Razbilly

The boys and I just finished a rousing game of Razbilly. The only equipment you need is a bouncy ball--ours was a baseball-sized hard rubber one. T.S. came up with the name and the following rules:

• You have to throw/bounce the ball to the other person--if they catch it, you win.
• You may use certain moves, such as the frog dance to help you catch the ball.
  
  It was very exciting. When I was throwing the ball to T.S. he would quietly repeat, "I hope her wins, I hope her wins." He tried very hard to catch the ball every time because he wanted me to win.
  
  C.W. caught a few balls but mainly served as the cheering section. When someone wins, you cheer very loudly and wildly for them. I'm sure Razbilly will catch on and be the next sensation--probably even an Olympic sport someday.

Future PGA Tour Champs

The boys enjoyed some golf today. They all had a good time, and no one caught a golf club in the head (thankfully and probably amazingly). Notice that the smallest golfer seems to have the longest club. We have some future golf stars right here in our backyard.

What's that sound I hear?

Today is Saturday and the kids and I are tired. After sleeping later than usual, we've done a little laundry and taken care of the animals. That involved cleaning out Wilbur's house and applying more sunscreen on him. Yes, I said sunscreen. Pigs like to lay out in the sun--white ones like Wilbur will sunburn, so you have to apply sunscreen. (I know, crazy, we have clothes for the lambs and sunscreen--SPF 50--for the pig).

The kids were in the computer room and I was in the living room, when all of the sudden I heard giggling and laughing. From my kids? At the same time? I went to investigate and found both of them, in one chair, playing games on the computer and enjoying each other's company. Way cool! They even let me try a few games--the kids are both better at them than me. You can go to Fun Brain for lots of good games for all ages, some of them even educational.

Conversations in the Car

On the way home from the football game tonight, I realized there was a flyer on the windshield. It was about the Halloween carnival. T.S. took it and read it on the way home (in the dark). He announced he was pretty sure it was from Tryce and Kenli and that Kenli was going to let him come to her birthday (her birthday is in July). He also told me that it would be at Halloween. Here is the conversation that followed.
Me: What do you want to be for Halloween?
T.S.: A pirate.
Like you were last year?
Yes, I'm going to wear the mask.
You mean the eye patch?
No, the Batman one.
So you want to be Batman for Halloween?
Yes, a Batman pirate.
long pause
Mom, you need to get me a tiger suit.
A tiger suit?
Yes, you know, like a costume.
Oh, so you want to be a tiger for Halloween?
Yes.
I wonder what he'll end up choosing. Sadie used to decide months in advance and never waiver, not so with T.S. We'll have to put a cut-off date on choosing a costume, after that date he won't be able to change.
As we got out of the car:
Mom, look at all the pretty stars.
Yes, there are a lot tonight.
You know what would be really cool? A shooting star...

The Adventures of Underwear Boy

T.S. still doesn't like to be photographed, but the past few days he has been working on building with his Pop-onz Blocks and allowed me to photograph the structures. I just happened to get him in a few.

I debated titling this Adventures of Underwear Boy or Pajama Boy--he loves to wear his pajamas everyday as long as he can (and who doesn't?). But, on a moment's notice, usually after being fully dressed, he often appears in just his underwear. We've been discussing that next year in Kindergarten, this is not appropriate, we must keep our clothes on at all times. To try to put into words what T.S. does on a daily basis would be futile. Let's just say he comes up with lots of great ideas, has fun most of the time and is generally a hoot.

Kitten Update--we have poop!

So, I finally figured out how/where to rub the kittens to get the desired result. 3 of the 4 have their eyes open. All of them seem to be good. They got to go to town today and hang out at mom's so I could feed them between our activities and not have to drive back home. They were in the box in the car when we were eating lunch at The Golden Spur (our local--and only--eatery). T.S. and I were a little surprised to only find 3 when we came out to leave. Because the box was tilted, one crawled out and made it all of the way over the back seat. Thankfully we found her. All in all I'd say they are doing well. As T.S. says every time they eat, "They're gonna live!" (we hope)

Petunia

We've mentioned Petunia a few times so I thought I'd show everyone a picture. She is a really good dog that is growing older and has lately had a little arthritis and seems to be a little hard of hearing. The kids call her Tunia or Tuna. She isn't well trained but we love her. Here are a few things for which we have come to depend on her:

• snake killer
  
• kid protector--she's always gone in front of the kids and checked out bushes, etc.
  
