Happenings

Red Tail Hawk - chicken thief - killed one of our banties today. The predator couldn't get enough lift to clear the back fence and dropped "Camo". The boys just happened to be at the back door (not at the table doing schoolwork) and saw it all transpire. One ran out screaming at the hawk, another grabbed the airsoft gun, and the third stood with his mouth open in the back yard. I happen to be on the phone in the bedroom and heard enough commotion to look out the window just as the hawk cleared the neighbor's trees.

Camo is now buried at the site she was dropped. T12 took care of burying her between tears. He went out in muck boots, pajama pants, and no shirt. I didn't know this until he was coming back to the house and I was going out to find the rest of the birds. One of the black layers was squeezed between the black leaf bags we have piled up around the north side of the coop. She scared the daylights out of me when she ran out. The birds stayed in the coop the rest of the day. Even the ducks didn't want to come outside.

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We had our first official track meeting with kids from the fall sports. Coach was giving them the spill about being late, just don't come if you can't be on time. Anything else? .... I jumped in with NO SWEATS, NO PRACTICE. We're not here to train like high schoolers, we will train to run in conference, nationals and Olympics if anyone has that desire. We don't need to mess around with pulled hamstrings, because someone doesn't want to wear sweats.

The kids told me today, that some one whispered, "Coach Deskis must be a H.A. (clue: donkey).
The ones working out with me started laughing as I handed them each a pair of $1 gloves. Yeah, coach - your a real H.A. giving us gloves, making us cookies. We told them you make us run 2 minute 800's for warm up.

A long time ago, Commander said we would compromise - I wanted three kids, he wanted six, so we would have nine. The last few weeks have filled those numbers with the college teenagers I'm coaching. A great group of kids to work with, and it was actually hard yesterday, when we split into groups, to see four of  "my" athletes follow Coach Williams down the hall to meet with her - sprint coach. But they were all back out at the track today ready to run, jump and throw.

Please pray that I make an impact on these kids with God's light shining through me. It's a private Catholic school, but that doesn't mean the kids have faith in God. I want them to see their potential  being put to use by God - how great it is when He is in charge of the body. I want to be the light that shines.

Boys and birds

The color in our backyard comes from the birds. I thought I'd introduce you to some of them.

This is October. He is a male Banty Rooster with lineage from Buff the Mini Fluer and R-Fal a black Japanese Banty.

Herogian wants to show this one at the fair.

 This is Tiny Might. The runt that we helped out of its shell this sping. Another Banty crossmix.

 This in Panda Bear our first Japanese banty. The one who has protected our birds for the last 3-4 years. Well, his time is up, the other roosters are out to get him. He and R-Fal and Quailee have to be put in the berry garden every morning to protect them from the other roosters. They are out to kill him for his position as leader is over. I'm the sucker that goes out every morning and catches him and the other two before they get attacked off the roost and transport them across the yard, feeds and waters them, and puts them back in the coop after all the others have settled. I know, real sucker here. He's done such a good job for us, I just can't see letting the others beat the tar out of him, or , he flies over the fence and Penny and Casey try to corner him. We will see how this all goes, berry picking will be in full swing by the weekend. He attacks us too many times, raising my bristles and he might become teriyaki chicken. Wouldn't that be fitting?

 Here is Waddles and his dame Quackers. She is not laying anymore eggs for me. Poo. I really enjoyed them. They might end up as dinner - freeloaders. But they are sooo cute.

 This is Hawk. A seabrite banty. The miracle about this bird is that T13(Hawk) named it and it hasn't died. The poor kid has had every bird or hamster of his naming kill-over or be killed.

Here is Buff at the rock. He is a Mini Fleur and the father of October. Herogian would like to show him at the County Fair, too. Beside him is "Lucky" the only Pekin duck to be with us now. I'm hoping she starts to lay eggs soon. In the foreground is PeeWee. PeeWee is totally stuck on himself as king of the coop. "NUT-JOB" as Herogian has named him. With him is Comet. one of the chickens now laying for us. She has a twin somewhere in the yard. Have you noticed how many of these birds are roosters?

These are the ladies that have about two more months before they start laying eggs. Six total that I'm waiting on. There is also another new rooster - the white one. A Buff cross with Comet. We thought it was female for some time, she/he looked pretty with the white feathers growing on the legs. The cackeling try at crowing occurred yesterday.

THis is what we have enjoyed over the last two weeks. The third duck was for Father's Day.

The boys have deemed summer to be sleep in time. You can see that Casey has other thoughts about that.

Casey has turned out to be a great alarm clock.

Yes, there is a boy under there, somewhere.

Have a great day.

