22 April 2018

It was a really good week at Two Jack Ranch.  It seems like we did less running around than usual and had more time together in the evenings.  I can tell the kids are ready for their summer break; its inevitable when the sun goes down later and the weather is so much warmer.  I decided this year instead of trying to get all of the kids' individual pictures done in December, which has been my habit in the past, I’d take them individually around their birthdays.  Felicity’s appointment was Monday night and she did wonderfully, I think that was the fastest we were ever in and out of the studio, and I had lots of pretty shots to chose from.

Tuesday morning I took some time off and picked Felicity up from school around 8:30.  I thought it would be the perfect time for her to get to go to the temple to do proxy baptisms for the first time.  I didn’t want her first experience to be going on a trip with the other youth, or on a busy Saturday, so I called the temple and made sure it was alright for us to come.  We were practically the only ones in the baptistery and all the sweet brothers and sisters working knew it was Felicity’s first time and made it extra special for her.  The temple matron even came down and took us into a side room to talk with us one on one about the importance of serving in the temple.  We took a stack of family names that we had found together over the past few months and she did 18 and I did 10.  She was so excited and humbled.  We even got to record the names ourselves when we were done, which is something I’ve never done!  We stopped and picked up lunch before I dropped her off back at school.  I hope that its an experience that she will always remember, I know I will.

After school and track practice we headed back into Tucson for Felicity’s 12 year well-patient check up with our Pediatrician.  It went really well.  Felicity talked to her about some foot pain that she has sporadically when she runs and we got a referral to an orthopedist to check it out.   Wednesday morning Felicity missed a little more school for an orthodontist appointment to make some adjustments and get a new wire.  The orthodontist said she is coming along nicely, I can’t believe it has already been 9 months.  Time flies when they’re not your teeth!

Helen had choir practice after school, so she didn’t get home until a little after 4.  I dropped her and Arlo off with my parents so that I could make it to Felicity’s first track meet of the season.  By the time I got there, she had already run her 100M sprint and her hurdles and she was getting ready for the long jump which was going to be her last event.  Once she was done, we were pretty much ready to head home since she didn’t have any other events.  In the evening I attended a Relief Society activity in honor of the Relief Society’s 173^rd birthday.  The kids came with me and got to hang out in the nursery and as a reward got to grab some extra cupcakes when we were done.

We ended up having Family Home Evening on Thursday since we had activities every other night this week.  Felicity taught our lesson and we watched The Greatest Showman as our activity.  The girls are obsessed.  We didn’t have as much homework this week, again due to testing.  On Friday afternoon the kids went to visit their dad for the weekend and I cleaned the house and worked on a crochet project I was asked to do.  Saturday morning I was up early and in the yard working.  I finished hanging the last of the hog panels and buried all of the newly hung fencing in the pig pen.  I started fertilizing some of the new trees and took the damaged trampoline apart.  I kept the support legs to use as trellis for the garden, but decided to just throw out or recycle the rest.  I don’t know if I’ll replace it anytime soon as the kids want an above ground pool for the summer.  We will just have to wait and see.  I did my grocery shopping in the evening and then worked on my crochet project before bed.  Sunday was quiet.  I sat in on my new primary class with the teacher I’m helping second hour and led music third hour.  When church was over I picked up the kids from their dad’s and we enjoyed a quiet evening in, getting ready for the upcoming week.

15 April 2018

 We had such a fun spring week! Felicity continued track practice after school and Helen had both Girls on the Run on Tuesday and Choir on Wednesday.  However, with club soccer season behind us, we were home much more and our evenings are less hectic.  On Monday Felicity taught our Family Home Evening lesson and we watched a family movie together after dinner.

Helen and Felicity both had state testing this week which meant that homework was a lighter burden in the evening which left more family time. I got two phone calls on Tuesday which brought me home early.  First was before noon when the nurse called to say that Helen wasn't feeling well.  I went and picked her up and had only been home a short while before I got another call that Arlo had been leaning forward in his chair when the legs slipped out from under him and he hit his face on the table, cutting his eye.  So, trip number two to the school!

