We are enjoying some very pleasant fall weather, and I spotted a tree yesterday that is starting to show its autumn colors. It is also the time of year you can easily get behind a combine convoy on the road as they move from field to field harvesting corn.
HOMECOMING AND OTHNER ACTIVITIES. Last week was Homecoming for East Robertson High School and Jenna has been involved in all sorts of activities. She spent several Sunday afternoons working on the sophomore float and then the previous weekend she helped decorate one of the hallways at school. She rooked Ben into helping her out with this. Between this and her studies she has been one busy girl and I am proud to see her rise to the occasion and handle all the responsibility.
Friday night, the culmination of all their efforts, featured a parade through town before the football game. The game went long due to the activities at halftime. Afterwards Vicki brought Jenna and three friends -- Katie, Mackenzie, and Maegan -- home for the night. Poor Nate was trapped in the house with all those girls (I'll get to why in a moment) but he merely disappeared into his room and did whatever Nate's do for the evening.
The next morning the crew at my house enjoyed a pancake breakfast before all the girls went home. That afternoon Vicki and Jenna worked at the East Robertson Elementary carnival and that evening they met up with Maegan for some tennis. All in all it was a very full weekend for them.
ARTISTIC FLAIR. One of the classes Jenna has this year is art. They are starting out with pencil sketching and I must say the girl is pretty good. Vicki and I have both been impressed with her work whenever she’s shown us her sketchbook.
I am really very envious of the opportunity she has. I wanted to have art the entire time I was in school but it was never offered. Jenna keeps saying, “Dad, it’s so easy. Just pick up your pencil and start drawing. You just need to practice.” I know she’s right, it’s just by the time I settle down most evenings to do things like that it’s bedtime and my eyes are crossing.
LOST IN THE WOODS. This past weekend, while Jenna was involved in all the Homecoming activities, Ben and I were camping with his Scout Troop. The focus of this campout was to work on orienteering requirements and I was quite impressed with Ben’s skills here.
We got up Saturday morning for a day full of compass activities. In the first activity the boys had to walk a straight line course for 100 feet with a sack over their heads with noting but a compass visible to them as they held it at their waist. For the second activity the boys were given a set of compass headings and had to work their way around a course of flags in a circle about 50 feet in diameter. Ben did really well in both of these.
After lunch the boys were divided into teams of two and giving compass headings that took them through the woods. We had about 75 acres of woods to work in and there were several buckets with golf balls scattered through the woods. Each team’s directions took them to a bucket where they collected a gold ball, then they proceeded from there to the next bucket. If you messed up you had to return to the previous bucket and try again. Ben and his partner, Benjamin, who both have the rank of Tenderfoot, completed the course in a little over an hour and were the first team to return to camp. The team I was attached to, which had two more experienced Scouts, was lost in the woods for over three hours.
We had a great time, but I think I picked up a bunch of chiggers while tromping through the woods. I’ll stop on that note and see if Vicki has any clear fingernail polish I can use to smother these things and get some relief.
Joe
Monday, September 30, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Fall, Glorious Fall!
This has to be one on my favorite times of the year. The weather is cool and the days are beautiful. It was perfect Saturday night for a meal at the picnic table and s’mores around the fire pit. If you look really closely you can see the barest hint of color in the trees.
MUM’S THE WORD. The Beta Club has been selling mums as a fund raiser for an upcoming trip to New York City. Jenna (and Vicki) got busy and sold 53 mums, not counting the 6 that we bought. They spent Thursday and Friday evening delivering flowers all over this end of creation. All their hard work sure saves us on her trip expenses.
Vicki and Jenna have also been busy making pear preserves to sell for another fundraiser. Jenna hopes to visit the orphanage in Haiti that our church is supporting and these monies will go toward that trip. They are finding it takes a lot of work to make preserves.
