A Few Pictures From Recent Life

Roses from my man for Valentines Day. Those roses made me happy!

Benny

Gwen and Benny from when Gabes were here recently for a visit. They played nicely together most of the time.

And my goofball again. And no, he's not this angelic all of the time. 

I was going to post pictures of Benny's room, but the pictures are still on the camera. I'll try again soon.

A Post About Life

     My toddler is sleeping. I am enjoying the quiet "me" time. He woke up very grouchy and didn't want to eat breakfast. I'm suspecting the large bump at the back of his gum had something to do with it. Sigh. He climbs on everything he possibly can. He can say a few words, "no", "down" and "ouch" being the most recognizable. Other communicating is done by pointing and saying "Uh? uh?". I think that perhaps it would have been a good idea to teach him sign language, an idea that I sort of scoffed at. He had several weeks of horribly restless nights, and I was at my wits end to decide if something was wrong or if he was just being bratty. Finally as I thought about it, I remembered that his nights started being bad about the time I tried introducing milk. I quit trying to give him milk and presto! He started sleeping better at night. Hmm. Perhaps there is a connection there. But now what? Can a toddler grow strong bones on juice?
     I got a gardening catalog in the mail yesterday. Now I am dreaming. My problem is that I'd love to have all kinds of flowerbeds with nice flowers in them, but I have a hard time keeping them clean. Ah well. I want to try doing strawberries in a raised bed, so I'm going to be researching that this winter.
     We are having a very warm and snow-less winter so far. I keep wondering if we are going to get real winter. The lakes aren't really frozen over yet, and the snowmobile trails aren't exactly open. 
     The other day we were driving down the freeway, and we passed an ambulance that was on the way back from a run. There was an EMT sitting in the back smoking. Wasn't that sort of well, dangerous? And stupid?
     People always said that being a parent would teach you humility and unselfishness. And it does I suppose. But I think the biggest thing I have been sort of learning, or seeing I will learn, is patience. A child does not learn his lesson after one or even two times. At least my child doesn't. And so we go over and over it again. Multiple times a day.
     I am hoping to spend the rest of my week cleaning house. And next week I am going to hopefully finish organizing Benny's room and get ready to paint it. But, plans often don't work like you want them to. :)

Summer and Stuff

Jalon R. and Benny after church Sunday.

    It's a classic Wisconsin summer day out there. One of those days that makes you want to just live out of doors. I planted garden while Benny napped. It's supposed to be nice the rest of the week. I read on AccuWeather today that those of us that live in the Great Lakes region might not have summer. Meaning that our temperatures won't top 90 very often. Sounds good to me!!
    Yesterday the family was here and helped us get our yard work done. It's amazing how much work you can accomplish with more then just two people. Maybe we need to hire some servants or something.
     Here is a picture for your enjoyment. It was taken several weeks ago; I found it the other day and remembered I threatened to post it.  Can't you just see the ego?

HOW REAL MEN SHOOT CROW

Don't worry, no crows were harmed in the filming of this picture. After all, pellet guns aren't noted for being able to hit their target at 100+ feet. Especially not crows.  

It's Spring!

    The last two days have been lovely!! Benny and I enjoyed being outside. Benny discovered that dried leaves are fun to crush, but not so fun to eat. :)  I cleaned out my flower bed and took note of what survived the winter and my gardening abilities. Afterward I sat down with a Jungs Seed magazine and did some more dreaming and scheming. I think this year I'll add butterfly bush and hollyhocks. I also want to try morning glory again. Last year they never came up, but last year was a dud year for gardening, at least for me. Today I planned to rake leaves off my lawn, but I discovered the rake is still solidly frozen in a cake of ice in the shed. I'm afraid the grass might grow before the rake is freed.
     I'm ready to tackle spring cleaning and organizing. It quite overwhelming to think about though. But it's going to feel good when I'm done and stuff is organized and unnecessary stuff is thrown away. Then I can go buy more stuff....hopefully NOT.
     Speaking of buying stuff, we went to a thrift store in a town about 45 minutes from here. It was a fun store, and I found quite a few treasures. One of which was an old rocking horse. His mane and tail need some help, and he needs a few coats of finish, but it's good and solid. I knew it was one of those things I'd kick myself for the rest of my life if I didn't get it. And Clark didn't think there was much question about whether or not to leave it there.  Someday perhaps I'll show you a picture of it.
     Tonight we are going to have hamburgers for supper. That will be a nice spring time treat. Clark also talked about starting on our back room. I think we've finally figured out how to turn it into a bed/storage area that's going to be workable and look nice.
     Another thought, it struck me when I was reading Genesis 1 this week, that God created heaven. I guess I always thought that He lived in heaven, and stooped to coming to earth. But nope, He created heaven too, on the second day. Wonder why we don't really hear about it. And it makes God seem way bigger, if he has to stoop to even fit in heaven, let alone earth.
     That's my thought for the day. Enjoy spring!!

