Hockinson Fun Days Parade

Hockinson Fun Days

This weekend we experienced our first Hockinson Fun Days. I love being in a small community with events like these. We started the fun with Friday Night Bingo at the high school. It was our first bingo experience and I have to say it's kind of addicting. But we didn't win anything from the large array of donated prizes, despite playing twenty cards over a two hour period. Here we are before things got too crazy. . .

Even Signe and Hannah had their own cards. But since they didn't win they convinced us to buy them shirts to commemorate the occasion. Hannah then insisted on wearing hers the next day to all the festivities.

Saturday Hannah was bouncing on our bed at seven sharp all dressed and ready to head over to the fireman's breakfast. When we arrived it was well under way, but since we had pre-purchased tickets we skipped straight to the front of the line and were served pancakes, eggs and ham immediately. Despite one small mishap with a glass of orange drink, breakfast was great.

There were a lot of demonstrations going on around the fire station, and we hung around long enough to see a building fire put out and a fireman rescued via ladder from a second story window. Apart from a little smoke inhalation, the girls were impressed.

We quickly wandered through the fair booths that were being set up, but despite mine and Hannah's desire to linger we had a few errands to run before the parade. We did stop long enough to sign up to win a new BBQ grill at the Home Depot booth and the girls won some prizes for throwing blocks in a bucket. . .

We finished off our fair experience with the short, but lengthy parade (the parade route was like half a mile, but the procession went on for an hour!). To see what we saw roll, dance, trot by, watch the slide show located above.

Despite all the fun, Signe had a good time just picking daisies off the side of the road. . .

"When I got my library card, that was when my life began." -Rita Mae Brown

It is always a happy day when a parent can pass down an obsession to their child. Reading just happens to be one of mine. So you can imagine how pleased I was to take Signe on her field trip to the library to get her very own library card. A month or so ago I realized that I hadn't been reading obsessively to Signe like I had with Hannah at her age. One day I asked her, "Signe, would you like me to read to you?" She looked at me and smiled, then said, "No." quite pleasantly and ran off to play. I was shocked. What child doesn't want to be read to? Luckily, it was not a lasting state of mind and recently she has developed a love of being read to. She has even written a couple stories, just like her sister loves to do. (Though they largely consist of fairies, mermaids, my little ponies and care bears--combined!)

Of course I am thrilled, because "I have always imagined that paradise would be a kind of library." - Jorge Luis Borges. So we went to the library and after the librarian read a couple stories and talked to the children about how to care for their books they signed the new cards and went to pick out books. A friend of mine laughed as Signe randomly picked out books and brought them to me while her daughter debated over which book would be best. You can look at this two ways: she didn't really care that much about what we read, or, all books are great and reading is just FUN! I choose to go with the latter.

If she is anything like me when she gets older she will quickly learn that Henry Ward Beecher had it right when he said "Where is human nature so weak as in the book store?" Except perhaps in a Banana Republic store!

While the Cat is Away. . . .

Not nearly enough play is going on. In fact, it seems that every time Rob goes out of town something bad happens. Nothing particularly dire, mind you. Strange cars parked outside. Teenagers ringing the doorbell at 10:30 and running. Glass balls falling off chandeliers and hitting the piano with a bang on the way to thudding on the ground at 3:00 in the morning. And most recently. . .Well, let me start at the beginning.

Yesterday, while Rob was out of town, of course, I was home alone in the afternoon (the girls were at school) and I was enjoying a little peace and quite when I hear this huge bang. I freeze, certain someone is in my house. I grab my house phone and my cell phone and warily go to investigate. The plan is to either call for help or throw the thing at any would be assailant, which ever I deem more likely to succeed should I actually encounter an intruder. With my trusty four pound attack dog I search the house to no avail. By this time I convince myself it was a neighbor doing something very loud.

Fast forward an hour later. I rush out to my car--it's time to pick Signe up from school. I hit the garage door opener. . .It opens three inches and stops. I try again. Same thing. Again, just in case, but of course the same. I fiddle with the sensor--no good. I unhook the opener and try to lift the door--too heavy. I panic and try the button one more time. You guessed it. I run next door to ask my strong police neighbor to help me out. He is not home, but his father in law is and readily agrees to come to my rescue. We return and he assesses the situation. "Oh, your spring is broken." (The source of the loud bang, one would assume.) Great! So he suggests I push the button and he "helps" the door open by pushing as it lifts. It works! I rush to school late and when I arrive Signe's best friend is also still waiting because her mother got stuck behind a hay truck!

Anyway, lucky for me I have the third car bay to park my car in until Rob returns to fix my door. Luckily, I was not forced to pummel an intruder with a cordless phone. I only had to wheel five loads of dirt around my house in my yard wagon to free up access to my third bay. Never a dull moment!

Real Men and Tom Boys. . .