Speaking of fundraisers, Saturday afternoon found the boys and I selling popcorn in front of a grocery store once again. This time we were at Al’s in White House. We didn’t sell nearly as much popcorn but got a lot of donations.
WATER WORKS. Thursday afternoon I came home with a cutoff valve from the hardware store to replace one below the bathroom sink that is leaking. When I went outside to cut the water off at the meter so I could go to work the valve at the meter broke leaving our water almost off. Since this valve is on the utility’s side of the meter it was their responsibility to fix it.
The next morning I was eating breakfast when Steve Freeland called. He had passed by on his way to work and noticed a small geyser in our front yard. I went out to check it out and sure enough we had a fountain of water about a foot tall bubbling up from the ground. This too was on the utility’s side of the meter so they had to come back out. They wound up replacing the segment of the water line connecting our meter to the water main. All I have to do is reseed the area where they worked.
I did get a kick out of Maggie when we went out the check out the water. She hadn’t seen anything like it before and kept running around the leak barking at it.
ADDITIONS TO THE SHOP. I have been really bummed that I now have the shop I have dreamed of having for years and no time to get out there and work. This has changed in the last couple of weeks and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. What is an extra blessing is that I helped someone at church clean out an industrial building they want to sell and have gotten two large counters and a work bench for my shop. These are a welcome change from the wobbly old kitchen table and sawhorses that I have been using. The building is starting to feel like a place where I can actually get something accomplished.
Joe
MUM’S THE WORD. The Beta Club has been selling mums as a fund raiser for an upcoming trip to New York City. Jenna (and Vicki) got busy and sold 53 mums, not counting the 6 that we bought. They spent Thursday and Friday evening delivering flowers all over this end of creation. All their hard work sure saves us on her trip expenses.
Vicki and Jenna have also been busy making pear preserves to sell for another fundraiser. Jenna hopes to visit the orphanage in Haiti that our church is supporting and these monies will go toward that trip. They are finding it takes a lot of work to make preserves.
Speaking of fundraisers, Saturday afternoon found the boys and I selling popcorn in front of a grocery store once again. This time we were at Al’s in White House. We didn’t sell nearly as much popcorn but got a lot of donations.
WATER WORKS. Thursday afternoon I came home with a cutoff valve from the hardware store to replace one below the bathroom sink that is leaking. When I went outside to cut the water off at the meter so I could go to work the valve at the meter broke leaving our water almost off. Since this valve is on the utility’s side of the meter it was their responsibility to fix it.
The next morning I was eating breakfast when Steve Freeland called. He had passed by on his way to work and noticed a small geyser in our front yard. I went out to check it out and sure enough we had a fountain of water about a foot tall bubbling up from the ground. This too was on the utility’s side of the meter so they had to come back out. They wound up replacing the segment of the water line connecting our meter to the water main. All I have to do is reseed the area where they worked.
I did get a kick out of Maggie when we went out the check out the water. She hadn’t seen anything like it before and kept running around the leak barking at it.
ADDITIONS TO THE SHOP. I have been really bummed that I now have the shop I have dreamed of having for years and no time to get out there and work. This has changed in the last couple of weeks and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. What is an extra blessing is that I helped someone at church clean out an industrial building they want to sell and have gotten two large counters and a work bench for my shop. These are a welcome change from the wobbly old kitchen table and sawhorses that I have been using. The building is starting to feel like a place where I can actually get something accomplished.
Joe
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Crisp Mornings
It’s that time of year when the mornings feel crisp, the grass looks thin and tired, and if the wind is right you catch the smell of a tobacco barn in the air.
RA CAMPOUT. The boys and I went to the annual RA Campout at Coldstream Camp last weekend. We had a lot of fun together. They boys tried their hand at fishing. We haven’t a clue what we’re doing because they didn’t get a nibble and everyone around us was catching them left and right. Vicki and Jenna had a girls night out and went out to eat at the Brickyard Cafe in Franklin.
