this lady brought the boys home today

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Shanda

My head is heavy, I’m tired, I want to lay down right where I stand, to sleep. My heart hurts; Seth is starting Kindergarten in two days. My sadness is making me snap at the children when they make mistakes or turn the TV on — again. After watching an hour of “Arthur” this morning, I sent Caleb and Seth outside. They had plenty of energy to play “Jedi” without mercy, and Caleb slapped Seth’s upper arm very hard with his light Saber….I left the kitchen where I was helping a sick Sarah, and ran toward the screams. After yelling at Caleb about how I would prefer Seth not to start school with a huge bruise on his arm, I took Seth inside to run him a bath.

Caleb got busy making a plan to stay outside all day long. He wanted to pack stuff. “You may not pack stuff, but you may stay outside all day long, although I highly doubt that you will succeed,” I spoke with experience.

Seth overheard the conversation and immediately wanted to get out of the tub to join Caleb. Friends again so soon, I noticed.

Caleb made sandwiches, put them in his backpack. Seth got dressed. Neither one of them wore shoes. They told me later that they had mentioned to me that they were going for a walk. All I knew, and believed, was that they were going into the woods, to Lion King rock (they named it), to stay all day long.

I was troubled. Sarah had a fever. David had a Middle School Orientation. I checked the school website for the time, and located the class supplies list. Although I was tired, I knew I had to take him downtown to get his stuff for school. I took Ethan along, as well, leaving Grace in charge of Sarah. I told Jacob that the boys were playing in the woods and asked him to go check on them.

I was almost home when Jacob called and said he was on the adventure trail (we named that place, too), he had called them seven times, and there was no sign of them. Still trying to stay awake, I pulled into the driveway to be greeted by Grace.

“Mom, some lady just called and said she didn’t know us and we didn’t know her but she had two little boys with her.”

I stared at her. The sun was hot on the driveway. My hands were full of library books.

“She gave the phone to Caleb and I talked to him. They are fine. The lady asked if someone was home to get them and I said no, you were gone. I told her that Jacob would walk to get them and she said she didn’t want anyone walking that far and she didn’t want the little boys to walk that far. She’s bringing them home. And just so you know, she sounds like the type that is going to want an explanation about why two boys are walking in the woods so far from home.”

I got the phone to dial the last call received. A very old man answered. “I’m almost completely deaf and can’t hear too well. Did you say you are calling about two boys? Well, gee, it would have been better if you had come to get them. My wife doesn’t know the roads! Call back in half an hour!”

I hung up the phone, at a complete loss. The lady was already gone with my sons, I had no idea who she was, but judging by the conversation with her husband, I expected a poor old lady, all confused, with my two terrible children who were obviously also confused. They probably didn’t even know where they were! How could they explain the way home to someone who doesn’t know roads?

Grace said, “I’m sorry Mom that this had to happen.” I couldn’t speak. We stood in the driveway and waited. A car came and went on by. Then another.

“I hope and pray that’s them,” I said as the next car approached. And praise the Lord, it was.

“I just couldn’t let them try to walk! They walked so far already! It was so good they knew their phone number. They don’t seem the worse for wear after their walk. My husband was a state trooper and he told me do not leave them unless someone is home. I wanted to give them a snack but I didn’t dare, people are so afraid these days. Well, I need to go! I’m a mess! I have to get ready for bridge and do I have a story to tell them this morning! You have very nice boys, they were very polite.”

And off she went, after I thanked her sincerely for her trouble, and shaking her hand. Her name was Norma.

Caleb said they walked there through the woods and went to her house because they were lost. He knocked on the door and said, “We are lost, can you please help us?” And help Norma did, with all the energy of a much younger woman. I love old ladies like that, it was a pleasure to meet her, however I am BEYOND flummoxed about Caleb and Seth, and we gave them quite a lecture. “We told you we were going for a walk!!!” “Even if that WAS what you told me, what do you THINK a walk IS?” “When you walk, you go on the trail and around back to home, not in a straight line completely through the woods!!!”

They ate their sandwiches and I sent them to bed. We all took naps.

I leave in 15 minutes to take Jacob and Ethan to practice, and David’s school orientation is at 6pm.

This is Sarah Joy yesterday morning, on her way to church with a book bag. By the time we got back home she was feverish.

