A Little April Foolishness

Talk about April foolishness, this snow that is keeping my daffodils company is very foolish.
Actually, we woke up to this snow on Sunday morning. So it was early April foolishness.
I took these pictures on Sunday afternoon at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Most of the snow had melted by then.
This picture is set up so that you can see our neighbors house to the east. What I really want you to focus on is how well my tulips are doing.


Now for some real April Fools silliness. Read the following and try to figure out what is being described.

O proud left foot, that ventures quick within
Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,
A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.
The Hoke, the poke -- banish now thy doubt
Verily, I say, 'tis what it's all about.

This next bit of poetry are the lyrics to a song "Rudy's Big Adventure" if you want to hear the composer singing the song go to Cindy Mangsen Rudy's Big Adventure on your internet. Her singing it is really very funny.

Rudy is a cat of silken fur and suave demeanor
But his intellect is not the very best
On the night of which I speak we had finished up our dinner
And my husband Rich was clearing our repast
He threw the salmon in the sink, then turned his gaze for just a blink
And then he hollered and I turned to him aghast
The cat has caught his head in the disposal
The salmon skin was just the bait to lure him to insinuate
His head in the Insinkerator, Rudy's in the clink
I gathered up my wits and I slathered on some Crisco
and a little dab of Johnson's baby suds
I was thinking I could grease him up and slide him from the trap
But the portly little body wouldn't budge.
Then Rudy's brother Lowell began to nip and lick and howl
At his sibling who was swimming in the sludge
The cat has caught his head in the disposal
Who can you call up late at night to ask for help with such a plight?
Your plumber, sure, he'll set it right. Dave will save the day!
Dave was glad to talk Rich calmly through the fine points of
Disposal deconstruction, but we failed to free the cat
And 1-800-Insinkerator won't respond on Sunday night,
No matter what they tell you in the ads
We resorted to the digits of the desperate, 911,
And I settled in to have a little chat
My cat has caught his head in the disposal.
Don't worry ma'am, we'll take this is on, we'll send Officer Mike & Officer Tom,
If they can't handle it, no one can. Help is on the way!
The cops arrived at midnight, cat lovers every one,
And they surveyed the situation in a second
Soon Rich and Mike and Tom were huddled underneath the sink
With a tiny saw to cut the flange on Rudy's neck and
I sat with Rudy on the brink, breathing deep so's not to think
Of the grinding of the saw blade in the depths
The guys exposed the guts of the disposal
And Rudy's face appeared to us, the visage that's so dear to us,
But he wasn't out of danger 'cause his neck was in the ring.
They couldn't cut the flange without endangering the cat,
So the next step was to lift the kitchen sink.
Officer Mike has got a little plumbing business on the side,
And he set to work as quick as you could think
The guys were having quite a time, capping off the plumbing lines,
By one A.M. the pipes were all unlinked
The cat was still encased in the disposal.
They turned the sink up on its side so head and body could align,
But still to budge he was not inclined. Rudy's in a bind.
The cops had done all they could do, but Rudy's paws were turning blue,
He had to see a doctor right away
Mike knew about a clinic with an all-night vet to visit
And he said that he could lead us to the place
So Rich got in the driver's seat, I crawled in back with the kitchen sink
And Rudy and the disposal on my lap
As we took off, I thought I'd comfort Rudy with my touch,
And I reached around so he could smell my hand
And that loving little tabby chomped down on my finger badly
And he clamped it in his jaws and held it fast.
I bowled aloud in pain & Rich pulled over in a panic,
"What's the matter? Are you okay?" I answered "No,
The cat has got his jaws around my pinkie"
I knew I would survive the bruise, we pulled again behind the cruiser
Racing down the avenues searching for the vet
The cop pulled over in a parking lot behind a church
We pulled beside him, and Rich said "Mike, where's the vet?"
And the officer responded "Who is Mike, and who are you
And what's the reason you've been tailing me tonight?"
Rich pointed to the back seat where I grimly smiled & gnashed my teeth
And once again my saga did relate
My cat has caught his head in the disposal.
Our third policeman wasn't busy, "I'll lead you the vet," says he,
And there was Mike, all in a tizzy, "Where the heck were you?"
We carried Rudy and the sink and the disposal in,
And we were glad to be received without a smirk
Rudy's temperature and oxygen were low, he was in shock,
And the doctor and the staff went right to work
I couldn't help but cringe when they stuck in the syringe
And the pudgy little body slumped inert
The cat was slithered out of the disposal
They lobed his neck with KY jelly, pulled his greasy body til he
Popped out of his collar and was free from sink at last!
The crew sprang into action, IV fluids were attached
And little socks and blankets warmed him in his bed,
Hot water bottles were applied, a blow-dryer to warm
The punky spike of fur upon his tawny head
Rich and I got home at 4 AM, sipped martinis, went to bed,
Awakened by a newsman with a query: "Do you have
A cat who caught his head in a disposal?
The blotter the policemen keep says something about a kitchen sink
And a cat who clearly didn't think. How's Rudy, by the way?"
The story spread through throughout the town & traveled all the world around
But fame has not affected Rudy's thinking
Our new disposal has a cover, and I know I find it odd
That Rudy still is seen to prowl around the brink
You would imagine he'd recall with every shiver of his soul
That magic evening he adorned the kitchen sink
The cat who caught his head in the disposal
The night that Rudy was detained a thousand bucks went down the drain
And the stalwart vet can now exclaim he's seen the kitchen sink