WALNUTS. I’ve mentioned in previous years how the boys love to play with the walnuts in Kenny and Lori’s driveway as they wait for the bus. This has been a favorite activity of Nate’s again this year. If we get there early enough Nate will gather a dozen or so and line them up on the road parallel to the white line.
All the cars driving by move over a bit to miss them, but not Alice. When Alice drives up in the bus she makes it a special point to roll over those walnuts with the right tire of the bus. They sound like a string of firecrackers going off and Nate gets so excited he jumps up and down. I pulled up to Alice’s window before she drove off one morning and told her that was probably the easiest thing she could have done to make that boy’s day. She laughed and said, “It makes my day too!”
POPCORN, GET YOUR POPCORN HERE! It’s popcorn selling time for the Boy Scouts. Yesterday the boys and I went to Kroger in Springfield to sell popcorn and I was very proud of how they engaged all the people. This is easier for Nate who is more outgoing than Ben, but you couldn’t tell that yesterday.
We did really well, selling all but five bags of our premium popcorn. They offered to bring us more but after three hours of being baked in the sun and we noticed the store was less busy we decided to pack up and go home.
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK. Friday night we headed over to Centennial Park to catch the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Vicki and I made this outing a date night to see Much Ado About Nothing last year, but since Jenna was miffed that she didn’t get to see the play we decided to make it a family outing this year.
We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect evening to enjoy an outdoor play. Like last year’s production all the costumes, set, and props are modern while the dialog in the original form. This makes it a little hard to follow the plot but we all want to go back next year.
THAT DOG, SHE’S A NUT! Maggie is such a fun part of the family. She is so excited when we open the door in the morning she is beside herself wiggling and dancing. Snoopy at suppertime has nothing on Maggie’s dancing. She loves to ride in the truck with me and I take her when I go over to Mom’s to mow. She also likes to be with me when I am in the shop and has laid claim to the old recliner out there (Vicki won’t sit in it now).
I got a good laugh at Maggie the other day. I came out that morning to feed Maggie and then went out to the shop to get a shopping list for the hardware store. I had left the door open to the shop so I heard Maggie running across the yard to see what I was up to. As I turned to look I saw this black streak coming toward the door. Then she tripped over the threshold, fell on her side, and went sliding across the floor. She wasn’t hurt, but no matter how much she twisted and wriggled she couldn’t get her feet under her. She slid 20 feet before she got to me and I think she would have gone another 10 feet and crashed into the back wall if I hadn’t put my foot out to stop her.
Speaking of excitement, Maggie had a happy reunion the other day. Maggie and her sister were strays that showed up at my cousin Amy’s house. The other day Amy’s daughter, Bonnie, dropped by. Maggie hadn’t forgotten Bonnie was beside herself with joy.
My cousins, Greg and Kathy, have Maggie’s sister now. She’s named Lucy. We need to drop by and let the dogs visit one day. I’m betting both dogs will lose all bladder control.
Joe
RA CAMPOUT. The boys and I went to the annual RA Campout at Coldstream Camp last weekend. We had a lot of fun together. They boys tried their hand at fishing. We haven’t a clue what we’re doing because they didn’t get a nibble and everyone around us was catching them left and right. Vicki and Jenna had a girls night out and went out to eat at the Brickyard Cafe in Franklin.
WALNUTS. I’ve mentioned in previous years how the boys love to play with the walnuts in Kenny and Lori’s driveway as they wait for the bus. This has been a favorite activity of Nate’s again this year. If we get there early enough Nate will gather a dozen or so and line them up on the road parallel to the white line.
All the cars driving by move over a bit to miss them, but not Alice. When Alice drives up in the bus she makes it a special point to roll over those walnuts with the right tire of the bus. They sound like a string of firecrackers going off and Nate gets so excited he jumps up and down. I pulled up to Alice’s window before she drove off one morning and told her that was probably the easiest thing she could have done to make that boy’s day. She laughed and said, “It makes my day too!”
