Back to School. Again.

It was school registration today, for Cam & Alyssa. When that happens, you know summer is winding down. Having been through this for, shall we say a "few" years, it starts to get to be old hat. And with the numbers of people there, you feel like you're being herded through like cattle.

Station #1 Pick up your paperwork. Please update it in red ink. (No matter that some of my "updates" haven't been included in the last several years. If you don't care what the relationship of the contact person is, then don't ask!!)

Stations #2 & #3 I admit I skipped sitting at the table for the updates, and just did it while standing in line for fees. Moo. Hand over the cash. (Umm, what did my property taxes pay for again???) Did you want a yearbook with that? How about Driver's Ed? More cash for those. Here's your class schedule.

Station #4 Athletes' codebooks and physical forms. The same physicals that must be complete before tryouts, or you can't try out ... and by the way the doctors are booked, you should have had the sports physical months ago. Moo.

Station #5 Photos for Student ID cards. Please don't let it come out yellow like last year. More moo.

Station #6 Signup for the PSAT. Limited space, you know. Moo.

Station #7 Lunch money. Oh, sorry, the computer is down. We can't tell you how much money carried over from last year. Keep mooing.

That was the 9th grade registration. The high school was a little more involved, with more distractions on the way. Darcie starts junior high this year and her registration is in 2 days.

A few days ago, the girls decided to give me a back-to-school fashion show, which are what these pictures are from. One of the upsides to traveling for softball is being in bigger metro areas for clothes shopping. Lewiston remains a bit on the limited side when it comes to both variety & popular clothes. Anyway, my job during the fashion show was to make appreciative comments, snap photos, and keep working on my blanching green peppers for freezing between clothes changes. And I did it SO well.

Later today we actually had the sports physicals, so the girls are both set for going to volleyball tryouts. School inches closer and closer. There go my summer freedoms!

Comfort Food

It's a Sunday evening.

My hair, that had been quite curly earlier in the day, has now relaxed and, well let's face it, it has drooped into barely wavy.

We are eating one of only a few variations of a simple dinner, and tonight it's a fried egg sandwich on toast. It's especially good, because it's got bacon on it, too. The bacon is perfectly fried:cooked through, but not overly crisp. The egg is also cooked through, and is a nice golden brown around the edges. We're sitting in the living room with our TV trays that have the weird Hawaiian flower on them.



It's 6:30 pm. I know this, because "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom," with Marlin Perkins is on, and my family is gathered around the TV. Besides, "The Wonderful World of Disney" is on next anyway. When the commercial comes on again, I'll have to change into pajamas.

Whoa -- no wait! That was the time warp that I was whisked into this afternoon, when I had a fried egg sandwich. It's amazing how food can do that do you: take you right back into an old memory. (Did I mention the TV was black-and-white, with rabbit ears on top?) I couldn't help it when an "Mmmmmmm" escaped with my first bite.

Todd was having a moment, too, but his sandwich was a BLT, with sliced tomato from the garden. (I think I heard an, "mmmmm" from him as well!) We love summer meals with foods from the garden. It's so much better when it's really fresh.

As a kid, we had a few different things for easy Sunday-evening dinners. Mom knocked herself out on a big meal in the middle of the day. Another I remember was bread-and-milk. We ate it in a bowl, like cereal, with honey on it. (My mom's homemade bread was not soft like store-bought bread, so it could stand up to being soaked in milk) It wasn't fancy, but it was home.

What good food memories do you have? Have you eaten something recently that was just like what you had as a kid? You should try it, I really recommend it!

The End of Softball Season

Well, it's August, so I suppose softball should be over.

Darcie & Todd returned from Vancouver, Washington, where Darcie's All-Star team (Little League, not ASA) competed at Western Regionals. This is the big tournament, where the State Champions from all the western states come to try to win a berth at the Little League World Series.

There is a lot of pomp and circumstance with it, as we knew, having previously gone there when Alyssa's team went two years ago. Unfortunately, Darcie's team this year was unable to secure a win at all, and they went 0-4 in pool play, and were eliminated. (If you ask me, and no one's asking, this team was a bit too casual about prep and practices, and was not adequately prepared to face the other state champs.)
But it's a good experience, and I'm glad Darcie got to go. This is the field where they play; big difference to our girls is the grass infield, since we always play on dirt with grass only in the outfield.

