Life in My World—A Few for Friday

1. Calvin and I went to a movie tonight. Oh, it was a painful one. I like church. I really like church. But when a movie feels like it lasts as long as two church meetings, well . . . that’s a loooong movie. As we were leaving the theatre Calvin said, “Let’s not tell anybody we saw that movie.” So mum’s the title, but did I mention it was long--painfully long--with a stupid plot? And . . . I have lost the right to choose the next FIVE movies because it was my choice.

2. Our good friend, Aaron, came to stay with us and brought his sister, Stephanie. Aaron is so incredibly good-natured and pleasant and it’s fun to meet Stephanie and visit with her, too. Around noon, Aaron and Stephanie left to visit friends and I went to town to mail Abe’s birthday present. They beat me home and when I returned, I found them doing this:

(This is a 40+ hour job, it's daunting.)

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. How humbling. I made them stop but when I turned my back to unload the $1.25-a-pound-pork-chops they started raking again. Luckily Calvin came along shortly and sidetracked them:

Both Stephanie and Aaron are successful hunters and these are two black powder rifles Calvin made this winter. I'm not sure who was the best shot, but they did hit the target every time and all the chickens are still accounted for.

3. The economy may be in the tank, but did you know cotton gloves are still only $.98 cents a pair? They’ve been that same price for years. It doesn’t matter they get holes easily, I still like them. Calvin has offered to get me good leather gloves, but then I would have to keep track of them for twelve years without losing one to make them pay. Not gonna happen, no sir, wouldn't be prudent to give me gloves I can't lose.

(I promise, kids, this is a rare picture of Seemore in the family room, the family rules are still in tact . . . pretty much.)

4. Aaron trains bird dogs. In ten minutes he taught us how to keep Seemore from jumping up on people and how to give back the things he retrieves. On today's walk Seemore found his first stink bug. He sniffed it and flipped it with his nose and promptly threw up. My sentiments exactly. It reminded me of when Cali was a baby. I was at the church decorating for a party and she was sitting on the floor playing with her toys. She wasn't yet crawling, but the stink bugs were on the move. (That church building had hordes of stink bugs . . . just try and keep kids focused on a Sunday school lesson with that distraction.) I had my back turned to Cali, but I could hear her squealing. I turned to see what made her so excited and saw a stink bug half in her mouth and half out. Those long, clingy, tickly legs must have been quite a sensation. And it takes hours for the smell to wear off your breath.