I went for another walk this morning. These are the berries from a Jack in the Pulpit plant.

I ate these.

Of course little Sammy found me and even got in my lap with her cold wet paws.

elderberry

Jewel weed, covered in dew.

These spiders always give me the creeps, yet I still stop to look at them……

I have to admit the web is quite impressive.

Jacob discovered a huge caterpillar in my garden. It’s a Cecropia Moth caterpillar, it unfortunately has parasites on it’s back, so I don’t think it will survive, which is such a shame. I had the honor of seeing a pair of these moths just after they hatched one spring.

They tiny white ovals on it’s back (with some black; diseased tissue) are the parasites (eggs laid by a fly).

After a very long walk through the woods, Seth needed a nap.

I’ll never forget their faces as Norma pulled in the driveway with them. Bright eyes, smiles, and happy waves! They didn’t care in the least.

yellow mushroom, white morning glories

Posted on July 11, 2014 by Shanda

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Like his brothers and sister before him, David has read The Hobbit. In fact, he just finished it.

He’s a big fan of hobbit-holes.

It’s hard to make your own actual hobbit-fort, but he and Ethan made the next best thing yesterday in our woods by the stream.

It took them all day and then they slept in it last night, just the two of them.

The fort is in a secret location so that their siblings can’t vandalize it (not that they actually WOULD, of course).

With honor, I was ushered to the secret location so that I could admire the finished project.

It really is impressive, and picturesque, too.

I’m not feeling well. I think summertime chaos is getting to my system, I feel tired and shaky. Not sad or depressed, just deep down very tired. Please pray for me, as I have lots going on. Tonight we have a big dinner and Bible study at our house, tomorrow morning I leave bright and early with Jacob, Emily, Grace, and Sarah to drive four hours to NY for Cassandra (my future sister in law)’s bridal shower. We are coming back home Sunday evening and then that week Rich has a business trip. (so on and so forth)

The children are helping me get the house picked up for tonight and I’m going to rest at nap time. I’ve felt like crappity crap since Tuesday…exhausted.

Anyway, after I admired the fort, I went for a short walk, thinking that the beauty of God’s creation would soothe my aching head.

I saw a yellow mushroom.

And, wild morning glories. Seeing them triggered a memory from childhood. Morning glories just like this one used to grow in the bushes by my Grandparents’ large pond. As children, we used to pick them and smell them right onto our noses…..so I did that yesterday, again.

Then, I taught Seth how to do it.

And Caleb.

Continuing with the theme of “if I get away from the house, nature will heal me”, I asked Grace to go outside with me to watch the evening birds.

We saw a lot! I think I will take up a new active interest in birding because with the ponds, the forest, and the stream, we have a lot of birds. We quickly counted up about 10 different ones. My favorites to watch were the hairy woodpeckers. They are so industrious with their hammering, and it was fun to watch the wood chips fly as they pecked away.

Then, I caught a big grasshopper that had hopped over my foot, and held him until we got back up to the house.

I showed him to Seth and Sarah; their faces crack me up.

Isn’t it interesting? It worked it’s mouth around to ooze out some “tobacco juice”.

“The grasshopper has some means of defense as well as of escape; it can give a painful nip with its mandibles; and when seized, it emits copiously from the mouth a brownish liquid which is acrid and ill smelling. This performance interests children who are wont to seize the insect by it’s jumping legs and hold it up, commanding it to ‘chew tobacco’.” ~ Handbook of Nature Study (a handy book to have, indeed)

We let the grasshopper go (with many thanks) and then I walked Grace up the road a little bit to see the berries that were ripening. We quickly picked a couple of handfuls and took them home to give to Dad. Grace was funny and made me laugh a lot (dear, dear girl).

Grace wrote down everything we saw in her tiny book. (which she was given by my Mom)

This morning I was able to get away for a couple of hours to get my hair done. I stopped at the grocery store on the way to get myself some fruit and nuts. Getting my hair done was so relaxing I almost went to sleep in the chair.

When I got home I asked Grace to take my picture, and as she took it Jacob came walking down to show me yet another learned card trick.

