Is stubborness the right word?

Okay, this is a dad blog. It's along the same theme as his continuing to believe that DC is a tropical paradise-- it's getting an idea in one's head in a way that nothing, nothing will budge it.

My mother will often say about my dad, "he decided as a young child that he didn't like carrots/oatmeal/motzaball soup, etc., and nothing, not a different way of preparation, etc. will inpsire him to try that thing sixty years later and see if maybe he might like it."

This doesn't only go for food. The weather thing is a perfect example: he was in DC for New Year's once many years ago (long before I'd ever been there), and it was a very warm year. Nothing since has managed to shake his conviction that it's always warm in DC.

It's the habits that really annoy us, and there are a few that we just can't shake. They annoy us because they're wasteful and my mom and I have an aversion to waste.

He ALWAYS fills up the entire water pot thing, even though half would be plenty for tea for three, including refills. This is not only wasteful, it also takes a lot longer. My mom and I have been over this numerous times (so maybe he keeps doing it out of protest, but I doubt it). This morning I poured in enough water for a couple of cups of tea and put it on, ready for tea in a few minutes. He came in, took it off, started to fill it completely. I called him on it, he said, "I didn't see any water in there!" and started to pour it out. I told him to leave it (it was about half-full) and came back later.

Bread is another issue. I harp on this more than my mom does. Why, why, why cut an entire loaf or even half of one at once? If the bread doesn't get eaten, it goes stale. You can always cut more later. Noooooooooo-- he always has to slice an entire loaf at once and we end up with half a loaf (my mom and I are not huge bread eaters) of stale bread slices.

The stale bread, the wasted electricity and longer boiling time, having to repeat, "I know what snow is,"-- those are just biproducts. What really grates on me is the stubbornness.