POPCORN, GET YOUR POPCORN HERE! It’s popcorn selling time for the Boy Scouts. Yesterday the boys and I went to Kroger in Springfield to sell popcorn and I was very proud of how they engaged all the people. This is easier for Nate who is more outgoing than Ben, but you couldn’t tell that yesterday.
We did really well, selling all but five bags of our premium popcorn. They offered to bring us more but after three hours of being baked in the sun and we noticed the store was less busy we decided to pack up and go home.
SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK. Friday night we headed over to Centennial Park to catch the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Vicki and I made this outing a date night to see Much Ado About Nothing last year, but since Jenna was miffed that she didn’t get to see the play we decided to make it a family outing this year.
We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect evening to enjoy an outdoor play. Like last year’s production all the costumes, set, and props are modern while the dialog in the original form. This makes it a little hard to follow the plot but we all want to go back next year.
THAT DOG, SHE’S A NUT! Maggie is such a fun part of the family. She is so excited when we open the door in the morning she is beside herself wiggling and dancing. Snoopy at suppertime has nothing on Maggie’s dancing. She loves to ride in the truck with me and I take her when I go over to Mom’s to mow. She also likes to be with me when I am in the shop and has laid claim to the old recliner out there (Vicki won’t sit in it now).
I got a good laugh at Maggie the other day. I came out that morning to feed Maggie and then went out to the shop to get a shopping list for the hardware store. I had left the door open to the shop so I heard Maggie running across the yard to see what I was up to. As I turned to look I saw this black streak coming toward the door. Then she tripped over the threshold, fell on her side, and went sliding across the floor. She wasn’t hurt, but no matter how much she twisted and wriggled she couldn’t get her feet under her. She slid 20 feet before she got to me and I think she would have gone another 10 feet and crashed into the back wall if I hadn’t put my foot out to stop her.
Speaking of excitement, Maggie had a happy reunion the other day. Maggie and her sister were strays that showed up at my cousin Amy’s house. The other day Amy’s daughter, Bonnie, dropped by. Maggie hadn’t forgotten Bonnie was beside herself with joy.
My cousins, Greg and Kathy, have Maggie’s sister now. She’s named Lucy. We need to drop by and let the dogs visit one day. I’m betting both dogs will lose all bladder control.
Joe
Friday, September 6, 2013
Ten Years of the Swann Family News
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Swann Family News. A whole lot of life has happened in that time. The software I use for this project tells me I have written over 340,000 words recording the bits and pieces that I share here.
I remember how I came up with the idea of doing this. I had begun a form of journaling back in 1992 in the form of letters to my dad. My inspiration came from the letters Hawkeye Pierce would write to his dad on M*A*S*H. That lasted about nine months and then life with a new girlfriend (that would be Vicki) got busy and I put my pen down. My letters resumed in 1996, but with less frequency. By mid 1999 I quit writing Dad.
Overlapping my letters to Dad a bit was a daily journal I started keeping in September 1998. I kept this up until the spring of 2002 when once again I got to the point that I just couldn’t sit down and write up my thoughts each night. As I recall I was having to write up several days at a time when I got the chance. I tried to pick this back up the following spring in the form of recording an audio journal but that just didn’t work for me.
All this was on my mind ten years ago today when I was mowing Aunt Mar’s yard. I can remember exactly where I was in the yard (I was finishing up the area we call the strawberry patch) when the idea of this format crystalized in my mind. The accountability of sending this out to family and friends has been the motivation I needed to keep this up for ten years while the promise to myself that it is okay not to have to publish this on a regular schedule has kept me from giving it up.
I remember wondering as I was riding the mower that day how long this would last. I also wondered then what life would be like in ten years. I don’t think I would have been surprised by much of what our lives look like today from back then, though I never would have guessed that Pauline wouldn’t still be living across the field or that Ben would have lost one of his best friends to a brain tumor. I think what’s been the most pleasant surprise over the last ten years is simply watching my kids grow and develop into the people they are today. That’s something Vicki and I have enjoyed watching together and is a regular part of my expression of gratitude when I pray.
