Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today...  November 19, 2012.

Outside my window...  rain, rain, rain!  It's a very gray day.

Hearing...  drip, drip, dripping.  It was a wild and windy night, and I'm thankful we didn't lose power.

Pondering...  I wake up in the night sometimes.  It was such a wild night - the wind was howling, branches tossing, and rain spattering on the windows even up under the eaves.  And what a lovely feeling to relax, warm and cozy under the quilts, sheltered from the chaos outsides, and drift back to sleep.

Praying...  for my family, for our Thanksgiving preparations, for our pastor, and others recovering from various things.

Thankful...  oh so thankful for Tate's deer - for his success hunting and for the special time he had with his grandpa :D  Thankful for my home, my family, my church.  For our Thanksgiving service last night, as eclectic as the congregation that offered it.  Kerry took his camera to get a photo of the youth group playing a couple of songs (Amazing Grace and We Gather Together).  Where but Wiser Lake Chapel would you find an ensemble that included a saxophone, a cello, a trombone, a guitar (Wyatt), a ukulele, and a harp?  It was wonderful. :D

Wearing...  absolute grubbies.  I'm cleaning bathrooms this morning.  Fun times.

Creating...  schedules and menus.  I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year and have a list for each day, leading up to it, to keep things from piling up.  Not that I'm worried about it - our family is a friendly group (!) and there will only be twelve of us this year.  Seems kind of small.  Unless we manage to gather any strays.

Going...  to check things off today's list :D

Looking forward to...  Thanksgiving!

In the kitchen...  I think I'll cook some of Tate's venison for lunch today.  Good heavens, I should have put this under "thankful", but you should see my freezers.  I don't think I could fit another thing in either of them.  Not even a can of juice.  They're packed full and I love it :D  And I love the look on Tate's face, knowing that he contributed to the bounty.

Ha!  I think I have meat from seven different animals in my freezer.  Any guesses?

In the learning rooms...  we take all of this week off from homeschool, so I have a bit of tidying to do in there, but no "action".  I helped Gunnar finish his research paper this morning (Snow Leopards, no surprise to anyone who knows him) so he and Tate have no school work until next Monday.  Wyatt, however, has classes at the HS for three mornings this week.

And I have to brag on Wyatt a little.  Mid-term grades came home last week and he's doing great.  Out of a class of 350, he's ranked... #7.  I was thrilled.  His response?  Well, I'll see if I can bring that up.

WYATT!  Why don't you do that at HOME?

Around the house...  getting ready for guests :D  Need to clean the bathrooms, vacuum and dust, but everything looks pretty good.  Except the family room.  The boys need to tend to that.  And here's a little tip, if you're hosting and you don't have time or energy to deep clean:

Dim the lights, use lots of candles, and everything will look cozy and comforting.  You can clean after everyone leaves

On the other hand, you can make lists and put the minions to work ;D

The Mother Load...  lists, chores, delegation ;D

Noticing that...  I finally bought a sheet and made a closet "door" for my office.  (The top of the sheet is already hemmed, so that is the bottom.  I just measured how long I wanted it, cut off the excess, and sewed a pocket at the top.  I hung it with a pressure rod.  Took MINUTES.  Why didn't I do this sooner?)  Hallelujah, it looks so much better!  The clutter in the closet (a necessary evil) is out of sight, and the office actually looks bigger.  (It's kind of a small room.  I'm not complaining - it's plenty big enough for me.  But it is kind of small.)  Getting the ironing board put away helps too.

And, just so you know, the legends are true.  I actually got my office tidied up.  I need to glory in this moment, in case it doesn't last long, so here's the visual proof.

Baring it all here... before and afters.

Looking in the door, before...

... and after.

My desk, before...

... and after.

(Still need to deal with the pile of books in the windowsill...)

The closet and area, before...

and after :D

Visual clutter is exhausting and discouraging to me.  This is SO MUCH BETTER.

Something to remember for later...  how funny Tate thinks Grandpa's jokes are. ;D

A favorite quote for today...  (from Tate) Vegetarian - ancient tribal slang for village idiot who can't hunt or fish.

One of my favorite things...  quick and easy online Christmas shopping!

A few plans for the rest of the week...  Messiah practice tonight, and CAP tomorrow, then...
 holidays :D  I love this time of year :D

A peek into my world...

It's that time of year again...

More pics coming soon... Canada!  Great Wolf Lodge!  The youth group!  And much, much, more!
But first... working my list.

Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum

October 5-7... yes, you read that right, October.  These photos are from October.  Oops.

Yah, I uploaded the pics and had great intentions of sharing the awesomeness of the boys' weekend at the Evergreen Flight Museum just as soon as I got the boys to come and identify the airplanes (because I am hopeless at that, especially since I wasn't there!) but here it is mid-November already, so clearly I've overestimated my ability to organize and follow through.  But as I've managed to corral Wyatt (who knows these planes like he knows the neighborhood kids) I think we can proceed.

A family from our local CAP group pulled this trip together.  Careful planning and the generosity of the CAP budget committee kept the trip fun and affordable.  So did sleeping on the floor at a boy scout facility.  (Another reason a quiet weekend at home was so appealing to me!)

The cadets travel in their BDUs but were to wear their dress blues for the activity (one cadet is so new he didn't have his blues yet, the others...??? apparently don't follow directions well.)  Gunnar, who is not old enough to be an official member, was invited along since Kerry was chaperoning, so he chose some navy pants and a blue shirt because he wanted to look like he belonged.

Outside the museum the boys were greeted by a MIG Fulcrum.  And look inside....

Do you know what this is?  The Goose... Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose.

It's so big it's hard to comprehend that it could actually fly, but it did.  Once.  Briefly.

The cadet who organized the trip planned a scavenger hunt (for information) to keep the cadets focused and learning, but first, a tour...

The tour guide was very enthusiastic and fun.  He's dressing Gunnar up as a a World War One Flying Ace, and behind them is the world famous Sopwith Camel.

Inside the Goose, looking back toward the tail.  Notice the beach balls?  They were found inside the wings' pontoons and were used to keep the plane afloat in an emergency.  At least that was the theory.  Apparently the museum staff tried to replace the beach balls with modern ones, but the new ones wouldn't stay inflated for more than a month, so what you see are the old ones.  With the same, original air in them.  Yah.

Suspended from the ceiling, you see the Russian Yak, and on the ground is the ME262, a WWII jet-powered fighter.

The Goose from the back... unbelievably enormous.

Oooo!  Shiny!  This is a B-17 Flying Fortress, one of the most famous bombers of WWII.

And the P-38 Lightning, the first WWII fighter plane to use a twin-engine design and tricycle landing gear.  It also has a unique twin boom, famous to us because of local hero Joe Moser, who flew the P-38 in WWII.  (You should read his book, A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald.)

Heh heh heh... someone parked a 747 on top of the museum!  Who would do such a crazy thing?  Someone who wanted to have fun.... that's the waterslide park!  More later...

Back inside, we have the P-40 Warhawk.  Love the paint job ;D

Wyatt is on the left, in the one plane he doesn't remember what it is.

And, the B-17 again.

Tate, my Civil War buff, was thrilled to find a Gatling Gun.

And a collection of various firearms, including a Desert Eagle 50 caliber handgun (lower right.)

Ah yes, Tate with the Gatling Gun.

Gunnar with heavy artillery.

The museum also had a whole building devoted to space, but the kids were getting antsy to head to the slides, so they only saw this briefly.  We'll have to go back someday :D

The Lunar Lander and the Lunar Rover.

I love the big, BIG flag.

Okay, here we have a Global Hawk - one of the Air Force's drones (a UAV - an unmanned aerial vehicle).

Here we go... tons of fun for everyone :D

From down below, you could watch the action in the jet on the roof where all the waterslides start.

Without a waterproof camera, Kerry didn't take many pics in the waterpark.  So here are the cadets on Sunday morning, having a brief chapel service before heading home.

WOOT!

A mighty hunter before the Lord...

Genesis 10:9

What you're looking at is a 3x3 (three antler points on each side) white-tail (deer) buck, that Tate took in Wyoming early yesterday morning.

I had to wait for the photo to tell you ;D

Grandpa said he did a great job and got a good, clean shot through both lungs.  That's good because the deer dies fast (doesn't suffer) and it doesn't spoil a lot of meat.  Grandpa also said that Tate was just a wee bit excited.  "He bounced off a couple of pine trees and his feet ought to hit the ground in a few minutes."

Way to go, Tate!

History Repeats Itself *Sigh*

Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions.  Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the 'new, wonderful, good society' which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean: more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.

 - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Tuesday Brain Dump

Ack!  I have so much to tell you - and show you - and no time to do it.  I think last week tried to kill me.  With good things, mind you, but just so many of them all at once!

Okay, maybe I exaggerate a little.  Possibly.

