Living on the Edge

How about some spring...

Here are some friends that have come back this spring to life out here on the edge...

The marmots woke up.  They are a busy little critter, scurrying around the marmot mound.  They are like my kids' hamsters.  You just want to go up and pet one...until they mash their teeth into your flesh of course. Actually they are more likely to just disappear down into their den.

The pair of osprey that built a new nest next to the bridge are back.  They have a bit of work to do on their nest to make it egg-worthy.

One osprey looks like another which looks like another.  But this is a different osprey in a totally different nest.  This one is an older nest along the Little Spokane River.  There's actually two standing there, but she wouldn't show her face.  Apparently her left side is not her best which makes her camera shy.

The turkeys were making their way through the woods behind our house.  They are teasing all the hunters that live in the neighborhood.  Though the boy turkeys have something more important on their minds right now....

impressing the girl turkeys!  Men...only one thing on their mind!

I love this picture.  Can you find the critter in this picture?  The dove blended in perfect with the rocks in the backyard!

No critters here....well maybe some chilly fish...but the falls are flowing...really flowing with the combination of snow melt and rain/snow fall this spring. 

Well, I need to get my other daughter off to school.  It's raining today so the critters will be laying low.  That's ok, because I've got walls that need a fresh coat of paint....lots of paint.

Winter...I mean Spring...in Spokane

Yes, I'm a bit obsessed about the weather this year.  It's not my fault.  It's global warming...it's taken hold of this part of the country and won't let go!

This is what we woke up to this morning:

It looks like February or maybe like the first snowfall in late November.

Just when my Daffodils were beginning to bloom too!

I hope they bounce back!

Quote for Today

Here's a quote from an old, classic philosopher...

“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.”
                                 —Plato (427BC-347BC), Classical Greek philosopher

Mean People

I remember seeing a bumper sticker that was popular when I was a kid.  It said: Mean People Suck.  Being a kid, I thought this completely summed up the world.  The world was full of nice people and mean people. I could easily categorize the people I knew into those two categories. As a kid things are simpler.  Very black and white.  You are learning about life day by day, moment by moment.  You aren't thinking about the existential stuff yet like; Why am I here? What's my purpose in life?  What legacy will I leave behind?

Now as a grown-up, and parent, I have learned, through life's experiences that things aren't quite as simple.  As a parent, life is full of grey.  Planning for the future...yet not knowing what the future will bring.  Going to work everyday...yet not knowing what situation you will run into.  Paying the bills...but not knowing what huge expense will hit you next.  Sending your children out to play...hoping in your heart that nothing will happen to them.

It would be nice to be living life as my kids do... catching bugs and making bug environments in all my canning jars, riding their bikes around the neighborhood to see who can play, laying on a warm, sun-soaked trampoline and giggling with their friends, swinging in the hammock as only sisters can and  talking about what you did at school that day.  Life is pretty simple for most kids...for our kids anyway.

But being a parent is not easy on so many levels...but the hardest thing these days, which I don't think my parents faced with us, is keeping life simple for our kids.  It doesn't matter if you live in the heart of an urban jungle or out in the country.  Many of life's modern "conveniences" try to suck the "simple" out of our lives: the television, video games, computers, Internet, telephones, MP3 players and the list continues to go on as more and more of these conveniences are invented.  They make it is easier for kids to sit in front of something and be stimulated rather than going out and creating the stimulation...aka PLAY.

So we send the kids out to play.  We do so knowing that the world is full of black, white and grey people as well as situations.  We are faced with knowing that our girls are growing up and need to take on more responsibility and that we need to let them grow as well as their boundaries grow. They need to be able to make decisions and be in situations where they can exercise their character and moral fiber.  We can't hold their hands forever.

This expanding of their boundaries is a lot like blowing up a balloon. It takes a lot of work at first to get it started.  Stretching and pulling at the balloon to get it started.  Trying a few times before you can get it to hold air, then once it finally starts filling it becomes easier to make it grow and expand. 

Unfortunately, balloons pop and then you have to start all over! 

Yesterday, for our oldest daughter, the balloon not only popped, but was trampled as well.  She discovered all on her own that Mean People Suck! 

We finally let her go with a friend and ride their bikes to the school only a mile down the road.  During that ride some cars went flying by them. She yelled "slow down" to them because they nearly hit them as the cars drove down the middle of the road.  The second car stopped abruptly, backed up, the driver got out of the car, charged at the girls yelling at them.  The girls were terrified by the lady's anger, so they dropped their bikes and ran into the trees along the road.  Then they proceeded to watch the lady throw my daughter's bike into the back of her truck and drive off down the road!