Darcie's team; Darcie is seated in front on the far right. Darcie played catcher, first base, and pitcher while she was there. Todd took game pictures until he decided the camera was jinxing them, and then he put it away!

Here's Darcie at first base. She came home with a medal, a collection of pins (it's a big deal to exchange pins with the other teams), a t-shirt, a program, and a few more school clothes. We were sure glad to have them back at home again. Life will slow up a little before school starts, but softball is not completely lost. Both girls, and especially Alyssa will be doing some off-season training: for Darcie, it's to stay on top of her game, for Alyssa it's that and also, she will be trying out for the high school team this year, and we'd like to keep her pitching sharp.

Birdwatching

Actually, I was never into birdwatching. But even at that, it was quite a huge treat to discover a momma hummingbird had moved in!!! Even better to find that she had very conveniently located her nest at eye level, right by a pathway, for all of us to keep an eye on her and her brood. Which we did. In fact, I became a hummer stalker for about a month!

This first pic is mom on the nest; after the babies got bigger, we almost never saw her anymore.

I missed getting the "egg" pictures. Now I'm kicking myself for that. It's amazing how fast they grow. First a few little pinfeathers, then more and more.

Momma Hummer seemed a bit cautious at first, but she relaxed enough not to subject me to any more flybys as I snapped pictures. That first and only flyby was a little disconcerting!! Her motor was pretty loud when she was close!

More feathers, but they're still pretty lumpy in the bottom of the nest.

The next thing we knew, there were two little beaks poking up over the edge of the nest!

In the most sweet stage, they looked like tiny little fluffs of feathers, with eyes & beaks sticking out. Isn't it just like adorable children?

The day I took the "lunch" photos, Momma wouldn't feed them until I'd disappeared. Fortunately, I was able to snap pics from a nearby window, so she didn't really see me, since I was farther away anyway.

We were a good host family, and we promptly hung a hummer feeder by the deck, but we sure never saw a single bird show up to feed.

(This is Mom feeding the brother)

I have no idea how to tell if a humming bird is male or female, but I dubbed the one on the right the brother, and the one on the left the sister. Brother was more daring and would sit on the edge of the nest more. Sister stayed down more, preened, and took an extra day before she left the nest for good. You can see the iridescent green showing up in the feathers here.

I hope you enjoy these hummingbird pictures! I took a ton more pics, and really enjoyed watching one of Heavenly Father's wonders. I have a couple shots of the babies trying their wings, but when a hummingbird does that, it's just a blur!!

Working Girls

Since the whole "Vancouver Trip" is still happening for Darcie & Todd (Game 3 today, by the way!), and since this week is filled with summer service calls, SOMEONE had to be at the store. Enter, Marilyn.

And since Emma is practically joined at the hip, she goes everywhere with me. (She may end up being difficult to wean when the time comes!) But since it's work, I need an alternate baby caregiver for when I am helping customers. Enter, Alyssa.

And (whoever said you should never begin a sentence with "and" ought to have been shot. I'll write how I like!) despite Alyssa's claims to the contrary, Emma does love her, as shown in this picture from this morning. You can also see one of the gorgeous Welenco paint colors behind them... actually two, if you look very closely.

Normally Cameron would have been the one to come to work with me, since he has more experience with propane, but he is home, shirtless when possible, recovering from a 2nd-degree sunburn. Todd says he must need to get a nasty burn every 4-5 years or so, just as a lesson to remind him that he really does need sunscreen. Alyssa got burned also, (also with blisters), but she is naturally less sensitive and therefore has less damage.

And speaking of propane, why is it that some people step away a few feet from the dispensing station, like they're afraid of something? Because let me tell you, first of all, if it were all that dangerous, do you really think OSHA would allow me to stand there to pump it? And secondly, if by some stretch of the imagination, there were to be an explosion, believe me..... standing 10 feet from ground zero is not going to do you a bit of good. You'd have to be like a block away. And thirdly, propane explosions at dispensing tanks really don't happen, (when was the last time you heard about one on the news? NOT.) because the trained attendant (ME) knows what to do, and really doesn't want to get blown up either.

