Done!

Here is Nolan surrounded by Lisa, the EduCare director and his tutor, Kevin.

Done with nine months of Mondays.

The weekly six hours: going to, shopping in, coming back from, Cedar Rapids.

We are done!

Now it's back to Ma, the Lone T* Ranger

To celebrate, I had promised Nolan supper at McDonald's. And Trevor as tag-a-long. After all, Trevor deserves a little reward for all those Monday afternoons, stuck with the task of choosing and watching a movie.

McDonalds was a tripartate victory of sorts....the food, a table with high stools, a nearby TV.

Paradise but without the singing.

They were happy campers; totally agog in CNN commercials and inhaling fries-and-McDoubles.

At some point what passes for news came back. "What do they mean, 'the government is going to shut down' ? Is the government really going to shut down?"

"Well, they'll start with the national parks, but don't worry....policemen and firemen will still be on the job. And the mail will be delivered. BUT, whenever the government has to go through a shut down, it costs more money overall because of all the expense of starting back up."

I think it was about this point that I may have spat out the exclaimation, "Stupid *******s" (starts with an "R" and rhymes with "demublicans")

Fortunately I had an habenero ranch dressing quarter-pounder to quell the acrid taste.

After supper we introduced Trevor to the CD treasures of Micahel Bublé and Josh Groban, driving safely home

and on to the next chapter of life.

*Teacher

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Sorry, sorry....

Meant to keep in touch...

Here is a photobucket album of several days' work on the house.


http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/mahoy007/library/House%20Reno?sort=3&page=1

Here, maybe this will be easier...click on this link

I skipped the witty descriptions this time around. After so many were not saved for Emily's wedding album I decided that it wasn't worth the hassle to spend an hour being clever and then have half to two thirds missing.

If anyone has questions they can comment on specific pictures.

Bruce Hoyt is Loren's oldest brother. He is a Reformed pastor in New Zealand. He and his wife, Lois, came over to the states after a conference in Cardiff England.

And John, brother to Lois, lives in Iowa and came over  yesterday and helped out quite a lot. We made great progress but there is still much to do.

Hopefully, the house will be warmer this winter. We can even open a few windows and feel the fresh breezes, now :-)

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The Back and Forth of Life

The kids saw hummers hangin' around again and I figured it was time to refill the feeder in case the little guys needed to stoke up before migration.

Naturally, they devoted more energy to chasing each other away than actually sipping nectar. That's part of the fun of watching them, though Ethan gets plenty riled at their territorial antics.

In other news, we've enjoyed a few days of cool, rainy weather. But that all came to an end as more intensive showers and thundery stuffs moved through this morning. Sun is back as well as heat for a few days.

The boys and I have been keeping busy with school. Still have to get one more major subject (Spanish) incorporated into the regimen but at least things went well today. Sure helps when they get up in time to get most of math done before breakfast.

We had to make a somewhat heartbreaking decision concerning church but I will not go into details at the moment (if ever). Enough to say that occasionally there is no good time for a major change, one just has to pick what appears to be the least worst time and try to move forward. 

Kendra is back up to the twin cities for a few days, scoping out apartments, etc. She hopes to return Ioway by the time Loren's brother Bruce and wife Lois arrive, next week. They are on an extended visit to the United States from their home in New Zealand.

Hmmm....I may just have a bit of cleaning to do...

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We Be Still Alive

You have to wonder if life will ever slow back down to where you can catch your breath...

Anyway.

Saturday was Emily's wedding.

Sunday was traveling to Cedar Rapids to visit Jason's church and eat out with the Scholls (good times!)

A skype session with Sharon in Indiana, followed by a phone call with Carolyn in Texas.

We managed to employ almost every available avenue for communication with los kiddos, on Sunday.

Monday was the new tutoring time for Nolan--just 30 minutes earlier--but there was enough road construction and missed lights and slow semis and extra traffic that I was getting REALLY nervous about being late....but we made it with two minutes to spare (whew!)

Tuesday was...probably the daily struggle to keep up with school.

Wednesday the same, with the added bonus of math tests for Trevor and Nolan. That always goes faster than a lesson, giving us a chance to not fall behind in other subjects like usual for the day.

Then, as Ethan was preparing to hit the shower, Kendra called with a flat tire, close to home. I ran Ethan over and he got it changed in good order (with a reminder from me to put the tire back down on the road for tightening purposes...yeah, I know SOMETHING about it, people!)

