On the Front Porch

On the first day, God created the dog and said, sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this I will give you a life span of twenty years.

The dog said, "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

And God said that it was good.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God again said that it was good.

On the third day, God created the cow and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed it was good.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But the human said, "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service. If you are looking for me I will be on the front porch.

Babysitting & Power Washing

A week ago tonight, I babysat for 5 kids. We had them over to our house and used our fire pit again. We had hot dogs cooked over the fire and smores for dessert. 

Dad did most of the hot dog cooking :)

Although, Ella did some too :)

Miss Lena is way too cute! Even with ketchup on her face :)

Abram didn't want his picture taken so he hid under the table, but I got a picture anyways ;)

Saturday, we borrowed our friends power washer and did the house and inside the breezeway. This is how clean our front steps were

I did some of the power washing and it was kind of fun because you could actually tell you were doing something! {guess that means our house was dirty ;)}

Rockville FFA Welcome Freshmen Picnic

This past Wednesday the Rockville FFA had their Welcome Freshmen Picnic/Silent Auction. Since my brother is a senior and he is the President of the FFA, I skipped my very boring History of Design class, and went to the picnic!

They had a pumpkin carving contest

Silent Auction

Giving Tree

After the Silent Auction, the FFA has a meeting. The advisor and officers walk in and stand in the front. Then someone very enthusiastically introduced each one. As he would call their names, the person would walk to their position in the auditorium.

Saying the FFA pledge (totally made that name up!)

Mr. President

The Reporter and I :)

4 Town Parade & Hike up Soapstone

3 1/2 weeks ago was the 4 Town Fair and Parade. 

Ellington High School Marching Band and Color Guard. 

Some lady giving my great Aunt a sunflower. Mom got one too. :)

Kloter Farms and the Ice Cream Barn

After the parade, I hiked up Soapstone Mountain with a couple of girls. The girl in the flowered shirt is from New York. She came down for the weekend.

Andy, Mom, & Tom

In 2007, my brother had gotten t-shirts at the 4-Town Fair for my two cousins that said:

"If you think I'm cute you should see my Aunt Lynne"

Shortly after that, my Uncle and Aunt had a tractor pull at their house for the younger boys. Andy and Tom changed into them part way through the day. After Andy put the shirt on, he went on the tractor and pulled towards us.

Pretty much everyone knew about it except my Mom. 

As Andy was coming towards us, my Mom could see the part of the shirt that says "If you think I"m cute". She said to me, "I have to see what the rest of Andy's shirt says." 

And now my Mom will type the next part :)

As Andy got closer I could see that the rest said  "you should see my Aunt Lynne". I couldn't believe it. But the thing is everyone else knew about these t-shirts except me. So they were all watching me to see my reaction.

Now I will take over the typing again :)

A couple weekends ago, my other brother had the brothers over for a wiener roast. Andy and Tom came and they had the shirts on. While we were at the table getting our toppings for our hot dogs  Andy unbuttoned is outer shirt a little so you could see the shirt. Once again Mom was surprised! I think we were all surprised that they still fit!

 2007

2012

Tom and Andy grew a little bit :)