Fathers Are Wonderful People

Fathers are wonderful people

Too little understood,

And we do not sing their praises

As often as we shold

For somehow, Father seems to be

The man who pays the bills,

While Mother binds up little hurts

And nurses all our ills...

And Father struggles daily

To live up to his image

As protector and providor

And hero of the scrimmage...

And perhaps that is the reason

We sometimes get the notion,

That fathers are not subject

To the thing we call emotion,

But if you look inside Dad's heart,

Where no one else can see,

You'll find he's sentimental

And as soft as he can be...

But he's so busy every day

In the grueling race of life

He leaves the sentimental stuff

To his partner and his wife...

But fathers are just wonderful

In a million different ways,

And they merit loving compliments

And accolades of praise,

For the only reason Dad aspires

To fortune and success

Is to make the family proud of him

And to bring them happiness...

And like our heavenly Father,

He's a guardian and a guide,

Someone that we can count on

To be always on our side.

Helen Steiner Rice

What's Buzzing?

The last few weeks the weather has been warming up nicely. My mates and I were really anxious to get outside again. Some of the branches on the trees in my yard had broken under the weight of the snow so we decided to clean up my yard. Then we saw some branches that were broken, but were caught among other branches and still stuck in the tree. It was hard work, but we finally got the task completed.

Surprisingly, we had a lot of energy left with nothing to do. Peep suggested we take a walk in the neighborhood to see if anyone else had broken branches in their trees, so off we went.

All of a sudden we heard a loud buzzing noise which we decided to investigate. It was one of my neighbors cutting up one of his many beautiful trees. He proceeded to tell us about how the heavy snow had broken a lot of the branches of his tree, therefore, he had to cut it down. We could tell it was breaking his heart to cut up that beautiful tree. We noticed he didn't have any help, so we volunteered to give him some assistance.

It was very hard work, but we could tell it was appreciated even before we were thanked profusely.

Fascinating Trip

My mates and I were sitting around reminiscing about the trip to Canada we took last year. Pete, Snip and I eagerly accepted Rob's invitation to go to Canada with him (Rob is a pilot). Bebe and Peep declined since they both are afraid of flying.
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Pete met Snip and me at my place and we all met Rob at the airport. We were only going to be gone for a few days, so we didn't have to pack much luggage, only enough to keep warm in an emergency, and incidentals.

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As it turned out the trip went very well. Pete, Snip and I got some sightseeing done while Rob worked. After Rob finished working, he took us up in his airplane to get some aerial shots of some animals. I never thought I would see a live moose much less a cow with her calf. It was a very exciting trip. We sure were not disappointed we didn't get stranded in the snow and have to be rescued.

Hedge Apples

Recently my mates and I decided to take a walk since the weather was so nice. Snip ran ahead of everyone as usual. All of a sudden, something flew through the air toward us. We heard it hit the ground with a loud "THUMP".

Snip laughed as Peep picked up what looked like a yellow-green baseball. After looking at the yellow-green baseball, we determined it was a Hedge Apple, also known as Osage-orange. We gathered a few and took them back to my place to get a better look at them.

After arriving at my home we decided to find out what we could about the Hedge Apples. We found out that they are not edible. Only horses and other livestock will eat the fruit sometimes. Squirrels tear them apart to eat the seeds.

Sometimes the fruit is used to deter spiders, cockroaches, fleas, and other arthropods. An article posted by the Burke Museum in Washington State claims that this usage, in the case of spiders, has no evidence to support it. Snip has decided to perform his own experiment to see if this is true. This should be very interesting.

Last Camp

After very little deliberation, my mates and I decided to go camping one last time this year. We called Pete to see if he wanted to join us. Pete said he would be happy to join us, and would meet us at the campground as soon as he could.

When we arrived at the campground, we grabbed our cameras and took a walk. Beebe is our 'official' photographer, but we all like to take pictures when we are camping. We anxiously checked the foliage to see if the colors were showing yet. We sure were not disappointed. The leaves were already in the process of changing colors and we got some really good pictures.

Pete didn't arrive until after we had all settled in, so we helped him unpack, and then took another tour of the campground.

We are all looking forward to next year and more camping experiences.

How Cute

My mates and I decided to have a barbie yesterday. As we were busy setting everything up my neighbor walked by with his new puppy. We all lost interest in our barbie and ran to see the new puppy.

As we ran to see the puppy, he ran toward us. We couldn't help playing with the little guy - he was so friendly and full of energy. His name is 'Tipper'. We were so busy playing with Tipper that we didn't ask what breed he is. I'll have to remember to ask my neighbor the next time I see him.

Love's A Stirrin'

I apologize for not posting regularly. I have had a lot of problems getting to my blog to post and then my Mum passed away. I had to go and be with family during this time.

While remembering all the good times with Mum, I was remembering this one post Mum had in her kitchen. It goes as follows:

Love's A Stirrin'

Sift together 3 c. of consideration

with 2/3 c. sweetness.

Add 1/2 c. of kindness blended with

equal amounts of the spices of life.

Mix in generous amounts of love

and bake until savory ....

approximately a lifetime.

This recipe will keep indefinitely.

~

Rest in peace dear Mum. You were one of a kind.

You will be truly missed by your loved ones.