Release the birds!

Trev's Eagle Scout project is drawing to a close.  He will release his remaining birds tomorrow morning on our property.  Here is the final outcome for the 100 chicks he started with.  (Click here for  the beginning of the project if you have no idea what I am talking about.)  FYI - the survival rate is about 30%.  Of course, we have no way to know how these birds will fare, but we are hoping to be on the high end of things. 

2 chicks died within the first two days. One of those wasn't well from the start

1 chick met an unfortunate demise when its head was snapped off by a critter (probably a fox) in the night.

1 chick was scared by something (probably the same critter) and tried to fly while it was in the run and crashed into a board, most likely breaking its neck.  This would be the chick Trevor stuck in the freezer in a ziploc bag and let me discover when he asked me for an ice cube!  Gross!!

1 chick made it through 2 nights on its own but died after Trev brought it back home because it had an injured foot.

2 chicks escaped and have stayed around the yard.  One got out while John was changing the water, or something like that, the other when they were being caught to transport for release.  They can often be found just pecking around the run.  Hanging out (on the outside) with their buddies.

The remaining 93 have been set free or will be tomorrow.  Trev let the first two batches go at a walking path on the edge of town.  There is a lot of bushes and ground cover for them to live in.  We have been out to check on the first batch, and found game trails they had made in just a day.  We also spied several of the birds and were happy to see they were still around.

Trev and John have both enjoyed the project, and it looks like there is another batch of chicks in our near future.  Trev has committed to raising another group and should get the chicks sometime in the second week of June.

Dick and Lorraine Hallisey with Trevor.  Dick has generously provided feed and wood chips for the chicks.  Lorraine collected roly-poleys (sp?) and took many pictures.  They came with us on both releases.  

This is John's favorite picture.  He loves how Trev got into the spirit of things and tried to model how to fly.

This is my favorite picture.  We spied this chick when we were on a walk Sunday to check on the birds.  They are pretty good at keeping themselves hidden already.

Trev only had to coax a few out of the cage the second release.  The birds just kind of moseyed out of the cage the first time.  Here is a good shot of Trev encouraging one of the lingerers on its way.

Most of the second group took off like this bird.  It was exciting to see them take off through the sky.

A Springtime Post

 Spring has finally sprung, and that means a few things.  

 1 - It means Amber is done with her Freshman year.  I headed to Rexburg to pick her up on Thursday.  It was a pretty uneventful drive and I made it there safely and in good time.  One thing I was looking forward to was stopping at Lolo Pass.  Several years back when Chelsie was in High School, I took her to Idaho Falls to play in a soccer tournament.  I remember we stopped at the summit and there was stuff about Lewis and Clark and a monument to Stephen E. Ambrose, who wrote "Undaunted Courage" about the Corps of Discovery.  When I got there Tuesday, I was disappointed to find so much snow (see below), that I just used the bathroom and headed on my way.  No pausing to look at anything.  (Not that I could have found it in the snow anyway!!)

My courage was "daunted" and I didn't stay long.

One great thing about going to Rexburg is getting to visit with Dick and Lynnette.  They used to live here, and have relocated so they can live closer to family.  I can totally understand why they would want to live closer, especially after having just driven 1055 miles in two days, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss them.  They are wonderful people, the kind who make you feel like you are their favorite person out of all the people they know.  (Of course, they make all their friends feel that way!  :)  but that's just the kind of people they are!  Rexburg won big when they moved down there.  They hosted me for the night, and I repaid their hospitality by making them pose with me for a selfie!!

I had Amber give me some pointers on taking selfies after I saw this!  Clearly I need some coaching!!

Although the drive from Lolo to Lewiston seems like it will take forever - probably due to the 50 mph speed limit for much of it - a view like this is worth the trip!  The bugs on the windshield detract from the river and canyon.  You'll just have to take my word that it is truly beautiful.  There are signs all along the road for hiking trailheads.  I'm going to do a little investigating and see about getting out there this summer for a family hike.

2 - Spring also means its time for prom, tonight!  There was a near Prom Dress Disaster (well not really a disaster, more like a snafoo, but disaster sounds better).  We ordered Kristin's dress from a website based in China.  The delivery date was anywhere from the 8th to the 14th of April.  I told Kristin she needed to come up with a Plan B if the dress didn't come.  Yesterday, we checked the tracking and it was still in Federal Way, Washington. I thought there was a chance it could come today, but when I checked tracking again this morning, it still showed the same status.  Time for Plan B.  She found a dress among our dresses from dances past, and all was well.  Fast forward to this afternoon when I checked the mail.  I couldn't believe it, but there was the dress, just as pretty as you please.  And it it VERY pretty.  After she saw it, she kept saying it was so much prettier than she expected.  YES!!  There was a little modification needed to spiff up the modesty, but I finished it by 5:00.  No worries, Cody wasn't coming until 5:15!! :)  The modification was one of those things I prayed would work out, not knowing exactly what I was doing until I was done!  Whew!! It worked out!!

