Out Front Part 2

Last week I started my little "Out Front" series. Not much has changed out front this week, probably not enough to warrant a post, but here we are. Out front. The Shasta Daisy leaves are turning green, the tulips are a little higher, the carnation leaves are coming out, and some other green leaves from a plant that I don't remember. Absent minded gardeners look forward to garden surprises every spring. That big ugly stump was from one of 4 HUGE ugly bushes that covered the front of our house. We chopped up the other stumps, but this one remains. It was just too much for us. Maybe I'll hack at it this year, I'll probably just plant something bushy around it. It will go away eventually.

The tulips got a little nipped by the cold I think. But they are still coming and have grown a bit this week. So, not much going on out front, but there is sort of a lot going on inside. Inside the house and inside my heart.

Last week Billy was handed a pretty big lump to swallow. He didn't make the cut for the High School freshman baseball team. Trouble is, he should have made it. He's played with the same kids for years, he stands out as being one of the better players. It's not just mom vision saying that, his stats back it up. But some how the coaches didn't see what he has during evaluation. It's one of those moments where you try your best to keep things in perspective, where you try not to over-react. But it's your child being told he's not good enough....when you know in your heart that he is. Grrr. Deep breath. Then you pull up your big girl panties and try to improve the situation. Eric politely talked with the coach, he also talked with last year's coach. We learned some things that could be improved on. We learned a little bit about baseball politics. We're getting Billy some extra training before travel tryouts which are in a few weeks and are feeling more hopeful. But the biggest thing I learned is what my boy is made out of.

We found out that he's made of some good stuff. Billy is passionate about baseball....so yes there were some tears, and some hurt and some anger. But then he started thinking about what maybe went wrong and what he needs to do to get better. Instead of hanging his head and hanging up his cleats he's more determined than ever to prove that he belongs on a team. What could have devastated him has lit a fire under him. The boy makes me proud. I do believe that things happen for a reason, maybe he'll end up being an even better player because of it. Hopefully the stress of it won't do me in and I'll live to see it happen. I guess no one ever said being a parent is easy.

Birthday Boy

3...

2...

1...

Lift off! Lift off to a busy weekend. Billy turned 15 yesterday. I wrote this post about him last year on his birthday.

I don't have much time to write today, but I wanted to get this posted to say....

Happy Birthday Billy!

The wonderful young man that you are growing up to be makes us prouder every day. How did we get to be so lucky?

Love,

Billy's Mom.

Watch 'em Grow

About a month ago, in the bottom of this post, I had shown this picture....

...and this one too. I mentioned that I had an idea and would share it later. Well, now is later. My idea was to photograph my Watch 'em Grow pot a few times a day and then hopefully put the photos together into a little movie about how the garden grew.

I like how it turned out, I hope you do too!

Happy Spring!

Out Front

I'm thinking of starting a little series here on my blog called "Out Front". It will be a snapshot or two taken from my front step to show how things are looking around here. Maybe a weather report, maybe a note or two about what is blooming in my front garden. I'll do it once a week or every other week, just because things seem to change so quickly around here. For example, this is what it looked like here last month...February 8th....snow, snow, snow.

Here's the view from yesterday, March 17th. Temps around 60 degrees, bright sunny day. What a difference a month makes! We've had a few wonderfully warm days in a row, but the weather is supposed to turn on us tomorrow...a high of 41 with rain and snow.

I hope it doesn't snow too much, because look at what's peeking out of the soil....a tulip! I planted a couple of dozen (I think) pink tulips last fall and it looks like some are coming up! There is something about planting bulbs in the fall that gives such a feeling of hope. Hope that we'll all make it through the long cold winter. Hope of better days ahead. Hope of spring and sunshine and warmth. Hope of blossoms swaying in the late spring breeze....

...and hope that those wascally wabbits stay the heck out of my garden! Shoo you wabbits!!

Happy Spring.

Springy

It was down right springy last weekend. On Sunday, after giving the horses a nice brushing I decided to take a little ride. I wasn't planning on riding, I only had tennis shoes with, but that's OK, it was just to nice not to hop on. First I took Czar out. See how Penny had already found the nastiest pool of water to flop herself in? Nice. I usually ride with someone else, because leaving one horse in the pasture causes....

...this. The left behind horse runs and whinnies and makes a big old fuss. They are cranky to each other when they are together, but separate them from their BFF's and all heck breaks loose.

Czar wasn't too happy about being away from his buddy either. I took a couple of short rides up and down the road...such trauma to have a fence separating the two! He was as springy as the weather.

