Marshmallows in the Snake Cage

I bought some frozen mice at the pet store today for our two snakes, and upon entering Dayton's room to feed the biggest one, I noticed what looked to be marshmallows in the snake's cage. I said to the kids, "Who put marshmallows in here? There's marshmallows right under his hideout." But then, upon closer inspection, I realized that the marshmallows were actually EGGS! Six or seven eggs! Looks like the wild Blow Snake we picked up last month was a little bit wilder than we thought... pregnant, she was! So, another month or so should bring us baby snakes, if all goes well. I really don't know what to do with the eggs, other than to just leave them be. My sister, Karen, told me to make sure and separate them before they are born, or Mommie Dearest will likely eat her young ones. I remember from studying snakes years ago that the mothers don't care for their young... simply lay the eggs and take off. Wish us luck with the marshmallows :)

The Moth and the Cherries

How's that for a good sized moth? The girls found the kittens playing with him on the backporch tonight... poor thing. He's huge, though! So cool.

Here's a look at our cherries, which are getting too ripe to do anything with anymore. I bottled three pints for future pies, but didn't have enough time today to do anymore...rush rush rush. I picked peas with a neighbor for an hour or so and she gave us three grocery bags full. Yum! We then had to get to a church dinner social and had to scrap my big cherry plans for the day. Tomorrow may be too late, but at least I was able to use some of them. There are still a ton on the tree, as you can see from the last photo, but the birds have pecked the heck out of them and they turn out to be too much work. No worms, though - not a one. I can't explain that since we didn't even spray... must be all the rain and cooler weather we had over the last month or two. Whatever the reason, we're grateful :)

Life's a Bowl of Cherries...

And to quote Erma Bombeck, "If life's a bowl of cherries...what am I doing in the pits?" I had both today - big bowls of cherries and a big bowl of pits. Today was jam day and for the first time, I made cherry jam. I don't remember ever trying cherry jam, but it tastes just as good as strawberry or raspberry, and right now, I have plenty of cherries, so cherry jam it is. The pitting was a bit tedious, and yet... menial, repetitive chores like that can be soothing in their own right. (the screaming knots in my shoulder muscles are saying, "Soothing? Yeah, right...") I like to can, though, and am even somewhat proud of the semi-permanent brown lining around my fingernails that I will sport for the next day or so - evidence that I worked my rear off in the kitchen. I can wash and wash, but that fruit gets into the crevices around my nails in such a way, turning brown as fruit does in the air, that I just can't get it out. I'll need to get in the tub tonight with a nail brush if I want to eradicate my cherry stains. But I must say, seeing the little plastic tubs of freezer jam and my glass pint jars all red and shiny, sitting there on the counter, make me happy! Immediate gratification is the name of Donna's game and canning gives me immediate results that actually LAST, for several months, at least. Tomorrow will be the culminating triumph when I get to line them up all pretty on my fruit room shelf, and then rearrange them and reline them up again, until I'm perfectly satisfied with my display.

All fifty quarts of the peaches I canned last year are gone... baby... gone. I'll be sure to revamp my peach storage in a few months when the peaches come on. I did notice, however, that I have a few dozen pints of tomatoes that I'd better use quick... not sure how long those last, but I do know how long it took me to can them, and the last thing I want to do is waste them!

I'll no doubt wake up tomorrow morning and start the cherry day all over again, for I have a tree still full of cherries, and a laundry room full of laundry, and in the ring, cherries beat out laundry every time! My focus tomorrow may be on canning pie filling, along with another batch of jam, and maybe a few more trays of fruit leather (I only did two of those today and they are still not dry, but the wasps seem to like them just fine). So, until tomorrow... farewell my little fruity friends!

The Blur

June seems to be but a blur in my mind's eye... where did it go? Well... I think it went to EFY twice, trek, BYU for Vanessa's basketball camp, and then to St George for Dayton's basketball team camp... shove in my mini stallion getting loose from the neighbor's house while we're out of town, hauling 150 bales of hay, training sessions with Frosty, 4H, and a remodel on our bathroom, and I think June is just too pooped to show it's face. I've certainly been a tad too pooped to blog, but I have hopes for July! (okay... maybe August? it might take some time to recoup...)

Just for cuteness sake: Marin just told me that she was thinking about Christmas and how we really don't need anything more for presents - we have enough. Audra jumped all over her saying, "That's not nice, Marin. I think it makes Santa happy to give presents and see all the kids asleep in their beds!" Like, how dare we upset Santa and deny him the privelege of delivering us presents! They are watching 'The Polar Express' and that explains the Santa talk in July. Moments later, Audra looked over at me with her squinty eye and scrunched up nose and said, "My throat is scratchy patchy..." Hmm... scratchy patchy... that's a new one. Cute girls.

