Only One More Shop Class to Go!

Well, we have worked hard on the chairs this weekend. I think the boys are finally excited because they now LOOK like chairs. J has worked with the boys on their woodworking projects the last two years--and complains mightily about it too. I finally GET IT!! This time, I wanted to learn some stuff too, so I have had to be out there for each session. EEEK--We are all learning a lot about patience. Unfortunately, some of the conversation one might hear on the outside of the shop is not always that pleasant. It is a good project for us!

Here's what we have done so far

We have one week to go. We will rip some 1 X 6 boards and use them for the seat. Then need to sand and paint. Hope to let the boys pick out some paint colors on the way to the folk's next weekend. That should be a patience building experience too--especially since the chairs will be MY decoration--and I need them to look kind of matched and normal. I was thinking maybe some pastel kind of sunrise colors--we'll see who wins and what we come up with! Next plan is to find some small side tables that we can make to go in between our sets of two chairs--you know--to hold the pina coladas!!

Also found some of my roses blooming this afternoon--I wish I had kept track of the name of this rose! I love it so much. It has just a tinge of pink at the tips. No fragrance at all though--it's only downfall! Makes a fabulous show in a bud vase!

Below are the double knock out roses in front of my rock wall. They are in their 2nd season here, and I think looking good so far. I have some single knock out roses in the back that I received when my grandparents died so closely together a couple years ago. They are all pretty, but I love the double rosettes in this variety.

J got the apple trees and grape vines mulched in this evening. The deer have been enjoying the leaves off the new trees--which has made me sick! Seems that the trees are recovering well, except for my favorite--the Honey Crisp--I hope it will be ok. It seems to be re-leafing, though slowly. A couple grape vines are questionable--but there are 4 that look really good too. So tomorrow it is back to the daily grind. Hope everyone has a fabulous week! We're already looking forward to the trip back to see the family next weekend (after the infamous "play day" at school).

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Look at all the beautiful blooms I found on my Saturday morning stroll thru the yard. Can you believe that the blooms above are on a redbud bushing tree?? Most of its blooms got frozen during the blizzard. The silly thing has had a handful of blooms for the last several weeks! I keep thinking that it will stop, but there continue to be different blooms coming and going!

Don't remember where I got these pinkish iris from. But I gave several rhizomes to our minister's wife and they have now spread all along the south wall of the church! The yellow flowers are perennial snapdragons given to me by a patient of mine.

The orange honeysuckle has really taken off. Am hoping to see some hummingbirds in them one of these days!! I just wish it was fragrant.

These came from the house next door--I'm sure they have been around for many years!

Look at these beautiful iris. I got a small clump of the peach ones from my mom several years ago. This group was put into a bed created to be home to some dwarf Alberta spruce trees and Zuni crapemyrtle bushes. 2 small crowns are out of control with blooms. The purple and peach combination is a reblooming iris--has yet to rebloom. Behind it is an old fashioned spirea bush (actually 3 of them) that I stole from my mother-in-laws hedge 3 years ago. We also just mulched all that area into a large bed last fall. We put 3 blue spruce trees in there (supposed to be tall and skinny) and then I proceeded to dig out my 3 dwarf burning bushes and my butterfly bush. I can not believe how much better those bushes are doing since we moved them around. The burning bushes have hardly grown a bit since we got them 4 or 5 years ago. WOW--they are going to town now!

Here is some of our lettuce blend. Won't be much longer! I also got the cilantro and dill seedlings planted. I finally decided to put both those herbs into my west flower bed. Thought that was the best place to keep them well watered. They will also be able to reseed there with out being disturbed. Hope it works. I had eaten some kind of Mexican salad in a restaurant a while back and they had sprinkled cilantro leaves into the salad--That was a wonderful palate pleaser. So am looking forward to trying that out. I also hope to dry some of the leaves to put into some Mexican dip mixes that I like to make at Christmas for teacher gifts. The dill?? I am horrible at dill pickles--I just wanted to grow it for the butterflies!! J just rolls his eyes!! Speaking of butterflies, I started some butterfly weed in the basement this winter. I planted that several weeks ago and noticed the other day that something was eating it. I caught the monarch caterpillars in the act. Please forgive me--I squished them both. I can hardly grow their native host plants for them to carry out their life cycle if they are going to eat them before they even have a chance to multiply! Obviously they like them. I think the plant roots are deep enough now that they look like they will be ok!

