Zach 0 - Tree 1

Friday, January 9, 2004 -- I borrowed uncle Johnny's truck again this afternoon to pick up a couple of cattle panels" at Tractor Supply in Beeville. I'm using them to fence in my little garden in hopes of keeping out the neighborhood dogs. Zach insisted on "helping me" plant a couple of beds of brocolli and cauliflower although he ended up sitting on some of the seedlings in the process. Zach was too worked up about shooting fireworks with the Husers to join Cathi, Josh, and I for dinner at Taqueria Vallarta. They were still at it when we returned with Zach's to-go taco. After checking a few things on the internet, I walked outside to join them and found Zach limping towards me. Apparently, Mr. Huser had feigned tossing a lit firecracker in Zach's direction causing Zach to turn and run smack into a tree. I laughed at first but after seeing the look on his face shifted into good-dad mode and gave him a shoulder to lean on as we limped home. Sure enough, he had a nasty scrape behind his ear and claimed his knee was hurting from the impact with the tree. "I blacked out for a second!" he said through gritted teeth. I gave him some ice for his ear, checked his pupils, and kept an eye on him for the rest of the evening.