Just what do you think this bloggery is about? Be honest. Well, it's not about that although it does remind me of a wierd old uncle I had that liked to climb up on top of the house to....well...relieve himself. We called him "piddler on the roof." We also had a little kid in our old neighborhood who thought he was a cat and would use our sandbox as a...well...sandbox, if you know what I mean. Then, there was the young girl who hated going to the bathroom and would sob uncontrollably everytime. When asked why she did this, she replied, through tears "It's my potty and I'll cry if I want to....cry if I want to...cry if I want to." But, this is not about that stuff.

Just a couple more things along this line before I get to the real point of this story. Growing up in Wisconsin, there were folks in town that didn't care much for the newspaper in Madison and, instead of calling it the Wisconsin State Journal, referred to it as the Wisconsin State Urinal. When I was a kid, I thought that was really funny and, frankly, kind of naughty!

The day before I started kindergarten, one of my brothers came up to me and asked if I was scared. I was terrified...what if the teacher is mean...what if the other kids don't like me...what if I get lost in the building? Just to add to my fear, he wondered aloud, if I knew how to ask to go to the bathroom at school. When you're five, that's a big question. I said I would raise my hand and say "May I please use the restroom?" My brother said "No. No. No. When you're in kindergarten and have to go to the bathroom, you're supposed to go to your teacher and say 'Where's the sandbox, baby, this cat's gotta go'." I did. She laughed.

If this was about bathroom issues, I would want to tell you about potty-training our kids. I find these stories are particularly well-received when my children have friends over to the house. Our oldest son, Alex, was a special challenge. He just didn't like the whole idea. I mentioned a few days ago that he is not good at adapting to change. So, when his little sister was on the way, he became quite concerned about what that might mean to his existence and that added pressure to an already pressurized situation. I know Mr. Rogers had a show about the potty but that didn't help. There was a TV character that helped, though: Jim Rockford. I love Rockford Files. I watch it whenever I can. One day, during those training days, Alex looked at me as we were watching the show and asked "Does Rockford use the potty?" I assured him that Rockford did indeed use the potty, just not on the show. "Well, if he does it, so will I." You never know from where your help may come when you're a parent.

One of our dogs, Casey, is a little confused on the whole issue, too. As a pup, he patterned his behavior after our old dog, Checkers. Checkers is a female. Casey is a male. Casey does his business like a female. Not that there's anything wrong with that. He's a little lazy, so the whole "lifting-your-leg" deal may not have appealed to him anyway. He thinks fire hydrants are just very still, quiet, colorfully-dressed children. He has no interest in marking his territory. Which sets him apart from my older brothers, who once had a "contest" along those lines in the basement. That's as far as I'm going with that story.

But, as I mentioned, this is not intended to be about these tissue issues. By ""tinkling," I meant playing the piano, which I did a little at the KMBC Concept Home out in Loch Lloyd, last Friday on FirstNews. I had a couple folks ask me about my performance and I wanted to answer those questions. But, now, with all these detours, there's no time and I really have to go. I mean leave...not "go." Oh, never mind.