Weeds

Two weeks of no weeding in the garden led to many weeds while we were away. I made the boys help pull yesterday morning.

While weeding Matthew stopped and said, "Mom, we need to stop following Heavenly Father."

Mom, "How come?"

Matthew, "Because He never stops making WEEDS!!"

Yup. It's all part of the plan little buddy.

Free Fishing Day In Iowa

The first weekend in June is free fishing day in Iowa. The Conservation District hosts a fishing derby for kids. We were game for a little friendly fishing competition and decided to go until 5AM when we woke up to severe thunderstorms. We waited them out until 6Am and decided to go in the rain anyway. We got to the lake and they decided to call off the derby because of lightening. We wanted to fish anyway so we fished in the rain for several hours and then things cleared off. It was worth the soggy investment because Andrew caught his very first fish. No joke he reeled it in all by himself. It was the most unruly reeling I've ever seen but he did it. Every time I tried to help he would scream and say, "No, no, no!" Look at that HUGE sunfish. Way to go little man.

Fisher Lake

Where the Wild Things Are

We have had a fabulous past several weeks. We made our yearly jont to Idaho to visit family. As usual it was much quicker than we had wanted but what time we had we loved. When we got back to Iowa we found much was alive and thriving. The beans were ready to pick, the wild black raspberries were flourishing and the jack-in-the-pulpit was glistening a beautiful green. Jack-in the huh? Yes, jack-in-the-pulpit. Let me tell you a little bit more about this beautiful plant. It has a glistening green head and turns a scarlet red in the fall. A few others interesting things about it - it contains calcium oxalate, the salt of an acid that is used in bleaches and rust removers. The strength of the acid is 3,000 times stronger than acetic acid found in vinegar. When consumed it is described as an inhumane burning sensation that feels like needles jabbing into the cheeks and tongue. It causes swelling of the mouth and throat which in turn can lead to death. These newly discovered facts make sense tonight after Matthew spent three hours last night SCREAMING after eating what I thought was a wild black raspberry with an ant in it. When we went to pick more berries today he showed me what he actually did consume... one small kernel of a jack-in-the-pulpit. He said it was green and looked like corn. Yup, it does.

Mr. Jack-in-the-pulpit himself.

I suggest you take Matthew's word for it and avoid consumption.

However, the wild black raspberries on the other hand we whipped up into a nice little tart for dinner tonight. This I would recommend consuming.

Shucks and Yummers

Late Sunday night we were discussing what we were going to do for Memorial Day. Jonathan decided it was officially going to be a REAL vacation day and we were going to just have fun. He had declared the lawns can wait, the weeds can grow and we were spending the day doing something besides yard work. Plans included getting up early to pick strawberries (okay, there are a few things that can't wait... but the 2 gallons of berries for jam is worth it), out to eat for breakfast, a family flight in the Cessna for the first time and a visit to his great, great, great grandfather's grave that died on the Mormon trek not far from our home. Sounded wonderful... until 3 minutes later when he went outside to water the dog.

I was washing my hands and suddenly the water pressure dropped drastically. I heard Jonathan dash in the back door and run downstairs. I went to figure out where the water pressure had disappeared to when I went downstairs to find Jonathan shutting off the main water line and... water gushing from the ceiling in the basement. Did we have some struggles watering the dog? Yup. The water line to the outside had busted and we had a large bit of a problem. It is Tuesday afternoon and my last shower was Sunday morning before church. My next hot remains unknown.

So how did we really spend our Memorial Day? It wasn't entirely dashed to pieces. We did get up and pick a plentiful batch of berries. We did go to breakfast and we did get to take a family flight. The other 6 hours were spent gathering plumbing supplies at Menards (the Iowa version of Home Depot) and the evening and wee hours of morn were spent reestablishing COLD water to the house. HOT water has a very indefinite re-entry (new water heater, gas lines run to the house etc. etc. seem to be a few thwarting factors). All I know is that I am grateful for a whale of an ambitious hubby. I am not ambitious. I seek peace and serenity in my life. He zips around in a plane one minute and plumbs the house in the next. Me, well I try not to throw up on the plane ride and I'm a really good PEX tool holder.

Yummers... alas the berry patch is alive!

The aviation service at the airport tows the plane out of the hanger for us.

Buckle up wee laddies!

This is the Cessna. There are four men that are part owners of the plane. Last week Jonathan bought his first share in a plane. So we are now 1/4 owners of this 1963 Cessna. He got his baby and I get mine the 5th of December. His was cheaper.

Jonathan making all of the pre-flight checks... gas was a thumbs up.

Toothless Joe Jackson here loves flying with the papa.

There are only two seat belts in the back of the Cessna so Adam and Andrew got the share. The little guy was sick of not being able to see anything so he took matters into his own hands and wiggled his way out. Adam is my VERY cautious child. He was clinging to Andrew to make sure he didn't go anywhere.

There's the house, and the neighbors white garage. The stone walkway goes through the flower garden on the way out to the garden.

Es mi casa y jardin.

Mr. Magoo graduated from backseat observer to on deck master flyer... in a matter of 4 minutes.

Look Ma, one hand.

He really wanted to get ahold of the throttle, but ya gotta draw the line somewhere.

The keys...

If you remember correctly we have a bit of problem staying awake in lulling environments. See entry on the John Deere.

Similar struggles in the back seat.

Alas we made it home safely. Happy Memorial Day.