Here is a picture of my blooming pyrocanthus bush. It has orange berries in the fall. I was looking around this afternoon noticing that there are several bushes in their third year here. This is the year they should really grow by leaps and bounds! Can't wait to watch it happen!

We got the backs shaped for our chairs this afternoon. And are hoping to attach the back to the bottom with the arms tomorrow afternoon. They are looking good. The boys got to do a little prairie dog hunting today too. They were excited. The boys worked on weeding in the garden a little this afternoon. Too much wind to mulch it in with newspapers. Hopefully some evening this week. Can't believe that school is out on Friday! WOW! Where does the time go? We're expecting a warmer day tomorrow! Can't wait!

All Because Two People Fell in Love

We attended a very special surprise party last Saturday. It was a birthday/anniversary celebration of J's grandparents. Grandma turned 80 on the 11th, Grandpa 86 today the 13th. And next week on the 20th they will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. WOW--What an event! We enjoyed cake and punch and good conversation. Several of their friends came out and Grandma's sister came down as well. I believe they were surprised and enjoyed it alot.

My mom's folks were married 65 years before my grandmother's death, and my dad's parents also celebrated over 60 years together before my grandpa died a couple years ago. J's other set of grandparents have been married nearly 60 years too. So I guess you can say that we truly come from "a long line of love!!" What a blessing!

Kodak Moment

Old fashioned purple iris--they smell yummy!

Dana, you would have been so disappointed in me today!! I missed the kodak moment of A LIFETIME!! I decided to sneak outside this afternoon for a bit while C slept to check on my yard. I had my camera in my hand and then decided to leave it in and return to get it if only if I saw something new blooming. That will never happen again. I had noticed some blooms from my kitchen window this morning out in my tree row. They were not the iris that I had put out there, so I went to check it out. As I approached, I heard the noise of grass swishing--not like a rabbit, but the noise that a snake makes, it was making a quick get-away. I stopped and not being able to see it anywhere, I proceeded on. I discovered the flowers below, purple phlox.


I was admiring their daintiness when I saw it--and you all will just have to use your imagination!! I won't ever forget it! Notice the small piece of cedar tree in the right upper corner. Perched on that branch with his head right above those blooms was a 5 foot long bullsnake draped across the branch. I liked to peed my pants!! I stood looking at him for a while (mostly trying to decide whether or not I should scream because he was a rattlesnake--which I read tonight don't get that long!). As I moved slowly around to look at his tail he started to drop off the branch for the ground. That was enough for me! What a fabulous picture that would have been. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

I actually killed a 18 inch long snake tonight near my garden. T noticed him. He looked like a rattlesnake to me, without any rattles yet, but granny confirmed that he was a bullsnake too. She killed one last week in her garden that was the same length and already had one rattle. So now I am back to being paranoid about C running thru the yard by herself--heck I'm even paranoid about myself running thru the yard! YUCK!! The joys of gardening in western Kansas!

Little C was sniffing the white iris. This is a reblooming type--I have found it in 3 different spots in my yard. The iris are all blooming again this year after I moved them around 2 years ago when we put in the waterfall. So am finding out where they all went to.

G made the coolest mother's day card at school on really nice paper with beautiful graphics. I was impressed with the thought and detail he put into making it. There are lots of flowers, the heart picture has a stethescope around it with a heart rythym on it, also a high jump pit and a basketball, and chocolates. I will have to get it framed!! The yellow gallardia picture to the upper right corner has a bee on it! Details, details!!

Well poor D missed his first real school field trip today. T complained of a stomach ache last night and stayed home from 4-H. D mentioned one too before he went to bed. This morning he had a tummy ache and diarrhea. So we kept him home. He was pretty disappointed the first 30 minutes, but then he was fine.

