He was bored

Jed refuses to update his blog so Helen and I thought we would share what we found while looking at on-line photos today.

The Girls

No not all my adorable granddaughters. I am refering to G-dad's latest blogs. Who thought we would have a chicken farm in our backyard? I always thought G-dad thought they were smelly disgusting animals but you should see the house he keeps remodeling for his "girls" I must say there is one rooster out there also who is trained to begin crowing whenever he sees the hand that feeds him, anywhere in the yard. I tried to get a picture of rooster and the cat but wasn't successful yet. The cat follows Dad to the pen now as well as down to the road to pick up the paper. I would not be a bit surprised to see G-dad walking around the yard soon followed by a whole trail of critters? It will be ok as long as no one falls in the cement pond!

Not only are Dave and Eileen responsible for the chicken invasion but they gave the G-parents a digital picture frame for Christmas. Now everyone who visits can see what we presently look like instead of older pics. So keep posting photos on your blogs and we or Susan, the family techno person will transfer them to the frame.

Christmas Presents

As you can see, Jed finally gave me a lesson on camera usage. I had to try and see if I could take a picture of my new tricycle. Dave took some great ones on his camera but didn't download them yet. For some reason his pictures will bear the label "Think Wizard of Oz". Just because there is an old lady riding a bike with a dog in the basket... Anyway, I love my bike!!! I started kidding around with G-dad several months ago about how fuel efficent one would be for trips to CVS. I also am always looking for inovative ways to exercise while combining other tasks. Can you just take my word for it that Gretchen and Sammie love riding in the basket? (see Dave's forthcoming photos) The real fun part though concerns Jed. He told me one day I could never do anything to embarass him. That was what he thought until....he heard me talking about the bike. He made some comment and I told him wouldn't it be fun to pick him up from school one day and let him ride in the basket. Helen used to love it when I would do that with her in kindergarten. Of course the basket was on the front of the bike and she was only five. Jed now lives in fear of the day I ride my blue bike to the back of Northeast campus. I have to figure out what kind of bell, horn, or other accessories to get. I need to figure out what to wear. Possibly outfit from Agrirama days complete with straw hat. Oh, the possibilities!! Never put out a dare to a fifty-three year old woman looking for ways to prove just how crazy she really is.

I shouldn't Make Jokes!

Why is it in these pictures there are two men working and one man standing looking on? At least I know they all had a hand in the project because it is a different guy. The project is still not finished but, hey, the holidays came along, and school graduations, and trips to Idaho. The new kitchen as is came in handy over the holidays. We had several people in there at the same time and both ovens going. Traffic flow was great while fixing plates as we feasted Christmas Eve.

Jedisms

If I had written them all down I would probably have a best seller. I suppose all of us think our kids say the greatest things. Jed has never stopped. Just last night he came out with a zinger, if I can remember the wording.
It started with me asking about a grade on a paper he had agonized over. He told me he got 106 on it. It was supposed to have taken all semester to do but he couldn't find everything he needed until last minute. It had to do with government and he got the six extra points for recreating the presidential seal as a part. He told me he is truly awesome because he could pull the project off last minute and do so well. I berated him about maybe he needs to cultivate a little humility. He put me in place by telling me he knows he has special gifts from God and that is why he drags himself out of bed in the mornings to attend seminary. It is one of the ways he shows gratitude, at least I think that is what he meant. Sometimes he is too awesome for me to understand.

A Thought for the Season

I read this and thought it was so beautiful I had to share it:

Elder Marvin J. Ashton beautifully observed: “Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.” 14

It's beginning to look like Christmas

Inside the house anyway. We got out the decorations on Sunday and got the tree on Monday. Eileen and Donald have picked another fab pine or whatever. We may even leave it up till Valentines because it is out of the way in the solarium and there is very little heat out there so it should not dry out very quickly. Somehow a squirrel made a nest in a box of our decorations. The only thing destroyed was a M&M shirt I had been given last year. I put it in the box so I would remember I had it. The critter must have been hungry for chocolate to go with the nuts we found in the container. The container had no holes chewed in it so it is a mystery how entry was gained. Look for pics of the tree on Eileen's website.