 We ventured out after school on Thursday for some birthday shopping.  Felicity had asked for a new pair of boots and some new Sunday clothes for her birthday so I thought the best way to accomplish this was to take her out and let her pick her own.  We went to Boot Barn first where she picked out a new pair of boots.  I gave her a set budget for clothes and asked her where she wanted to go.  She chose Savers so that she could get more items for the money, so that's where we headed.  She was able to pick out several new dresses, skirts, blouses, and even a pair of shoes.  She was pretty happy with her haul.  We had dinner in town before heading back home.

On Friday morning I did my first hive inspection.  During the spring you open and observe the hives every couple of weeks to check on their status and health.  The first two hives went very smoothly.  The bees were calm and everything inside looked great.  The third hive is what I would call a hot hive.  They didn't tolerate being messed with as much, so that inspection was cut a little short after determining that nothing looked out of the ordinary, so as not to irritate them too much. 

When Arlo got home from kindergarten he and I went into Sahuarita for a treat since he'd had a good behavior week at school.  He enjoyed a slushee and I had a diet soda.  We did our weekend grocery shopping and got home in time to start taking apart the wind-destroyed trampoline.  When the girls got home, Felicity went out birthday shopping with Nana and the other two kids and I made dinner together and played a game.

We had a very full Saturday.  Helen and I were up bright and early for her Girls on the Run 5K at Kino Sports Complex.  We checked in a little after 7AM and perused the vendors, picked up our free 31 bag and enjoyed seeing friends.  The race started at 8:30 and I couldn't have been more proud of Helen.  She let me push her (and encourage her) when it got hard.  She walked only once and only for about two minutes, after getting some water at the two mile stop.  We finished in about 38 minutes and she actually sprinted ahead of me at the end and beat me by nearly a minute.  It was a great experience!

 Saturday was also Felicity's 12th birthday and in the afternoon Helen and Arlo went to my mom and dad's house while Felicity and I went to pick up her friends for her birthday party.  She invited her three closest friends for a spa day birthday party.  I took the girls to the salon where they got their nails done and then we went to Chili's for dinner.  She loved spending time with her girlfriends and I was happy to see that she has picked a really sweet group of girls to call her tribe this year.  They did A LOT of giggling and talking.  We had a little time after dinner, so Felicity requested a quick stop at Bookman's to pick out a new book before we dropped her friends off.

Felicity had an interview with the Bishop on Sunday morning to sign off on her Faith in God Award, talk to her about leaving Primary and entering the Young Women's program, and to get a limited use temple recommend.  I am always amazed by children when I have the privilege to sit in these meetings with them and hear how their testimonies have grown and to experience their understanding of the Gospel as they answer questions and interact with the Bishop.  It went very well and she was ecstatic to walk out of the building with her very own temple recommend.

Sunday during Sacrament meeting the Bishop presented Felicity with her promotion from Primary certificate and invited her to recite her favorite Article of the Faith.  She gave number eight, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God."  I'm so proud of the beautiful young lady she is becoming.  To mark her first day in Young Womens as a new "Beehive",which is the name for the class of girls who are twelve and thirteen, I gave her a little Precious Moments figurine of a little girl dressed up as a bee.  After church we went to my parent's house for dinner and birthday cake.  We had a very nice time and there was riotous objections when it came time to go.  We are starting to get a little antsy for summer vacation in our home!

08 April 2018

We had a fun week…and an expensive week.  On Monday night, I told my girls that we were going to be taking a trip this weekend.  Nana had gotten tickets to see Luke Bryan in concert in Albuquerque for Felicity’s birthday.  They were pretty excited.  Arlo was a little sad, but perked up pretty quickly when Nana picked him up to have dinner at McDonald’s with Jaidyn.  I wasn’t super excited about the idea of taking an eleven and nine year old to a concert, but my mom was excited to do that for them, so I was along for the ride.