As Time Goes On

     It's March. The days are warm(er). We are dreaming and scheming of home and yard improvement projects. A trip to Menards to window shop is planned. One of these days Clark and I will attempt to dig into the depths of the back room for the box of painting supplies (yes, it will take both of us!), and I will finish the bathroom project that got interrupted when I was pregnant with Bendick. Spring is always so full of the promise of life, and I get the ambition for projects.
     Benny has figured out how to explore his world. He doesn't go very far, or very fast, but he certainly gets around. He's been hinting that he'd like to try big people food, and I've been sort of ignoring him. I did order a food grinder that should be here next week.  I"m going to have a classic mommy moment now, and wonder why he couldn't stay little just a bit longer?
     I'm supposed to teach Nehemiah 6 for ladies Sunday School this coming Sunday. It's been interesting. I have a feeling that Nehemiah was perhaps one of those men we wouldn't get along with very well. He had a vision, and he pursued it, and he got it fulfilled.
     Oh and as a postscript to the last post, the next problem was coming home from Northern MN and discovering that our drain had frozen. In the process of thawing the drain, Clark discovered that our mobile home is in danger of slipping off it's foundation.  So, yet another project added to the to-do list. It's not anything dangerous yet, so we can hopefully wait for a nice warm day after the snow goes.
      And that's everything from our house for now. Have a good weekend everyone!

The Happy Things In Life

A Happy Spot on My Piano

Chicken Potpie

 

Another Happy Corner

Old friends...New friends

Fun Projects

 

And a Happy Spot

Baby Curls...

...Fingers and Toes...

...And smiles!!

Thrift Store Finds!

Yet Another Happy Place

This Person...

...And This Person.

Captured Memories and Moments.

 A Happy Spot!

And Pretty Scenes...

"These are a few of my favorite things!"

A Few Questions

     5:30 am is way too early to be starting a blog post. It's also way too early to be out of bed as well. A certain son of mine needed to have his diaper changed, and he doesn't sleep through diaper changes as well as he used to be able to. So he is currently lying on the floor beside me halfheartedly playing toys. In a few minutes he will be sleepy, and we will head back to bed for a few hours of sleep.
     We had our snowstorm. It wasn't as dramatic here as they had predicted at one point; the main thrust of the storm went south of us. Sometime I want a storm to hit us with a foot of snow. But we did get about 8 inches out of this storm, which was a nice amount. It's terribly cold now. We ended up going to Mom and Dad's for the storm because Mom needed Clark's help to reformat her computer.

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      Well, that was as far as I got yesterday. So let's see... what else. Oh, how does one get a three month old to go to bed at a reasonable hour of the night? We're really struggling with that, and even when I keep him awake through the evening, I still struggle to get him to settle before 11. Last night I was SURE that when he went to sleep at 9:30 or so, we were looking at an early bedtime, because he hadn't napped for more then half hour stretches through out the day. But nope, at 10 he woke up, and so I fed him, then it was up, down, up, down, up, down for the next hour, literally at least that many times. So.....sigh. Last week I decided that he's old enough to reschedule to an earlierbedtime, and it worked beautifully one night. Not so since. Arrrgh! And two hours is all he can handle being awake at one stretch, after that we have emotional meltdown time. So, any ideas from any experienced moms out there? Please? Or isn't he big enough to do this yet?

