Who Says School's Out???

I don't think it's fair. I faithfully do my school-work for six months of the year, and no sooner do I get out of school in early spring, then I start learning things full speed ahead again! There should be some kind of law against learning things during the summer, or even after school is done for the day during the fall and winter.

The other night I came across the Sign Language Alphabet in an old Boy Scout hand-book. I spent the next ten minutes learning all the letters that I didn't already know. And I've spent a lot of time since then spelling words using the Sign Language Alphabet. The Alphabet isn't very useful if you don't know any real sign language, but I enjoy it.

I started to clean out my top dresser drawer a few nights back, and learned all sorts of things. My top dresser drawer is filled to over-flowing with everything anybody could ever want (and not want). Whenever anyone around here wants something, they come to my dresser to look for it. I'd be able to survive with just my top dresser drawer for quite a while. I like to joke that in the case of a fire, I'd just grab my dresser drawer and run.
So, what did I learn by starting to clean it out? I learned that I had two dollars of loose change in the bottom of the drawer, and I also learned where the hair-brush, CD's, book, knitting needle, candies, pens, and cat comb that I had been searching for for weeks had all disappeared to. Mom is always telling me to clean out that drawer, and I probably should finish cleaning it sometime soon. But I'm afraid that as soon as I clean it, the house will burn down.

I also recently learned (much against my will) how to make a large surface ALMOST perfectly level. Have you ever spent an entire day pushing a buzz-saw, which is attached to numerous boards, levers, clamps, and screws, through two inches of rock-hard clay? I have. It isn't very fun, but it sure gets the ground level in a hurry. Of course, it also burns the buzz-saw out in a hurry. By the time we had leveled all but a foot of the surface for our new swimming pool, our old saw was smelling terrible and the motor was putting on a spectacular show of green and white lights. It died about five minutes after these symptoms began. So I not only learned a very unique way to level a surface, I also learned how to kill a buzz-saw. Oh yes, and during that same day I learned how to buzz-saw into an electrical line. I'm just glad the line wasn't for anything very important. We have to dig a ditch and re-run that electrical line sometime next week, so, I will probably be learning about electrical lines and ditches pretty soon.

Last night I learned that it is not a good idea to fall asleep outdoors on a hammock at eight-thirty at night. You wake up feeling pretty sore. You wake up covered in mosquito bites. And, when your family doesn't realize you aren't inside and locks the doors on you, you feel pretty sad and lonely knowing nobody even noticed your absence. As you sit on the front steps contemplating whose window to pound on first, it is very nice to suddenly get a brilliant idea. So, before you start pounding on windows, check the back door, and just hope that it is unlocked. I learned lots during that experience.

Several weeks ago I learned that it is possible to mistake clothes-pins shifting in a basket for machine gun fire. When I admitted to Beka and Matthew that I had nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the clothes-pins, they thought it was hilarious. But I don't feel that it was a very stupid thing for me to do. After all, it had been a very long, stressful day, and my nerves were on edge. Or maybe it's just that Beka and I have been watching too many video clips about the Armed Forces. We already point to each hole in the ground as an IED crater, and note at any spot where the dirt or gravel has been disturbed as an insurgent weapons cache. Besides that, we spend too much time discussing UAV's and MRE's for our own good.

Here is what everybody else told me they have been learning lately.

Caleb has learned:

• how to shoot his gun with a scope.
• how to back-float in our pool.
• how to play Monopoly.
• how to roller-blade using his new, super-duper roller-blades.
• how to properly hang up clothes.
• never to read scary books before going to bed.
• how to make paper-clip sculptures.

Timmy has learned:

• how to drive Matthew's zero-turn mower.
• that when chicks are supposed to arrive within the next two days, hurry up and buy some chick feed.
• that you shouldn't point at garter snakes; it makes them go crazy.
• that good blue-bird houses are easy to make.
• how to make good lamb chops (cook them in water with beef base for a long time).
• how to play Monopoly.
• how NOT to teach a bird to talk.
• that 'The Great Brain' series by John D. Fitzgerald, the Janette Oke animal books, and do-it-yourself books are all good reading material.

Beka has learned:

• how to crack an egg with one hand.
• all about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer by reading Mark Twain's books.
• how to play 'Valse' by Frederic Chopin.
• how to make the very best pie-crust in the whole world.
• the dates of the wars.
• all about H. Norman Schwarzkopf by reading his auto-biography, 'It Doesn't Take A Hero'.
• how to play 20 Hannon piano exercises in a row, without stopping.