• guard dog--she usually doesn't let strangers in the yard
  
• hunter--we've found everything from pheasants, rabbits, rats and chickens in the yard--she loves to make sure you see what she killed

I decided that I needed to get a few pictures of her before it is too late. Every time I think she's about done she surprises me by running and playing with us. Hopefully she'll be around for a long time to come. She wasn't very fond of the camera. The one of her laying down is beside the air conditioner--one of her favorite spots. She loves to lay there and survey what's happening around her and bark at the occasional rabbit or nothing at all.

Chicken Update

This is T.S. in the chicken pen with the eggs he collected. The next pictures are of the "baby" chickens. We're also including one of the older ones--that's one of the Leghorn hens and a Cochin Bantam rooster.

Wilbur

Meet Wilbur--Sadie bought him today. He seems to have a bit of a personality. Hopefully he'll turn out to be "some pig."

The Process

This is Sadie feeding Biscuit. We thought we'd try putting a stuffed animal near them to mimic the mom. They seem to want to stretch out and rest their paws on something when eating. It is challenging to get them to take the syringe. Sadie took all of the pictures (except for the one she is in).

The gray one is Tally and the darker one is Tiger.

Sally eating. The last picture is me rubbing Sally trying to get her to do her business--Sadie thought it was important for everyone to see the whole process. Her kittens are Sally and Tally. So far we've gotten them to pee, but no poop. We are hoping for that this afternoon, otherwise there may be some issues.

Kitten Update

We have now had two successful feedings. After Googling "raising orphan kittens," I found out that caring for kittens this little requires lots more than just bottle feeding. Here is what we learned:

• After feeding, you are supposed to burp the kitten. Everything I read suggests putting them on your shoulder and patting their back. If that doesn't work and they are bloated you can give them infant gas drops. (crazy) T.S.: "How are we supposed to know they burped?" Me: "I have no idea."
• Baby kittens need to be stimulated after eating so they will take care of business (poop and pee). Mama cats do this by gently licking the bottom, etc. Sadie: "Do we have to lick them?" We have been attempting to gently rub with a soft cloth for the desired effect.
• Supposedly it is really important not to miss that "midnight" feeding.

We did see the mama cat tonight, I ran outside with the box of kittens--she ran off. I left them out there for a little while, but it was getting cool and the kids started crying so I brought them back in. Hopefully the kids will have settled on names tomorrow. Sadie says she is naming hers Sally and Tally. T.S. can't decide between Lightning, Fred, Tiger and Flashlight. Me: "Flash would be a great name." T.S.: "No, I said Flashlight."

Kittens!!

On Wednesday, we were helping mom get ready to plant wheat. Robby arrived at the field in the old grey work pickup. He said he'd had quite a shock when the cat jump up on the dashboard. He got out and the cat followed quickly. She is a wild mama cat that gets close enough so we know she is around, but no closer. We all wondered why she was in the pickup--which hasn't been used lately.

When mom got in the pickup to come home for lunch today she heard a strange sound and thought "oh no, the cat's here again." To her surprise it wasn't the cat, but 4 baby kittens. We put them in a box by the garage hoping the mama will find them soon. They are really cute--still have closed eyes. If she doesn't find them soon, Robby is buying kitten milk replacer. I guess we'll get to play mama cat.

Pheasants

Yesterday evening I happened to glance out the East side door. I was very surprised to see 3 pheasant cocks right outside of our fence. I grabbed the camera--by the time I got outside and up on a chair so I could get a picture of them without the fence in it, they were running off. Another reason we love the country--wildlife right out your backdoor.

Picture Day

Today is picture day at school and I actually remembered!

Fun at the Fair

Tri-State Fair

Sadie had her first show this weekend at the fair. She worked very hard with her lambs and did a really good job showing. Leonard placed 9th in his class--he was one of the smallest lambs in the show and the smallest one in his class. He placed higher than several larger lambs. Otis was last in his class. Notice in the pictures he is pretty skinny, but he is very clean. Sadie was really proud of both of the lambs. She learned quite a bit about showing. The first thing she asked when we were finished was, "When do I get to do this again?"
Sadie and Otis waiting to go in the ring.