Have a great weekend, my friends!

you are loved

{this moment}

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Shanda

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

last little league games of the season

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Shanda

It is around 7:30 in the morning and Sarah and I are the only ones awake. She is tucked in on the couch, warm and toasty, with a pile of books. She has already eaten a bowl of fruit. She is my early bird this morning because she is the only one in the family who went to bed at a reasonable hour. It’s summer!

What a beautiful weekend we had with bright sunny weather and cool nights. We haven’t had to turn the air conditioners on yet this summer, the humidity has been practically nonexistent. Yes, the weekend was lovely and on Saturday we got started on Grace’s room. She and I have plans to redecorate it and it’s such fun pinning photos together on pinterest. We are painting over her bright pink walls with a light minty green, and a new daybed/trundle is on it’s way from pottery barn. Currently, the contents of her room are in the upstairs hallway and her little sister’s room. It is awful messy up there. We have a lot to do before this project is over, but the main thing is WE HAVE BEGUN and the walls have been primed, ready for their first coat of paint.

Yesterday morning I sat up in bed and stared at the clock, which I believed could not be right. Then, I picked up my phone to look; it was 9:21. I woke up Rich and asked him what time he thought it was, “7?” he guessed. He was shocked when I told him it was almost 9:30. I don’t think we have slept in that long since we were newlyweds, almost 18 years ago. Needless to say, we only made it for the actual church service, and not Sunday School.

After church was over, we drove straightaway to the Little League field for five year old Seth’s last game of the season. As soon as medals were handed out and the sound of the music faded away I felt so lighthearted, we had survived season 2014 with three boys in three different levels of play, on three different teams. I only cried once, when David’s coach reprimanded me about him not making it to as many practices and games as he should have (I lost him in the shuffle, and the text messages were going to the wrong parent) No, I did NOT cry in front of the coach (and yes, I was very overtired at the time). I needed the pep talk, he didn’t miss a single practice or game after that.

ANYWAY, David and Caleb had play offs this past Wednesday and that morning I sighed and wished that (my brother) Uncle Dave could come and watch; so I texted him and just sort of teasingly asked him to come (it’s a 3 1/2 hour trip to our place) and he said no, but then said “I’ll think about it”. I didn’t hear back from him until 1:00, when he called and said he got busy at work and couldn’t make it. I said “I understand, it’s okay.” “What are you doing?” he asked, changing the subject. “Oh, I’m in bed with Seth, he’s sleeping.”

“WELL, HE BETTER WAKE UP BECAUSE I’M IN THE DRIVEWAY!” he yelled.

I got up and ran around the house telling the kids to come quick to see who had arrived!

Yes, surprise and joy; Uncle Dave drove out all spur of the moment to watch his little nephews play ball, in what could possibly be their last games of the year.

We hung around, visiting here at home until it was time to leave for the games. Jacob showed us his card tricks. Unfortunately for the teenagers, they had already made plans for an evening at the lake, so they left at 4….and I headed to the fields with my brother in the passenger seat beside me. I drove him through to see the schools, and we had such a great time at the games, although it got to be late and he had a long drive home.

He drove back to his house through the worst rainstorm and lightening of his life, but was safely in bed by 1:30 that morning.

It was a WONDERFUL day, and I’m so thankful to God for my awesome brother (we are just a year and 3 months apart in age). My very first best friend.

OH and the boys won their games.

(we watched both games at once, standing in between the fields).

Uncle Dave eating lunch, about an hour after he arrived.

Uncle Dave and Sarah, right after she woke up from nap. He’s playing piggy with her toes.

With Sarah and Caleb (phone pic)

saying goodbye to Gracie

a hug for Ethan

at the park for the little league games

He was taking pictures of Caleb the catcher. (this was one of those “oh, this is so wonderful” moments for me)

hanging around with Sarah Joy

this handsome guy was there, too … I love how he gets nervous for our boys as they play….

playing catch with Seth

I love this picture of happy Seth.

Uncle Dave took Seth over to the Food Shack so he could pick out a candy bar. He came back and said “I think he had it scoped out because he picked the biggest one!”

They loved their peanut butter cups. Thank you, Dave, for being fun and strong and wonderfully YOU.

********

Championship game, Friday

Would you believe it?

Both our teams won, and Dave hit a home run!