Kristin and Cody posing for the requisite pictures.

The prom group, a very nice group, if I may say.

3- Spring also means yardwork. We spent most of today doing just that.  I was clearing out leaves from under a bush, when I saw something that looked like a hornet's nest.  I'm so glad I looked again, because look what I found!!!  The smallest nest with the smallest eggs.  (They are about the size of small malted milk Easter eggs.) So tiny and sweet.  The mama bird did not take kindly to me peeking at her soon-to-be-babies and showing everyone else my find.  She swooped out several times while we were walking by her nest.  Sorry, mama!!

And speaking of birds, here is a shot of one of the baby pheasants.  It is less than a week old in this picture and already its are feathers growing.  The past few days, the feathers have grown more, and the chicks try jumping and flying, especially if the door to the brooder is open.  Soon they will be put outdoors and able to use the caged run.  They are growing very fast.  

The big day is here...

Finally, after weeks of working on the brooder, the chicks came, today!!!  (Just a quick reminder, Trevor is raising 100 pheasant chicks to release into the wild for his Eagle Scout project.)  They are one day old and were hatched at a game bird farm yesterday.  Trevor and John went to pick them up with a man from town who also picked up 100 to raise himself.  He has done it before and has given Trevor lots of good tips and advice.   We will have the chicks for about 8 weeks and then Trev will release them.

Trev and Kristin spent a lot of time hanging out with the chicks.  Kristin has adopted one and is trying to decide if its name is Frederick or Chuck.  He is one of the biggest ones and has a really dark head.  She tried to paint his toenails so she could find him again.  The polish came right off, so we'll see if she can pick him out of the bunch tomorrow

Oh my, they are CUTE!!  They are funny too.  They will be walking around, eating and drinking and then suddenly decide they are tired and plop down on the spot and fall asleep.  The others pay them no heed.  The napper gets trampled and piled on, then when it has slept long enough, it gets up and does its thing!  That took a while to get used to.  I was sure when they were just laying there that they were going to die!!

Before they went into the brooder, they had to learn to drink.  We all took turns basically dunking their heads in the water and making sure they swallowed.  Then they could drink on their own.  Pretty amazing.

This is the watering system given to Trevor by the man who gave Trev the brooder.  The red is from the heat lamp and makes it hard to see, but there are nipples that come down from the pvc pipe and the chicks peck at them and get water out.  Again, they figured this out by themselves.  Pretty smart little things!

They are so cute!  We we'll enjoy watching them grow over the next few months.  John said there are so many people who are excited that Trevor is doing this for his project.  I already talked about the man who donated the brooder to him, and our neighbor who is also raising some, but another man in town donated the feed Trevor will use.  This has been a great project for Trevor so far, and its great that so many people are interested in helping him succeed.  More pictures to come as they grow and change...

And, just a humorous thing about my last blog post...Amber told me I should not have posted it on April Fool's Day as no one will think it is true!!  :)

A quick rundown

2014 has flown by for me!  What is the deal??  I feel like I am still back in January, but my calendar says it is March, so I guess I better catch up.  Here is a quick rundown of what is going on around here the last little while...

Trevor and John have been working like mad men getting this ready.  (If you have no idea what it is, just know I wouldn't either if it weren't for the fact that they are working on it in our shop.)  This is the pheasant brooder that Trev will use when he raises pheasant chicks.  He has been working with some men from the Idaho Wilderness Foundation (don't quote me on that organization, it's something along that line) to get ready for the little chicks to arrive.  After they have grown a little, he will take them across the draw and release them into the wild.  At this point, I have no idea how many he will get, but we'll soon find out as they will be here next week.  This isn't just something to keep Trevor busy, he is doing it for his Eagle Scout project.  

So far, the hardest part of the project has been getting a hold of the man who could give his okay to the whole thing.  That hurdle was crossed Saturday, and it is full-steam ahead.  I'll keep you posted on things... 

