The Gentle Giant

Mom and Dad are big fans of a GIANT

But not just any old giant.

This giant can sing.

His songs are about love and life.

Listening to them makes one's heart and face smile.

You might know him as 

Don Williams.

His song,

The Shelter of Your Eyes,

is our song.
(Well at least that is what Mom says.)

So it was a BIG DEAL when Dad took Mom to his concert on Sunday.

The tickets were my birthday present.


He opened with Good Ole Boys Like Me.

And although he didn't say much,

(I think that is why he is called the Gentle Giant.)

he sounded great and he sang most of his greatest songs...

(Sorry, I gave up on trying to post a video of him singing!)

...except ours.

Bummer!

Oh well we are still big fans.

And there are not many fans who can say 

they got to swing dance as

Don Williams sang

Louisiana Saturday Night.

Changing Names

This blog has a new name.

It shall now be called A Clark Carol.

Dad, who is always making up cute and clever little puns, is responsible for the original name...Blog Humbug.  

Turns out, this is not an original idea.  

For starters, there is this, and there is this, and there is this. 

True, most of the Blog Humbugs are dead, but still.

I want our blog to be original.

Like us.

So in keeping with the whole Blog Humbug theme, I have officially changed the name to A Clark Carol.

May "God bless us, every one!"

Missy-adventures with the Bock Bocks

That is, Missy-ing the chickens.

Missy is our dog.  Actually her name is Annie.  But we call her Miss Annie for short.

When she is in trouble, we just call her Missy.

So the Missy adventures started on Easter Sunday.

The Easter Bunny brought Dustin 4 baby chicks.  

Two browns, a yellow

and a black one.  

Dustin, of course loves them!

He calls them bock bocks and flaps his wings while doing so.

So Missy adventure number one happens while the chickens are in the yard.  Dad and Dustin turned their backs for a few minutes and Missy malled the black one.  It survived, but eww that made us so mad.

Missy adventure number two happened some time later.  

The chickens moved from their incubator (I guess that is what you would call it) into the not quite complete chicken coop.  This was a necessary move because they were flying out of the incubator and Mom did not like trying to catch them.  (I admit it, I am basically afraid of all animals.)  Since the coop did not yet have a door, we propped a piece of plywood in front and used a cinder block to hold it in place.  Should work? Shouldn't it?

Well Mom came home from work on a stormy and VERY windy day to find the plywood leaning away from the coop and all the chickens missing.  (We like to say Missying.)  Dustin and Mom looked all over the backyard and around the neighborhood, but no bock bocks were to be found.   Poor little chickens they ran away and on a stormy night.  At least that is what we thought.  

The good news?  We found the black chicken and one of the browns. So down just two chickens, Dad went to D&B the next day and bought 4 new chickens...because six chickens is better than four.  We also attached a door...because 6 chickens behind a door is better than 4 behind a piece of plywood.  

Missy adventure number three happened the next day. Missy opens the coop door and helps herself to the chickens.  When Mom got home the door was open and no chickens were in sight.  Poor little bock bocks.  

Missy was hiding in her dog house. 

The good news?  We found the brown chicken hiding in the garage.  So down a chicken, Mom went to D&B the next day and bought 5 new chickens...because six chickens is better than just 1.  We also wired the door shut.  Surely, we thought, Missy can not get into the coop now.  

Missy adventure number four happened the following Sunday.  After church, we were taking a Sunday nap.  Greg woke up and said,  "We need to check the chickens."  The door was torn open.  So much for wiring the door shut.  All the chickens were gone.  

Missy was hiding in her dog house.  

The good news?  D&B still had chickens available.   Plus they had a latch.  

Now we have five cute little bock bocks and they are safely tucked away behind a latched door.

Dustin, of course, loves them!

As for Missy?

(Swan Falls 6/17/11)

She is up a creek, but as you can see she does have a paddle.

Just kidding!  She has regained her Miss Annie status.

Swan Falls

On Friday we took the fishing boat to Swan Falls.

I absolutely love this place.

Greg and I had some early dating adventures here looking for petroglyphs.

Then we got married here.

And that is when the real adventures began.

One year later we spent our anniversary here.

(I forgot the camera so we had to use my cell phone.)

It was just 15 days prior to Dustin's arrival.

Then we spent our second anniversary here.
(See the background picture for this blog.)

Now we look forward to spending every anniversary there with our family and friends.
It is a very special place.

So back to Friday.
We boated up stream,
took a walk,

mended booboos,

   and held hands.     

Later we cooked up some brats, roasted marshmallows, and put our feet in the water.
All in all, it was a perfect evening.