Does it seem like everything happens at once in your life?  I mean, I can go for weeks just plodding through the routine, semi-normally (as normal as things ever get around here anyway), and then - BAM.  In between rehearsals and CAP and youthgroup and homeschool, I get friends from overseas, birthdays, road trips, and an inbox full of delightful messages like this one:

This post - one of the few exceptions, when you read with interest and something for takeout.

Apparently my blog has features even I am unaware of.  Would you like fries with that?


Meanwhile...

*  We had a great time in Canada meeting Felicity and her family - photos coming.

*  We had a fabulous time at Great Wolf Lodge - photos coming.

*  Four days in a heavily chlorinated environment is hard on Gunnar's skin, Wyatt's throat, and my voice... right before auditions (fabulous).

*  Tate and Grandpa have arrived safely in Wyoming for their big white-tail hunt - I hope news is coming.

*  We know they've arrived safely because my sister called us at Great Wolf Lodge.  And here's why my brain is perpetually scrambled.

In order to hunt in Wyoming (not our home state) they had to apply for Wyoming hunting licenses months ago.  This required submitting all manner of documents and identification.  All went fine and he received his Wyoming license and tag in the mail months ago.  Just for good measure, I had him take along his Washington hunting license and tag as well.

But that wasn't enough.  Wyoming Fish and Wildlife apparently can't remember that he submitted all that information already, and requires that he have with him the certificate showing that he passed his Hunter Safety Course.  A certificate he had to submit in order to receive the hunting license in the first place!

I think government officials must be specifically prohibited from using anything resembling common sense.  *sigh*

Meanwhile, Tate and Grandpa arrive in Wyoming on Sunday night and the hunt begins Monday morning.  So the guide offers to let them use his phone (neither of them has a cel) to call and ask us to fax it.

There's a problem with that.  A few problems....
1.  Nobody is home at our house.
2.  Our fax machine broke months ago.
3.  Grandpa can't remember Grandma's cel number, so has to call my sister and have her call us (delay).
4.  We are 170 miles away, and can't run home to find the paper.
5.  Although I could walk into my office and put my hand on that paper in probably 30 seconds or less, I can't just leave a message for Kerry, I will have to walk him through the search process on the phone.
6.  Kerry went to a movie with his brother and has turned off his cel.
7.  Kerry doesn't always check his messages...

Can you see why my brain is over-loaded all the time?!

He finally called back.  (I left messages on his cel, our home phone, and his brother's phone... and guess who actually called?)  I was able to direct him to the document (whew!)  He was able to scan it and email it, rather than find a fax service late at night.  Hallelujah and amen.


And in other news, just in case my life isn't fabulous enough...

*  Thumpety-bumpety, thumpin' bumpin', round and roly, Runaway Pumpkin.

It's almost Thanksgiving (already! how did that happen?) and I've had that book on my mind.

And I can tell you why...

Because I keep hearing thumpety-bumpety, thumpin-bumpin', but it's no round and roly, Runaway Pumpkin.  Apparently it's the ball bearings going out in my four-year-old washing machine.  Not good.

But what really chaps my hide is that appliances aren't made to be repaired.  It will actually cost more to repair it than to replace it.  And that ain't cheap.  I'm looking into commercial washers - the big ones they sell to laundromats, which are intended to be repaired, and would - I hope - be sturdier.

Oh boy.  Well... Merry Christmas :oP

*  The Evergreen Flight Museum...  I never posted the pictures!  That was in early October, for crying' out loud.  Apparently I was waiting for the boys to properly identify most of the photos and never got around to that.  Oops.  Coming soon.

*  Wyatt is going to be a victim tonight.  He's been looking forward to it for weeks.  Weird?  Maybe. His CAP group is helping out some kind of Emergency Response class at the local Tech school by participating in a large-scale disaster scenario they're setting up.  They'll be worked over by the moulage team (google it up if you have a strong stomach...) to look as if they're horribly injured.  Fun times!

*  But first... the orthodontist.  Wyatt's getting braces put onto his bottom teeth today.  Poor kid.  His teeth are in rows, like a shark's.  Look for a mushy menu for the rest of the week ;D

*  And... I'm out of time.  Must run pick him up and head to said appointment, so I'm doing something daring (or foolish).

I'm hitting "publish" without proof-reading!  (I know, I know, live life on the edge, and all that.)

So feel free to point out all my grammatical and spelling errors before I get home and can edit!

Veteran's Day

Give thanks and honor where it is due.