The next bit of April Foolishness is called Why Women Live Longer Than Men



















This last bit is from the comedian Jim Gaffagin. I picked this out for Rachel because she loves bacon.

I wanted to quickly respond with answers to "Our Randomness".

1 Seth is self conscious about the size of his ears. He thinks they are too small.

2 Both Rachel and I believe that people should read Terry Pratchett. Some advice, don't start with the early ones. Try the titles in the middle.

3 Maurie loves having Kleenexes wherever he goes. He can get really upset if tissues are not handy.

4 Seth like to add strange things to his cooking. Steak sauce and tabasco are two of his favorites.

5 The picture of the Savior that I received from my visiting teachers at Christmas bothers Maurie because it is on the kitchen table, and the eyes follow you. I think it is a good thing and reminds me not to over eat.

6 I like West Wing. Maurie recently surprised me with all the DVDs.

7 Rachel thinks that no one should sing along if they don't know the lyrics.

8 I however, think in an opposite fashion.

9 Seth is starting to eat some fruits and vegetables. Not a lot, but some.

10 The best part of Seth's day is when he is with his friends.

11 Maurie hates the long commutes back and forth to work.

12 Rachel loves getting together with the geeks on Wednesday. She especially loves Rack Band.

13 I love driving home. Anytime.

14 I write lists and cross the jobs out as I accomplish them.

15 Rachel has left me in the dust and reads a copious amount of books.

16 I hate cleaning up.

17 Again, both Rachel and I are surprised by how much we are like our mother's.

18 Maurie is the workaholic and I love him for it.

19 Seth just wants to have fun. It is what he is all about.

20 Maurie has the funny sayings.

I don't think these answers will surprise anyone too much, but it gives me the chance to let you know a little bit about us.

Spring has Sprung

One week ago I was so pleased to find these little green sprouts making their way up through the wood chips in my front yard. It was the first day of working in the yard since last fall when we closed the yard down.

Here are some more daffodils coming up after the long cold winter.


This is the same flower bed three days later. They are really coming up fast.

More of the three day later shots.

And finally, this is the progress made in one week. Things are happening fast out there. We have worked in the yard for two Saturdays now and I feel like anything is possible. This year we could stay in front of the weeds. We could get our cold weather vegetables in before it turns hot. We could keep the flowers in the window boxes watered. Yes, in March I look ahead at the season and our yard can be wonderful. I want to be optimistically based in reality. Well, for now I am ahead of the weeds. It's too cold for the cold weather vegetables, so I'm alright as far as that is concerned and of course nothing has been planted in the window boxes so I'm on top of that. I'm feeling quite cheered.