 Monday night, after the kids had gone to bed, I went to the door where the cats were meowing to get in.  I noticed through the screen that there was something wrong with Henry, but stupidly opened the door anyway.  He came limping in, covered in cholla, absolutely covered in it.  I shooed him back outside and grabbed my work gloves.  I tried in vain to remove the spines and quickly realized I was in over my head.  I was actually pretty mad at the cat.  He couldn’t stay that way, I couldn’t get them out without help, and he wasn’t going to die from his injuries, so a trip to the vet was the only solution I could see; other than shooting the dummy!  I put him in a tote and put the lid on it since he was not too happy.  I drove him to the 24 hour emergency vet in Tucson and sat down there from 9PM to 1AM while they pulled the spines out after sedating him.  A little before one the vet tech came out and said that they were only half done and that I should probably just leave him overnight, I could pick him up in the morning.  I didn’t get home until about two and then had to pick him back up, cacti-free, first thing in the morning.  Needless to say, I took a nap when I got home and worked from my office the rest of the day.

Around October I had stopped turning the air conditioner on in place of opening the doors overnight and allowing the fall air to cool the house down.  You may recall that in December when I went to turn the heater on, it didn’t work; blowing only cool air.  I never got around to having it fixed, using the fireplace and a space heater instead.  Well, on Sunday when I went to turn the AC on, it didn’t work either, again, only blowing ambient air.  So I relented and called an HVAC company.   Monday evening I paid over $300 to have someone come out and diagnosis the problem.  He quoted me $900 to repair a leak and replace missing coolant.  Ahh!  I went ahead and scheduled the repair for Tuesday.  Tuesday afternoon a new technician showed up, repaired the leak, replaced the coolant, and then handed me a $1400 bill.  $500 in excess of the estimate!  I was not a happy camper.  He then proceeded to ask me why I just hadn’t replaced the unit since it really wasn’t worth the expensive repair as it was an old unit.  The guy on Monday hadn’t mentioned I might need a whole new heater/AC (heat pump)!  He said it was a simple problem with a straightforward solution.  I was mad!  Tuesday's technician offered to have someone come out to quote me for a new unit and that “maybe” they could take “some” of the repair expenses off of the price.  I politely told him that I was disappointed I was not properly quoted, that I had not been informed that purchasing a new heat pump might be in my best interest, and that I was not interested in having his company provide me with an estimate for a new unit.    I fumed for awhile, especially since I had an unexpected and expensive vet bill from the night before, and then proceeded to express my disgust in a strongly, yet professionally, worded Google review.  As a side note, I had perused the Google reviews for this particular company before selecting them, so I was pretty shocked at the outcome since they'd come so highly recommended.  Within a few minutes of posting the review, the General Manager contacted me.  He had reviewed my work orders and was very apologetic.  It appeared that the first technician was not clear with me about what he was quoting, that the $900 was only for coolant and then didn’t send me a copy of the estimate which itemized the rest of the repair and expenses.  He noted several other mistakes and missteps that had led to an unsatisfactory experience at which time he offered to refund me the $500 I paid above what I had anticipated spending, saying that I should pay what I had been quoted, that they didn’t do business that way and that their reputation was important to them.  I was pleased, and quite frankly impressed, as most businesses don’t make a proactive effort to right a wrong.  So the end result is I have working AC and heater and was able to recoup some of the expense.  I’m just grateful I had the prompting to put away some of my tax return into a “rainy day” savings account, because it poured at the ranch this week!  I'm praying the unit holds out another couple of years before I have to replace it.

Helen had AZMerit testing this week and I took in snacks for her class.  Her teacher also had us write encouraging notes for the students to receive before their test.  Helen really enjoyed getting her notes and after the first round of testing felt like she did well.  My garden is coming along nicely, I have lots of lovely sprouts in the few pots I planted.  All of my trees are looking healthy, which is a relief as I’d hate to lose one.

