Quick Pic Showing Off--Crane Chicks!!!! 2012

 8 March 2012

This morning, Nathan and I were coming into our housing area from the main street and struck GOLD! Just as we turned off of Donald Ross, we found this new family of sand hill cranes by the side of the road (actually there isn't much room to be anywhere except by the side of the road if you don't own a home). TWO chicks! One is much taller, and much more worried about the events taking place around him--this one was a "momma's boy" while the smaller female chick was definitely sticking very close to the adult male. Very cool. The parents recognized the white milk-jug-cut-out scoop we use to carry the grain mixture from the back of the garage, (and perhaps the two of us also) and came for food as soon as we approached them.

I got some incredible photos. Today we looked for them again--but it was wet and rainy and we missed them.

The Year is Gone

12/2016
This past year has been full of family:  Lauren and Robert and Charlie and Caleb have been living with us--needing more space as their family grows.  Nathan has been alternately needing me more and needing me less as school, work and the beginnings of a social life occupy his days.  Rytting grandchildren have come and gone--and I have come and gone to visit them--a total of 3 weeks this summer.  I leave this weekend to go and visit with Martha and Susan in Utah.

Brent and I have become better at carving out time for us to be together one-on-one.

I have gotten better at finding spaces and times to be alone--to recharge.

12/2017
Wow.  A whole year gone and not much of anything written.  I need to be better about getting my visiting teaching done.  I need to exercise more.  I need to learn how all my stuff (cameras, new computer) works.  Today, I am going to clean off the kitchen table and straighten up the family room for Pres. Westover's visit tonight.  I will also make an appointment to do the numbers with Dr. Patch.

I am taking a business class right now.  It is Intro to Entrepreneurship.  It is hard.  The teacher is energetic, but doesn't use the book that we had to buy at the beginning of the semester or the extensive read/quiz stuff online.  We are to do it "if we want" to help us get an A.  This has been a challenging class for me.  I am pretty much bored out of my skull in class--he spends most of the time telling us how we don't have much time.

Almost over for the semester--online 3 chapters to finish, for the class project just the numbers need to be crunched and the final taken home and returned.  Nathan may have a job by year's end.  That will never be almost over.  Brent--who had nothing to do at the beginning of the year--is presently overwhelmed by all the deals that he's working on.  I know that it must be hard on. him.  He comes home exhausted every night.  Besides that, we're tiling the office (formerly Nate's bedroom) in a slow progression that will take the better part of 2 weeks by the time we're done.

Nate and Brent pulled up the carpet (after moving out all of the stuff stored there for the last few years and did little prep things while I was away at Meg's taking care of her 3 while she visited her high school art teacher.  Brent lets Nate and I watch and clean up after each tiling session, but that's about all.  I am so glad that he's going slow and wearing the knee pads I bought for him.

Off to address Meg's and Lauren's packages and get them in the mail.  Then to class and to a psych appointment for me.  I think we also have an appointment with Nathan's job coach.  Maybe that's tomorrow?

No pictures for this yet.  

Job Interview at the Ballpark

Night selfie after interview experience.

During the last months, Nathan has been busy getting a job.  As part of that process, I found myself with the chance to go to Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, a new minor league Spring training facility.  I was offered a job doing something with the food services during the six weeks that Spring training was to last.  It is a a brand new facility--beautiful even to one who could care less about baseball or Spring training.

Even though I knew that I wasn't interested in actually working (euuuuu!), I had never been offered a job like this before--so I decided to go and sit through the orientation.

It was a really wild experience.  They brought everyone in and got them their ID tag with their photo on it.  Everyone was offered snacks and a drink and when about 100 people were all seated along rows of long tables.  The presentation continued with a video about the company that was hired to provide the food services--that everyone would actually be working for.  I was impressed by the whole tone of the process.  Everyone was treated as a valuable asset.  There were some girls high school softball teams there to volunteer.  There were old people like me--and LOTS of young people who probably unable to get/keep a full-time job.

The presenter was energetic and positive.  I had never been in a place like that for that reason. I felt sad to tell the man who offered me (and Nathan--before he got his full-time job) a job--after only a few moments talking with me--that I wouldn't be able to work.  Did that make sense?

It has been forever since I've applied for anything new to me, I felt like I'd gotten an education in a place and about a thing that I would never have anticipated.  It was an unusual experience.

One of the most memorable bits of the night was when the presenter cautioned the workers that there were there to make the experience as wonderful for the customers the best that it could be--so if a ball was popped up near any of the workers--they were to find a child who was there and give it to them.  After all, wouldn't that make anyone's day at a baseball game?