This is a larger glimpse of the daffodils in the front yard. I am completely charmed by daffodils. I love that they come early in spring and they are so bright and golden. I also love that they multiply so easily and they just get better and stronger.

Another sign of spring is that all the local apple orchards get pruned back. These apple trees are on the side of the road that Rachel travels on to get to college. The trees get a cut back to such a point that a casually observer would say it was too much. But, not so.

I wish these were better shots, but you can see by all the limbs on the ground how much they trim back. It was fun to see them trimming in the morning and then again in the afternoon to see how much they had accomplished. I took this pictures from inside the car as Rachel was driving along.

Here is a picture of Seth working hard in the front yard cleaning out a flower bed. Working in the yard is no where near his favorite thing to do, but the weather has been warming up and it felt good to be outside and clearing all the old leaves and clutter out of the beds. Even Seth thought so.

This is a pictur of Elder Sonnenberg. He is from Washington state and has been a member of the church for two years. He has been on his mission for a little over one year. We love him much.

This is his companion Elder Atwood who is from Orem Utah. He's kinda goofy looking, but a real hard worker. He is the youngest of nine children and very skinny. We love him too.

There are so many things going on right now. Maurie has been very, very busy with his work for Abbott. He has a deliverable tomorrow and Tuesday and he is going a little crazy getting ready for it. He has not been home for a week and he has been putting 14, 16, 18 hour days trying to pull everything together. He stays at the Motel 6 in Waukegan, Illinois and he calls a couple of times a day. We will see him Tuesday night for sure. Abbott loves his work and has renewed his contract another whole year. We are very blessed and happy. They have also upped his salary and that has pleased him to no end.

The kids are happy and busy. Rachel is doing well in school. She is on spring break this week and is going to start looking for a job. Her sister Kate has offered her employment as a nanny for the summer, but Rachel has tended the boys many times and wants to look elsewhere first. Her visiting teacher's husband works part time at "Fun Fair", a local bowling alley/roller rink and says they are always looking for skaters to work the rink so she is going to apply there. She loves to roller skate. Seth and I have spring break next week and he has already been hired by a good friends mom to help clean their yard and take down an old fence. She said she would pay him and take him to the Wisconsin Dells for two days. She loves the good influence that Seth has on her son. The son's name is Eric Lapin and he is Jewish. He splept over last weekend and went to church with us in the morning. He thought church was nice and was a little curious and so we were very surprised when we were leaving for church this morning and Seth got a text from Eric saying he was at church waiting for us. His Mom had driven him there to attend church and be with good kids. So we had Eric with us again this week and we are very hopeful that this may develop into something. Dare we say conversion. Maybe a little too early, but we have the Mom's support and Eric loves being with Seth and the other boys from church. Seth already introduced him to the missionaries.

I have enjoyed reading all the randomness from family. So here are a few random things about our family. Try to figure who they could apply to.

1 I think my ears are too small.

2 I think everyone should read Terry Pratchett books. A good one to start with is "Guards Guards".

3 I feel there should be full tissue boxes in every room because of my allergies.

4 I like to add untried ingredients to my cooking. Tonights dinner spaghetti, chili, cream cheese and a secret ingredient.

5 We have a picture of the Savior in our kitchen and it bothers me because I feel he is watching me eat.

6 I enjoy the old TV series West Wing.

7 I feel if you don't know the lyrics then you shouldn't sing along.

8 I feel that lyrics are superfluous and if you know the melody then you should sing along, and do it loudly.

9 I'm learning slowly to eat a more varied diet.

10 I think that the most important part of my day is getting to hang with my friends.

11 I think that the least enjoyable part of my day is driving.

12 I think that the best day of the week is Wednesday when I attend games club.

13 I think the best time of the day is coming home after work.

14 I like to make work lists.

15 I am the biggest reader in the family.

16 I have never made a meal that was so good that I enjoyed cleaning up afterwards.

17 I'm surprised when I realize that I'm like my Mom.

18 I am a workaholic.

19 I just want to have fun.

20 I have funny sayings, like "Is this the person to whom I'm Speaking?" and "Your children were all born naked."