Frass

I was asked to talk to Bryan's grade 3-4 class today about bugs. They are doing a study on bugs in science and since I scout for bugs in the orchard during the summer the teacher asked me to give a talk....er show and tell lesson.

Probably the only thing the kids learned was that frass is a scientific name for bug poop. Sorry JAJ. If your son comes home and calls his brothers a frass head now you'll know that he needs to be dealt with.

I think the talk went well. The kids all got to look through my two microscopes at frass and Japanese Beetle damage on an apple leaf.

So to all I hope your day is not a frassy day. :)

Mr. Happy Pants

WOW!! I finally got up the courage to tell Mr. Happy Pants about the days I need off over the next two weeks. And wouldn't you know it he never even batted an eyelash. All he said was "okay, write it on the board".

Now I feel really bad for not asking for more time off :)

I guess the trick is to approach him in the afternoon. He is NOT a morning person at all. Neither am I but he is especially miserable.

I'm really glad he didn't give me a hard time about it because I am needed elsewhere on these days off. You see, our county fair is coming up and being a fair director in charge of the fruit class I have to set-up our area, be present on the Sunday and Monday before the fair to receive items, be present for the judging on the Monday afternoon, be present on the opening day of the fair to hand out awards, take my kids on the Friday to ride the rides, take my kids on the Saturday to show their llamas, take my kids on the Monday to show their calves, be there on the Tuesday after the fair when people come to pick up their items and best of all be there on Monday night for the demolition derby.

This years demolition derby is huge. There are 80, yes 8-0, cars participating. The winner wins 2,000 dollars and goes on the US (don't remeber which state) for the north american competition. I don't think I'll be home early that night.

Come join me, er...us, for a rip roaring good time. All 2,000 of us, screaming and yelling for their favorite car. I am always amazed how much damage you can inflict to a car and it keeps on running. Just like the energizer bunny.

Black Tuesday

Just another un-ordinary day at work. I got a call this morning to pick up some paint. Then the boss and I spent the morning driving around town to find stencils to put letters on the wall. Finally found some so off to work I go.

I am putting letters at the end of every row of pens in the barn I work. That way we will know which row and animal is in.

Everything was going very well and I was so pleased with myself not making a mess. Ever notice that as soon as you get puffed up about something that you get the wind knocked out of your sails?

Well, it happened, I was preparing to move the paint can when it fell out of my hands. Black paint everywhere. I cleaned up as best I could with paper towels but the floor was still a mess.

As I walked to the front of the barn with a bag full of soiled paper towels I was trying to figure out how to tell the boss. But he was there and there was no place to hide the evidence....especially with black hands.

Boss took one look at me and asked if I needed more paint. Fortunately, I did not. I am so blessed to have such an understanding boss. He has yet to get mad at me.....that I know about.

I have more painting to do tomorrow so hopefully all will go well.

vet visit

Well Trixie had her first visit to the vet today. I showed up for our appointment right on time..3:15. We didn't get in to see the vet for 45 minutes.
The whole time I sat there with Trixie on my lap. I figured I was safer that way. She is not house broke yet and I didn't want to go through the embarressment of her piddling (or worse yet) on the floor.
Guess what she weighs 22 pounds. So yes, I sat there for 45 minutes with hot, panting dog on my lap.
When we finally got in to see the vet Trixie was very well behaved. No barking, biting or growling. Not even when she got her needle.
The hardest part of the waiting time was two people came in during that time with their dogs to have them put down. The one poor lady was crying..I felt for her and suddenly missed Max. (He was our Shepherd that we put down last April 27th) The next was a man with a collie. He came in with no appoitment to have the dog put down and just walked away, after paying of course. I felt for him too. I think it is cruel of the vets to have you make an appointment to kill your animal. I liked the mans approach. He made up him mind that it was time to put the animal out of it misery and so be it.

Enough of that morbid subject. Trixie is healthy and growing well. We'll see the vet again in three weeks for the booster shot.

Oh by the way. Trixie didn't have any accidents but while I was waiting to pay the bill I had to put her down because she was getting very heavy holding her in my arms. She isn't choke collar trained yet either and strated making throwing up sounds....I had to pick her up again.

Scaredy Pants

Help. I've got a boss that scares me. Mr. Happy Pants has very little sense of humor and is not a morning person at all. He also intimidates me and makes me feel like a drone.

Here is my dilemma....in a few weeks time, three to be exact, our fall fair is starting. The dilemma is that I am on the fair board in charge of the fruit section for senior and junior entries. This means that I need time off work before the fair to set up my area, another day off to receive entries at the fair and a day off after the fair is over to be there when people come to pick their entries up. The latter is not that important because I can get another committee member to be there on the pick-up day. However, the other two days are essential that I be there. But I'm too afraid to ask Mr. Happy Pants for those days off work.

So please pray that I will be able to muster the courage to face Mr. Happy Pants and his negative comments that will be sure to follow.