Sadie waiting with Leonard.

The BBQ Bus

The bus is finally finished. Robby and his students have worked very hard on it the past year. They took it to the Ag. Mechanics Contest at the Tri-State Fair in Amarillo where it placed Reserve Grand Champion overall. It has been a project that has involved all of the Ag classes, most of the school and a good part of the community. We can hardly wait to get to test it out.

As you can see, they took off part of the shell of an old school bus and replaced it with a cooker made out of a huge propane tank. One half of the cooker is powered by propane to grill. The other half is a smoker. The round fire box on the back of the bus has an inverted top that serves as a wok for cooking (or as a seat for Sadie and T.S. at the fair).
It was very hard to photograph inside the barn, once we get it home and outside I'll take pictures so you can see the detail better.

Rainy Play Day

We are enjoying a fun day indoors today. It is too wet for three boys to go outside. We just finished playing play-doh. Tryce concentrated on snakes--even put hats on them--and waffles. C.W. did his own thing and T.S. made this snowman. He requested that I take his picture (I was shocked.)

If you look closely you can see that the snowman has eyes, a nose and mouth as well as a hat. I was informed that the red and blue things are "shooter deals." I thought they were arms--I'm sure you knew automatically what they were. I just heard T.S. say, "C.W., let's bounce from here. Okay?" Better go...

Bath Time

Sadie and Robby washed the lambs today. It was a fabulous, cool, rainy day--perfect for washing lambs. We washed them in the driveway and sheared in the garage. C.W. got a big kick out of sitting on the 4-wheeler in the garage and watching the lambs take a bath. I wish I would have taken a before and after picture. It was interesting to see how dirty the lambs were.

They will take the lambs to the fair tomorrow. Sadie will show on Saturday afternoon. She and Robby are very excited.

Happy Bonza Bottler Day!!

Happy Bonza Bottler Day!! Today we are planning to celebrate with our friends and go to supper at El Camino in Tulia. Nonnie is even planning on attending. For those of you who don't know what Bonza Bottler Day is go to http://www.bonzabottlerday.com/ and start planning your celebration now.

Spider in the Boot

Today has been crazy and it isn't even noon. T.S. was getting ready to go outside to play baseball. He was putting on his boots ('cause, you know that is what you wear with your shorts to play baseball.) He had a little trouble getting his boot on, I just chalked it up to him growing and the fact they were left outside in the rain the other night. After we had been outside for a while, T.S. took off his boot and announced there was a spider inside. Sure enough,there was a big, grey one. T.S. said it didn't bite him, it just tickled him. He was pretty sure it was dead, until it started crawling away...

When Puppets Attack

So I found this kit to make really cute puppets out of foam. I could just see the boys and me sitting around the table constructing their lions, gorillas and elephants. Then, we would have a really cute, fun puppet show.

Here's what actually happened. I had to put the puppets together, the boys were able to put a few things on them. (the package said 4+--apparently they don't really test them out). Then the boys started their "puppet show." It involved a lot of shooting and puppets ramming into each other. Then, the puppets were able to fly. Finally, the puppets were carried around the house in the toy crescent wrench. Not exactly what I envisioned, but they had a great time.

What we did today

Here is a sampling of what C.W., T.S. and I did today.


1. "Fed" Tom Duncan and the calves--the goodwill measure of giving cake to the donkey continues (the donkey is still not letting us close)
   
2. Played play-doh--even mixed colors (those of you who know me know that is a big deal)


3. Played baseball


4. Checked the chickens


5. Played outside


6. Ate spaghetti


7. NAPS (except me)
8. Had a snack with Sadie when she got home (T.S. was still asleep)


9. Caught the lambs, walked the lambs, set up the lambs, fed the lambs (T.S. still asleep; Sadie did all of the work with the lambs, C.W. and I just observed)


10. TV time--we love PBS in the afternoon (T.S. decided to wake up with a little coaxing from C.W. and me)
11. Early supper
12. Meeting at church--kids went too
13. BED!!!

What a fun day, can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

Todd Turtle

Todd the Turtle came to visit us. He has been hanging out in the puddle by the driveway all day. He has even put up with being picked up, poked and prodded. Maybe he is the newest zoo member--I'm sure word is out that we have great accommodations around here.