Already April!

The first quarter of 2008 is history! Wow! Hard to believe how quickly time passes. Mom was right (as she usually is). She always told us, "the older you get, the faster time flies!" You know the old saying "time flies when you're having fun". Well, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Time flies...regardless of whether or not you're having fun!
We have had some fun recently though. One fun event was visiting with the Eversons. They'd been vacationing in Missouri, and stopped for a brief visit as they were passing through. We caught up with them at Mickelson's, where we enjoyed a great meal together. Thanks Gariann!









Over the weekend, Dennis worked not too far up the road on a track-hoe job. There had been an old barn which had burned, leaving a lot of rocks, cement foundations and debris. While Dennis was working there, Zach and Wyatt were here visiting.





We played Walkie Talkie hide and seek until lunch time, and then went over to check on Dennis' progress. While there, the boys had a great time jumping off of what looked like a cement bridge.
After a fun day of playing, the boys made pizzas for our supper. Each of them made his own, and I made one for Dennis and me. They were very good. It was one of the recipes from Zach's book, Kid's In The Kitchen.

When It's Time To Play!

I remember way back when I was in about 7th grade, Miss Harness made us memorize poetry. At the time, I don't think I really cared much for it, but I can still remember much of what I memorized back then. That, in itself, could be a great lesson..."Be careful what you put in your memory bank." Or maybe..."Be sure you develop a memory bank...." But that's thoughts for another day.
Anyway, I was watching the boys this afternoon as they were having fun on the swings. The little Swing poem came to mind. I think it's a very well known poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it's the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
'Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside-

'Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown-
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Well, here's the picture to go with the poem.

Comment Moderation Has Been Enabled.

Because I've been getting "Spam" comments, I've enabled the comment moderation option. We enjoy getting comments from friends and family, but are tired of those from spammers!


What a day! We enjoyed a wonderfully delicious Easter dinner at Mom and Dad's. There were just 16 of us there today. You can easily see who was the attention getter. Isn't he a cutie!

It was snowing!!! off and on all day. Strange weather!


We enjoyed the Main Street Opry in Kahoka Saturday night with Mom, Dad, Gariann and Kirk. The show was great, and the company was great.
The food...well, it could have been better.

More Signs of Spring!

I spent the time between bus routes today cleaning up the yard. I raked sticks, leaves and all the other stuff that the dogs have brought home to show us. While I was raking, I saw a bee! A honeybee!
Now, I am certainly no authority on such things, but I would think that a honeybee sighting is a very good sign of spring! I must say I got a little excited about seeing it, and then there were two! I actually saw several of them while I was raking and burning. Honeybees buzzing around in March!
I also was thinking (while I was raking and burning) that I am very thankful for a fairly small yard! Raking is more work than I'm used to doing. The burning part was fun. Oh, but I did have help. Scamba took one look at the rake, and said, "Not me!" And then he laid down right beside it, with his little sidekick, of course.


Then I started thinking, "I wonder if I should call the Sheriff and let him know I'm burning grass clippings." I decided against it. I figured, the little fires I was making were more like camp fires and I'm sure we're not required to call those in. Yet, anyway.

Signs of Spring!

As I drove to school this morning, I enjoyed a spectacular sunrise, and I also noticed LOTS of redwing blackbirds on the wires, perched in tree tops and tall grasses and along the roadside. I have been seeing lots of robins for several weeks now, and also meadowlarks. What a beautiful morning today! Even though the forecast for this weekend includes possible snow, we know that spring will arrive right on time.




I hardly seems possible that within a few weeks, planting season will be upon us! Dennis and Travis have been fairly busy with grave-digging, and when they get started on the field work, I'll probably be seeing very little of Dennis! Once the crops are in, he's planning on having his left knee replaced. That will slow him down for much of the summer, which means that I will be adding a lot of the work he does to my already exhausting work load! (That's supposed to be a funny...since I hardly do anything at all most of the time anyway!)

There are some other "signs of spring" I've observed over the past few days. The kids on the bus are even more rambunctious than before. The next two weeks are what we call "four-day weeks" meaning that we have only four days of school....which also then means long weekends! This is good! Very good! By my count, there are 54 days of school left for this year. Our last school day is June 2. Do you sense that I am ready for summer vacation? I'm really not, but what I am looking forward to is balmy mornings. I look forward to warmer weather, days that I don't need to start the car a few minutes early bundled up in boots, coat and gloves. I will not be one of those complaining this summer of the insufferable heat! Humidity....maybe, but not the heat!
Well, it's such a gorgeous day, I'm going to go find something to do. One of the top jobs on my to-do list: de-poop the yard. Squeak has not yet learned that it would be much nicer for everyone if she would go take care of her business where we don't walk!