Matthew has learned (and as usual he was not being serious when he answered my questions):

• to never tell his little sister anything.
• that it is very cold around here.
• that, in fact, it is entirely too cold to work.

Mom has learned:

• all about Charles Goodyear.
• all about IVIG.
• all about calcium.
• how to boost sales at our stand.
• about the tax rates in Illinois.

Dad probably has learned some things too, but he was busy in his office and I didn't want to disturb him.

So, as you can see, we have all been very busy learning things. I especially, now that I think back, have been learning so much stuff that when I start school in the fall, I may just skip high-school and go on to college.

The Weekly Bible Verse

Job 24:16-17: In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. For all of them, deep darkness is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of the darkness.

The Weekly Poem

There really is no story behind this poem. I just felt like writing a poem the other day so I wrote one! Originally it was just the first and the last verses, but I decided the poem was too short and added the two middle ones. This is one of my favorite poems so far, even though I struggled over the third verse for so long I nearly threw the whole thing into my just-for-such-occasions trash can.

All Is Well

A crimson sky, a setting sun--
Another summer day is done.
Another day of play and toil.
We tossed the ball and tilled the soil.
I rest and just sweet twilight see,
And whisper, "All is well with me."

A silver sky, a rising moon--
Another night begun so soon!
Another night of peace for all
And quiet; just an owl call.
I rest and just sweet darkness see
And whisper, "All is well with me."

A darkened sky, the moon has gone--
The world now hails the coming dawn.
Another dawn of gentle hush;
Waiting for day's coming rush.
I rest and just sweet dawning see
And whisper, "All is well with me."

A rose-flushed sky, a rising sun--
Another summer day begun
Another day of work and song.
We'll work and sing the whole day long!
I rest and just sweet daylight see
And whisper, "All is well with me."

(© Copyright Rachel Aardsma, May 2008.)

Bits and Pieces

Lots has happened this week, keeping me very busy! It all started on Tuesday with Matthew turning a giant, wonderful, amazing 18!!! We had (for some wacky reason) a jelly bean themed home party for him. I made a very big card that had 18 colored-paper jelly beans on the front, each with a number up to 17 on it. In the middle of the chaotic-looking front cover was a giant blue jelly bean with a very large 18 on it. Inside we all signed our names and wrote the normal sentimental mush that ends up inside birthday cards.

A very tired Buddy apparently collapsed while playing ball! Photo by me.

Beka put together a jelly bean cake for him. I wanted something simple, so I suggested a very easy jelly bean cake. Beka made a lemon bundt cake, added cream cheese frosting, and then liberally sprinkled the whole cake with handfuls of jelly beans. It looked absolutely perfect with eight candles on top (we didn't have room for eighteen), and has to be one of the happiest birthday cakes I've seen. And the best part was that I didn't have to help make it and it only took Beka ten minutes to assemble. The down-side was that nobody ate much cake at the party. We were all too busy digging every single jelly bean out of the frosting and eating them.

Matthew received many nice gifts from us, and numerous cards and e-mails from friends and family. He's pretty spoiled, that boy. His friends at the dog-training club actually made him a cake and had everybody at the club sign a giant card. They threw a mini party during an event at the club Matthew attended the day before his birthday. So, I think he got enough attention to last him until next year.

Beka looks on as construction of continues. Photo by me.

Besides Matthew's birthday, we have had a little other excitement, too. Beka, Caleb, Timmy, and I spent the last several weeks leveling a spot in our no-two-inches-are-the-same-level yard for our new, very big swimming pool! We bought a new swimming pool this year, replacing the worn-out one we have used for the last several years. This new swimming pool is bigger, deeper, heaver, harder to set up, and much more fun! The only problem with the pool is that it needs to rest on level ground, which meant quite a bit of work for us. Beka and her slaves (beloved siblings, I mean) worked very hard to prepare a 24-foot circle of level ground for two or three weeks. Once that was done, we set up and began filling our pool, only to discover that the ground we had thought was level, actually wasn't very level. So, we partially disassembled and moved our pool, and began leveling the stupid ground all over again. Dad put his genius brain to work on an ingenious way to level the ground. He and Timmy rigged up an amazing contraption of a buzz-saw and boards and levels and clamps and screws and electrical tape, and then we were ready to start leveling! Dad, Beka, and I spent a day pushing/pulling the buzz-saw around and around in gradually widening circles, always keeping one eye on the attached level to make sure we were sawing off the right amount of clay or dirt. It worked pretty well, but was tiring, dusty work. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, had burned out our buzz-saw, chopped through an electrical line (my fault), and nearly leveled the whole surface. After our buzz-saw died, Matthew and a spade took over, and we quickly had the remaining ground level. We moved the pool back onto the surface, set it up, and began filling it again.

