Three Peas in a Pod...
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Would you believe the PRICE???
The photos here are lifted from an internet turtle pet and supply store. I about fell out of my chair when I scrolled down and saw the price tag on this lovely little hatchling that is a dead ringer for our own...$249.95. Never, ever, in a million years would I have imagined that was the price range for hatchling ornate box turtles. (Adult ornate turtles are half that price...most likely they are ones that grew up wild and were later captured (since it takes 10 years to reach maturity) and as such are not likely to fair well in captivity...hatchlings being much more adaptable and much less likely to already be sick or infested with parasites or severly stressed adjusting to life in captivity.)
The cost of an ornate box hatchling absolutely floored me though! Our land is crawling with the cute little tortoises. Don't worry, we aren't about to go out live trapping them and selling them on e-bay (though DARCY was tempted in that direction!). I am glad our land is such a haven for so many mature turtles who are obviously reproducing at a nice rate. It takes over ten years for a turtle to reach reproducing age...and they live up to 100 years. I had read else-where, a very long time ago, that turtles and one particular species of fish do not die from old age. Something about their cells not degenerating with age like most living things. Rather, they die from predators or diseases...but, never from simply growing too old. Interesting. I wonder if that is really true. (Can't believe everything you read...especially not in the age of internet urban legends!)
This will be the first hatchling we have ever kept indoor...and it is the first one we have ever INTERACTED with on a regular basis. Always before, we have kept them outdoors in a circular 'garden' enclosure with stone walls that they could eventually scale. Knowing they would one day be on their own, we never handled them and, though we put food (sprinkled with turtle vitamin powder!) in the enclosure for them, they really lived very much as a wild turtle. We had planned the same for this little one, but, then the turtle garden had been so sorely neglected in its past two unused summers that it was going to take a lot of time and effort to get truly turtle-ready and, also, Doug had shown such an afinity for this little turtle. He hasn't really had much of a connection with any of our other pets, but this little turtle really drew him and he was so good about being happy just to WATCH her without touching her. It just seemed like a good thing for Doug to let him have this little one in his room where he could spend time quietly watching her.
Because we have had this one inside, behind glass walls where we can see her so much better (and she can see us!) we have gotten to know her a lot more than we ever did our previous two hatchlings. It has surprised me how distinct her personality is. She seems very intelligent and inquisitive and has a bit of an attitude. At first she always hid from us, but, lately, she has taken to staring US down...even moving in for a closer look at us. She loves the deep soil in her vivarium. She spends part of her day completely buried...totally undetectable! (This causes Doug a great deal of anxiety. He keeps worrying that she has buried herself and died! I think he is finally beginning to understand, though, that she just likes burrowing down out of sight sometimes. She also has a little 'hide-box' cabin that she likes.) There are worms to be found by her, too, which rewards her digging proclivities.
Today, she was more interactive than I have ever seen her. We placed a heating lamp over one end of her vivarium (the watering hole end) and she was thrilled. She genuinely seemed happy. It was fun for myself and all three of the kids to watch her exploring about today. She likes the watering hole and she likes climbing up through the leaves of the row of impatience plants that seperate the watering hole from the rest of the vivarium. It still catches me off guard the way she will suddenly stop what she is doing and cock her head and lock me in the steely gaze of her golden eyes...as though watching me is as interesting and intriguing to her as she is to me! I can understand why Doug enjoys watching her so much!
I have read several places now that ornate box turtles are a poor choice for pets...being of a more resistant temperament (fiestier and less friendly) and having more stringent environmental needs than, say, a three-toed box turtle for example. Yet, the absolutely sweetest, most interactive, friendly, sociable pet turtle I have ever seen is a mature ornate box turtle that some friends of ours rescued off a busy highway. The nine year old twin boys kept her and made a pet of her several months ago. I think that surely she must have been someone else's pet before, because she is just so very SOCIABLE and friendly. The two boys carry her around everywhere and she stretches out her legs and head happily holding on to the material of their shirts with her claws...relaxed, looking around, enjoying the moment. Recently, their dogs got left with a dog-sitter while the family took a vacation to the East Coast...but, their turtle came along with them! After all, she needed freshly dug worms! One hundred years...that is a pretty long life. You could have one turtle your entire life...especially if it was as sweet and well adapted and engaging as the one our friends have! Today, when I went looking for pet store food for our turtle, I struck out the first place I went, but they referred me to another little store in the old part of town. As I discussed my questions about hatchling care with the store's owner, I knew I had come to the right place as she began telling me about her own little hatchling that she acquired in October of '71. Her box turtle is still with her, 35 years later--happy and thriving.
How MUCH personality our little hatchling has surprises me...but, I guess it really shouldn't! Over the years we have crossed paths with so very many turtles out here on our land and they each have been distintinctive...in their looks, yes, but, even more so in their response to us. Some are just plain hateful (well, wouldn't you be if some one was rude enough to interupt your progress?!) while others have been exceedingly shy and still others have been very laid back. Some of the turtles we have seen transversing our land have battle-scarred shells. Most look to be healthy and not ancient. Most are ornate box turtles. (Well, and tons of snapping turtles...I don't like them at all.) There was one very unusual turtle that we found when we were putting in our lateral field before we built our house...it was a HUGE turtle with a very steep caraprice of a lovely pale shade of luminous jade green. I wonder what kind that one was. I've never spied it since. It looked like it was very old, indeed, but still quite strong. ¶ 5/30/2006 06:37:00 PM 2 comments
The photos here are lifted from an internet turtle pet and supply store. I about fell out of my chair when I scrolled down and saw the price tag on this lovely little hatchling that is a dead ringer for our own...$249.95. Never, ever, in a million years would I have imagined that was the price range for hatchling ornate box turtles. (Adult ornate turtles are half that price...most likely they are ones that grew up wild and were later captured (since it takes 10 years to reach maturity) and as such are not likely to fair well in captivity...hatchlings being much more adaptable and much less likely to already be sick or infested with parasites or severly stressed adjusting to life in captivity.)
The cost of an ornate box hatchling absolutely floored me though! Our land is crawling with the cute little tortoises. Don't worry, we aren't about to go out live trapping them and selling them on e-bay (though DARCY was tempted in that direction!). I am glad our land is such a haven for so many mature turtles who are obviously reproducing at a nice rate. It takes over ten years for a turtle to reach reproducing age...and they live up to 100 years. I had read else-where, a very long time ago, that turtles and one particular species of fish do not die from old age. Something about their cells not degenerating with age like most living things. Rather, they die from predators or diseases...but, never from simply growing too old. Interesting. I wonder if that is really true. (Can't believe everything you read...especially not in the age of internet urban legends!) This will be the first hatchling we have ever kept indoor...and it is the first one we have ever INTERACTED with on a regular basis. Always before, we have kept them outdoors in a circular 'garden' enclosure with stone walls that they could eventually scale. Knowing they would one day be on their own, we never handled them and, though we put food (sprinkled with turtle vitamin powder!) in the enclosure for them, they really lived very much as a wild turtle. We had planned the same for this little one, but, then the turtle garden had been so sorely neglected in its past two unused summers that it was going to take a lot of time and effort to get truly turtle-ready and, also, Doug had shown such an afinity for this little turtle. He hasn't really had much of a connection with any of our other pets, but this little turtle really drew him and he was so good about being happy just to WATCH her without touching her. It just seemed like a good thing for Doug to let him have this little one in his room where he could spend time quietly watching her.
Because we have had this one inside, behind glass walls where we can see her so much better (and she can see us!) we have gotten to know her a lot more than we ever did our previous two hatchlings. It has surprised me how distinct her personality is. She seems very intelligent and inquisitive and has a bit of an attitude. At first she always hid from us, but, lately, she has taken to staring US down...even moving in for a closer look at us. She loves the deep soil in her vivarium. She spends part of her day completely buried...totally undetectable! (This causes Doug a great deal of anxiety. He keeps worrying that she has buried herself and died! I think he is finally beginning to understand, though, that she just likes burrowing down out of sight sometimes. She also has a little 'hide-box' cabin that she likes.) There are worms to be found by her, too, which rewards her digging proclivities.
Today, she was more interactive than I have ever seen her. We placed a heating lamp over one end of her vivarium (the watering hole end) and she was thrilled. She genuinely seemed happy. It was fun for myself and all three of the kids to watch her exploring about today. She likes the watering hole and she likes climbing up through the leaves of the row of impatience plants that seperate the watering hole from the rest of the vivarium. It still catches me off guard the way she will suddenly stop what she is doing and cock her head and lock me in the steely gaze of her golden eyes...as though watching me is as interesting and intriguing to her as she is to me! I can understand why Doug enjoys watching her so much!
I have read several places now that ornate box turtles are a poor choice for pets...being of a more resistant temperament (fiestier and less friendly) and having more stringent environmental needs than, say, a three-toed box turtle for example. Yet, the absolutely sweetest, most interactive, friendly, sociable pet turtle I have ever seen is a mature ornate box turtle that some friends of ours rescued off a busy highway. The nine year old twin boys kept her and made a pet of her several months ago. I think that surely she must have been someone else's pet before, because she is just so very SOCIABLE and friendly. The two boys carry her around everywhere and she stretches out her legs and head happily holding on to the material of their shirts with her claws...relaxed, looking around, enjoying the moment. Recently, their dogs got left with a dog-sitter while the family took a vacation to the East Coast...but, their turtle came along with them! After all, she needed freshly dug worms! One hundred years...that is a pretty long life. You could have one turtle your entire life...especially if it was as sweet and well adapted and engaging as the one our friends have! Today, when I went looking for pet store food for our turtle, I struck out the first place I went, but they referred me to another little store in the old part of town. As I discussed my questions about hatchling care with the store's owner, I knew I had come to the right place as she began telling me about her own little hatchling that she acquired in October of '71. Her box turtle is still with her, 35 years later--happy and thriving.
How MUCH personality our little hatchling has surprises me...but, I guess it really shouldn't! Over the years we have crossed paths with so very many turtles out here on our land and they each have been distintinctive...in their looks, yes, but, even more so in their response to us. Some are just plain hateful (well, wouldn't you be if some one was rude enough to interupt your progress?!) while others have been exceedingly shy and still others have been very laid back. Some of the turtles we have seen transversing our land have battle-scarred shells. Most look to be healthy and not ancient. Most are ornate box turtles. (Well, and tons of snapping turtles...I don't like them at all.) There was one very unusual turtle that we found when we were putting in our lateral field before we built our house...it was a HUGE turtle with a very steep caraprice of a lovely pale shade of luminous jade green. I wonder what kind that one was. I've never spied it since. It looked like it was very old, indeed, but still quite strong. ¶ 5/30/2006 06:37:00 PM 2 comments
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Douglas and His Dobro
Grant has been looking for a bluegrass instrument to work with Doug on. He decided a while back that dobro (excuse me, "resophonic guitar"!) would be a good instrument for Doug, so, he has been scouring the music shops to find one for him.
He found this one for just $25! It had some issues but Grant was able to address these (ie repair it!) and tonight he brought it out and gave it to Doug. Doug was thrilled! He now has a real instrument of his own to learn. Darcy, meanwhile, continues working on her mandolin and Rayna has begun learning a few things on the little traveling banjo that we have. (Here in this set of photos, she is just goofing off on her toy guitar, though.)
