Mrs. Fox

Here's the fox I called Mr. Fox until last weekend when I saw the four babies arguing over a rabbit in the neighbors yard. The neighbors on the other side had mentioned that they thought they had a fox living under the deck and eating all the chipmunks in the yard. Their house has been vacant since late last summer, so I suppose she felt comfortable over there. I was up to let Sammy out at 3:15 in the morning (note to self: remember to let him out before I go to bed) and saw Mrs. Fox standing in the middle of the street. Sammy saw her too and started barking (sorry neighbors). I wish these pictures were better, so hopefully I'll get another opportunity. The one above is of one or two of the babies and the unfortunate rabbit.

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In other news, TB will be playing baseball on the summer VFW league and has his first game already on Monday night. They had tryouts but everyone ended up making the team. He came home from the last tryout feeling pretty happy. His coach had given him some tips on pitching and batting and he felt like he did pretty well. To play in the summer league the boys have to write a little essay about their strengths and weaknesses as a player. That made for some interesting reading and really made me realize that he thinks of baseball on an entirely different level than I do.

Musings of May

I think I've mentioned this before, but why does May have to fly by so quickly. The weather can be so perfect, the flowers blooming, birds singing, etc. but everyone is in such a hurry that it's hard to find the time to enjoy it. We did have a nice weekend, but even a long weekend in May isn't long enough to do everything. Here's the highlights:
*We attended "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis on Saturday afternoon. It was good, but our cheap seats made it difficult to catch some of the nuances of the performances. I enjoyed the music though and the singers were very talented. Afterwards, we picked up CS at his house and went out for an early supper at D'Amicos. It was an Italian deli with lots of great salads and pasta and pizza. It was very quick and fairly reasonably priced.
*On Sunday we went down to Iowa for the day to see DH's family. His dad is turning 90 today, and we couldn't make it for the celebration this weekend, so we went early. We also saw DH's oldest brother and his family at their house. They have a pool, so the boys had fun swimming and CS had his best friend who goes to ISU over to join us for supper. Then we took the Grandparents back to their home, dug a few perennials to take home, and headed back home. SD drove the whole way home since she was anxious to be home.
*On Monday, we did some yard work, then met friends for "Angels and Demons" and went back to our friends home for a pot-luck meal. That was a lot of fun too, we had a Mexican themed meal with some delicious tacos, corn salad, chips and salsa, flan, and margeritas and sangria. Yum.
*SD had her final orchestra concert Tuesday night and we had DH's other brother and family back for dessert afterwards along with some other family friends. The concert was great and a little bittersweet since it's her last one for now. She hopes to be in an orchestra in college too.
*The rest of the week is a blur, but here it is Friday again. Another assembly at school this afternoon, so that will make for an easy day. This weekend will be a rush to do things at home to get ready for graduation next Friday and the party the following weekend. I've got some fun pictures to post of the foxes living in our yard, my flowers, etc, but that will have to wait for another day.

Yaaay, it's Friday!!

(Warning: Heinz 57 blog post ahead!) I love Fridays! We're more casual than usual at work on Fridays, so I get to wear jeans without feeling like I should be wearing something better. That makes me happy. I got together with some friends for breakfast this morning. It was a real treat. Life certainly doesn't get any easier with age and around the table we were dealing with some serious issues, but it is so great to be able to commiserate with friends. It helps to know that we can be resilient and strong no matter what the circumstances. Planting flowers also makes me happy. I planted a bunch last night and hope to plant some more today. DH was kind enough to help with moving around some of the pots and washing them off as well as spraying the stinky deer spray and fixing the refrigerator. What a guy! We have our school variety show this afternoon, so an easy day at work. That makes me happy. Tomorrow we are taking SD to the Cities to see Phantom of the Opera, go out to dinner, and pick up CS to come home for a few days. That makes me happy. SD got several awards at her two awards nights this week. This is a kid who struggled in school in early elementary, so I'm so proud to see her doing so well. She is one of the hardest working people I know. We're alike in a lot of ways, but she is so hard working, non-procrastinatin', early risin', etc. that it's hard to believe she's my child. We're heading to Iowa on Sunday to celebrate DH's dad's birthday a little early. He'll be 90 in a week or so! We'll make it a quick trip as that is best for everyone involved and then have dinner plans on Memorial Day with some of our crew here. I know that this has been all over the place, but since I've had my moments in the dumps this week I felt I needed to give voice to all the good in my life, all that I have to be thankful for, so I don't forget. If you read this far, and have been thinking too much of the bad stuff in your life, your assignment is as follows: Replace all of the sorrow with joy and be thankful no matter what your circumstances. If you can't do that, find someone in worse shape than you and have them help you.

Pictures of St. Paul....not!