Being back at work is a little weird for me, and I'm not entirely up to snuff on the newest products or pending orders. I have to admit, I REALLY LIKE being a stay-at-home-mom. This fall will probably change that, and Emma will need to get used to hanging with Mom and Dad at the store.

Wishing Darcie good luck, and I'll get back to my project of de-cluttering (and therefore freeing up shelf space).

Random Softballs

So as I was picking up the house last night, it occurred to me that we sure seem to have a lot of softballs around the house. It seems like everytime I turn around, I find one somewhere. Don't believe me? Let me prove it:

This is out on "our" deck. The master bedroom deck, as opposed to the kitchen deck. The one place the softballs are SUPPOSED to be. The metal frame in the background goes to the pitching screen (target). And if you look close, you can see our gorgeous garden in the background!

This doesn't count because it's not a real softball. It's Alyssa's Tightspin trainer, which is mounted on the wall in her bedroom.


But THIS..... ok, well this is Alyssa's home run ball from the tournament in Missoula. They were nice enough to let her keep the ball. We want to make a nice home for it one of these days.

It's not a new softball, but it's in a sack. I think this one got brought in from the Suburban one day, and never got any further. It's on the floor in my room.

These three stooges (are actually around the corner from the previous one).... these are the weighted training balls. They still don't belong in my room, but, well, it's just inside the deck door. Reference back to first photo.

Outside the front door. No one throws softballs in the front yard, so I don't know how this one made it here.

Kitchen floor, by the west door. Please ignore the fact that the wall is missing base trim. The Dutch Oven hasn't been put away either, but the point is that there's still a ball here.

By the PRINTER? Who tucked this one here? Someone hoping they wouldn't have to put it away obviously!

Disclaimer: All softballs shown were REALLY in all locations shown. No "staging" was done to fake you out. No softballs were harmed in the photography session.

Softball Withdrawals

Call me insane, because I must be warped and twisted.

At a time when all the other softball parents are heaving huge sighs and saying comments like, "I can't WAIT for the season to be over" and "This is getting old" or "I'm so tired of softball"..... here I sit, having withdrawals.

I was hugely disappointed when Alyssa's team voted not to go to Nationals, and her season was over. I love watching her pitch. I love watching her hit. I missed taking as many pictures this year.

Fortunately for me, Darcie's season has gone extra innings. And unfortunately, I'm missing the big climactic finish. Darcie was named to the Little League All-Stars team. This is her last year in Little League, because the City of Lewiston dropped the Juniors program. Anyway, the All-Star team competed at Boise last weekend, and had huge wins: 14-1, and 10-0. These pictures of Darcie are from those games.

So now we move on to the softball Western Regionals. As State champs, we go into pool play now against the state champions from all over the west. Play begins this afternoon in Vancouver, Washington. Since we were at Softball Camp this last week, our travel has been intense. We arrived home from Boise on Sunday, went to church and turned around and headed up to Coeur d'Alene for camp. We came home from camp yesterday, and this morning (4:30 am), Todd and Darcie left for Vancouver.

Because of scheduling conflicts for work, one of us had to stay home, and this time it's me. So I waved goodbye to my star player and her dad, and am already missing being there before they've even arrived. I'm so pathetic!

So they'll be gone all week, and Todd had specific instructions to take lots of pictures and video for me. If the team is successful at Regionals, they go on to the World Series. Alyssa has already had this experience 2 years ago, and it was very memorable. There's a lot of pomp and circumstance at the opening ceremonies.

Darcie and Alyssa both are big assets to their teams. Both of them bat fourth in the lineup (the "cleanup" batter). Both of

them pitch, although Alyssa is found there most regularly for her team. Darcie is truly a utility player, and can (and does) play any position on the field. These photos show her at catcher and first base, but she also regularly plays third and shortstop, and sometimes outfield.

Wish I was there.

P.S. There is no "off season" in softball, just a longer time between games! This is one time when I would wish we lived in some southern state, where softball is a year-round sport.