¶ 5/27/2006 08:00:00 PM 0 comments
He found this one for just $25! It had some issues but Grant was able to address these (ie repair it!) and tonight he brought it out and gave it to Doug. Doug was thrilled! He now has a real instrument of his own to learn. Darcy, meanwhile, continues working on her mandolin and Rayna has begun learning a few things on the little traveling banjo that we have. (Here in this set of photos, she is just goofing off on her toy guitar, though.)
¶ 5/27/2006 08:00:00 PM 0 comments
Friday, May 26, 2006
Releasing Rayna's Rabbit...
Well, sometimes I am too much of a pessimist! I tiptoed outside last night to check on the baby bunny and there she was sitting up alert inside the dog kennel...hopping about, looking right as rain. Not the lethargic, state of shock, bleeding little rabbit from a few hours earlier. Her wound was no where to be seen...maybe she had licked the blood off her fur? And she was moving around fine.
Early this morning I did some internet research on wild bunny care. I found a very informative site and was able to determine from their information that this little cotton tail was probably already weaned and would stand the greatest chance of survival if released back where we found her either at dusk or dawn. It was already a while after dawn (around 6:15am), but we locked the three dogs up in the garage (where they remain even now) and Rayna and I took the bunny back to the place where Rayna had pulled her out of Shanachie's mouth and released her. I think she probably WILL survive.
(This is how Rayna came outside this morning after I had told her to get dressed so that we could release the bunny. She was still in her jammies, but she had put on a bracelet! She couldn't find any matching shoes (or any socks for that matter), so, she made do! ....Quite the early morning fashion statement!)
(Releasing the rabbit...see it down in the corner...amazing how well they disappear into even the shortest grass!) ¶ 5/26/2006 05:38:00 AM 0 comments
Early this morning I did some internet research on wild bunny care. I found a very informative site and was able to determine from their information that this little cotton tail was probably already weaned and would stand the greatest chance of survival if released back where we found her either at dusk or dawn. It was already a while after dawn (around 6:15am), but we locked the three dogs up in the garage (where they remain even now) and Rayna and I took the bunny back to the place where Rayna had pulled her out of Shanachie's mouth and released her. I think she probably WILL survive.
(This is how Rayna came outside this morning after I had told her to get dressed so that we could release the bunny. She was still in her jammies, but she had put on a bracelet! She couldn't find any matching shoes (or any socks for that matter), so, she made do! ....Quite the early morning fashion statement!)
(Releasing the rabbit...see it down in the corner...amazing how well they disappear into even the shortest grass!) ¶ 5/26/2006 05:38:00 AM 0 comments
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Spring has definitely been the time for baby wild-life this year. First Rayna found a "hurt" baby bird (it wasn't hurt...just hadn't gotten the hang of flying yet!), then we found the hatchling box turtle (which is now living in Doug's bedroom in a vivarium fit for royalty), and, tonight, Rayna pried a baby rabbit out of Shanachie's jaws.
Rayna DID, in all probability save the baby bird's life...as the dogs were closing in on it before she chased them away and guarded the bird the rest of the day (following it at a distance, making sure the dogs wouldn't get near it). The dogs lost interest and went on to other amusements. But, I wish, tonight, she hadn't spied Shanachie mauling the young rabbit. It isn't so small that it can't live without it's mother...more the age that they begin venturing out a bit to nibble on the grass...but, I have my doubts that the little rabbit will survive and I hate for Rayna to know if it dies. It is safely tucked away in a kennel right now, hiding beneath an old blue bathroom rug...with salad and water nearby. Rayna still asks me several times a week why Great Grandpa had to die. I dread having the baby rabbit added to her list of sorrows.
I remember when I was a kid trying to rescue everything that my path crossed. Even as an adult, I took the quail that flew up suddenly and collided with my windshield into the vet! I am getting older and tireder and more pessimistic, though, these days...I dread the children 'rescuing' yet another casualty of nature. I dread it because I know that the rescued party probably won't live, anyway...and is just further traumatized by our kind intentions. None of my rescued rabbits ever lived. Though they were all considerably younger than this one. My dog, Nubbin, would dig the nests up before the baby rabbits even had their eyes open yet. But, my kids couldn't understand that even if I tried to explain it to them. I guess children have to try and rescue...even when it is doomed to fail. ¶ 5/25/2006 07:57:00 PM 0 comments
Rayna DID, in all probability save the baby bird's life...as the dogs were closing in on it before she chased them away and guarded the bird the rest of the day (following it at a distance, making sure the dogs wouldn't get near it). The dogs lost interest and went on to other amusements. But, I wish, tonight, she hadn't spied Shanachie mauling the young rabbit. It isn't so small that it can't live without it's mother...more the age that they begin venturing out a bit to nibble on the grass...but, I have my doubts that the little rabbit will survive and I hate for Rayna to know if it dies. It is safely tucked away in a kennel right now, hiding beneath an old blue bathroom rug...with salad and water nearby. Rayna still asks me several times a week why Great Grandpa had to die. I dread having the baby rabbit added to her list of sorrows.
I remember when I was a kid trying to rescue everything that my path crossed. Even as an adult, I took the quail that flew up suddenly and collided with my windshield into the vet! I am getting older and tireder and more pessimistic, though, these days...I dread the children 'rescuing' yet another casualty of nature. I dread it because I know that the rescued party probably won't live, anyway...and is just further traumatized by our kind intentions. None of my rescued rabbits ever lived. Though they were all considerably younger than this one. My dog, Nubbin, would dig the nests up before the baby rabbits even had their eyes open yet. But, my kids couldn't understand that even if I tried to explain it to them. I guess children have to try and rescue...even when it is doomed to fail. ¶ 5/25/2006 07:57:00 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
It's a New World, Baby!
Well, my new computer came packed with all sorts of fun freebies...tidbits of software to show you what neat and wonderful things you absolutely can't live without that you never even knew EXISTED before you fired up your new computer and began poking around within it...and things that you would never have been tempted to buy if just READING a description of them...yet, when they are already ON your computer, there at your fingertips to play with...well, before you know it, you are hooked. You find treasures you LOVE and want more of then what is offerred to you in the freebie version. Thus, the convenient offer to download the FULL version now calls to you like a siren of lore. So far, Darcy has convinced me that we NEEDED to download the permanent version of Boggle and Bonnie's Bookstore (games I really enjoy too--ME WHO HATES COMPUTER GAMES, mind you!)... And, then I got to messing around with MUVEE. Oh my! Had I read the description off a box at Wal-Mart, I wouldn't have even been tempted. Didn't sound like anything I particularly needed...afterall there are other ways to burn photos and music onto a DVD without using THAT software. But, since it was already there on my computer, I got to experiementing with it and discovered how WONDERFUL it was and how much MORE even the freebie version could do than I could do without that particular software. The freebie version has limited styles...and, more importantly, it limits you to working with no more than 50 photos at a time. For a prolific photographer, 50 photos is just a sliver of a sample!
Since going digital a year ago, we haven't printed any photos for ourselves (well maybe 12 or so...might as well say NONE!). We have printed photos for the grandparents for their scrapbooks, but I just didn't have the time to print and organize photos for my own immediate family. So, we never have our photos around to enjoy. They are all stashed away on CDs...many of which I didn't even have the time to properly ORIENT the photos before burning the CD...so, even if I did load the CD up into my computer to view them slide-show fashion, I would have to spend a good portion of my time leaning over side-ways to see many of them! Needless to say, we don't do much with our photos. That is until I discovered the freebie version of MUVEE on my new computer! Even before I KNEW how to work the tools in MUVEE, I made three little movie clips of some of the kids' horse-riding photots to give to the grandparents. And, it only took me another 60 seconds or so to burn a copy for ourselves as well. ....The kids absolutely LOVED the little movies (even though their heads were cut off in some of the shots because Mommy hadn't yet figured out how to steer the software. Grant even loved the movies...stating his amazement at how much music and panning adds to the photos. The kids have watched those first three movies over and over again. Yesterday, I let Rayna preview a new movie I had made. She really liked it, but declared at the end, "My favorite is "Cochrans on the Trail"!" I didn't even know she knew the titles of the various clips...and we hadn't watched that particular clip in several weeks...but, it had stuck in her mind and she was wanting to see it again! So, I pulled it out and we watched it next. With MUVEE I found we were actually enjoying our photos LOTS and frequently...all of us. And, yesterday, when I discovered I could easily "tell" the software what parts of the picture needed to be focused on during the panning process, I was COMPLETELY hooked! No more cut-off heads. All photos easily usable...no more setting aside the ones that are cropped in closely as not being ameneable to the process. BUT, I was increasingly frustrated by the shortness necessitated by the 50 photo limit...especially when one of the songs I chose lasted long enough that the same photos were cycled through several times when I had so many photos that I had culled out to get it down to the limited 50. So, of course, I had to have the full version. I rationalized that having the full version would let my immediate family enjoy our photos so much more...not to mention the grandparents getting more (BETTER) DVDs in the future. So, really, downloading the software was a bargain!
The only problem was that we have a dial-up connection. As such, the download that I purchased was going to take 5 and a half HOURS to download! My ornery internet provider cut off my connection about four hours into the process last night (as I discovered at 3:00am), so, I reconnected and restarted the download...only to be awakened by lightning half and hour later. I realized that although I had a surge protector on my electrical cord, I had neglected to route my PHONE line through the surge protector. Meaning, I needed to disconnect my computer immediately and re-route the phone line connector through the surge protector. But, we get enough things knocked out by electrical strikes around here that I didn't even want to risk trying a lengthy download during a lightening storm even if I was using a surge protector. So, I just disconnected my notebook computer from everything and packed it away where it would be safe. This afternoon, I decided that since I had to be out anyway to take Doug his pill at school (which I had forgotten to give him this morning and the teacher quickly GUESSED that I must have and soon was calling to see if I had forgotten and if I had could I PLEASE bring it SOON!)...anyway, since I was going to be out anyway, I decided to avail myself to the wireless signal at the Econolodge Hotel behind McDonalds. Using a wireless connection, what would have taken five and a half hours to download from home, would take just over half an hour "on the road". I figured my battery would hold up that long. What I didn't count on was tiny bladders. The girls had no more than began their picnic of Happy Meals beneath a shade tree, than they both needed to go to the bathroom desperately. Of course, as I drove my car around to the front of McDonalds (we were actually quite a ways behind McDonalds...more like behind the grocery store that was behind McDonalds), anyway, as I drove my car over to McDonalds, I lost the signal and once again my download was thwarted. But, then, I discovered there was an EXCELLENT internet signal labeled "McDonald's"! But, I also made a new discovery...some wireless internet signals come with a price tag. For the convenience of sitting at a table inside air conditioned McDonalds while my children have easy access to a bathroom and get to play in a chigger-free, inside play area I only have to pay $2.95 for a two hour session. Today, that is a bargain! So, here I am...hoping my battery holds out long enough to finish the download (didn't bring my power cord with me--who knew I would be indoors!), happily typing these words in the airconditioned comfort of McD's while my daughters play happily in the tunnels above me, making new friends right and left. It IS a new world, for sure! And I thought McD's was wonderfully progressive when they began accepting debit cards. Who knew they also offered lightening fast wireless internet! (Last month, I didn't even quite know what wireless internet WAS....it is a steep learning curve for those of us who grew up BEFORE the computer age!) ¶ 5/24/2006 11:40:00 AM 0 comments
Since going digital a year ago, we haven't printed any photos for ourselves (well maybe 12 or so...might as well say NONE!). We have printed photos for the grandparents for their scrapbooks, but I just didn't have the time to print and organize photos for my own immediate family. So, we never have our photos around to enjoy. They are all stashed away on CDs...many of which I didn't even have the time to properly ORIENT the photos before burning the CD...so, even if I did load the CD up into my computer to view them slide-show fashion, I would have to spend a good portion of my time leaning over side-ways to see many of them! Needless to say, we don't do much with our photos. That is until I discovered the freebie version of MUVEE on my new computer! Even before I KNEW how to work the tools in MUVEE, I made three little movie clips of some of the kids' horse-riding photots to give to the grandparents. And, it only took me another 60 seconds or so to burn a copy for ourselves as well. ....The kids absolutely LOVED the little movies (even though their heads were cut off in some of the shots because Mommy hadn't yet figured out how to steer the software. Grant even loved the movies...stating his amazement at how much music and panning adds to the photos. The kids have watched those first three movies over and over again. Yesterday, I let Rayna preview a new movie I had made. She really liked it, but declared at the end, "My favorite is "Cochrans on the Trail"!" I didn't even know she knew the titles of the various clips...and we hadn't watched that particular clip in several weeks...but, it had stuck in her mind and she was wanting to see it again! So, I pulled it out and we watched it next. With MUVEE I found we were actually enjoying our photos LOTS and frequently...all of us. And, yesterday, when I discovered I could easily "tell" the software what parts of the picture needed to be focused on during the panning process, I was COMPLETELY hooked! No more cut-off heads. All photos easily usable...no more setting aside the ones that are cropped in closely as not being ameneable to the process. BUT, I was increasingly frustrated by the shortness necessitated by the 50 photo limit...especially when one of the songs I chose lasted long enough that the same photos were cycled through several times when I had so many photos that I had culled out to get it down to the limited 50. So, of course, I had to have the full version. I rationalized that having the full version would let my immediate family enjoy our photos so much more...not to mention the grandparents getting more (BETTER) DVDs in the future. So, really, downloading the software was a bargain!
