Suction Cups

I have a friend at work who recently accused me of having the super power of making boring, everyday stories seem slightly interesting.


And I admit, perhaps my type of stories aren't the roller coasters of adventure that I think they are. But... they're my stories and I'm gonna tell them anyway.

Like this one. It's awkward.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my new comic book sanctuary and the concept of focusing the collection. I've been sticking to that idea pretty well as I set up the sanctuary. And I started the sanctuary with the most important display. A glass case full of licensing stuff from the 1970's.


But the case is heavy. And it loads from the back. You need a key to open it, and there's the constant danger of scratching the hard wood floors when swiveling the case out to add stuff to it.


It's quite the quandary.

When I first populated the case and carefully swiveled it back into place, this terrible tragedy happened.


All the Super Friends lined up and posing. Except for Wonder Woman, who took a nose dive. HEAVY SIGH! This would not do. What if I got something new for the collection? Or found something boxed up for years that really belonged on display?


Vaguely inappropriate Wonder Woman scissors?


DEFINITELY inappropriate Wonder Woman scissors. How can I not display these? But the case is set up already! What to do? What to do?


What could be the solution to such a devastatingly perplexing, first-world problem?


Lorie, as always came up with the solution. And when she first suggested it, I was more than a little dubious.


Suction cups? Really? But would they hold my weight?

Lorie went on to explain the devices wouldn't be used to scale buildings, as I had immediately assumed. But instead, I could attach them to the top piece of glass in the case and remove it, populating my antique dollies from above.

I was a little worried that my natural clumsiness would bring this operation to a disastrous end. So I enlisted some help.


She was dubious too.

What? I'm going to ask Ashton to help?? We've SEEN what he can do.


This was just the lawn mower, folks. On the first lawn mowing of the season, no less. No No... my go-to "Collection Assistant" is my overly OCD daughter, Katie.

Just what an eleven year old girl aspires too.

So we got the suction cups attached.


Katie nervously took hold...


... and... IT WORKED!


Worked very well, I might add. So we took some things out and played for awhile.


And then we set up some displays.





















Afterwards, we got the glass back on with no problem at all.


That may not have seemed like a pulse-pounding adventure to you folks, but it certainly had my heart racing a little.

Thanks,
DCD

Naming the Kids

How did you decide what to name your kids?

Some people give their kids family names. Some parents buy baby names book and agonize for awhile. Some families make up names and some take inspiration from celebrities of the day.

For Lorie and I, naming the kids was a dance of mystery and intrigue. Lorie knew that I wanted to name the kids after comic book super heroes, and she did NOT want that to happen. So there was a careful cat-and-mouse game constantly going on. One of us would suggest a name, the other would agree, then Lorie would try to do some research on the name and wonder why I suggested it or agreed to her suggestion so readily.

Our first kid was born before we had any kind of internet connection, so Lorie's powers of research were minimal. We agreed to name him Ashton Carter. Lorie suggested Ashton and I suggested Carter. I told her I got the idea from her favorite hunk on E.R.

It's Hawkman. Carter Hall. Second favorite character of the DC Universe. My first born is named after Hawkman.

Our second child popped out female. Kathryn Lynn. Lynn was Lorie's middle name, before she had it legally changed to her maiden name. We both liked Kathryn because of the utility of it. She could go by Katie, Kate, or Kathryn as an adult. But she'll always be Katie to me.

No plot twist to report on that one, folks. Although I pushed long and hard for 'Diana'. Diana has always been one of my favorite female names, probably because of the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman show. But Lorie refused to budge on that one. Maybe in my next life.

Our third child was a boy. Alexander Emory. Emory was Lorie's grandfather's name. so there's the family connection. The name Alex came from Alex Raymond, creator of Flash Gordon and incredibly influential artist of the 1930's and 1940's. His art is beautiful. I just didn't bother to tell Lorie where the name came from. And there aren't a whole lot of heroes named "Alex". (I can think of one off the top of my head. You?)

It's worth noting that Alex's "screamed through the house" name is different from his actual name. Most parents invoke the use of the full name when they mean business. I've gone beyond that. I'll thunder my voice through the house and call for:

"Alex Emory Ignatius Montague Thaddeus Boddog Dill the Third!"

You can imagine how he feels about that.

Thanks,
DCD

Katie's Christmas Breaththrough

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And while I do think that this picture qualifies, I still feel the need to clarify a few points.

Our house is sorta small, before the gigantic house addition we just put on it. Only three bedrooms, a hallway, a kitchen and a living room, really. So in order to maintain some Christmas morning magic mystery, Santa has been wrapping the open walkway between the hallway and the living room where the Christmas tree is sitting. That way, mothers with cameras have a chance to get into position before the kids get a chance to see what madness Santa has wrought.

Very early on, the Dill children took to running through this wrapping paper barrier once given the all-clear sign by Daddy.

Christmas, 2009 was when this particular picture was taken. You can see my knee there in the background. For whatever reason, I've been given the traditional Christmas task of kid-control first thing in the morning. And I've just told the kids that it's okay to go ahead in.

My words have not even registered on my sons. Ashton was ten at the time, Alex was three, and Katie... Katie was eight years old.

This picture summarizes Katie perfectly and in every way that matters.

Do NOT get in her way, lest she burn you with her laser beam eyes. And Heaven help you if you're one of her brothers.

Hope you had a Christmas this good:



Thanks,
DCD