Feral Cats

I asked myself, "with this amazingly full and gratifying life we share, what could possibly make it more complete?" I'm sure you'll find the answer as shocking as I did.

A feral cat and her four kittens.

Yep. They're in a (very large) dog crate in our basement.

How did I come upon a feral cat and her four kittens? Well, like all of my cat stories, it was an accident.

She had her first litter in my mom's lawn mower bag. My mom didn't get a handle on the situation soon enough, and she had her second litter on a shelf in my mom's garage. Mom generally does a good job keeping the cat population in check, but this summer she blinked and suddenly there were several fertile cats living in her garage.

The four babies are the only ones with any hope of adoption, so I brought them (and their wild mama) home so that we could handle and tame them. When they're weaned, Mama will be spayed and returned to my mom's garage. Hopefully the babies will move directly into their forever homes, but if that's not meant to be, I have no compunctions about giving them a ride down to the SPCA. They're adorable and imminently adoptable.

Anyone want a cat?

(pictures to follow)

Jumping

D, C and I all jumped off the "Cliff of Courage." C ran right off the edge, time after time. She may have done a cannonball. I only went once. It took me quite a while to screw up my courage, but I finally did it. I decided I didn't have the courage to live with their taunting if I chickened out!

Bridging from Brownies to Juniors

C has completed her final year of Brownies. Being the fearless Brownie leader, this is as much of an accomplishment for me as it is for her.

As one of the requirements for the Bridging patch (a rainbow for her Juniors sash,) the girls had to complete a service project. They settled on a supplies drive for the SPCA. As we were short on time (see "Drinking from a Fire Hose,") we designated a mason jar as our fund collector and asked our friends and loved ones to donate their spare change. To my enormous surprise, we raked in nearly $70!!

The girls and I went shopping with our wad of cash, met up with the other two Bridging Brownies and headed over to the SPCA with a van load of cat food, treats, toys, cleaning supplies, office supplies and various and sundry other donations.

To complete the Bridging project, we held a ceremony. With the help of our other fearless leader, my good friend Alice, the girls planned an executed a lovely ceremony involving songs, artwork, and an actual bridge. After the ceremony, we refreshed ourselves with Brownies, Junior Mints and Lime-ade.

Drinking from a Fire Hose

Wow, the past three months have been a wild whirlwind.

We started July with the county fair. That was a milestone of relief for me, as I had led the Cloverbud group for my aunt's club this year. It was fun, we did some great experiments, I loved working with the kids, but wow, it was a lot. I was so relieved when the time for the fair finally came and we could wrap it up.

T had a great time showing off her Cloverbud project. C's Science of Flight project was selected to represent the county at the state level. It was an honor, to be sure. C revamped her display and boned up on the physics of flight in order to be prepared for her judging.

Then we headed out to visit the grandparents and the kids' great-grandpa in Texas. That was an awesome time. In addition to the spoiling we always get at their house, we also visited The Schlitterbahn, the nation's largest waterpark. It was crazy fun. One day was definitely not enough to take it all in.

We came home for about two weeks, and then we were off to Mammoth Cave for the annual "Not Back to School" camping trip. The girls had a blast camping with about 15 of our homeschooling friends. Thankfully D was there to help me ride herd on He-Who-Will-Not-Be-Contained.

We returned home for another two weeks or so, only to pack up and head out to Puerto Morales, Mexico. I cannot begin to do justice to the Mexico trip. It was phenomenal. We saw the ruins of Tulum. We visited Xel-Ha. We celebrated Mexican Independence Day with a traditional Mexican feast. We drank margaritas on the beach, napped in hammocks, jumped from cliffs, snorkeled with tropical fish, took a ride on a catamaran, swam in pristine waters and made new friends. And through it all, we had a fabulous time with the folks.

Each of these things was so enormous. I want to do justice to the chronicles (or at least share some pictures!) But this will have to pass. For now.

Shocking

Today T and I cleaned our playroom in preparation for a week of babysitting our 4yo friend.

We've got the playroom cleaning routine down, but with Baby Entropy "helping," it was more of an ordeal than usual.

As we were finishing up, T turned to me and said "Mom, this may come as a shock to you, but I don't really care if the playroom is messy."

What I find (mildly) shocking is that my six year old, little Miss Literal, can use sarcasm so adeptly.

Walk in the Woods

We had to get out of the house this afternoon, so after debating between the bookstore and the park, we settled on the park. I love how the girls can walk miles at a time without complaint. I love that though each of my kids have been to this park and walked on this trail several times per month since they were born, they still find things to marvel over. Today it was a teeny snail leaving a shimmering trail across a broad leaf.

I love the conversations we have. C had a question about what occupies the space between subatomic particles (I stumbled a bit.) C changed the subject, and declared that the reason people can't remember things that happen when they're babies is that they don't have language, and since memories are stored as words, babies don't have a matrix for memories. I suggested that the brain is extremely complex and largely unmapped, and that I think it's possible that we can store memories with sensory and emotional markers. The trick is retrieving them. She chewed on that for a while.

T wanted to hear stories from when she was a baby.

State Fair

We attended the State Fair this week. C's 4-H project (Science of Flight) won first place at the county fair, and was also selected for competition at the State Fair. The age category was 8-13 (as of Jan 1.) She was one of the youngest kids in the class. She didn't place. She was disappointed, but not overly much. She was pleased that the judge rated her presentation as "very good."

It was blisteringly hot, and I wasn't about to spring for the wristband for the death-trap rides, so we mainly kept to the barns and agricultural displays. Both girls milked a cow. They chatted with the state Weavers Guild ladies and tried their hands at spinning and weaving. That was a huge hit with T (D and I refer to her as our yarn spider--her enthusiasm for yarn crafting is something to behold.)

My aunt was there with 17 of her sheep. At one point she had two in the show ring at once and not enough hands, so I jumped in to help. It's been quite a while since I've showed a sheep--and honestly, I've never showed a ram lamb fresh from the field, but it turns out it's a lot like riding a bike.

We packed a cooler, but D didn't let that stop him from enjoying the full range of fried offerings.

We left exhausted and sunburned, and feeling like we'd had a complete Fair experience.