Cold, But Sunny Thursday

Well, we're back. Although our service was out for less than two days, it seemed like a very long time! After spending much time with technical support, we went to bed late last night still not working. I don't know what happened during the night, but this morning, it's normal. After all she had me do, the girl assisting me by phone ended our conversation with, "well, we have no idea what the problem is, so you do a speed test three times a day for the next three days, and then we will figure out what is wrong." That's about like calling your Dr. with a real emergency need, and he says take two aspirin and call me in the morning. Grrrrrr!!! Two hours of having her extremely loud voice crackling in my ear, and with such a strong accent that I had to guess most of the time as to what she was saying, and they tell me we'll try to figure it out within three days! The girl said her name was Amie, but I thought she must have been "Mujibar's" sister! I told her I was very disappointed. Of course, she apologized for my inconvenience. What a pleasant surprise to wake up this morning and find it all working right!
Anyway....now I can post the picture of the Liverpool Legends. As I said in the previous post, we did enjoy the first half of their show. I have a video of them singing She Loves You, but because I'm taking Squeak to the vet for her next round of shots in a few minutes, I'll not try to post that!


On a lighter note, some time ago I received a book from my nephew called Wyoming Whistle Stop. I've read it a couple times, and each time I pick it up, I read the following story. If it doesn't tickle your funny bone there's something wrong with you!

It was State Fair time in Douglas, Wyoming. The cowboy was riding across the grassy field between the parking lot and the main fair grounds and the "urge" struck him like a thunder bolt. In a word he had to go. No if, ands, or buts about it.
Spying a porta pottie about midfield, he spurred his horse into a gallop and slid to a stop, bailing off with all the grace and speed of a calf roper. Now if this were a western movie, the cowboy would have dropped the reins, entered the instant outhouse, done his thing, and when he came out, the horse would have been quietly grazing a few feet away.
In reality there was a 30% chance the horse would be there and a 70% chance the cowboy would have spent the rest of the day going, "Has anybody seem my horse?"
Always one to play the odds, the cowboy entered the latrine and somehow managed to close the door, half mast his Levis and still hang onto the reins. Little did he know that chaos, not relief, was only moments away.
The parking lot was rapidly filling up with cars, and among the arrivals was Homer Farsworth, practical joker extraordinaire. As he traversed the field towards the fairground, Homer spied the horse, seemingly tethered to the outhouse.
An opportunity like this only comes along once or twice in a lifetime, and Homer made the most of the moment. Sneaking up behind the privy, Homer sprang out waving his hat in the horse's face. The horse shied with a vengeance, and the cowboy catapulted out of the outhouse like a champagne cork. The cowboy instinctively refused to let go of the reins, and was summarily drug forward with his career exposed and his reputation on the line.
"Whoa, you son-of-a-buck, Whoa!" shouted the cowboy as he tried desperately to pull up his pants with his free hand and regain his feet. Homer took pity and finally intervened, snatching the reins and calming the terrified animal.
The cowboy lay prone in the grass. The crowd that had gathered looked on in stunned silence. Finally, the cowboy regained his feet and stood there in semi-shock, his pants down around his ankles.
Homer walked over to the cowboy, who was now getting his bearing and handed him the reins.
"Dang, Andy," Homer said loudly, with a twinkle in his eye, "if you needed me to hold your horse all you needed to do was ask." A murmur of laughter spread through the crowd.
Homer placed his arm around Andy's shoulder and said, "Folks, I don't know if they award points for the outhouse slingshot event, but I'd have to give Andy here and 8.5 just for the landing!"
The crowd erupted into cheers, whistles, and clapping. Andy, getting into the spirit of the situation, clasped his hands above his head in mock appreciation. Then forgetting the location of his Levis, he bowed deeply.
The crowd went off like fireworks at the 4th of July. Peals of laughter rolled through the crowd, bouncing off the Laramie Peak and could be heard 30 miles away in Glenrock.
Andy chagrinly pulled up his pants, tucked in his shirt, and when the laughter died down, addressed the crowd, "Folds, I truly apologize if I embarrassed anyone besides myself, but if you'll excuse me, I suddenly remembered my original mission.
"Homer, hold my horse!" And with that Andy sprinted for the outhouse, followed by more cheers, whistles, and laughter---a fitting end to the beginning of the day.

That Was A Really FAST...

Summer! Saturday Zach and Wyatt came over for the morning. We packed up some snacks and my scrapbook tools and went to their house for a "scrap and snack" afternoon. It was so nice out though that they decided to go outside after making just a few pages. That was good though.
Sunday the temperatures got into the 70's! Summertime! The pup and I walked our trails picking up sticks, and we played around at the small creek. Sugar Creek was full and flowing fast. It was a great day. But it passed much to quickly. Winter has returned. This morning's temperature is about 17 degrees, with wind. Brrrrrr!
I have been working on several photo story albums, and am happy to have finished five! I've uploaded the finished ones to be printed and should have them within the next couple weeks. That's been taking up most of my time, which is my "excuse" for not posting since February 20.
We did attend the Liverpool Legends concert last Saturday at the Grand Theater. The show was really good. I'd planned to post a video of the group, but we're experiencing some "technical difficulties" so I decided not to even try right now. I'm hoping things will get better quickly!
Please be patient, and check back again!
In the meantime....have a great day!

