We’re experiencing some bi-polar weather once again, with snow one day and too warm for a jacket the next. It means getting outside can be confusing, particularly when you don’t know how to dress.

It was warm enough on Saturday last week to bring Harold and his mommy outside to graze for a bit in our yard. Afterward, I took Aaron down to Ralston Park to get in some quality playtime before Sunday, when we had an actual dusting of snow for some reason (leaving us and the guinea pigs inside).

I rode my bike a bit more during the following week, heading up by the Vinton Street silos one day and down to Oak Park in Ralston the next. It was so nice on the latter trip that I was able to take off my jacket. I also rode by Ralston Park again (sans Aaron) and got to get a selfie with a train before heading back to work.

On Friday, I drove down to the Student Center at UN-L in Lincoln to see a comedian named K-Von, who tours college campuses with Turning Point USA. He told a variety of jokes, poking fun at his own Iranian heritage and Covid-19.

About 30 other people showed up as well (and no protestors), and it was nice to get out of Omaha briefly for an evening. I also got to hang out with a few of them afterward chatting about the nonaggression principle and man in the state of nature.

Then on Saturday, I dropped by the Bellevue Library to get a free pass to the Zoo (with a bunch of other people). Then I spent much of the day at my parents’ house, going through some more old slides of my childhood and then watching home movies while eating food from Taco John’s. We played a ground of “Guesspionage” on the Switch afterward, and I had a round of Boggle with mom and Nathan before heading home.

It was warm enough that evening to bring the guinea pigs out again, and then Hannah and I walked down to Chick-Fil-A for ice cream after dinner, picking up a coconut on the way back (of all things).

On Palm Sunday, we took the kids down to the Gene Leahy Mall for Autism Awareness Day (or something like that) in the afternoon. Mostly, it was a nice excuse to get out and see the remodeled Mall with the kids. They got to go down a couple of the slides, play on a few of the new climbing structures, and roll down one of the turf-covered slopes.

I still don’t think it’s an improvement over what used to be there, but I was glad the kids got to enjoy it. The kids spent a good deal of time playing basketball and shooting a bubble gun, and we also got a few balloons and some lemonade before heading back to the car. I also walked along the small water area with Hannah with the Yellow Head sculpture by Jun Kaneko.

Then on Tuesday, Vivian and I planned on having lunch at Malara’s, an Italian restaurant we’d been to numerous times before that’s now about to close forever. Naturally, a bunch of other people had the same idea, filling the venue to capacity, and prompting them to lock the front door while I was inside.

It was an hour wait just to get a table, so  Vivian and I decided to run up the street to Louie M’s Burger Lust for lunch instead. Louie M’s has been a favorite of mine since 2001. We both had some Guacamole Bacon Cheeseburgers with Onion Rings and fries for lunch, and later in the day I got to walk off a bit along in the Keystone Trail in the lovely 72 degree weather.

We’ll give Malara’s another try next week — and hopefully get there much earlier.