The Reigning Champion

Yesterday, all of the boys and girls in our ward who are turning 8-11 this year . . .

. . . brought their custom-built watercraft out in back of the church . . .

. . . for the Recycled Raingutter Regatta!

Todd and his flat-bottomed barge ("The Nut") placed first in this heat . . .

. . . while Anna and one of her friends cheered them on.

"The Nut" made it to the semi-finals,

and ultimately won the championship race!

I'd say Todd has a knack for winning Cub Scout-inspired competitions,

but he insists that the credit for his victory belongs to a friend

who told him the best side to blow on his boat from.

The after party involved delicious sheet cake

and rides on the table dolly,

courtesy of Shayla. 

Done, but Not Really

When I went to bed last night . . .

. . . the only thing left to do with the chicken tractor

was staple hardware cloth (sturdy metal mesh to keep predators out)

on the chicken run roof.

Oh yeah, and a half dozen other things to help with security, ventilation, access, etc.

(Thank you, Daddy!!!)

Anna and I have put in countless hours painting and stapling lately.

(It's a lot harder than I expected to use a staple gun correctly.)

We persevered though, and at 3:02pm this afternoon,

I invited Anna to put in the very last staple.

Done!  It's finally done!

Time to move the tractor out to the lawn

and triumphantly bring our chickies out

to their spacious new home!

Or . . . maybe not.

First of all, the tractor was much, MUCH heavier than I expected.

I had to ask the kids to help me roll it out onto the driveway,

and when it reached the lawn it jerked to a halt.

We muscled it back onto the pavement to assess the situation . . .

. . . and realized that the wheels we used were too small.

It will be nearly impossible to roll our big, heavy tractor

over the soft, uneven ground of our lawn.

What good is a chicken tractor that's stuck on a driveway???

Chickens can't eat asphalt!

I'm sure we will figure out some simple solution involving larger wheels,

but I feel too deflated to think about that right now.

I guess our chickens will spend at least one more day

in their deluxe watermelon box.

Chicken on the Roof

What's more fun . . .

. . . than climbing a tree barefoot on a sunny spring day?

Climbing it with chickens, of course!

The Barred Rocks enjoyed their field trip so much yesterday

that we decided to take the Cinnamon Queens out this afternoon.

The kids had a blast clambering up a tree with the chickies,

and Abby and Rees(e(e/y)/ie) seemed to enjoy the outing too,

in a contented, chickeny way.

We also took the Barred Rocks to the garage so they could get accustomed to the chicken tractor

which they will (hopefully!!!) move into this week.

Apparently Martha was more interested in exploring the roof . . .

. . . but we eventually got her inside the coop with Mary.

Here's a picture of her silently judging our paint job.

You get what you pay for, Martha.

Field Trip to the Backyard

We're hoping to finish the chicken tractor sometime this week.

Fingers (and hammers) crossed!!!

In the meantime, the kids and I invited two of our growing girls

on a little field trip . . .

. . . to the uncharted wilderness of our front yard.

We decided to take the Barred Rocks out the first time,

because they are more mellow

(i.e. less likely run away, and easier to catch if they make a break for it).

They seemed to enjoy strolling in the great outdoors

and eating lots of delicious bugs.

Mary even gobbled up a worm,

which the kids all thought was really cool. 

OK, chickies.  Time to go back inside!

Don't worry, Mary.  You can come out and hunt for more worms tomorrow.

Bikes and the Band

This has been a busy week for our family.

Anna, Joy, and I have been painting the chicken tractor,

and Daddy has been adding final touches

like the hinged door in the chicken run roof.

We're on the home stretch!

Anna and the sixth grade band performed their

end-of-school-year concert

(Anna is the one in the back playing the xylophone).

Their musical numbers are still pretty simple

but they sound more polished and cohesive than they did at the mid-year concert.

Daniel is enjoying archery club every Thursday.

They sometimes have team events, and Daniel's team rarely wins,

but he still has fun.

The main items on Joy's agenda this week

were acquiring a motorcycle helmet . . .

. . . and taking a motorcycle safety class.

It's not a requirement to get her permit (she already has that);

it's a Dad requirement before Joy can ride any bike he has paid for.

The good news is that she did fine in her lessons.

The bad news is that she realized Daddy's 530-pound bike

is too heavy for her to handle easily.

She'd feel more comfortable on a 250-pound bike like they had at her class.

Maybe it's time to start shopping for a cheap starter bike.

The Kazoo Choir

Daniel and Anna have been practicing diligently

with the youth choir that they joined back in January.

Tonight they performed the songs they've learned

at a library up in Nashua, NH.

The singers took turns introducing each song

by reciting a fun little monologue the choir director had written.

Both Daniel and Anna got to introduce a song . . . 

. . . and play an accompanying instrument

like a cowbell or a washboard.

Many of the songs were beautiful and inspiring,

but the choir also performed some that were just plain fun,

like the "Peter Piper" tongue twister song that became crazy fast by the end,

or the patriotic song where the entire choir got to play kazoos.

It was a delightful performance, and Daniel and Anna (and maybe Todd too!)

are looking forward to learning more cool songs

when choir practice resumes after summer vacation.

We're so glad we found a youth choir

that is both challenging and fun!

Recycled Regatta

At the beginning of this year,

I was asked to be an activity leader for the boys ages 9-11 in our ward.

