An Evening of Family Fun

Ahh...nothing puts me in the Christmas spirit like clean windows... You don't need to comment that I'm a neat freak-- I know. Anyway, after cleaning windows yesterday we decided to all go bowling and eat pizza out. Ricky was the high scorer with a 171. He had five strikes in a row! I mentioned that proffessional bowlers can make a lot of money, but he didn't seem interested in that career. Then we stopped and bought a Christmas tree-- a REAL one of course, and this evening we are decorating. Here's a new video of Chippy eating a piece of popcorn.

The Mighty Duck Hunters

Father and son had a successful duck hunt this morning. Ricky shot his first duck, a bufflehead. He's not a hunting fanatic like his dad, but he very much enjoyed it today. I spent most of the day cleaning all the ceiling fans and lighting fixtures in the house. (boring- I know, but you won't find me attempting to shop today.) I'm trying to gear up for doing the windows tomorrow. All the windows in the old section of the house are so old that they don't open well, leak air, and are difficult to keep clean. I only attempt it once a year in the fall after the insects and spiders have finished their damage for a season and the dust from the planting of winter wheat has settled.

Squirrels are Not Pets

I read the above statement as I was researching how to raise an orphaned squirrel, and I now believe it to be true. As Chippy grows quickly so do his wild instincts. He is still friendly, but now gets nervous easily and will be stressed if the kids play with him too much. He is not old enough to release into the wild yet, but he seems contented in his large cage with climbing logs. We still feed him milk three times a day, but he takes less, and eats more solid food. He has a beautiful bushy tail.

Big R is sick today with a cold. He's big enough to stay home by himself, but I elected to stay home from church to take care of him. Pretty soon he will be all grown up, so I need to take advantage of all the opportunities I have to mother him.

The Disappearing Dog

Just a cute video...

Mishap

Lizzie has inspired me to share this embarrassing story with you, so here it goes... One day last week as I attempted to flush the toilet, the handle fell off. I mean it not only wouldn't flush, the little lever was laying on the floor. Well, I thought about recruiting help from my husband who just happened to be in the house at the time, but then I have at least a rudimentary knowledge about the working of toilets, and being the liberated supermom that I am, I attempted to put it back on myself. Well, I got it on, but it wouldn't turn, so I lifted the lid off the tank to see what the problem was, and as I did so, the hose that brings the water into the tank sprang loose and sprayed me ALL OVER like an unmanned fire hose. I instinctively used the tank lid I was still holding as a shield, but that didn't make the water stop, of course. So I did what all liberated supermoms do when cornered-- yell desperately for help from their husbands!

He didn't think it was very funny. He was concerned about all the water on the floor. But a few days later, the almost exact thing happened to my son. He and I were able to laugh about it then. And yes, my very handy husband eventually fixed it. Thanks Honey.

Kids are Wonderful

When I'm having a hard day, they never fail to lift my spirits. Take yesterday, for example. I was quite drained emotionally when we sat down for dinner (without Dad, again), then a montage of entertaining fragments ensued, refreshing my sense of humor and boosting my morale. Such as:
"Mom, when I'm eight, can I join an Indian tribe?"...
"I think I'm allergic to my bra."...
"The next person that says the word 'hate' has to do the dishes."... "Yeah, so don't say hate--oops!"

A walk by the lake

We visited Grandpa's house yesterday and had a lovely walk by the lake. On the lot adjacent to Grandpa's they are building a large log cabin. The interesting thing about it is that they are reusing huge old beams from another old house and then putting chink between them. It looks like a real old-fashioned, Abraham Lincoln log cabin. The children had fun playing on the wooded shore.

We finally finished Chippy's big cage. He loves it. He can climb up the logs and forage around in the sticks, rocks, nuts and other debris we placed in there for him. He still takes formula three times a day, but has trouble holding still now. His wounded toe has healed nicely, and I don't think will be much of a handicap. God makes His creatures incredibly adaptable.