G had a blast at his. He thought the salt mine was so cool and thinks we definitely need to go back. He brought home a big chunk of salt that they gave to the kids. Pretty neat.

Was nice to have warmer weather today--now if we could find the sun and a little less wind--it would be perfect!

Mother's Day

WHEW. What a whirlwind week we have had here! School is winding down and there are a lot of activities to get through. This week was especially busy for me. I spent some part of every day in the schools. Monday I enjoyed teaching the freshmen girls about STD's and some of the possible repurcussions of having sex before it should be time. I am fortunate to be able to show some graphic pictures to them (you know, pictures are worth 1000 words!!) And I think they should have those images in their little heads so that they may remember that when the time comes to make a decision. I actually had a girl pass out this year. OH MY!! I was glad to hear them say on Friday (when I did their sports physicals for next year) that I had scared them to death and hopefully it made them think a little too.

Tuesday I put on my "mother" hat and spent all day reading to the classes as they came and got new books for Reading Is Fun AKA RIF. That was a lot of fun. When I was deciding what vocation I wanted to study in college, my choices were narrowed down to nursing and elementary education. I love little kids. . . but I did not go wrong in my choice! I would have been a poor and very unpatient teacher in a classroom all day! Now I get to "teach" for brief moments and then send them home. All in a day's work!!

Wednesday found me working as a track coach?!? I have spent many years wishing I could high jump over that bar just ONE more time. T was having some trouble getting his jumping down so I went down after work to help him out. So much fun!! A friend whose son was at practice that day told me that those jr high kids couldn't believe that I could jump and make it. . . Obviously, I am just an old married woman with many children--HAHA--who's laughin' now.

Thursday and Friday found me and my colleagues at the middle and high schools doing physicals. G survived his first sports physical without a scratch!

T jumped at the league track meet Thursday and felt good about it--so the extra work was worth it! He is now finished with track, and that will be nice. He also got all of his reading work completed this school year and got to go on a "mystery trip" that meant that no one had any idea where they were going--they just crawled on the bus, hoping for the best. They ended up going to Wichita and hung out at the mall, ate their lunch there and then went ice skating. T loved it and thought we should go back and do it again some day. Unfortunately, I got to see one of the kids in the ER that night who twisted his ankle and chunked off a small piece of bone when the tendon pulled! Junior high had a dance Saturday night. T and his friend were pretty wound up when they got home and we enjoyed hearing them tell their stories!

G has been helping me out in the garden. We got the rest of it planted earlier last week--tomatoes, sweet peppers, jalepeno peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, and sweet corn (D actually helped me plant everything, but G has taken over from there). He has started watering stuff, and we hope to be able to mulch it all down soon. He helped me finish planting a few things in the flower beds this afternoon in the chill. We made a "mother's day garden" on the north side of the house. C had given me a petunia for mother's day, our church always gives ladies annual flowers on mothers day, and my own mom brought me a beautiful geranium. We decided to put them all in the same location (and included a six pack of petunias that I started from seed myself) to brighten up the bed. He was a lot of help and it looks great! Can't wait to get my new adiarondack chairs out there and lounge! G has his class trip this week. They will go to the cosmosphere and the underground salt museum. I haven't been there yet myself!

D is looking forward to his class field trip on Tuesday. They are going to eat lunch at the park, go to the little zoo, and go bowling. He is mostly excited for lunch!

C is loving the outdoors and it is a fight to get her inside!! She was glad to get to sit on her Papa Don's lap in church this morning!

My folks came for an overnight visit this weekend. They don't get to do that very often, so we always enjoy it! Unfortunately, it was so rainy today that mom and I didn't get to go out and tour through the gardens, but we watched thru the windows. Mom saw a red headed woodpecker this morning, and we have been loving the music of the wrens. I have seen several Baltimore orioles lately and I think I saw a magpie this afternoon on my way in the driveway from work. It was big and plainly black and white--they do get to this part of the world--according to my books. I also saw one once last summer. Hope I cross it's path again. It was especially fun to have my mom around for mothers day and we enjoyed visiting!

