So there I am.  It’s a little after 7 am, my beautiful girls are curled up on the couch watching a little public television, and I head outside to do the “chores.”  The chicken coop is not yet attached to the chicken run, thus the birds must be placed in a box and taken to the run where they are released for their day of frolicking.  This has gone very well until today.  I got 4 of the 10 into the box while the other six decided to detour the box and go straight for freedom.  Awww nuts!  There they go.  Now exactly what am I going to do?  I try to catch on at a time, but they are too fast and they keep herding away from me as i approach them, so then I think I can just get them to walk to the run.  No such luck.  Eventually I get a little nervous that they will slip through the fence into the neighbor’s yard, so I run to the door and ask Meg to come out.  So, the two of us herd the chicks back and forth around the yard and eventually pick up one or two at a time and get them into the box.  Safe!  Enough adventure for me - I need to get a cup of coffee.

Well, in order of how things happened yesterday, here goes the important and big news.

First: the bunk beds showed up and were assembled for the girls. Both girls really like them - however, Ella was found this morning on the floor. She will happily tell you that she fell out of the bunk bed.

Second: After school Meg, Ella my parents and I all drove out to a local farm and picked up 11 little chicks to raise in our backyard. I am pleased to report that all 11 have made it through the night.

And then finally for those of you that know us - we have been pulling for Obama to get through this brutal primary. Looks like he pulled through just fine. I’m proud to be a supporter of his. The energy and poise he shows are just flat out amazing to me - each and every time I see him.

I think that is all the news I have to pass along for now. I am sure there will be more about all of these exciting events in the near future.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there.

Other than it being mother’s day weekend, we all had a pretty exciting weekend.  Three out of the four of us ran in a local race this weekend.  Meg ran in the kids 1k fun run and did a great job. Sarah and I ran in the 5k and did pretty well.  We now know a little bit of our  baseline for running races in the future.  I think that we will be training for a 10k in July, and then the biggie - a half marathon in September!  I think that I need to run a lot more often, and farther.

Wish us luck!

On Wednesday, dad and I went to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sport Show.  What a day.  As we strolled up and down the isles looking at all kinds of fun things to play with (everything from guns and bows, docks and boats, trips to Canada and Cabo San Lucas to almond carts and beer stands) we couldn’t help but dream.  They make it look so fun to do everything there.  Who wouldn’t want to drop $30,000 on a pontoon boat, or $15,000 on an African safari hunt.  Why not enter to win a gun at all 21 places that it is offered - only $1 -$20 per ticket depending on the organization.  I’m really hoping that I win the suburban or Tahoe or whatever gas guzzling behemoth I entered to win though - that fits my family perfectly!

We looked at guiding service to duck hunt and fish in Canada, and another guide to teach us to fish a lake we have lived next to for over 30 years (this seems foolish yes, but we can justify that by saying that we would be able to fish together more productively in the future really close to home.)  We were the two proverbial kids in a candy store.

I must admit though, I was proud of us - we didn’t spend very much money on a lot of junk or toys we’ll never use.  I think we did alright.  Some healthy dreaming - maybe sometime to turn into reality, but also healthy restraint.  Yeah us!

“Dad, what can we do together?”  That is the question that gets me every time.  For some reason it catches me off guard.  Tonight, as Sarah drove off to the PTO meeting, so Meg, Ella and I went outside.  It was time to finish the snow fort.  Here is a picture of the girls in one of the entrances.  Meg and I had started the fort on Sunday evening, nut didn’t get to finish it.  Today we finished it.  Now we can go in the one entrance and get out the other.  A nice warm and quite place - now that the temps are so mild here, maybe I’ll head out there in the sun and read a book - real peace and quite.