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     Let's see, what else? I found a few recipes that I want to try for holiday baking yet. I found a recipe for making peppermint patties, only I need to see if in the end it's going to be "cheaper" to make my own rather then just buying them. I found a recipe for thumbprint jam cookies that I want to try. I got that inspiration from Kay's blog.

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     We have ladies Bible study tonight, and we are going to start the book "Having a Mary Heart In a Martha World". I read through the first chapter (barely had time for that, HA!), and I'm looking forward to discussing it tonight. I have a few questions though.  I'd like to know why everyone thinks I have "so much time on your hands, why you only have one child". Ha! I realize that life would be busier with more children but still...  And why do we place expectations on ourselves that certain things are good and Godly and Biblical to do, when the Bible doesn't say anything about it?  Like homeschooling, and raising your own food, and nursing your baby instead of bottle feeding, and having lots of children, and stuff like that? (So I thought I'd pick close-to-home subjects.) I mean, that's all stuff that I do/would like to do (not sure right now about the lots of children part), but in the end does it really matter?

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Benny has been sleeping for the last few hours (it's afternoon now). He needed to. I hope he cooperates tonight though. I think I shall publish this post now.

Home Again

     We are home from a two week trip. We took several young people to a Youth Bible School in PA. Which was fun and enlightening. Were we ever that silly when we were that age?  And energy drinks CAN'T be good for you. And how on earth can you stay up that late every night and not pay for it? I guess we aren't as young as we used to be. I remember when I went how the older students would go to bed early and I couldn't figure out why. I know now.
     We had a nice time in PA with various friends and relations. Another interesting thing was that the people I recognized or know from my years of going to the YBS there, were mostly married and had children of their own. Hmmm.
     Benny got to meet two of his great-grandmas. Which was very good. He did very well on the trip, except for getting exceedingly tired of his car seat. He's terribly grumpy this morning. He's also starting to throw fits. Why can't he wait to do that for a few months/years yet?
     There was snow on the ground when we got home. I think winter is pretty much here to stay. I love winter, especially here in the woods. I absolutly HAVE to listen to Christmas music when I see snow. So I've spent the last several days doing that. The only problem being that I am afraid I am going to run out of time on my Pandora Radio.
     I collected home making ideas on this trip. I feel like I've been AWOL to my house for the last year while I was doing baby. So, I'm going to clean corners. I'm going to finish painting the second bathroom. I'm going to buy potpourri and make my rooms smell good. I'm going to find a cabinet or shelves for the empty cubby hole in the main bathroom. I'm going to decorate for Christmas after Thanksgiving. I'm going to make cheery table runners, or find them in thrift stores. I'm going to recover the nasty living room pillows. I'm going to burn candles more often.  I'm going to spend more time at menu planning and purposeful grocery shopping.Maybe I'll get a start on painting my bedroom. My grandma gave me a quilt top that I am being severely tempted to put in a frame and quilt on winter evenings.  I am sounding WAY too ambitious.
     Well, seeing Benny Bear is sleeping, I had best get to work. Laundry, dishes and finishing unpacking. There is a nasty smell wafting around this morning, and I can't figure out what it is or where it's coming from. I remember it from last winter when I was pregnant. Yuck. So I want to find the source and eradicate it. See you all later.

This 'n That

     I'm still alive. We are all doing very well. I've tried to update several times but somehow the posts never made it out of the drafting stage.
     It's Saturday morning. Benny is lying on the table playing with his toys. He rolled over for the first time this week, so I suppose that his days of playing on the table are swiftly coming to a close. He's growing and healthy, and happy and smiling; we are thankful for that. He's a very good baby.

     I've been spending my spare time the last few weeks assembling a new wardrobe. Only new moms, or the really rich I suppose, get to have a totally new wardrobe twice the same year. That's the positive way to look at it I guess. We are leaving on a two week trip next week, so I'm on a time crunch. I gave the last dress to be sewed to Amy, so I hope she has fun with it. I think I blew the pattern when I cut that one out. :(    Clark and I are going to Rice Lake as well, and I'm hoping I find stuff that fits, and I like, in the stores there. HA! I'm not counting on it. I am having fun shopping for regular clothes again though.
     We had a lot of fun last weekend when Gabes were here. I discovered later the we didn't get any pictures of Benny and Gwen together, unless someone else did and I didn't see them.  Except for this one.

