Yes, We Are Still Alive!!

I've been thinking about writing a blog since my last posting. My time has been entirely consumed with reformatting, binding, and covering books for the kids this school year. I'm nearing the end now. My printing is finished, nearly all of the books are glued. What remains is mostly the covers to be put on. I'll be sure to take a few pictures when my "library" is complete.

We've had many things happen here since my last posting, which has been nearly a month. First of all our kitty Sandy could no longer refrain from taking a shopping trip to what Mike calls our second home, Walmart. We had no idea that she accompanied us on our trip, so as we dissapeared into the store she took a stroll through the parking lot. Since we had not predetermined a rendevous point, not knowing she would be coming along, she missed the bus. At least this is the best we can come up with about her dissapearance.

She has not one but two replacements. Once you get started with these little furrballs it's hard to live without one. Our friends were "cat sitting" a momma and her kittens when we visited and we were originaly going to only get one to keep Sandy company. Since Sandy's dissapearance we decided we'd get the other a wrestling buddy. So here is a picture of our kittens, Shadow and No Name. That's right we have not managed to come up with a name for him. We have however figured out a name of our pet tarantula but that's getting off the topic for the moment. Shadow and No Name are both boys. Some of the friendliest cats we've ever had were males, and since there was only one female in the litter we really didn't have much choice. They are once again holed up in Debbie's room until they are of a suitable age and size as not to be carried away by the numerous large birds that dwell here in the dessert. To name a few would be Mr. Raven, Mr. Hawk, Mr. Turkey Vulture, and Mr. Owl. Not having anything to hinder their site from seeing their prey puts the kittens in more danger than if they lived in wooded areas where these same large birds dwelt.

Oh by the way, the tarantula's name is Fuzzy. She can have quite the appetite at times. One day she consumed a 3" (including tail) lizard, a small toad, and the following day she consumed a cricket. No one, has of yet, been brave enough to hold her on their bare hand.

Mike has taken a trip to the field for the week once this month. This was in the middle of my book binding so this gave me a little extra time to get the books done, I thoroughly exhausted myself by staying up till my eyes couldn't stay open any longer, which usually fell around 2:00AM. Though some may find it strange the fulfillment of doing this that's exactly what it gives me. Putting hard work into my children period, wether education or otherwise is very fulfilling for me.

I can't wait to see them as they devour the reading material that I've created for them to use this school year. As it has one day after returning from the library they have read all of the books I got there. We usually bring home around 15 books at one time, minimum.

Another thing that has occurred during the past few weeks is that Katie has began to crawl. Within a week and a half after crawling she is now pulling herself up. I guess once she figured it out there wasn't much stopping her. I suppose by next blog I'll be writing about her walking, who knows.

I'll have to arrange to write another blog in the near future and try to catch up on the rest of what has happened lately. For not I just wanted to write a fairly short one, post a picture of the kittens, and let you all know that we are still alive here in the desert.

Denise