Will have post pictures later this week on the special party we went to on Saturday afternoon! We are hoping for a less busy week. 4-H Monday night and that's about it. We are wishing for less 50 and 60 degree weather and more 70's--so it feels like spring! I guess the cool weather has been good for the vegetation! Enjoy the week!

Missing. . . the MAY DAY FAIRY

I witnessed an intrusion of my home the other day. It was the strangest thing you ever saw. I caught this little guy heading for my bedroom. I wondered what on earth he could be doing. He was very quiet, didn't say a word, but looked VERY mischievious.

He looked to the left

and then to the right

Satisfied that no one was looking, he proceeded to get to work

Then as quick as he was there, he was gone without a trace. This is all that was left. . . a pocket full of posies!!

He was about so high, weighed around 66 pounds, I couldn't see his eyes or face. I am calling him the May Day Fairy. If anyone has seen him, please let me know of his whereabouts--I think he needs a big KISS! Near as I could tell he MAY look a little bit like this kid below.

ANYONE???

Day at the Zoo

Grant's checking out his "wingspan"

Well, we braved the threat of soggy weather yesterday and took the kids to the zoo in Wichita. I believe it may have been the best climate that we have ever experienced there! There was very little wind, about 60 degrees, and overcast. The animals were fun to watch. C enjoyed the whole experience! She rode in her stroller and really took everything in! The kids fed the fish and ducks, as well as the peacock that would come up and eat out of your hand!

My sister and her crew came down and met us, my mom drove up and J's mom rode up with us too. Granny Jill hadn't been to the zoo for years and years, so lots of things were new to her.

Grandma Vickie was enjoying Cami's facial expressions!

My bunch decided that the rainforest was their favorite spot of the day (mine too, always has been!)

Granny and D are checking out the display

Kristi and Kadon

Kadon's eathing ANIMAL crackers at the ZOO (should that be against the rules???)

What a cute family--the male came out as

we got clear to the back side of the exhibit

Usually when we go to the zoo the animals are all laying on their sides panting for air! It was a nice change, and we only got sprinkled on once, for less than 5 minutes.

We ate supper at Two Brother's BBQ (none of us had ever eaten there before). It was really good, and the apple cobbler with fresh whipped cream was to DIE for!! As our luck had it, there was a Krispy Kreme right next door, so we hopped parking lots after supper and G and D picked out some doughnuts to take home for breakfast (a real treat!)

J enjoyed a quiet day at home working on his model A and was pleased with his progress. The rest of us were pleased that he stayed home, cause, while we love him. . . Granny was a lot more tolerant of poking along slowly at the zoo! J can only look for so long--before he is inclined to move on, and that is only about long enough to snap your fingers twice!

Today we went to our 2nd bow shoot. It was my first time to shoot the bow at any type of animal-like target. Last week we sighted it in on J's box target, which was the 2nd time I had even picked it up. So today was an experience. They have about 11-12 different life sized targets ranging from deer and a bear, to a fox and a turkey with all shapes and sizes in between. Then they are strategically placed around their grove of trees and cool babbling creek. You walk from target to target and shoot them. I informed the girls that it was highly possible that I would still pick up the bow upside down or backwards trying to remember how it all worked. But Robin Hood, look out!! I had a blast!! I was close to hitting the first several targets, but when I got it figured out, I hit most of them. Only one bruise on my arm today, so I am getting the hang of it. The first round we shot in two groups--divided up girls and guys. The second round there were only 5 of us shooting so we all shot together. The look on J's face was priceless when I hit the first target. He was pretty sure that it would not go smoothly for me (so was I, but I was game to try anyway) The host couldn't believe that this was only the 3rd time I had ever shot. I thought that was a good sign-hope next time goes as well. Anyway, I think that I am hooked. Who would have ever guessed?? Maybe someday I'll post from Alaska with the bear I shoot! (just kidding, really!!)

Tristan and I smiling for Grandma Vickie

Well, looks like the weather may warm up a little this week, we hope so. Hope to get my garden planted on Thursday--the farmer's almanac says that is a good day. Our lettuce is coming up and even have some red lettuce sprouted. The dill and cilantro are up too. We need to till the garden again and get our goods set out! Have a great week!