Milestones

Easter and spring break have come and gone. Now we begin that fast-paced final leg of the school year. It all happens quickly from here on out. I've heard Ben say several times, "I'm glad I'm not a senior this year." Of course, that will be here before we can blink.

REHAB
To give a quick update on Mom, she has finished one full week of therapy. Naturally, she is eager to be back home, but she is also a good sport and wants to do what she needs to do to regain some strength. Hopefully for her, this time will fly by and soon be a distant memory. We are just glad she is getting the professional attention she needs now, so that she'll be better prepared for returning home later.

GETTING AWAY
This past week was DA's spring break so we had reserved a few days with Don and Penny to use their lake house for a few days. When Mom first had her heart attack, we figured we'd need to cancel these plans, but as the week progressed and she was sent to rehab we kept our eye on getting away. By the time she was settled in at the nursing home, she gave us her blessing to keep our plans, so a week ago Saturday (the 24th) we packed up and headed out, returning home last Tuesday.

Our trips to the lake house sound boring, I'm sure, but sometimes just getting away to different scenery where you have nothing but time where you can focus on each other is just what we all need. As usual we read, watched movies, played cards and board games, and ate. We didn't make it to church Sunday, but we did drive to Paducah to catch Paul, Apostle of Christ in the theater which we all enjoyed.

One different thing about this visit was that Jenna was unable to join us. We certainly missed her and as Vicki noted, her absence really changes the dynamics of the family. Still, it was good to get away.

A NEW DRIVER
If you live locally, watch out! Nate is on the road. He got his driving permit on Wednesday and I've been making him chauffeur me on various errands ever since. He is not coming into this with as much experience driving around the farm as Jenna and Ben had so, to be honest, this is a little scarier when riding shotgun with him. He is a quick learner, though, and I've been impressed with how quickly he picks up on how to handle a vehicle. For now I'm just glad I've convinced him not to ride the white line. Those brick mailboxes were getting intimidating!

MY THIRSTY BIRD
A couple of years ago I got a drinking bird toy for Christmas. I never had one as a kid so that stocking stuffer scratched that itch and when the novelty wore off I put my bird up on a shelf. Well, in moving knick-knacks around in our study some time last fall that bird wound up sitting on top of our router on the computer desk. Over the Christmas holidays a little motion caught my eye as I was at the computer and when I looked that bird was bobbing its head as if I had put a cup of water there for it to drink from. Strange thing is, there's no cup of water there!

For a quick explanation, the drinking bird toy is basically a heat engine. Placing a cup of water in front of the bird for it to dip its beak into starts a heating and cooling cycle that makes it bob in what appears to be a perpetual motion cycle. I won't go into any more detail here, but if you really want to geek out on how this toy works Bill Hammack, aka the Engineer Guy, does a great job explaining how the toy works on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCKC-QVcVn0).

So, for over three months now my thirsty bird has been trying to get water from a cup that is not there. Knowing how the toy works I find this amazing. I'm guessing the little bit of heat generated by the router it is sitting on is just enough to jump start the cycle. I'm curious if this will continue as hot weather approaches and we turn on our A/C.

COLLEGE VISIT
I led off this edition mentioning Ben is fast approaching his senior year of high school. Another big reminder of that was our trip to Cookeville to visit Tennessee Tech today.

We headed out this morning in time to drive the 90+ minute trip so we could eat lunch on campus and then take the tour. Vicki and Jenna had looked at Tech as a backup plan in case the financial aid package at Trevecca didn't work out, and she came away more impressed this time than she had been two years ago. I don't know if this will be where Ben goes to college, but we have one college visit done and several more to go.

Joe