Riddle Me This

A motorcycle
A horse trailer
A truck
The Rocky Mountains
A cruise ship


What do the pictures have in common? How are a motorcycle, a horse trailer, a truck, a cruise ship, and the mountains related? I will tell you. Don't laugh.........

Randy and I love to ride the motorcycle. We have always wanted to ride it in the mountains. We love camping. We have a camper trailer(hurricane escape pod), but you can not take the camper and the motorcycle at the same time. So....Randy came up with the idea of putting the motorcycle and our camping stuff in the horse trailer, pulling it to Colorado, and camping there. We will actually sleep in the horse trailer with the ramp to get the bike into the trailer serving as our mattress foundation. I have to step on a milk crate to get up in it! I know you might be laughing at this idea, but it is going to work for us. We will be staying in a remote campground around Silverton, Colorado. We will get to ride the bike in the mountains and camp as well. Bizzare? Maybe, but I think it will be great. I love the mountains of Colorado. There is a peace there.

Now, how does a cruise ship play into this? Last year, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking an Alaskan cruise tour. The boat part of the trip was on the Coral Princess. Randy has dubbed the horse trailer the Corral Princess. So, now you know what a motorcycle, a horse trailer, a truck, the mountains, and a cruise ship have in common. Please wish us happy trails!

Family Ties

Liam on his 4wheeler. He thinks Randy is the man, although he calls both him and the real 4wheeler Papaw!
Baby Daniel....We had 3 Daniels in the house, baby Daniel, his father, and our Daniel
Miami eating a snow cone. While watching Randy put gas into the 4wheeler, she became alarmed that he would give it too much gas...she knows that is what caused Morgan's accident! 4 year olds are very literal!
Morgan eating a snow cone. She had a little accident on the 4wheeler. She was driving, but Daniel was on with her. She gave it too much gas....well the scratches on her face are superficial. She had a pretty good gash on her hand though. She is a trooper and was back on the 4wheeler the next day.
Jade and girls

Within and hour of getting back from Tennessee last Saturday, Sarah and Liam arrived. Jade and family got here about 1 that night. We had a full house until yesterday afternoon including my 9 year old niece and our son Jacob sometime during the last few days. We visited, rode the 4wheeler, had a 4wheeler accident, ate snow cones, ate chicken, ate hamburgers, ate strawberry shortcake, ate pancakes, ate brownies, ate..........................We enjoyed having everyone. We know we are blessed with our family. We are also blessed to have enough bathrooms to accommodate all!

Bobcat!!!!

I did not take this picture....I googled!


We were sitting at the breakfast nook finishing supper this evening, and Daniel said,"Is that cat larger than normal?" We looked to where he was pointing, and there stood a bobcat in our back yard. It was about 100 to 150 feet from the house. We tiptoed and got binoculars and the camera. We did not get a picture or video, even after going outside. Randy did spot it again once we were outside. It was a neat thing to see, but creepy as well. I guess that is life in the woods here on Bearhead Creek.

Happy Father's Day!

My dad is a dad, a grandfather, a great grandfather, and the best jelly maker around!
Happy Father's Day to all!

Home Again Home Again Jiggy Jig

I am back home after a week in Great Smoky National Park with over 20 science teachers. I had a great time, and in spite of myself learned a great deal. It is beautiful up there, and it is HOT hot here. Welcome back to southwest LA.

Wednesday

My new dream home! I could do a summer in these mountains in that cabin....with running water, electricity, and a computer!

Doesn't this mushroom look like a butterfly?

This is just a couple of pictures I took today. Tomorrow we go to the higher elevations. I know it will be great, although we will be hike, hike, hiking!

Thunderstorm in the mountains tonight. There was a peace to it that I liked .

Tennessee Tuesday

I am so serious pinning and labeling my beetles.
We hiked to this waterfall yesterday.
This is our dorm. I am on the top right.

Busy day today, but not as tiring. We dug in the dirt and under rocks for beetles and other bugs. Two guys from LSU came and gave a lecture on them and then led our exploration outside. We then pinned and labeled some beetles they brought with them from Texas and Missouri. We could not kill the beetles caught in the park. After lunch, we were in a stream catching microinverbrates....little bugs. We also got in the water again to measure the velocity and volume of the stream. After supper, we listened to a BORING(at least to me) lecture and power point on lichens. I did not enjoy it at all, but some people did. I am having a good time. It is very structured, and we stay busy.

Tennessee Tired....

Alright folks, I left my camera in the room and I am too tired to walk over and get it to post pictures. We took a hike to some falls this morning. It was one mile up and back, but those were mountain miles. Surely those count at least double! We walked some more on a scavenger hunt type thing, and then walked even more to identify seventeen different trees. I am definitely Tennessee tired! The last thing on the agenda tonight is to watch bats and lightening bugs!

More From Tennessee

Is that beautiful or what? If that was just on our property!
Some kind people took our picture.
Big ol bear.........................

We checked into the Tremont Institute today. We actually get started with the real thing tomorrow with a hike to some falls. It is so pretty up here, but actually warmer than I thought it would be. We left Pigeon Forge and spent a better part of the day looking at antiques or chain saw art. We checked in here about 3:30 and got settled in. The pictures are ones we took today before we got here.

Greetings From The Volunteer State

Beautiful old barn
It looks like a postcard, doesn't it? I can't take credit for this picture. Quenna took it.
Deana and I on the rocks.



We put in a full day today...shopping and shopping and shopping. There are a lot of outlets up here, but we did commune with nature as you can see from the pictures. We report to the Tremont Institute tomorrow at 3, then the fun begins with science. I will share more later.

Back in January Randy begin making us a walking path. First it was just across a pasture and a small loop in the woods. He added a little to it each weekend. Actually, little is an understatement. He made a path through the back of our property. We walked religiously January through about April. Since April we have not been as faithful, although the past week I have done well by walking in the morning. Anyway, I think Randy did an awesome job with the path.

What's going on.....

Now that I have started this blog, I feel obligated to keep something new on it. My life is just not that interesting...

This past weekend we bought 100 pounds shrimp. We split it with Randy's brother and wife, so we actually only had 50 pounds to deal with. They are huge shrimp, so it was definitely worth the effort. I grilled some on Monday. It is great to live in a state with such wonderful food. I love shrimp fixed any way....

I had a workshop Monday on using promethean boards in the classroom. Those boards are really great. A promethean board might also be called a white board, a smart board, or an active board. It is just another teaching tool. I would like to call myself an old fashioned teacher as far as discipline goes, but I fully accept the new technology needed to teach our video enhanced students. Our kids are not old fashioned!

Yesterday I had recital practice duty with my niece, Skylar. My sister teaches in Deweyville, and the high school is still in session this week. I agreed to take Skylar to practice. She had practice from 9 til 11 and then another one at 1. It was fun to sit and watch dancing again. I did it for 15 years with Sarah. Many of the 3rd graders there said,"Mrs. Brooks, I didn't know Skylar was your granddaughter."

Today, I have another workshop(grouping in reading). It is only 4 hours, but is in Lake Charles. It was not a have to like on Monday. Another teacher said,"I'll go if you will go." We are getting paid, but I am questioning my eagerness in this.

The rest of the week and summer is mine on my time. I do want to get my things moved into my new classroom, then not darken the doors at that school for a month. I am ready to feed birds and squirrels, water flowers, and I have not been to Hobby Lobby in months!

Shrimp...another reason to have a generator ready during storm season.