What Is A Conservative To Do?

I consider myself a very conservative person. Based on my religious and political views, I could even be called a "right-winger". Unfortunately, I live in arguably one of the most liberal states in the country, Maryland. Our current politcal leaders swept what little Republican resistence we had in the state capital, out of office last November: and they even campaigned on massive tax increases, stronger unions, huge increases in spending, and pro-abortion/pro-stem cell research platforms. It has not been a happy time for conservatives in this state.

That being said, what am I to do when, after almost ten years of battling my own Party on an issue (on the local level), I owe the positive resolution of said issue to the very folks that I oppose in so many other areas? We have been threatened by a development project so massive that one of its size has never been seen before in our state in the sensitive area called the "Critical Area", an area within 1000 feet of the Chesapeake Bay that is especially sensitive to environmental damage caused by over-development. Here is today's article in the Baltimore Sun, and a local tv news story. I wish I had more time for details, but time (unlike my wife's blessings) is not something I have in abundance lately.

Anyway, I've been thinking it's a very upside-down world around here. But I am very pleased with the result, so far.

My Birthday Present

Kenzie had another softball tournament this weekend. I was the official scorekeeper, so I didn't get a chance to take many pictures. I did snap a few good ones, though. Here's one of her getting a hit on Saturday, and another of her sliding safely home.

Today, for my birthday, I asked her to give me an error free game and two base hits. I changed that to one hit, since they were only guaranteed one game (more, only if they won, which they didn't), and yesterday she only got one hit (she says two, but who was scorekeeper?) in three games and made a couple errors at first base (her first time ever playing there). Well, she accomplished the error free game easily enough, but I was getting worried about that hit request as they entered the fifth inning. That's when she got a double, and I got my birthday present.

My Trip

I have been very derelict in my posting lately, I know. I wish I had more time for this because it has its therapeutic value. Hanging laundry is a good distraction, but it has its limits.

Vicki has been filling you in on most of the stuff that's been going on around here, and I can't really add much.

The Grand Canyon trip was great! Dad and I walked down the mule trail (Bright Angel Trail) on Monday. We walked 4.6 of the 6.1 miles (one way), and went down 3000 feet (from about 6800 ft. to about 3800 ft). The going down part was much easier than the going back up part, but I loved it. We were supposed to ride the mules down on Tuesday. My dad made, but I missed the maximum weight by about 6 pounds. I lost about 30 pounds for this trip, but it wasn't quite enough. Having walked the trail the previous day, I wasn't too upset about it. I walked about 8 miles of the Rim Trail instead.

Then we went to Zion National Park. This canyon, you could drive into, as well as hike several trails. We walked one on the easier trials because dad was feeling the effects of Monday's hike, and Tuesday's mule ride: two completely different sets of muscles, all strained in completely differently ways. We spent the night in Springdale, UT, where we had elk-burgers for dinner. Not the first time we've had elk burgers, but it was the first time we had elk burgers at a place that raises elk in their back yard (which got me thinking about what we could put next to our chickens in our own back yard). We were assured the elk on the premises were pets ONLY, and that the limping elk was not the source of our current, fresh, elk burger.

Next stop was Bryce Canyon, my personal favorite. I wish we had more than one day to spend there, but sometimes you just don't know what you're going to see until you get there. We spent a few hours hiking the rim of Bryce CanyonBryce Point to Inspiration Point (and back). Then we had to head back to Las Vegas for our flight home on Thursday.

I have to say, I don't see anything appealing about Las Vegas. We flew in and out of LV because of the cheap airline tickets. My dad loves the place. My mom totally loves the place. I was more than a little appalled at the place. Luckily, I was so tired from the week of canyon-hopping, I could tolerate the overnight stay until our flight out of there, but I could not find many redeeming qualities in that city. It's appropriate that it was built in one of the hottest places on earth.

Well, it was good to get home, even with Bekah's initial cold should. Now, I have to figure out how many elk will fit in our back yard.

Too Crazy

Life has been just too crazy lately to post here, but I had to get at least one in before April ended. Vicki has re-started her posts, although I have no idea how she finds time. I'm just doing this while the twins are working on a language arts workbook.

Quickly:

Chickens are laying eggs, about 7 or 8 a day. The young ones are getting big and should be laying by the middle of June. We still have 29 or 20 hens, but since one of our friends with chickens lost almost all of hers to some predator, I'll be giving about 10 or 12 to her in June.

Kenzie's travel softball team hasn't won a game yet, but they are getting much better. They are about a year or two younger than the teams they have been playing, and they just need experience. They all have tremendous skill that will come together once they've played together for a while.

I think we've pretty much settled on sending the twins to school next year. This has been just an awful year for me, with five students, a toddler, and a baby. My stress level has been through the roof, and I need a break. Second grade in public school shouldn't damage the twins too much. We can always pull them back out if things don't work any better than they have at home. Alex is still set on going to the Catholic high school. I hope I'm not wasting my money. He hasn't shown much more interest in his studies than he did over the winter; I hope the problem is me and our current teaching environment.

I leave for the Grand Canyon, with my dad, on Saturday. My goal was to get down, under 200 pounds, so I could meet the maximum weight for the mule ride into the canyon. Since January, by eating less and exercising a lot more, I lost over 20 pounds, but it may not be enough. I wasn't about to go on a "crash diet"; just wanted to change habits enough to reduce calorie intake and increase calorie-burning. I don't know how strict they about the weight limit. If they make you get on a scale, I won't be riding a mule (I figure there's plenty of other fun stuff to do out there), but at least I started a good downward trend that I hope to continue through the Summer.

