Today my introspective, philosophical, clever, determined, and insightful corsair, Andrew the Adventurous, turns eight. He never ceases to amaze me with his wit and grit. He will one day become a great leader of pirates, of that I’m convinced. Happy Birthday son, I’m proud of you and I love you much. Sgt Hook out.

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Renegade Ryan today becomes a member of that group most of us remember to be the best of times and the worst of times. Those awkward days when we woke to discover some serious changes to our bodies. Those days we began to realize the vastness of our world and wonder about all that is beyond the backyard fence and for the first time think that we can explore that world on our own. Today, Renegade Ryan becomes a teenager (his voice has already started the change). Happy Birthday Son. I’m proud of you and I love you. Sgt Hook out. (aka Dad).

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These were NOT my boys.

MIAMI — Pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade and machine guns Saturday in an attack on a luxury cruise liner off the east African coast, the vessel’s owners said.

Two armed boats approached the Seabourn Spirit (search) about 100 miles off the coast of Somalia and fired as the boats’ occupants attempted to get onboard, said Bruce Good, a spokesman for Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp.

I swear. Sgt Hook out.

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Long Distance

brrrrng. brrrrng.
“Hello?” he asked into the phone’s receiver.

“Hi Typhoon Tyler of Trieste! How are you son?” I said.

“Hi dad.”

“How’s my triple T?” I asked him.

“Good,” was his reply.

“Good, I miss you buddy,” I told him.

“I miss you too dad. Dad, we lost our soccer game 2 to 1,” he informed me.

“Oh, well did you play your best?”

“Yeah, I scored a goal,” he proudly announced.

“Well that’s fantastic and cause for a celebration. Congratulations son!”

“A kid on the other team knocked me down and the referee gave him a red card and we got a penalty kick,” he explained. “My teammates wanted Mike to kick it, he has a strong leg, but I thought he might kick it over the top of the net because he has a strong leg so I said ‘I can do it, I can do it’ and I kicked it right between a kid’s legs, they were making a wall, and the ball went right between the kid’s legs and the goalie couldn’t see it and it went right in the net but it was slow.”

“I’m proud of you son, good job,” I managed to get out before choking up.

“Oh Sean’s here, I gotta go dad.”

“I love you buddy.”

“I love you too dad, bye.”
click.

Sgt Hook out.

Posted by Hook @ 1513 zulu | Comments & Trackbacks (9) | Permalink
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Into the Lion’s Den

The dashing young lad was hanging from the riggings of the large sailing ship off the starboard side near the bow, his blonde hair waving in the wind, his cutlass sheethed and held in place on his waist by a crimson sash, the tails of which too waved in the wind. The battle had been bloody, and brutal, and had lasted for many hours on the deck of the pirate ship Albatross, skippered by his arch enemy, Captain One Eye. A formidable opponent, old One Eye and his crew of scalawags put up a good fight, but in the end were defeated by the handsome young corsair and his merry band of pirates. They thought him fearless. He knew this not to be true, brave maybe, but fearless no. You wouldn’t know it to see him holding onto the salt caked rope with just one hand and a single foot placed on another section of the riggings as he leaned over the edge of the ship, as if flying above the green ocean below, a salty spray hitting his face as waves crashed against the mahogany hull.

He had to be brave yet again, for this afternoon he was to see the sawbones below deck to have the strange mark on his chest examined. Ol’ Shakey had been a sawbones on the open seas for many years and was good at his job he knew, but this painful bump on his chest had tested even the seasoned doctor’s knowledge. Today he was to enter into the Lion’s Den, a new fangled device used to see inside one’s chest without the use of a blade.

Young Castaway Conner, fresh from battle, bravely climbed up onto the cold, metal bed of the Lion’s Den and cooperated splendidly, holding still for the full thirty-minutes while zaps and dings and clicks and different colored lights flahsed until all was done and he was free to roam the poop deck and hang in the riggings again. The sawbones informed him that he should have the results of all the zaps and dings and clicks and different colored flashing lights in a few days but initial images look as if he had sustained an injury to his sternum area causing a swelling where cartilage and blood had pooled, perhaps during one of his many battles. He shrugged and lept from the cold, metal bed, swiftly scaling the ladder to the deck above, emerging unscathed from the Lion’s Den, while his princess breathed a sigh of relief hopeful that the initial readings would turn out in the end to be correct. The lad’s father is also hopeful and extremely grateful for all the prayers and well wishes from those whom they’ve never met. Thank You all. Sgt Hook out.

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Ct Scan

Bottom line upfront- looks as if Castaway Conner’s sternum is developing in the wrong direction which would explain the protrusion and hardness of the mysterious bump on his chest. To be sure, the doc ordered a ct scan for Friday. He thinks it is likely that it is his sternum, and quite possibly will correct itself as he continues to grow. Because my little priate is only three, the sternum is probably still cartilage, which explains why the previous three doctors he saw couldn’t determine anything from the x-rays.

I’m still a bit nervous and feel for what my brave little corsair will have to face, even with a ct scan, but that rock in my gut has diminshed some and the lovely and talented and downright sexy Mrs. Hook and I at least have something to focus on. The “not knowing” was probably the hardest to deal with. We both would like to thank everyone for your outpouring of support through well wishes and heartfelt prayer. I’ll be sure to update you on Friday with the outcome of his tests. Sgt Hook out.

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Castaway Conner

My suave and deboner and dashing three-year old swashbuckler Castaway Conner is meeting with a pediatric surgeon this morning in an attempt to discover what the painful, hard, half-dollar sized bump on his chest actually is. My heart sits in my stomach, like a rock. I’ve never felt so helpless. Sgt Hook out.

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