Crazy Times, these Days!

Fall is in the air! I wonder if we will ever get everything done we need to, before winter! We have about 6 cords of wood out of the 20 cut and stacked...Pete's chainsaw needs a new bolt and oil cover...so that was cut short this weekend...Peter has been re enforcing Papa's old garage out back, before it falls in, so he can get his tools organized and neat...I decided that today was the day I needed to start cleaning the garage...I did well! I have a small pile of stuff for family, jars for my SIL, some clothes for my Uncle's grandson. I also have a big pile of yard sale leftovers that I just put up on our county's Freecycle site...I told them take all or nothin'! Hopefully I will get a bite and get a big space cleared out in the garage...of course no garage cleaning in complete without a chipmunk running over your foot...I screamed so loud Harley thought I was being attacked! LOL...There is TONS of stuff to do in the flower beds..cutting back the perennials, gathering seeds...My 3 bleeding hearts have GOT to be divided, and I think I may have to start and new flower bed! It takes Peter, Me and a very strong shovel to get those bleeding hearts dug up! The camper needs to be closed up for the season, too! I guess I had better start a post-it list! LOL...Time to batten down the hatches, our 6 months of hell (otherwise known as winter) will be here before we know it!

First Day of School!

Well, he has been gone for an hour! This will be a very long day. I HATE this day! This year is worse than ever, cause my baby started 6th grade, and entered the high school building! Our Jr. Sr. High school houses grades 6-12! Cody won't even be 11 until the end of October. I feel like once they set foot in that building, that is it. They are not babies anymore. And I also feel like parents AND children are robbed of an extra year of childhood due to the early entrance into the high school...Cody was brave--we saw no tears, but this was the hardest day I have had in a long time! And it is only 9 am! I have got to keep myself busy!

My daycare kids start coming back tomorrow, so today will be the only quiet day I have. Here is to Cody and his high school career. I love you, baby! Mama

Butterflies Out Our Ears!

The first day we arrived at camp, my sister in law, Juanita, handed me a jar full of "stuff". The girls, my nieces, were so excited...I was like..."What is this?".....Yes, me, 31 years old, a nearly 11 year old son, I grew up on a farm for the first 20 years of my life--and I didn't know the first thing about Monarch Caterpillars. Boy, have I got an education now! The little guy was a chrysalis by the next morning, and stayed in the camper with us for 11 days. Two days after we got home, he "hatched" and we let him go. So, SIL tells me...just look on milkweed, and you will find the caterpillars...no biggie...we live in the middle of NOWHERE....milkweed thrives out here....well, two hours later, and with a head full of allergies, not a caterpillar to be found....I figured it was just too late. We missed caterpillar availability. I kept hearing my SIL say how they found more, there were some on the front page of the paper, and my neighbor saw some.....So, we went out among the ragweed once again...this time, thanks to the keen eye of Cody, we were successful. We came back with an adult, a teenager, and two toddlers, as Cody says. We got them in their jars, and now two weeks later, we have three in chrysalises, and one more preparing to do so. Cody then thought it was necessary that his two friends up the road have the same learning experience as he did, so we ventured off to the hayfields one more time. The ragweed was seriously up to my chest...I am almost 6 feet tall! So, three allergy attacks later, we have found (and donated some) 6 of the little buggers. I am getting some pretty good pictures, and I hope to make a paper bag album about our experience! They are quite interesting. They grow so fast. Truly one of natures' miracles! Photo up top is the "adult" and the "toddler" as Cody says. That was a week ago. Now he is as big as the big one!