David, number 14

getting congratulations from the coach after the game was won

walking around, tossing the glove, happy

Caleb and his coach after they won their game, too

waiting for their trophies

my happy boys!

******

one last cute moment::

I bought Seth his first two wheeler on Friday and he brought it to the games.

He rode alone, up and down the path by the fields, with a whistle in his mouth, using it as horn when people needed to get out of the way.

Everyone smiled to see this darling:

Happy Monday, friends!

God is good.

caleb-catcher

Image

I see a Caleb.

In just a few short baseball seasons, he went from Caleb the Clueless, to Caleb the Catcher. He’s turned into a legitimate little leaguer!

In general, I’ve gotten over taking photos at ball games, because moments at the fields are as common place now as loading the dishwasher. However, something possessed me to take the camera on Monday, and I got these great shots of Caleb the Catcher.

CATCHER! To me, it seems a scary position to play. Indeed, I’ve heard errant bats hit my Caleb several times, but he’s always fine (doesn’t seem to faze him at all). He’s got the gift.

There is this other kid on the team who wants to be catcher, too, and Caleb doesn’t say a word. He just goes out to right field and waits until the next “at field”, when the other kid all too predictably relinquishes the position back to Caleb………….

Here is Caleb, coming in to home plate. Have I mentioned, he’s a good hitter, too? His technique is to smash hit the first pitch that comes in (and I usually miss it, he’s that quick). He has a job to do for the team and he’s gonna do it, by golly.

He got the run in and now he stands in the dugout and shouts words of encouragement to his team mates (he really does!, he’s an awesome boy, sweet, sweet, sweet).

Then, after the three outs, he comes out and lets his attendants dress him in the catcher’s costume (it’s so cool–is that why he likes to be catcher?)

He isn’t impressed at all by what’s happening to his legs (coach is fussing and buckling him into the pads), he keeps an eye on the competition.

To me, the funniest thing about the process is the way he keeps reaching and leaning to get the rest of his pads as the coach continues to deal with the legs.

You can almost hear the coaches thoughts, “will the kid hold still already?!?”

He’s putting on the face mask.

While yet another coach deals with the everlasting leg pads.

You can almost hear Caleb’s thoughts, “will they be done before Christmas?!?!”

Coach gives him a hit on the top of the helmet and off he goes.

He realizes Moms got the camera on him.

So he gets into the classic caleb-catcher pose.

Caleb wants you to know they won and are currently in 2nd place. There is another game tonight!

*****

I have some more news about Caleb. In all his rough and tumble adventures in life, this boy’s legs (in spite of all the protection during ball games) are covered in scrub marks, scratches, small cuts, bug bites, and bruises. And now, because of me, he has a burn across his beautiful FACE. First his legs, now his face (his comment). I swear, I was all alone in the kitchen when I took dinner out of the top oven last night. As soon as I turned around to put it on the island behind me, he was there.

He looks like a boy that got whipped in the face with a 350 degree casserole.

prom was friday

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Shanda

His father wore a white tux many years ago to his own prom and ended up hating it. He had secret anxiety that Jacob would also feel uncomfortable not only wearing fancy clothes, but brilliantly white fancy clothes.

Yes, Jacob, like his father before him, decided to wear a white tux to his prom and……. he loved it, he told us several times he wished he could keep it.

The day of prom was warm and humid. The class was scheduled to meet at the gazebo at 4 but when it began to lightly rain, they met at the town hall instead.

At 3:30, Rich was running around trying to locate the florist that I had ordered the corsage from, and I was standing in the kitchen putting Jacob’s cuff links on his shirt. Sarah was sick on the couch with a fever and Grace stayed at home with her and the younger boys when we left.

Rich met us in the parking lot with the corsage safely in hand, after all that I never really got a good look at it (except in the pictures, later on).

I hadn’t met Jacob’s date yet. All I knew was that she was an artsy type like Jacob, and that to ask her to prom he drew a message on thick white paper, in calligraphy; “Will you GOGH to prom with me?”

Rich and I waited upstairs with other parents while Jacob waited downstairs at the door with his friends, looking for their dates to arrive. The battery in my camera was dead (!!) so I had it plugged in …. those fifteen minutes of waiting were priceless as it charged. Jacob and his date came upstairs and walked toward us smiling and happy. We were so proud, they looked beautiful together.

