Yardage

Needed to find some way to stay away around 7pm (which by now would be yesterdayso I went went outside to pull a few weeds. The light was perfect for pictures so I took a few and then fiddled around with the new Picasa.

             Lunaria annua, more commonly known as Money Plant.

Iris, shot from grass level looking toward a sun-westering sky.

Viola tricolor. Johny Jump-up and Heartsease being other names.

Newly blooming poppy, with the coolly modern editing option called "cinematic." 

I should probably go to bed, now...

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Day of Ft. Dodginess - Take 2

When last we left the Saturday morning adventures of Nolan, Trevor and Ma, they had just departed from the soggy Bob Hay Memorial Conservation Area and were making their damp way to the equally moist Memorial Park named after John F. Kennedy, north of town.

Did I mention it was still raining?

 The JFK Park had an impressive array of attractions on their website. But when a park advertises a "butterfly garden" one should be advised that it may simply be a few butterfly-friendly bushes and plants stuck on a 30x30 ft. plot.

I hadn't expected much in the way of butterflies this early in the season. But the Nature Center, with stuffed ducks and other exhibits, was rather disappointing. Disappointing in the sense that it was all locked up, though the park had officially opened the previous weekend.

 Ah well.

The lads were hungry and searched for a pavilion conducive to picnickery. But covered tables, while suitably alluring in the heat of summer, do not have the same enticement in windy and rainy, 50 degree weather.

We ate in the car.

 About this time an interesting conversation ensued, prompted by watching the robins hopping about in the grass:

Ma: "It would be fun to be a bird, wouldn't it..."

Trevor: "Yeah. Then I could hide and be safe."

(hmmm)

Ma: "I used to want to be a bird when I was a kid."

Trevor: "But you're not a kid, now."

Ma: "No, but I was a kid, once..."

Trevor: "Not today's kid."

 Ma: "Ah. Kids of today are different?"

(no answer)

Ma: "Well anyway, if you were a bird, you wouldn't know a lot of the things you know now, since you're a person."

Trevor: "I would study math."

 Round about this time we'd finished eating and the rain had slackened just a bit so we decided to walk down to the lake. Not a lot of waterfowl, but there were several Canadian Geese performing water ballet.

And two of them found a little sand bar to stand on, where they quite conscientiously rubbed their faces against their wings, either to clean themselves or distribute oil from their preen glands.

After the second rainy park, we were ready for something a little warmer. I had promised a visit to the Ft. Dodge Art Museum, and found it after a modicum of lostness. Then we cooled our already cold heels in the parking lot for the next 15 minutes while I endeavored to remove my hiking boots and two layers of wet socks.

While sitting behind the steering wheel.

Think I pulled a coupla muscles....ANYWAY, we did get into the museum where the boys seemed to enjoy looking at all the exhibits.

Naturally they moved a little faster in their perusal than I, but that's to be expected. I made them go back and look at one room a second time.

 As an interesting aside, they did notice--after examining their kid-friendly flyers--that one picture (an abstract) had been placed back on the wall upside down.

 Heh.

Tune in NEXT time when we find out how cold, wet people rejuvenate by iconic means culturally diverse from an art museum.

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Day of Ft. Dodginess - Take 1

I know from past experience that if I don't start putting up pictures of Saturday's adventures, nothing will get posted, so here goes....

The rain wasn't supposed to start until the afternoon. But I guess if you're driving 75 minutes west, that might mean the rain starts in the morning.

And it did.

After dropping Carolyn and Ethan off at the Republican District Convention, I drove around Ft. Dodge a bit to get my bearings, muttering to myself,

"It wasn't supposed to rain until later...not sure I want to tramp in the woods while it's raining."

Trevor: "I don't mind hiking in the rain. Besides...it's not raining...much..."

Ma: "Hmmmm, I guess we could go to the mall for a while..."

*silence*

"What's a mall?"

Oh well. I guess if they were game I would try to be gamey, too.

We first went to the Bob Hay Memorial Conservation Area.

I think you could call it low tech. So low tech, there wasn't actually a sign, but I finally back-tracked just a bit and figured out where it was. And while I was putting on my hiking boots a hunter walked out of the area. Said it was OK to hike but this was Turkey hunting season, and maybe Nolan shouldn't wear the bright red mittens...

Right. No mittens.

I made Trevor take off his gloves that had patches of maroon.

Then we went off into the very wet brush as light rain continued to make itself felt.

Honeysuckle.
I always like this stuff. The boys were impressed that I knew what it was.

I hope that's really honeysuckle.

Since I was taking pictures, Trevor decided to take pictures, too!
They did show foresight in bringing along their Lego camera, as well as the binoculars.

And now, something I've never actually seen before, though it is fairly common in the woods....Yellow Violets :-)
OK. I like these babies. Had we been by the side of a road I might have pulled some up to take home. But I decided this wouldn't be a good example for the boys.

Nolan was quite excited to find a bone, which he felt very sure to be a thigh bone.
He gave Trevor instructions on just how to photograph it and wanted to take it with him but alas, I said "No."

Morel mushrooms! I've never had them myself.
And I guess true hunters would have packed them on home, but it seemed like leaving them would be best.

I'm already adept at ruining simple foods. There's no need to branch out to more exotic items.

Somewhat damp, we retraced our steps after about 25 minutes and headed back to the Green Dragon Lady Lincoln of Power.

(more to come....)
 

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Life in the Yard

The White-throated Sparrows stopped by again on their way to Canada
Fun to watch and quite attractive with their yellow head spots.

Forget-me-nots. Reseeded from last year, they came up in a pot and bloomed rather early, thanks to the unseasonable onset of summer/spring weather.
.