We had a busy weekend with baseball, church, and moving CS to his summer living arrangements. He's staying in an apt. in St. Paul and continuing to work at his campus job, only full time. It took two trips to get all of his stuff from his dorm room to the house he's sharing this summer, partly because we had the van loaded with a bed and dresser also. The house seems nice and so do the roommates we met, so I hope it will work out well. I'm sad that he won't be at home, but it will be a good experience for him to learn to cook, etc. and these days you have to go where the jobs are. He loves his campus job doing tech support, so I think he'll have a great summer. He's living in quite a nice city neighborhood with lots of cool shops and close enough to some "big box" stores to do his shopping. Looking for a restaurant Sat. night was a little difficult, we ended up in front of the capital bldg. before deciding to turn around and go back. I got out for a photo op. since I had remembered my camera. Took a nice shot of the capital and got the message "no card". I had left my memory card at home on my desk! RATS!! I'll have to get some good city pics another time.

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Tonight is Senior Awards night for SD. They have a separate night to present all of the scholarships and certificates since there are way to many to do it at graduation like they used to do at my tiny school. She's not too excited about going, recognition isn't really her thing, but she got a letter from school saying that she was expected to be there, so we're going. So there will probably be some bragging in a future post.

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Speaking of bragging, TB got the game winning hit in his game on Saturday afternoon. It was really cold and windy and I had to bring out the winter coat and gloves along with a blanket to stay warm. His season has been less than stellar, but they're down to just a couple of games, so it was nice to see him have success at the plate. He went 2-2 since he didn't get in until later in the game. We have the last two games tonight and tomorrow night and that will be it until his summer league starts. I'm hoping for a little break to get through graduation.

Mother's Day Etc.

Here's a somewhat belated Mother's Day report. It turned out to be a really nice day, long, but nice. SD and I play in our church bell choir. We play at church only about once a month, so we play at both services that Sunday. That meant trying to be at church by 7:30, which for me means 7:35. The first service performance was somewhat of a disaster and included a page turning mistake of epic proportions. Oh well. We did a lot better the second time around, but I was more focused on the earlier failure. It was nice that we had a little volunteer appreciation coffee between services, so with all of the down time we got to enjoy some treats and some good Fair Trade coffee.

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In the afternoon we went to a concert by a local choral group in conjunction with Monroe Crossing, a Twin Cities Bluegrass group. (There is a link on the lower right of the page to hear some of their newest music) It was a wonderful concert, but the room was pretty warm and I was very tired, so I nearly dozed off a time or two. Fortunately, more coffee and some cookies at intermission perked me up. Part of the concert was a "Bluegrass Mass" and had all the elements of a worship service, very interesting. After the concert, we returned home with the two couples we went to the concert with and their families joined us for dinner at our house. We provided the main dish and everyone else brought something. DH made Key Lime chicken on the grill and homemade asparagus pasta with a yummy alfredo sauce with asparagus in it. It was very delicious, I wish I'd taken pictures. The others brought a salad, bread, cheese and crackers, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

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I'm feeling a little down about the state of our school system. We had a meeting at work yesterday. There was more of the same-"no news yet" -where my hours for next year are concerned, but I'm becoming pretty sure I'll lose some time. They've raised class sizes to the point that there will be as many as 32 in each third grade class next year and even more in 5th grade. Just two sections of each. Each will, I'm sure, have some challenging kids, so when you throw in some para cuts, etc., that will (in my opinion) make for a disastrous situation. We've got some great teachers, but it is going to be really tough and not fair for the kids. Think about that when you hear someone talking about how great teachers have it with "three months vacation" and all. We have a parent meeting tonight for band parents to hear about the "enhancements" for next year. Our new superintendent (once again IMO) wants to get rid of music in the schools so those areas are seeing lots of cuts as well. It will be interesting to see how they are going to sell it as an enhancement. It's discouraging and I feel bad that I've been taking my kids quality education for granted up to now.

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I almost forgot to mention that TB provided me with my only Mother's Day gift this year. He had been shopping with a friend the night before and picked me up a copy of Dream Girls. I thought it was very sweet. In all fairness, SD has promised to help me with some of the yard work I can't do because of my back. DH allowed me to buy tickets for a play in the cities in a couple weeks as a special outing as well. CS remembered to call, so that was nice. He has finals this week, so he's super busy.

Days flying by.

Why is it that February seems to last forever and May is flying by so fast? I'm especially loving Spring this year after what seemed like a long and icky winter. The flowers are starting to bloom in my yard and I've been able to get quite a bit of yard clean-up done, so I'm feeling good about that. Here are some daffodils blooming in a shady side yard. Last year they came up, but not a single one bloomed, so I was happy to see them blooming this year. Then there is a clump of creeping phlox that grows a little each year. Next there is something I think is called Lamb's ear with the pink flowers. Then another patch of daffodils that are blooming like crazy this year. Somewhere here there is a picture of my daughter and her date at prom last weekend. It was a beautiful night and they had a good time. Sorry, but I'm forbidden to show her face here. Lastly a picture of some purple flowers and a variety of other things popping up around them.





I had a lot of trouble getting my pictures where I wanted them today, but it will have to do as I'm running out of time. We have a lot of baseball this weekend, bells Sunday morning, a concert on Sunday afternoon, and friends over for the evening after the concert. I'm going to have to fit in some housework here and there and hopefully get TB to mow the lawn again. I've still been having a little back trouble, but it has felt a little better the last couple of days. My mom is settling in to the nursing home well and seems to be doing better also. I hope all of you moms have a nice Mother's Day with your families!!