Science Experiment Soup

Morgan is a terribly picky eater, and he was not impressed awhile back when I made soup and the pasta I used was multicolored spiral noodles.  He likes spiral noodles just fine, but a colored noodle?  Nu-uh!  Those are icky.

So we told him that if he closed his eyes and ate it, he wouldn't be able to tell them apart.  It took some convincing, he was certain they might kill him if they but passed his lips, but he finally agreed to give it go.  The results?  We proved our hypothesis, and he couldn't tell one colored noodle from another! 

So of course, the next time I made multicolored noodles, he tried to talk us into running our little "experiment" again!  Didn't happen, but it sure was fun the first time!

Grass is Greener

It's true!  The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  Ask any horse, they'll agree!

Future Loggers of America

A few times this summer, one of the kids tagged along with Glenn to work.  Morgan would like to tag along every day.

This piece of equipment is called a feller-buncher.  It grabs the tree, saws it off, and lays it down on the ground.  It's pretty impressive to watch.

This is called the processor.  It takes the trees that have been cut down, removes the limbs, and cuts the logs to the correct length.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Because that's about all I know!

Basketball

It's that time of year again.  Basketball.  Around here, basketball isn't a short season.  In the fall, Glenn ref's the 7th and 8th grade girls home games and Nicole does stats.  In the spring it will be time for 6th grade basketball which Glenn coaches and Ellea plays.  And then....  Glenn will coach a girls 7th/8th grade team that will go to a weekend tournament in Boise.

And that doesn't even consider the basketball that Glenn plays.  Open gyms on Sundays in the fall.  Men's league in Grangeville early next year.

Yup.  We love basketball around this house.

Good thing I've figured out what the heck they're doing out on the court.   Mostly.  The rest of the time, I just try to act like I know what's going on!

Twos



Our family had the privilege of babysitting little Andie Kaufman over the weekend while her parents went on an overnight getaway to celebrate their wedding anniversary.  This little two year old girl was a delightful little thing the entire time. 

 

 

Ellea, of course, was a fabulous playmate and humored Andie with all kinds of fun distractions.  Books, baby dolls, blocks, piggy-back rides, petting the kitty--you name it!

 

She even warmed Glenn's heart by insisting on sitting with him Saturday night.  For over an hour!  He's got a pretty cozy lap.  As soon as she went to bed, Morgan took over his lap.  No jealousy there!

She was very cooperative at bedtime.  She slept through the night except for a few whimpers (if you know Andie at all, you know that is a BIG deal!).  She was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Sunday morning and happily put on her beautiful dress for Church.  She sat quietly through church.  She was very diplomatic--starting in Glenn's lap then migrating to mine, and finished church with Ellea.

I was surprised that we didn't experience any terrible two-ness while she was here.  Her mom tells me that she isn't always that saintly at home which I can believe--she's famous for her vicious stink eye!

Come back anytime, Andie!  (But leave your two's at home!)

Hit the Trail

The final class of the day was Trail Class.  Jasper was a good sport as he had been all day. 

 

Closing a gate on a horse is harder than it looks.  It requires a very cooperative horse who will move over where you need him to be. 

 And then the "bridge."  Again, trickier than it looks.  A lot of horses are skeptical of the need to walk across a wooden platform.

And then, while the rest of us packed up to leave, Nicole continued to ride her steed around the fairgrounds.  We'd only been there 11 hours.  What's the hurry?! That's one horse-crazy girl.

The final class of the day was Trail Class.  Jasper was a good sport as he had been all day. 

 

Closing a gate on a horse is harder than it looks.  It requires a very cooperative horse who will move over where you need him to be. 

 And then the "bridge."  Again, trickier than it looks.  A lot of horses are skeptical of the need to walk across a wooden platform.

And then, while the rest of us packed up to leave, Nicole continued to ride her steed around the fairgrounds.  We'd only been there 11 hours.  What's the hurry?! That's one horse-crazy girl.

The final class of the day was Trail Class.  Jasper was a good sport as he had been all day. 

 

Closing a gate on a horse is harder than it looks.  It requires a very cooperative horse who will move over where you need him to be. 

 And then the "bridge."  Again, trickier than it looks.  A lot of horses are skeptical of the need to walk across a wooden platform.

And then, while the rest of us packed up to leave, Nicole continued to ride her steed around the fairgrounds.  We'd only been there 11 hours.  What's the hurry?! That's one horse-crazy girl.

