6 minutes of "exercise"- Is that what they're calling it these days?

In his 80s, my dad is one of the smartest men I know but, fortunately for me, his strong stubborn streak refuses to bow to the conventions of modern technology in the form of wireless devices. Which means...my dad has no idea what the heck I'm writing in "my blog machine." My niece casually informed my mom about my extracurricular activities which later resulted in a very confusing conversation when my mother congratulated me on taking up "clogging." So it was today that, while sitting at their kitchen table, I couldn't wait to go home and document our conversation for posterity.

Having once endured an ankle injury similar to Sydney's, my dad was offering her some advice which she would be wise to consider given how healthy my parents are. "Why, your grandmother and I begin each day with six minutes of exercise before we even get out of bed in the morning," my dad boasted. Sydney, to her credit, barely flinched, keeping a straight face although her eyes did flick over to me for the briefest of seconds, fearing the worse. I wrestled with this picture painted by my father for a moment before jumping in. "Six minutes, huh," I remarked speculatively, "I'm impressed. We're still working on building up our time." My dad nodded encouragingly, "It doesn't happen over-night. You'll get there." Sydney sat next to me, mortified.

Things went from bad-to-worse (For Sydney. I was having a delightful time.). My parents host a variety of birds in their backyard feeders so we were regaled with the exploits of their latest visitor: a woodpecker with a red head getting fatter and fatter by the day. For some reason, today, neither of my parents felt like enunciating their final consonants which really wasn't noticeable until they started discussing how the squirrels like to steal their peanuts. Our five minute conversation about how the squirrels really like their peanuts tortured Sydney and had us both erupting into small bouts of giggles that we attempted to camouflage as coughing. We also talked about world events, advances in medicine (My dad says that they're pulling gall bladders out through patients's mouths now...wow!) and taxes but those topics didn't seem particularly blog-worthy so instead, you get to hear about the genitalia of squirrels. I have to go now or I'll be late for my clogging lessons.