Now as the yard lays,there is a pine tree that stands about 50 feet tall and 10 feet around at the base
This pine tree sits at the corner of the driveway, blocking the view of the driveway.
This is also the tree that Tyler helped me decorate last X -Mas
As I was mowing the grass,Tyler came running to me yelling "Daddy daddy A baby daddy, come see the baby".
Lying on the blacktop beneath some leaves was a baby bird.
Now I am not referring to one that fell out of the nest trying to fly.
You see this little guy could'nt fly because he had no feathers.
He was transparent pink,you could actually see his little heart.

Now I should tell you all that I know nothing about brain surgery and even less about birds.
So the first thing I did was to panic.
Ever seen a grown man run around a tree, looking for a birds nest
It looks alot like a puppy chasing his tail.
Except this is not cute,as a matter of fact it looked kind of pitfully.
An adult running around a tree yelling "Where is it, where is it" .
This could explain why when this whole fiasco started the street was full of people and after I was done acting like a rabid dog,it looked like a ghost town.
The second thing I did was call mom (yes when in doubt call mom,even if she don't have the answers,you still feel better).
Of course Janice did not what to do, so I went to some people on the internet at the John Denver Newsgroup
I got the answers I needed from this great group of people.

After much soul searching and hard thinking.We spent an hour on the phone and found a wildlife rehabilitator about 3 miles away.
Tyler in the short time we had the bird had got very attached to it,even naming him Charlie.
Tyler wanted to keep it and watch him/her grow.
But with 2 working parents, two dogs and vacation to Florida being 12 days away.Also not knowing squat about baby birds, we called the experts.
Now it has a real chance to grow and fly free.

The fourth of July was something I had looked forward for quite sometime.
As child myself, I would often consider this the best time of summer.
The smell of cooking hotdogs and sparklers drifting through air as the dazzling bright colors of the fireworks filled the warm summer night.
I wanted the same for Tyler, so I poured over newspaper's looking for the fireworks show would provide the best show and not be to crowded.
I had found that the local show would probably be the best.

Now mind you that the fireworks start around dusk and dusk here about 9:45 pm.
So we headed out about 5:00 pm to find the perfect spot.
A little early you think, no not really, not when you want to experience it for the first time with your son.
I had starting a couple weeks early asking the local merchants where the best spot was.
Since they were being shot off at the new middle school, any where near the school was good everyone told me.
This was not good enough,I wanted to be next to them.

We found a spot at a church right in front of the school, with nothing to block our view,I thought we had the perfect spot.
But the kind of person I am, I started to ask again when we got there.
Finally Janice just told me to be quiet, the spot we had found was going to be fine.
Well I did and quietly surveyed the land around us.
We had parked at the back of the parking lot in the corner.
With a small hill to sit on,it raised us above the chain link fence some thirty yards in front of us.
As I looked closely at the school I could see a large blue tubular structure.
After some observation, I had determined that this was the fireworks launcher and yes indeed we had found the best spot.

The day had started quite hot and humid and there was no relief when we arrived for the show.
Now we had 4 1/2 hours to kill, so we walked up to McDonalds to buy some cool lemonade.
Upon our arrival back to our spot, we had found that the place was filling quickly
So we sat down in the lawnchairs and spent the time comtemplating bugs.
Not Janice and I so much but Tyler who like all 3 year old's just can't seem to get enough of them.
Every thing that walked crawled or flyed was greeted with "Look atta bug mommie daddie"
Bug watching on a summer evening is actual quite interesting and peaceful.

As time slipped by, I had noticed that it was actual getting cooler.
A breeze had begun to stir and the blazing orange red that enveloped the western sky from the setting sun was in itself a spectacular fireworks show.
As dusk approached the fireworks were starting to go off.

Now what usually started out as a quiet and serene pool time, often ended up with more water on the ground than in the pool.
It always started with me in the pool first then came along with Tyler and right behind him was chaos
I would start out just trying to relax but Tyler would come along with a couple of toys
Maybe an alligator and duckie at first then a ball or two then some squirt guns
I would say "Tyler That is enough toys" and from him was the standard "Ok daddy"
Then came the barn animals and wildlife.
Again I would say "Tyler That is enough toys" and from him again was the standard "Ok daddy"
Soon to follow was the plastic cars.
This time with more authority in my voice I would say "Tyler That is enough toys" and he would just repeat "Ok daddy".
As he would climb out of the pool to get his trucks,it was now a "Tyler no more toys in the pool or there won't be any room for daddy".
He then would turn around with that look of contemplation about what was more important,dear old dad or more toys
We always came to a good compromise though.
Tyler and his toys had most of the room and I had about 3 square inches.

As the summer went on though, the pool was becoming smaller, with all of Tyler's toys.
So I decided to take the next step.
At the end of our subdivision is a small lake or very large pond if you will.
Now mind you that even in the bathtub, Tyler hates to get his hair wet.
It is such a chaotic fiasco that the sounds that emit from the bathroom, sounds just like a medivial torture chamner.
The first few times at the lake were uneventful.
Tyler would wade in to his knees and no further.
It was not until some teenagers came over that Tyler gave swimming some serious consideration.
Now some things happen because they just do, while other's happen because we think through the entire chain of events.
The teenagers would do as teenagers do.
Starting as a distance point of half a mile, run full speed into and jump head first into water.
We all at one time or another have done.
Well Tyler took the notion that this would be pretty cool.
In his own words, it was "Daddy I am going to run into the water really fast like a big boy.
I personally thought nothing of it, he had done it before with no problems.
This time however would quite different.

A little geographical knowledge would help you put this in perspective.
The lake sets in a gulley with a long sloping steep hill leading down to it.
Now if you were mixing ingredients for a recipe of disaster, here is what you need.
Now these are in equal parts except for lack of knowledge about gravity, which would be the largest part by far.

Tyler started to walked up the hill, I thought he would stop at the middle as usual.
But he kept going and going and going.
For a second there I thought he turned pink and grew big ears, he went all the way up to the parking lot.
With a yell that would make any indian in an old western envious, he started down the hill at a full run.
Now this is where the lack knowledge of gravity comes into play.
All was going good until it dawned him that no matter what size the object is or whether it be on legs or wheels, sooner than later the law of gravity will catch you and it can not be broken.
His little legs were trying their best to keep up with the rest of his body.
But alas, all was lost.
As he reached the bottom, the blur of legs turned into a twisted mess of skin and toes.
Head first he went into the water with a look of puzzlement that would resemble that of a caveman when he first saw fire.
With only two sounds, a cry of fright and the splash of water, he dissappeared into the blue abyss.
Then as fast as it happened, he popped up out of the water with a scream that can still be heard on a warm summer night.
Not to fear though I was right there to pick up him up and chase away the deep water demons

I try to tell it from the view of a three year old, it was not quite that dramatic unless you are that child.
But from bad comes good, within days Tyler had gained the confidence to actually go a little deeper into the water and start some simple swimming techniques.