Marmee with two of the grand kiddos.

     The weather is cold and winterish after that mega-storm earlier this week. I woke up Tuesday morning and my ears were popping. I thought it was kind of weird, but didn't figure out why until I read the news reports that the pressure was as low as a Category 3 hurricane. Hmmmm....  We didn't have much damage around here, which surprised me; I thought maybe my whole yard of aspen trees would depart and I 'd get to start over. Which actually wouldn't have been very funny, cause I'm sure that the house would have suffered in that case as well.

     Well, the small person on my table is beginning to voice his dis-content to the world (they start young don't they?), so I suppose I shall soon have to move on to other things. I'm going to try to upload a picture or two if I can find any nice ones. I hope you all have a good weekend.

Random Bits

     Well I think it's time for another post. I'm not exactly sure what to post about. I was wondering around the Internet looking at various peoples blogs, and felt very inadequate to post anything remotely interesting. I've decided that the people with the more interesting blogs (1.) are social people to begin with and (2.) have children to post about. I feel like my posts run along the same lines, pregnancy, gardening, weather, and maybe what we've been doing lately. Maybe you all should give suggestions about topics for me to post about. And then I won't promise to post on those!
     We had a Skrivseth reunion this weekend, but Clark is preparing a post on that, so I'm not going to steal his thunder. I will say that it was very fun and enjoyable, and I enjoyed learning to know everyone better. The fun part for me is that Clark is the oldest grandson, so a few of his aunts are not very much older then he is. Which makes them about the same place in life that I am, so we have lots of things in common. It was good to reflect on family and heritage.
     We've had a lot of rain this summer, and quite a few bad storms. I think we've run to safer quarters about 4 or 5 times now. One Saturday night we crept into moms a little after 10:30, and left again at 5:30. If Grandma hadn't come down in the middle of the night, no one would ever have known we were there. Ok so that was the weather post. I've been able to have my windows open all day and night for about 4 days in a row now. I can't remember when that last happened!
     The gardening bit, not much to report. My garden and flower bed wimped out this year. Not sure if it was the weather or the garden or the gardener. I do have lovely carrots. I planted blueberries as an experiment, we'll see how they do. The one plant already looks a little sad. 
     The pregnancy part, well let's see. It's getting awfully close for comfort. I've got less then three weeks now. I was looking at pictures from the weekend, and told Clark that I can see the extra  **lbs. If I gain that much with each pregnancy, help!! I washed car seat covers etc. today , and took bleach water after what I couldn't launder. We still need to set up the crib and rearrange the bedroom. I need to go shopping for a few odds and ends. The poor child will come into this world with no socks or blankets if I don't do something about it soon. What are some things you all wish you would have had for you or the baby that you didn't have? I have a list but I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting. I asked at the reunion this weekend, and Evie mentioned those ear/nose bulb thingys. Which is a necessary thing I had totally forgotten about, so I'm sure I haven't thought of everything else either.
     I've been enjoying the cooler weather. It makes me think of fall. I always get the itch to start school or something at this time of year. I guess that once you do school for 12 years you can't shake the feeling at the turn of summer. So I plan projects and dig out old handwork and get the urge to raid the local library. I've decided to read up on history, since that was my favorite subject in school.
   So anyway, that's the latest from me. There's ladies Bible study tonight, but I decided I'd rather stay in my house and spend a cozy eve. with my man. Clark and I are hoping to spend time on the water Sat. fishing or something. I suppose that will be the last of my boating and fishing for the season.
    Have a good week, all of you!

Life...

