"Ya just have to save the whales, don't ya??"

Well, it's not like I mean to, but I just can't walk away from someone or some animal in trouble. This time it was a dog stuck in a culvert and Matthew was just as upset as I was. We actually had a field trip that we needed to get to, but we just couldn't walk away. We tried to coax the dog out, but we could tell which way he was facing and that he wasn't going to get out that way. We went to the gas station to see what kind of help we could find. We got a shovel and a hoe to try to clear out some of the mud that was making the tube smaller, but some farmers showed up and could tell he was way too far back for that to work. They tried several different things, but finally decided to go get their bobcat and dig it out. They suggested that I call a good welder who might be able to cut the culvert open. I was trying to avoid that call. We went back to the gas station for some coffee while I tried to work up the courage to call my dad. By the time I found my courage, he was already there and calling me. That's when he started in on the whales... which, I'd like to say, I have never embarked on a project to save whales. Never. I asked if we could get a cougar once, but never a whale.

Anyhoo... these three poor farmers, who were already rained out and bored, showed up with the bobcat. I was feeling pretty bad at this point. This was looking more like a stray that we were pouring so much time and energy into saving, but it was hard to think about what else to do. You can walk away and let it die and stink up the place for a month or two, along with plugging up a culvert that is supposed to drain water. You can shoot the animal so it doesn't suffer, but that doesn't change the stink and plugged culvert. Or you can go along with the farmers who are well into the project that I never asked them to do and was very careful NOT to guilt them into it. They were the ones who called my dad, too, so why he said he's sending ME the bill is beyond me.

They got the dirt moved and the culvert exposed, then recalculated where they thought the dog was. Dad started cutting about 2-3 feet behind him, but it was noisy, smoky and scary and the dog managed to move a couple more feet away. They got it open and got in to see him and decided that no one could reach him, so they took Daddy home to fetch one of his leghold snares, a lot like an animal handler's pole. Patrick got it on the dog's back feet enough to pull him within reach, then pulled him out. The poor guy was exhausted and took a little water and just enjoyed the fresh air. They moved him over to solid ground where the kids and I tried to encourage him a bit while Dad welded the culvert back together and Patrick buried it again. The dog was up and walking around a bit when we were getting ready to leave, but he just couldn't get up and over the railroad tracks. Dad and Sam carried him over the tracks and he headed home, so we're hoping this story is over. Now I have an awful lot of cookies to bake to thank everyone!!

Happy Birthday Mallory!!

Ok, I missed it by a couple minutes! It was her birthday today (yesterday) and she is as close as I'm comfortable with being to the teen years! Since there's nothing I can do about that, I may as well become one with it. We're pretty far behind, so her birthday picture may not be up very soon!

She didn't really get much ON her birthday because her daddy took her to the Toby Mac concert the other night, but she really had a great time!

This weekend she's enjoying the ladies' retreat at the church. I have a wedding cake and that would normally involve her, but these aren't stacked, so I'm going to try to get along without her. Maybe Grandma Rose is available.

Onward...

Happy Birthday Matthew!

Only slightly better than last year's birthday. Matthew was so sick last year that even his new drum set showing up only slightly perked him up. This year's birthday found him dragging his feet all day through his homework, groaning that one shouldn't have to do school on his birthday. As much as all kids might agree, I'm quite sure it just can't work that way!

Anyhoo... Happy Birthday Matman!!

Anita knows...

So when it comes to everything about me, Anita understands. She says most problems don't start until somewhere around age 40, so I should be good for another several years since I'm a perpetual 29. But ... she knows...

It's kinda funny, too, that her show was on Valentine's Day. Michael got tickets and tried to make all this a really nice surprise for me. The only problem with that is that "nice" and "surprise" hardly ever go together for me. Especially when it involves huge crowds of people. Well, this was at a church that was very familiar to me, so the anxieties were somewhat under control. But anyway, he really wanted to surprise me with this little date night, but I just wasn't going along with it. I made him tell me and he did. He said he got tickets for US to go. I said, "Well... good for ME..." Never thought men would go see Anita by choice! I didn't want to say much because it was a plan that he put together all by himself, so there are points to be had there. Through the course of time, he decided that my mom and I just might have a better time at this show than he and I would have. I politely agreed. So anyhoo... there we were and it was a really great time. But I was really surprised by the number of men who braved all the estrogen and escorted their wives there! You go guys!! I still stand by her famous phrase, "It's a girl thing!!"

Primary Focus

The Primary Focus kids came by our church Sunday night. They are favorites of my kids, so we came to see them, but they only did the grown-up program, not the kids' one. We got to talk to them afterwards and found that they were going to be at a nearby school the next day, so we thought that was a great day for a field trip!! We took Grandma with us and went to see them. We were a little early, so we got to spend quite a bit of time getting to know all of them. Two of the girls were homeschooled, too, so we had fun talking with them. They were doing two performances, so we stayed for both!

I was wrong...

I guess Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo saw the problem with the gopher and the shadow and devised a new plan, however it didn't involve making a groundhog braver or a shadow less frightening:

Khuntami, a 16-year-old male that has been with the Henry Doorly Zoo since he was a cub, exited his living quarters and went into an exhibit holding two boxes of identical meat -- one box labeled spring and one labeled winter.

Zoo officials said that whichever box he chose would determine the forecast for Nebraska.

Khuntami paced between the two choices before pawing at the snow-colored box, an unpopular choice. A crowd moaned as he licked his lips and prepared to devour Winter.

"We'll see if this translates to the rest of the country," said zoo director Dr. Lee Simmons. "Or, we'll see if he's wrong."

We'll have to come up with something else for next winter. Until then I guess we just keep freezing our b-b-b-b-beaks off.

Darn Gopher

Why is it we leave such a crucial decision to such a funny creature? If someone is so skittish that he's terrified of his own shadow, why don't we pick an animal with a little more gusto? Now I'm not offering any of my beloved critters, no, no, neither are they the epitome of strength or courage. Well now, that's not completely true... Patrick might just take a chunk out of his shadow, but seriously, we should be more prepared for this. February 2, no matter what the forecast, always seems to be the most beautiful day of the year. We could be watching that horrific mountain snowstorm come in from the Rockies barreling on toward Chicago, but guaranteed at midnight it will break up. Of course he's going to see his shadow. Let's get a rhino or an elk or something more accustomed to a frightening shadow. Give us all a fighting chance.

I guess I didn't actually see or find out how the whole shadow revealing went. I usually just wake up to a gorgeous day and get discouraged from the git go.

Oh, well. I guess it's pretty cool if your birthday is February 2. You're pretty much guaranteed a nice day! Happy Birthday Uncle Denny!!