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"Skating" on the creek

Just some pictures of the impromptu skating party the other day.  Cabin fever had set in and the kids jumped up from their school work and headed out at the mention of the possibility of ice on the creek.

The case of the missing pocket knife, part 2

A rare guest post by Todd

So after Tamara "lost" Garrett's pocket knife, I sat him down for a Father-Son talk.  "Now Garrett, you know that all of the girls in our family wear skirts and a lot of times skirts don't have pockets.  So when you loan your knife to a girl, you have to keep track of it and as soon as they are done with it, you have to ask for it back so you can put it back in your pocket."
Yesterday Garrett kept asking me to show him how to sharpen his new knife.  So I asked him for it and went out to the kitchen to find the whet stone.  We found the leather sleeve in the drawer but the stone was gone.  I guess we will have to add a stone to the shopping list.
Today Garrett was wandering around the house singing  "Where did Dadda put my pocket knife? Dadda lost my pocket knife..."
He finally found his Mom and asked, "Do I have to be careful about boys too?  Dadda lost my knife!"
There it was on the counter right above the whet stone drawer, right where I had left it.  I guess it was my turn to learn a lesson!

Unexpected overnight guest

We were trying to get the kids to bed tonight and they were keeping up their normal chattering and bantering back and forth.  They kept mentioning a car on the road and kept talking about a light down the road and did we think we should check it out. (The weather is horrible tonight and there is no way to even get out the driveway - way below zero wind chill, winds and blowing snow) I was intent on getting them to bed and kept saying I would check it out in a little bit.  Finally, one of them said, "Mom, will that person die tonight if they are stuck?" I looked out the window, and sure enough, there were headlights about 1/2 mile from our house - and they weren't moving.  So we made some phone calls - to the sheriff's office - they wouldn't be able to get anyone out.  Snowplows had been called back - all the roads in the whole surrounding area are closed down.  We tried calling someone nearby who we knew had a snowplow on their pick up truck - no luck.  Finally we got a phone call from someone he (the person who was stuck) had called who knows us asking if he could come here.  So he walked - and thankfully he made it.  It is still amazing to me how intertwined this small town/country life is.  Somehow everyone knows everyone through someone.

The case of the missing pocket knife

Garrett has had his pocket knife for about a week - and it has been "missing" already for a few days.  Tonight Laura was fixing the vacuum.   The following conversation went something like this. Laura - "Garrett, can I use your knife?"  Garrett - "Or Lincoln's?" Laura "No, I need yours because I need the pliers" Garrett got a sheepish look on his face and Laura realized - "What? You lost your knife? It lasted a long time, didn't it?"  I chimed in, "Garrett, did you really already lose your knife?" He came over to me with a hint of a tear in his eye and look on his face that told me that he didn't really want to have to say this.  Garrett "Mommy, where did you put it?" Me "What do you mean?" Garrett "You used it last - I gave it to you and you didn't give it back."  Me "When did I use your knife?" (BAD mommy moment here!) Garrett - " 'Member when you used it to open the mineral blocks for the cows?"  Ooops - I hope I can find it in the back of the van, or I'm going to be buying a little boy a new knife...

Edited to add - I just went outside to the van and whew, there was the missing pocket knife - right where I left it Tuesday afternoon...