...has been busy!!! I'm hoping that we're slowing down a little, but some days I look at the calendar and wonder!  I'm going to try to sum up our last month. Each subject should be a blog post of it's own but that's not going to happen.
     The last month has been  a whirlwind of activity for us. Dru and Lisl came home on rather short notice for a two month visit. We are enjoying having them here, and playing with their little guy. He's a lot of fun.
      We went camping with the Grabers again this summer. It was the best year we've had yet I think. Except for little fish and big mosquitoes.  It wasn't long enough as usual. Some one asked me once, "Do you really have as much fun camping as you make it sound?" Yup, we sure do. I guess you have to like camping to enjoy it though. And it is a lot of work and planning before hand. The babies did very well camping, which was impressive I thought.
     Melinda and Austin got married July 17'th. I was involved with the bridal shower and other odds and ends. They had a very nice wedding (Aren't all weddings nice?).Between the two of us only having parts of our brains working,  Melinda and I did manage to freeze the guys boutonnieres. There were a few moments of panic when we discovered it 5 hours later, but fortunately there were more roses at the local grocery store. Monica, Abbey and Frances made them up during rehearsal and saved the day. I felt bad cause it was partly my fault, and wished I could have helped, but arranging flowers is not one of my talents. I think everything else went off without any major glitches. Mel, in two years we'll look back and laugh at that incident. :)
     Summer is whizzing by. It's been warm and we're having decent amounts of rain this year. We've had the AC running more this year then any other so far. My garden and flowerbed are wimpy for some reason. I think I need to compost it really good this fall and see if that helps. It also doesn't help that some of my trees got taller since we moved in, and so there is more shade. I want to get a few canoeing and fishing trips in before my fishing days come to an end this season. Not sure if it's going to happen or not.
     Pregnancy is going well. Though in the last week I can tell I'm not as energetic. I've had a very normal pregnancy, but whenever I hear of someone losing their baby, or having one come early, I've been thankful for how normal mine has been. So far I have locked myself out of the house three times. I also forget every now and then that I have extra poundage on my front, and try to run. It hasn't worked very well, especially when the grass is wet. I've only get six weeks or so left. Wow! That's scary!!
     Clark has a 'new' work car. I was making derogatory comments about his other car, it wasn't safe, no matter how loudly he insisted it was. So when we saw a little car for sale for a very reasonable price, I insisted he check it out. Neither of us has repented of buying the new one yet. I hope we don't have occasion to. The old one is rusting in peace on the back lots at Dads. So far there has been one person that has stopped and inquired about buying it for parts, amazingly enough. I didn't realize how bad of a feeling I had about it until we got the new one. Clark has admitted to me since that the old one really wasn't safe after all.
     I hope this has given you a glimpse into our lives. Someday I will learn how to write interesting posts, maybe.

When I Consider The Heavens...

   I woke up the other night and was looking out the window at the stars. And I got to thinking about how when I was about seven, my Dad showed me the Big Dipper. I never forgot it. I remember especially coming in from the barn on crisp fall nights when the stars were out, and seeing the Milky Way, and smelling wood smoke, and finding the Big Dipper. One time when I was about 11 or so, there was an adult that was looking at a cluster of stars and wondering if it was the Big Dipper (it wasn't, he was maybe even looking the wrong direction), and I was shocked that there were grown up people in the world that had no clue how to find the Big Dipper or the North Star.
   Another time I remember Dad and I had the binoculars out for some reason. And we decided to look at the sky through them. And even though it wasn't a high powered telescope, we did see stuff you can't see with a bare eye.
   One time Dad was doing chores for a neighbor, and he dug me out of bed at 5 am to see something in the sky. I can't exactly remember if it was a spectacular display of Northern Lights, or the Hale-Bopp comet. I think it may have been both. I do remember that it was winter, and I was shivering and not exactly sure whether it was worth getting out of bed to see or not. But I guess it made an impression, because I remember it all these years later.
   I also remember a complete lunar eclipse the occurred around the same time, and we stayed up really late to watch it.
   Another time we were out doing chores, and there was a hard rain storm about a mile or so south of us. We were watching the clouds, when a little white finger dipped down and started spinning. That was rather exciting, even though there was no danger. I think we saw about four different fingers from that cloud. I remember that we were supposed to be hosting prayer meeting at our house that night, and Mom got rather frantic we wouldn't be ready in time because we were out watching the funnels.
   I live in the woods now, and I can't see the Big Dipper very easily from my house. But whenever we get out to a clear view, I still look for the Big Dipper. So Dad, thanks for teaching me how to look for the small things in life. Someday I hope to be able to show my children how to recognize the Big Dipper. Happy Fathers Day!!!