The final class of the day was Trail Class.  Jasper was a good sport as he had been all day. 

 

Closing a gate on a horse is harder than it looks.  It requires a very cooperative horse who will move over where you need him to be. 

 And then the "bridge."  Again, trickier than it looks.  A lot of horses are skeptical of the need to walk across a wooden platform.

And then, while the rest of us packed up to leave, Nicole continued to ride her steed around the fairgrounds.  We'd only been there 11 hours.  What's the hurry?! That's one horse-crazy girl.

Grand Champion

Western Pleasure was the next class on the agenda.  Nicole and Jasper did very well.

Grand Champion, as a matter of fact!  I'm not sure, but Nicole may have been a little embarrassed by our whooping and hollering on the sidelines when they placed the class!  But it couldn't be helped.

 

I gave western pleasure a go also.  No big ribbons for me, but it was fun.

Hairspray

Next on the agenda at the horse show was bareback. I wasn't sure Nicole was ready to show Jasper bareback since we'd had him such a short time. She was unsure about loping bareback, but was able to practice a little at home and felt good about it.




 

First bareback class.  All smiles!

 

 

A little tip: when showing a horse bareback, put hairspray where you sit to help grip. Clean horses are slippery!

Peace Out

This is homecoming week for the Prairie Pirates. That means a different dress-up theme each day. Today was Hippie day at the elementary school.

That gave Ellea an excuse to wear these great bellbottoms that I bought at the thrift shop for just such an occasion. Her shirt is a black tee a masking tape peace sign. Very funky and terrifically ugly in a 70's sorta way, if you ask me.

Not wanting to be left out, Morgan found some cool duds too!

(My apologies to those of you who dressed like this back in the day. If I did, it's not my fault. I was too young to know any better!)

Halter

The first order of business at the horse show was the halter classes.

Nicole and Jasper did especially well together in the Showmanship class (which is judging how well she shows her horse). They were awarded Grand Champion for her age group (11-15)!

I gave it a go too. I didn't bring my horse since he's a little rusty. There were no entry fees though, so I couldn't not show. Instead, I stole my daughter's horse for a couple of classes that she wasn't in. Being the good sport she is, she was happy to share!

I didn't receive grand champion. The competitive spirit in me was a little annoyed at myself that I didn't do better, but I was still thrilled for Nicole!

The hat came from my Auntie B. It's too big yet for Nicole, and tight on me, but I thought it would work. Trouble was, when I took it off after the halter class, my scalp was tingly like it had fallen asleep! If you've never had your scalp fall asleep, I don't recommend it!

First Show

Nicole and Jasper had their first horse show yesterday. It was a long, tiring day--we were at the show grounds for 11 hours! But it was great fun and Nicole did very well. Jasper is a great horse and it will be fun to watch them blossom together.

Stay tuned... (if you like horse show pictures, that is!)

Horse Trader

Jasper has the most amazing manners. The woman we bought him from obviously spent lots of hours working with him. He comes to be caught (that's nice--my horse could use to do that--sometimes he runs away!). He will even come to you in the middle of eating a bucket of grain. That would be like asking me to put my chocolate bar down to go do the dishes. Who does that?!!

He stands without being tied. Again, my horse would walk away at the first opportunity. I told Nicole the other day that I'd be willing to trade horses with her, if she wanted. I'm that kind of mom: always making sacrifices.

Surprisingly, she turned me down.

Go figure.

Barbs

Earlier this summer.... wait it's not summer any more.....waaah.....

Excuse me. Back when it was summer--warm, glorious, summer--Glenn talked me into helping him roll out barbed wire for a new stretch of fence. Being the nice wife I am (and having the generous, willing, cooperative husband I have who would do just about anything for me), I agreed.

The reason my superhuman husband couldn't roll the wire out by himself (although I wouldn't put it past him to try), is because a new roll of wire weighs about 80 pounds. In case you ever need to put up a barbed wire fence, I will explain how to roll out new wire. You slide the 80lb roll of wire onto a hefty stick, grab one end, put your spouse on the other end, and away you go, letting it roll out behind you. Beware of the barbs. They're called barbs for good reason. They are incredibly sharp and barb-like! FYI.

