Rooster Cogburn

I neglected to tell the story of our little pest/pet, Rooster Cogburn.

There is a man who lives behind us, we call him Farmer Bob, who owns a few cows and occasionally has a sheep or some other random animal in his field as well. One day we noticed a new animal in Farmer Bob's field, a white rooster. We affectionately named him Rooster Cogburn.

At first it was kind of fun seeing that rooster wander around. He would cock-a-doodle-doo at the cows and chase away other birds. 

Then one day, we were sitting down for dinner and there was Rooster Cogburn right at our sliding door watching us eat! After that, he started coming out of the fence anytime we were outside. One day he was right under our bedroom window doing his loud cock-a-doodle-doo at 5 a.m.! But the final straw was when he chased my poor Graham across the yard, pecking him in the buttocks several times. My kids started being too afraid to go in the backyard. After that it was war between me and Cogburn. 

One day I saw Farmer Bob outside and decided to confront him. Here's part of our conversation:

Me: "We're having a little problem with your rooster."
Farmer Bob: "It's not my rooster, it's your rooster."
Me (thinking Bob is joking): "Umm, okay. Well, is there any way you could keep your rooster in your fence?"
Farmer Bob: "It's not my rooster, it's your rooster."
Me: "What are you talking about? I just have a normal yard and you have a field with animals. Why would you think he's my rooster?!"
Farmer Bob: "He was always in your yard, playing with your kids."
Me: "They weren't playing with him, they were running away from him!"

Farmer Bob and I determined someone had probably just dropped the bird off near Bob's field. This was wonderful news to me because now I could be rid of Rooster Cogburn!

I knew that rooster would be too hard to catch inside of Bob's fences and so I hatched up a plan. A few days later I lured the rooster out of the Bob's fence (using my children as bait of course -- Rooster Cogburn could never turn down an opportunity to chase my boys) and then called animal control once he was in my yard. Animal control turned out to be the local police. It took myself, three officers, a big net, Wonder bread, and more than an hour to finally catch ol' Rooster Cogburn! 

My husband was actually very sad about the rooster's relocation to the animal shelter. Do I feel bad? A little. Would I catch and send him off again? Probably. Good luck with the rest of your life Rooster Cogburn!

Rooster Cogburn watching us eat dinner (or is he plotting our demise?)

Changing Times

The biggest recent change in our home is that Rubin James started school a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit I'm having a little bit of a hard time with it. He started first grade and I didn't realize how much harder it would be to send him to first grade than to kindergarten. Kindergarten was only three hours, but first grade is seven hours! I miss RJ around here during the day. He gives Graham something to do and is Uriah's buddy a lot of the time. Most of all though, I miss not having someone understand me, even if it was just a little bit. There were times when Uriah was screaming at me and RJ would come up and say, "Gee, the baby's being feisty today!" and I would nod and sigh with frustration. This small conversation meant so much to me because I realized someone noticed the hard time I was having. Now I have Graham and Uriah quarreling at home during the day and I really miss my confidante.

One piece of exciting news is that we switched RJ to a local charter school. This charter school is really great and has a lot of good programs. But the main reason for the switch is simply because we felt good about that school. He loves his new school and we're happy to see him happy.



RJ on his first day of school. He looks so grown up!

What does Graham do during the seven hours RJ is at school? (I mean, besides picking on Uriah?) Why, he takes care of RJ's stuffed animals of course! It is a big job because the animals are often lonely, scared, tired, and hungry. Graham is such a good caregiver. He juggles the comforting of his and RJ's animals with ease. He is always telling RJ's newest animal, Little Rexy, "Rubin will be home soon. I'll take care of you while Rubin's at school." Then he gives Little Rexy a big hug and tucks him under a blanket so he can take a nap. It's all very sweet!



Graham and Little Rexy

Last, but not least, Uriah is still not saying Mama. He says doggie, woof, meow, tweet, ball, bye, Daddy, and even Grandpa. But he will not say Mama. We actually have this little joke where I point at myself and say, "Who's this?" and he throws his head back and laughs like I have said the funniest thing on the planet. Laugh it up, Chuckles.

Here's Mr. Helpful himself. He is truly helpful except when the vacuum is actually turned on. Then he runs away in terror!

