Tom Sawyer

Here is the fence that I scavenged from the neighbor's yard. (They weren't using it.) I looked around to see what kind of fence I would like and I liked theirs. So I knocked on the door and introduced myself and asked if I could have their fence. And they thought about it and decided I could. There were a couple of problems. Like how I was going to get it from their yard to my yard. And the fact that it looks like it belongs in a scary cemetery. But I did not let that deter me.

I got six ten-foot sections from which I should be able to salvage about 3 pretty good sections. Some of the wood is in bad shape, but that is what gives it character. I like it. I have been working on sanding and today I started priming. Notice that there aren't any people in my fence pictures. Mark Twain would have you believe that if you start painting a fence people will show up and beg to help you. And give you things in the process. Here is the sanding. And the painting.

But no helpers. Dave says maybe I didn't look like I was having a good time. I don't think my passersby would know a good time if they saw one. Cause I was having a good time. I offered Dave the choice of sanding or painting and he chose painting. If he could have chosen to pass by he would have, but I didn't offer that as a choice. Doesn't he look like he is having a good time?

We also walked over to the building center and bought posts. Now I just need someone to help build the posts and reassemble my sections into a fence in my yard. Maybe Micah would like to do this. While he is here he can build me some storage cabinets over the dog kennel. And a few 'built-ins' in the big room. You know, in keeping with my 'craftsman style' house. I'd let him do that for me, cause I hate to keep all the fun to myself.

A Story of 3 (or 4) Moms

Story #1--Mom # 1
Or should I call her #1 Mom?
When my mother was a little girl there was a truckload of people going down the street in her little town. A child in the front seat stuck his head out the window to shout something to someone in the bed of the truck as they were going past a telephone pole. The back of the child's head struck the telephone pole. My mother recounted this story any time one of my six siblings or I stuck our head out the car window. Or any time we drove past a telephone pole. And occasionally at bedtime. Just to remind us NEVER to stick our head out the car window. Consequently, and because I have a visual image of this accident created in my head, I never allowed my children to stick ANY body part out the car window. Not your head. Not your arm. Not your feet. Don't let me see your little finger wiggling outside the window. Or I'll have to tell you Grandmas's gruesome story of the little boy from Summerhill.

Story #2--Mom #2
And that is too high to be a ranking. Just ordinal.
One day, on the way to vist my mother, I had Abi strapped safely in her carseat in the back seat and the window down just a little, (You know, just in case she forgot and tried to stick a body part out.) when the child started screaming hysterically. You know the kind of scream that involves blood or pain. I glanced back, pulled over, examined the child and could find no reason for her distress. I calmed her and continued to drive about 10 minutes to my Mom's house. When I unbuckled Abi from her car seat and lifted her out a dead bee fell from the folds of her shirt. The bee had flown in the window as I was driving 55 mph down the road and stung her while she was strapped in the car seat. How was I to know?

Story #3--Mom #3
Hang with me--I'll connect them in a minute.
A six year old is strapped in her car seat. The window is down just a little. She ties one end of the jump rope to her hand and puts the other end out the window. It wraps around the axle and severs her hand. She screams, her mother pulls over. And sees a bloody stump. With no reasonable explanation.

Mothering is something you always keep learning. You learn from books, and from your Mom's advice. And her mistakes and your own mistakes. You learn to ask questions and you learn to ask better questions. (Will there be a boat?) But at the end of the day you find out that there is one more thing that you should have done or one more thing that you could have worried about. And sometimes you just find yourself on the side of the road wondering what the heck just happened here?

One reason it is good to have your kids close together: If you mother for too long it is too hard. On everyone.
So as Alex goes out the door to school I tell him to be honest, respectful, responsible and not to tie a rope around ANY body part and put the other end out the car window.

Story #4--Mom #4
Claire will be a year old tomorrow. She has a great mother. I resist the urge to call her and ask if she's seen that news story about the little girl and the jump rope. Mothering is hard enough.

Sometimes the best thing to do is pray and trust the Father. Is it that I am a slow learner or just that there is so much to learn?.

Rate My Space

The big reveal of the dining room...

