Tuesday Things.

* Oh these chickens. They were about to drive me to drink last night. Pete and Jake and left to go to the archery range and left the chickens out, wandering the hillside. Not usually a big deal. I was fully prepared to let them stay out there till the boys got home. That is, until Megan came in screamin' about a fox in the yard. I'd been standing at the sink washing dishes when she came in. I left the water running and ran out the door. It took us at least 45 minutes to get 20 of them back in the coop. They just didn't want to go in. I tried real hard not to cuss but I'm pretty sure I said damn, hell, SOB, effing (but no actual F bomb) and shit, several times. Did I mention I was wearing a maxi skirt and flip flops whilst doing this chicken chasing? Stop laughing. We also have 22 chickens. I was sure those last two must have got eaten by the fox. (and i did not care) But by the grace of God my neighbor spotted them about an hour later down by her house. All is safe and sound today. Although the thought of getting the shotgun and blasting the lot of 'em certainly crossed my mind!
* We went to the rodeo last Thursday night. I guess maybe technically it wasn't the real rodeo. It was just the qualifying rounds for team roping. It was free, so what the hey, right? Only it was FA-REEZING out there. The fog rolled in and the wind was blowing and we were sitting on metal bleachers. I only lasted about an hour before I finally said we had to go. I don't like cold, but I actually kept my mouth shut and didn't complain. I think actually the kids were colder than me. They whined the whole time.

* Sunday Pete promised the kids he'd take them up to the school so Megan could ride her bike and Jake could practice baseball.

(I haven't edited any of these pics and blogger sure is making them look extra crappy. From what I understand is blogger is compressing the file even farther (than a normal jpeg compression) and making them look horrible)
* Then Sunday evening we experienced a solar eclipse. It was actually way cooler than I expected it to be. Around 6:30 all of a sudden....well it just looked like the Earth was underneath a giant tinted window. It was kind of eerie and awesome. We made a pinhole in a paper plate to look at it. I was surprised you could see it so clearly. Here in the photo to up and to the left of what looks like the sun, and in that little red sun flare is a crescent like shadow that is the eclipse.

* Today we went on a picnic. 

* Friday was our last official day of school. But we're still going to keep on truckin' until about June 8th. Then we're headed out for a wedding and a little vacation. That's when summer officially begins!

* It's my sister in laws wedding we're going to. Originally she just asked me to take some candid type shots, because she was hiring a professional photographer. I was totally cool with that. I honestly didn't want the pressure of a wedding. But then.......She asked me to shoot the whole thing. AHK! I'm nervous and excited. But that same weekend I have another huge photo shoot too. A family reunion. Crazy town.

* About a month ago I ordered our 'butterfly larva' AKA: caterpillars for our science curriculum. All 5 of them have now hatched. I'm telling you, I've know the butterfly life cycle for as long as I can remember, but experiencing it first hand....it's like witnessing a miracle.

* We (Pete and I) started reading Lonesome Dove a few weeks ago. Yes, that Lonesome Dove. I never read books when their actually on-trend. We're on chapter 5 and they haven't even left town yet. If you're familiar with the movie/mini-series, then you know we've got a loooong way to go. Check back with me in a year---that's probably when we'll finish it!

* Feeling good about our garden. Planting seeds is pretty cool. I love how you can see such growth each day. So much is already poking out of the ground. It's exciting. Can't wait to eat home grown food!