Babies

Since the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade last week I have been trying to compose a pro-life post that actually adds something to the debate and is not just "divisive". My daughter,Tegan, has done a wonderful job. Much better written then anything I could have come up with!

Ocular Athletics

Today's athletics were Tall Tales....

Chessnut and the Lion

One day I (a guinea pig) was going on a walk. After I walked about 2 inches in 20 minutes I bumped into a lion.
He said,"Out of my way twerp," and he boxed my ears.
I said,"Squeak!"
He laughed. I boxed his ears. He whined. And then I said,"Don't pick on pigs!"
He slunk off with his tail between his legs and ever after there was a new constellation called Leo. (Which is Latin for lion.)


Sit Tomy and the Dragon

Sir Tomy was a knight in the time of King Arthur. Sir Tomy didn't get a seat on the round table because Arthur wanted the other knights to have a chance to prove themselves. Tomy moved so fast in his armor that he could do 47 missions at once. Then a dragon moved in. His name was as long as his tail and his head was the size of Madagascar and his body was so big it could not fit in the Atlantic Ocean. All King Arthur's knights were scared stiff. But Sir Tomy wasn't. He went up to Mt. Everest where the dragon was. The dragon saw he was dressed for battle. Dragon blew flames at Tomy and the knight's armor, sword and shield were melted solid. So Tomy went up the mountain and beat the scales on the dragon until it flew away from the fearless knight. But to slow it Sir Tomy grabbed his tail and swung him about so fast the dragon forgot half his name and a tornabo (the tornado's distant cousin twice removed) sprang up in the Americas. Sir Tomy let the dragon go and the dragon was so embarrassed it shrank to the size of the round table and it took the half of its name it could remember, Komodo. And Sir Tomy? Well, we will see him a lot later.

Missee Lee

We just finished this book by Arthur Ransome and it was great! Pirate adventure and Latin declensions! What more could we want?

First Aid

Twin hobbits have been practicing their first aid and survival skills in anticipation of the upcoming Klondike Derby. Here they are carting young Hobbit on a stretcher made of two sticks and a blanket.

Ocular Athletics

Hunting Squirrels by Joe

One sunny day in December I was doing the dishes and saw a squirrel. I dried my hands quite calmly and then ran like a madman to my bedroom, grabbed my airgun, dropped two pellets and one BB. I picked up one pellet and the BB, put them away and loaded my gun with the last pellet. I tore outside and found the squirrel. I aimed, tugged the trigger....it wouldn't budge. I angrily took off the safety, aimed again and realized I hadn't pumped it. So I (pretty angrily by now) stamped my foot, pumped it up and MISSED! I watched a little tuft of fur fall to the ground and went in. Where most unsympathetically, everybody asked if I hit him.
(Mom note: He didn't actually miss...)

"Fire in the hall!" Shouts and bangs sounded in the kitchen, bedroom, and dining room as the combatants fought to the death. Armed with blasters and a head set the two fighters fled for cover. (Earlier that day Joe had challenged me to a duel with the flashing toy guns we had got for Christmas. We also had to wear uncomfortable and utterly ridiculous head sets. The rules wher simple: abstract ten lives from the other person by shooting the antenna with your gun.) The intense fighting and blasting stopped and silence ensued. The innocent inhabitants of the area in which the two warriors fought came out of hiding and desperately tried to escape the scene. A disembodied voice sounded:"Give up you mangy cur! You can never win. I have more lives than you and I also know where you are and know when you leave your hidey hole!"
"You think you can beat me, eh?" came the muted reply."Just come see my barricade!"
One warrior charged and disappeared behing the door. The following was pandemonium. Then a warrior appeared. The crowd waited as he lifted his dark shades...the crowd roared and surged forward, lifting him on to their shoulders. Our hero is victorious! I had won!
Actually, what really happened was I won but the most I got was a congratulations and that was it. No pat on the back, no nothing. Can you believe people?

Nature Lover's Book

This was an impulse purchase last Autumn when I saw it at The Bookworm. It's a beautiful book and my only quibble is there is not an illustration for every flower like there is for birds and trees...and the illustrations could be in color but other than that it is delightful and I've been waiting for January to start using it for nature study. Today is the day, cold and rainy but not snowy so we can see what there is to see growing in the yard. We had a thaw before Christmas and our 146 inches of snow compacted into about 6 inches of crust so the walking was easy. We didn't find too much growing....some strawberries were bravely showing through the snow and Joe spotted a squirrel's nest high up in a beech tree. It was fun and we came in and had cocoa in front of a roaring fire. Just the thing for January blues.

Skiing!

Over Christmas break the littlest hobbit learned to ski (downhill). Poor Papa Hobbit wiped out on the bunny hill and wrenched his ankle and knee.