The buzz-saw contraption. Photo by me.

The filling part only lasted for a little while before we discovered a deep scratch about five inches long on the bottom of the rubber pool floor. We were losing water through the several holes in the scratch. After a long discussion and a series of brilliant ideas on the part of the emergency response team (Dad, Beka, and me), the scratch was fixed and we continued filling our pool. Now as I write, the pool is finished filling, and as soon as the weather warms up we can go swimming!!

A Word About The Weather

The temperatures tried to reach 90 this week as we labored on our pool project, but as soon as there was enough water in the pool to swim in, it became so cold none of us wanted to go outside! The weather continues to be favorable for growing early spring vegetables

"Dad, The Cows Are Out!"

Part Five

"Perhaps a relative died, or something like that," Victoria suggested, gently swinging the hammock back and forth.
"Or maybe somebody sent us a check for a million dollars, just because we are such a wonderful family." Jodi had to laugh at her own suggestion, but both girls were feeling a little desperate. It had been three days since a mysterious letter in the mail had caused Mr. and Mrs. Barnes to begin acting strange. Serious, all-night talks in the basement office, worried looks, long walks around the country, lots of phone calls and e-mailing...all this had the girls worried. Jacob, who had for a long time denied being worried at all, admitted that his parents were acting strange and mysterious.
"But I still say they'll tell us, as soon as we need to know," Jacob stated at each of the numerous conversations the three siblings had about the letter.
The letter dominated all discussions Jodi and Victoria had in public and private. And now, as they lay on the hammock together in the gentle dusk, they were once again trying their hardest to come up with a logical theory about it.
"Oh, I have it!" Jodi exclaimed, rocking the hammock harder with her foot. "Vic, I bet a fabulously rich uncle of ours died and left all his money to me! That's what the letter was!"
"Do we have any rich uncles?" Victoria wanted to know. Jodi looked crest-fallen.
"No, we don't." She admitted. "Maybe it was a rich great-uncle or something."
"Keep dreaming," Victoria replied. "With such a sweet, adorable person like me around, why would anybody leave their fortune to you?"
"We are getting off of the subject," Jodi announced. "And we still don't know what's going on with that letter."
"Victoria, Jodi!" At the sound of their names, the girls looked up to see Jacob hurrying across the lawn towards them.
"What is it, Jacob?" Jodi asked.
"I think Mom and Dad are going to tell us what the letter was all about!" Jacob exclaimed. "Mom said to gather everybody up for a family meeting!"
The girls jumped off the hammock together, and rushed with Jacob back towards the house.
"Did Mom tell you anything?" Victoria demanded. Jacob shook his head.
"No. She just said to get everybody into the living room."
"It sure took them long enough to get this over with." Jodi commented, slipping her shoes off outside the back door. "It's been three days. Whatever this letter is, guys, mark my words: it's serious."

It looked like Jodi was right as the family assembled in the living room for the family meeting. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes looked anxious and tired. Even the twins sensed the serious mood and sat quietly.
"Kids," Mr. Barnes began, sounding even more tired than he looked. "I'm afraid we have some bad news." Jodi and Victoria exchanged glances and simultaneously clasped hands, preparing themselves for the worst.
"Some of you may have noticed that, recently, your mother and I have not been very tuned in to what has been happening around here." There were nods from the anxious audience.
"Well, we have a good reason for that. Six days ago, I received a phone call from our bank, asking for verification of several accounts. I gave the verification, and forgot all about it until three days ago, when I received another call from our bank. They said that a complete withdrawal of all our money in the bank had been made and that they found this suspicious. Seeing as we had withdrawn no money at all since several weeks ago, an investigation was immedietaly started and we know now what the first phone call was all about. Kids, we've been scammed."

A Word Of Wisdom

I'm not sure if I have any lawyers who read my Weekly, but if there are any, here is some wisdom and a little humor from one of your own.

A while back, Timmy thought up a funny legal question that we all laughed at but none could answer. So when Matthew found himself sitting by a lawyer during an event at his dog-training club, he jumped at the chance to finally get an answer. He said to the lawyer,
"I have a question for you. A flea bites a dog, causing the dog to run into a hunter, who accidentally fires his gun and kills a cow. Now, who is responsible for the death of the cow?"
The lawyer thought for a moment and then replied,
"The hunter."
"Why is that?" Matthew asked, and the lawyer answered,
"Because the hunter is the only one with any money."