Happy Birthday Tate, and The Small Reveal

After Monday's post, when I kept yammering on about a secret, and then Leah referred (in the comments) to our trip last fall, I felt a bit guilty about leading you on, because this is nowhere near that exciting.  But it is a SURPRISE, which makes it lots of fun.

Even though Tate nearly spoiled the surprise, but I'm a quick thinker (and possibly - in this case - a white liar) but more about that later.

Today is Tate's 14th birthday, and I won't see hide nor hair of him.  I dropped him off at Grandpa and Grandma Grasshopper's last night so he and Grandpa Grasshopper could get an early start this morning.  They're off to Wyoming for a guided deer hunt, and we're praying for safety (lots of traveling and snowy passes to cross) and for success (venison!)

Knowing that he'd be gone on his birthday we planned to celebrate it a bit early.  We're planner in my family.  Not so my new SIL, who is like a deer in the headlights when we break out our calendars.  Well, (s)he who hesitates has lost, and let me introduce you to the family tradition of being

volun-told.  

We celebrated Tate and Grandma Grasshopper's birthdays at Dave and Allyson's house.  Besides, we all wanted to see the baby :D

I already showed you a couple of little things I made for my mom, and here she is opening some candles to go with.  My parents are at that stage of life where they really don't need or want much, and mostly we get them consumables.  Not necessarily food, mind you, but stuff they'll use up.  And candles are a constant necessity in our homes :D

Oh my goodness, I cannot resist that grin.  That dimple.  Uncle Dave picks out the best cards.  Too bad I snapped the picture so fast I cropped it out.  I think it said something about laughing so hard you accidentally toot.  Perfect adolescent boy fodder :D

Somebody was a bit fussy.  Poor kid.  She doesn't get to see us often enough to remember any of us, but that gave us lots of chances to snuggle and comfort, as Grandpa was doing so well here :D

I'll have to pay attention and get a better three generations photo than this, but here they are.

Tate's birthday definitely had a theme... can you tell?

While little Naomi rocked out in her swing.

Going....

... going...

... gone.

My cousin thrilled my mom with a family tradition - Chocolate Dream Cake - while Aunty Tami honored Tate with Moo-wiches, ice-cream/cookie sandwiches.  Yum!

And then there was the usual sugar-induced horsing around...

Wyatt crowned Kerry "Bag-dad".

And Tate showed off more of his birthday goodies :D

So happy birthday, my testosterone-addled young man, and happy hunting to you!

But none of that is any surprise... did you think I forgot?

While Tate and Grandpa have been planning their trip, Grandma Grasshopper has had something up her sleeve.  By the time you read this, she'll have arrived here this morning and told Gunnar to pack his bag.  He'll be in a tizzy of excitement and pestering her with an endless barrage of, Where are we going, Grandma?  I'll have secretly packed for me and Wyatt.  In fact, I'm sending Wyatt off to school, completely unaware and we're picking him up there, mid-morning - I can't wait to surprise him!  And she is whisking us all away for a long weekend at.....

Great Wolf Lodge!

Which is an enormous indoor waterpark resort, about four hours from here.  They'll be over the moon, with all the pools and water-slides.  And I'll be over the moon that they're having so much fun, and - other than putting together some lunches in our room - I won't be cooking a single meal for four days.

And I can reveal it all now (pics to come later) since the house won't be sitting empty, as Kerry is staying home.  Don't feel too bad for him - he'll be holding down the fort, eating leftover candy, having "guy time" with his brother, and will be fed to the gills at the church potluck the rest of us will be missing.  Probably preferable to sharing the one hotel room with his MIL, no matter how delightful she is ;D

And oh my word, the surprise almost got blown.  Tate went out to the rifle range with my dad earlier this week.  Dad told him about our trip and he innocently said something about them going to the waterslides.  Oh boy was I on the spot!

Thank heavens for Felicity - my South African friend!  We met them (happy squeal!) up in Canada yesterday, where they were visiting.  I'll post pictures next week - no time this morning!  I had been planning an activity to do with them up in the Vancouver area, so when Tate said "waterslides" I told a bit of a lie.

Oh no...  I considered that, but decided on the Cannery instead.  They have little ones that may be too tired to enjoy something like a big, loud waterslides pool after flying half way round the world.

Yes, I pretended Tate was referring to our jaunt to Canada.  Fortunately only Tate could see my giant wink and caught the hint immediately.  I was able to pull him aside and fill him in and - bless his heart - he kept the secret beautifully.

So now, off to pack some bags!

And... we're off!