Parenting Advice for Fathers: Part I

Having survived 18 years of marriage (40, according to my wife) and 15 years of fatherhood, I feel eminently qualified to dispense knowledge and advice to others who may be in my predicament. To those who are not, take my sage knowledge as a warning or guideline, your choice.

You may be wondering what makes me qualified to dispense parenting advice. Could it be because I have more children than my siblings? No, I don't. Maybe my parenting skills are better? Honestly, probably not. Perhaps I know more tips and tricks than my siblings, parents, in-laws, aunts, uncles and cousins all put together?

If you're a regular reader of Fuzzy, Black Dogs and you believe that, you don't need kids. You need a psychologist!

The reason is much more simple than any of that. Basically, I'm a parent and a writer. That's the skinny and short of it.

You may be wondering if I'm a successful parent. My one... No, two word answer -- indubitably yes. It's possible that my wife would agree with me. And my son... He's 15 and going through some 'teen phase' right now. We'll leave his opinion out of this.

No worries, I do have other credentials. Prior to attending my son's birth, in person, I went to Lamaze classes with my wife. Also, I've chatted with pregnant women and mothers. I've even gone so far as to read an entire passage from a Dr. Spock book, nearly an entire chapter of another parenting book, a few articles from some magazines (parenting magazines, of course), a few online tidbits and tips, and some dog training books! Don't laugh... The similarities are frightening!

Now that we've established my parenting credentials, be sure to look for my next installment on Fuzzy, Black Dogs. In my next parenting post, we will look at the pros and cons of actually having children.

Latent Horsemanship Abilities Create Cowboy-Hottie

I'm back from my brief, two day vacation at Clear Creek Ranch in the North Carolina Mountains. All I have to say is that I am back in town as a new and improved kind of guy! You can call me Phillip 2.0, or cowboy-hottie Phillip, for short!

For those enquiring minds, here's what happened...

My wife and I eased into Clear Creek Ranch in the family Ford. The driver was but a nerdy, smart writer dude. (Note, if you will, the cool, but nerdy, smart writer dude in the photo to the left, otherwise known as me!) Somehow, Clear Creek Ranch magically transformed me into an adept, seemingly seasoned horse pro and potential wrangler.

 

During the short time I was there, I took part in three rides. On the first ride, I think the youth director, Wrangler Cassie, rubbed off on me, figuratively speaking, of course. By the end of that first ride, my horsemanship abilities practically doubled. I think she was impressed with me, and not  because I talked for the entire hour and a half that the ride took.

On the second ride, Frog, one of the coolest wranglers at the ranch, who is pictured with me below, must have rubbed off on me as well. (Note the transitioning effect from the first photo.) During our second ride, I had Gambler, my horse, trotting, loping and even cantering! I think Frog must have been impressed with my abilities as well.

He chatted with me after dinner that evening. I suspected that he might ask if I wanted to come back to the ranch to be a wrangler so that he could glean some tips from me. After all, by this time my horsemanship abilities were becoming legendary. He didn't, but he did politely put up with me talking incessantly about my blog, Fuzzy, Black Dogs.

They offered to take us on an extra, third ride on the morning of the day we were all leaving. I jumped at the chance and looked forward to showcasing my skills yet one more time before we made our exit. I was positively oozing cowboy confidence and was certain I had impressed everyone with my mad skills

 

After my third ride on Sunday morning, the transformation was complete. Note, if you will, the cool confidence that exudes from the photo on the right. You can almost see the cowboy swagger in the Han Solo-esque rogue smile on this hottie-cowboy's face. I must have smiled the entire trip home.

According to my son, I managed to push my horse to a slow trot and at no time during the entire trip did get my horse to lope. According to my niece, I managed to break the horse into a canter when all the other horses were loping.

Sadly enough, I did not get any video footage of any of the rides in order to prove my mad skills to the readers of this blog. And just because my niece has her own horse and competes in equestrian events doesn't necessarily mean she knows what she's talking about.

I will leave you with one parting comment, though. Just wait until next time!