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'Good evening friends,

and happy Monday to you wherever you call home, hoping you find yourself well. Greetings this hot and humid night from my house here in Tucson. Yes, that's right, I said humid, and terribly hot. Days like these always make me question why I'm still living in this sun burned state! I hang on to my dream (plan) of becoming a successful writer someday and I guess I have to endure this "easy bake oven" called Arizona a bit longer!

 I"ve been busy working like a doggie, and entertaining my grandson and nephew the last two weeks as well, so my time behind the computer has been liminted lately. Now they are both back home with their parents, where they belong, and Kalani and I are back to our normal routine of watching T.V. and eating shrimp and ribeyes every night!

 After being gone nearly all of June in Cali and Hawaii, hosting two teenage boys, and along with my heavy workload lately, the time is just flying by this summer. I did realize something very profound while the boys were here, and that is: I'm completely done raising kids! Don't get me wrong friends, I love my family (most of them, haha!) especially the younger ones, but the responsiblity of tending to their needs these past two weeks was a strain on my emotional and monetary system and my daily routine. Don't get me wrong, the boys behaved good for the most part, but after almost seven years of being alone, with just my pup, I gotten used to doing whatever I want, whenever I want, including things like traveling the country! My youngest son left home over five years ago, and he was hardly home the last two anyways. I forgot how much teens eat, how late they sleep in, and how they forget to do most things you ask them to do! They never pick up a glass, wash a dish, or even look at you when you ask them something because their face is stuck to the stupid phone screen! And when they do answer, I can't even hear or decipher the response. Usually something like "What...tata?" or "I don't know...?'

Is it just me?...or am I being a tool?..am I just being a normal granpa, and are they just being normal 2018 kids?  I don't know, but the thought of ever being responsible for another minor at my age (a young 56) just scares the krap out of me! A dog is easy like my Kalani, she never disagrees with me, she is always happy to see me, and licks me in places no one else will! Can't beat that baby!

 I became a father 3 days after my 18th birthday back in 1980 (I'm Mexican folks, don't judge me!) and felt like an old man at 31, when my third and last boy came along. I was totally devoted and did all the daddy stuff; sports, homework, trips, and my fair share of screwing up my three kids for life as well! Good or bad, I was always there for them, including 7 years of single parenthood, between marriages. So I've "been there, done that" with the young rascals, including a horde of cousins as well. To my three childrens credit, they have excelled in their own special ways despite me, and my latiino/babyboomer style way of rearing them.

 I guess it's true we old farts get set in our ways as we age (fall apart) gracefully, and maybe I'm just a selfish old tata, completely full of krap! Thank God he made nanas and grammies to love and spoil those overfed and under spanked, parasites we call grandkids!

Good night all, it's time for my nap!

Juanjohn