Day 119 (4/29): Our new pet...Ice

Ice came home in a little clear cup with a lid that has a straw hole in the top. Colton named this creature Ice. It sleeps in a baby rice bedding. Colton watched it "hatch" from the larvae state as a science lesson. Wondering what is blessing our house yet?  

It is a beetle. A beetle that creeps his mother out. It feeds off bits of apples. I'm not sure how long these suckers live but I hope not as long as cats. I've read they are more active at night and I'm glad I sleep at night  because I'm sure that would creep me out even more to see it scurrying around that little cup with the hole in the lid.

So you're bound to see more posts about our new roommate Ice as he grows and turns into a jet black beetle.  I just hope he doesn't escape out of that hole! 

Day 118 (4/28): Cat and Mouse

I have two cats. My mom absolutely despises cats. I do love my cats but will not replace them when they are gone. They have quirky little habits. Cookie, pictured above, is a bulemic cat if that is even a cat disease. She eats and then she throws up....thus she is very skinny. She doesn't do it all the time but it is disgusting and that's one of the reasons why I won't miss them when they are gone. 

Wild Thing is just loud. She has to drink out of a bowl in the bathtub because she tips them over.  She likes to scoot them around and tip them over. She likes to do this in the middle of the night.  I've tried several different types of bowls - plastic, ceramic, glass - but they are all loud as they are being scooted around a bathtub in the middle of the night.  But my alternative is to have to clean up water every morning on the floor so I choose the bathtub. Now Wild Thing does have a unique pet trick. She fetches pony tail holders. You can throw them and she will bring them back to you and meow until you throw it again. She's an odd one I tell you!

Now where does the mouse come into play?  The one good thing that Cookie does is catch mice and she has once again blessed Colton's room with a present..a dead mouse.

The last mouse she gifted on his pillow and he was petting it in the middle of the night like it was one of his stuffed animals until he realized none of his stuffed animals have a tail. He screamed bloody murder and was up half the night in a petrified state.  This one was placed at the foot of his bed so no petting and no screaming. Ugh!  I hate mice but I love my cat for catching them.

Day 116 (4/27): Field Trip with 2nd Graders

I guess I was in need of a healthy dose of birth control so I signed up to go on my son's field trip. They were going to Rock Springs Ranch and I hadn't been back there since 4-H camp when I was about 12 or 13 years old. So I was kind of excited to see the old stomping grounds but still not excited about four 2nd grade classes combined! 

The bus ride was torturous and I could not wait to get off.  Those 2nd graders are loud!  They were shoved in like sardines with practically every seat holding 3 students except for those with adults in them. I kept on wondering..."Are we there yet?" because it was a 40 minute ride to Rock Springs if you had a vehicle that could go the highway speed limit but buses do not go that fast so it was a long loud ride.

There were 4 stations that we visited throughout the day.  At one station we learned why Rock Springs was named such with the spring water that was prevelant.  It was cold water and the students kept on getting real close to it as we walked across bridges and roads. I wondered if I would have to save anyone because but thank goodness that never happened.

One station they tried to make a human chair circle to correlate to how animals need all aspects of a habitat to make a whole living area - the space, shelter, food, and water.  It only lasted for about 3 seconds but they had fun trying.

One of my favorite things to watch was when the guide threw food into this stream to get the rainbow trout to come up to the surface. They splashed the students and they were so surprised to see them jump out of the water. The guide explained a bit about the fish and talked about their habitat. He also showed them watercress that was growing and mentioned how it only grew in fresh spring water.  I learned something too that day along with how I didn't want to be stuck on a bus with 60 loud second graders.



The teachers had the students play various games around the camp. One game involved them joining hands across the circle and then trying to undo their human knot.

One game had the students playing Team Rock-Paper-Scissors. The team had to all decide on one pose and then they challenged the other team.  Whoever won then had to chase the other team as in tag and if they caught them they joined their team. I was hoping and praying that all that running would tire them out and the bus ride home would be a bit quieter.

Another one of my favorite moments was out in the prairie habitat. The guide had the students kneel and then be quiet for a minute or two. He wanted them to listen to the sounds of the prairie. The silence was heavenly. Now you know why it was one of my favorite times - the silence. You could only hear the sound of the grasses "waving" in the high winds of the day.

Overall the trip was fun but there definitely needed to be more structured learning activities for the kids. It was good to see what had become of Rock Springs and it was funny to hear some of the things that students said. One student commented how students couldn't drink alcohol when the guide was talking about how we, as humans, need water in our habitat. Alcohol was definitely needed in my habitat after the long loud bus ride and the chaoticness of the field trip.

The other kids didn't fall asleep on the way home but Colton sure did. It was still loud and thus it was still a great dose of birthcontrol.

Day 115 (4/26): Got Crack?

Yes I am a fruitloop sometimes. I'm easily amused and try to find pleasure in all sorts of activities. Oh yeah...and if you are going to let it all hang out and I have my camera handy, I'm going to take a picture of it.
There were plenty of opportunities to snap a picture of CRACK at the spring football game.  You would think that these people would feel the breeze down their derriere but I guess not.  We teased Owen, a contractor, that he needed to get his spackle and start repairing all the cracks in the stadium.

And please if you ever see me with this much crack showing and I'm not purposely mooning someone, please tell me!

Day 114 (4/25): Sunset Zoo

The zoo was giving away rain barrels today to celebrate Earth Day.  And we know how I love FREE things!  Well it wasn't free because you had to pay admission to the zoo but I love Manhattan's zoo so I would have paid to go there anyways. Plus they were having bands all day and I wanted to hear Cloverton which is a local band gettting rave reviews and winning awards as an up and coming Christian group.  They were good but I had a hard time hearing the lyrics because the music was so loud.