Tennis season is in full-swing (corny pun intended)  for Kristin.  She has played girls doubles once, but the rest of her matches have been girls singles.  This past weekend was the Lewiston Invite and she played some great tennis.  The first day she won 2 matches and lost one, which put her into the winner's bracket for the next day.  She won the first match Saturday and knew she was in for a workout her second match.  Her opponent was a Freshman from Ferris High School.  Kristin lost 2-6, 1-6, but...she set a goal for herself to get 3 games on the girl, and that is exactly what she did.  She was very pleased with things, and as an observer, I am here to tell you that she got inside that girl's head.  Kristin remained calm and cool, yet her opponent was visibly flustered when she got behind!  Way to go, girl!  Today, she played a Sr. from Sandpoint and beat her 6-3, 6-3.  (Just a sidenote on the above picture.  This is from the first match Kristin played in Friday.  The girl she beat had a huge red bow in her hair.  My friend and I decided that if you are going to sport something like a big red bow, you better back it up with some stellar tennis!  :) and see that blue sky?  It was beautiful tennis weather, and I have the rosy nose to prove it!!  Keep on a comin', Spring!!)

 Recognize the girl in the black pants?  I know you can't see her face, but it is our own Amber!  She showed up on our driveway Friday afternoon!  What a great surprise.  She was the beneficiary of a friend's parents generosity, and we enjoyed every minute she was home.  It, of course, went much too fast, and this is sadly the only picture I took to prove she was home, but it was wonderful to have her here if only for a few days.  Speaking of days, just in case you are keeping track, there are less than 60 until her big day!!  It will go by much too quickly, I already know!!

 Finally, two books that have captured my attention lately.  The Happines Project is a record of what the author did for one year to increase her happiness.  It wasn't anything earth-shattering, but it was a good nudge to examine my life and see where I could step things up a little and increase my own happiness. I wonder if the author saw this article which I rambled on about a few months ago.  It is interesting to think about your own happiness, and also to know that being LDS gives me the inside scoop on "The Great Plan of Happiness".  The author has a blog, that interestingly enough, came out of her year-long quest.  I have enjoyed reading it, especially the quotes she posts every Saturday.  I am always happy to find a new quote to embrace.
I heard about The Power of Habit on two different podcasts in the last few months, so my interest was piqued and I had it sent to our library and have been reading it whenever I can.  In fact, I'm a little annoyed that I had to try to get the book for book club read (the meeting is tomorrow, and no I'm not going to get the book read) and couldn't keep moving forward with this one.  There is a lot of research that is referenced in this book, but it is interesting and easy to follow, so in this case, makes for compelling reading.  (Knowing how Starbucks trains their employees makes me glad I support them occasionally with a hot chocolate.)    We'll see if any of it sticks and I change some of my more annoying habits!!

A Spring re-cap

We have had some beautiful mornings.  Look at that lovely pinkish cast on the  hills of the canyon.

 I love how the sun is illuminating part of the distant hills, and the trees in our yard.

Trev received his Star Scout rank at the last Court of Honor.  I love the tradition of the  saluting the mom with a kiss.  You can tell Trev loves it as well!  ;)

John celebrated his birthday last week.  Here he blows out the candles on his Sour Cream Blueberry Pie.

I finally caught Amber and her partner, Garrett, before their match.  They won!!

Trev talks strategy with his buddy, Sam, before their soccer game.  Whatever they talked about worked.  Trev scored 3 goals and they won, 6 - 0.

Decorating Easter Eggs, big kid style.  Trev and Kristin both tried their hands at blowing  out their eggs.
A big kid note, Amber declined to participate.  :(

Here is one of a couple of penguin eggs Kristin decorated.  She had a theme going.

And now we see the demo of Trev's homemade slingshot in action.  That is an egg in the  launch area.  Not seen - the egg ending up on the deck, Humpty Dumpty style.  Sometimes, your experiments just don't pan out.

The Most Boring Summer EVER!!!

According to someone in our house, we have just endured the most boring summer EVER!!! No fun out of town adventures, no day trips even, just hanging around home, doing chores and being hot, although not hot all the time because it took a while for the weather to catch up to the calendar. At any rate, we didn't sit and stare at each other the whole time and I have to pictures to prove it.


Exhibits 1 & 2 and 2A. Grandpa Sollenbarger's Surprise 70th Birthday Party. A quick trip to Denver to celebrate with family and Grandpa and Grandma's friends. It was a great success, marked by the fact that he survived two surprises - walking in the door of Jodi's house to many guests yelling SUPRISE! and Dawn and I walking down the stairs a few moments later. No rescue vehicles or responders were required. It was a great visit. I also got to spend a little time with Grandma Hughes which was on my list to do this summer, but didn't seem possible with schedule conflicts. Ya gotta love a two-fer.