So, I wonder what things will look like for us on Wednesday, September 6, 2023? Vicki and I should be empty-nesters. How many of the kids will still be in college by then? Will any of them be married? Where will we all be working? Only time will tell on those questions.
Early on I was surprised with each milestone of this newsletter that I had kept it up for that long. I am not so surprised now, though I do wonder if this project will have run it’s course by the time all the kids are out of the house. We are certainly busy, but with more routine activities than when the kids were younger. I think there’s more to it than the schedule. Back then it was so easy to record our family activities because I was writing some from the perspective of a parent with small children. Now that the kids are older that perspective has changed. Vicki and I are just as much a part of their lives now as we were then but we relate to them differently and I am finding that this makes me write less often.
For now the Swann Family News is alive and well. I’ll write more frequently during some times of the year and less in others and that’s okay. I’m going to keep it up as long as it feels right. I’m just looking forward to the time when one of my grandchildren will crawl into my lap and ask me what their mom or dad was like when they were kids and I’ll reach up on the shelf and pull down a book (or maybe I’ll pull it up on a tablet) and catch them up on the Swann Family News.
Joe
I remember how I came up with the idea of doing this. I had begun a form of journaling back in 1992 in the form of letters to my dad. My inspiration came from the letters Hawkeye Pierce would write to his dad on M*A*S*H. That lasted about nine months and then life with a new girlfriend (that would be Vicki) got busy and I put my pen down. My letters resumed in 1996, but with less frequency. By mid 1999 I quit writing Dad.
Overlapping my letters to Dad a bit was a daily journal I started keeping in September 1998. I kept this up until the spring of 2002 when once again I got to the point that I just couldn’t sit down and write up my thoughts each night. As I recall I was having to write up several days at a time when I got the chance. I tried to pick this back up the following spring in the form of recording an audio journal but that just didn’t work for me.
All this was on my mind ten years ago today when I was mowing Aunt Mar’s yard. I can remember exactly where I was in the yard (I was finishing up the area we call the strawberry patch) when the idea of this format crystalized in my mind. The accountability of sending this out to family and friends has been the motivation I needed to keep this up for ten years while the promise to myself that it is okay not to have to publish this on a regular schedule has kept me from giving it up.
I remember wondering as I was riding the mower that day how long this would last. I also wondered then what life would be like in ten years. I don’t think I would have been surprised by much of what our lives look like today from back then, though I never would have guessed that Pauline wouldn’t still be living across the field or that Ben would have lost one of his best friends to a brain tumor. I think what’s been the most pleasant surprise over the last ten years is simply watching my kids grow and develop into the people they are today. That’s something Vicki and I have enjoyed watching together and is a regular part of my expression of gratitude when I pray.
So, I wonder what things will look like for us on Wednesday, September 6, 2023? Vicki and I should be empty-nesters. How many of the kids will still be in college by then? Will any of them be married? Where will we all be working? Only time will tell on those questions.
Early on I was surprised with each milestone of this newsletter that I had kept it up for that long. I am not so surprised now, though I do wonder if this project will have run it’s course by the time all the kids are out of the house. We are certainly busy, but with more routine activities than when the kids were younger. I think there’s more to it than the schedule. Back then it was so easy to record our family activities because I was writing some from the perspective of a parent with small children. Now that the kids are older that perspective has changed. Vicki and I are just as much a part of their lives now as we were then but we relate to them differently and I am finding that this makes me write less often.
For now the Swann Family News is alive and well. I’ll write more frequently during some times of the year and less in others and that’s okay. I’m going to keep it up as long as it feels right. I’m just looking forward to the time when one of my grandchildren will crawl into my lap and ask me what their mom or dad was like when they were kids and I’ll reach up on the shelf and pull down a book (or maybe I’ll pull it up on a tablet) and catch them up on the Swann Family News.
