A Baby Boy

Young Colin fell fast asleep on my lap today. Until he heard Gretchen's voice and leaped like a gazelle into her arms. Traitor.
Also, a picture of Aunty Spinster carrying her little niecey-poo on her back.
Please don't report us for elder abuse!

Fall Hiking

The old Spinster and all of the children went on a hike. Here are some scenes from the day.

Mini Hidalgo

We just watched Hidalgo, which is a movie about a paint horse. Today, I happened to be playing soccer with a paint horse in miniature form. So now, I am posting some photos for very special children of all ages who happen to own their very own, very small, paint horse.
We had a storm come through with plenty of wind, but not much rain. It stirred up this pre-teen pony girl and made her gallop. But she was far away so the picture's not so great.
Then she stopped close to Laura who snapped the closer picture. If you enlarge it, you can see her kissable pony lips and her delicate pony ears. Do you just want to eat her up? Oh, no, you're not French, I forgot.

Opposite of Funny

This is what I found as I turned down the covers at midnight.
But in a ironic twist, my shriek upon finding the terrifying purple lizard scared Becky in her room. So that part turned out to be funny after all.

This Year's Truck Parade

There were so many trucks and exciting emergency vehicles this year at the corner in Phenix.

A helicopter was hovering over the trucks. That added even more interest to the parade.

The down side was less candy. In years past everyone stood a fair chance of being pelted with at least one piece of candy. Not so this year; it was slim pickin's. Probably there was a law suit over a head injury or lost vision due to the exuberant tossing of handfuls of candy.

The good thing is that everyone in Charlotte County is doing something to prevent cancer. No, not eating healthy, or exercising, or quitting smoking, or anything like that. But they're driving their trucks to get money to cancer research, and I hope it finds us a cure.

Farewell, Nutmeg and Echo

Here are two sweet sisters who went to live at Good Enough Farm today. I had been praying that someone would mention in my hearing that they're looking for pet goats to lavish with attention.
Well, Laura was the answer to that prayer when she blogged that she wanted goats.
I hate to send you to her blog because, like the other blogs I follow, hers is more interesting and in this case also much funnier than mine.

The Super Tooth

Katie had a dentist appointment before we left on our great adventure to bring Colin home. After she was good for her cleaning, they gave her a prize box from which to pick a toy. Her choice was "Super Tooth," a gummy textured tooth on a string that will adhere to walls... and to camera lenses!

Oh, the things that go on while I'm driving that I would never have known about without the marvel of modern videography.

Mountain Meeting

This is us at our meeting place. What a fun time that was!
I think the cousins enjoy each other's company, don't you?

Enchanted Evening with Family

Boy, Am I Steamed

I just had to remove my ads by Adsense from my blog because of a certain Mtv ad that showed nude people piled on top of each other. I can hardy believe that this is what the world has come to; my G rated blog being fair game for those sorts of images.
I actually liked the interesting ads that would pop up in relation to the content I blogged about. Too bad for Adsense.

Population Explosion

We started with a dog and two cows. This is what's happened...

Our Latest Discovery

This little fellow was in the bedroom. You don't think I should clean more often, do you?

Teenage Driver

As she watched the secret video Laura took while she drove, Becky said, "It looks faster than I was really going."

Brush Fire!

As we worked on regrouping in subtraction, Katie kept pestering me about a big fire up the road. I told her, "It's just the neighbor burning trash."
She interrupted a few minutes later to point out that this wasn't a trash fire.
I told her, "I'm sure it's a controlled burn. Now let's get back to the work page."
She finally insisted that we check on the source of the smoke.
Lo and behold, it was a brush fire and it was heading our way! It was heading all ways, as a matter of fact.
Fortunately school was very close to being done, so the fact that we spent the next few hours talking to all the neighbors and then the Southside Messenger reporter didn't interrupt our day.
If anyone thinks that their metropolitan life is more exciting than good ole Charlotte County living, you couldn't be more wrong. The boondocks got it going on!

Tongues of Flame

Here's a bit of the action, filmed by Laura.

The Big Event

Here are the first responders to the rescue.

As the truck pulls up, you can see our neighbor, John Henry. When I arrived on the scene, I found him putting out sizable portions of the field with a branch of green poplar leaves. Somehow, I think the last thing I would think to do when I came upon a field afire is to start putting it out myself.

After the press came and photographed, the crews finished their work, and hopefully the neighborhood will be back to normal now.

Three Little Ducks

I love to watch the ducks swimming in their lake. Isn't this peaceful and relaxing?

Play Dead, Dogs

Here's what the dogs all looked like today. I don't know why it was such a good day to sprawl in a shocking manner, but it was.

Awesome Autumn

While I napped after my early morning excurson into Richmond, Katie took a pictures of their Jack-O-Lanterns. I'll try to also show them in their glory, at night.
The happy herd of horses is in the still verdant field.

Duck Eggs, Anyone?

My littlest entrepreneur hung out her first shingle this weekend.
She's in the duck egg business now; $2 a dozen.
We've got eggs of every shape and size these days. I hope that the two neighbors who can see this sign will get an urge to start buying eggs.

Mowing the Grass

I told Big Dan that he'd better mow the sides of the driveway...

Library Weekend

Here are two out of four library volunteers.
The girls and I get to open the library and read for three hours one Saturday a month. This was our first week.
We sure know how to party here in Charlotte County!

Spooky Night

Katie took this photo when the moon was bright.

Laura's Pal

Mr. B was in a feisty mood the other morning. The dogs were chasing the mares in the field while he was having his breakfast in the yard. But suddenly, he forgot all about his grain and went for a wild rumpus around the yard! We have loads of video, but it takes too long to upload. I thought this still photo, taken by Katie, was pretty impressive.
For my friends on FB, this is before his ankle injury.
Laura and Mr. B have a close relationship. He can't be ridden due to his EPM, a disease that attacks the nerves, but that works out perfectly for Laura, who loves horses but not riding.