Ending Another School Year

We’ve had some very nice “ride with your windows down” kind of weather lately -- maybe even a bit warm for this time of year. We did get some much needed rain last Sunday. My rain gauge tops out at five inches so I have no idea how much we actually got. We needed it and could use more. The corn is growing, the wheat is turning golden, and farmers are busy cutting hay and setting tobacco.

MOTHER'S DAY / MOM'S BIRTHDAY. Last weekend was Mother’s Day and it was also Mom’s birthday. We celebrated by taking dinner to their house both Saturday and Sunday. Then Mom’s Sunday School class celebrated her birthday by bringing them food all last week. This was a big blessing for Mom.

Speaking of moms, one of the cats that we rescued from the corn field behind Aunt Mar’s house last summer has given birth to a litter of four kittens. She moved them up to the house this week so we’ve seen them for the first time. Aunt Mar loves to look out at the cats but we are probably going to have to move them to our house. The risk that one of them will trip Mom is too great. Momma cat totally ignores Mom and shoots into the house every time the door is opened.

END OF SCHOOL. We are approaching the end of school. Just two days left! The kids have been going on field trips and enjoying field day in these last couple of weeks at school. I even got to break away and go with Nate’s class to Chaney’s Dairy Farm near Bowling Green. I know he was really looking forward to having me along and I enjoyed being with him.

Ben had sixth grade orientation last week. They took a field trip to the middle school and he got to see something of what life will be like for him next year. I think he is excited, but we also think he’s a little sad to be ending his time at the elementary school.

We’re also winding down a lot of other activities. We had our final Awana Club meeting on Wednesday. Nate’s last Scout meeting for the year is tomorrow night, though he earned his Bear patch last month. Boy Scouts will wind down for Ben next week. We won’t be bored though. We’re expecting a visit from cousins next weekend and then basketball camp starts.

Also, congratulations to Mac Swann who graduated from Maryville University today.

A MUDDY MESS. Mud is a boy magnet. I have tilled up a little patch of ground next to the shop and planted some tomatoes there. Last Sunday’s rain was just what they needed. Of course, just as we were walking out of the house to leave for Scouts the boys headed for the tomatoes and walked right through the mud. They sank up to their ankles. I was not happy.

I realize I will read this ten years from now and smile as I long for the days my boys were home. I realize I will think of this twenty or so years from now when they are paying for their raising and I am enjoying the moment. I tell myself this because I struggle to find the humor in the situation when I am rushing to leave and having to wait for them to go back in the house for their ratty shoes which are all that’s clean now.

CONCRETE FLOOR LAST? My shop is now complete and I have begun moving some things in there. I say complete in that construction is finished, but I will be doing things to the inside for months to come.

Several people have asked me why in the world the concrete floor was done last so I thought I’d answer that question here. My shop is a pole barn. It started with holes dug at ten foot intervals around the perimeter of the building. Next a set of 4x6 poles were set in the holes. After that some 2x6 stringers were nailed to the poles at three foot intervals. Then the roof trusses were placed and the siding put on.

What’s important here are the bottom stringers that are right at ground level. These not only provide a place to screw in the siding for the walls at the ground, but they double as a permanent form for the concrete. The only thing the concrete guys had to form up was the doorways.

EATING CROW! The mail carriers in White House held a food drive last Saturday. The Boy Scouts participate in this as a service project. Mail carriers don't have a lot of room for extra cargo so the Scouts come in by driving a route to collect the donations so the letter carrier won't have to make multiple trips back to the post office to unload. Ben and I participated and took the route that comes closest to where we live so we happened to know several people who live on that route.

We had a great time together enjoying a little over two hours to talk and cut up as we drove the route. I got a great laugh at Ben's expense when we entered the subdivision where our friends Kelly and Kathy Raglin live. Ben thought he knew which house they live in and seeing no bag of food at their mailbox began to dog them a bit for not donating to the food drive. I just drove down the street a bit and stopped at a mailbox with a bag of canned food hanging on it. As he was getting out to retrieve the bag I said, "By the way, Kelly and Kathy live at this house." Kelly loved it when I told him about Ben's mistake at church the next day.

MEAN DAD AND SISTER. Jenna, Ben and I were sitting together in church today. During the sermon Ben was drawing on the back of an offering envelope with a pen. He must have been playing with the pen near his face because at one point he turned to Jenna and asked if he had ink on his face. She told him yes even though he didn’t. Since he didn’t believe her she turned and whispered to me, “Doesn’t Ben have ink all over his face?” I played along.

Within seconds the poor boy was so antsy he could hardly sit still. He really wanted to slip out to the bathroom, but I wouldn’t let him go. So, with his imagination running wild he began to lick his fingers and rub his face. It wasn’t too long into this before I leaned over and told him there really weren’t any pen marks on his face, then he didn’t believe me and wanted to go to the bathroom to check the mirror for himself.

