Tucson

A week before Thanksgiving, Scott and I went for a short trip down to Tucson.  Scott and a few of his riding buddies decided to meet down there and ride the "Tour of Tucson" bike race together.

They all finished.  102 miles in 6 hours and 20 minutes.  Pretty impressive considering none of them had done much riding the month before the race.

The weather the warm and the food was great and I didn't have to ride a bike to enjoy it all!

 Taking a short break at mile 75.

 Scott always wears his lucky "leisure suite" jersey for bike races.

If It's Not One of the Kids...

It's the dog.  On a weekend.  Nowhere near a vet.

Last Saturday we drove up to our cabin to do a little clean up after the framers.  We got out of the truck and went inside the cabin to see how it was coming along.  Scott had climbed up into the loft and was helping the boys climb up.  All of a sudden he looks down onto the main floor and sees our dog Andi, bolt across the main floor and scramble up and out one of the windows.  Presumably to chase after a squirrel.

The problem is, she didn't think about how far the drop was on the other side.  She dropped about 10 feet onto rocky ground.  Not a peep did she make.  She turned around and then Scott got a glimpse of her leg.  It was dangling where it shouldn't be dangling.

I ran down to see if she was o.k. and confirmed what Scott saw from above.  Not only had she broken her leg, she had snapped it clean.  Gross.

We've been here before.  Except it was an arm on a human.  These are not good things to look at.  Note to self: We need a really good first aid kit at the cabin.

Scott picked her up and carried her to the truck.  We then attempted to make a splint out of cut up pieces of construction wood and strips of Bennett's t-shirt.  Luckily we have cell phone reception up there, so I started calling down to Spanish Fork to see if I could find a vet that is open on a Saturday.

After one rejection, I found a vet in Payson that would see her.  I left Scott and the boys and took Bennett with me and headed back down the canyon.

Our makeshift splint

Sure enough.  It was a really bad break.   Bad enough that she needed surgery and ended up with pins coming out of her leg with external rods to keep her bones in place while they heal.  She will have these for at least 6 weeks.

She is back home now and recovering and our bank account just got a little smaller.   

Lake Powell 2014

Everyone had a great time at Lake Powell this year! 

There was a lot of hanging out with cousins.

 

Spearing Carp with Uncle Jaron.  A highlight for my boys.

   

It's amazing what will be attracted to your bait.

 

Fishing off the back of the houseboat.

 

I even caught one and I wasn't even trying!

Going down the slide.

Acting silly.

Hanging out by the campfire.

Playing games.

Relaxing on the tube.

 

Not relaxing on the tube.

 

 

Going on a few hikes.

   

Going for jet ski rides.  Taylor was old enough to go by himself, to his delight.

 

Even Andi, our neurotic dog got a ride.  She looks thrilled, doesn't she.

A little wake boarding for Scott and Taylor.

 

Taylor got up for the first time!

  

And of course, taking a lot of pictures!

 Wow!  That was a lot of pictures!   Thanks Mom & Dad.  We had a great time!  Till next year!

Halloween 2014

We had quite a few last minute Halloween costume changes this year.

Chasey started out being a zombie when he left for school that morning.  However, by the time he got home, he had taken off all the gory flesh that I had put on and announced that the make up was too itchy and he didn't want to be a zombie anymore. 

I argued with him for about 2 minutes and then realized that was pointless.  He then went down into the Halloween box and picked out an old Batman costume.  He was happy the rest of the night.

Owen decided he wanted to be Tim Howard. He is the goalie for the U.S. soccer team.  I tracked down a Howard t-shirt and bought him a beard and bald cap.  Unfortunately he ruined the bald cap by scribbling on it, so right before school started we just buzzed his head.

About 5 minutes into wearing the beard he decided that it was too itchy and refused to wear it.  So, he pretty much he looked like he looks every day.  Oh well.  I tried.

Bennett couldn't figure out what he wanted to be.  He couldn't decide between a robber or a gangster or some mix of in between.  I bought him a pair of black jeans and a black shirt.  Then, last minute he decided that wasn't what he wanted to be either.  He opted for last year's morph suit.  At least it still fit and his black clothes I bought him can be worn to school.

Taylor came home on Thursday afternoon and begged me to go buy him a $30.00 blow up turkey costume.  I wasn't even aware he wanted to dress up this year.   I told him that I didn't pay that much for the other costumes, so I wouldn't pay that much for his.

He kept casting about trying to figure out what he wanted to be.  I kept giving him suggestions, to which he responded "It can't be lame, Mom."  Finally we stumbled on a pix online of a Captain Crunch costume.  He thought that would be awesome.  Especially since Captain Crunch is his favorite junk cereal.   I took a look at the costume and thought I could put that together pretty cheap, since I already had the foam for the hat and the right color of jacket.  A little felt and some fabric and I would be good to go.

Let's just say that 6 hours and $30.00 later he had his Captain Crunch costume.  There was a lot of hot glue and spray glue involved.  But, according to him it was a hit.

I Shouldn't Have To Write This

I really shouldn't.  They should know by now.  They have cleaned their room and other parts of the house hundreds of times.  I have told them and shown them how it is done.  And yet often when I go down to check, the room is not clean and they want to argue about what "clean" really means. Or worse.  Accuse me of adding more jobs onto their already inhumane number that I have already given them to do.

Toys pushed into a pile slightly under the bed instead of put away - Since when is that o.k.?

A bed that is supposedly made but instead looks like there are dead bodies hiding under the lumpy blankets - You know you need to pull up the sheets right?

So I did it.  And it is now hanging next to the job list.

You don't know what I expect?  Read the list.

Thank you

Annual Gross Halloween Dinner!

Skeleton meatloaf.  Gross yes?

This should go on pintrosity.  My earth worms didn't turn out as planned.

This year was slightly more edible than last!

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Remember the post where I talked about my mean chickens?  Well it hasn't gotten better.  In fact it has gotten worse.  About half of my chickens have bald spots from being picked on and bullied.  And it is not just the ladies with beautiful plumage that are the ones inflicting the damage.  Some of the picked on ones are doing the same thing to some of the others.  I feel like they are reenacting Lord of the Flies in there.  They are so mean and it must stop!

I trolled around on some chicken forums and I found something that is supposed to solve this problem.  They are called Pinless Peepers.  Great name right?  They are pretty much blinders for the chickens that attach onto the nostrils.  The idea is that if they can't see what is directly in front of them, they will be less likely to pick on the others and pull out feathers.  In some respects since they can't see as well they lose their confidence to be the bully.

So this was the operation.  Scott took one of the bullied hens and put it in the run and made sure it wouldn't run back into the coop to hide.  I stood and watched to see who was the instigator in the attacks.  As soon as they started attacking I pulled them out of the run, wrapped her in a towel to keep her still, held her neck and Scott put on a peeper. So far we have four hens with peepers on.

According to everything I read, they are supposed to work really well.  However, as soon as Scott attached their new accessory and I put them back in the run,  they continued to harass some of the other chickens.  Today, I went out to check on them and not only did they continue to bully, they drew blood this time around. 

Look at that evil eye!

I really hope this works.  I feel bad putting these things on them, but this is getting out of hand.  If it doesn't work, we may have to thin our flock.