I've been told that I should post again. Yes, well, I'm not sure there is anything terribly new or different in my life. It's really unseasonably cold right now. I mean like, we had snow on Fri. Yeah, really, we did!!! And since we turned our furnace off for the season, the house is rather chilled (one of our two electric heaters gave up the ghost). So I figure if I sit on the couch wrapped in my fuzzy and blog, at least I can keep from feeling guilty over the state of my house, which is a disarray of laundry and unpacking. I can also put off trying to figure out a snack for kids club tonight (if anyone has good,kid-friendly snack ideas that don't take a lot of time to make, please leave your suggestions!).

We went on a weekend retreat to the South Shore of Lake Superior. We got a really neat cabin, one of the best we've had yet. It had a huge backyard that ended at the lake shore, and you couldn't see any other cabins around it. Oh and the best part was that had a real fireplace that burned real wood. We had a fire going all weekend. I told Clark I wanted to take that fireplace home with me (it would feel good today!!). So anyway, we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We were close to Porcupine Mountains State Park, so we did some hiking as well. My husband thought I was crazy for some of the stuff I hiked. Like a half mile hike up a mountain, ending with a 40 ft. observation tower. I took it slow and easy and sat when we came to a bench, and everything is fine and dandy I think.  I think there will be pictures posted on Picasa of our weekend at some point in the future.

It was good to get away and relax. I realized how busy we've been in the last six weeks this weekend. Since the beginning of April, we've been at our church every other Sunday. I feel like I only know half or less of what's going happening in other peoples lives. Maybe life will slow down for a month or so. Ha! Fat chance! Clark asked me last night if there is a way that life can be lived "like we did this weekend, not sitting around doing nothing, just have a relaxed mindset".
I went to garage sales with my mom the other weekend, and got a nice lot of baby things. The only thing I need yet is a crib. I've decided that part of being a mom is worrying about our kids. Pretty much from before they are born until one of us dies I suppose. I know I worry about my baby, and I see other moms worrying about their children at all ages and stages of life. (BTW, I'm not using worry in a bad way here, I'm not sure what the better wording would be. Concern maybe? And I do think that we as moms can legitimately "worry" about our children as long as we don't obsess over it.)
So anyway, that's a little of what's going on in our lives right now. I planted garden two weeks ago or so (when it was warm!), and now I'm wondering if I should have listened to my intuition and Grandma Graber's wisdom. We'll see I suppose. It appears that my established perennials survived the snow and frost last weekend, so I am hoping for the best. And my pansies survived the winter and are coming back, which has really surprised me. The same with the sage. I doubt from the looks of the weather forecast that I will be digging in dirt much this week.
And now my husband and his mom are conniving to get me up to her house for the afternoon and eve., because my man cares about me and thinks I should be in a warmer location. So I shall finish my laundry, eat a lunch, shower and wash my hair, mix up cookie dough, then take my scrap booking and spend the afternoon with mom and the girls. See you all later.
Edited to add: Here is the link to a few pictures from the weekend.

Just Rambling Along...

I'm sitting here looking out the window at the green outdoors. It finally rained and thundered properly yesterday! We are very grateful for the rain, we've had an extremely dry spring so far. It's been an early spring too. I'm seriously being tempted to plant garden and stuff, but Grandma says there is no point in doing that yet. I'm afraid that impatience might over rule wisdom in the end though. I uncovered my stuff in the flowerbed yesterday, and was very pleased to see that most of my perennials survived the winter. Now I'm thinking about what to plant this year.

We went out to NE last weekend to visit Clark's sister and her husband, and see their new baby. We had a very enjoyable time (pictures here) . It was good for me to get a dose of reality in regards to babies as well. Somehow it didn't dampen my anticipation of mine though. We had a good visit with Clark's aunt as well. It's really funny to think of her as being a "generation" ahead of us, we relate more as peers.

