I remember seeing a program on TV a few years ago, where they had a cop give a bunch of nursery school kids a gun safety talk -- pretty much, "If you see a gun, you should leave it where it is, don't touch it, go get an adult, and never ever touch it." There was one kid in the class who, about every 30 seconds, pretty much every time the cop said the word "gun," would jump up with, "And I already know that, if you see a gun, you should never ever ever touch it, and you should go get an adult." The cop's opinion of that kid was pretty much that he was kind of distracting the others, but that's the one kid he absolutely wouldn't worry about.

After this, they put the kids in a room with a bunch of toys, with a very realistic toy gun under something, to see what would happen. After about five minutes, the kids found the gun. Most of them looked at it, looked kind of stunned, got a little scared, and went to go play with other stuff on the other side of the room. Interuprting kid stood there for awhile, both hands behind his back, repeating, "I don't touch guns I don't touch guns I don't touch guns." Then very slowly put his hands closer to it, and closer, then verrrry slowly picked it up and whispered, completely awed, "I'm touching a gun."

I'm not sure I have a point here, but I watched that program at least five years ago and that image stuck with me.

Susan, I think you should be just fine with a black-powder musket in your house the way you describe dealing with it. And yes, the hubby should be introduced to them somehow beforehand. I didn't grow up with guns in the house save my father's BB gun. The DH and I own four rifles and two handguns. Learning to shoot helped me understand both why people enjoy owning them for non-lethal reasons as well as why it's vitally necessary to be careful with them.

Most children are fascinated by some object, to the point of fixation. It could be cars, it could be lions, it could be fire engines, it could be guns. The kid repeatedly interrupting with the admonition he'd been drilled in is a big old clue that he's fixated on that object, and someone who understood how kids' minds work would have felt, not that they didn't need worry about him not knowing what to do if he ever found a gun, but that his fascination would overcome the training his parents had tried to instill.

Usually what works in these situations is a calm and quiet exploration of the object, if possible, to "normalize" it, and remove the mystery and illicit attraction. But sometimes even that doesn't make the fixation fade, and the only recourse is to remove the object from the equation.

Well, considering what this spring's been like so far for my sinuses, and as I understand it SoCal (where I am) is actually supposed to be better for allergies than other less-irrigated-desert-y places (not recalling where you're located here), my vote's for the former.

I'm in southeast Alaska, where the allergy problem is usually mold from all the humidity, but we have had a freakishly dry spring. In fact, I think that last month was our summer, and we're probably set for rain until it snows now. You're probably right about the allergies, though. Last week, we could see huge clouds of pollen poof up from the trees. It looked like smoke; some people thought we were having a forest fire. This web site caught a rather mild view of this effect here: [link]

FWIW, Susan, I'd probably feel the same way as your hubby. And I certainly don't feel judgmental about people who know and understand and use guns. But he didn't grow up with guns (as I didn't) and the notion of bringing a working firearm into a house with a child is spelled out in huge red letters: Inviting Disaster.

And since he's not interested in guns, I doubt he's interested in getting all educated about them either. So for him, it's got to read as roughly akin to leaving open buckets of gasoline in the nursery. The mindset being: Why would you ever bring a dangerous thing like that in proximity to your child just to have a writing trophy? Why don't you buy a pet cougar while you're at it and tie it up next to the swing set?

And so I'm clear, I don't think that's even a fair or accurate judgment, I'm just offering my insight into how he might be processing the issue.

But whether it's fair or not, I don't think you can view it as an insult to all the hunters in your family. That's not what it's about.

Why would you ever bring a dangerous thing like that in proximity to your child just to have a writing trophy?

Surely you're not looking at the non-working replica as "a dangerous thing"?

Last week, we could see huge clouds of pollen poof up from the trees. It looked like smoke; some people thought we were having a forest fire. This web site caught a rather mild view of this effect here:

I am afraid. I am very afraid.

Tho', except for the pollen, that's a gorgeous pic. Signed, Grew Up In San Diego, and Gets Very Excited by Both Trees and Green

I must admit that I'm glad that the pollen doesn't do this every year. Speaking to oldtimers here, I think this has happened once or twice in the last twenty years. There was a crowd in my office staring out the window at puff after puff for about twenty minutes. It didn't stop then, but we figured we had probably do some work.

eta: If you like that picture, that web site, creatively named www.juneauphotos.com, does new pictures, mostly of the Juneau area, every day or two. I have it as my home page.

Ok, just tried to say "cut and sent" to the Gas Company. Guess how it came out?

Cunt.

t dies

If you like that picture, that web site, creatively named www.juneauphotos.com, does new pictures, mostly of the Juneau area, every day or two.

Right-o. Added to Favorites. I clicked the link to the weather forecast. I think I'd like to visit. Signed, Freak Who Still Enjoys Rain ('Cuz she never sees it)

Whoa, Aimee. Freudian much? P.S. Would you like to take care of Dell for me? I like your 'tude.