Hail to the Dinosaurs!
We have a lot of parents and grand-
parents reading these emails, and I know
you're interested in getting the kids and
grand-kids going on good, solid exercise
programs and following a wholesome, healthy
diet.
So I thought I'd update on my efforts to
get the granddaughters to eat their vegetables.
We have two of them. Twins. I'll refer to them
as Little Person No. 1 and Little Person No. 2.
LPN 1 and LPN 2 for short. They're only 3, so
LPN 1 and LPN 2 is perfect for them.
Now, as regular readers now, I've turned the
entire back and side yard into a vegetable
garden. I covered it over the winter and kept
on growing hardy winter crops (spinach and other
hardy greens). Everything did well, and we had
fresh veggies all winter long -- and then when
it started to warm up, they started to grow
like crazy, and now we have green stuff
everywhere.
We had a family dinner on Sunday night and of
course LPN1 and LPN 2 were there.
So I decided to put them to work.
Of course, that wasn't what I told Trudi.
I told Trudi I was going to let the girls play
in the garden.
What a difference a word makes. Play sounds
so much nicer than work.
Anyhow, I took them outside and showed them
the garden.
"Look at the nice spinach!" I said.
LPN 2 turned and pointed to the cat sunning
himself on the porch.
"Cat!" she hollered.
And suddenly they both ran off to chase the cat.
After a long chase I corralled them, told the cat
to scram, and brought them back to the garden.
I showed them the tat soi. It's an emerald green
Asian green that you can eat raw or use for stir
fries. It grows tall, with lots of leaves, so it's
eye-catching.
"Look," I said. "Tat soi."
LPN 1 stared at me. She clearly thought I was crazy.
LPN 2 wandered off to find the cat.
Finally, I got them working.
"Which one should I pick?" I asked. "This one --
or this one?"
"That one," said LPN 1 gravely.
Meanwhile, LPN 2 harvested her own spinach leaves. Or
bits and pieces of them. Every once in awhile she
managed to harvest an entire plant, roots and all.
We put the spinach leaves in a big plastic bowl. LPN 1
carried the bowl. I viewed it as an age appropriate Dino
workout. A junior version of the farmer's walk.
We finally filled the bowl, took the greens inside,
and gave them "a bath" in the kitchen sink.
The girls thought that was funny. Why was their silly
grandpa washing the funny green stuff in the funny
bowl?
I guess if you're three years old it WOULD be funny.
Half an hour later we sat down to dinner. Everyone had
a big bowl of fresh salad.
LPN 1 was perched on my knee. I reached over to the
salad bowl and took a small piece of spinach and handed
it to her.
"This is good," I said. "Yum!"
She took the piece of spinach and held it in her hand,
looking at it gravely.
And then, equally gravely, she handed it back to me.
I don't think she's completely sold on the veggie thing
yet.
But don't worry -- I'll keep working on it.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day. And
if you train today, make it a good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. If you're looking for a good father/son or grandfather/
grandson reading combo, try this: Gray Hair and Black Iron
for the older member of the team, and Chalk and Sweat for
the Junior member.
1. For Gray Hair and Black Iron, go here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
2. For Chalk and Sweat, go here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html