On Tuesday when I was home, I noticed that my friend who keeps bees in Sahuarita was wanting to sell his colonies and equipment.  I reached out and expressed interest in buying them from him.  I’m still waiting for the hive I ordered to come, but I wanted to keep more than one colony and thought this was an opportunity that I didn’t want to pass up.  As it turns out, he didn’t really want to get rid of them as much as he just couldn’t keep them at his place any longer.  We worked out a deal where I was able to buy two of his three colonies and his extra equipment and then allow him to keep his remaining bees on my property.  I really felt like it was a win-win, he got to keep a project that he clearly enjoys and I got an already thriving couple of colonies, equipment, and a mentor resource all for a reasonable price and trade.  Two Jack Ranch welcomed the new apiary Thursday evening after dark.  He brought the three hives out and we donned our bee suits and set them up.  It was fun and I’m excited for a new adventure!

Arlo went to spend the weekend with his dad, and then on Friday morning the girls and my mom and I headed out for our weekend trip to Albuquerque.  We had a fun drive with a few pit stops. Helen had to stop to go potty between rest areas, so that was fun.  I neglected to get gas when we stopped for lunch in Las Cruces, and then figured there were two exits in Hatch, there weren’t.  So we ended up having to pull off in the middle of nowhere to find a gas station.  We found a little mom and pop grocery who mercifully had one pump out front.  We got the gas we needed and were back on the road.  We arrived at my mom’s friend Mitzie’s house (where we were graciously put up) a little after five and then headed to the concert venue. 

There were so many people! It took about an hour to get parked.  We walked up to the gates but then were told my mom couldn't take her purse into the arena, so I walked it back to the car.  When I came back, the opening band had begun and Felicity came running up to me "it's Granger Smith!" she was so excited, he's one of their favorites.  We found our seats and enjoyed the opening act.  Luke Bryan played for a couple of hours and the girls had so much fun singing along and taking in the whole concert experience.  I will say that the crowd was very friendly and for the most part there weren't very many questionable characters, although there were plenty of opportunities to talk about modesty and the value of keeping the Word of Wisdom.  When it was over we were able to get out of the venue fairly quickly, surely it was just by chance, but I think we found a back exit and didn't have to wait very long at all to get back on the freeway.

Saturday morning Mitzie took us to a little cafe for breakfast where I enjoyed some delicious huevos rancheros with green chilies.  The girls had pancakes.  When we were done we went to the Albuquerque temple.  I was so disappointed when I looked at the schedule before we left Arizona to find that the temple was closed for cleaning and maintenance for a couple of weeks.  I haven't been able to attend this temple and it would have been the perfect opportunity to mark it off my list.  We did enjoy walking around the grounds, however, and took some pictures in front of the fountain.  

When we were done, we went to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.  We had a great time.  They had some really impressive fossils on display, the replicas of T-Rex and Brontosaurs skeletons were incredible.  We spent a few hours in the museum and the girls really enjoyed it.  I would recommend it if you are in the Albuquerque area and are looking for an indoor activity.  We capped the evening off with dinner.

We were up early Sunday morning and back on the road.  We had an uneventful trip home and were able to make it back in time for a 12:40 meeting I had with a member of the bishopric.  I was extended an additional calling which I gladly accepted.  As the church has asked that wards closely follow the mandate to have two adults in every classroom, they have had a need for additional Primary teachers.  I don't have a specific classroom assignment, but I will be sitting in a class second hour to make sure we are compliant with the request for two adults per class.  I will be able to continue to lead the music in Relief Society third hour.  Since President Nelson announced the discontinuation of Visiting Teaching at the last conference, I don't know what that will mean for my calling as a Visiting Teaching Supervisor, but since they didn't release me, I imagine I will serve in a new capacity in the new program that will be replacing Visiting Teaching.  We enjoyed our meetings and were happy to pick up Arlo after church, I missed him!

