Peeking ahead will not speed his departure!

Kelda spayed

kelda spayed
Originally uploaded by frau cowtown

She crashed on the couch yesterday evening when I picked her up from the vet's.

This morning she's all puppy again, bounding around and playing with Tabi (who was very nervous yesterday wondering where her puppy was)

I hope these stitches are in tight!

As seen over at KD's place

I'll do my part.... 'cause this global warming is making CowTown a really wet town these past few years....And wetter means more humid and buggy in the summers, more snow in the winters! gah!

Hahahahaha

Karl, a father?!

Oiy!

Today is the day Karl brings home his baby for 3 days.

Heh... this is the baby program portion of his 8th grade health class.

The infant simulator is a lifelike, life-size (20 1/2 inches) vinyl baby weighing 6.5 pounds. It is anatomically correct and available in both sexes and five different ethnicities. An internal computer simulates an infant crying at realistic, random intervals 24 hours a day. Intervals can be adjusted from 15 minutes to 6 hours for a normal, cranky, or particularly easy to care for baby.

The "parent" is given a non-transferable key attached to a hospital bracelet on his or her wrist that must be inserted in the Baby for a specific length of time to simulate feeding, bathing, diaper-changing and comforting. Care sessions last from 5 to 35 minutes. If the "baby" has been properly cared for, it will coo to signal the end of the session. If it is neglected (allowed to cry for more than one minute) or handled roughly (dropped, thrown or struck), tamper-proof indicators on the computer will alert the instructor. A drug-affected model, smaller in size, has the additional feature of simulating tremors due to withdrawal from a mother's drug addiction during pregnancy.

So, for 3 days and 3 nights we'll all be enjoying a crying baby and a crabby Karl.

Oh joy!
Just call me granny!

An interesting question to ponder

Kurt asked it of me yesterday afternoon as we toodled around towns looking at bigger wood burning stoves.

Where would you like to be, or what do you see for yourself 1 year from now?

One year. That's not very long.

So for me.... I've kinda got the travel bug out of my system for awhile. I still have 2 flight trips left for this year. As we talked about my different thoughts, it boiled down to skinnier and richer.

I'm interested in eating, living healthier, and as a result naturally I expect 20 pounds to come off. I've been reading a lot about different foods, healthier foods for the whole family. We all need simpler, better foods for us! The local, organic foods and produce around town are appealing to me. And cousin M, I will be writing later to get that awesome recipe you had for those chili nuts at the wedding this past summer!

Richer. As opposed to taking a big ol' $0.00 paycheck each and every month from the karate school. For all the energies Kurt and I put into this school, we need to be making more than Zero! Zip! Zilch! So, I personally, want to make some money at this job of mine!

Yes, I talked about still longing to be fluent in German.... I'd like to learn how to spin wool into yarn, learn to play the accordion, have more time to create and knit and sew... but, for the next year, my head seems to be on those other top 2 things.

So, think about it. Where do you see yourself one year from today?!

a cold

School's back in session, so naturally, I'm affected by all the new germs running around. Ah so.

We've been putting our energies lately into the martial arts school. Seems the summer doledrums have continued into the fall.... phones are quiet. Classes are quiet. A bit depressing if you let it. So, we continue our trek up the down escalator! Only now we've picked up our pace a bit. Lots of plans in action at the moment.... we shall see where they'll take us.

The family has been talking a lot about vacations lately. We're all set for Florida again this December, but we're going to sit down and have a lively conversation about things to do and places to see for the future! Should be fun. I've been hooked on the rocky coast of Maine and Canada lately. I sent Kurt the link to this interesting island yesterday.... Just a short ferry ride from Maine for spectacular whale watching! He also did some searching for fun family type trips! These would be beautiful for hiking! Or, an adventure on the other coast....

So, life is full. Calli has a boyfriend. They're "going out" ... even though they haven't had a date... that's Sunday, I guess they like the grown up term..."going out" ... =) He's a nice boy, one of our karate students as it turns out! Karl is actually keeping up with school so far. His favorite subjects being science and social studies (history) just like his mom! And, yes, he's keeping his good grades..... for the moment. Little Kai and I took an outting yesterday to the store and other errands. My! It was great fun to hang out with just him! What a great little bub he is! A sweet kid!

Well, happy weekend!

Waiting for the kids to come home

KD Thought his bier was expensive

one bottle, 7 dollars!

4mos old Kelda

Have you noticed my bitching has stopped? Finally, since about the beginning of September she's grown up! ... meaning, she has quit peeing and pooing on the floor whenever she felt the need! GAH! She's a regular enjoyable bundle of puppy energy.

She is such a good girl. She's been sleeping through the nights, no messes in her cage, and today I left her out, free in the house while I was gone for 7 hours. I came home and found nothing chewed up, and no messes at all!

Hooray!

Oh, and that horrid "Puppy Breath" that people just rave over and say they love.... BLECH, she doesn't have that "puppy breath" smell about her anymore. Gawd, it was horrible... smelled like she rolled in pee and let it dry all over her! hahahah, no wonder when we first got her, I kept giving her baths and wondering why I was doing such a poor job at not getting the pee smell off her! hahah, goofy me, that was the lovely "puppy breath"!

So, while we're on the subject of gross things....

I was in the city today, taking care of mom this morning.... and before I left she told me she had a few things of mine to give me since she was cleaning up all her piles and piles of papers and other odd-ball items that have collected over the past 40 years. This is what I brought home with me.....

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Other than it's late, and my hair's in need of scrubbing.... the color is pretty much the same now as it was when I was just a wee tot!

Gah, the things my mother saves.......

Hahahahahah, Good thing it's Friday!!

Prost!

Guess where i am

The beginning of our walk

Image1
Originally uploaded by frau cowtown

As I've noted... September is the best month in CowTown!

And so on this lovely Saturday afternoon, we took the dogs for a 4 mile (6.4 Km) walk through a nearby park. It's the Morraine Hills State Park. There are plenty of trails through prairie, woods, bogs, wetlands, and around lakes.

The entire set of photos can be found here!

It really is a beautiful park!

Can you hear it?

Listen!

I don't hear anything!!

Woohoo, that quiet means school has started again!

And, let me tell ya, having 3 kids underfoot for 12 weeks... this house is in serious need of picking up.

So, I'm back at it!

Farmer's Market

Saturday morning and we decided to take our 10 AM karate class for their morning jog around the town square with a stop on a grassy patch to do some moves for the crowd that gathered! Perfect time to hand out flyers and just say "hello, and good morning" to the people..... something that Americans just don't do anymore....

After classes were over, Kurt and I took a stoll with our wallets! Oooh, the yummy local cheese bread, Butterkäse, local red wine, and a handmade soy candle... that was our take today! The homemade cheese comes from this local dairy... I also stopped at a booth that has a CSA, Community Supported Agriculture. I've read about this over at Mac's place. So, this local farm is informing people about their season subscriptions for fresh, local, organic veggies, with an option for local cheese and eggs as well, each week for the family! I'm very interested in this idea! This farm's website is Salute Farm!

And now for this long weekend... we have some more major cleanup and organization at the CowTown Haus!