Signe, hopping from log to log "Like Mario"

When we lived in Utah we were the neighbors on the block to go to when a tool or handyman/woman was needed. So imagine our surprise when we moved to the "country" and realized there was a whole new world of tools out there that we did not own, or know how to operate. We had no wheel barrow, no riding lawn mower, no truck, no trailer, not even a hitch for our pilot. We had no chain saw, no power washer, no generator and no 20 foot ladder. Suddenly we were the neighbors asking for help! This did not sit well with Rob. He has bought me a yard wagon, gotten the hitch, pondered the truck and rented the trailer. But what he is most proud of is the chain saw. So here he is in all his manly glory. . . .

Take note of the lovely foot wear. When we moved here we laughed at our neighbor who always wore rubber boots when doing yard work. Then we did some yard work. We were off to Wilco, the local farm/yard store to purchase matching black rubber boots. Now our feet don't turn green and our pant legs don't get muddy while we work outside. However, Rob did opt to keep the walking lawn mower because, apparently "Real" men don't use riding lawn mowers for a mere 2/3 acre (Though secretly he has lawnmower envy whenever any of our neighbors mow their lawn).

It is so wet Signe has taken to wearing her boots at all times when playing in the yard. This is good, because she LOVES dirt. She got really mad at me when I filled in the muddy ditch the tree made that we cut down last December. It was her favorite place in the yard. I would often have to go pull her out when her boots got suctioned in the mud. But she is a resourceful little thing. The other day she disappeared and when Rob asked where she might be I suggested he look outside, her favorite place to be. A little while later he came back with an amused grin on his face that told me Signe had done something naughty that Rob found amusing despite himself. Sure enough. I walked to the window and looked out. The pile of compost that we have been spreading in our flowerbeds was being conquered, and excavated, by one small and very black four year old!

This was shortly after her bath. So, it was straight back to the bath for her. She didn't mind. She loves the bath almost as much as she loves the mud, which lined the bottom of the tub when she got out. There is a reason I call her my cheerfully naughty child.

Taming the Jungle . . . .

When we bought our house last fall I was enamored of all the trees. Then one put a hole in our roof and we made the difficult decision to cut it down along with one other that was not really healthy. It was sad to see our biggest tree gone, but I do enjoy the light my house gained and I definitely sleep better at night. Now that spring is here we have been spending hours in our overgrown yard trying to tame the beast. I find the more I rip out the more I am willing to rip out. I still love my trees and bushes, but I didn't flinch to pull out the overgrown, half dead, all ugly bushes that bordered our driveway . . . .

And I agreed that the trees needed their bottom limbs trimmed up on the side of our house. . .

Before. . . . .and after. . . .

We still have to clean up some more on that one. And finally, since moving in Rob has been working on getting me to allow the tree smack in front of our house to be cut down. I have resisted because I bought the house for the trees. But after putting in work on the house I agreed that it was a little sad that the tree blocked the view of and from half our house. So today, while I was showing weakness, I agreed to cut the tree down. Rob went in to shower, I can in ten minutes later and was informed that Dan the tree man would be by in an hour and a half to cut down the tree. WOW. He works fast. He did assure me that this tree would be the last to go. You tell me if we made the right choice. . . .

Before. . .

And after. . . (the tree is still lying there--Dan cut it down one hour ago, so the view will improve soon. . .I hope)

What really amazes me is how much strangers get annoyed when you cut things down. Neighbors expressed concern when we cut the two trees down last December and just about a half hour ago a woman driving by came to a dead stop and stared with her jaw in her lap for a good thirty seconds before slowing rolling away. Should you really have to answer to your neighbors when it comes to your landscaping?

On a positive note, we have added a few things to the curb appeal. We painted the shutters black (Well, half of them. Right now they are half black and half green--perhaps not the best example of added curb appeal, but when they are done it will look fabulous.) We changed the exterior lighting and house numbers, we bought a new front door that is currently drying in the garage. We stained the outside a dark almost black and are painting the inside white. We took out the half dead azaleas in front and planted sweet box bushes that will eventually form a hedge. And we hung six hanging baskets from our porch--our porch has a built in drip system to water the hanging baskets. So some lovely things are happening around here, see. . . .

The middle one is of the sweet box in front of our house. I plan on planting agapanthus in front of it, but even the dwarf variety might get taller than the bushes are currently. I may have to wait until the bushes grow a little. Rob is calling. The tree needs clearing, so back to work I go! I will post pics of the new fabulous door when it goes up. Then all I will need are more plants, and the porch rails installed, and a few rocking chairs for the porch. . . . .

Diving Straight into Summer . . .

Two days ago it was in the fifties and rainy. . .Today, 82 and sunny! The girls came home from school begging to put on swim suits and play in the sprinkler. I said, "Sure, if it is over 80 degrees." (Thinking it wasn't--80 degrees is my cut off for outdoor water activities) But when the girls ran to look at the outdoor thermometer it read 81 degrees. So out came the sprinkler--or it would have if we could find it! So Hannah ran next door and came back with the neighbor's sprinkler and a little whale shaped kiddie pool. It is amazing the fun to be found in couple gallons of water. I think they were just tickled to be wearing swim suits. They each had a friend over and spent as much time lounging on their towels as they did wading in their pool. I can see summer now. . .suits, sunshine, Italian ices and loads of sunscreen. But I think we need a bigger pool!