Northwestern Homecoming

Holly was inducted into Northwestern's Hall Of Fame last weekend for Women's soccer.  Mom and I went to St. Paul for the banquet.  Holly's parents were also there.  It was a beautiful weekend!  We enjoyed shopping at the outlet malls, and exploring Northwestern's campus.

Good Golly

I'm not saying Eric 'won'.  There are many reasons we purchased 2 parakeets yesterday.

 This is Blue Flash.  His full name is Blue Flash Destiny the 2nd.  Eric had enough money to buy it himself.  He did lots of research on if the bird would be a good fit for our home.  Nowhere in his research did it say parakeets should not be in homes with 3 cats.

 Jonathan also had enough money for a parakeet.  And, they do prefer to have a playmate.  And....our cockatiel is not really all that nice, so we thought the parakeets should have its own cage, so really....what's one more.

 Jonathan named his Chip.  Not sure if this is for "Chipper Sparrow" or not.

 The parakeets have quickly warmed up to the boys.  The second time we took them out of their cage, they stayed on the boys' fingers or shoulders.  Yes, they do fly around.  Yes, it does creep me out.

There is some interest by the cats.  So far, just interest.   No hunting.

Destiny, the Bird

Tonight I sent Eric outside to play.  It was a beautiful evening.  It seemed like a good idea.  Kacy was in the backyard.
Shortly after he went outside, Eric came running in, saying there was a cute little bird and he wanted to play with it.  I followed him outside.  Sure enough, there was a cute little bird lying in the grass right next to Kacy.  Have I mentioned Kacy's new hobby of hunting????

 The bird was quite soft and fluffy.  At least that's what Eric said.  I had no intention of touching it.  Jonathan quickly identified the bird as a chipping sparrow.  His reading/social studies teacher is a bird fanatic.  We googled it, and I have to admit that I agree with him.

 Eric's smile.  Love this smile.  At this point, he is thinking we will be keeping the bird.  Inside our house.  He says we can get another bird cage and keep it next to Lucy's cage.  At this point, I realized I needed to have one of those difficult conversations with Eric.  You know....the kind that teaches about the circle of life.

 Eric did not like my assessment of the bird's prognosis.  We agreed to make a bed for the bird, as I stayed firm in my stance to not bring it inside.  Eric suggested I take it to the vet in the morning.

 This is the bed we made for the bird.  Eric did not wish to name the bird, as he did not want to get too attached to it.  That lasted for 2 minutes before he named it Destiny.

I wish I could say there was a happy ending.  Eric sat by Destiny outside for over an hour, petting him, watching him, trying to get him to eat.  I brought him some hot cocoa.  I made him go inside to take a bath, promising him that he could go back outside to sit with Destiny when he was done.  He made me promise to sit and watch Destiny while he was in the bath to make sure he was breathing.  By the time Eric was done with his bath, Destiny was, um, well....he was still warm, but did not appear to breathing all that well.  He actually was not breathing at all.  There was a little breeze the ruffled his feathers to make it appear he was breathing, but....

I broke the news to Eric.  Poor kid is broken hearted.  We agreed to have a funeral for Destiny tomorrow after school.

So, now I have Eric sobbing, somewhat uncontrollably.  Jonathan has started to cry because Eric is so upset.  Megan is bawling because she feels she need to cry since both of her brothers are crying.  Don is in Michigan.  I am drinking Bacardi.

Student of the Month

It's time to get a bumper sticker stating: "My student is the Student of the Month"....

click here

Well done, Eric!!!  He earned a 'free pass' for any homework assignment, that he can turn in for an A+.  He also earns (from Mom) a trip to Cherry Berry.

Corn hole Boards

This is what Don's Uncle Bob does in retirement.  He makes corn hole boards. We got 2 of them: one with the Rams, and one with the Vikings.  The neighbor kids came over last weekend to toss the bean bags a bit.  It was a fun time.

Soccer and the mini-marathon

Last weekend was the Bismarck Marathon.  I took the kids to the kids' mini-marathon on Friday night.  Megan did the 200 m dash with Ava.  I have no picture of her.  The boys each did the half mile.  I believe they both finished in ~4 minutes or so.

 Waiting for their heat to start.  The kid in the yellow shirt by Jonathan is a fellow 6th grader @ MMS.  It's moments like this I realize how tall the boys are.

 Jonathan as he nears the finish line

 Eric was right behind him.  He and I are running a 5k on Saturday for the Mandan Fire Department.  I bribed him.

I finally remembered to take my camera to one of Megan's soccer games on Saturday morning.  It was a fun game.  She is still pretty timid being in the middle of all the kicking action, but she gets a few kicks in each game.

2nd amendment

My concealed carry permit arrived in the mail on Friday, a mere 2 weeks after completing my exam and sending in my application.  My conceal carry band also arrived via FedEx.  Then I received a phone call from my gun guy stating my pistol was in.

This afternoon, Don and I went to the gun range to work my gun.  Kahr recommends a 200 round break in period before carrying.  We go 50 rounds in today.  Don rented a SigSauer 9mm, and we shot 50 rounds on that as well.  My pics are in reverse order.

  

Here is my flesh wound, suffered on my very first shot on the Kahr.  It's called a slide bite.  It hurt a bit.  It bled a bit.  They have a first aid kit on the back counter in the shooting range.  I used it.

 
Don's target was 7 yards out.  He is shooting the 9mm.  He had good aim




This is my Kahr CW .380.  Yes, it is purple.  It shoots nice.  Only had 1 misfire in the 50 rounds we shot.
I think we found our new date night activity!