Inconsequential Mutterings

Not a whole lot going on here, but I thought I'd better post, in case *someone* (you know who you are) bugs me about being too quiet out here...

Danny ended up having a great time at camp, once he went back. He actually enjoyed his first day, too, since he didn't feel sick until bedtime. He came home Wed. morning, slept all day, woke up for dinner, then went back to bed and slept all night. On Thurs. morning he felt sooooo much better, so I drove him back down. It's a good thing the camp is so close! My friend told me when she was in 6th gr. her camp was 3 hrs away! I remember going away to "Outdoor Adventure Camp" in 7th grade, to a place called Thunder Mountain. No idea where it was or how far away from home it was, but it seemed a world away at the time. Of course, I had done plenty of camping trips with Girl Scouts, so it wasn't as big a deal for me as it was for D (not being a scout himself). Anyway, he got to do all the expected stuff, although the day he missed was the boating/fishing class, and he was bummed about that. But he got to do the archery class, and the nature hikes and stuff, and he didn't miss the big bonfire on Thurs. night. He really liked their version of Giant Clue - they split into teams, and had to gather clues to figure out who kidnapped the camp cook and where he was. (It turned out to be Ms. So-and-So with the fork in the tree house!) The weather held out until the last day, which was just pack up, breakfast, and load up the busses. I had to go pick him up at 11am, and they got the rest of the day off! The school promised the kids would be so exhausted they'd sleep all weekend, but all I got was, "can I have a friend over??????" Argh!

This weekend *I* finally caught the dreaded cold, and it truly was miserable for the first 3 days. It seemed like it cleared up after that, but now all 4 of us are stuffy-nosed. I missed church on Sun and my women's meeting on Tues because of it. boo hoo

Let's see, what else... Katie lost her riding lesson this week, b/c of bad behavior. We kept warning her over and over, and I finally realized she didn't really think we'd do it, so I told her one more offense and that's it - and naturally she went too far. Now at least she knows I mean what I say.

C has been tremendously busy lately, outfitting D for hunting season. Last year, he went kabongers buying his own bow (he'd been borrowing his buddy's until then), arrows, arrow heads (both field and practice), all kinds of camo clothes, gloves, hats, boots, etc. Although a bit shocked at the total expenditure, I wasn't too bothered, b/c poor DH really needs a hobby, and he so enjoys hunting. Well, this year he asked D if he'd be interested in hunting with him, and D said sure. I was happy; there are a bunch of things D likes to do, but nothing he's really passionate about yet, and during the winter there's not much to draw him outside, so I thought this would be a good activity for him. I didn't expect DH to go overboard!!! Now D has everything he could possibly need, from $80 boots (extra warm and waterproof - it does get durned cold out there in winter), pants, insulated bib overalls, lightweight camo jacket, heavy winter camo jacket, camo ls shirt, hat, face mask, gloves, PLUS his own youth crossbow AND a blind to sit in under C's tree stand. Yup, about $500 later, D is ready to go. I sure hope he really likes it!

Poor K is so jealous. She sees things coming in for D, plus hears about what a fantastic time he's having at youth group meetings, including (the straw that broke the camel's back, btw) the visit to the big amusement park at the end of this month; and she just can't help whining how unfair it all is. But if she could step back and see the big picture, she is in 4H, she had her first Girl Scout meeting y'day, she's getting the horseback riding lessons, she's in AWANA, she's getting to do the cool park activities I signed her up for... she's getting her share of cool stuff. Especially GS, b/c they are planning lots of great trips this year. First is the circus, which is coming to town in October, plus a visit to the newsroom (her leader's husband is a cameraman), to a NASA space center, and other goodies. I also plan on signing her up for a cupcake decorating class later in the fall. I think things sound pretty even, don't you?

The weather here is getting pretty unpredictable; last weekend the remains of Gustav blew through, and many many people were without power - some still are! D actually had Mon off, b/c his school didn't have power (oooooh was K jealous!). Ever since that tree fell and demolished our shed C gets panicky when we get strong winds, but we didn't lose anything this year. The temperatures can be anywhere between 60 - 80 degrees on any given day, which makes it hard to get the kids dressed in the mornings (they are taking less and less direction from me, even though they have no idea what the weather report is for the day - especially my little fashion diva). Today is beautiful, sunny and 75. (Hey Jenn, remember that song, "Sunny with a High of 75"? Think I'll pull out that cd....) I'm enjoying it while I can!

That's it for now!