The only problem was that we have a dial-up connection. As such, the download that I purchased was going to take 5 and a half HOURS to download! My ornery internet provider cut off my connection about four hours into the process last night (as I discovered at 3:00am), so, I reconnected and restarted the download...only to be awakened by lightning half and hour later. I realized that although I had a surge protector on my electrical cord, I had neglected to route my PHONE line through the surge protector. Meaning, I needed to disconnect my computer immediately and re-route the phone line connector through the surge protector. But, we get enough things knocked out by electrical strikes around here that I didn't even want to risk trying a lengthy download during a lightening storm even if I was using a surge protector. So, I just disconnected my notebook computer from everything and packed it away where it would be safe. This afternoon, I decided that since I had to be out anyway to take Doug his pill at school (which I had forgotten to give him this morning and the teacher quickly GUESSED that I must have and soon was calling to see if I had forgotten and if I had could I PLEASE bring it SOON!)...anyway, since I was going to be out anyway, I decided to avail myself to the wireless signal at the Econolodge Hotel behind McDonalds. Using a wireless connection, what would have taken five and a half hours to download from home, would take just over half an hour "on the road". I figured my battery would hold up that long. What I didn't count on was tiny bladders. The girls had no more than began their picnic of Happy Meals beneath a shade tree, than they both needed to go to the bathroom desperately. Of course, as I drove my car around to the front of McDonalds (we were actually quite a ways behind McDonalds...more like behind the grocery store that was behind McDonalds), anyway, as I drove my car over to McDonalds, I lost the signal and once again my download was thwarted. But, then, I discovered there was an EXCELLENT internet signal labeled "McDonald's"! But, I also made a new discovery...some wireless internet signals come with a price tag. For the convenience of sitting at a table inside air conditioned McDonalds while my children have easy access to a bathroom and get to play in a chigger-free, inside play area I only have to pay $2.95 for a two hour session. Today, that is a bargain! So, here I am...hoping my battery holds out long enough to finish the download (didn't bring my power cord with me--who knew I would be indoors!), happily typing these words in the airconditioned comfort of McD's while my daughters play happily in the tunnels above me, making new friends right and left. It IS a new world, for sure! And I thought McD's was wonderfully progressive when they began accepting debit cards. Who knew they also offered lightening fast wireless internet! (Last month, I didn't even quite know what wireless internet WAS....it is a steep learning curve for those of us who grew up BEFORE the computer age!) ¶ 5/24/2006 11:40:00 AM 0 comments
Slipping
Well, I am slipping in posting FREQUENTLY! Saturday and Sunday don't count since I don't have hardly any waking hours at home on the weekends...but, I have no excuse for Monday and Tuesday--other than I just couldn't think of anything at all to write about...and still can't!!!
Doug is finishing up his last week of public school and then he will have a week off before attending summer session all through June. I wasn't going to enroll him in summer school this year...in fact, I let the deadline pass. But, then the special ed department realized he hadn't been enrolled and they just fretted over it until I sat down and talked it over with Doug. By that time, the kids who WERE enrolled in summer session had been talking it up at school and, unlike our first conversation on the subject (MONTHS ago), Doug now WANTED to go. And the special ed department was eager enough to get him admitted into the summer session even though we were well past the 'deadline' for enrollment. Doug is pretty excited about it and keeps asking me when his 'new' school is going to start. They do do some fun activities in summer school and the three hours a day of special ed tutoring that he will receive will be good for helping him to retain through the summer the gains he has made this year...so, I guess it is just as well that he wants to go to summer school. Earlier when I had decided NOT to send him this summer, my major concern was that I didn't feel like attachment was progressing as well as it needed to be progressing...and that the extra time at home was more important than a month of extra tutoring would be to him. But, lately I have been feeling a lot more comfortable with the progress he is making as far as attaching within our family. I guess two steps forward and one step back is to be expected and not something to be alarmed over. (Easier to feel now that we are back into the two steps forward phase instead of falling back a step.)
Darcy still has quite a lot of homeschool to finish up this year...she will be doing 'summer school' too, it looks like! And it is about time to get started with Rayna in earnest.
Like, I warned you...not much new or interesting... but, at least now you got it straight from the horses's mouth (no comments, Aunt Ruth!!!).
(OH!...Darcy made it four and a half days without slipping into barking! She is WELL on her way to racking up the needed points for a Game Boy Advanced. (Something that she has absolutely no need of and that I had no intention of buying her...but, that is what she wanted to save points towards. I thought I had made the point system challenging enough that it would take her the better part of the year to reach her Game Boy goal...but, she is a lot more determined that I had anticipated. It isn't going to take her more than a month (probably less) at her current rate of racking up points. ('Lest you think I am too stingy...she COULD get a Game Boy with HALF as many points...but, she would have to share that Game Boy with her two younger siblings, too. She is the one who decided to save up twice as many points for its purchase so that it could be exclusively hers and hers alone.)
(She has been using some of her points for more immediate rewards...like cashing in small amounts of her points for computer game time on my notebook computer--which she much prefers over her Mac or our old PC that tends to freeze and crash. When I got the notebook computer, Grant and I had decided that the kids would absolutely not be allowed to play on it at all. That about killed Darcy. So, I relented some...but the small amounts of time I allow her on the computer aren't as good (in her mind) as the uninterupted HOUR of time she can purchase with fairly small portions of her no barking points. She can also redeem points for books and game cartridges for her current Color Game Boy. The only reward that has a high point requirement is the Game Boy Advanced that I really didn't want in our house to begin with! The Game Boys just have absolutely no redeeming qualities in my mind. They are time consumers with no benefit. Just having the beat-up, used Color Game Boy in our house that a friend passed on to us has distracted the kids away from the Leapster Games which ARE educational and do have value. Fortunately, the little kids are more interested in the Leapster games, once more, now that the new has worn off having a Game Boy in the house...and, Darcy is old enough that she wasn't really LEARNING anything new as she played on the Leapsters...so, it doesn't concern me quite as much that she prefers the totally non-educational Game Boy over the Leapsters. (But, it does pull her away from READING, too...which DOES have value). Anyway, that is my bias against Game Boys...be they regular, Color, or the enticing new ADVANCED!) ¶ 5/24/2006 08:19:00 AM 0 comments
Doug is finishing up his last week of public school and then he will have a week off before attending summer session all through June. I wasn't going to enroll him in summer school this year...in fact, I let the deadline pass. But, then the special ed department realized he hadn't been enrolled and they just fretted over it until I sat down and talked it over with Doug. By that time, the kids who WERE enrolled in summer session had been talking it up at school and, unlike our first conversation on the subject (MONTHS ago), Doug now WANTED to go. And the special ed department was eager enough to get him admitted into the summer session even though we were well past the 'deadline' for enrollment. Doug is pretty excited about it and keeps asking me when his 'new' school is going to start. They do do some fun activities in summer school and the three hours a day of special ed tutoring that he will receive will be good for helping him to retain through the summer the gains he has made this year...so, I guess it is just as well that he wants to go to summer school. Earlier when I had decided NOT to send him this summer, my major concern was that I didn't feel like attachment was progressing as well as it needed to be progressing...and that the extra time at home was more important than a month of extra tutoring would be to him. But, lately I have been feeling a lot more comfortable with the progress he is making as far as attaching within our family. I guess two steps forward and one step back is to be expected and not something to be alarmed over. (Easier to feel now that we are back into the two steps forward phase instead of falling back a step.)
Darcy still has quite a lot of homeschool to finish up this year...she will be doing 'summer school' too, it looks like! And it is about time to get started with Rayna in earnest.
Like, I warned you...not much new or interesting... but, at least now you got it straight from the horses's mouth (no comments, Aunt Ruth!!!).
(OH!...Darcy made it four and a half days without slipping into barking! She is WELL on her way to racking up the needed points for a Game Boy Advanced. (Something that she has absolutely no need of and that I had no intention of buying her...but, that is what she wanted to save points towards. I thought I had made the point system challenging enough that it would take her the better part of the year to reach her Game Boy goal...but, she is a lot more determined that I had anticipated. It isn't going to take her more than a month (probably less) at her current rate of racking up points. ('Lest you think I am too stingy...she COULD get a Game Boy with HALF as many points...but, she would have to share that Game Boy with her two younger siblings, too. She is the one who decided to save up twice as many points for its purchase so that it could be exclusively hers and hers alone.)
(She has been using some of her points for more immediate rewards...like cashing in small amounts of her points for computer game time on my notebook computer--which she much prefers over her Mac or our old PC that tends to freeze and crash. When I got the notebook computer, Grant and I had decided that the kids would absolutely not be allowed to play on it at all. That about killed Darcy. So, I relented some...but the small amounts of time I allow her on the computer aren't as good (in her mind) as the uninterupted HOUR of time she can purchase with fairly small portions of her no barking points. She can also redeem points for books and game cartridges for her current Color Game Boy. The only reward that has a high point requirement is the Game Boy Advanced that I really didn't want in our house to begin with! The Game Boys just have absolutely no redeeming qualities in my mind. They are time consumers with no benefit. Just having the beat-up, used Color Game Boy in our house that a friend passed on to us has distracted the kids away from the Leapster Games which ARE educational and do have value. Fortunately, the little kids are more interested in the Leapster games, once more, now that the new has worn off having a Game Boy in the house...and, Darcy is old enough that she wasn't really LEARNING anything new as she played on the Leapsters...so, it doesn't concern me quite as much that she prefers the totally non-educational Game Boy over the Leapsters. (But, it does pull her away from READING, too...which DOES have value). Anyway, that is my bias against Game Boys...be they regular, Color, or the enticing new ADVANCED!) ¶ 5/24/2006 08:19:00 AM 0 comments
Friday, May 19, 2006
Motherhood Revamped
If I were asked to list my three top annoyances in my daily life, I could do so without even thinking…
1. Rayna’s caterwauling (whining intermixed with wailing at the tops of her lungs and gnashing of teeth)…this occurs four or five times an hour on any given day over the minutest of tragedies.