This little red panda bear was adorable.  He was totally showing off for me. I got in front of the glass to take a picture as he was pacing by and then he hopped on the fence and started climbing up it.  He climbed all the way to the top by gripping those long fingernails over the bars and then fliipped around and climbed all the way down.

Australia area housed wallabies and a bird that I hadn't thought about in a long time - a kookaburra. It immediately made me sing "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, Merry Merry king of the bush is he". Some guy walking by even joined in. The tufts of hair above his eyes made me think about Andy Rooney's eyebrows as they were so bushy!

The gorillas were so much fun to watch. The one on the left took a huge tuft of grasses and then ate it up in the top of a treehouse like structure. The one on the right would put a bamboo shaft into what the docents called the ant hill.  This rock had holes drilled in it and zoo personnel would put yogurt and other yummy treats for the gorillas. When they stuck their bamboo or stick in it they would lick whatever goody had gummed on.

Peacocks roam in the open at Sunset Zoo and we were lucky to catch one showing his feathers. We watched the flamingos and just really couldn't imagine being able to sleep standing on one leg.

When we first walked by the gorillas we knew there was a new baby but we couldn't see it as the mother kept on hiding her. We decided to go back by on our way out of the zoo and I'm so glad we did.  You'll have to excuse the mother's backside staring you in the face but the baby was out and playing. She didn't stray too far from the mother and was adorable. I can't wait to watch how it has grown on our next zoo trip!

Day 113 (4/24): Are you ready for some football?

I am ready for some football now after watching KSU's Spring Game. I wasn't really looking forward to going to the game because in the past most of the spring games are pretty boring.  The best part is usually the tailgating. The weather was cloudy and dreary all day long so that didn't help in my lack of interest in going to the game. 

The band was split into purple and white squads just like the football players. They played Wabash Canonball and many of the other spirit songs and my interest started to peak a bit more.

The guys came out and my interest grew a bit more. Plus the smell of the kettle corn was wafting down into the stands.  It smelled so good and I remembered how good it tasted and had to get a bag of the purple and white sugary crispy wonderness (yes that will be a word at some point in time...google is now a word in the dictionary so who knows)!

So I had my popcorn and the Cats were playing.  It was turning out to be a great night.  They were much better than I thought and we saw some exciting plays. Coffman, playing for the purple team, completed almost 85% of his passes. He looked pretty good and Daniel Thomas looked great.  Thomas had put on some weight and looked patient but yet thoughtful as he weaved through the defense.

Willie was in prime form as he pumped up the crowd.  He even did a line dance with some of the band members and cheerleaders.

One of the funniest things to watch at the game was when the players had to change their jerseys from purple to white or white to purple.  It took 4 - 5 of the assistants to help the players get in and out of their jerseys.  I kept on thinking of those jokes like, "How many blondes does it take to change a lightbulb?" It was so funny to watch them pull and jerk and push and prod like they were giving birth trying to get those jerseys on and off.

Josh Freeman was at the game and took time to take pictures and sign autographs with fans. I like that he has a Royals hat on with his purple shirt.

Bill Snyder and the Wildcats gave us something to look forward to in the Fall.  They looked disciplined for the most part and most important - promising!  I can't wait for football season to start! :)

Day 112 (4/23): KSU Fundraising

Mark took me to the Catbacker Auction for the Ahearn Fund.  The theme was Cruisin with the Wildcats and for $5 you could buy a ticket for a raffle for a cruise.  I have always wanted to go on a cruise so I was willing to donate big in order to win that cruise.  OK my idea of big is $20 but I got 6 tickets to throw into the bucket.

The auction was held at Bramlage and it was packed!  In fact, there were 680 people there and only 380 places to sit and most of those were reserved. There was a silent auction with some really cool stuff. We fell in love with this table made of limestone with the old Willie and powercat heads etched in it.  I took a picture of the stained glass in hopes that Uncle Jim could make one like this. 

The meal was a buffett at different Ports of Call. There was a whole hog, red beans and rice and jerked chicken at the Jamaicain port.  Smoked mozzerella fondue and lasagne could be found at the Italian port. The American cuisine consisted of these little bratwursts and hamburgers and little buns which were darling looking.  I didn't visit the mexican port but I saw tons of people with tacos on their plates.  The bar had umbrella drinks and Landshark. It was pretty good food and drink!

After the silent auction, there were over 40 items that could be bid upon such as custom bar chair commemorating the basketball season and dinners with senators and KSU leaders. The first item went for $2500 and I knew that this was too rich for my pocketbook. So we just watched.  Jacob Pullen stopped by Frank Martin's table to nominate him to donate for the technology upgrades for the athletes.

Kendrick, from The Little Grill, played some island music during dinner and the silent auction.

And of course there were other basketball players at the festivities.  So you know I'm going to include a picture of my favorite, Jamar!  He signed autographs and I saw him sneaking a lot of sugary treats off the dessert table.  I think we share the same sweet cravings!

The night was a huge success raising over $260,000. One of the live-bid items was a dinner with Frank Martin cooking some cuban food.  You could have 10 people over at his house with him cooking!  He told the crowd, "If you think I'm animated on the court, you ought to see me in the kitchen!"  He also mentioned that he could stare at a pot and it would do what he wanted it to do!  :)  He's so funny!  This item went for $17,500. The auctioneer asked Frank if he would do it again and he said yes!  So they sold another dinner for 10 for another $17,500. When I do win the lottery and am able to get my dream home taken care of, I'm definitely going to donate to get some great experience like this one!  And it even went a third time so over $50,000 went to the Ahearn fund just from a dinner with Frank.  Those lucky rich donors!

There was first class service out to the car when we were ready to leave.  They drove you out to your car in a golf cart. The boys had a blast!