Another early-bird, the Hardy Geranium. Being next to the house protects it, particularly since we didn't have much of a winter.


Not quite an "in-the-yard" picture, but it does give you an idea of our Iowa country-side vistas.
Not to mention illustrate what dandelions will do if left to themselves.
 

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Forrest Gumphrey

Spring. That eternal time of year when gophers try out their legs in the vast, emerald sea of rhizominess.

Here is Gumphery the Gopher, standing near his hole at the base of the dirt mountain...
...about to head out on a dangerous mission.

Gumphrey needs grass. Dried grass with which to line his burrow.


"Which way do I go...this way?"


"Or this? All these blades look alike..."


Join us next time when we explore further adventures of "The Gumph."
 

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In the Opinion of Kids

Watched the evening news with the kids (well, the parts we didn't have to mute or flip away from) and Nolan thought I looked like the lady in this picture...

Yeah. Not Myrel Streep, Helen Mirren or even Dame Judi Dench.

Nope, I look like Martha Johnson, shamed former head of the GSA.

I can see it's only a matter of time before I enter the Witness Protection Program.

And then there was Trevor. Today Trevor was inquiring about a potential song we may work up for the family reunion. I had played a YouTube video to give the kids an idea. He wanted to see it again but I didn't have time before supper, so he asked,

"Who's going to sing the lead part?"

"I thought I would."

"But, you don't have the best voice..."

Huh.

Sharp little kid, there.
 

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Tillage Time!

It was with great joy and rapture that Mr. Frey was spotted coming down the road.

He pulled into the field with not only a scrumptious new tractor, but purty blue equipment dragging be-hind his tractor.


Turning the corner...
...my, what big wheels!

Boys happily scampering beside the farm equipment of awesomeness.


Lines of attack.
(my favorite picture of the day)


The boys were "oo-ing" and "ah-ing" over the thing following behind the plow.

After extensive research on the Internet I've decided to call it, "The-smoothing-thingy-which-comes-after-the plow/cultivator-whatever-that-is-directly-behind-the-tractor-with-the-gigantic-puffy-wheels."
 

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In Memory

 


I'm going to add a link in honor of Lisa Gullman, who passed away today.

Sadly, I never met her in person but we kept in touch, off and on, over the Internet; introduced by having children attend LeTourneau at the same time.

Though we lived half a country away from each other there was something we both had in common: being in charge of ten children.

Lisa was a lovely sister in Christ and one expression of this was the support and gifts she sent to our family while Loren was waiting for a heart transplant.

I regret not knowing her better but look forward to meeting her in heaven, some day.

Please keep Larry and the family in your prayers.
 

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Of Note

Another decent day, all around.

A Ma could get used to this!

School went...OK. I was able to get off for shopping, all by my li'l ol' self, which is nice. Felt a teeny bit bad for the kids, being stuck at home, but I learned that Carolyn took them all out on a walk down to the bridge. Apparently this made quite an impression on Trevor and Nolan :-)

And I don't know if this is related, but just before supper Nolan came up to me and said something to the effect, "I've got a new project...I'm going to be good."

Whoa!

(repeat second line of post)

Also realized Ethan had mowed the front and side yard while I was gone. Looks really nice.

(repeat...you know what)

Tomorrow should be the last day of school for the week. We don't usually take off for Good Friday, but Sharon is driving out from Indiana and will be here tomorrow evening...

Party Time!

(ditto of above repeat)

Also tomorrow, I'll be heading over to the court house garden to do a little work; clean up some of the winter debris and just generally try and spiff things, a bit. Also have couple of branches to trim at the church.

But for the driving and being away from the kids too much, I could do that kinda thing every day (almost).

And now, everyone is either in bed or quietly reading in their rooms. I am free for a bit :-)

(yup, you guessed it)
 

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Goodsome Day

For several reasons:

--not too much hassle from...."someone in particular"

--got a bit of mowing done, which included "someone in particular"

--we've pretty much decided to take off Good Friday, so the school week is half over!


Now I'll fill you in on a little project of mine.

Master Gardeners need to fulfill a certain number of service hours each year to maintain their...whatever it is we maintain, status-wise.

(aside) Mostly I've found it's an opportunity for people to mock you..."And what does the master gardener have to say?" In some ways I rue the whole business, because people either expect you to know EVERY-thing and all kinds of random questions, or else they do the above...however, I enjoy immensely working on a couple of different pet projects, so I pretty much ignore these people.

ANY-way :-) I've been putting in some time at the Ackley Mermorial Garden. It's not so much a huge garden as four beds around a building. But it was started by a family and they used to have family reunions in the park, and now the caretakers have moved away. So when an inquiry went out as to anyone being available to help, it seemed like a perfect fit.

Last week--thanks to some cheap prices--I was able to mulch two sides.

(I'm going to be reimbursed for the mulch, Loren)

Now don't be too judgmental...half the plants aren't even outta the ground, yet. At any rate, I thought it looked rather swell :-D

But I noticed that all the edging had become flush with the ground, so yesterday I went back and dug up ALL the black edging, raising it and filling in the dirt on either side (the fixed border is not discernible in this photo because it was snapped earlier).

In addition, seeing that one connector had a large gap and could not be pushed back together (though I tried most valiantly), I took the pruning shears and snipped a slit out of the insertion tube, making it possible to join the two pieces in holy matrimony, once again (roots were growing through the hole, and once it was raised above ground level the gap would have been rather prominent).

I guess you had to be there.

The only thing you really need to know is that MA WAS VICTORIOUS!
 

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