The mamas took pictures and forty five minutes later all the young people were on their way to prom and had a wonderful, fun night of food and dancing.

The next day, after getting just a few hours of sleep, Jacob went to his state invitational track meet, threw a personal record in javelin and surprised himself by coming in third place.

It was a great weekend to be Jacob. 🙂

davy makes awesome stuff

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Shanda

Dedicated to inventors, crafters, and 11 year old boys

***

David, 11 years old, has been extra productive lately.

During this year’s spring cleaning itch, I completely organized all my sewing stuff into plastic containers with labels and everything.

DAVID is taking advantage of these newly organized things more than I am at this point.

If he has an idea, he follows through until it is a completed project.

(I need to learn this virtue.)

With his two little brothers stuck like glue to his side, he made a basketball hoop for the basement.

It is put into place with about seven tacks and also includes yarn, cardboard, and tape.

They were thrilled to tell me that it works great.

I didn’t see it until days later when I was downstairs collecting laundry and it stopped me in my tracks.

I got right up close to see the details, laughing with delight.

He even broke the heads off the longer tacks, for extra security. This thing isn’t going anywhere.

****

I found him rummaging in my sewing stuff again about a week later, needing velcro.

“How do you put this stuff on, can I use glue?”

“You need to sew it so it’s strong enough to pull apart.”

“Okay.”

I left him to it, wondering what was coming next.

With a plastic cap, staples, elastic, velcro, paperclip, tape, and legos, you too can make a spiderweb shooter!

****

Yes, he is very fascinated with spiders now, thanks to watching the Spiderman movie.

He came off the bus yesterday with a big piece of yellow construction paper.

He had drawn a spider stencil on it of his own design.

He went downstairs, emptied Christmas stuff out of a long box, and tacked the paper to the bottom of the box.

Then, he took my seam ripper and lightly traced over and over each line, to cut each section (we don’t have an x acto knife).

When he was done, he had a stencil of his very own making.

Next, he came to me and asked if he could use his new Easter shirt to paint his stencil on.

I, of course, said “yes”. There really was no other answer.

He ran off again to work and the next thing I knew, he was coming upstairs with his creation.

He wore it to school today.

***

When I was driving him to practice yesterday I was complimenting him on his inventions and creations and I asked him, “What will you be making next?”

He shook his head. All my compliments had made him feel amazing. “You’ll find out in the news.”

{this moment} new driver

Image

A friday ritual. A single photo-no words-capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. ~inspired by soulemama

…….

The look on his face right after he passed his (2nd) permit test. *photo by his Dad

seth falls in pond

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Shanda

Sixteen year old Ethan was recovering from pneumonia and had spent four days on the couch. On the fifth day, he was finally feeling healthy enough to walk down the hilly front yard to the pond with his fishing pole. As he sat in the bright sunshine, dressed warmly and wearing his straw hat, his little brother Seth played next to him. Both boys were on the dock when I walked down with my camera, and their little sister Sarah was playing nearby, too. She was wearing a warm coat, but was barefoot. Seth had already dropped his jacket on the ground and was happily pretending to fish with a long, thin stick, wearing a pair of jeans and a thin t-shirt.

Ethan situated himself at the end of the long wooden dock with his feet dangling over the deep green water, and I moved away to the side of the pond in order to take a photo of him. He looked like the quintessential country boy and I was pleased that he was feeling well enough to be outdoors. The ice had just melted off the pond a week before and the beautiful water looked irresistible to the young fishermen.

Seth decided to leave the dock and take his “fishing pole” to a large, slopping rock. He was now perfectly placed between Ethan and myself. He squatted down with his little bare feet, in order to drop the end of his stick into the water.

I took another picture or two and all was well. What a lovely moment of a beautiful day. I began to smile and dream about sitting down and putting my feet up.

Just then, we heard a quick sliding and a splash. Ethan and I both turned to look and realized immediately that Seth had lost his footing and slipped into the deep water. We hesitated for a second, it had happened so fast and we wondered if he could simply touch bottom and pull himself out. Our boy Seth’s eyes were huge as he gasped. His little hands were paddling the water as fast as they could go. Ethan I both realized at once that he needed help. We ran to the edge and Ethan stepped into the water and leaned over to offer his arm to Seth. I had my long scarf in my hands to use, as well.