I have scavenged a wedding cake chandelier for the ceiling, but it needs to be rewired. Maybe when Carter drops by he'll bring a friend who will know how to do this. Here's hoping...

Notice the new arrangement of the fruit pictures. It is a rectangular arrangement in keeping with the craftsman style of the house. Dave says if he hears the words 'Craftsman Style' one more time he will block HGTV. I think it is in my package with ESPN so I am safe.

(See Dixie hoping that soon I will stop taking pictures and take her for a walk. She is the eternal optimist.)

Yellowstone

Okay, here are a few of my clearer pictures from the day...

Big Foot and the Missus Out For a Stroll

From the wilds of Wyoming...
...I know this is a little blurry, but I think that just adds to the authenticity. This may be the first sighting of a pair of Big Feet. Remember--you saw it here first.

Retirement Plans

Last weekend was the Pork and Putt. It is a church event where you eat pork and then you play putt-putt golf. The catch here is that there is not a miniature golf course with in a Wal-Mart's distance from here. But no problem for resourceful people in Dodge City. They just build their own. Yes, each family builds a miniature golf hole and sets it up in the church side yard. This is a lot of pressure on the new family. But I think we rose to the occasion.

We built Gobbler's Knob as a tribute to our Pennsylvania roots. Complete with an amazing likeness of Punxy Phil. (You may be interested to know that the large cardboard tube was on the truck because PD knew about the Pork and Putt months ago and thought the tube would come in handy. As would a certain certain piece of outdoor furniture which was not on the truck, but forget I even mentioned that.) You had to putt up the ramp, into the hole, then the ball rolled down through the tube and into the cup on the bottom green. Par 2.

I decided that we will build a new hole each year and after just 18 years we will have our own course which we can set up in the yard around the house. Then Alex kindly calculated my age in 18 years. So clearly this will be how I will spend my retirement years. Sitting in the rocker on my front porch handing out score sheets and little pencils to tourists. The prize for getting a hole in one will be a homebaked cookie. Alex suggested we invite Aunt Nancy to do the baking. Dave suggested we invite Aunt Sara to clean up after us. We will name it after my other sister. 4DS Minnie-Golf. Owned and operated by three little old ladies and their much younger little sister. So I only have to put in 18 years at Dodge City Federal and I'm good to go.

Also, the difference between lab work and bank work: In the lab all of the crap is carefully labelled and sealed in little cups. You decide if you want to open the cups and deal with it before or after lunch. At the bank you never know when crap will just come flying at you and you just have to deal with it when it happens.

Good News

Today it is 84 degrees and sunny.

One Way of Looking At It

The new grass is starting to grow. In a hair plug sort of way. Just a few tufts here and there. At first I was greatly encouraged to see single sprouts of green and then a definate green haze over the whole yard. But the more it grows the more uneven and scattered and weird it looks. Six by six foot sections with three blades of grass. Go figure. It is one of those things that is greatly influenced by my mood. When I am feeling good about everything the grass is growing and everything is green. When I am less than happy, the yard is a blotchy mess of straggly grass that requires great amounts of watering. Oh and more bad news. Today it was 84 degrees and sunny. The grass will probably grow like crazy and need mowed before it snows. And guess whose lawnmower wasn't on the truck??!!

What Not To Wear

Alex's crocs with crop pants.

(And my ankles are one of my best features. That's why I cropped the rest of me out of this picture. And really--its all about the shoes today.)

Have You Seen My Shoes?

A Pictorial Essay

The shoes I wore yesterday beside the bed.

My running shoes in the downstairs bathroom. My slides at the bottom of the stairs.

Three pairs of shoes in the living/dining room. All mine.

A pair just outside the front door.

The closet organizer designed especially for shoes in my walk-in closet.

Mangled--From the Trip West Archives

This is the picture of Dave's bike after it was dragged along the interstate. Thanks to Alex for having the presence of mind to snap this picture. Dave and I were busy trying not to snap at each other. Or just snap--period.

Going Green

A busy weekend pretending I was on HGTV. Two projects that are not quite ready for the big reveal, but here are the teasers.

