Cowboy came out and got the rest of the salvage stuff this morning.

It was really kind of a family affair. The guy we borrow the arena and stalls from works for one of the big builders in the Valley, and he’s got a job near me. So we offered him the extra tank for his arena if he would provide the crane and flatbed. His wife works for a towing company, and arranged the flatbed, although I doubt she volunteered it. She’s not that way. Cowboy’s low bed trailer is too short for the two tanks end-to-end.

The sites look really clean without all that stuff there. It won’t take much more for an official demolition project.

John’s dad called me yesterday asking if I’d heard anything about John’s Missions project. Well, I knew that they have to build a Mission in the fourth grade—all Californian fourth graders do that. And he’d had an internet assignment to look up Mission stuff a month or so ago, which I helped him with.

But I had no idea the project was coming up, and neither did his dad. It was due yesterday, and he hadn’t even touched it. His dad had asked him about it even, and he flat out lied about it. I’m completely ticked; his teacher either didn’t send home any information about it, which is doubtful, since the parents would have to buy materials for the project, or he threw it away.

I’m not terribly happy that his teacher gave him an extension through spring break to get it done. A part of me feels like he should deal with the consequences himself, since he’s the one who blew it off. But that would probably mean failing the fourth grade. He may not be mature enough to deal with the responsibility of getting his own work done, but he’s way too smart to go through fourth grade again. He’s got the math and spelling down at that level, and making him do it again would do more damage than good.

But I feel like he’s getting off kind of light for this. He lied about his homework. He didn’t do a major project. And it’s kind of like his teacher is just slapping him on the wrist for it.

Don’t get me wrong; he’s getting some serious punishment for it at home. But the worst we can do to him is restricting him from his favorite things. No TV, no playstation. And when we tell him he’s grounded, he just kind of shrugs his shoulders. He doesn’t even ask about getting off it very often. So it seems like it doesn’t really mean anything to him. I’m not going to take away books—he’s just got into the idea that reading is fun, and I don’t want to ruin that. I do think he’ll have some serious chores to do over the next few weeks. Fortunately, we do have a giant yard full of dog shit that needs to be picked up. He’s quite old enough for that.

We’ve got some things planned for this weekend, family things, and he would actually prefer it if he had to stay home from them. I’m not going to punish the rest of the family. We’re still going to T-Ball Saturday, and we’re still going to the LaGrange Rodeo on Sunday. He’s just not going to get to have any fun.

He also has to go to his grandmother’s (on the other side) birthday party on Saturday night. In my mind, that may be punishment enough. I think he’s starting to feel that way too, although with no help from me. I keep my mouth shut in that department.

Gah. Turkeys. What are ya gonna do with ‘em?