Rainee Grace walked her dog on Thursday and a strange bird startled her.  On Friday she looked around for it and it was still there…but this time she didn’t startle it.  Its come back every day (although we didn’t notice it today)  its easy to not notice though as its very very gifted with camoflage.

Can you see the bird?  No neither could we it took us over five minutes to find it in the grass when its head was down.

See the water dripping of its beak?  That’s why the pictures are a bit fuzzy.  It was POURING.  And the bird just sat out in the middle of it while we watched from the open living room window.

So after staring at Bird books I believe he is a Wilson’s snipe.  So if you ever went snipe hunting there.s what you were looking for hahahaha.

I don’t know if he’s a mallard hybrid, a domestic duck got loose or what, but there were two of them where I was today. at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles, WA

the winter birds are coming back.  Its fun to watch, but I’m going to miss summer big time!

I love how many different birds are in here, Heerman’s gulls, Glaucus-wing gulls, several kinds of scoters, and I *think* female Harlequin, but I’m undetermined on that still.

Had a wee visitor in our yard this afternoon.  A very tiny owl.  So very super cute!

I’m feeling rather schizophrenic right now.   Its been a rough week.  Its been the wrong time of the month, and my tolerance for shenanigains has been less then steallar.  On top of that a child when she did something incredibly stupid was confronted and I told her “You need to find what you lost, or your life is going to become very very difficult.”   She started crying, and very very quietly as she had company I told her “You need to suck it up, and find what you lost.”  She turned and looked at me and said “You need to suck it up.”

I’ve been angry every since.  She apologized.  But the respect level is gone.  Every time I ask her to do something she stiffens up and 95% of the time she tells me no.  Not screams it, says it in this quietly stubborn voice.  Typically I can stare her down and she gets up and does it anyhow.  But, I know if I ask her to do something there will be a fight…pretty much every time.  People will say she’s 15, she’s a teenager, she’s a girl.  I say she’s disrespectful, and I am one short step from completely failing her.    I’ve been told to put her on medication…something we continue to resist.  And counseling that I would be willing to consider is 3 hours away.  I will NOT do non-Christian counselling.  I have a very very strong opinion about this.  So we continue to stumble in the dark. 

On top of that I’m loosing my husband for a week as he’s going to camp.  So no fall-back plan when I’m ready to ring said childs neck.

And on top of that, the person who was supposed to bring my children back from camp got that back 2.5 hours late.  I texted her asking her where she was at an hour late.  There was no response.  She tried to tell me at 2.5 hours late that “My texting wasn’t working.”  There were 5 children in the car who could have used her phone to call and tell me what was going on.  In my mind that excuse is just that, an excuse.

When I told her it was a matter of respect.  She spouted back that “You didn’t give me minute to minute updates when you took my child to camp.  Its not necessary for me to do the same.”

I responded, “No, I didn’t, because we got her there on time, and as soon as we were there we texted you that she was safe.”  You were TWO and a HALF hours late without any word as to where you were, what was going on.  I wanted to add and you were in cell reception for all but the last 30 minutes of that.  I know, we ALL know where the bar zones are, and where they aren’t.  You stopped to get ice cream at an hour and a half late.  You could have called then.  But at that point I realized the friendship that has been dying is probably dead.

But really over this?  Yes, over my childrens safety, and the fact that repeatedly you do not tell me when you are running late.  You have a cell phone that you are on 24/7.  It takes 30 seconds to send a text saying we are running late.  If I know I’m fine.  If you don’t answer your texts, don’t call, all I can assume is something bad has happened.  And I’m not talking ten or fifteen minutes late which is fairly normal around here.  I’m talking 2.5 hours…consistently.

The last time I watched her child I seriously considered calling the cops and reporting her as abandoning her child.  She told me she would pick him up at 4:30 pm.  At 7:30 she showed up with no apology, or anything.  Just honked on the hill and had him run up. 

So  I have two warring angrys flowing through me.  And on top of that a family of 8 that has helped hold our church of 35 together is leaving.  Which leaves us with a congregation of 24…most of those children.  And me feeling very very unworthy and unable to be the strong one.  I just feel like a failure.  Failed in parenting, Failed in friendship because I can’t let go of something I don’t think I should.  Or am I wrong.   I have NO answers, just questions.

Can I remain friends knowing she will disappear with my children or while I have her children and just have to hope at sometime she will reappear.  Can I find some solutions to deal with my child when I have to ask her to do something in public.  

Only with God carrying me kicking and screaming over this. 

Saw a brand new bird to me today…actually two of them.  But one was more cool for some reason.  I could tell from a distance that there was something not normal.  I drove closer studied the gulls with my binoculars and found these guys.

The two with the red beaks are the new-to-me gulls.  They have NOT been here all summer.   This summer one of my goals was to learn how to tell gulls apart.  I still am on a very big learning curve, but these were fairly easy as the bright red bill is unique to the Peninsula, as is the darker gray mantle.

