Brrrr! Brrrrr! Brrrrr!  Alabama does this to me EVERY YEAR. The temperatures get into the 70's, with Springtime blossoming all around and mama gets the FEEVA!!!  The kids were running through the sprinkler just last week! Then it happens. A drop in temp and a FROST. Yuck. Brrrrrrr! I'm cold! My blood is sooo not Minnesotan anymore!

While the temps were GREAT, however, we got a lot done... namely, MY GARDEN!! Whoop! Whoop! I'm so excited to have a BIG one in my YARD that I can work on for YEARS! Rob borrowed a friends tiller and we broke ground about two weeks ago. As Rob handled the beast, my job was to hurl any rocks that I found over into the woodline.  Let me just tell you that we have a LOT of rocks, and they aren't pebbles either! My arms haven't seen that sort of exercise since boot camp!  Furthermore, we borrowed the neighbors truck to haul two loads of compost from the cotton gin. Rob unloaded the first, seamlessly, in about 45 minutes. Since I bothered him for "another" load, the deal was that I was to unload it. I excitedly agreed.  Let me stop right here. Has anyone reading this ever unloaded an ENTIRE TRUCK LOAD OF COMPOST before?????  That was NO JOKE.  I was smoked within 10 minutes!!  What took Rob 45 minutes took me 2.5 hours!!!  Yep. Haven't used those muscles in a while either!  LOL Good thing I'm motivated to lose the TEN pounds that I gained while I was in Ohio!!

I've also become quite the dumpster diver! You should hear the screech of my tires when I see a nice pile of carpet refuse!  I don't know... the Vietnamese guy used it for weed control when we planted that big garden at Redstone and it worked for him! I won't hold out for the Yard of the Month sign this year! Ha!  Our compost is a sight too. I can't believe I'm even posting this get up. This has been Chewy's escape route several, several times, so we just keep reinforcing it with what we have. I chuckle every time I walk around the corner.

Other spring jobs have included pulling up Iris bulbs, Canna Lily bulbs and splitting hostas. Out of 9 plants, I think I got over 30 hosta plants!  I lined the house, gave some away, and have yet some to plant! I trimmed the Crepe Myrtles and the boxwoods, and mulched leaves for the beds... jobs that truly don't bother me.

Unless, of course, it's too cold to work on it and finish it!  Here today, I looked at all the clippings on the ground that need to be picked up, the wheel borrow full of hostas to be planted and bush sized weeds to be pulled. I'm like a cat clawing at the door! Let me out!  Alas. God always works on my patience.  (Notice the stained garage in the picture below!?)

Amidst all this fun chaos, Rob's Aunt visited us with her new beau. It was such a nice visit and refreshing to see such sweet, new love. Both are widowed and in their 70's and we were so happy to see them happy!  Lowell is a true grandpa in the making and played earnestly with all of the kids. They loved him!

Aunt/Grandma Jeanne used to be a school teacher and enjoyed listening to the girls read every night. And Lowell was a GREAT asset to me while home schooling one afternoon! He entertained John the entire time! Where can I buy one of him!?

They also brought gifts, took us out for dinner and then MADE us dinner... um.. can you guys come back!!?? 

Another exciting thing that happened in the last couple of weeks was John's new sleeping cove, cave, closet... whatever you want to call it! It was going to be a duck blind, but has morphed into more of a landscape motif. He has slept peacefully in it for the last two nights and for naps and has loved it!

Hmmm.. what else! Gosh! There is so much more! We are "happenin" in THIS house!

Rob has become quite the home school contributor this past month! He first taught a class on fishing to all the boys in our home school group.  He went all out and got Gander Mountain to sponsor it and they ended up donating over $300 worth of fishing gear to the boys! They each got their own rod and lots of tackle. Rob taught them how to tie on the hook and bobber, how to hook a minnow, a worm, and a cricket, and then how to clean a fish! He had enough fish for each boy to try if they wanted. I thought it was very cool of him, especially since Bette wasn't technically in the class. She just hung out and watched her daddy to his thang!

He then provided an outstanding field trip to the EOD Bn! He had laid out a bunch of ordnance, had a video to watch, showed off the robot, let the kids actually hold (and pose) with several different kinds of weapons, demonstrated xray techniques, let people try on the bomb suit and let us check out the humvees. The kids also got to walk away with a bunch of National Guard paraphernalia from the recruiters!  Again. He did great!

I love that picture of Shari, our home school leader, being "man handled" by the guys. She said that she didn't mind one bit!

Another cool home school trip was to the Waste to Energy plant. I don't think the kids were as fascinated as I was! It was nice to learn that ALL of our trash in Huntsville and surrounding areas goes to this plant, where all the trash (besides tires, and appliances) are burned. That burned trash is turned into steam and that steam provides all the energy of Redstone Arsenal!  Only 10% of the trash is not recycled and that is the ash. The ash is so inert that it seeps nothing into the ground when it goes into the landfill. WOW!  Why doesn't every city have one of these?!!  Money, of course. I'm glad our city has it! Yay, Huntsville!

The Utility company returned to give us some more firewood. They cut down another tree in our yard and a few more big ones in neighboring yards!  Time to rent the wood splitter again! Our goal this summer is to get enough wood split to last me the following winter (or two) while Rob is deployed.  I think we're good!

And lastly, John has learned how to drive!! Look out! 

Well, you should have enough to fill your "S" cups! I hope this shows why I don't update as often anymore! We are a fast-paced, drama-filled, little family in the country! Life IS an adventure.