2. Doug’s incessant repetitive questioning (“Mommy work?” or some other question repeated 5000x a day and insisting upon being answered once again! It isn’t even that he necessarily wants a different answer--he will do this even for questions that he is happy about the answer of--he just likes to be able to demand my focus and that is his way of doing it...combined with the fact that he likes to talk non-stop but isn't overly motivated to LEARN how to express more things...easier just to repeat a million times a day the few things he has become really good at saying!)
3. Darcy’s barking (negativity…scowling at her siblings a million times a day, using an annoyed or demanding tone in her voice as she barks orders to her younger siblings or as she lectures them).
The last is probably my GREATEST irritation as it sounds so very much like I sound, but wish I didn’t…and also, because it intensifies Rayna’s caterwauling like gas on a fire.
About a month ago, I quit screaming at Rayna to quit her caterwauling and instead instituted a calm, matter of fact policy that has greatly diminished the occurrence of caterwauling…it is allowed, but ONLY in the privacy of her bedroom. Thus, she must go up to her bedroom at the far end of the house to voice her despair in her preferred manner. No audience takes most of the joy out of the process! (And, even if it didn’t dim the caterwauling, it wouldn’t matter because her bedroom is far enough away that it dilutes the irritant quality of her howling.)
Then, when alone with the three kids in a Wichita hotel for three days recently, Doug’s incessant questioning nearly drove me over the brink into utter insanity. Out of sheer desperation, I hit upon a response that is incredibly effective. (Barking at him just sets the tone of the day for Darcy and doesn’t help deter his behavior at all…though that didn’t stop me from trying that futile response for the last two years!) The incredibly effective and easy solution? Answer redundant questions with my own repetition of one stupid question over and over, insisting upon a response from him each time… “What is your name?” asked by me and answered by him five or six times in a row before I would pause a minute or two and then go right back to the same line of questioning again! It has been AMAZINGLY effective! In fact, after the first day of this approach, Doug began catching himself before I could! He would realize he was asking a previously answered question again and would interupt himself mid-sentence and exclaim “What my name? My name Doug,” and then blissful silence!
Ahhh…. After that all that remained (at the moment!) to be modified in our household was Darcy’s barking. It has just gotten increasingly pervasive over the last year or so. The more I barked at her to quit her barking the more irritable and globally impatient we both became. So then I tried NOT barking…trying by example to show her how to deal with the bothersome elements of our daily life using a gentle voice. Unfortunately, she had already role-modeled my bad example long enough that she wasn’t interested in changing her own ways, though she liked me changing mine well enough! Today, though, has been a revolution! Today we embarked on the challenge of her life…to see how long she can go without barking. It is a game with the potential to bank up increasingly large numbers of points (the more DAYS one goes without a single barking incidence the larger the potential daily points become…almost exponentially increasing). So, going multiple days straight without incident will garner MANY MORE points than going more days but with an incident here or there restarting the clock. If that makes sense! Makes sense to Darcy. I let her make the list of all the prizes she would like to earn points towards and then I wrote out the rules of the game and the list of prizes along with how many points must be redeemed for each prize.
Darcy has done astonishingly well…since the game began at 8:30 this morning. The whole tenor of our home has been so PLEASANT all morning as she chooses to be sweet to her siblings and display a loving, gentle attitude whether they deserve it or not! Rayna hasn’t had nearly so much to caterwaul over…in fact, she has only fallen into caterwauling twice this morning (a record for her!) and Doug skipped off to school feeling so loved and appreciated by the older sister that he idolizes. I love this game!!! And, frankly, it is worth every prize my child could possibly redeem over the months to come! (She has to rack up a very large number of points for those prizes…but she is confident that she will succeed!) ¶ 5/19/2006 09:24:00 AM 1 comments
1. Rayna’s caterwauling (whining intermixed with wailing at the tops of her lungs and gnashing of teeth)…this occurs four or five times an hour on any given day over the minutest of tragedies.
2. Doug’s incessant repetitive questioning (“Mommy work?” or some other question repeated 5000x a day and insisting upon being answered once again! It isn’t even that he necessarily wants a different answer--he will do this even for questions that he is happy about the answer of--he just likes to be able to demand my focus and that is his way of doing it...combined with the fact that he likes to talk non-stop but isn't overly motivated to LEARN how to express more things...easier just to repeat a million times a day the few things he has become really good at saying!)
3. Darcy’s barking (negativity…scowling at her siblings a million times a day, using an annoyed or demanding tone in her voice as she barks orders to her younger siblings or as she lectures them).
The last is probably my GREATEST irritation as it sounds so very much like I sound, but wish I didn’t…and also, because it intensifies Rayna’s caterwauling like gas on a fire.
About a month ago, I quit screaming at Rayna to quit her caterwauling and instead instituted a calm, matter of fact policy that has greatly diminished the occurrence of caterwauling…it is allowed, but ONLY in the privacy of her bedroom. Thus, she must go up to her bedroom at the far end of the house to voice her despair in her preferred manner. No audience takes most of the joy out of the process! (And, even if it didn’t dim the caterwauling, it wouldn’t matter because her bedroom is far enough away that it dilutes the irritant quality of her howling.)
Then, when alone with the three kids in a Wichita hotel for three days recently, Doug’s incessant questioning nearly drove me over the brink into utter insanity. Out of sheer desperation, I hit upon a response that is incredibly effective. (Barking at him just sets the tone of the day for Darcy and doesn’t help deter his behavior at all…though that didn’t stop me from trying that futile response for the last two years!) The incredibly effective and easy solution? Answer redundant questions with my own repetition of one stupid question over and over, insisting upon a response from him each time… “What is your name?” asked by me and answered by him five or six times in a row before I would pause a minute or two and then go right back to the same line of questioning again! It has been AMAZINGLY effective! In fact, after the first day of this approach, Doug began catching himself before I could! He would realize he was asking a previously answered question again and would interupt himself mid-sentence and exclaim “What my name? My name Doug,” and then blissful silence!
Ahhh…. After that all that remained (at the moment!) to be modified in our household was Darcy’s barking. It has just gotten increasingly pervasive over the last year or so. The more I barked at her to quit her barking the more irritable and globally impatient we both became. So then I tried NOT barking…trying by example to show her how to deal with the bothersome elements of our daily life using a gentle voice. Unfortunately, she had already role-modeled my bad example long enough that she wasn’t interested in changing her own ways, though she liked me changing mine well enough! Today, though, has been a revolution! Today we embarked on the challenge of her life…to see how long she can go without barking. It is a game with the potential to bank up increasingly large numbers of points (the more DAYS one goes without a single barking incidence the larger the potential daily points become…almost exponentially increasing). So, going multiple days straight without incident will garner MANY MORE points than going more days but with an incident here or there restarting the clock. If that makes sense! Makes sense to Darcy. I let her make the list of all the prizes she would like to earn points towards and then I wrote out the rules of the game and the list of prizes along with how many points must be redeemed for each prize.
Darcy has done astonishingly well…since the game began at 8:30 this morning. The whole tenor of our home has been so PLEASANT all morning as she chooses to be sweet to her siblings and display a loving, gentle attitude whether they deserve it or not! Rayna hasn’t had nearly so much to caterwaul over…in fact, she has only fallen into caterwauling twice this morning (a record for her!) and Doug skipped off to school feeling so loved and appreciated by the older sister that he idolizes. I love this game!!! And, frankly, it is worth every prize my child could possibly redeem over the months to come! (She has to rack up a very large number of points for those prizes…but she is confident that she will succeed!) ¶ 5/19/2006 09:24:00 AM 1 comments
Diets
Posted by DARCY! ¶ 5/19/2006 07:58:00 AM 1 comments
As you heard in one of the earlier posts Mom is on a chocolatey (nasty) milk-shake type stuff diet (the stuff tastes HORRID!!! I don't see how she craves the stuff!).
So now Rayna has taken to saying things like "I'm on
a diet need some chocolate".
The things she asks for are always very unhealthy, as you can see!
About a month ago she said, "Can I have my fudge bar now since I'm on a diet"? I told Rayna that if chocolate and fudge bars
were in Her diet that I'd go on her diet too!!!
So now Rayna has taken to saying things like "I'm on
a diet need some chocolate".
The things she asks for are always very unhealthy, as you can see!
About a month ago she said, "Can I have my fudge bar now since I'm on a diet"? I told Rayna that if chocolate and fudge bars
were in Her diet that I'd go on her diet too!!!
Posted by DARCY! ¶ 5/19/2006 07:58:00 AM 1 comments
Rayna's Gooseberries
Posted by DARCY! ¶ 5/19/2006 07:20:00 AM 1 comments
Rayna has discovered that she likes gooseberries.Now every single time we walk to Grandma's house she'll stop and pick some gooseberries. One day she brought some home and was eating them when she accidentally dropped them onto the bathroom counter and said VERY loudly " I hope I don't get a bruise!" I never thought that you could get a bruise from eating gooseberries.
Posted by DARCY! ¶ 5/19/2006 07:20:00 AM 1 comments
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Mmmmm...Hungry Anyone?
Since I am culinarily challenged, I would like someone out there to try out this recipe for breakfast cookies and let me know "how they taste"!
(Actually, I just (tonight!) discovered a quick and easy shortcut that blogger provides for putting in links and I wanted to try that out and see if it really works (it does!)...but, hey(!), if I can get someone out there to bake me a batch of cookies out of the deal, why simply settle for just pasting any old link here????!!!!)
¶ 5/18/2006 11:50:00 PM 2 comments
(Actually, I just (tonight!) discovered a quick and easy shortcut that blogger provides for putting in links and I wanted to try that out and see if it really works (it does!)...but, hey(!), if I can get someone out there to bake me a batch of cookies out of the deal, why simply settle for just pasting any old link here????!!!!)
¶ 5/18/2006 11:50:00 PM 2 comments
In celebration of Doug's progress this school year, we all went out to eat tonight at the restaurant of Doug's choice--China Town Buffet... ¶ 5/18/2006 10:23:00 PM 0 comments
Great News on the IEP Front:
Last year it seemed like we had an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting at the school every time I turned around (probably TEN of them during Doug's kindergarten year). I also got called by the school at least eight times a week to address problems with Doug (mostly of a behavioral nature...though his behavior problems were never significant enough to be encorporated into the IEP meeting agendas/goals--thankfully!). First grade has gone SO MUCH BETTER! We only had two IEP meetings this year and I have only been called by the school about behavior problems a couple of times this entire year.