Exhibits 3, 4, and 5. There is always the river for fun in the sun. Well, most years that is. This year was a little different. Really high and fast water combined with lots of debris in the river made for a late start. Combine that with a busy calendar (what kept us so busy?) and it made for not many trips to the Snake. We finally made it out the first week in July. You may recognize a familiar face in these pictures. Alli came home for a week from BYU. She got a well-deserved break and we enjoyed a mid-summer visit with her.


Exibits 6 & 7. Kristin and Amber channeled their creative side one afternoon and did a little cake decorating. Amber was making a birthday cake for a friend and Kristin just felt like making a tasty and colorful cake. (Can you tell what the paintbrush is made of?) You can't really see in the picture, but Amber used brown sugar to create sand in her beach scene. Nice work, girls.


Exhibits 8 & 9. Maybe the cool dude in the sunglasses reminds you of someone. Apparently, Trev decided to spend one of his summer afternoons as a model for a jean jacket company. I hope the sunglass manufacturer forwarded a good retainer. I'm pretty sure they have never had such a good looking young man sport a pair of their shades, ever! Exhibit 9 is Trev's last opportunity to wear his webelos uniform, as he is now an 11 yr old scout, wears a tan shirt instead of blue, and can actually go on a camp out or two this next year.

So, I rest my case. Clearly we didn't waste our summer away. Sure, no trips to Disneyland, no hiking, camping or any of that. We may have redefined the word "Stay-cation". Who knows.

Besides, our summer saved the best for last. Stay tuned for the up-coming post...

The Month in Review...

Okay, really the month and a half. My kids keep reminding me that I haven't updated the blog since last month, so here are more than a few photos of what has been going on that has kept me from blogging - aka - all the excuses I can think of.

Excuse #1 - The Talmanator

Talmage came to town and who can blog with such a cutie around? "Not I", said the grandma.
He got to stay a whole week with us while Ashley and Brandon went on a little getaway. He and I were buddies all day long while everyone was at school or work,but come 3:49ish, he really came alive. When the kids came home, he was excited, and then when Grandpa came home, he was elated. Here he demonstrates his torture method on Uncle Trevor.




Even though he is The Talmanator, he does possess a compassionate side, and always has a hug and a big slobbery kiss for his prisoner.








Talmage is also really smart and continued to strengthen his relationship with Grandpa.









Hygiene is also very important to The Talmanator, and more than one night found him in Grandpa and Grandma's tub, splashing up a storm. Uncle Trevor was always happy to be his partner in crime.

He was pure fun to have around. Even his little "fits" when he didn't get his way were fun to watch! We'll take him back anytime!



Excuse #2 - Cub Scouts


March means Pinewood Derby in these parts, and this year proved as exciting as years past. (Okay, last year is really the first one I've been at, but it was exciting too! :-)

Trevor's car is the one that will come in 1st place in this picture. He didn't always win, but he was a respectable 2nd place in the races he didn't.











March's theme of "Take Flight", was also a perfect opportunity for our den to go to one of our favorite places, the local Helicopter company, where one of our ward member's works and graciously lets us come and walk around the very expensive helicopters. I know the boys love this, because they are very careful as they walk around and listen very carefully to whetever Bro. Palmer has to say.

I can't use Cubs as an excuse much longer, as I have been called to work in Relief Society again, and will soon be released as Bear Den Leader. It has been fun, and I have really loved being able to be with Trevor.

Excuse #3 - Math CompetitionOkay, truth be told, my contribution to Math Competition was picking up Kristin from the practices. Not really excuse worthy. But...it did happen in the last 6 weeks, and I thought I should at least mention it.

They placed the same - 4th. In the same category - Geometry, as they did last year.

Thank you, Mr. Murphy, for all your time as their coach!

Excuse #4 - One more trip to the Emerald City

Where did the last 6 months go? It was already time for Ashley and Brandon to move back to Dallas, so we trekked over one last time to spend the weekend with them. We took a few pictures at some of the favorite tourist viewpoints - Lovely. We hung out a little at Pike's Market - so many interesting people. We made it to the temple - always worth the effort. Ate yummy Thai food - the best yet out of the two times I've had it. The weather was perfect for a little park time - yay for sun! We also got to hang out with Chelsie and her friend, who made a road trip to Seattle the same weekend we were there - timing truly is everything.

































So as you can see, it has been a very busy 6 weeks, and I'm only at the end of March.
To be continued...