I know you are thinking Jenna and I should have been struck by lightening for lying in church. We sure couldn’t resist a little fun at his expense even if we were in the middle of church.

GENTLE BEN. Ben may be the most reserved of our three kids, but he does have a very caring side. One evening Vicki walked into the bathroom to do laundry as Ben was taking a shower and caught him writing, “I love Mom,” in the steam on the shower door. She thinks he was going to add “and Dad” to it, but he got embarrassed and wiped it off.

Another time was a morning I need to go into the office early so Vicki had to get the kids off to school by herself. The boys were coming downstairs as her alarm went off and she overheard the following conversation.

Nate asked Ben, “Do you consider me a friend?”

“Yeah.”

“A best friend?”

“Yeah. One I have to live with ... and fight with.”

Joe

More Quirkiness

It doesn't feel like early May. I heard one day that our high was 15° above average for this time of year. We also need rain. We are getting a few showers here and there, but the ground needs one long drink of water right now.

Rereading that it sounds like I'm being really hard to please. Our days have been exceptionally pretty and we've enjoyed them. That just doesn't diminish the fact that it's hotter and drier than what's normal for this time of year.

SHOP NEARLY DONE! I am happy to report that my shop is just about done. The electricity was hooked up last week and the concrete floor was poured yesterday. Once that sets I need to hang more lights and then I can start moving some stuff in there. I'm excited!

One thing that's fun right now is the small dirt pile that's outside the shop where they scraped off the vegetation before pouring the concrete. The boys love it! Give a boy a pile of dirt and you have a happy boy.

SKATING. A few months ago I reported that we were invited to skating birthday party. We were invited to another last weekend. Ben was right back out there giving it his all. Nate made one lap around the rink and was done. Jenna put on her skates but never skated. I think Jenna and Nate are both done with skating.

GARDNER'S WARTS? So we were in White House on Friday to drop Ben off for a camping trip. After this and eating out we needed to do some shopping so Vicki asked if anyone needed anything not on the shopping list. That's when Nate spoke up saying her needed medicine for gardner's warts.

Jenna and I looked at each other in confusion while Vicki burst out laughing. Nate had gotten confused. He needed medecine to treat a plantar wart on the bottom of his foot. Nate was a bit defensive about being laughed at and defended himself to Vicki saying, "But you told me it was a gardner's wart!"

CAMPING. Speaking of Ben's camping trip, he attended a scout camporee last weekend. They had pleasant weather for it. The only rain they got was Friday night. I know we got some thunder and lightning here along with about a half inch of rain. I assume they experienced the same thing since they were only 20 minutes away but Ben said he slept through it.

I think Ben had a lot of fun. The scout troops had a competition to build a tank that fired water balloons and then have a battle with the tanks. Ben's troop didn't do so well and were mostly target practice for the other tanks. At any rate, he came home tired, smelly, and happy.

UGLY BABIES. You may recall I went with Ben on a scout campout about a month ago. While there I saw a fire pit made out of an old 55 gallon drum. Well, I remembered there was an old drum in one of the sheds around the house so I went to get it yesterday so I could have a fire pit of my own.

When I walked up to the shed I scared off a buzzard (actually, a black vulture). I didn't think anything about it until I heard something hissing at me when I stepped inside. The hissing was coming from one of the two baby chicks that were still in there. They appear to be about 8-12 inches tall and are covered in light brown fuzz. They won't win any beauty contests, but they're cuter than their mom by a long shot.

THAT'S MY HILL! If you drive out Highway 25 to the interstate you'll pass a prominent hill on the left side of the road. It's not really tall, but it's tall enough to stand out as a significant feature in the immediate area. For those of you familiar with the area this is the hill on the Rainwater place across from Village Green Drive.

As a boy Aunt Mar and I usually had a little competition to see who was the first to claim the hill as we drove by. The rules were simply that the hill had to be in view before you could lay claim to it. I say the competition was between Aunt Mar and me. Mom would be in the car as well, but she would usually be talking too much to notice and call out, "My hill."

Some time last year I thought it would be neat to continue the game with my kids. Let me tell you, what works well in a family with an only child doesn't work so well with a pair of competitive brothers. Within a month Vicki was muttering some very unkind things to me under her breath for ever starting such a stupid game.

Well, things have settled down some and there aren't as many arguments now. The funny thing is that about half the time we go to the interstate we don't got the "my hill way" but we take the back roads to Highway 76 and the White House exit. One day we were doing this and Nate looked up from a video game and claimed, "my hill."

He was a bit disappointed when we informed him the hill was miles away on another road, but he quickly recovered and defended himself by pointing out that it was still a hill. It's really not. It's more of a slight ridge that may gain 10 feet of elevation from the level of the road and I pointed that out to him.

To make a long story short, this route now has it's own geographical feature to claim. If you are riding down Cross Plains Road with us you'll hear one of the kids call out "my general rise in the ground" just as we get near the sharp curves at the intersection with Pinson Lane.

Aunt Mar, just look at what you started.

Joe