On Friday I could no longer procrastinate and I had to face my peers.  We all met at our old high school at the basketball  homecoming game.  It was time to meet up for our 20th class reunion.  Except it was really our 21st.  There were few who came from out of town, but mainly those of us that live close by and never get to see each other.  We stayed out way past my bedtime.  The laughs were worth it. Basically people had not changed too much; we all just looked different. I wore my old cheer leading jacket just to be funny and for those who stopped to see what I was wearing they did in fact chuckle.
Addie and her friend attended their first middle school dance and of course had very little to say about the event.
The next morning Allie had a basketball game 8:30 Saturday morning.  The girls played the team that they played in the season opener.  The other team had been working hard.  They had improved, however we still managed to win.  Allie even made a basket.  She was rather surprised and pleased with herself.
Next we loaded up in the car and headed to Manhattan for the 4-H day with the Cats.  This is an annual event.  The kids get a special meal package and an event T-Shirt.  The Lady Cats played Iowa State and managed to pull out a win for their crowd.
Next we headed to Cox BBQ because that’s where the kids wanted to eat.  We enjoyed some I-70 seasoned French fries and headed home. We stopped in Hutch at DQ and Weston enjoyed his first Butterfinger Blizzard.

A home for Hannah

This was a full week but the main event was the adoption of a dog. It all started at Christmas time.  “We want a puppy.” Those words were being uttered by my three children over and over.  “Fine with me, but you are going to have to convince Dad.”  I told them.  Somehow they managed to clear the hurdle of approval with their dad.  We have one good dog.  He is nearly perfect.  Scout sleeps on the poach and stays on this bed.  Politicians should learn from him, because I see him frequently snuggling with the cats.  He does not bark at strangers, but it would be nice if he did.  If coyotes are near by, he is faithful to bark ALL NIGHT LONG.  Scout is 8 years old, and my kids have never had a puppy.
So the search began, what kind of dog?  Lab, Golden Retrievers, Labradoodles, German Shepard or Shollie?  When I searched on the Internet people were trying to sell puppies and some of them just seemed out of line.  We resisted the Christmas puppy and assured the kids that the right dog will come to us.  I even visited with one of my friends who is a Veterinarian and she to encouraged me that a good dog could be found without spending an arm and a leg.
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.  I was talking to one of my friends and mentioned we were kind of looking for a dog. She said, “Really my sister-in-law has a nice dog that they no longer want.”  As it turns out “Hannah” had killed a few chickens.  She was good with kids, only about a year and a half year old and not too big.  Hannah is a miniature Australian Shepard.  We are going to have to teach her how to play fetch.  The kids love her. Hopefully we have found a good home for her, especially since we have no chickens.

A Mom for Teddy

I won’t deny it’s been a few weeks since I have written anything.  The paper has been full and so my column was not needed to take up space.
Today Weston is playing “Farm” and getting popcorn all over my floor.  He seems to be having a good time, we can sweep it up later.  He has a grain truck, auger and combine out.  Perhaps I should remind him to go get the grain cart? His preschool teacher says that he is progressing.  Most days he even seems to enjoy school. Last week we did some water color painting.  At the end he was just using black.  So then I made him use any other color but black.
Last week he told me that Teddy his bear needed a Mom.  I told him that he was kind of like Teddy’s mom.  Weston then said, “Do I look like a bear?” Next I told him “Well you are like Teddy’s dad.”  Next Weston replied, “I lose him sometimes you know.”  So far in his 5 year old mind he has a few ideas about what it takes to be a parent.
On Wednesday Allie has basketball practice.  She enjoys walking across the street after school and going to practice.  The coach was one of my older sister’s friends in high school.  He has a daughter on the team also.  I could tell she was nervous her first game, but she really loved it too.
Addie has found plenty of things to do even though her basketball is over for the year.  She is participating in scholar’s bowl and mainly just enjoys spending time with her buddies.  We took Addie and two of her friends up to horse panorama this weekend at Rock Springs.  Even though we had no idea what we were doing, a good time was had by all.
Luke of course is busy calving out heifers.  The cow business can be tough; it’s hard to lose a baby calf no matter how long you have been in the cattle business.  It also makes a person happy to see a calf born with no problems.
From time to time we need to make a few changes at the Rural Messenger.  We tried to do a current event series for a time but after trying for sometime that idea just isn’t successful the way we had hoped.  I also have shuffled a few of the pages around.  However I don’t think they will be hard to find.   As always thank you for reading our paper.