It felt like a quarter mile of fence. I'm sure it wasn't, but it was long and I'm a wimp! Thankfully, we rolled the wire out in the downhill direction. For that I am eternally grateful.

The one plus was the gorgeous view. If you ever decide to roll out barbed wire, be sure you have a great view to appreciate while you're recovering from packing 80 pounds of wire.

Brave Girl

Glenn and I took some friends out on our second white water rafting trip last weekend. Nicole came along and we were having a gay old time until we hit a rock in the middle of a rapid. Because of the way Nicole was perched on the front of the boat, she fell in the water. It's such a terrible feeling as a mother to see your child bobbing along in the water and know there's nothing you can do for them until you get into slower water.

I'm sure I sounded rather frantic when I yelled to her, "You're okay." I said it twice. I'm not sure if I was reassuring her or me! I think me, because she got out of the water all smiles. No big deal, mom, I'm fine. She even swam over to get the oar that had been pulled from the oarlock. (Thankfully, we have a third oar strapped to the boat in case we ever truly lose one. )

She was a little chilly when she climbed out, but otherwise just fine. Glenn has since talked to a few people who say the low water right now exposes a lot more rocks which can be problematic.

Otherwise, it was a fabulous day. Glenn's a great boatman. And Nicole's a brave girl!

Funny Stuff From the Phone

Thank goodness that Glenn's smartphone can take pictures. You never know when you might need to take pictures of the crazy things that people do.

I wasn't present when this photo was taken. I'm sure there's a great story as to why the girls are standing inside the curtain at a motel room.

(I asked. They were ready to go to the pool, but their suits were damp so they were warming up with the heater. Nothing worse than putting on a wet swimming suit.)

Glenn took this picture also. This was the day the girls went to pick out their piggies. Glenn had some leftover donuts from work in his pickup, and Ellea wanted one. But she hadn't washed her hands yet after leaving the stinky pig farm. She's such a clever girl. Who needs hands? Just eat it directly out of the donut box!

Welcome Home, Jasper

The new horse we bought Nicole finally came home last night. The woman we bought him from was gracious enough to agree to give Nicole a few lessons on him so she'd have a better understanding of the cues he's been trained to respond to.

She had one last lesson and said goodbye. She's such a compassionate girl that she felt badly taking him away from his previous owner. But they're happy that he's going to a good home with a horse crazy teenager.

Welcome home, Jasper. You will be well loved.

Seventeen Years

For our 17th wedding anniversary, we went to dinner and to a movie. The Mexican restaurant in Grangeville is the only restaurant around here that has outside seating. (Maybe because you can only sit outside for only 3 months or less of the year!) It was so nice to sit outside in the warm evening air.

After dinner, we hit the drive-in theater. First time we've made it this year. Batman was playing. We're not usually big Batman fans, but we were just happy to go on a date. It was an exciting movie. A little confusing at times, as I don't think we've seen the other movies in the series, but we had fun.

I love the drive in. They use an FM station to broadcast the audio, so it comes through your car speakers. We tilted the seats back in Glenn's pickup and got cozy. With the switch to digital movies, I'm not sure the drive-in will survive much longer, which makes me sad.

And that's how we celebrate 17 years of wedded bliss!

Campfire Popcorn

We've discovered the joys of making Jiffy Pop over the campfire. You know, the kind that starts out flat in a metal pie pan and puffs up as it pops? It's not meant to be used over a campfire, but it sure is fun! Glenn has become well-versed in the skills necessary for perfectly popped corn.

He quickly discovered that the little metal handle isn't nearly long enough for a hot campfire. Our solution? Duct tape it to a long stick! Duct tape fixes everything.

Doesn't that look yummy?!

Lamb Torture

A couple of weeks before our county fair, all the little lambies had to be sheared. Some professional shearers came to the fairgrounds and buzzed their wool off in record time. Glenn said it took about five minutes from start to finish. (Nicole and I were at home at the time getting ready for the 4-H District horse show, because we like to do multiple 4-H events on any given day...)
Glenn also said Nicole's lamb didn't seem too fond of the process.

Don't know why not. Looks delightful.

Duct Tape Bird

On a recent camping trip, Morgan and a friend started out making a flag. He came into the camper wanting flag making materials. I was fresh out. We were able to come up with a paper plate, shish-ka-bob sticks, plastic forks, and good old duct tape

Somewhere along the way, the "flag" became a bird instead.

And what a bird it was!!