This morning we had an IEP meeting. The attendance was much lighter than usual...just his regular first grade teacher, his special ed. teacher, his English Language Learning teacher, the speech therapist, and the director of the special ed. department, oh, and myself! (Meetings last year typically involved eight or nine persons.) This was the nicest IEP I have ever sat through! The reports on Doug were absolutely glowing. He has made HUGE progress this year in all areas. Granted, he is still on about a late kindergarten level academically...but, considering where we were at two years ago, that is INCREDIBLE. (He came into first grade not even accomplishing yet what would be expected of a four year old preparing for eventual kindergarten attendance.) Basically he has made a year's progress in a year! (Considering how poorly kindergarten went, that is very surprising and very encouraging.) He has begun reading...though he still has a long ways to go. His maturational level has probably advanced by several years this year. All of his teachers remarked about how much he has grown up emotionally and how RESPONSIBLE he is at school and how eager he is to please. They have all really enjoyed having him in their classes this year (genuinely so). I enjoy hearing them mention little stories about Doug that shows his sense of humor...he does look on the bright side of life and has a keen sense of humor.
What strikes me most, is how resiliant he is. Children choose what messages from the outside world about them that they are going to encorporate into their own psyche. Doug lets the negative roll off him like water off a duck. He holds to the encouraging words he hears and those are the ones he stores in his heart--thankfully! That is a skill not very many children come by naturally. Doug just chooses to believe the best about himself...rather than dwell on any of the negative words and reactions that come his way. I have watched from afar when he is in a new situation...mixing with children who don't yet know him. Kids react to his lack of language/pronunciation abilities and to his delayed social skills. He can't speak clearly and just uses one or two word phrases to express himself and he doesn't quite 'get' how to respect the personal space of others...he tends to move in too close and speak too loudly and touch too much. I see the looks that come over the faces of children who aren't familiar with him. Looks that would devastate some children--forever etch rejection upon their self concepts. Doug is VERY PERCEPTIVE. He is the most perceptive of my three children when it comes to reading my feelings that I am not overtly voicing. I have seen how perceptive he is with other children...always compassionate and attentive. So, I know it isn't that he doesn't 'read' the looks new children give him...it is just that he doesn't encorporate them into his inner being. He takes it in stride, confident that once they get to know him they will love him. And they do! I think every child at his school knows him by name--whether they are in his class or even his grade! And they all greet him so enthusiastically whenever their paths cross his out in the community. He is very well liked. He cares about others deeply...and he delights in making others laugh...how could they help but NOT like him! Still, it amazes me how the initial rejection of children he is just meeting never dampens his spirit or compromises his joy in who he is. In some ways, he is much more mature than many adults! ¶ 5/18/2006 09:47:00 AM 0 comments
This morning we had an IEP meeting. The attendance was much lighter than usual...just his regular first grade teacher, his special ed. teacher, his English Language Learning teacher, the speech therapist, and the director of the special ed. department, oh, and myself! (Meetings last year typically involved eight or nine persons.) This was the nicest IEP I have ever sat through! The reports on Doug were absolutely glowing. He has made HUGE progress this year in all areas. Granted, he is still on about a late kindergarten level academically...but, considering where we were at two years ago, that is INCREDIBLE. (He came into first grade not even accomplishing yet what would be expected of a four year old preparing for eventual kindergarten attendance.) Basically he has made a year's progress in a year! (Considering how poorly kindergarten went, that is very surprising and very encouraging.) He has begun reading...though he still has a long ways to go. His maturational level has probably advanced by several years this year. All of his teachers remarked about how much he has grown up emotionally and how RESPONSIBLE he is at school and how eager he is to please. They have all really enjoyed having him in their classes this year (genuinely so). I enjoy hearing them mention little stories about Doug that shows his sense of humor...he does look on the bright side of life and has a keen sense of humor.
What strikes me most, is how resiliant he is. Children choose what messages from the outside world about them that they are going to encorporate into their own psyche. Doug lets the negative roll off him like water off a duck. He holds to the encouraging words he hears and those are the ones he stores in his heart--thankfully! That is a skill not very many children come by naturally. Doug just chooses to believe the best about himself...rather than dwell on any of the negative words and reactions that come his way. I have watched from afar when he is in a new situation...mixing with children who don't yet know him. Kids react to his lack of language/pronunciation abilities and to his delayed social skills. He can't speak clearly and just uses one or two word phrases to express himself and he doesn't quite 'get' how to respect the personal space of others...he tends to move in too close and speak too loudly and touch too much. I see the looks that come over the faces of children who aren't familiar with him. Looks that would devastate some children--forever etch rejection upon their self concepts. Doug is VERY PERCEPTIVE. He is the most perceptive of my three children when it comes to reading my feelings that I am not overtly voicing. I have seen how perceptive he is with other children...always compassionate and attentive. So, I know it isn't that he doesn't 'read' the looks new children give him...it is just that he doesn't encorporate them into his inner being. He takes it in stride, confident that once they get to know him they will love him. And they do! I think every child at his school knows him by name--whether they are in his class or even his grade! And they all greet him so enthusiastically whenever their paths cross his out in the community. He is very well liked. He cares about others deeply...and he delights in making others laugh...how could they help but NOT like him! Still, it amazes me how the initial rejection of children he is just meeting never dampens his spirit or compromises his joy in who he is. In some ways, he is much more mature than many adults! ¶ 5/18/2006 09:47:00 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Newly Hatched Box Turtle...
Oh the joys of Spring! Every day is punctuated with new discoveries! A few days ago, Rayna rescued a baby bird that didn't quite yet have the hang of flying from her three very interested dogs. Today, I noticed a box turtle hatchling in the yard. The tiny baby box turtle's shell is smaller in diameter than a quarter. This is only the third one we have found in six years of living here in the middle of the woods. We see scads of adult turtles...some rainy days we will notice as many a four or five of them trekking across our lawn...but the hatchlings are so tiny and the underbrush so thick that it is rare to spot one of them, even though I am sure we have dozens of them hatching out in our yard every Spring.
In our back yard we have a 'turtle garden'. It is a circular enclosure we built out of flat, upright stones from our land. There is a windchime above the turtle garden and we have a 'pond' inside the garden as well as an assortment of plants...plenty of hiding places for our tiny guests. When we find a hatchling, we put them in the turtle garden and supply them with mealy worms and other treats until they are big enough to climb out of the garden. Then away they go...out on their own once more. In the meantime, the turtle is a living 'Where's Waldo'...REALLY challenging to spot as she noses about in her little garden. We have had two guests in the garden in the past six years...and this Spring we have another! This one is a little girl. You can tell the gender of a box turtle by the color of its eyes. The males have red eyes. The females have golden brown eyes. (The males are generally a lot more irritable, too!)
There were no hatchlings in our garden the past two summers...so the garden has been really neglected...but the kids and I are working on getting it back into suitable shape for our newest little guest. (Meanwhile she is hanging out inside our house in the 'surfer frog'habitat that the Darcy had for tadpoles she raised years ago.) She likes the little hut on the beach to hole up in, but it isn't a very good place for her long-term because it is small and there is nothing she can burrow down into and no REAL plants to taste...just a beach with a giant plastic wave and some water in the tub beneath the wave...a very plastic environment. But, I think we will have the garden ready for her tomorrow...so she won't have to spend a second day on the plastic sea shore.
Among other updates, little Rivendell got spayed yesterday so she is temporarily spending most of her time hanging out inside our house recouperating. The kids think this is great and Rivie seems to like it, too! Poor pup...she is still awfully wiped out from her surgery--but that makes for a calm, quiet house-puppy!
(To see the turtle more clearly, double click on this photo and it will enlarge!)
¶ 5/17/2006 03:35:00 PM 0 comments
Oh the joys of Spring! Every day is punctuated with new discoveries! A few days ago, Rayna rescued a baby bird that didn't quite yet have the hang of flying from her three very interested dogs. Today, I noticed a box turtle hatchling in the yard. The tiny baby box turtle's shell is smaller in diameter than a quarter. This is only the third one we have found in six years of living here in the middle of the woods. We see scads of adult turtles...some rainy days we will notice as many a four or five of them trekking across our lawn...but the hatchlings are so tiny and the underbrush so thick that it is rare to spot one of them, even though I am sure we have dozens of them hatching out in our yard every Spring.
In our back yard we have a 'turtle garden'. It is a circular enclosure we built out of flat, upright stones from our land. There is a windchime above the turtle garden and we have a 'pond' inside the garden as well as an assortment of plants...plenty of hiding places for our tiny guests. When we find a hatchling, we put them in the turtle garden and supply them with mealy worms and other treats until they are big enough to climb out of the garden. Then away they go...out on their own once more. In the meantime, the turtle is a living 'Where's Waldo'...REALLY challenging to spot as she noses about in her little garden. We have had two guests in the garden in the past six years...and this Spring we have another! This one is a little girl. You can tell the gender of a box turtle by the color of its eyes. The males have red eyes. The females have golden brown eyes. (The males are generally a lot more irritable, too!)
There were no hatchlings in our garden the past two summers...so the garden has been really neglected...but the kids and I are working on getting it back into suitable shape for our newest little guest. (Meanwhile she is hanging out inside our house in the 'surfer frog'habitat that the Darcy had for tadpoles she raised years ago.) She likes the little hut on the beach to hole up in, but it isn't a very good place for her long-term because it is small and there is nothing she can burrow down into and no REAL plants to taste...just a beach with a giant plastic wave and some water in the tub beneath the wave...a very plastic environment. But, I think we will have the garden ready for her tomorrow...so she won't have to spend a second day on the plastic sea shore.
Among other updates, little Rivendell got spayed yesterday so she is temporarily spending most of her time hanging out inside our house recouperating. The kids think this is great and Rivie seems to like it, too! Poor pup...she is still awfully wiped out from her surgery--but that makes for a calm, quiet house-puppy!
(To see the turtle more clearly, double click on this photo and it will enlarge!)
¶ 5/17/2006 03:35:00 PM 0 comments
Monday, May 15, 2006
Post-it-Notes...
Several years ago I happened across some writings that captivated me. The blog was in Spanish, so I could only guess at its content, but I was drawn to it... The site was so clean and elegant and melancholically moody with its vivid black background simply framing beautiful black and white photos. The pictures were even more enigmatic than the lovely cadence of the words I could speak but not comprehend. I have gone back to that site from time to time. Today, I discovered that my computer TRANSLATES web pages with just a right click of my mouse! Eager to put this new discovery to the test, I went back to that beautiful site that I have watched from afar. Of course, translating word by word isn't a very accurate method...yet, the results are captivating! The site is still enigmatic...even "translated".
I have enjoyed this blog site (passed on to me by my eldest daughter)....yet, sometimes I wistfully wish it was more than a place to post-it-note little bits and photos about my children.
