Nothing Perspicacious

I haven't anything witty or sage to share today. I just thought I'd check in with both of you readers. I know, I shouldn't sell myself short. There may be three or even four of you faithful followers of this blog out there!

Today marks two full weeks of school. Yes, I know it's Friday. And yes, my girls began this school year on a Friday. And yesterday we had our first parent-teacher conferences of the year. (Oops, I meant to type Family Advocacy Day - that is what parent-teacher conferences are called now in our school district. Is it the same elsewhere?) So, our, um..let's just call it meetings with the girls' teachers went pretty much as expected. Meaning that after two weeks of school, Emi is getting back in the swing of things and Annie is still catching on to the swing of things. Honestly, we have such terrific little girls. (Emi just turned nine this week. Can I still call her my little girl?) Can I admit that as much as I enjoy having time to myself, I really do miss my munchkins.

I really am lucky to have the children I have. And I think I did pretty well in the husband department. And I think Ryan would have to agree that we scored in the pet department!

Playing Football?

Grandma has gone on a little trip to visit Aunt Karen. Grandma's mom, Grandma Opal, asked Annie what she thought Grandma and Aunt Karen might be doing. Annie didn't hesitate to answer, "They probably playing football."

Upping the Ante

I raise Allison's rooster by a miniature cow. According to The Times, a trend is emerging where people raise miniature cattle as productive pets. (No doubt more productive than our hebetudinous brown beast.) A miniature cow is a great way to augment shelved food storage with fresh milk and the occasional steak.

Just right for the garden: a mini-cow

In the mean time, does anyone know where I can find a pack of clever coyotes or even the proverbial sly fox with a taste for rooster blood?

Cocka-a -doodle-doo! Again!

We wake up each morning to the rise-and-shine herald from our friendly neighborhood rooster. We haven't caught sight of this enigma, but daily (for the past several months, at least) we have heard his presence. Did you know that roosters don't just crow (or cuckoo or squawk or whatever you want to call it) in the morning? Evidently, they make noise whenever they feel like it - morning, noon or night! And here's the funny thing: we live in a pretty urban (not to be confused with urbane!) area, but apparently not metropolitan enough. Some of the land in our area (or neighborhood, rather) is zoned for agricultural use. I guess that explains the cow bone we found in the garden....

An Auspicious Beginning?

Last Friday (August 15th) was the girls' first day of school. How did it go? Well, take a look at the picture I took before school. Emi seems perky enough, but Annie is much more interested in blowing up the whoopie-cushion.

Fast-forward to about 8 1/2 hours later. Third-grader Emi stepped off the bus. Her steps dragged as she sighed aloud. "How was school?" I chirped? Emi just shrugged. "Well, was it fun?" Another shrug. "Was it just terrible?" She shrugged again. "It just started too soon, didn't it," I soothed. Finally, I got an almost imperceptible nod in response. This from the kid who started playing school with her dolls and stuffed animals almost as soon as she got home.

I decided to ask Annie how her day was. She told me, "I was on orange." I was thinking, What? On the first day? (For those of you who don't know, the kids behaviour is assessed by a colour system. Green is good. Yellow is okay. Orange is not-so-good. The next two colours, which might be red and blue, mean bad-news and the teacher hoping your parents believe in spanking, respectively. And teachers also usually mark the students' hands with a smiley face, or a sad face, or a rather blank face, sometimes indicating the kind of day that was had.) So back to Annie's orange day. 'Why were you on orange? What did you do?" I asked. She responded matter-of-factly, "I didn't make good decisions and I couldn't keep my hands to myself." Okay. Sounds like an orange day to me.

Going There Someday

'I will go to the temple. I will marry Curious George there.' - Annie, Family Home Evening, 8/18/08

The Blonde Brigade: Back in Action

Ahh, the memories of a carefree time fraught with intrigue and reckless passion for enterprise! Let's catalog a few reminiscences, shall we? Abandoned carriage house. Check. Crumbling gas station and man wrapped in old bathrobe. Check. International espionage. Definitely. Sir Percy Blakeney, Baronet. Of course. Marcus Gilbert. Double check! Skinny Dipping? I can't reveal all our secrets!

The Blonde Brigade! Doesn't the name itself conjure up romance and excitement? That's certainly what we, the founding members of the Blonde Brigade, think! My readers may be wondering how a handful of Scandinavian descendants in Northern Utah could possibly be involved in such adventure. The answer is simple: imagination!

Long live Ang, Trish, Kay, Jules & Kate (and me, of course)! Long live the Blonde Brigade!

(Now you just have to look at the pictures and guess who is who. Who is the dancing Devonshire Maiden and who is merely represented by a few thousand pixels of color?)