So I decided to quick run home so I could get my camera and take pictures of them.  On my way back I realized that seagull city (our family name for wherever the 150 plus gulls is parked for the day) was mixed with HALF heermans gulls.

So it wasn’t 5 new birds, it was  a LOT…I haven’t taken the time to count LOL I was satisfied with a LOT.

I just finished knitting my very first sock.  Socks are tricky.  I’ve never used four knitting needles at once before.  About 3/4′s of the way through I finally figured out how to hold the needles so I wasn’t constantly dropping 6 and 7 stitches off the back end.  I still think needle guards would come in handy.  I’m starting on my second one.  The heel got a bit big on the first one, but its a easy fix for the second one.  I just misjudged how much space I need.  The first one is SUPER duper comfy.

We had our last baton practice before the parade.  It was kind of fun.    I didn’t miss the two kids whose mother decided to go on vacation Sunday night and make them miss the parade they’ve been practicing for since the first of June.  They’ve been consistently late, and are the two I’ve fought attitude wise every single solitary practice.  They have serious issues with the word no.  They think it is a personal challenge.  One of them has aspergers, I swear the other one does too…just missed getting diagnosed,  Which I’m learning happens a lot with girls.  I might even bring it up with the mom when she gets back, because seriously their is something not quite right. 

The young lady decided at 12:30 am she wanted a snack while Kaylin was spending the night with her.  Kaylin had been asleep for several hours.  She decided she wanted Kaylin to go downstairs with her and wake her dad.  Kaylin doesn’t wake up quickly, and didn’t cooperate.  So the young lady took all off Kaylins bedding shook her, and when that didn’t work, went downstairs filled a glass of water came back upstairs and poured it all over Kaylin.   She saw absolutely nothing wrong with this behavior.  d’oh.  Kaylin is still her friend which amazes me rather greatly.  I would have killed someone at that age…I’d kill someone now if they did that to me.  LOL

I got suckered into letting Samuel have a friend over.  The friend is…trouble.  I’ve never wanted to turn a parent in before, but I want to turn his parent in.  BIG time.  Instead I let the friend come over.  I get that he’s not trustworthy.  He’s a 14 year old boy, they tend to be a bit wild.  But rather then providing him an option of care, a grandparent, something, when she’s at work she locks him and his brother out of the house.  And they are just on their own.  They can sit on the front porch or go to the library.  That’s NOT okay.

So I guess she’s going somewhere over night, and I got a text asking if he could stay here.  This is where the sucker comes in.  I’m fairly sure he asked on his moms phone, not her.  But *shrugs*  its good timing, and I feel sorry for both of the boys.    

Its good timing because he’s not very polite to Zeria.  As she’s gone right now its not a issue.  *cheers*

I’ve fallen in love with a new author.  I picked up like 6 of his books at the .25 cent store in town along with about 12 other sci-fi books for $1.00.  The authors name is Mike Shepherd the series is Kris Longknife.  And they are very well done.  Both Rob and I are devouring them.  Which is a perfect thing to do in the sunshine by the river.  Because did Imention we are having our week of summer. 

The sun is shining, and I’m getting a lovely tan.  Reading or knitting or watching birds while the kids splash in the river, or dig beside it.  Now if I could just convince Jeremiah to stop digging in the middle of the trail TO the river.  He must be a boy.

The week of Zeria being gone is whizzing by.  Its been a good relaxing week.  Although a bit of a downer when payday came yesterday we paid the bills, put a wee bit aside for Fun Days this weekend and realized the rest was GONE.  We have *just* enough for one tank of gas between now and next pay day.  I guess the food in our cupboards is going to satisfy us.  No junk food runs.  I can do this right?  But I LOVE the junk food runs.  LOL  And darn it but I’ve fallen in love with the strwberry smoothy at the espresso stand.  And I don’t currently have a blender so I can’t make them at home right now.  Must get one soon.

Its funny watching the dynamics of kids friendships with their siblings when one child is removed from the equation.  Lately Rainee and Samuel have been thick, and Jamari and Jeremiah.  And sometimes  Rainee and Zeria.  Kaylin is the peacemaker and just weaves in and out all of them.  This week its back to Samuel and Kaylin, and Rainee is kinda lonesome and a teensy bit ornrey.  Its all good, it will flip again in five minutes.

I think we are going to sleep outside under the stars tonight.  Rainee wanted to know if her and the little boys could, and I said we all could.  Rob will be at work all night.  So let the adventures begin.    I have a lovely mattress I can haul out so I won’t even miss my bed.  When we got rid of our hide-a-bed we kept the double mattress for emergency guests, and laying by the river.  Its quite comfy.