Vanessa is off to girls camp tomorrow and we spent much of the day preparing. Packed the big duffle bag (and I mean BIG), braided her hair into corn rows, dropped her bag off at the church and we'll say goodbye to her at eight in the morning. I wish I was a teenager going to camp, again. Might be time to grab my friend Annie and find an older 'Girls Camp' for us older girls! Definitely worth considering!

The cherries are ripe on the tree; the apples have the branches almost touching the ground (might be time to thin... ya think?); the radishes have gone to seed and I think the farmer, with them... ha ha... Mosquitoes are biting, grasshoppers are reproducing, kittens are growing, hoofs need trimming, horse teeth need floating, poop needs scooping, snakes keep arriving (yes... another snake caged in the house... a racer), and Donna needs something. If any of you know what that is, please feel free to let me know. I'm fresh out of ideas ;P

Later...

The Marvelous and The Terrible

Today was an unusual day. It started out quite wonderfully, to tell you the truth. I didn't realize just how much I missed my family being together until this morning, when Gerrit and Vanessa didn't go to school, and we actually had a good old "homeschool days" talk on the bed. We read a conference address from President Monson about keeping ourselves safe from the adversary... study diligently, pray fervently, and live righteously... great talk (April 2009 Priesthood address). We had family prayer, which has become a night and dinner time occasion instead of first thing in the morning, breakfast, lunch, dinner and night time. Boy, did it feel good to just relax with my kids and discuss the words of the Prophet, pray, plan for the day and just be... be the family we used to be before public school. We weren't exactly a complete family, since Dayton is down to BYU for his first EFY this whole week, and Kevin was working, but it was a whole lot closer than we've felt on a morning in a long time. I'm sure grateful for that.

The kids did their chores, ate lunch and got busy on the friend invites. Gerrit's three friends, Daniel, Kyle and JJ came over to hang with him, and Vanessa's friend, Sarina, came over as well. Marin was just ready to invite her friend over when all the excitement occurred.

"Hey Mars... do we have any avocados left? Could you cut me one and salt it for me, please?"

"Sure, Mom." Marin busied herself with the avocado as I investigated new possibilities for Activity Days. Only moments later, Marin was at my side. "Mom... I... look..." I looked at the fingers of the hand she was clutching and saw the blood. Separating the pointer and middle fingers of her left hand, I found myself looking into a gaping crevice on the underside of her knuckle.

"What happened? How did this happen, Marin?" I asked. Sobbing, now, Marin proceeded to explain how she was trying to get the avocado pit out by stabbing the knife into it, as I do with a fork, and the knife slipped, tearing through the base of her pointer finger and into the soft, thin skin between the pointer and middle fingers. She was, no doubt, exerting some good pressure on that pit when the knife slipped on it's slimy surface. Poor girl... I could literally see down inside of the skin. It cut all the way through that thin, stretchy connective tissue and left the cavity above the knuckle exposed. The blood was gushing, but I quickly rinsed it and closed her fingers together, side by side, put a paper towel around them and told her to hold on while we rushed her to the doctor's office.

Marin was extremely brave, even smiling for a picture with her cut hand. What a gal! The doc came in, checked her out, gave her a numbing shot (painful... tears... ouch...) and left the nurse to clean it out. After she was all cleaned up, Dr. Clark put five stitches in between her fingers, told us gruesome stories about lessons learned in the E.R. and sent us packing with suckers for two little girls, to boot. Considering the amount we get to pay for deductibles, I would have expected something more like Shirley Temple's big pinwheel sucker she held when she sang, "On the Good Ship Lollipop," but alas, Dum Dum's would just have to do :0)

From the doctor's office, we rushed home to pick up Vanessa and a few friends for a ward Young Women's dodgeball game, which the other team didn't bother to show up for. When you live out in the boonies like we do, you don't drive 15 minutes for nothing! We stayed and played dodgeball... Kevin, Marin and I included. The numbing agent hadn't quite worn off, and Marin was feeling great. She even played with a friend for an hour or two when we got home. The pain and the tears didn't start up again until later this evening, but it's nothing a couple of Tylenol couldn't take care of.

