Random, quick facts

Hello there.

I really don't like it that a lot of the hits on my blog come from nasty internet sites.  I have decided that I will set my blog to private again.  It's o.k. if you think I'm a little crazy and erratic, because I am.  If you want to be sent an invitation to read, leave a comment or email me.  Otherwise, you won't get an invitation.  And, if you are not someone I know, you will not get an invitation.  My blog will go private on January 1 or thereabouts.

We went to hear the Vienna Boys Choir this past week and it was glorious.  Cute boys, beautiful voices.  Brigham was falling asleep at the end and seemed a little miserable.  Still, the next day he told me what a great choir it was.  It's fun to hear choirs with a bunch of choir singers that really know their stuff.

I made myself a birthday cake in the front yard and it makes me happy every time I pull into the driveway.  It's too dark tonight, or else I'd take a picture.  Maybe I'll do that next week.  Anyway, the "birthday cake" is going to be a native plants garden.  On the other side of the front yard I'm going to dig a rain garden.  The sidewalk in front of our neighbor's house always fills up with water when it rains hard.  I'm going to capture that water into a rain garden.  It will also have native plants and shrubs.  The ground froze before I could get out to dig that, so it will happen next Spring once things dry up just a bit.

We got a giant Christmas wreath for the front door this year made with living pine boughs.  That also makes me very happy when I pull into the driveway.

I bagged up 24 black garbage bags of leaves.  These are sitting behind the garage and are in the 1-2 year process of becoming "leaf mould."  This will be used in place of peat moss. Peat moss should be considered a non-renewable resource since it takes so long for it to be produced.  Please do not buy and use peat moss in your yard.  We are destroying boreal areas with our greed for this resource.

Sariah, May and Elijah performed in MSU's "Home for the Holidays" last night.  I did not go because I had thought I'd be with Nathan at the crow roost.  But, that's o.k. because Joseph was there with our good friend Nancy Boyce.  They said it was a really great show.  Sariah is having such a good time this first year of MSU Children's Choir.  She has been asked to give a solo at the MSU Broad Art Museum when the choir sings there on Tuesday.  She is so happy to have been asked!

It's freakin' cold here and I'm feeding our birdies just a bit more than usual.  Poor things have to make it through these cold nights.  They shiver to keep warm, sometimes burning 40% of their body weight.

Nathan and Elijah were the presenters at our Audubon meeting this past week.  Elijah did a presentation on his project for Young Birder of the Year.  Nathan spoke about his week at Hog Island Audubon Camp.  Each one had a Powerpoint presentation.  They were well received and it seemed that people were pleasantly surprised to see what a good job youth could do!

And, finally, ATHEISTS BELIEVE IN GOOD!  Our kids are so awesome.  We decided as a family that we would donate money to help the youth on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  But, then I asked each of the kids how much of their own money they'd like to donate.  Considering the amount of money they have, they were super generous.  I'm so proud of them.

We no longer do much to celebrate Christmas.  We like to keep a little bit of the magic for the younger kids, but we don't really think that we need lots of gifts.  Each kid gets just one $20-25 gift and some Christmas candy.  I love these changes.  And, people around our house are just as happy as they ever were.  Atheists believe in good!