President's Day Monday...

and no school! So, I went to Andalusia with Tyler, Kathy and boys for some snow ski fun!
Zach and Wyatt both were quick to learn. Zach was soon skiing down the intermediate slopes, while Wyatt stayed on the beginner hills. It was very cold, with strong winds. I don't know, and don't even want to know what the actual temperature was, let alone consider the wind chill factor! As cold as it was, the boys were not ready to quit when it was time to go. Both boys say it was the best day ever!
The pictures are posted randomly. None of them are really great pictures, but the subjects are!






































Totally unrelated topic: Tonight's lunar eclipse! Thanks for the call, Heidi! At first, we had a few clouds, and I thought maybe we wouldn't get to see it at all, but it got better! I hope Zach and Wyatt got to see some of it before they went to bed. If not, I have a few mediocre pictures here.

IceCapades!

What a beautiful day we've had! Zach and Wyatt stayed overnight and this morning after a big pancake breakfast, we took Squeak out for another long explore. We went to the pond first, and the boys had fun sliding on the ice. It was great fun, and I was able to catch a few really good snapshots!
After running and sliding for quite a while, they went to get their bikes.

Of course, all the while, the sun was shining and making the surface of the pond more slippery by the minute! I had fun watching the boys attempt to ride their bikes on the ice. Eventually, they figured out how to keep from crashing. Well, at least...how to keep from crashing so often. Then, they started having races. They soon lost interest in that and went out to the pasture to ride on the hills.

It was pretty icy out on the trails too, but they didn't care. We had a lot of fun, and at the same time, we got Squeak worn out. She was so tired by the time we got back to the house that she didn't even try to bite and chew on the boys any more.

Later today we plan to take Herman (the bad smelling billy goat) back to his own home. We hope that he's been here long enough to take care of the business he was brought here to do. If so, we'll be having kids in June!
The video is Wyatt riding his bike over a section of the trails in our pasture, with Squeak chasing, and Zach yelling for Squeak to come back. You'll notice, she didn't pay one bit of attention to him!

As Promised...

But then, who really cares? I sometimes wonder who reads this anyway. Of course, I know there are a few regular readers, and ONE of you (you know who you are) mentioned that you've missed hearing from me. So, here's the update.

Since getting the puppy, it seems that I've been really busy. I don't know how that can be true, but it is! Of course, I do have to spend a good deal of time playing with the her and trying to teach her some manners. She's also been a good reason to get out and walk more. She loves going on our "long explores", as the boys call it. We usually walk to our back (south) property line, stopping along the way to sniff everything out. Well, not me...I don't sniff around. Squeak does that! Poor Scamba is learning to like the energetic bundle of fur, and when he's feeling a little lively himself, he even plays with her. But, she does get annoying to him, and she has learned that when he growls and bares his teeth, it's time to back off and find something else to nip at and chew up.

I've spent the past two Saturdays watching Show Choir competitions. Last week, we were at West Liberty and yesterday Keokuk. Our kids performed well at West Liberty, but they were much better at Keokuk, taking first place in the 3A division. I enjoy watching show choir, and being the bus driver means I get in free, plus I get paid to watch! What a deal!!! Can't beat that with a stick!

Zach and Wyatt have been here several times, and we have played that Fox and Geese game a few times. The boys had never played it until I taught them how, and they seem to love the game. Of course, I always start off being the fox, and I'm so slow I have to wait until the geese fall so that I can catch them. After playing one day, we came back to the house for refreshments. We were all in the kitchen, and discussing the excitement of the game. Here's a little portion of our conversation:
Me: "I'm too old and fat to play that game!"
Zach: "You're not fat!!!"
Wyatt: "Yes, she is!!!"
Zach: "Wyatt!!!"
That may not seem so funny when you read it, but it absolutely cracked me up! Of course, Zach would never purposely say anything to hurt my feelings, and apparently he thinks that Wyatt was insulting me. In truth, Wyatt would never say anything to hurt my feelings either, but he doesn't think fat is an insult. It was really funny, but maybe you just had to be there!

Another project that is taking up a lot of my time is scrapping. Not really scrap booking, but making digital scrapbooks. They're fun to do, and I like doing that better than getting all the tools and stuff out to make scrapbook pages. Making a StoryBook is much easier in my opinion! It doesn't require any "workspace", I don't have to get stuff out and put it back, and there's no clean up! Anyway, I'm working on two or three StoryBook projects. By the way, for those who MIGHT be interested, Creative Memories is making changes. They've gone to a True 12X12 size and an 8X8 size instead of the 7X7. I think we'll like the changes.

On March 1st, the Liverpool Legends will be performing at the Grand Theater. I have tickets and plan to attend. I don't know yet who will be going with me. I bought two tickets, and Dennis isn't really interested.

Well, I think that's about it...now I'm done.