I am over 1/2 way through my very first knitted sock.  I’ve already turned the heel and done the hard part.  I’m just annoyed by the stitches that keep slipping off my needles when I’m not using one of the three needles holding the sock.  I wish I had a knitting guard…I keep trying to come up with something around the house that would work.  But haven’t gotten inspired yet. 

The girls got to have their second sewing class of the summer.  Rainee is almost done her pillow case.  She will definitely finish it next week.  And then she wants to make the bag that Kaylin learned how to make last summer.  Kaylin finished cutting out all the pieces for her lap quilt today, so next week she gets to start sewing.  Its going to be very cute, and very Kaylin.  The main fabric is black with red roses & green leaves running through it.   That’s the outside square, and on the inside of each square is a bright pop of color.  The back of the quilt is some lovely rainbow fabric I found at a thriftstore that said KAYLIN.  Kaylin is all about the rainbow.

Good morning

Rob is headed back to work after our two week vacation.  He went through the grumpy I don’t want tos yesterday morning, and is back to himself.  I can’t blame him.  His place of employment does NOT have a good clientele.  But its a job, and in this economy you take what you can get.   

I dealt with some stress in my life.  I don’t know that it “fixed” anything.  But at least the person whose been exasperating me greatly no longer is in doubt about it.

In my opinion if you babysit someones child for free at least once a month.  If they say they are going to be back at 4:30 they should be no later then 5.  And if they are going to be later they have to have a pretty darn good reason.  And several I’m on my way texts.  Consistently this individual shows up about 6:30 seven, no apology, honks the horn and her child has to run up the hill.  No texts unless I text her first. 

I also coach her children in baton.  Practice starts at 3.  I text her at 3:05 to ask her where she’s at.  She tends to show up at 3:15.  Its a very small team, and we can’t do routines until EVERYBODY is there.   The last practice.  She didn’t respond to my text until 3:30.  I told her not to bother.  

And last night?  She is planning a impromptu 2 week vacation.  “Does this mean no baton performance on Saturday?”  “Oh yeah I guess it does.”  So now I have to totally redo the routine…less then 6 days before the performance.  And she didn’t tell me she accidentally remembered after the fact.

She’s very bubbly, very sweet, and VERY blonde.

My good friends can tell you I have time control issues.  I believe that if a time is given you should be there…early.  I’ve learned a ton of flexibility from the past.  I can give you up to forty-five minutes of late time and not be stressed…unless its baton in which case it only goes an hour so about ten minutes late and your RUDE imho.  

I get being late for emergencies it happens.  But emergencies do NOT happen every single solitary week.   On top of that I’ve caught her in lies on at least two seperate occasions.  “I’m so sorry I was late we have family over.”  It wasn’t family it was a friend. 

She apologized when she was confronted.  But I’m removing myself from much of the situation if at all possible.  The problem of course is two of my children are VERY good friends with two of hers.  But I can deal with this by inviting them here as friends.  

I suspect this weekend is my last of baton anyhow.  My kids would love to do the Christmas routine.  But we shall see.  The older kids schedules are rediculous and I just don’t know how to juggle everything.  I feel bad for the younger kids though, because they have no schedule.  So I’ll probably get tricked into a Christmas routine anyhow.  I love doing it.  Its just time, and I only have so much of it.

Just a lot tired tonight.  Worked until 9:15 burning up aldar trees before it gets dry (we still have a TON of puddles, and the ash would land on the grass and immediately fizzle out.  Was hoping to push it until 10, but no our wretched pony decided to go on a tear, so we spent the next 45 minutes trying to get him back in the pasture.  So this morning we woke up, stoked the fire and the 45 minutes burning we would have done last night took 2.5 hours this morning because it took us that long to get a hot fire.  Oh well its done, and looks good.

Rob and I both look like zombies though.  Zeria headed out to camp at 5:40 am, so he got up and said goodbye, I texted her goodbye.  I was toooo tired.  LOL 

She’s the one whose going to be tired.  We have to pick her up a day early from camp so she can come back and do an all day volleyball tournament.  OOPS.   Gotta love back-to-back schedules.

We looked ahead on our calendar, and every weekend has something between now and school starting.  Some of it is fun (backpacking)  but its still rediculous to have summer that scheduled. 

Samuel worked like a mad man with a machete last night chopping alder trees up so they were small enough to burn.  I couldn’t believe his energy.  Of course today he slept in the hot dust in the driveway for about 2.5 hours.  I think we wore him out as well.

Zeria has been so good in regards to mood for the last 4 months or so, but vacation toasted her.  I’m really hoping when she comes back from camp she’s a bit more even kill, because it is very hard to deal with her mood swings.  Enjoying not having to base every decision on wether she’s going to erupt or not…knowing that no matter how I make it she’ll probably melt anyhow.

In crafting regard I found Jean Greenhowe’s knit dolls and have been having fun working up several.  Although I’m currently kind of stuck on one, as the pattern isn’t making sense.