What are your current obsessions?

[Rayner]

I guess my last obsession was Ford "N" series tractors. My dad had one for a short time for plowing the driveway, and I was interested in getting one for my Twenty Acre Wood. I spent a good portion of every day for about a month reading about, looking at, and thinking about them. I can still smell the odd mix of gas, oil, grease and old rubber that emanates off them. (not to mention the dirt, hay and manure).

That's neat I'm more of a John Deere or international harvester kinda guy.

 

[Rob]

A couple of new current obsessions have come to the surface now:

-Driving in the Blaeberry on the same road over and over again because it is so beautiful and scenic this time of the year, and,
-Digging the old kitchen compost into the garden even if it feeds the weeds before planting our vegetables.

Because the compost is smelly and acidic, my sisters have complained about the smell of those garbage cans full of old kitchen compost. So now with a couple of days off I am very anxious to get the smelly stuff into our garden. I bought some dolomite limestone to put on the soil to help get rid of the acrid smell when the rains come. Or I can simply sprinkle some water over the treated area on hot dry days. A heat wave is coming here - our temps have been very high for this time of the year in this alpine town of Golden, BC.

 

[watersprite]

Rob I have the opposite sort of problem to solve as my rather large compost pile is 99% maple leaves from last autumn. It is not biodegrading - not hot enough. We're in sw Montana. Trying to decide whether to buy some starter organisms or ask around the organic dairy for manure. Ha.

Eh, excuse me for not knowing but please what is a Blaeberry?

 

[Rob]

Rob I have the opposite sort of problem to solve as my rather large compost pile is 99% maple leaves from last autumn. It is not biodegrading - not hot enough. We're in sw Montana. Trying to decide whether to buy some starter organisms or ask around the organic dairy for manure. Ha.

Eh, excuse me for not knowing but please what is a Blaeberry?

Great question!

"Blaeberry" is Gaelic for "blueberry". I think it was a term used by a Scottish pioneer named David Thompson. Many wild areas locally in the Golden BC area are good sources of berry bushes, including huckleberries, saskatoons and blueberries.

The Blaeberry River and Blaeberry district is just north of Golden, easily accessible by a good vehicle. The Blaeberry area is a small plateau that has many scenic views.
Further on the drive you can get to Thompson Falls if you have the patience and vehicle power to do so. You can get a great view of the highest peak visible from the Blaeberry by a bridge called Redburn Creek Bridge. Mount Laussedat is visible here at an elevation of 10,037 feet (3,058 m). This are is very close to the Alberta border just on the BC side of the Rocky Mountains.

http://www.peakfinder.com/peakfinder.asp?PeakName=Mount+Laussedat

The top right thumbnail on this link shows this highest peak visible in the Blaeberry area from the Blaeberry Forest Service Road.

 

[watersprite]

Great question!

"Blaeberry" is Gaelic for "blueberry". I think it was a term used by a Scottish pioneer named David Thompson. Many wild areas locally in the Golden BC area are good sources of berry bushes, including huckleberries, saskatoons and blueberries.

The Blaeberry River and Blaeberry district is just north of Golden, easily accessible by a good vehicle. The Blaeberry area is a small plateau that has many scenic views.
Further on the drive you can get to Thompson Falls if you have the patience and vehicle power to do so. You can get a great view of the highest peak visible from the Blaeberry by a bridge called Redburn Creek Bridge. Mount Laussedat is visible here at an elevation of 10,037 feet (3,058 m). This are is very close to the Alberta border just on the BC side of the Rocky Mountains.

Ah, thanks!

 

[Nitro]

Rob I have the opposite sort of problem to solve as my rather large compost pile is 99% maple leaves from last autumn. It is not biodegrading - not hot enough. We're in sw Montana. Trying to decide whether to buy some starter organisms or ask around the organic dairy for manure. Ha.

Eh, excuse me for not knowing but please what is a Blaeberry?

http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/what-is-a-huckleberry/

 

[ShiftRacing]

Hi everyone I'm new to the site and I'm not on the spectrum but I have some concerns about a child I know. He is highly obsessed with Legos and thats pretty much all he wants for gifts. He will be 9 soon. I try and open his mind up to new toys and interests but it just doesnt seem to work. He has not been diagnosed but I'm 99% sure he is on the spectrum. Opinions?

 

[ShiftRacing]

Hmm, that sounds like his current obsession. If he has no interest in anything else, then trying to sway him will be an exercise in futility, especially if he is on the spectrum. His brain will say, "Sorry, we're closed." You can expose him to other possible interests to see if they'll catch, but there will be no changing them until he's ready.

Yes that makes complete sense and I understand that. Only problem is he is asking for sets that cost a few hundred dollars and I cant spend that kind of money on toys for him. What normally happens is if he sees something he likes like when we take him to the movies and when he watches the previews if he likes that movie he will look it up on his iPad when he gets home to see if they make Legos for it. I want to tell his mom to not let him look those things up but I dont want to upset her. Do I feed into his obsession?........cause to me its almost like feeding an alcoholic more alcohol and I know its not to that extreme but it feels like it sometimes. I've tried showing him other toys but he just isnt interested in anything else. The only other things he plays with is nerf guns and Lego video games on Xbox.

