On Sunday, I was plucking weeds that surround a large, plastic house that sits in our backyard. It’s about five feet tall with three windows and a door. You know what I’m talking about. Every family has one of those indestructible, ugly structures that will out live all of us in some public dump for eternity. Ian likes to run around in there. Jonah and the bigger boys sit on its roof and survey the neighborhood. At least that’s what I thought they were doing back there.

As I plucked the weeds, I got a whiff of something strong. I threw open the door to the little house and discovered a horror. The bigger boys had turned it into an outhouse. JONAH!!!!!

Jonah confessed immediately. Weeping he said that all the other boys were doing it, so he did too. Oh, great. Peer pressure already. What’s next? Whippets and bongs with a Led Zeppelin soundtrack?

The ax fell. Grounded for a week. Mostly because he did something wrong just to be cool. He accepted his punishment without protest and has been under house arrest for the past two days, instead of roaming the neighborhood freely with the gang of boys from the block.

Mother nature has also imposed her own punishment. He has poison ivy all over his butt.