"I want to see a rainbow"

Over the last couple weeks V has been telling me quite regularly that she wants to see a rainbow.  I keep telling her that I'll let her know if we see any.  So tonight when I walked outside and saw one off in the distance, I came in and hollered for her to come outside because there was a rainbow.

She came careening around the corner, "MY VERY OWN RAINBOW!?!?!?!"

Yes.

And she went outside and bounced up and down while she admired her "very own rainbow."

You know what's interesting about this one is that it's really just like all the rest of the rainbows that appear in our lives at just the right time.  I love that promise when I seem to be losing my center.

It's going to be okay.  No matter what happens. 

I love these kids.  All four of them.  And there are lots of other people who do, too. 

Beautiful.

Way out here--It's about John Deere and daddy's girls

We've lived in the sticks for roughly the last eight or nine years.  It's pretty nice, really.  No, we don't hide.  We just like to be loud and obnoxious and not irritate the neighbors.  And we have a horse, dog, chickens and a cat.  And four really loud kids.

This last week I've been sick.  So sick that I really haven't done much other than walk from the bed to the bathroom to the medicine cabinet to the chair and back to bed.  It's a nice circle.  But it really does suck to be this sick.  My mom doesn't even want to talk to me on the phone because she feels like I'm going to give it to her via fiber optics.

Anyway, I've been listening to a lot of country music because someone turned on the radio and it isn't in my circle to turn it off.  I'm very confused by country music at times.  Some of it I love, and some of it I can definitely do without.  It makes me cry, laugh and cringe, all within three songs--sometimes all within the same song. 

Today I was feeling somewhat better and since it was so nice outside I went out to sit in the sun, briefly.  I lasted probably half an hour.  And then I was wiped out.

Now I will take you back to 2004.  We had the best mowed lawn in the country.  It was their nightly ritual and it worked every time. 

We also didn't have to spend our weekends mowing the lawn.

Soon she was ready to do it herself--in her pink jelly shoes. 

Then she graduated to the REALLY big ones. 

Okay, she wasn't actually driving that one (or the lawn mower for that matter).  It was her grandpa.  My youngest brother graduated from John Deere Tech and the school pulled out their biggest machines and let the graduates and anyone else who knew how to drive a tractor have a go at it.  Talk about a good time.  This is one of my very favorite pictures of her with grandpa.

But today, roughly seven years after her first introduction to John Deere, she is big enough that the safety feature on the seat isn't triggered to shut the mower down and she can actually mow the lawn.

And she did. The whole back yard.  (Very slowly under daddy's very close supervision.)

And she was thrilled.

Don't mess with country girls.  Even if they wear pink hats and purple flip flops.

In the words of Josh Thompson and proof that I have really listened to too much country music:

If it's our backwoods way of livin' you're concerned with

You can leave us alone

We're about John Wayne, Johnny Cash and John Deere

Way out here

No, we don't fry everything.  But the dog does run loose. 

He has come back to us . . . again!

Violet asked all winter where he was and when we were getting him back.  And this spring we had a boy for him to meet.

And here's V on top.  "Mommy!  Look!  I'm a cowgirl!  YEEEHAWWW!!"

Yes, she actually hollered that as she rode by.

And Calla just wants to go fast.  The faster she goes, the bigger she smiles.

Mr. C even got a turn. He was pretty thrilled.

Here he is waiting for his turn.  The fence rails were just the right height for him.

Whoa . . . that's BIG!  And it has pink boots on!

Not at all intimidated.  Such a boy.

 

And he could care less about the chicken, too. 

Grace wanted to go without the saddle.  And with daddy's hat.  Our girl is getting SO big!

And a new one.  Mr. A.  He lasted about 90 seconds, even after bribing.  But he eventually went on with Brent.

I feel like our family is complete again.  It feels good.

Your dumb. My dumb. Their dumb.

Facebook drives me batty sometimes.  I will confess that I am far from perfect when it comes to grammar and such.  But I do believe that I have the basics.  And some things just make me shake my head.

Your dumb. 

I see this comment ALL THE TIME on facebook. 

Actually, that's my dumb.  Because you obviously can't be trusted with it.

Oh wait.  Never mind.

Dumb is apparently something to be had and fought over like the stupid little toys at my house. 

MOM!  I HAD IT FIRST!  AND SHE ISN'T SHARING!

YOU TWO STOP IT AND SHARE THE DUMB!  THERE'S PLENTY FOR ALL OF YOU!

Or maybe it's some entree at a Chinese restaurant with bean sprouts and sliced carrots and celery and noodles and chicken and some mystery sauce that gives me gas just thinking about it.