The Church doesn't have cub scout troops anymore,

but we still have all of the pinewood derby and raingutter regatta gear

from days of yore . . .

. . . so the activity leaders in our ward decided to hold a raingutter regatta later this month.

Instead of buying the usual wooden boat kits,

we thought it would be fun to have the kids make customized watercraft

out of recycled materials . . .

. . . and lots of hot glue.

Some of their initial prototypes didn't turn out very well.

For example, Todd's round-hulled boat kept tipping over . . .

. . . so he tried making a flat-bottomed barge instead.

It performed very well in its aquatic test drive.

Uh oh! Traffic jam!

Having concluded that his second vessel was seaworthy,

Todd christened it "The Nut" (a reference to our hyperactive parakeet)

and decorated it with drawings of Cici's face.

Because Todd thinks Cici makes everything more fun!

A House for Reese

Our downy little baby chicks . . .

. . . are growing into scruffy, gangly teenagers.

I've noticed that Reese* shakes her head a lot,

possibly because it feels weird to have fluffy down

sticking out from her head in every direction.

 We've made a lot of progress with the coop.

Now it's time to start on the chicken run in front of it.

Don't worry, Mary.

We'll finish your chicken tractor soon

so you can move out of the fancy box in our living room.

*I always assumed this bird's name was spelled "Reesey,"

but my kids INSIST that it's spelled "Reese."

When I asked them how they would spell it so that readers would know

to pronounce the name "REE-see,"

I got a different answer from each child.

Joy: Reesee

Daniel: Reesie

Anna: Reesey

Todd: I don't know

Joy: Actually, now that I've thought about it, spelling it Reesee makes more sense than Reese.

Anna: No!

So I just went with "Reese" in the post above,

and a really ridiculously long footnote down here at the bottom.

New Old Chairs

Our house came with a dining table and six matching chairs.

I love having a round table on a pedestal

(it's easy to add a chair for a guest,

and everyone can reach the serving dishes on Susan),

but the chairs are kind of rickety.

Joy once suggested that it would be fun to have a bunch of mismatched chairs,

so when I saw some random wooden chairs in a thrift shop today, I decided to give her idea a shot.

I sat in all of them to see which ones were sturdiest and most comfortable,

then I brought them home and set them up in our hall so each family member could choose one.

Joy thinks our new setup is really awesome.

I think it's pleasantly eccentric.

And in case you're wondering,

the dark brown chair in the corner is our "Frank Chair,"

that we pull up to the table when our friend Frank drops in to visit.

It's rather old and beat up, 

so maybe I'll get Frank a new old chair too.

Springtime Bucket Crops

I had some good success (and fun!) with my bucket garden last fall . . .

. . . so I decided to revisit some crops like potatoes this spring . . .

. . . and try a few new things, like mini pumpkins!

These little sprouts grew from seeds I saved from little, decorative pumpkins I bought last fall.

We'll see how they do--it would be fun to grow our own Halloween decor. :)

I also bought some pea seeds which grow into short vines that support each other,

rather than racing up my trellis and then drooping precariously when they run out of bars to grab onto.

I love the seed variety's name: "Easy Peasy."

(Dragonfly included at no additional charge.)

Togas and a Police Escort

Some interesting goings-on in our family lately:

Daniel and several of his friends from church play D&D together once a month,

but the leader of their group recently moved out of state.

No problem--they've just started meeting over Zoom.
It works pretty well, except the size of their group was bogging things down a bit, 

so they've decided to split into two smaller groups.

Joy attended her high school's annual Latin Club banquet today.

Most of the students showed up in traditional white togas,

but Joy marches to the beat of a different "tympanum."

She's the one on the far right wearing a greige toga

over a tunic studded with Minecraft diamond pickaxes.

In other news, I arrived home from an errand yesterday afternoon

to find a police car parked on our driveway.

Apparently, Todd decided to go for a walk all alone on a very busy street,

and someone called the police to make sure he got home OK.

The officer was very polite and understanding,

and after he left I made sure to talk with Todd about places he isn't allowed to go alone yet.

While it certainly got my heart pumping to arrive home and see a policeman at my house,

I also felt grateful that we live in a town where neighbors look out for each other

and the police have nothing more pressing to do on a Wednesday afternoon

than making sure a third grader gets home safely.

A New Old Bike

Ever since Phillip sold his motorcycle in Maryland,

he has looked a bit wistful every time we pass a bike on the road.

When Joy started working on obtaining a motorcycle permit recently,

Phillip decided it was time to go shopping for a used bike he and Joy could share.

He typed in some search parameters on a used motorcycle website,

and the very first bike that came up 

was the same make, model, year, and color as his old "Bumblebee" . . .

. . . the yellow bike he rode to Colorado with his dad

a few months before Dad H passed away.

Of all the bikes Phillip owned while we were in California,

the yellow VFR was his favorite.

I drove Phillip out to Dorcester today to test drive his former bike's cousin.

When he fired it up, he couldn't help smiling at that engine's familiar sound.

He says no other bike sounds quite like a VFR.

The seller in Dorcester was happy to see his bike go to someone

who was obviously going to enjoy and properly care for it.

We're not yet sure where we're going to store our new VFR,

so for now, Phillip's new-ish hobby is parked next to my new hobby.