Everybody's Got an Experiment

Great pic! Too bad it costs one bad sprain. Tell Trevor "Hey!"

 Hi, Jason,

​Big Guy, I was so sorry that the basketball team finished almost last in the first tournament of the season. Do you think coach will let the Rec Defectors come back now if they want to? Playing with just a handful of dudes in a tournament's got to be a lot harder than with twenty.

I'll bet it's super hard to make that call. I'm sorry to hear about Trevor getting a bad sprain. That had to make playing three games outta four tough when one man went down in the first one. What's your dad say? My mom said it sounds like an experiment in team building.

Have you guys put up your Christmas tree yet? Mom says we have to get a small tree this year bc we have to buy decorations, too. Me and Sarah tried to make a few decorations with ideas from the magazines at the laundromat. Sure you remember Yours Truly is not exactly crafty. Mom keeps telling us it's about the Spirit of Christmas and trying to come up with extra ways to keep up busy (probably hoping we won't miss Dad as much).  And she's calling it the "Minimalist Advent Experiment". Everybody's got an experiment.

---

​Speaking of which, have I told you what Ted and I are up to since the yard work is done for now? We cleared a small patch behind our apartment building. It helped that we'd started cleaning up the trash all the way around the building last summer, but I swear, weed roots must grow to China. 

Anyway, we got it all hoed up, by hand, not with a tiller like Dad used to borrow from our neighbor. Ted's a pretty smart guy and likes to read. Then, you're never gonna believe this: he goes out and buys cow crap to put on it. Did I mention Ted's also pretty crazy? 

Ted comes knocking on the door one Saturday, big grin on his face like he'd won the lottery. "Come on Jubel," he says, "we're gonna make some magic!" Magic nothin'! He wanted me to help work the manure into the pitiful dirt. Gross!

Then Ted tells me if this little (now stinky) patch can grow tomatoes next summer, he was thinking about creating a community garden for the people who live in the building. I'm betting a lot of them would like that since we all seem to be kinda strapped for cash. Anyway, clearing, crapping, and putting up a fence is about all we've done so far. Ted said we should call it the "Gardening in the Hood Experiment". See? EVERYBODY'S got an experiment going on! 

Ted told me he was so impressed that I wanted to grow tomatoes on our microscopic deck next summer, he got inspired. He said we'd have a contest to see who could grow the best tomatoes. I'll tell you one thing, I'm not using cow crap on mine. I'm definitely not into stinky.

Gotta go wash up. Today's Advent Experiment is seeing how many cookies we can make for neighbors with as few ingredients as possible. (Yeah, you go ahead and laugh, but I know you're jealous...NAAAH!)

Good luck to you and the team on this week's game, and try not to get hurt!

Your pal,
Jubel

---