Joe
Monday, September 2, 2013
Summer Heat Returns
The normal summer heat and humidity has reasserted itself in the last two weeks. Some days I walk outside and the humidity takes my breath away. There’s a of tobacco being cut right now. I usually get behind a couple of loads going to the barn on my way to work and the smell of tobacco barns being fired hangs thick in the air. The heat may be back, but only for a short time now.
CANOEING THE BUFFALO. Last weekend Ben went with the Scouts on a weekend canoe trip down the Buffalo River. They started at the Grimes Canoe Base where they spent Friday night. Saturday they floated the majority of their trip before stopping for the night to camp out again. They finished the rest of their trip on Sunday and were picked up and taken back to their vehicles so they could head home.
This trip was more of a backpacking trip, even though they didn’t do any hiking, because each Scout had to carry his own gear. Normally all the troop tents, stoves, etc. are kept in a trailer and Ben only has to pack a few things. Since they couldn’t bring the trailer along that increased his packing list and we had to go to Bass Pro Shop the previous weekend to get some gear he didn’t have.
Ben came back saying they had a great time. I know they stopped and swam a lot. They got credit for a 25 mile trip though they think it was more like 21 miles. I really wanted to go but I had already promised to do the scores at the Fairest of the Fair so I had to stay home.
FUND RAISERS. Whatever students are selling I think we have it between our three kids. We’ve got smart cards. We’ve got popcorn. We’ve got mums. The one thing we don’t have any more of is barbecue. The Boy Scouts had their third annual barbecue sale this weekend. Ben and I got up at 3:00 Saturday morning to go and help with the cooking. By 10:00 the shoulders were getting done and the rest of the guys were showing up to chop and package the meat. I have no idea how much the 36 shoulders we cooked made but Ben sold 46 pounds (well, actually Ben’s mom and dad did the selling).
SHE’S A GO GETTER. I have to admire my daughter. That girl knows what she wants and goes after it. I mentioned the classes she is taking this fall when I last wrote. Advanced Biology alone is demanding enough and it’s the textbook I see the most. She certainly does a lot of studying.
Jenna also got the opportunity to do some babysitting the other night. Her friends, Makenzie and Katie, invited her to go to the fair with them that night which made this a hard decision at first. It became a no brainer when Vicki said, “You can either go to the fair and spend money or take this job and make money.”
I think Jenna may have her sights set on going on a mission trip to Haiti next summer if the opportunity arises and that just may happen. Three folks from our church have recently returned from trips to Haiti and we have begun sponsoring an orphanage in the city of Jérémie which is located near the end of the southern peninsula of that country and is very isolated. If she keeps having opportunities to babysit she’ll be able to make a major contribution to her expenses.
MAGGIE, THE WATCHDOG. Maggie has made herself quite at home here. She is well behaved except that she is so happy to see us when we come home she tries to hop into the vehicle with us. She is quite fast.
The other day Vicki texted me to say that Maggie was really barking. When she went to the window to check it out there were about 15 turkeys in the yard. They left before she could grab the camera. I was home a few days later when I heard Maggie barking some. It wasn’t constant so I didn’t go to check it out for about an hour. When I finally did I discovered that she was protecting me from a plastic bag that had blown into the yard. The breeze was blowing just enough to make it look like it was breathing which would get Maggie stirred up. She just wasn’t brave enough to go investigate the strange, white creature.
A FUN OUTING. We decided to go do something fun yesterday afternoon so after lunch we all piled in the van and headed to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville. They’ve had an exhibit on display there since mid-June called Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles which features about 20 rare, cool looking cars (and a couple of motorcycles) from the 1920s and 1930s. The cars made you think that you were looking at a collection of manufacturer’s concept cars except that they all had limited production runs. One car I read about was almost completely handcrafted and as a result all of the cars in that line were similar but not identical. When we left the Frist we headed to the movie theater where Vicki and I watched The Butler while the kids watched Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
We stayed around the house for Labor Day since we went out yesterday, but we will grill hamburgers and take our meal over to share with Mom this evening.