 

[Crossbreed]

He is highly obsessed with Legos and thats pretty much all he wants for gifts.

Heck, I would be obsessed with Legos, if I had the time and money...! They are so modular/versatile that they can adapt as one's interests changes. It is like being [obsessed] with computer programming. You might program one kind of application one day [like video games], but when that peters out, you may shift to a different type of application [like databases]. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Here is some cool engineering from an adult Lego [maniac]:

 

[ShiftRacing]

Heck, I would be obsessed with Legos, if I had the time and money...! They are so modular/versatile that they can adapt as one's interests changes. It is like being [obsessed] with computer programming. You might program one kind of application one day [like video games], but when that peters out, you may shift to a different type of application [like databases]. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Oh no I think Legos are cool to but thats all he thinks about. For Christmas he got a bunch of older Legos and I told him to use his imagination and try and build things but he only buys the ones that are complete sets so hes only reading instructions and building one particular kit. He plays with them for a few weeks then gets bored of them so when he asked for a $300 Lego set for his upcoming birthday I am going to have to tell him no. $300 toy for a 9 year old is insanely expensive IMO.

 

[Crossbreed]

I collect action dolls and one of my sons collects superhero Lego sets, but we both have a realistic ceiling on how much we are willing to pay in a single purchase.

 

[ShiftRacing]

I collect action dolls and one of my sons collects superhero Lego sets, but we both have a realistic ceiling on how much we are willing to pay in a single purchase.

Thats just it....he will ask for the high priced sets that I will not buy for him cause they are just way to expensive. He complains whenever he has to do chores or help around the house. He feels like hes entitled to special things but yet he doesnt work for them and IMO thats not good work ethics. Is that part of being an aspie?

 

[forowls]

Anything set in a medeival universe. In fact, I enjoy LARPing because for a day I don't have to be me, and I can be goofy and no one minds. High-fantasy novels, videogames, b-movies, etc.

 

[Crossbreed]

Is that part of being an aspie?

In my more severe son's case, he had no concept of causation; that is, actions and consequences (both good & bad).

In your [friend's] case, it is most likely childish immaturity. A young child expects all of their wants and needs to be met by others. They do not understand economical limitations. Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder. That means the person is delayed in their development (in some way). In more severe cases, he won't mature past his current functioning. My above-mentioned 28yo son has a mental age of 6-10yo.

(People on the Aspie end of the spectrum tend to have our delays limited to just emotional & social functioning.)

 

[Flinty]

Little change as of Saturday night - it's now Patrik Laine videos over Gordon Ramsay ones. (What a release!)

 

[watersprite]

Thats just it....he will ask for the high priced sets that I will not buy for him cause they are just way to expensive. He complains whenever he has to do chores or help around the house. He feels like hes entitled to special things but yet he doesnt work for them and IMO thats not good work ethics. Is that part of being an aspie?

Your description of your son sounds very much like mine. Although he has gone from massive quantities of legos to games to computers to, currently rather alarming chemical reactions & the like. In my humble opinion as a single parent of a couple of kids, many youngsters of all "stripes" complain, grumble and try to control us by acting entitled; some grow past it some not so much.

 

[watersprite]

Heck, I would be obsessed with Legos, if I had the time and money...! They are so modular/versatile that they can adapt as one's interests changes. It is like being [obsessed] with computer programming. You might program one kind of application one day [like video games], but when that peters out, you may shift to a different type of application [like databases]. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Here is some cool engineering from an adult Lego [maniac]:

I thank you for posting this as it combines my interest in Greece with my son's continuing interest in programming and making machines, and his old fascination with legos.

 

[Crossbreed]

Yeah, I'd say he has an expensive taste. Growing up we did good to have money for food, so requests to "feed my current obsessions" were met with, "We can't afford that." If he learned about the cost in relationship to the availability of funds, that might help curtail his demands; the obsession will remain, but not the demand to feed it since he will have an understanding that it cannot be met.

That's why my perseveration "ground zero" was figure drawing. I could create new/unlimited virtual "toys" with a pencil & paper. Prior to that, I drafted & made models of houses & vehicles using cereal box cardboard. Necessity was (and still is) the mother of invention.

 

[Mr Allen]

Hi everyone I'm new to the site and I'm not on the spectrum but I have some concerns about a child I know. He is highly obsessed with Legos and thats pretty much all he wants for gifts. He will be 9 soon. I try and open his mind up to new toys and interests but it just doesnt seem to work. He has not been diagnosed but I'm 99% sure he is on the spectrum. Opinions?

Just because he's mad on Lego doesn't mean he's Autistic, my 8 year old Nephew loves the stuff and he's NT.

As for me? I'm currently on an Xbox games kick, trouble is in the UK games are £40+ a pop, so I can only afford them once every so often.

 

[zurb]

Introduce him to the Cashflow game. Them tell him if he wants $300 Lego sets, he's free to buy them. My kids mostly buy their own Lego from their own hard earnt money. We will only buy the smaller sets for birthdays etc.