I've been busy sewing. I'm still having trouble getting a pattern that I like. Once I figure it out, I won't need it any more, and I'll have to figure out a whole new pattern... My mom says I'll be doing that for the next twenty years. How encouraging! I'm really ready to get done with sewing, and start cleaning my house good and proper. And throw stuff away. I LOVE to throw things away, which is amazing, because I used to be a pack rat when I was growing up. Maybe something about living in a small house has helped that.

I'm in a baking mood today, so we'll see if it's productive beyond a batch of bread. I'd love to do pies or cinnamon rolls, only the two of us do not need those kinds of goodies at all! I have a lot of yummy farm fresh eggs from NE right now to use, so maybe I should dig my cookbooks out and find something that takes a lot of eggs.

Anyway, that's the odds and ends of my life today. I have a feeling this is a rather boring post. Maybe someday I will do up something a little more interesting. See you all later!

March Thaw or Spring Proper?

Greetings,

Coming to you from a foggy, damp, and rainy northern Wisconsin. I am some what reluctant to classify this as spring proper; that probably has to do with my past experience. It always seems that we have this thaw and then suddenly, like a wounded lion, winter hurls one last mighty snow storm. So we shall see. For now we will deal with the side effects of 12" of snow melting and a week of never ceasing rain.

One of the most inconvenient side effects for me, is our drive. Our main parking area turns into a very muddy and watery sort of place. I thought maybe I had planted our car in the midst of it the other day, but with a little more acceleration and gentle rocking it came out. It really wasn't that serious, but the ruts I left would have said other wise. So today I had some spare time and thought maybe if I punctured a hole through the frost it would drain. I think maybe it worked but can't be sure. Imagine a grown man in rubber boots out playing in the mud puddles.

Anyway until next time.

--Clark Graber--

P.S. If this is in fact spring proper, it is just ducky with me!!

QUACK!!

The Bi- Annual Saga

Every spring, and every fall, I find unwelcome visitors invading my kitchen. One morning I wake up and find their calling cards. Mice. I hate mice. They are dirty and gross. So after I discover they have had a great time romping in my kitchen, I spend that day thoroughly washing and sanitizing every thing in sight. My husband says he can't figure out where they are getting in, as he insulated the underside of our house, and plugged every hole in sight. I'm sure there must be a small hole somewhere unseen, because twice a year, one mouse invades my territory.

The other day, it happened again. I've been watching for signs, and was almost on the point of deciding it wasn't going to happen this fall. Well, so yesterday I opened the drawer where I keep the dishcloths and hot pads, etc. And there it was, the evidence of the invader. And they wanted my freshly laundered hot pads as nest stuffing. Ugh! I promptly cleaned out all the kitchen drawers and set a few traps. Last night while we were eating supper, Mrs. Mouse got caught. So, thus ends the saga for this season we hope.

Disappearing Socks

When I was a girl, I remember my mom getting frustrated about us taking our socks off outside, and then leaving them to lay where ever they were cast off. And of course, we never remembered where we had left them. So a day or a week, month, sometimes a whole season would pass, and then mom would find soggy, gross socks in the lawn, or in some remote corner of the buildings or fields. Usually they were beyond the point of return. "No wonder you never have any socks," she would scold. (My siblings are more guilty of this then I am... ahem...)
Anyway, I grew up and got married. Several weeks ago, after I did laundry, I discovered that my husband had only about three pairs of socks. I couldn't figure it out, because he had just bought a whole new pack of socks shortly before that. I asked him what happened to all his socks. He didn't know, but he had just bought a new pack, and he couldn't be out of socks that fast. Maybe the pack of socks had somehow gotten shoved under the bed, or stashed in the closet. I checked, but no see 'em. Was he taking his socks off in the car on the way home from work, and leaving them there? No, he didn't think so. Well. I wasn't so sure. Saturday we were working around the house, and he undertook to clean out his car. (I'm not allowed to clean out that car, which is more then fine with me!) Yes, well, soon a husband with a funny look on his face came to me and said " Um, there's a pile of socks I put on the bedroom floor..." And had they been found in the car? Yes. Aha! Now we know. And today after the laundry was folded, there was a nice pile of socks in his drawer. I even found a pair of what I am assuming are my brother-in-laws socks. How they got in the car I have no idea.
I guess socks are never cured of disappearing.