Joe
CANOEING THE BUFFALO. Last weekend Ben went with the Scouts on a weekend canoe trip down the Buffalo River. They started at the Grimes Canoe Base where they spent Friday night. Saturday they floated the majority of their trip before stopping for the night to camp out again. They finished the rest of their trip on Sunday and were picked up and taken back to their vehicles so they could head home.
This trip was more of a backpacking trip, even though they didn’t do any hiking, because each Scout had to carry his own gear. Normally all the troop tents, stoves, etc. are kept in a trailer and Ben only has to pack a few things. Since they couldn’t bring the trailer along that increased his packing list and we had to go to Bass Pro Shop the previous weekend to get some gear he didn’t have.
Ben came back saying they had a great time. I know they stopped and swam a lot. They got credit for a 25 mile trip though they think it was more like 21 miles. I really wanted to go but I had already promised to do the scores at the Fairest of the Fair so I had to stay home.
FUND RAISERS. Whatever students are selling I think we have it between our three kids. We’ve got smart cards. We’ve got popcorn. We’ve got mums. The one thing we don’t have any more of is barbecue. The Boy Scouts had their third annual barbecue sale this weekend. Ben and I got up at 3:00 Saturday morning to go and help with the cooking. By 10:00 the shoulders were getting done and the rest of the guys were showing up to chop and package the meat. I have no idea how much the 36 shoulders we cooked made but Ben sold 46 pounds (well, actually Ben’s mom and dad did the selling).
SHE’S A GO GETTER. I have to admire my daughter. That girl knows what she wants and goes after it. I mentioned the classes she is taking this fall when I last wrote. Advanced Biology alone is demanding enough and it’s the textbook I see the most. She certainly does a lot of studying.
Jenna also got the opportunity to do some babysitting the other night. Her friends, Makenzie and Katie, invited her to go to the fair with them that night which made this a hard decision at first. It became a no brainer when Vicki said, “You can either go to the fair and spend money or take this job and make money.”
I think Jenna may have her sights set on going on a mission trip to Haiti next summer if the opportunity arises and that just may happen. Three folks from our church have recently returned from trips to Haiti and we have begun sponsoring an orphanage in the city of Jérémie which is located near the end of the southern peninsula of that country and is very isolated. If she keeps having opportunities to babysit she’ll be able to make a major contribution to her expenses.
MAGGIE, THE WATCHDOG. Maggie has made herself quite at home here. She is well behaved except that she is so happy to see us when we come home she tries to hop into the vehicle with us. She is quite fast.
The other day Vicki texted me to say that Maggie was really barking. When she went to the window to check it out there were about 15 turkeys in the yard. They left before she could grab the camera. I was home a few days later when I heard Maggie barking some. It wasn’t constant so I didn’t go to check it out for about an hour. When I finally did I discovered that she was protecting me from a plastic bag that had blown into the yard. The breeze was blowing just enough to make it look like it was breathing which would get Maggie stirred up. She just wasn’t brave enough to go investigate the strange, white creature.
A FUN OUTING. We decided to go do something fun yesterday afternoon so after lunch we all piled in the van and headed to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville. They’ve had an exhibit on display there since mid-June called Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles which features about 20 rare, cool looking cars (and a couple of motorcycles) from the 1920s and 1930s. The cars made you think that you were looking at a collection of manufacturer’s concept cars except that they all had limited production runs. One car I read about was almost completely handcrafted and as a result all of the cars in that line were similar but not identical. When we left the Frist we headed to the movie theater where Vicki and I watched The Butler while the kids watched Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
We stayed around the house for Labor Day since we went out yesterday, but we will grill hamburgers and take our meal over to share with Mom this evening.
Joe
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