Seth was entirely submerged in freezing water, with only his head above it. The look on his face was so sad, he looked scared to death (a look I never see on his face no matter what dangerous thing he’s doing…..it is usually a look of great delight). He made pitiful distress noises as he grabbed Ethan’s arm and allowed himself to be pulled up and out.

“Seth, Seth! Run up to the house and dry off! You need different clothes on!”

I took his hand and together we ran to the house. I think he was in shock because he started to cry about his shirt and saying it would “dry in the sun”.

We ran through the front door and up the stairs. I took his soaked clothes off as quickly as I could and wrapped him in two towels. His teeth were chattering but he wanted to know what was wrong. Why didn’t he go anywhere while his arms were swimming so fast in the water? Why couldn’t he swim when “he was five now”? It was mind boggling to him.

“I’m never going on that rock again!”

In utter relief that he was okay, I got the giggles as I worked his dry clothes onto him.

“Mom, why do you keep laughing?”

(Why indeed?)

“I’m just so happy you’re okay!”

“I’m glad I’m okay, too. I don’t want to die. I wonder what it will feel like to die.”

“I should have taken a picture of you in the water,” I teased.

“NO YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE!”

It took me two hours to recover from it all….as I imagined what would have happened if we were not right there when he fell into the water that was so very deep and over his head. I have to believe it was all for the best. Seth lives adventurously (recklessly) so I am of the opinion that God allowed this to happen to teach him an important lesson. A little fear would do him good.

Every spring I make a note of the first child to go swimming in the pond. Today marks The Day and for the first time Seth gets the honor: April 10, 2014. He said the water “was cold”.

As for Ethan, after catching nothing but his brother from the pond, he went back inside the warm and quiet house. He took off his hat and pulled his boots off, letting them hit the floor. I warmed up the corn bag and gave it to him, and he drifted off back to sleep on the couch.

We were only outside for 20 minutes.

(the rescuer, sleeping with the warm cornbag on his chest)

what the boys are up to

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Shanda

Between the woods the afternoon
Is fallen in a golden swoon,
The sun looks down from quiet skies
To where a quiet water lies,
And silent trees stoop down to trees………

A.A. Milne

Happiness is blogging on a Sunday afternoon as a Muppets movie blares in the background and Seth is over at the counter eating a bowl of homemade ham and potato chowder. He’s so cute over there perched on a stool with his little legs dangling. David and Ethan and Sarah are on the couch with me, too.

Ethan is sick with bronchitis. He’s had a bad cold for days and days, on Thursday his coach called me and said that Ethan had trouble breathing for over 15 minutes after running. I wanted to rush him to the doctor’s but Ethan insisted that he was fine. He went to practice again on Friday and Saturday (in the rain, no less), then last night he came down with a fever and chills. I took him to a walk in clinic this morning and the doctor gave us a prescription for antibiotics and a note to miss school for two days. He slept all afternoon.

He requested pancakes for dinner so I made my mom’s recipe for the children, and at the same time I made a pot of soup so I could use up leftover potatoes and ham. I had ordered a big deli platter for Rich’s lunch meeting on Friday and there was so much meat left over that I decided to use up the ham in a soup–no recipe–I melted half a stick of butter and sautéed chopped onion and celery, with salt and pepper. Then, I peeled and diced 6 small red potatoes, added them to the pot and covered everything with chicken stock. Once it came to a boil, I turned it down low and put the lid on until the potatoes were tender. Then, I added in the leftover baby potatoes from Friday (cut in chunks), a can of corn, about a pound of chopped deli ham, and half a pound of chopped swiss and american cheese. A dash of onion and garlic powders, more pepper, a can of evaporated milk and it was done.

The kids are most thrilled that “it has no clams”.

They all liked it!

We spent some time outdoors this afternoon. David got his fishing pole out, after noticing sunfish in the bass fish pond. He said he had to get them out or they would eat the bass eggs this spring.

Isn’t Parker (the dog) funny? The boys put their fish into a cooler (with buckets of water poured in it) and Parker would stand and look with his nose straight down at the swimming fish. If we let him, he would catch them in his jaws. But the boys slam the lid down every time.