First, the dining room wall. Just opening the paint can and seeing the color was a big surprise. (Somehow it always looks different from the paint chip.) But I did not let it deter me. I used blue tape just like on TV. I cut in around the edges and rolled the middle. I worked pretty much alone except for my imaginary friend Carter Osterwise who told me what a great job I was doing and wondered if I would like him to build me a little bench under the window. (I guess he will come by and do that project another day.)

The second project was an episode of curb appeal. See all my friends who came to help. And wait--is that Alex shoveling manure? Either I am very loved or Lori's sweet rolls are very yummy. Spread manure and planted grass seed on about half the yard. Got a permit so I can water it. The second half will wait for Spring. Found a little lilac bush when Dixie and I were out for a run on Saturday morning. (Good thing I don't run so fast or I wouldn't be able to find these treasures along the way.) Always makes me feel good to plant things. It is such a hopeful thing to do. Although it would be easier if I had use of my alternate hands--remember--the bucket and the shovel?

Stay tuned for the Big Reveal.

Not On The Truck

Don't worry, I am not going to start whining now about the picnic table, or the grill, or my downstairs vacuum cleaner. What I am missing is my jean jacket. I really have no right to whine about this since I almost stole the jacket in the first place. I justified it by saying that the owner of the jacket moved and left it behind. In an odd twist of fate it seems I have left the jacket behind. Unwittingly. So if you have seen my jacket, if I left it with you or at your house or hanging on a clothesrack somewhere or in your car, I just want to say that it was quite by accident. I did not gift my jacket to you. I would appreciate it if you would return it. To me. (The original owner clearly has no rights remaining where this jacket is concerned. Sorry, Ab.)

Horse Hockey

Last week I bought two little trees for the front yard. But before I could plant them, I needed to enrich my soil. So I inquired about some manure. Today a very nice lady delivered two bags of horse manure to my front door.
Yesterday Dave tilled up about half the yard. The very nice lady took one look at our soil and offered to deliver a pick up truck full of manure on Saturday. I must be destined to work with poop.
Yesterday I started my job at the IBHF. Good news--we send out all stool cultures and O&P's.
Tomorrow I start my job at the bank. Hopefully, I won't have to deal with any of that there.

Moose and Squirrel

I survived the camping trip.

We were in The Big Horn National Forest. Between Tie Flume and Dead Swede campgrounds. It was beautiful. Some things we did: (a colon for you, Ami!)

1. Rode quads. Alex rode first. Before I had a chance to ask any questions. When he returned (in one piece) he says to me,"Mom, if you knew what we were doing, you would have never let me go."

So the next time I went too. Part of the the warning label says do not operate without proper instruction or training. I'm pretty sure I had neither. What I did have was a good time. On the way back to camp Dave and I switched places and I rode on the back of Alex's quad. I'm pretty sure that's how the Swede died.

Alex: We need to get one of these.

Me: How much do you think one of these costs?

Alex: I don't know, but I'm sure it's worth every penny.

2. Slept in our tent. We bought a queen sized air mattress. It almost filled out little tent, so we had to almost slide in on our bellies. Alex and Dixie slept pretty well. Dave and I, not so much. My toes got cold and I was claustrophobic from sleeping so close to the top of the tent.

3. Played games--all sorts. We played a dice game called Greed and and card game called Avarice. (No really it was called something about up and down a railroad track.) And Dave played several matches of Bocci Ball. It becomes a whole new game played by a group of men in a forest. One of the guys called it "Jungle Bocci".

4. Ate all of our meals cooked over an open fire. Used the mountain pie maker. Made smores and banana boats. Had bacon and dippy eggs this morning. Can you say "Cabelo's"?

5. Saw wildlife. Because it is an open range area, there were cows wandering in and out of the area where we were camping. Squirrels which drove Dixie crazy. Grey Jays, (They look and act like bluejays, but they aren't blue) which the locals called camp robbers. And one large bull moose. Just walking through the woods. Way cool.

6. Went fishing. Dave did this with a few guys away from the campsite. I was not invited to go. Still no fishing for me. I did take along a book from the library called Reel Women, about women who fly fished. I read chapters one and two.

Last night it started to rain, and thunder and lightning, and this afternoon on our way down the mountain we drove through snow. Who would have guessed. Now I am doing laundry. Not a bad way to spend a long weekend.