I have a lot more running around to do this week, before I leave. We still have ballgames or softball practice every night. Alex has Confirmation rehearsal on Wed. night. He has a math placement test to take at SSPP on Thursday morning, and Confirmation that night. Somebody even has practice on Friday night. Then I'm off to my parent's house. Dad and I always leave on our trips early, so I spend the nights there, get up around 4:00 a.m., and head to BWI.

There's tons of stuff I haven't gotten around to posting here, and I can't say I'll ever get to it, but I hope to get some stuff on here when things calm down a bit; say around July, 2024.

Giant Egg

One of our hens has begun laying gigantic eggs. Here's a picture of the first one she laid yesterday, next to a normal sized pullet egg. We thought it was a fluke, but she laid a second one today. These things are huge. I haven't cracked one open yet, so I don't know how many yolks are inside. I'm guessing at least three since these eggs are much bigger than the double-yolks we've been getting.

Kenzie was outside today when a neighbor walked by. He began telling her how he missed his chickens that he had back in Spain. When he goes for walks, he slows down as he passes our house, hoping to catch Nugget cock-a-doodle-doo-ing. He also hinted that he might like some eggs when we start getting extra, which should be real soon, once all the girls start laying reliably. Maybe Kenzie can start earning her tuition money by selling eggs, except I don't know what legal hoops we'd have to jump through to sell (legally, anyway) backyard chicken eggs.

Private School

Good news, bad news.

We found out this week that Alex was accepted into the private, Catholic high school that he applied to (good news). This would really ease some of the pressures at home (more good news). Now, we have to figure out how to pay for it (bad news). Plus, the school is about thirty miles away (more bad news). We usually spend a few thousand dollars each year on homeschool supplies (including extracurriculars likes music, art, sports, etc), but the expense of private school is several times what we've spent in past years on all the kids' combined homeschool expenses. And we'll still have the other homeschool expenses on top of Alex's tuition, books, transportation expenses, uniform costs, etc. We've applied for financial aid, but that is very hard to come by around here. We have until August 1 to get the tuition together, and to receive the 5% discount for paying in full by that deadline. Other options are payment plans, but that would be like adding a couple car payments to the monthly expenses. Not a good idea.

If it's God's will for us to pursue this course, he'll send us what we need.

Kenzie is very excited today. We attend Stations of the Cross every Friday evening during Lent, and older my boys always help out, as altar servers. Last week, our priest told Kenzie to get there early if she wants to get fitted for her Altar Server garments. She has been wanting to be an Altar Server ever she her First Communion last year, but our Deacon, who is in charge of scheduling training sessions, has not gotten around to it yet. So, knowing how badly she wants to start, I think our priest is going to waive the training session for now. She'll start tonight with Stations, and be eased into the Masses with her brothers. She'll always have at least one mbog brother with her, to show her the ropes, at least for a while. She is both very ecstatic, and a little nervous. Alex and Connor serve almost every weekend because the Mass we attend is a very lightly attended Service. Thus, even when they are not scheduled to serve, they get volunteered because the scheduled servers don't show up.

Kenzie is so excited about this, that she is delaying her attendance at a sleep-over birthday party at her friend's house tonight. The party starts at 6, and she won't be able to get there until about 8. I even told her she could miss Stations tonight. I then regretted my weakness in excusing her, but it didn't matter, because she'd have none of that. That says a lot about the priorities of one, young 9 year old girl.

The Haunted Trail

A while ago I promised a pictorial tour of our Haunted Forest Trail. The weather broke a little this past weekend, so some of the kids and I went for a walk. This time I had my camera with me. Here are some of the highlights.

We started at the beach. You can see it was windy that day. The wind hasn't stopped blowing like this for four days. They say it's bringing some of that lovely, snow-filled, Canadian air. Two to four inches are being called for tomorrow.







From there, we passed the Black Lagoon. No Creature was active today, so the swans were safe.

Here's where the Giant Spiders swing down from the trees when they're hungry. Fortunately, the high winds had them heading for shelter. There were a few buzzards circling this area, though, out of habit, I guess.

Here's the Swamp, where the 'Thing' lurks. It's much more threatening in the Summer, when the growth is so think, the 'Thing' can sneak up on you.








Here's Taylor approaching Three Troll Bridges. Notice how the trolls planted a little sign right in the middle of their territory. This is to lure unsuspecting hikers into stopping for a look-see. Tyler, of course, started stomping on the bridges and screaming a challenge to the trolls to come and get him. Fortunately for him, I think the trolls were hibernating this time of year.

Here's evidence of the T-Rex that lives in the Haunted Forest. What else could have knocked down such a huge tree? (don't mention the wind, that would spoil the fun of this trail)







Moving on, we have to look to the skies, where Pterodactyls have been sighted on calmer days.











To prove we've actually moved back in time, here's a cool caveman bench. It looks like something left behind by Fred Flintstone.

Moving on, we finally approach Big Foot territory. We know he's been here because we can find all kinds of giant footsteps filled with water.

Unscathed, yet again, the brave warriors triumphantly reach the end of the trail. I don't know what they'd do if they actually met any of the creatures purported to live around here.