What a day

The last 24 hours have been up and down. Literally. The boys and Commander spent about 8 hours at Worlds of Fun riding roller coasters. They arrived home after midnight. The boys were wound up. Four boys (Cam was staying the night) were telling me about their night all at once.  The excitement in their voices, faces, was refreshing. They headed off to bed with their heads still spending. Literally. (twice) T12 shows up in the bedroom at 3:30 am. 'Mom, my head won't get off the roller coaster, I can't sleep. Can I try sleeping here. He wanted to sleep in our bed. For a moment or two I think I let him. Sleep haze was heavy around us. THen I reaized there was no way I would get any sleep if he stayed where he lay. I sent him to his own bed instead of where they were camping out in the game room. He had forgot he had his own bed to sleep in.
The next morning I got up to take care of the animals and then get ready for church. I planned to leave all the men in the house sleeping. They needed it before they leave for camp. The dogs followed me out the check on the birds. Izzy is really interested with the chickens. She must have jumped against the fence and nocked the hook off, for the gate leaned enough for her to squeeze through (she's so thin - Just ribbing Alyssa) As I lean over to collect eggs, I hear a scream behind me and enough to know that something isn't right in the coop. I turn around to find Izzy has pinned Panda Bear - the mean ole rooster to the floor. I had to twist Izzy's collar enough to get her to let go. I didn't want to grab her mouth. That's words from experience.She let go and Panda went out the door. I got her out of the run. That was enough trouble with the gate. I bought a metal gate this afternoon and installed it. It looks a lot better, locks better, too.
Heck, if we are going to change the gate then we should change the fence, right? Well we decided the birds had too much of the back yard. We moved the fence from west to east at one corner and turned it north to the back fence. They now have the east half of the back yard, THe archery range is in the middle and the garden is still on the west side.  The boys were happy. They have been shooting bb's, airsoft, throwing knife practice and sling shot practice in the back. Now they have more space.
We dropped Cam and t12 off at camp. All the way up there and back I worked on writing another VBS program.  It was such a fast trip, since I was searching HIS word for the right stories. It will be fun to lay out another program.
This one is called A.S.A.P (2).    I'll tell you more later.

Have a great week.

One Happy Boy

T11 and Commander made it back from a weekend trip to Tuscon. T11 couldn't wait to hold Casey.

 Chickens and ducks and rocks, oh my! We will forever know where the septic tank lid is located. The hollow rock marks the spot. The rooster eating corn is a cross between a Japanese Black and a Mille Fleur bantam. Herogian wants to show him at the county fair this summer.

Here is the Commander in his favorite haunting grounds. Sabino Canyon, Tucson, AZ.  

Homeschooling task. How old is this Saguaro cactus? I'll get back to you on that one. Can you tell me? Commander basically stands six feet tall, standing about 2 feet in front of the cactus. 

Its been awhile

We are on our spring break. I'm doing things I didn't plan to do - burying a chicken the dog caught, having a homeschool garage sale, clearing snow off the steps, and working double hours at the store. Blogging, therefore, was pushed to the back burner. Hope you are having a great week enjoying the mix of spring and winter weather.

One of the birds flew the coop this week and landed in dog territory. Penny sure wanted something to play with, what better than a squeaky toy that flutters when you are a bird dog. She happily brought it to the back door. T11 saw her and screamed. Our friend Cam had picked this banty out of the bunch last year and she was named Camo for him. Herogian received the honors of burying the bird.

Yesterday I posted to our local homeschool group that I had books for sale. Today, before and after the St. Patrick's Day Parade was a great time for families already out and about to stop by. Yes. I still have a lot of books to offer if you're looking for any supplimental books, and also a bag of boy clothes I had stuffed in the attic. Just give me a holler. I'd love to pass it all on - clothes are free, books are almost free.

I've lined up our curriculum for school to finish us through high school. The only thing that might change is whether the course is taken at a local college for dual credits. I love to plan ahead, but I have learned to write it it pencil now.

Monday will start our spring session of P.E. with the local homeschoolers. My friend Arby and I will be coaching kickball, softball, and assorted similiar games. We've had a great response from the area. It will be interesting to see the age range that shows up and how many days a week most people show. We are planning for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for 1 hour. Not so much time out of the day to mess up the schooling schedule, but enough time to give the kids an incentive to quit lolly gagging around with work.

After reading this post, it seems like it has been a bit boring around here. Let's liven it up a bit.
Snake kill number 1 for the year happened today. T13 and I were tossing pieces of waste lumber on a burn pile. T13 sorta froze in his steps and whispered snake, his finger pointed to the pile of branches and leaves already in the pile. My reaction was automatic, I struck the thing over the head with the board in my hands then asked what kind was it. The neighbor boy (12) wasn't too happy that I'd killed one of God's creatures. So when we saw it's partner, we picked it up with a stick and moved it away from his younger siblings playground and took it to the woods. I'm sure his mother wouldn't have minded if I had clobbered the second one. I always think of the curse from Genesis when I see a snake. It is ordained that a snake will die by my heel.

Tomorrow at archery is 2d and 3d targets, camping out, 3d shooting again on Saturday (40 targets) and hopefully dinner out with the family. Chat with you soon. Thanks for stopping by.