Non-stop talking

The instant I dropped M off at his friend’s house yesterday at 11:00, they started chattering up a storm. Around 6:00 last night, the friend’s mom dropped both boys back here, and reported that her ears were ringing because they had talked non-stop through visits to a museum, a pizza shop, a playground, their [...]

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Hamsters and string

S here, with an little update and some cute rodent photos.  CrankyOtter (the person who got us started with hamsters in the first place) can especially appreciate these.
The hamsters loved their Cheerios on a string.  One of them figured out pretty quickly that he could gnaw the Cheerios off.  The other one, a lovable but [...]

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It’s important to let your rodents know they’re loved

S here — I’m trying to avoid last-minute chores, like cleaning up the house before my parents get here, by goofing around on the internet. The title of this post is a line that makes E laugh pretty much every time I say it. We’ve got 2 pet hamsters who I hand-feed breakfast [...]

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Elvis the Christmas barn animal

S here — I’m so glad E was able to come to church with us today, so she could see M in his role of barn animal in the Christmas pageant. Otherwise, she might have found it hard to picture him, surrounded by placid still children in cow and mouse costumes, while he was [...]

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Have you read your police log lately?

S here — today’s comedy moments come to you courtesy of the police log printed in my town newspaper. If you ever needed more proof that I live in a small town, the recent police log would be it.
The police had several animal incidents to deal with last week. There was a [...]

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A rather distracted evening

S here — major panic when I managed to break my elderly snowblower’s rotor while clearing yet another storm’s worth of crud off the driveway. Given that I repaired an electrical problem on the machine last week, I was ready to take the broken rotor as a sign that it really is time to [...]

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Dinner and a Movie

E here, writing about a significant milestone in my relationship with S.  No, we haven’t moved in together yet.  No, we’re not engaged yet.  And no, she hasn’t met my parents yet.  Drumroll please….after a year and a half together we finally went to dinner and a movie, all in the same night!  This was [...]

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Fun with the soldering iron

M would say that the secret to having the fastest Pinewood Derby car in the Cub Scout race is have only 3 of the little car’s wheels touching the track.  Less friction means more speed.
S is here to say that the real secret is for a scout to have a mom who works in a [...]

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Science notes

M’s science teacher appears to use the following instructional method:

Give kids photocopied handouts covered with facts.
Give kids worksheets in class with questions based on the handouts.
Have kids make notecards based on the handouts.
Have kids study their notecards.
Give test.

Now, there are some subjects for which I suppose this is a reasonable instructional method. Memorizing [...]

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Holiday decorations

Think it’s about time to get rid of the Halloween pumpkin? (Note: this photo was taken after M shoveled the front porch.)

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