Keep Your Family Close, And Your Siblenemies Closer

The #1 son and his laundry are home for 24 hours. All he asks in return for spending approximately 2.25 hours conversing with his parental units are clean clothes, an order of jeans, and $55.06.

He couldn't wait to rip into his new DC Power Supply. What, you ask, is a DC Power Supply? If you're like me, you still won't know after I tell you. Dog flying a 747 here. The explanation was wasted on my technophobic brain. The best I figure, it's a metal box about the size of a shoebox, with pointy things on the end in white, yellow, and red. Like those things that I plug wires into on the back of my DVD player and VCR. I assume that DC means direct current. How you get power out of a box, I'm not sure. Don't you have to plug it in? And then what's the point, couldn't you just have plugged in whatever you want power for? Never give me a wire and ask for juice. Mayhem could ensue.

Here's a curious anomaly. #1 was asked to show The Pony how to play a movie using his DISH receiver/DVD/TV remotes in his room. And he fixed The Pony's mouse! Yeah. Some wires must have gotten crossed there. Don't look at me! I'm holding my hands in the air. I didn't touch nothin'!

It seems that The Pony's mouse quit working quite some time ago. Being The Pony, it never entered his mind to buy a new one. Even though money means nothing to him, and he has piles of it stashed in Farmer H's large metal safe-on-wheels that he got somewhere as a bargain. I suppose he simply believed that the mouse would regenerate. Would start working on its own again one day. I asked why he didn't just buy a new one, and he said, "I like that one." As if the mold was broken after its construction. #1 took it into the workshop, removed all the screws, cracked it open, and repositioned the red sensor light thingy on the bottom surface. VOILA! Mousy went a clickin'.

However, the most startling occurrence so far this visit was a curious statement tossed out of the workshop offhandedly by #1. I was talking to The Pony from my basement recliner, watching parts of the Cardinals' playoff game as permitted by the afternoon TV hog. "Do you know if you'll be playing any varsity?" As a sophomore, The Pony is the leader of his JV Academic Team. The varsity team has three seniors and two juniors, all respectable scholars in their own right. The Pony said he didn't know yet. Their first meet is not until December. From the workshop, taking a moment's pause from stroking his new DC Power Supply, I heard #1 state authoritatively:

"He should be starting varsity."

I suppose that is a ringing endorsement, coming from a siblenemy.