Philosophy, Fireboxes, and Funnels

I stumped Mommy yesterday. I asked her, ‘Where is the past?’ She thought about it, but couldn’t give a good answer, at least not one I understood. She did tell me that it was a very good question, though.

Later, in the afternoon, Mommy was putting on my coat in the entrance hall of the nursery. There was a big box-like object sitting there. ‘What’s that?’ I asked. ‘It’s a computer,’ said Mommy. That was weird because it didn’t look like her laptop or Daddy’s iMac. ‘Can you see what it says on the side? It’s the same brand as Mommy’s laptop. What does it say?’
‘D-E-L-L.’ ‘What does that spell?’ ‘HELL!’ I said confidently. Mommy, trying not to laugh, said, ‘Actually, you could be right about that!’ [Mom: My laptop has been acting up lately.] Then she looked around quickly and said ‘Shhhhh!’ as I said it over and over again.

As you know, I love steam trains. All trains, but especially steam! I’m not always the fastest eater—most meals I take an hour or two to eat, say Mom and Dad, but I don’t really know what that means. Sometimes to encourage me to finish my meal, we play Steam Engine. The food is the coal, and it has to go into the firebox, my mouth, to keep the engine running! ‘Choo Choo!’ says Mommy or Daddy. Or maybe they are saying ‘Chew! Chew!’ I know all about how the steam engine works, how it burns the coal and that produces ‘water vapor!’ I love saying ‘water vapor!’ The steam drives the engine which makes the connecting rods go ‘Chug Chug!’ I like showing the motion of the connecting rods with my arms—I call it ‘tracking’. See my video on a previous post from when we rode the steam train in the Lake District. I know too that the extra steam and smoke that the engine doesn’t use escape through the funnel on the top of the engine.

So I was eating the other day, and Mommy was helping me put coal in my firebox. I told her, ‘My firebox is here’ – and pointed to my mouth – ‘and then the coal goes down here’ – running my finger down to my tummy – ‘and then my funnel is down there’ – pointing to my posterior. I figure that the extra part I don’t use comes out down there, just like the extra steam comes out the engine funnel!

[All photos from our visit to the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway in August. Can you spot Mike in any of them?? Look closely.... You can click on them to make them bigger.]