New Fence

Here is the fence Greg and the boys made last weekend. That's Elizabeth holding Woody (see the tail?) It is between the house and the shop to keep the puppy from running off. It's nice to be able to drive all the way back there and unload groceries by the kitchen. Yes I recovered the swing chair once but Tilly thought it looked like fun to strew batting all over the yard. I will do a new cover for it in the spring.

Fruit Trees

Anyone with fruit trees knows the joy of getting "free" fruit off of your own trees. It's a wonderful thing!! Here are some very un-artistic pictures of our lemons and Satsumas. If you live somewhere you can grown them, the Meyer Lemon trees are amazing.

Noises in the Woodpile

Ok no news on Indianapolis Indiana (sorry I thought it was Iowa earlier) for the Nationals, the kids are sleeping on the bus right now.

So Thursday night Greg says he hears something in the woodpile. I tell him he's hearing things and the neighbors in the back yard are messing with him. Nope, it's a kitten and a starving one at that. No mommy cat has been looking and so of course we are doing our best to fatten it up and find it a home. Fozzie has made it very clear that continued presence will not be tolerated. He is already putting up with a puppy; another cat is beyond the pale. So Woody (who is an unusual female who looks just like Fozzie, who has been fixed for 4 years) is looking for a home.

Tilly's Pony

Here is Tilly with her Pony that makes noise :)

And just an update on the band. They made FINALS at NATIONALS!!! That means they are in one of the top 12 bands in the country! GO BAND!!!! :) We'll find out how they did in about 4 hours!

Backtracking a bit - SuperRegionals Atlanta

Well our little Louisiana band (300 strong) did well in Atlanta, sorry I didn't post "the rest of the story" but they came in 3rd over all. They got First for Music. I thought the music was awesome too but was hoping they would get first for General Effect, which is the whole picture more like. The colorguard and band worked so beautifully to complement each other and the music it was a total picture thing... The Orchids start by blooming then have a life and grow and the petals fall off and it's reborn again, it was just beautiful. Anyway that's my prejudiced viewpoint, to be sure, but I liked the whole general effect. Have not heard how they did at Nationals but hope to hear soon. Still, coming in 3rd at Superregionals is UNHEARD of for a Louisiana band, this is the highest they have placed. I am hoping they'll do well and see a lot of great shows at Nationals to get ideas for next year!!

Tilly is playing with her puppy toys... One of which is a pony the girls no longer wanted with buttons on it that make sound effects. The puppy LOVES making the horse make noise! Too funny... she is such fun!! (When she is not chewing on shoes or furniture!)

National Band Competition

Today is so quiet and lovely, Katie is home for the day (teacher inservice or something) and the boys are in Indianapolis at the national band competition. I found there was live streaming available... for $29.00 membership, $14.95 for prelims, $19.95 for semifinals and @25.00 for finals. Ok I am not that dedicated I suppose. I am just cheap, it's true, I blow $2000.00 a year on band (per child) including spending money for food on the trips and I can't blow another $80.00 to see the competition.
Once again the trickle of information is slow... I text Philip and he texts right back then I say, "Wow! You text fast. So how is the competition? Are you doing ok? How are the other bands?" and I get "Not really :) " back. Sigh. So I will wait to interrogate until later.
Eliz has school today, struggling with a teacher who wants her to edit her paragraph but won't tell her what's wrong with it. Edit for what????? Teachers make me nuts sometimes. If the teacher won't mark up the paper and give suggestions, at least do peer editing. Elizabeth thinks the paper is fine, or she would have rewritten it herself.
So we are taking our little charge to the vet today, no not the puppy but a kitten we found in the woodpile that Greg christened "Woody". He was starving but once he got food he started purring and hasn't stopped. Hopefully we'll find a home for Woody -- somewhere else!
Greg built a gate in the back so the dog (hopefully) wouldn't get out but she's found a way, but she'll grow and won't be able to Houdini out of here after that!
Will post pics of the gate when I get back from the vet. :)

Just a few scenes from Wild Orchid
I am having trouble getting my movie to load, it's quick time so I don't know why there's a problem. But my technical advisors are in Atlanta right now (actually performed yesterday and at Six Flags right now) and all I got from Alex was they did "good" which is REALLY depressing, then I texted him HOW GOOD?? He said he thought 2nd and would find out. Ok well so how could you go all that way and compete and not know... well they are so curt in these text messages you know... I type "I love u Mom" and I get "U2" back... so the "flow of information" is a very tiny trickle... In the meantime us girls are all alone here and enjoying the quiet... except Katie who is (can you believe it!) just a little bored (which means she wants to go see friends). Went trick or treating last night with lots of friends, but just didn't get enough I suppose!