But, then something happens to jar me back to the nuts and bolts of my life...the life that is made up more of post-it-notes than of concertos. I had just such a moment as I was typing the above sentence. Darcy came downstairs and looked with wide eyes at the bowl next to my computer. I have been surfing today...and, horrible as it is, I have been eating BBQ chicken wings as I surf. (Yes....new laptop meets BBQ fingers....but, really, I am quite concientious to lick my fingers thoroughly before resuming my grip on the mouse.) I had one bowl of chicken wings, then asked Darcy to clear her and her sister's dishes off the opposite end of the table (where they had been eating while I was engrossed in my computer). She cleared MY bowl too. A few minutes after she and Rayna had disappeared upstairs, I decided that, actually four chicken wings weren't quite enough and that I would have four more. I don't believe in getting out a new bowl for every serving...our home is not a restaurant buffet....so, I retrieved from the counter the bowl I had had my first serving in. Darcy had removed the earlier chicken bones from it. I filled it up again, heated my wings in the microwave, and continued my eating/surfing. A few moments after I had licked up the last drop of BBQ sauce, Darcy wandered back into the room and as her gaze fell upon my bowl filled with new chicken wing bones, she got rather a wide-eyed, ill look on her face. Then she cautiously mentioned to me, "Mom....you weren't suppose to EAT out of that bowl again. I let the dogs lick it clean when I took your first set of bones out!" That is my life.... clicking away on the computer between licking BBQ sauce off my fingers....and finding out after the fact that I have eaten from a bowl the dogs have licked!
My life is not composed of concertos so much as it is chronicled by post-it-notes! That is my own private enigma. A mystery as elusive to me as the lovely Spanish words beneath the intriguing portraits of simple black and white. ¶ 5/15/2006 01:43:00 PM 2 comments
I have enjoyed this blog site (passed on to me by my eldest daughter)....yet, sometimes I wistfully wish it was more than a place to post-it-note little bits and photos about my children.
But, then something happens to jar me back to the nuts and bolts of my life...the life that is made up more of post-it-notes than of concertos. I had just such a moment as I was typing the above sentence. Darcy came downstairs and looked with wide eyes at the bowl next to my computer. I have been surfing today...and, horrible as it is, I have been eating BBQ chicken wings as I surf. (Yes....new laptop meets BBQ fingers....but, really, I am quite concientious to lick my fingers thoroughly before resuming my grip on the mouse.) I had one bowl of chicken wings, then asked Darcy to clear her and her sister's dishes off the opposite end of the table (where they had been eating while I was engrossed in my computer). She cleared MY bowl too. A few minutes after she and Rayna had disappeared upstairs, I decided that, actually four chicken wings weren't quite enough and that I would have four more. I don't believe in getting out a new bowl for every serving...our home is not a restaurant buffet....so, I retrieved from the counter the bowl I had had my first serving in. Darcy had removed the earlier chicken bones from it. I filled it up again, heated my wings in the microwave, and continued my eating/surfing. A few moments after I had licked up the last drop of BBQ sauce, Darcy wandered back into the room and as her gaze fell upon my bowl filled with new chicken wing bones, she got rather a wide-eyed, ill look on her face. Then she cautiously mentioned to me, "Mom....you weren't suppose to EAT out of that bowl again. I let the dogs lick it clean when I took your first set of bones out!" That is my life.... clicking away on the computer between licking BBQ sauce off my fingers....and finding out after the fact that I have eaten from a bowl the dogs have licked!
My life is not composed of concertos so much as it is chronicled by post-it-notes! That is my own private enigma. A mystery as elusive to me as the lovely Spanish words beneath the intriguing portraits of simple black and white. ¶ 5/15/2006 01:43:00 PM 2 comments
Sunday, May 14, 2006
The blog Moreena has been hired to author...
For those of you who don't know, my little sister has a blog that she has been posting to regularly for the past four years ("Falling Down is Also a Gift"). This past week, she began blogging for ClubMom (a paying gig!)...her blog there is called "The Wait and The Wonder". Just click here to take a peek!!! (She will be writing new entries for her professional site five times a week.)
¶ 5/14/2006 07:04:00 PM 0 comments
Friday, May 12, 2006
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
The heartlessness of a ten year old...
I was racking my brain trying to think of a new title for my blog. I was tired of "Dumplings"...just sounded too foo foo today...besides the blog has a new look, so it was a good time to change the name again! "Three Peas in a Pod" didn't quite suit me either, so I asked Darcy for help. She suggested "Memories". I counter suggested, "Well, what about "Moments". She retorted, "'Senior Moments' would be more like it!" .....ouch! But, there IS justice in this life...Darcy's Grandpa made his own suggestion later that evening..."Three Little Savages"! ....hmmm. THAT title does have the ring of truth to it!!!
¶ 5/10/2006 09:38:00 AM 0 comments
Eight Years Apart...Another Experience...
Moreena's post on her blog last night "words are overrated" spoke eloquently of her relationship with her daughters and of the differences between generations and her memories of our grandparents. In so many ways each of us are born into a different world. Yes, there are the universals that remain the same from age to age...and yet my children's world is still vastly different from what my world was 40 years ago...even as my sister's world was already very different from my world just eight years later or my little brother's world ten years later.
¶ 5/10/2006 07:17:00 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Home once more...
You can tell who dressed herself this morning! It is the first day we have been home since Thursday and everyone is getting back to their normal life. Doug rode off to school this morning...Darcy pretended to still be upstairs sleeping so that she could read without her mother making her start her school work...and Rayna transformed into a lovely princess before she went outside to play in the mud with her puppies!
¶ 5/09/2006 09:04:00 AM 2 comments
You can tell who dressed herself this morning! It is the first day we have been home since Thursday and everyone is getting back to their normal life. Doug rode off to school this morning...Darcy pretended to still be upstairs sleeping so that she could read without her mother making her start her school work...and Rayna transformed into a lovely princess before she went outside to play in the mud with her puppies!
¶ 5/09/2006 09:04:00 AM 2 comments
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Remembering My Grandpa…
Grandma told me once more a few days ago about how when I was little bitty (before my age of recollection) that I loved to walk with her or Mom from my home to the high school where Granddad worked. I would get so excited that I would begin calling out at the tops of my lungs, “GanGad! GanGad! GanGad!” a full block before we even got to the high school. Then, as we stepped into those empty halls of that school, my voice would echo out so loudly that where-ever Granddad was, he would hear me and come running! My earliest recollection with Granddad was getting to sit on top of the floor buffer as he waxed the floors of that high school. I thought that was the absolute greatest ride ever! That was when we all lived in the wind-blown, dusty, little Western Kansas town of Elkhart. My family left Elkhart when I was six years old. For many, many years after that I always promised myself that when I grew up I would go back to Elkhart to live. I couldn’t think of any place better to live…until Grandma and Grandpa moved away from Elkhart themselves. It was Grandma and Grandpa who had made that place so special to my heart.
Soon, my summer destination was Clay Center instead of Elkhart. Grandma and Grandpa had moved there to be near my Great Grandfather. I got to spend weeks each summer staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. So many of my best childhood memories are of those times. Many are just simple things…like the time Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the company that they cleaned. The employee lounge was sparse except for some chairs and a table. On that table was a cardboard box with various candy-bars in it and a can that you put your dime in to pay for the candy bar. There were Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups in that box. I had recently discovered that Reece’s were pretty good. So, Grandma and Grandpa bought me one. Those Reece’s weren’t very filling, though, and before we left that evening, Grandma and Grandpa had bought me THREE of them! I had never been allowed to eat three candy bars in a row at one time in my whole life. As I savored that third one I reflected back on Mom’s childhood stories about how as children the four girls had had to share a single stick of gum between themselves. Knowing that made my third Reece’s even more amazing. I was in awe that Grandma and Grandpa had actually bought me three of them! Now, as a mother, I fuss at my childrens’ grandparents about spoiling them so much…but I never object too loudly, or too strongly…because I know what a special blessing it is in the lives of children to have those few people in their lives who always think they are the sweetest, cutest, brightest, funniest most wonderful child that ever graced the earth. That is the gift Granddad and Grandma lavished upon their grandchildren. A gift I have treasured all my life. A gift that I am so thankful my own children have been given. I am so busy having to correct them and instruct them and corral them…but, I know that the hardness of my hand in their lives will always be balanced by the grandparents who love them blindly. Just as my grandparents before me loved me…blind to all my shortcomings.
Sixteen years ago, in a Sunday School class at a church I was visiting, I met a young man with twinkling blue eyes and a quiet smile. He was such a quiet person and so quick to smile. He reminded more of my Grandfather than any person I had ever met. My heart was lost to him from the very first time I set eyes upon him. Soon we were dating. I told Grandpa all about him. He was not an impulsive young man, and so, it took him much longer to decide we should be married than it had taken me to figure out that fact. I remember Grandpa agonizing with me. He wanted that young man for my husband as much as I did! Like that young man, my Grandpa was easily brought to tears. I remember a few tears slipping down his face as I told him about that young man that my heart so pined for. Eventually, the fella did get around to thinking about marriage. And I have had the fifteen best years of my life, married to the man cut from the same cloth as my grandfather.
Looking back, that was the best gift of all that my grandfather gave me. Better even than the self-esteem and confidence that his love built into my life and the safe place his heart always provided for me, was the pattern he drew on my heart of what I wanted and needed in the man I would spend my own life with.
From the beginning, Grandpa was extra special to Grant. He didn’t have any grandparents of his own still living. He had lost both of his granddads a long time earlier and his memories of them were few. Grant told me more than once over the years that followed what a blessing it was to his heart to have my grandfather in his life…our grandfather. Grandpa filled a void in his own heart.
We will miss you, Grandpa…until we see you again in the presence of our dear Lord. ¶ 5/07/2006 05:17:00 AM 1 comments
Soon, my summer destination was Clay Center instead of Elkhart. Grandma and Grandpa had moved there to be near my Great Grandfather. I got to spend weeks each summer staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. So many of my best childhood memories are of those times. Many are just simple things…like the time Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the company that they cleaned. The employee lounge was sparse except for some chairs and a table. On that table was a cardboard box with various candy-bars in it and a can that you put your dime in to pay for the candy bar. There were Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups in that box. I had recently discovered that Reece’s were pretty good. So, Grandma and Grandpa bought me one. Those Reece’s weren’t very filling, though, and before we left that evening, Grandma and Grandpa had bought me THREE of them! I had never been allowed to eat three candy bars in a row at one time in my whole life. As I savored that third one I reflected back on Mom’s childhood stories about how as children the four girls had had to share a single stick of gum between themselves. Knowing that made my third Reece’s even more amazing. I was in awe that Grandma and Grandpa had actually bought me three of them! Now, as a mother, I fuss at my childrens’ grandparents about spoiling them so much…but I never object too loudly, or too strongly…because I know what a special blessing it is in the lives of children to have those few people in their lives who always think they are the sweetest, cutest, brightest, funniest most wonderful child that ever graced the earth. That is the gift Granddad and Grandma lavished upon their grandchildren. A gift I have treasured all my life. A gift that I am so thankful my own children have been given. I am so busy having to correct them and instruct them and corral them…but, I know that the hardness of my hand in their lives will always be balanced by the grandparents who love them blindly. Just as my grandparents before me loved me…blind to all my shortcomings.
Sixteen years ago, in a Sunday School class at a church I was visiting, I met a young man with twinkling blue eyes and a quiet smile. He was such a quiet person and so quick to smile. He reminded more of my Grandfather than any person I had ever met. My heart was lost to him from the very first time I set eyes upon him. Soon we were dating. I told Grandpa all about him. He was not an impulsive young man, and so, it took him much longer to decide we should be married than it had taken me to figure out that fact. I remember Grandpa agonizing with me. He wanted that young man for my husband as much as I did! Like that young man, my Grandpa was easily brought to tears. I remember a few tears slipping down his face as I told him about that young man that my heart so pined for. Eventually, the fella did get around to thinking about marriage. And I have had the fifteen best years of my life, married to the man cut from the same cloth as my grandfather.