Now if this wasn't bad enough, it turns out to be a neighbor from around the corner.  And worse yet she totally denied doing it to us and to the police.  She claims she only smiled and waved at the girls when she drove by them and that they smiled and waved back. 

I could understand if she took the bike expecting the parents to show up and apologize for whatever wrongdoing she thought our kids did, but to take the bike and ditch it somewhere so our 11 year old no longer has a bike?  How mean is that???   

Our children have unfortunately learned a lesson early on that Mean People do indeed Suck!

The only positive thing to come out of the whole situation is the conversation that our two girls had last night.  They told us they understand now why we sometimes tell them they can't go do something on their own and that it's not because of them, but because of the Mean People in the world!  So although their boundary bubble popped and will take some time to grow again (by their choice) they also discovered some of the grey in the world to go along with the black and white....our girls are growing up.

Quote for Today

Here's a great quote to share with the kids when they have what seems like an impenetrable hurdle in their life.

“Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate. ” 
—J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973), scholar, fantasy novelist

And it's by Tolkien....someone the kids may even know.  By the way...did you catch his birth year?  Wow! I didn't know he was born before 1900!  What an imagination for someone who had never seen the wild things our world now holds for our children.   Goes to show you how important it is to foster playing outside and imagination in our children!  And reading some great books too!  This summer's task...writing.  Something they don't do near enough in school!

current weather forecast

Yeah, I know I'm obsessed with this subject.  But this year has been crazy!  It's April for heavens sake! We don't live at 7,000 feet.  Yes, we are north of California, which does mean that it's not going to be sunny and warm.  Only California can be that way in April.  Now let me tell you about August....

Later.....but for now the weather window popped open on my screen.  And for the heck of it I clicked on the icon for the 10 day forecast...just for fun.  I would love to see another 70 degree day like we just had this past weekend.  But instead, this is what I saw:

The R/S for those of you too far south to have R/S, means rain/snow.  We don't like seeing one, let alone three R/S days on our 10 day forecast.  Then look at the weekend....SNOW on Sunday?  What is up with that. 

Have you seen this movie?

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

Plot Outline:

A climatologist tries to figure out a way to save the world from abrupt global warming. He must get to his young son in New York, which is being taken over by a new ice age.

Hold on...Now maybe we need to re-think this whole Global Warming thing. Maybe Gore is right, but maybe he simply left out the part where Global Warming leads to the next ice age! 

Maybe I shouldn't be putting away our snow gear and trying to start my garden.  Maybe I should be stocking up on handwarmers and earmuffs and propane rather than sunscreen, bug repellant and small plants for my garden.

This is what fell early this morning:

Looks alot like someone's snow globe broke on our roof last night!  At least I do see blue sky outside right now.  Hopefully it will warm up to the predicted high of 45!  Maybe I won't be packing up the winter stuff quite yet.

Yippee it's soccer season again!

Just had to share a few shots from the weekend.  I wasn't sitting in front of the computer ALL weekend...so I'm a bit behind on posting the pictures.  We had a gorgeous weather weekend for soccer viewing and playing.  Much better than being snowed out last weekend.  So we had 3 games on Saturday (yes, I still only have two kids!) because Q's age division scheduled two games on one Saturday..not sure why when they have a 'bye' weekend as well!

So here's some pictures:

This is after she kicked a corner kick.  If I had my fancy dream digital SLR I would have caught the kick right before this sloooww digital camera decided to take the picture!

Tails were flying in this shot!  Did you notice the blue mouth on the blue team's player?  No she didn't have blue lips cuz it was cold.  It was definitely warm on Saturday.  She obviously doesn't have AFLAC insurance!

CC helps defend her goal.  They won their game 2-1. 

Sorry Charlie, CC blocks another one!  You aren't scoring on my defender!

This would be the happy dance after her teammates make a goal!

Which shouldn't be confused with the "I'm just happy to be playing soccer again" dance....

Don't ask....I just took the picture when I saw her doing this.  No goal...no ball even in play at that moment.  It was just the pure bliss of playing the game called SOCCER for her!

Win Silver Mountain Ski Lift Tickets!

So while cleaning my desk I found a forgotten treat!  Something to give away!  I have all the details on the SpokaneMama Blog.  Just head over there to find out how to win them!

You're not really sick of the snow yet, are you?

How to Keep My Man Happy

The Easter Bunny left this for DD on Easter!  He was in heaven.  Such a simple thing....

It's amazing to think that the two of us have stayed married for nearly 14 years!  The last time we had a can of spam in the house I used it to prop the window open in our old victorian house.  I don't thnk we ever opened that can either. It's probably still good...hmm...it could even still be in the emergency earthquake kit we keep in the garage

Signs of Spring