He still was able to jump in the shower and grab a plate of food to eat in the car while Loren drove to prayer meeting.

Again, WHEW!

Some day I'm going to settle down with a relaxing job such as air traffic controller. Or maybe stock broker.

As for now, let's just acknowledge tomorrow is Thursday and leave it at that.

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Wedding Album

Whew! I think it's finally possible to see an album of pictures from the Currier/Dempster wedding.

Click on the link below:

http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/mahoy007/library/

I still have a few more I hope to get out (yeah...we'll see how that goes...my track record isn't that great on follow-up photos).

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Another Currier Wedding

What's not to love? Cloe the chiffony flower girl and Elliot the extremely cool ring bearer.

Probably the only wedding I've been to where the bride comes in on a horse.

Awwww

Not the first time I've seen this at a wedding

Emily and Jeremy Dempster

Sparkler send off

I have more pictures but since it's now after 2:30 (we had our usual Friday night movie) I had better get to bed. Wanted to share just a few, especially for Carolyn.

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Green Bean-ocalypse

Today I checked on the new bed of beans. It's the first time I picked from my 2nd planting.

Whoa baby....looks like the mother-load!

After the first bed got eaten off and on by the deer, I stuck a few sticks in the ground around the plants, hoping they would be pokey enough to deter the ruminants-of-garden-scrounging. They came back to some extent, but weren't producing overly much. So I planted another pack of bean seeds in another bed, along with copious amounts of stickage....

As you can see, this is a fine crop, particularly considering it's the September 5th.

It would appear the plants have thrived. Many of them boasted 10-12 beans, each which will necessitate checking into the Hoyt Freezer Hotel.

On other fronts, we got through our 3rd day of school. Going fairly well (I guess) but tomorrow I need to get a certain someone up earlier, so he can have a better chance of getting his work done before fading away in the home stretch. Or the middle. Or the beginning, depending on how victimized he is feeling.

Ethan is planning to take his first practice PSAT test tomorrow, so we won't see him for several hours. Then we will get ready for the big event...

Nolan:  "You mean we're still  going to have school tomorrow? But what about the wedding?"

Ma:  "It's not until 6:00pm. I think there'll be time. "

OK...back to legumes...

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Day Two, in the Can

That's two days of school done, 173 to go.

Half lessons of math for Nolan and Trevor, so far, just to ease them into the routine.

Tomorrow is a full lesson, after which they will no doubt need a brief stay in the hospital.

Me? I'm heading for the psych ward, ha ha.

However, I have tentatively given word that there may be one more visit to the lake, next week when our temps return back to the 90's. Perhaps I'll make that contingent on good behavior...

The garden is showing a fine crop of weeds. I think there are tomatoes and new beans out there. One of these days I may even check.

Everything gets pretty old this time of year. Seems like half the summer was missed.

Nolan saw a little dust devil go through the soybean field today and described how the plants were twisted this way and that.

Pretty much describes the past three months!

But we do have Emily's wedding to look forward to, on Friday evening. That should be a fun deal....getting out and seeing people we haven't seen for a long time.

Speaking of leaving the house, I did go shopping this afternoon. Shopping at my old haunts in Iowa Falls. Nolan didn't have tutoring on Labor Day so no six-hour trip to Cedar Rapids. Good thing. I was still sick that day.

Feeling mostly better. Haven't gotten back to all the miles on the treadmill. Soon enough, though.

In the meantime, we keep company with the beasties of the house: the mice, which startle us by popping out of drawers and into the stove (and for which I bought more traps today)....the gnats which line the fly strips (and of which I nabbed a particularly annoying one by the couch, this evening)...and the crickets who merrily chirp away behind chairs and baseboards.

The worst case scenario being a chirper in a bedroom, in the middle of the night.

Speaking of rest...

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Labor Day Labors

Well, let's see....I'm working at getting well.

Loren's working at finishing up a meeting (making an assumption here, since it's been three hours).

Ethan's working with C. D.

Trevor and Nolan are working at the last full measure of vacation before school starts, tomorrow.

The college kids are working at their classes, because there IS no such thing as Labor Day at university.

The others (as far as I know) are working on the completion of fun times in MN.

And now, back to my work of resting...

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