Went up with the family to see the trail of a hundred giants and check out the event in camp Nelson. On the way down saw the weekly trash dump and some new graffiti. There was also a bit of graffiti at the trail of a hundred giants, not surprising I guess.

On the way down my pride and joy had to do a number two and couldn’t wait. So what did I do? I pulled over and he pooped behind a rock, then with a wet wipe I wiped his butt and picked up the couple of Lincoln logs he left and put them in a plastic bag and tied it up. Then I threw the bag in the back of my truck and took it home where I properly disposed of it so as to not be a hazard to the environment or an inconvenience to my fellow Americans.

It’s too bad this concept is too complex for many of the people who come up to our mountain.

Just before the entrance to Balch Park. This graffiti had been up here since the start of Summer. I wanted to see how long it would take the forest service to clean a sign “relatively easy compared to other surfaces” in front of a major tourist area with heavy traffic.

The answer is, they’ll just leave it, probably forever. So today when I was driving by to take my kids fishing I took the time to get rid of it.

My son is three. He wanted to shower with me but I am currently showering with cold water to detach from dependence on the pleasure and comfort of warm water. He wanted to anyway and he managed it, acclimating to the cold water for the duration of the shower.

He wakes up with me now at sunrise to do our morning chores. We pray the angelus, which he participates in because he’s memorized many of the essential Catholic prayers. After that we do our 50 push ups and some pull ups to get our bodies going for the day.

He has an incredible level of maturity for a three year old, rather than being jealous of his sister he understands the importance of his role as her guardian and is very helpful despite being so young himself.

I was nothing like this, most of my generation never got any of this discipline. Imagine a world in which boys are raised by their fathers to be strong, mission oriented men. Men with a sense of duty and responsibility to God and to their people.