Four and a half year old Drew is practicing his free throws. The position of his feet looks pretty good, good concentration, but his fingertips need to be centered on the seam...we'll work on that. We take free throws very serious. There is simply no reason not to shoot over 80% from the free throw line. The shot is always from the exact same place, you have plenty of time and no one is guarding you or trying to block or alter your shot. None of that can be said about any other shot. Professional basketball players who earn tens of millions of dollars a year and hundreds of millions over a career and can't shoot free throws better than some average high school player (me!) are bums. There is no excuse.

What's the point of building the world's tallest giraffe? Well, to knock it down of course...with your hammer!

I previously reported that a producer for a national TV/radio/internet personality had contacted me when his boss saw my Hillary Clinton collage at the top of the Drudge Report for a day back in May. Well, that "personality" was Dennis Miller who recently used the collage as the first background image for his new green-screen during his Bathrobe Sessions.

Miller's Bathrobe Sessions are informal, viewer mail driven, weekly webcasts filmed in his home while Dennis is still, literally, in his bathrobe. Here, Dennis is getting ready to lower his new green screen.

We don't get Dennis Miller's radio show here in Tulsa, so it's been really nice to hear his show and see his Bathrobe Sessions over the internet. Unfortunately, the Bathrobe Sessions are part of the subscription side of Miller's website, so their viewership is limited. Here, the green screen is being lowered for the first time.

Miller's eclectic intellect is unparalleled in talk radio. While well founded in conservatism, his show is a nicely balanced mix of current events, special guests, listener calls, comedy, satire and his own brand of obscure but always interesting trivia. He's worth checking out on the radio or on the internet.

Mary, Drew, Will and their friends Miss Cindy, Abigail, Nathan, and Adam all went to the Tulsa Zoo this week.

The first exhibit was the wild monkeys...a scarier group of simians I've never seen.

Drew and Will rode the carousel. Drew rode an elephant while Will rode a sea lion. More pics of the zoo adventure after the jump.

Some of the animals weren't out in the mid-day heat, but the black bear didn't seem bothered as he strode around his habitat.

The flamingos did what flamingos do best...stand around, sometimes on one foot.

The American alligators maintained their cool swimming around.

One of Mama's favorite's exhibits was the poisonous frogs. This is the Blue Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates Azureus).

Next, was the Yellow-Banded Poison Frog (Dendrobates Leucomelas) and the Green and Black Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates Auratus).

Finally, all the little monkeys climbed aboard the Tulsa Zoo Express for a ride.

This evening we got out the Elmo sprinkler and had a fun cooling off after dinner.

Will took a little while to warm up to the activity but still managed to have a good time. Click "Continue reading" to see more pics of the boys and Elmo.

Drew taking a break to get a drink from the sprinkler.

Will adjusting Elmo to the perfect position.

Will insisted there was a police emergency at the sprinkler and Drew was happy to assist in the pursuit.

Is there anything as great as new sneakers? These are Will's new Stride Rites. Will is very proud of his new sneakers.

And, these are Drew's new New Balance shoes...the same brand that Daddy is currently wearing. We're pretty certain they make Drew jump just a little bit higher. But, don't new shoes always do that?

Drew and Will both enjoy playing all kinds of I Spy and their recent favorite has been the Scholastic book I Spy Spooky Night.

The book has enough variety, riddles and difficulty to even keep Mama and Daddy on their toes but, somehow, remains engaging enough to keep Will interested as we all try to find the hidden items. My only criticisms of Spooky Night is that most of the images are quite dark and really good lighting is needed to see all the objects.

Another successful search! Now off to dreamland for these two T-Rexes.

The other day I was sitting on the couch while Will and Drew were playing nearby. Our cat Joey was sitting near Will watching our littlest mess-maker do his thing. I noticed Will lay a bag, just emptied of toys, against Joey's head but Joey didn't flinch. He didn't blink or even bat an ear. I continued to watch with a little concern as Joey, with bag leaning against the side of his face just stared ahead without the slightest indication of life. Surely, Joey hadn't expired on us, quietly slipping off to kitty heaven without a sound or even closing his eyes. Too lazy to get off the couch myself, I called out, "Drew...go move the bag off of Joey, please." Drew moved the bag and Joey stood, stretched and sauntered off.

It's Flag Day! Are you proudly displaying Old Glory at your home? If so, I'd love to add a picture of it to the American Flag Project where I am collecting pictures of the American flag flying in front of people's homes.

So send me your picture and I'll add it to the collection. Happy Flag Day!

Much like his older brother Drew, Will loves to read and be read to. He is always bringing books over to people to read and when everyone is busy, he will happily sit down and look through a book by himself. Here Will is reading the modern Cars book Mater and the Ghost Light and the original 1972 Sesame Street classic that was once Daddy's, Bert's Hall of Great Inventions.

Another of Will's favorites is I Spot! No one points out items with more confidence than Will (imagine a very emphatic index finger being slammed down on the page). Click "Continue reading" for a bonus picture of Will.

Will concentrating on finding objects in his I Spot! book.

Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Troops disembarked from an LCVP landing craft wading toward Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

The outcome of World War II was not a foregone conclusion. The Nazis and the Japs could have won, and would have won, except for brave men who somehow found it within themselves, when the ramp of their landing vehicle fell and they could see where they would likely die...to run towards it. Weighed down with enough equipment to drown them, able to see hundreds of yards of water and sand exploding with gunfire and artillery shells, with no cover in sight, these fragile men went forth to free the world.

Thanks to a coworker who won free tickets for a pre-game picnic and Tulsa Drillers baseball game, we all took in an evening of America's past time. The Tulsa Drillers are the Texas League double-A farm team of the Colorado Rockies. They played the Springfield (Missouri) Cardinals and, although tied when we had to leave to make bedtime, the Drillers wound up losing 3-2.

A right-handed batter making contact.

And, a left-handed batter making contact.

Will and Drew enjoying some cotton candy, followed later by some ice cream in a miniature baseball helmet.

On the way out of the stadium, we were lucky enough to see the start of a horse race at the Tulsa Fair Meadows race track. As you may gather from the blurry photograph, the horse were fast!

Our next door neighbor filled up their inflatable pool today much to the delight of Drew, Will and a bunch of neighborhood Michael Phelps and Amanda Beards.

Drew started out a little timid, but by the end, he had thrown all caution to the wind, so much so that Momma had to restrain herself to keep from being too protective.

Will mostly just hung out, looked cool and watched the big kids. Later, he enjoyed being lifted and dropped into the pool mimicking the big kids. And, yes, we Danzes are naturally that pale, bring your sunglasses, if not to protect you from the sun then from the glare off of our bodies. Two more pictures after the jump.

Cannonball !!!

Belly flop !!!

[Non-sequential photos, your mileage may vary, past performance does not predict future results, I'm from the government and I'm hear to help you.]

Is there anything more beautiful and peaceful than a child sleeping?

Danz Family has been added to the Dads category of Alltop which "collect[s] stories from all the top sites on the web" and "group[s] these collections...into individual Alltop sites based on topics."

AllTop was formally introduced just this past March 11, 2008. One of Alltop's founders is Guy Kawasaki, one of the original Apple employees responsible for the Macintosh in 1984 (which I used to own, still have my SE/30).

In addition to Alltop, when I die, on my deathbed, I will receive total consciousness. So I got that goin' for me, which is nice. - Carl Spackler, Caddyshack (1980)