When we got home, I went outside to check on the chickens and water.  I also wanted to take some pictures of the new hives; Helen went with me to do that.  I had her put on a bee veil to protect her face, but I figured since we weren't getting up close, it wouldn't be a problem and I went completely unprotected.  It wasn't very long after we came around the creosote that I was stung by a guard bee.  I imagine they were still just really irritable from being moved a few days before and I can't really blame them.  I quickly turned and told Helen to walk back to the house.  However, I could hear a bee in my ear and it seemed it was not going away, so we picked up the pace.  Eventually I let my hair down and started to shake it in case the bee was stuck.  Once on the porch I asked Helen if it was flying around me or in my hair to which she replied it was just flying around, so we hurried in the house.  Unfortunately I could still hear the bee right in my ear and so I flipped my head over desperately trying to shake it out, becoming a little panicked at this time as the original sting, behind my ear, was still hurting and I didn't want to be stung again.  Picture this, I'm in my Sunday dress, hair down, flipped over while I'm bent at the waist and shaking my hair while urgently telling the girls to help.  Felicity picks up a flip flop and starts hitting me about the head and neck with it.  Now I took maybe six blows before I realized she wasn't aiming at a bee she could see, but in a panic was just randomly hitting me in the head with the shoe in the hopes that maybe she'd hit a bee she couldn't see!  It's hilarious to imagine now (we've since had a few good laughs about it), but I yelled and she cried and I ran to the bathroom where I stuck my head in the tub and ran enough water over my head to find the poor bee that had stung me and then gotten stuck in my hair.  I had Felicity remove the stinger, which left a good sized welt.  I feel so badly that I panicked and have now, I'm pretty sure, scared my kids from ever wanting to help me with the bee hives, even though it was completely my fault.  Oh well!  Glad to have the first sting out of the way I guess!

I noticed while I was outside that our trampoline had been destroyed by the wind while we were gone. The frame was bent, many of the netting poles were broken, the netting was torn, and there were a couple of punctures in the jumping surface.  I'm sick about it as it was a relatively expensive investment and it could have been prevented if I had taken the time to stake it down properly.  Now I will have to take it apart and re-purpose some of the pieces. We made dinner together when we had all calmed down from the bee incident and enjoyed our evening together.  We have a bit of a quiet week coming up with only a few, out of the normal, activities.  I'm hoping to get the pig pen completed and the holes dug for the front trees this week!

01 April 2018

We were buzzing with productivity this week at Two Jack.  With spring being in full force in the desert I have been hurriedly trying to get projects completed; interspersed, of course, with the usual business of life.  Felicity started track practice this week and has been training for the short sprint team.  She is excited that some of her good friends are running on the team with her.  This was our last week for this season of soccer.  With Helen doing Girls on the Run and Choir and Felicity doing Track, I think we will take a season off, although I really like the team Arlo is playing on.  I think his coach is a good fit for Arlo (he’s a military drill instructor) and I’m still debating on signing him back up to play this next season.  The girls and I walked the track during his practice on Monday and then when we were done, Arlo taught our Family Home Evening lesson on the resurrection using a fun visual he had made in Primary the previous week.

Tuesday morning I attended the honors assembly at Corona Foothills where Felicity was receiving a certificate for “High Honor Roll with Distinction” for her straight A grades in third quarter.  She was very excited to see me there.  Both girls had soccer pictures and practice on Tuesday.  Helen’s team played a scrimmage game of kids vs. parents, so I had fun getting to play against Helen’s team with the other parents.  This experience gave me a better appreciation for what the kids are doing!  Felicity was so tired after having back to back track and soccer practices that she fell asleep in the car on the way home.