Looking back, that was the best gift of all that my grandfather gave me. Better even than the self-esteem and confidence that his love built into my life and the safe place his heart always provided for me, was the pattern he drew on my heart of what I wanted and needed in the man I would spend my own life with.
From the beginning, Grandpa was extra special to Grant. He didn’t have any grandparents of his own still living. He had lost both of his granddads a long time earlier and his memories of them were few. Grant told me more than once over the years that followed what a blessing it was to his heart to have my grandfather in his life…our grandfather. Grandpa filled a void in his own heart.
We will miss you, Grandpa…until we see you again in the presence of our dear Lord. ¶ 5/07/2006 05:17:00 AM 1 comments
Friday, May 05, 2006
The kids and I are in Wichita. Yesterday, just as we were leaving the house to drive to the Bluegrass Festival that Grant's band is playing at, we received word that my grandfather had passed away. So, the kids and I are in Wichita now. The funeral will be held in Mizpah, where my great grandparents are buried and where Grandma and Grandpa already have plots.
Guess I won't write much tonight...just post a couple of pictures that I took earlier today:
Darcy taking a break from her reading with Snickers.
Guess I won't write much tonight...just post a couple of pictures that I took earlier today:
Darcy taking a break from her reading with Snickers.
Aunt Nancy and Uncle Robert's cat just loves Ian's toy truck! Here he is still holding it as he naps.
Darcy and Jessie with their Great-Grandmother.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
The Makings of an Effective Guard Dog...
Our puppy has appointed herself guardian of Rayna! From the very beginning she has impressed the girls and I with her keen intelligence and her sharp attention to us. We cannot step foot out of the house but what she is right there at our side...our little shadow where-ever we go. What really struck me from the beginning is how she makes so much eye contact...she doesn't just trot along at our side, but peers eagerly up at us waiting for any utterance or subtle sign that we might make. She is so attentive. She naturally gives the kind of constant, vigilant attention to her owners that I used to have to TRAIN into dogs that I wanted to school for obedience competitions. But, today we saw another side of her...
I guess I should start at the beginning. I had just finished stacking hay in the barn and was hurriedly entering the corral to shovel the horse shavings (as I have seen them so delicately refered to!). I had completely forgotten that Dad C. had recently electrifed that side of the corral (since Lightening likes to get his head under the wood planks and then--as only a DRAFT horse could do--LIFT the entire fence up out of its moorings and go UNDER the fence to wander about foot-loose and fancy-free in greener fields!) I completely forgot about the electric wire, which isn't usually on, anyway. I didn't remember until I was leaning my shoulder against the metal corral gate and tightly grasping with both hands the heavy metal chain that secures the gate to the fence. It was about that time that the chain somehow got wrapped across the electric wire. I let out such a blood-curdling scream that the air was filled with clods of mud from the horses stampeding to the far end of the corral. As I write these words a few hours later, my left ring finger still stings at the very tip and the horses are still a little worried over what dreadful danger I encountered in their corral.
My scream was loud enough to draw Mom C. out of her usually sound-proof house. Rayna, never one to miss the oportunity to participate in a dramatic moment, decided at that moment to re-enact my horrific scream for the benefit of her grandmother. All Rivendell saw was that I had screamed, immediately followed by Rayna screaming just as frantically as her grandmother approached. Rivie, jumped into action. Placing herself between Rayna and the ferocious approaching grandmother, our little pup began barking fiercely (well, as fierce as a puppy yip can sound!) and steadily closed in on the child-devouring grandmother...determined that Rayna was not to be her next victim! It was a pretty funny site. Rivie isn't big enough to be taken seriously yet, but RIVIE doesn't realize that. Mom C. got a pretty good laugh out of it...but, I got a glimpse into the future with this little dog. She will probably be the littlest one of our pack, but she is 100% guard dog and she takes her job seriously!
(The vet thinks Rivendell is mostly Australian Shepherd. Pictured here with Rivendell is Gloria--not her mother, but sure looks like she could be!) ¶ 5/04/2006 11:51:00 AM
Our puppy has appointed herself guardian of Rayna! From the very beginning she has impressed the girls and I with her keen intelligence and her sharp attention to us. We cannot step foot out of the house but what she is right there at our side...our little shadow where-ever we go. What really struck me from the beginning is how she makes so much eye contact...she doesn't just trot along at our side, but peers eagerly up at us waiting for any utterance or subtle sign that we might make. She is so attentive. She naturally gives the kind of constant, vigilant attention to her owners that I used to have to TRAIN into dogs that I wanted to school for obedience competitions. But, today we saw another side of her...I guess I should start at the beginning. I had just finished stacking hay in the barn and was hurriedly entering the corral to shovel the horse shavings (as I have seen them so delicately refered to!). I had completely forgotten that Dad C. had recently electrifed that side of the corral (since Lightening likes to get his head under the wood planks and then--as only a DRAFT horse could do--LIFT the entire fence up out of its moorings and go UNDER the fence to wander about foot-loose and fancy-free in greener fields!) I completely forgot about the electric wire, which isn't usually on, anyway. I didn't remember until I was leaning my shoulder against the metal corral gate and tightly grasping with both hands the heavy metal chain that secures the gate to the fence. It was about that time that the chain somehow got wrapped across the electric wire. I let out such a blood-curdling scream that the air was filled with clods of mud from the horses stampeding to the far end of the corral. As I write these words a few hours later, my left ring finger still stings at the very tip and the horses are still a little worried over what dreadful danger I encountered in their corral.
My scream was loud enough to draw Mom C. out of her usually sound-proof house. Rayna, never one to miss the oportunity to participate in a dramatic moment, decided at that moment to re-enact my horrific scream for the benefit of her grandmother. All Rivendell saw was that I had screamed, immediately followed by Rayna screaming just as frantically as her grandmother approached. Rivie, jumped into action. Placing herself between Rayna and the ferocious approaching grandmother, our little pup began barking fiercely (well, as fierce as a puppy yip can sound!) and steadily closed in on the child-devouring grandmother...determined that Rayna was not to be her next victim! It was a pretty funny site. Rivie isn't big enough to be taken seriously yet, but RIVIE doesn't realize that. Mom C. got a pretty good laugh out of it...but, I got a glimpse into the future with this little dog. She will probably be the littlest one of our pack, but she is 100% guard dog and she takes her job seriously!(The vet thinks Rivendell is mostly Australian Shepherd. Pictured here with Rivendell is Gloria--not her mother, but sure looks like she could be!) ¶ 5/04/2006 11:51:00 AM
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Conversation this morning...
Doug, "Raining. No school!"
Me, "It isn't raining yet! And you still have to go to school today even
if it does rain."
Doug, "No! No school rain."
Busy me, "No RECESS if it rains. You still have to go to school."
Doug (adamantly), "NO SCHOOL! NO SCHOOL!"
(But, then, I guess I can see his point...what is the point of attending
school if there won't be any recess!)
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Puppy pictures! The little black and white boy that we gave away (Rohan) and the almost solid black girl that we kept (Rivendell).
¶ 5/02/2006 07:18:00 PM
Blogging Before Eating
Grant put Darcy up to taking this picture. Everyone else was eating supper (pizza), but, I am on a diet (the never ending diet) and I had already drank my 'highly nutritious, chocolatey, and extremely satisfying' protein shake for my supper (tastes like minerals and vitamins mixed in lightly chocolated chalk board dust)...so, I was sitting at the dining room table blogging while everyone else ate their cholesterol ridden, preservative infested pizza. They all thought it horrid of me to type through supper...but, I was rather enjoying myself!
Since we are on the topic of 'delicious and satisfying' protein shakes, let me state that in six solid months of dieting and excercizing I have lost a grand total of 18 pounds. Let's see...that works out to three pounds a month. At this speed of light progress I will still be dieting two years from now. And here I was suppose to be at my goal weight in JULY so we could go on ourhorse-back/camping trip deep into the back country of the Canadian Rockies (my reward for reaching my goal!). Guess I'll be enjoying my reward before I reach my goal...but, I promise to stick to it! Darcy is REALLY looking forward to our family adventure. I have to admit, I am too! I think Pop John and Yea Yea are chomping at the bit to see the back country, too! Wonder if I ought to take my lap-top along...it does have wireless internet capabilities... (oh...you don't think there will be a source for wireless access up there? No...probably not!)
¶ 5/02/2006 06:22:00 PM
Grant put Darcy up to taking this picture. Everyone else was eating supper (pizza), but, I am on a diet (the never ending diet) and I had already drank my 'highly nutritious, chocolatey, and extremely satisfying' protein shake for my supper (tastes like minerals and vitamins mixed in lightly chocolated chalk board dust)...so, I was sitting at the dining room table blogging while everyone else ate their cholesterol ridden, preservative infested pizza. They all thought it horrid of me to type through supper...but, I was rather enjoying myself!Since we are on the topic of 'delicious and satisfying' protein shakes, let me state that in six solid months of dieting and excercizing I have lost a grand total of 18 pounds. Let's see...that works out to three pounds a month. At this speed of light progress I will still be dieting two years from now. And here I was suppose to be at my goal weight in JULY so we could go on our
Batman: Mistaken Identity... & Boily Hair!
Okay, okay, okay...I KNOW I am repeating photos! I only have a few photos downloaded into my new computer and I was wanting to experiment around and see what I could do with them in my Irfan View program...also I have been experimenting today with blogging from my e-mail site rather than from on the blog itself. I also have been fiddling with new "Print Shop" software that I just installed on the computer today. I bought it instead of a scrap booking software that had been tempting me. I think I can do MY STYLE of 'scrap booking' with the Print Shop program. I am not into too much fussy stuff. To me, it seems like the PHOTOS ought to be the main thing on the page...not the embellishments around the photos! Seems like if you get too many gee-gahs on the page, the photos themselves get kind of lost! Maybe that is a sign that I am lacking in creativity genes, though! I also have learned today how to burn CDs with my new computer--faster than ever!!! I do love computers!
Meanwhile, Doug has been in school and Darcy and Rayna have been playing their own games on the computer, chasing the puppy (who is growing like a weed...can barely fit into my lap these days!), and listening to Radio Disney (which I cannot stand!). Darcy finally found a way to even things up with her mother.... I have subjected her to many an hour of BOTT radio (Christian talk radio) in the car and now she has taken to subjecting me to Radio Disney in the house. I wouldn't mind Radio Disney if it just played all the soundtracks from the Disney movies, but mostly it plays really annoying rock and rap...and, even worse, it plays the same set of songs over and over and over and over. The only thing worse than listening to poorly performed music is listening to it repeated in endless loops!!! Oh well. At least the LYRICS and DJ chatter are clean. That is more than can be said about most secular radio stations.
Along with being addicted to Mexican Train dominoes, Darcy and I are also really crazy about Boggle. Yesterday, we discovered Boggle computer-style....oh, me, is that ever fun! We got a free 60 minute trial of it already pre-installed on our computer with a helpful little link to order the game on line once our 60 minutes are used up. Talk about cruel! I am not even LETTING Darcy try out the other hundred jillion games that we have a teaser portion of on this computer! (Though we did try out one other that we both decided was a 'must have' for Adam! You will have to wait until Christmas time, though, Adam, to find out what it is!)