Next it was time to take Skylar out...Czar wasn't very happy about it. Goofy I tell ya.

Skylar wasn't very happy either. He was kind of springy too. A couple of head cases. That's what happens when they laze about all winter without someone showing them who's boss. I'm the boss of you boy, don't forget it. Even with their crazy antics it was good to get them out a little bit.

Afterwards I had them back out in the pasture explaining things to them when this shadow passed over me. What in the world...oh, it was just this little old bald eagle flying by.

60 degrees, my horses, and an eagle flying over head. All in all a pretty good day.

Spring Cleaning

It's gradually been getting warmer around here...we had rain and even some thunder and lightening last week....and all of that means the snow has quickly left! No snow, a little sunshine, and all of a sudden it's 60 degrees on Sunday.

Eric and I took a quick trip to the country to see our folks. It was a bonus that is was so warm! I was happy that I had a T-shirt on underneath my sweatshirt...I sure hadn't expected to set the sweatshirt aside for a few hours. But I did....because it was time to push up my sleeves and get some spring cleaning done....pony style. The horses were lazing around in the warm sunshine, a perfect time to get out the brushes and help them loose some of that itchy winter coat.

My mom even got in on the action. She was still wearing her church clothes and didn't want to get too close to the beasts...but Skylar got his belly brushed through the gate.

Eric and his allergic nose made sure to stay up wind from the flying fur. I think the boys enjoyed the brushing and the attention.

Do you feel better now Skylar? How about you Czar? You boys sure look handsome after the long cold winter.

You look good enough to smooch!

Ewww...maybe next week I'll bring a toothbrush.

Aren't the first few warm days of spring the best? There is hope that the winter is behind us!

Tournament Time

The 2nd weekend in March in Minnesota means it's High School Hockey State Tournament time. We've been going every year for as long as I've known Eric. His dad has been on the season ticket list since the 60's. Last year it was pretty exciting for us, the boys High School made it into the tournament and won it all. I wrote about it here, here, and here. This year, it's still exciting, the hockey is always great, but no home team emotions going on. And that's OK by me!

The first game that we saw on Thursday afternoon was Edina...a neighboring school vs. Roseau...a small school from northern Minnesota with a strong hockey tradition. It's always fun to see a small school going up against the bigger schools. With all of the High School kids in the building, the excitement and energy levels are pretty high.

The school bands are there. I thought that the tuba player for Edina had an interesting uniform...tie-dyed shirt, bow tie, and card board hockey helmet. Whatever it takes. Go Team!

The teams were playing, things got a little jumbled up by the Edina goal....

....and the next thing I saw was that the goalie had lost his stick! Wouldn't it be a bummer to be a goalie without a stick?

Sort of like being up a creek without a paddle. Oh no, here comes the puck.

The goalie pounced on it like a cat. Whew.

He got his stick back and all was well. Doesn't he look relieved?

The play is fast and furious and players are crashing into the boards and each other all the time.

Sometimes they crash too hard, or crash into someone in front of the referee and they have to go to jail. The sin bin. Some people call it the penalty box.

OK # 5...sit here for a couple of minutes and think about what you've done.

Sometimes when one guy is in the box his team mate thinks he looks lonely so he'll crash into someone and get to join his buddy in jail. At least they have someone to talk to.

Even with two guys in the sin bin for a while, Edina was able to win....and the celebration begins. Woo Hoo!

The other team has to take a deep breath and then come over to shake hands with the winners. These kids play with all they've got, losing isn't easy to swallow....but they seem to be good sports about it all. Besides, everyone is watching, so they better behave themselves.

The coach for Edina High School is former NHL player Curt Giles, a Canadian that played defense for the Minnesota North Stars from 1979 - 1991. The Stars moved to Dallas in 1993 and eventually were replaced in Minnesota by the Wild. Just a little hockey trivia for ya. I think it's cool that he returned to Minnesota to coach the kids. "Whad ya tink of dat game aye?"

"Woooooo....dat's more nerve wracking than playing dat's fer sure." Did you know that Canadian and Minnesotan accents are pretty much the same aye?

Then the Zamboni comes out, cleans the ice, and it all starts all over again.

They introduce the next set of officials. People act silly to get on TV.....

...they stick cameras in the faces of the teams and introduce them....

....and it's time to see which team goes on and which team goes home. It's 3 days of fun.

When you are entering an arena that has a statue of Herb Brooks outside, you know that something special is bound to happen....it always has.

High School Hockey in Minnesota, it's where miracle stories begin.