Kevin and the kids watched "Gorillas in the Mist" while I caught up on some computer work. We had watched that show years ago when it came out and remembered thinking it was really great, no doubt before we had kids. I didn't realize just how bad a fit it was for Audra until moments ago when she came into the front room, lip trembling, with tears rolling down her cheeks. She squeeked out, "Mom... they ki...killed the gorillas and cut off their arms and hands. The evil junglers and even people like us did it. They killed the la..lady, too," and she broke down sobbing. I took her in my arms and rocked her and told her how sorry I was that she had to see something so sad and disturbing. She was really upset. We talked about the good things this lady had done for the animals in trying to protect them and that she was in Heaven because of her soft heart and kindness. Poor little Audra. She would stop crying for a minute or two, and then start telling me about how they "killed all the females"... gorillas. I explained to her that she was feeling just like Heavenly Father feels when he sees us kill and hurt animals or each other... very, very sad. It was really awful for her.

Next time I preview the movie... again... before the kids watch. Lots of swear words in it, as well, they said. Sorry, Audra! As soon as I wrap this up, I'll scoop her up off the floor where she is now sleeping with Bruno as a pillow and take her into bed with Kevin and I. We already said our prayers and asked Heavenly Father to help take the terrible images out of her mind so she could sleep and thanked him for people like the lady in the film who are courageous enough to fight for what is right. I told Audra that maybe someday she can help protect the animals, too, which of course brought more tears and "But then I'd die... someone would kill me." That was a whole new discussion about how everyone dies, at some point, and that going to Heaven will be just like running into my arms... that Heavenly Father and Jesus are waiting to give us a great big hug and that we will feel comforted and loved in their embrace just as she was feeling in mine. Bless her heart.

Need = Motivation

Marin spent some time with Julie Miller, tonight, practicing barrels, poles, keyhole, loping methods, and all sorts of other fun horsemanship skills. Audra did NOT... much to her dismay... weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth type of dismay! When we came back to pick Marin up from Julie's, Audra was able to ride Buck for a few minutes, but he was so ready to be done working that he kept running her to the arena gate... full gallop... no stirrups... six year old girl! I would have thought she'd be bawling her eyes out on run #1 (she waited until run #3), but all she said was, "Buck just wants to run!" This girl's a tough cookie! (next time I'll get pictures of her... she's a doll!) Marin is, no doubt, counting down the hours until the next opportunity to ride. I like to call that "motivation"... for completing school work... chores... just about anything I need her to do. Life is much simpler when the kids are in LOVE with a hobby. I just need to figure out how to help shift Gerrit's hobby from "girlfriend" to "horses"... hmmm.....

It's Not Every Day...

It's not every day that you find a tick the size of a raisin on the cat. This little blood sucker was HUGE! I usually just smash 'em between two rocks, when I find them, but I had to show Kevin the size of this fellow. Audra took him to Kevin in the bottom of a mason jar, who of course said "gross", and quite frankly, I didn't think more about it.... until tonight, when I found the mason jar on the counter with NO tick raisinette inside. I sure hope someone disposed of him and that I won't be plucking Sir Sucks a Lot off of any of us!

It's not every day that you find two perfectly wonderful pairs of horse riding boots at the thrift store... that FIT! I found Marin and I some great roper style lace up cowboy boots at the D.I. and we broke them in at 4H tonight. Marin and Audra are loving 4H and learned about barrels and poles this session. Our friend, Larry Bowen, and his daughter, Julie, keep telling us what naturals the girls are on their horses. I'm amazed that Audra has no fear at all... she controls that horse just fine, trots and lopes and all that jazz! Marin's first competition will be on June 16th, so we'll be practicing hard for the next few weeks to get her ready. She's counting down the days, I assure you!

It's not every day that you meet a lizard that plays checkers and yahtzee. Well, Audra says he does, at least. Gerrit brought home a baby lizard last night and Audra saved him from the deathly fate of 'snake food'. While running our errands today, Audra instructed Kevin to be sure to play checkers and yahtzee with Lizzy, so he wouldn't get bored while we were away. Cute...

Oh, and one last thing... It's not every day that you get to find out just HOW your children chose you as their parents, up in Heaven. According to Audra, she was standing in one line and we were standing in another when she pointed at us and said, "I want that family." Of course, she said she had a tag pinned on her that read, "From Heavenly Father" and that she picked us because we looked good and nice. So, in case you were wondering how that happened... now you know! ;0)

Pictures posted are of Audra and Vanessa... new hair color for the girls tonight and a haircut for Gerrit, but no pictures of he or Marin, unfortunately.