And I have just frustrated my poor son. He interrupted my typing to have me tie the back of one of his costumes. He excitedly questioned, "I am...?" I dutifully replied, "You are Batman Begins." At those words he registered extreme disappointment in his mother. How could I have made such a mistake! Of course he WASN'T Batman BEGINS...after all he had on the more modern rendition of the Batman attire for seven year old boys...how could I have missed the fact that he was Batman BEYOND!!!! He walked away with such woundedness at my carelessness that I almost stopped my blogging to try and undo the damage!
This afternoon when we went through the drive-through at BackYard Burger, we had an especially exuberant cashier. She bubbled and exuded as though trying out for the cheerleading squad, or maybe giving her interview for Miss America...you know, the kind of person who is so sweet you can't bark at them and yet their very sweetness wears you out and leaves you vaguely annoyed...anyway, RAYNA apparently thought this young girl was the epitomy of all that is good in America and she announced to me in a VERY loud voice, "Mommy! Her has such a sweet attitude!"
Overheard this evening:
Grant, "Been scratchin' at your ear?"
Rayna, "Yeah. Cause it's kinda dusty in there."
(Guess that's why she didn't hear me ask her to clean her room!)
Later this evening:
Rayna, "Mommy, can I wash my head?"
Me, "No."
Rayna, "But it's all boily from laying on the sofa." ¶ 5/02/2006 02:19:00 PM
Meanwhile, Doug has been in school and Darcy and Rayna have been playing their own games on the computer, chasing the puppy (who is growing like a weed...can barely fit into my lap these days!), and listening to Radio Disney (which I cannot stand!). Darcy finally found a way to even things up with her mother.... I have subjected her to many an hour of BOTT radio (Christian talk radio) in the car and now she has taken to subjecting me to Radio Disney in the house. I wouldn't mind Radio Disney if it just played all the soundtracks from the Disney movies, but mostly it plays really annoying rock and rap...and, even worse, it plays the same set of songs over and over and over and over. The only thing worse than listening to poorly performed music is listening to it repeated in endless loops!!! Oh well. At least the LYRICS and DJ chatter are clean. That is more than can be said about most secular radio stations.
Along with being addicted to Mexican Train dominoes, Darcy and I are also really crazy about Boggle. Yesterday, we discovered Boggle computer-style....oh, me, is that ever fun! We got a free 60 minute trial of it already pre-installed on our computer with a helpful little link to order the game on line once our 60 minutes are used up. Talk about cruel! I am not even LETTING Darcy try out the other hundred jillion games that we have a teaser portion of on this computer! (Though we did try out one other that we both decided was a 'must have' for Adam! You will have to wait until Christmas time, though, Adam, to find out what it is!)
And I have just frustrated my poor son. He interrupted my typing to have me tie the back of one of his costumes. He excitedly questioned, "I am...?" I dutifully replied, "You are Batman Begins." At those words he registered extreme disappointment in his mother. How could I have made such a mistake! Of course he WASN'T Batman BEGINS...after all he had on the more modern rendition of the Batman attire for seven year old boys...how could I have missed the fact that he was Batman BEYOND!!!! He walked away with such woundedness at my carelessness that I almost stopped my blogging to try and undo the damage!
This afternoon when we went through the drive-through at BackYard Burger, we had an especially exuberant cashier. She bubbled and exuded as though trying out for the cheerleading squad, or maybe giving her interview for Miss America...you know, the kind of person who is so sweet you can't bark at them and yet their very sweetness wears you out and leaves you vaguely annoyed...anyway, RAYNA apparently thought this young girl was the epitomy of all that is good in America and she announced to me in a VERY loud voice, "Mommy! Her has such a sweet attitude!"
Overheard this evening:
Grant, "Been scratchin' at your ear?"
Rayna, "Yeah. Cause it's kinda dusty in there."
(Guess that's why she didn't hear me ask her to clean her room!)
Later this evening:
Rayna, "Mommy, can I wash my head?"
Me, "No."
Rayna, "But it's all boily from laying on the sofa." ¶ 5/02/2006 02:19:00 PM
Monday, May 01, 2006
In Honor of Undocumented Workers...
In honor of undocumented workers, Darcy and I felt compelled to spend our evening playing Mexican Train (dominoes). Of course, Darcy won. I thought I had her when I made 47 points on our first round (often we only make 10 or so on a single round). Since we were only playing to 50, I figured I would be the champ even if she took the next round or two. Wrong! She got FIFTY (on the nose!) the very next round. So, once more, Darcy walked away the triumphant champion! No matter how many times I play against her, I just can't seem to BEAT her! She is an accomplished domino player.
¶ 5/01/2006 05:35:00 PM 2 comments
Ratta-tat-tat the Sounds of Summer are Back!!!
(Rayna gathering flowers for her wedding. She worries daily about when she will be getting married and whom she will be marrying. She was devastated to learn that she couldn't marry her brother. In fact, that stirred up a whole episode of anxiety over WHO she could marry. She only relinquished that burden of worry once her mother promised that she would be happy to choose a husband for Rayna. I think we should get that in WRITING before she grows up and changes her mind!!! Darcy, meanwhile, still insists SHE is never going to get married...she is just going to build a house that connects to our house and fill her house up with dogs and cats!)
This morning I heard for the first time since late last fall, the familiar sound of summer...the ratta-tat-tatting of our tanniger upon the dining room window. Just as I was falling into nastalgia over the return of our tannigers, I heard from the northwest corner of our home the familiar sound of the woodpecker pecking away at our house. I hadn't heard our woodpecker since winter came, either!
Doug had blue-iced toaster streudels for breakfast this morning. While he was eating his breakfast, Rayna was playing outside. She came dashing in all a-glow over a skinny little earth-worm she had found.
Of course, she wanted to keep it for a pet. Her meanie mom made her take it back outside. Having to set her worm free, brought her mind back to the last pet she had been denied by her mother--the wild turkey that wandered through our yard. Once more she began lamenting the loss of her "pet bird". I tried to explain to her that wild birds of any kind do not make good pets. She insisted, "He would let me pet him if I pet him GENTLE!" No, I told her. He would still be terrified of her. She shook her head and argued, "No. If I said, 'Hello'....!" Well, of course! Why hadn't I thought of that? You just have to INTRODUCE yourself to wild animals and then they won't have a bit of fear of you!
Doug's first grade class had a pajama party not too long ago. Everyone got to wear their pajamas to school. Doug was delighted to wear his pajamas because they look just like Mr. Incredible's orange and black superhero suit. The first grade pajama party is a tradition at his school. I was glad he was able to wear Mr. Incredible pajamas...it made up for the fact that he missed getting to go to school the last day before Halloween when everyone got to wear their costumes part of the day. (I caught him sneaking one of his costumes to school a few weeks after the missed Halloween opportunity...I found it in his backpack when he got off the bus that evening. I wonder if he WORE it any that day? I was afraid to investigate any further!)
"Built-in-Obsolescence"...that must be the new catchphrase of our highschool curriculum these days. I hear teenagers/very-young-adults smuggling flourishing that term in their conversations with us 'elderly' everywhere from the McDonald's drive through to CompUSA. They utter is as though it will be something that a person my age will have absolutely no idea what it means and will therefore marvel at their intellectual prowess! I hear it so much that it must be inherent to the basic high school curriculum these days...even as all the technological gadgets are the norm now...things that didn't even EXIST when I was in school! Then there were the two young boys I saw a few days ago...they couldn't have been more than ten years old...they biked up to the ATM at our bank and proceded to put a debit card in and make a withdrawal and then one of them whipped out his cell phone to make a call! The world has certainly changed in the last thirty years!!!
(Sharing secrets...)
(Rayna musing upon all the pets she DOESN'T have that she could have had...a pet wild turkey that obviously wanted to be hers as he CAME right up to her front door(!)and the worm that looked so lonely as he burrowed back down into the mud this morning--rejected as a pet simply because Rayna's mom failed to recognize his shining personality and deeply embedded desire to spend the rest of his life in Rayna's palm...being affectionately stretched and rolled.) ¶ 5/01/2006 02:03:00 PM 0 comments
(Rayna gathering flowers for her wedding. She worries daily about when she will be getting married and whom she will be marrying. She was devastated to learn that she couldn't marry her brother. In fact, that stirred up a whole episode of anxiety over WHO she could marry. She only relinquished that burden of worry once her mother promised that she would be happy to choose a husband for Rayna. I think we should get that in WRITING before she grows up and changes her mind!!! Darcy, meanwhile, still insists SHE is never going to get married...she is just going to build a house that connects to our house and fill her house up with dogs and cats!)This morning I heard for the first time since late last fall, the familiar sound of summer...the ratta-tat-tatting of our tanniger upon the dining room window. Just as I was falling into nastalgia over the return of our tannigers, I heard from the northwest corner of our home the familiar sound of the woodpecker pecking away at our house. I hadn't heard our woodpecker since winter came, either!
Doug had blue-iced toaster streudels for breakfast this morning. While he was eating his breakfast, Rayna was playing outside. She came dashing in all a-glow over a skinny little earth-worm she had found.
Of course, she wanted to keep it for a pet. Her meanie mom made her take it back outside. Having to set her worm free, brought her mind back to the last pet she had been denied by her mother--the wild turkey that wandered through our yard. Once more she began lamenting the loss of her "pet bird". I tried to explain to her that wild birds of any kind do not make good pets. She insisted, "He would let me pet him if I pet him GENTLE!" No, I told her. He would still be terrified of her. She shook her head and argued, "No. If I said, 'Hello'....!" Well, of course! Why hadn't I thought of that? You just have to INTRODUCE yourself to wild animals and then they won't have a bit of fear of you!
Doug's first grade class had a pajama party not too long ago. Everyone got to wear their pajamas to school. Doug was delighted to wear his pajamas because they look just like Mr. Incredible's orange and black superhero suit. The first grade pajama party is a tradition at his school. I was glad he was able to wear Mr. Incredible pajamas...it made up for the fact that he missed getting to go to school the last day before Halloween when everyone got to wear their costumes part of the day. (I caught him sneaking one of his costumes to school a few weeks after the missed Halloween opportunity...I found it in his backpack when he got off the bus that evening. I wonder if he WORE it any that day? I was afraid to investigate any further!)
"Built-in-Obsolescence"...that must be the new catchphrase of our highschool curriculum these days. I hear teenagers/very-young-adults smuggling flourishing that term in their conversations with us 'elderly' everywhere from the McDonald's drive through to CompUSA. They utter is as though it will be something that a person my age will have absolutely no idea what it means and will therefore marvel at their intellectual prowess! I hear it so much that it must be inherent to the basic high school curriculum these days...even as all the technological gadgets are the norm now...things that didn't even EXIST when I was in school! Then there were the two young boys I saw a few days ago...they couldn't have been more than ten years old...they biked up to the ATM at our bank and proceded to put a debit card in and make a withdrawal and then one of them whipped out his cell phone to make a call! The world has certainly changed in the last thirty years!!!
(Sharing secrets...)
(Rayna musing upon all the pets she DOESN'T have that she could have had...a pet wild turkey that obviously wanted to be hers as he CAME right up to her front door(!)and the worm that looked so lonely as he burrowed back down into the mud this morning--rejected as a pet simply because Rayna's mom failed to recognize his shining personality and deeply embedded desire to spend the rest of his life in Rayna's palm...being affectionately stretched and rolled.) ¶ 5/01/2006 02:03:00 PM 0 comments