Don't order the Dumb.  Last time I was here it gave me gas.

Don't get me wrong.  I like Chinese food and have weird cravings for it sometimes.  My point it that if you use the word as a noun, it seems to fit well into what I hear in Asian languages.

Or walking down the street.

Excuse me.  Is this your dumb?  I think you dropped it.

No, sorry.  My dumb is pink and sparkly and cute.  Wanna see it?

Your dumb.

My dumb.

I have a dumb.  I keep it in a cage and feed it lettuce and skittles.  It's perfect because I'm allergic to rabbits.

Their dumb.

Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.

How's that for semantic satiation?

Think about it.

SUN!

Finally, we have something resembling SPRING weather-wise.  So naturally, we are drawn outside.  Carsten sat in the driveway  and played and watched.

He liked the ball.  And the kittens.  And the sun.

Violet came out, too. 

Calla rode her bike around and then she and Violet went and played in the sand.  I use the term "sand" loosely since it's an old sandbox that has since grown over.  But if you dig there's sand to be had.

Then Grace got home and was eager to join the outside crew.  I told her she should change her clothes.  After arguing with me briefly over it, she complied.  Something told me this would probably be in her best interest.  And then I went in the house to tackle a few housekeeping things.

Later I hear, "MOM!  WE NEED HELP!"  I'll translate that for you.

"MOM!  WE ARE COVERED IN MUD AND NEED A SHOWER AND THEN WE'LL BE YOUR PERSONAL HOUSEKEEPING SLAVES FOR THE NEXT HOUR OR SO IF YOU WON'T BE MAD AT US!"

And they got their bath for the night, their rooms are clean, and we got the muddy mess cleaned up without any trouble.  All before dad got home.  Sometimes their poor decisions work out pretty well for me.  Frankly, I give the credit to the energy chart.  That thing is awesome.  It's done wonders for many perspectives in this house.  Including mine.

Welcome to the zoo

Last night I discovered a creature in our basement.

I'm pretty thankful it wasn't the furry, scurrying type.

And the kids are pretty excited to have a creature pal today. (He'll go outside free later today.)

Carsten even got in on the action before Grace got on the bus.

And these little creatures are now getting out of their box and running around.  If I wasn't afraid that there was something outside that would get them, they would SO be outside.  I'm not a cat person, but still.  They are pretty darn cute.

Then we discovered this in the garage: 

An injured duck.  Not so injured that it couldn't fly or recover enough to make it.  But injured non the less and in a corner of the garage.  So my plan was to put it in with the chickens until it got stronger. 

But then it got out of the bucket and flew away with the little dog after it.  I think it was fine.  And I have no intention of chasing it down.

And this all before 10am.  Yes, we have a zoo.  I'm okay with it.

Tracking Big Birds

This spring we've had some visitors across the road.  Visitors that I don't remember since we've lived here.  But I'm sure I'd remember them if they had visited before.

Sandhill Cranes.  A couple evenings ago there were about a dozen of them and I decided to go check them out since bedtime was under control and it was so nice out.  So I put on my rubber boots (or as Violet calls them, Scrubber Boots), told Brent I'd be back in a bit and headed over.  The mountains were amazing.

The birds were close.

And our stupid little dog chased the cranes off before I could get a good picture.  They are big enough that they could probably just eat her.

But, look what I found!

To back up a little, not too long ago I decided that this summer we are going to try to find animal tracks and make plaster of Paris casts of them.  So, before I would let Brent come home yesterday, he had to find some.  (Actually I called a few places and found some for him to just stop and get.)

And after dinner, off we went!

For once, mom wasn't behind the camera.  And daddy did a pretty good job. 

The dog came, again.  But she apparently is a part of the family now.

We found a few really good prints. (Violet calls them train tracks.  That does sound strikingly similar to crane tracks to a two-year-old.) They were on a slope, but we made them work.

Calla felt she needed to wear her helmet in case she slipped on some ice and landed on her head.  Smart kid.  And it's amazing that nobody landed on the track, as close as they were.

We got the two of them set and headed back to the house for baths and bedtime.  And then I went and retrieved the casts. 

Can we say AWESOME!?

I'm super pleased with our first ones!  They will cure for a few days and then I'll clean them off.  I was thinking that originally we'd try the process on chicken, cat or dog tracks.  But this is fabulous! 

I dream of a collection of tracks with the kind and date and where we found them to display somewhere in our house.  A kind of tribute to our adventures.  I'm so excited!

**EDIT**  Wanted to add the link to the instructions I used.  And also, the big round metal thing, while cool looking and perfectly round, may not have been the best choice since now I have no idea how I'm going to get the cast out of it.