I worked on the pig pen that I’m readying in the evenings after work.  I cleaned out the area and then had to take down the existing fencing as it hadn’t been buried and would be easily escaped.  I also needed to construct a swinging gate.  I went into Tractor Supply Co. on Wednesday evening to get a gate hinge and quickly found myself wandering up and down each aisle imagining all the cool things I could do at the ranch!  I did eventually find the hinges and asked an employee for some advise on the installation.  While explaining which bolts to use, he asked me “does your husband have a hack saw?” I smiled broadly: “I don’t have a husband, but I do have a hack saw”.  I always get a kick out of these awkward moments…and with the type of projects I like to get myself into, and as often as I’m at the “Man-Type stores” , they happen pretty frequently.

My garden is progressing along nicely, albeit small.  The exciting thing happening is the apples that are beginning to grow on both of the trees.  They’re so perfect!  I will be thinning them, probably in May and am hoping that they’ll do well.  I have visions of apple sauce, apple butter, apple pie filling, and apple jelly already!  I have irises blooming, although I feel badly they are still cramped in pots as I haven’t gotten to building the tree rings I’m going to plant them in out back, and I haven’t even gotten the trees planted, much less the rings constructed, in the front.  All in good time!

The kids were out of school on Friday and we worked together in the yard most of the day.  I took a break around 1ish to pick up some loquat trees that had come up in my friend Cindy’s yard.  I know, I know, I said no more trees, but they were free and I have a special love for loquat trees.  We took a trip to Home Depot to buy some plywood and paint to repair the shelter/hutch in the pig pen.  By the time we got back home, it was time to leave for Tucson.  Felicity’s soccer team had organized a pizza party at Peter Piper Pizza for the kids to celebrate the end of the season. It was a lot of fun and all of the kids had a blast.

Saturday morning we had soccer games.  None of the kids’ teams won, but they all played hard.  When we were done we went back out to work in the pig pen.  I replaced a couple of the walls on the shelter and dug trenches around the perimeter of the enclosure with which to bury the fencing.  We painted the hutch and I started rehanging the fencing.  I also put the new gate on the hinges.  We didn’t end up finishing before the sun went down.  I need to pick up a couple of hog panels to finish the fencing and I have plans to build an automatic feeder and automatic waterer, but we did accomplish a lot in the right direction.  We also had our semi-annual General Conference this weekend, and sadly, missed the Saturday sessions.  We will have to have a makeup viewing next week!

While I was out in the pig pen on Saturday morning I dug into a tarantula nest.  I love tarantulas, I think they are such a pretty species.  I nabbed one and made sure to show the kids.  Helen and Arlo were interested, but neither was willing to handle him; Felicity wanted nothing to do with the madness!

Sunday morning we were home because of General Conference and I spent the morning cooking for Easter.  The girls hid Easter eggs for me: Helen hid in the front and Felicity in the back.  My parents and Grandma Lo came over after the last session of conference and we had a really nice ham dinner.  Speaking of the ham, I made sure everyone really enjoyed it.  I feel like a right fool, but I’ll tell you about my ham debacle.  Because I worked in the yard all day on Saturday, I had to do my grocery shopping Saturday night.  I wanted to pick up a ham for Easter and as I made my way back to the meat area at Fry’s saw a stand where they were selling ham.  The very nice lady greeted me and asked if I was in need of a ham to which I told her I was and how many people I’d be feeding.  She took out a very nice looking ham to show me and I said I’d take it, at which time she told me it was a good one, and $56.  Ok, here’s where you figure out that I ran into the Honey Baked Ham lady, and it was in fact not just a nice Fry’s employee helping people pick out hams.  It may have been all of the sun I’d had that day, but I just nodded, not really registering that I just put a $56 dollar ham in my buggy.  Then it was too late to hastily say no and the end of the story is that I bought the expensive ham.  I will say, however, that it was the best ham I’d ever had—I don’t know that it was $56 good, but it was good.

After dinner the kids hunted for the eggs they’d hidden and had fun smashing them on each other’s heads.  It was a really nice afternoon and I’m grateful for my family joining us to celebrate Easter.