From Texas to Utah

Rubin, his brother Trevor, and I survived a driving trip from Texas to Utah around the first of August. Once again I trusted Rubin way too much with the travel plans. He assured me that I would have the entire backseat of the car to relax in for the whole ride. I guess it's been a while since I've seen the Mini Cooper. I spent the better part of four days crammed in a space the size of a shoe box. Luckily, Trevor was nice enough to let me use his pillows to sleep on.

First we went to a Six Flags park, where the heat was so intense I blacked out during some of the rides. Good times.

Next we went to Carlsbad Caverns. This was my favorite part of the trip. We spent the whole day wandering around on the clearly-marked paths of the cave. The National Park Service's self-described goal is to have minimum impact on the natural cave formations. In an unrelated note, they had a restaurant, gift shop, and restrooms deep inside the cave. Hey, wait a minute...



Rubin and I having a romantic lunch in Carlsbad Caverns. The bat droppings were a nice touch.

That evening we waited in the amphitheater for the Bat Flight. This is where the bats all leave the cave at twilight to go feed. The ranger instructed everyone to be completely silent and keep all electronic devices put away so as not to frighten the bats. The rangers were pretty hardcore about this rule -- one lady was even "escorted" out because she wouldn't turn off her iPad!

Rubin, Trevor, and I waiting for the bat flight outside of the cave.

Then we had to make a quick trip to Roswell, New Mexico, to visit the alien museum. What a quirky little town Roswell is! Every store has aliens painted on the windows! For example, the furniture shop has pictures of aliens sitting on couches and the Mexican restuarant has pictures of aliens in somberos! It's a good time down there in Roswell!
 

At first, I was afraid of the aliens in Roswell.

But they're not so bad once you get to know them.

Well, the drive was long and hot and uncomfortable, but I can still say I had a good time on my trip with Rubin and Trevor. Hopefully Trevor has recovered from being subjected to a play by play (by moi) of the novel Edenbrooke, a nineteenth-century romance where Marianne Daventry falls for the dashing Philip Wyndham.

We Belong Together

Well, summer is over, and that means the summer library program is over too. Did I win anything from the weekly drawings you ask? No! Can you believe that? I had to read a book a week simply for the joy of reading! Oh well, such is life. At least I got a funny story out of the experience.

Twice a week in the summer the library has a program called Canopy Capers. Everyone brings a picnic lunch to the library and enjoys stories and puppet shows under a canopy on the lawn. In order to be the best mom ever, I decided to take the kids the very first week. Since we were coming right after swim lessons, we even arrived an hour early. I thought we could scout out a spot for our picnic blanket and check out some books with the extra time. We walked to the canopy and saw that the library had thoughtfully placed blankets under the canopy for everyone. I told the kids to pick out a blanket for our family to sit on. We walked around the many blankets, looking for the best spot. Finally we picked one we liked. I then noticed out of the corner of my eye, that a woman was looking at me with a very concerned look. That's when I put two and two together. These blankets were not thoughtfully laid out by the library! These blankets were brought by individual moms for their own families! I had to laugh at myself for not realizing this earlier! I can only imagine the horror that woman felt watching me choose which blanket to steal for my own use. But in my defense, we were an hour early and no one was actually sitting on the blankets. Who in their right mind has the time to come to the library an hour early just to stake out a spot for Canopy Capers? (except for me, of course!) It was a baptism by fire moment.

Canopy Capers about to start (which is why people are actually sitting on their blankets!)

Rubin laughed when I came home and told him the story about my Canopy Capers experience. It was quite the story in our family for a couple of weeks.

Later in the summer our sprinkler broke. Rubin ran to the Home Depot to pick up a short segment of PVC. He wandered down the plumbling aisle, but all the pipes on display were much too long. Luckily, he then found a store cart displaying various odds and ends. He started digging through hoping to find the piece he needed. And there he found it, a foot-long piece of 1/2 inch PVC! He looked up triumphantly only to catch a mortified man staring at him. At that moment, Rubin realized that this was not an odds and ends cart! This was that man's cart filled with items he intended to buy! Rubin quickly fled the scene, dropping the pipe and muttering an apology along the way.

We had a good laugh about these encounters. I guess this proves that we truly belong to each other!