evidence.

Fossils are the remainings of an animal covered in rock and dirt. Palaeontoligists are the people that dig up these amazing fossils and give them to the museum because the museum gives them money to find them.

Some popular places for a mammal to be dug up, are in a cave, a stream, or a good place where they can be covered without being ruined or eaten by a carnivore. That’s why a lot of palaeontoligists dig in those places. They can find fossils better.

Before they take them to the museum, they study them. When the palaeontoligists find big fossils, they take them apart and put them back together at the museum. It’s like a puzzle. If they are small fossils, they don’t take them apart. It’s a really cool process.

Lots of people think that apes we see today are our ancestors. They’re wrong because apes that we see today are our cousins.

You know how you have a family tree with all your uncles, aunts, grandpas, grandmas, dad, mom, brothers, sisters, and cousins? It’s the same with apes. They have a family tree with their different species. We’re on the ape family tree because we are a species of apes. There are hundreds of species of apes. There’s neandertals, australopithecines, paranthropus, homo erectus, homo sapiens, homo antecessor, and a whole bunch of others. Our tree is full of ape species.

Most ape species come from Africa and climb trees. We apes, evolved through time. Instead of walking on four hands and climbing trees, we walk on two feet. It’s amazing how we can get new techniques as we evolve. We apes now have better speech and technology, thanks to evolution.

Walking to Starbucks

This morning our whole family walked to Starbucks in Saco to enjoy the beautiful weather, wonderful Starbucks concoctions, our books and each other. Along the way Kirsten and I demonstrated to Jenna the intricacies of sidewalk navigation and how to be a good and safe pedestrian. It was a glorious morning, and the sun was warming the air to an unseasonably warm temperature.

At Starbucks we ordered our drinks, found some comfortable chairs and began to read, play our iPod/iPhones and talk. It was wonderful. After a little while Hayley looked quite tired, so I offered to hold her on my lap as I read. She squirmed around a bit to get comfortable and dozed off to a restful sleep. Then she puked. All. Over. Me. Where in the hell did all that oatmeal come from, and how did two oatmeal packets turn into quarts of oatmeal vomit?

Photo: Kirsten Uhler

Dorothy, a frequent Starbucks customer and barista, kindly got me two clean wet washcloths so I could begin to remedy this embarrassing and completely disgustingly awful situation. When the worst of the vomit was off the chair and floor I went to the bathroom to clean myself. Kirsten had already rushed Hayley off to the women’s restroom so she could continue to purge the putrid oatmeal from her unusually gargantuan stomach.

After the chunks were off my shirt and shorts I walked home to get the car–alone, and soaking wet.

Hayley and I have now showered and life has returned to its usual blissful state. Hayley seems to be feeling well, but is carrying a bowl, just in case.

Last Friday Richard and Patsy sailed in from Canada on the Crown Princess cruise ship. I took the day off of work and we drove up to Mt. Desert Island Thursday evening. It was very nice to see both of them. We walked around Bar Harbor, ate lunch at Geddy’s and enjoyed each other’s company. It was a nice few hours.

When they got back on the boat in the afternoon we drove up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain where we took pictures and ran around the rocky slope.

Jenna Loves Whales

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Yesterday was a brilliant Maine day. Temperatures were in the upper 50 °F with partly cloudy skies. Perfect. Kirsten had to work so the girls and I headed out to explore and enjoy the big outdoors.

First we went to nearby Saco Heath Preserve, which is a short 3.6 miles from our house. The hike through the woods and out into the heath were ideal. Skye and Hayley took copious notes on every sensation they experienced, including smell, touch, see and hear. They frequently stopped to sit on the boardwalk to search for frogs or to snack on the trail mix they had each prepared prior to our departure.

Jenna explores the Saco Heath Preserve

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The past few months I’ve been going through the process of becoming a member of the Scarborough Fish and Game Association. It’s a 177 acre facility with many ranges across many shooting disciplines. Tuesday evening the membership finally voted me in as the newest member. Wednesday evening I took Skye down to the club and shot a paper target on one of the utility ranges. We both had a lot of fun.

Skye was very safe. She listened intently as I briefed her on safety procedures, range rules and firearm operations. She primarily shot with my Ruger Mark III Hunter .22 pistol. When that got heavy she switched to my Glock G26 9mm, but she didn’t like the harder recoil.

Her shots early were high and to the right. After discussing techniques to improve her accuracy she was able to shoot a loose grouping around the center of the target. I was quite proud.

We had a great time. She says she wants to go again, which I think is terrific. She’s an excellent shooter.

Skye was very excited to shoot guns for the first time

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Yesterday the girls and I spent some time at Fort Williams while we waited for Kirsten to be moved to a proper bed on the sixth floor. We had a great time climbing on the rocks and playing wiffleball.

Supra-Orbital Craniotomy
Kirsten Uhler, Cogitations, August 23, 2009

We climbed on the rocks before playing wiffleball

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This past Saturday we headed out early to Lisbon Falls, Maine where we watched the Moxie Festival parade. After the parade we spent several hours at Fort Williams State Park where the girls played on the rocks while Kirsten and I read and talked.

We’ve had so many rainy days this summer it is almost a requirement that we spend non-rainy days engaged in outdoor activities. :)

The Moxie Festival Parade in Lisbon Falls, Maine

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The Dyer Library here in Saco hosted a Harry Potter Extravaganza: a film premier party for the upcoming “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Jenna was especially excited about it because she has been reading and enjoying the Harry Potter series. She just started the seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

The Harry Potter Extravaganza was well done, and the girls had a good time. They had their fortunes told by Professor Trelawney, played games, colored Harry Potter pictures, and made wands. Hayley dressed as Hermione Granger, Jenna dressed up as Cho Chang, and Skye as Ron Weasley. The girls even convinced me to dress up as Professor McGonagall.

Cho, Ron, and Hermione