4-H Fair

Wednesday morning was the rabbit show down at the fair grounds. We had to be there by 8 am. Greg and Sarah both showed their rabbits. Nathan didn't take his, it has a cold in it's eye and they probably wouldn't have let it in. They check the rabbits over really good before you can bring them in. Nathan's rabbit had also lost a lot of weight over the winter. I think it is probably done with being shown. It didn't place very high last year. Here are some pictures of the day.

This is Hershey...she is Sarah's rabbit. She is a mini lop. She placed 3rd. The judge didn't like her coloring!

This is cheerio, she is Greg's and she is a Dutch rabbit. She placed 6th. The judge said that her body was too long! All of her markers were good though, which is the hard thing with showing Dutch rabbits. The judges want to see a straight line dividing the two colors on the back and there is to be a white line dividing the color that is on their head (which she had). Anyway, she placed 2nd last year when she was a junior, so I don't know how you keep them from growing too long!

Sarah with Hershey

Nathan, standing beside his rabbit's empty cage...awwwwww! He doesn't seem too upset thought does he?!

Greg with Cheerio Nathan with his friend, Colin. They were taking Colin's goats for a walk while we waited for Greg and Sarah to show their rabbits.

Sarah in the arena getting ready to show Hershey. Hershey is in the box, you just can't see her.

Greg waiting to show Cheerio.

Sarah taking Hershey back to her cage...she was very pleased with 3rd place as you can see by her face!

Nathan and I went and checked out some of the animals while we waited on Greg and Sarah to go into the arena. Doesn't this little piggy look comfy?

This was the Grand Champion...I liked the blue bling that they wrapped around her neck!

These chickens were cool. They had blue on their face and blue on their legs. They also would answer us when we would bawk at them! Nathan was cracking up laughing at them.

This is a baby Mini Rex. They are really soft, their fur feels just like velvet. Nathan is trying to talk us into letting him buy one at the end of the fair. He knows that his rabbit must "go" before that happens, so we will see. (I'm sure you all can imagine what "go" means.)

This would be my choice of rabbit, a Holland Lop. I think they are just the cutest little bunnies ever!!

Quick update

Sorry I haven't been very good at updating my blog lately. I will try and catch everyone up on what has been happening here in Plymouth.

Greg made it home OK from Wyoming. We drove down Friday and had supper with Jon and Alyssa while waiting for his plane to get it. He had a little trouble in Denver and ended up having to take a later flight out. He didn't get in until midnight, then we had the drive home, which got us in around 2:30am. We all slept in on Saturday, and really didn't do much the rest of the weekend. He really had a great time though, and is looking forward to going out there again.

Greg started Band Camp this week. It is for marching band. It will be for 4 weeks. This first week he had to be there from 1-9pm. By Wednesday night he was getting pretty tired. They have Fridays off. Next week it will run from 5-9pm. Then back to 1-9pm for the 3rd week and 5-9 for the last week. On the weeks that they are there for 8 hours they have a supper break from 5-5:30pm.

Nathan had soccer camp this week for 4 days. It ran from 2-4pm, right during the hottest part of the day! And we had some hot days this week, up in the 90's.

I have one more week of summer school with 4 of our autistic boys. I plan on putting in my resignation then. I am not going to go back to school as an aide. I have applied at some of the surrounding schools for a teaching job. They say that in August is when everything starts happening and is the best time to get a teaching job. We'll see! If I don't get a teaching job this fall, I will probably go back to subbing until a teaching position opens up. I would also like to go back to school and get my special ed. endorsement, but that depends on what happens with Allen.

Allen went to Chicago Wednesday for a job interview. It was for a job in Virginia. It sounds like they really want him, but won't need him for another 6 months. They are starting up a new plant and won't be ready for him until then. So I guess we just wait and see what develops. So while he waits, he works on the kitchen. Today (Saturday) he started moving things around. He bought a corner cabinet and went from there! I will post some pictures of what he has done so far.

Tomorrow we take the rabbits down to the fair grounds. The 4-H fair starts Monday. The kids will be showing their rabbits Wednesday morning. So next week will be busy with having to be there every day to feed and water the rabbits and clean out under their cages.

Well, I think that just about gets me caught up with what has been going on here. I will try to not get so far behind next time!

Kitchen I finally managed to get a "before" picture! This is the kitchen before the madness started today!First the refrigerator had to be moved out. It was too deep for the wall (because of the door to the dishwasher opening up in front of it) so it has been sitting half inside our bedroom closet for the last 10 years!!

After Allen removed the fridge, he put up drywall, then moved the cabinets and stove down so that he could put in the corner cabinet that he bought. (Did I mention that he bought that cabinet for $5 at a salvage store here in town?!) He just put a board on top of it until we get new counter tops ordered. He still needs to move the wall cabinets around too, so that the hood is back over the stove.

Allen moved the sink and dishwasher to the opposite side of the kitchen. He wanted the sink under the window that he put in. Here he is plumbing up the sink.

He then moved the refrigerator over to the wall where the sink and dishwasher were. We are not sure which end of the wall the fridge should go. I don't really like it where it's at, would rather have it in the corner, but then he would have to move the cabinets that are on the wall!

Our time at Jon and Alyssa's

Cedrick

Penny

Sarah and Nathan

Pond in the neighborhood where Jon and Alyssa live

Penny loved being with Sarah that night!! And Sarah was so good at playing with her...she will make a great babysitter!

Greg in Wyoming

Greg, Taylor (Greg's friend he went to visit in Wy.) and Nathan (boy who also lives in Wy.)
They went to a ranch and shot prairie dogs. I will NOT be posting the pictures of the poor prairie dogs that they shot that day! (sorry guys)

Greg

Greg did manage to take 2 whole pictures of the scenery in Wy.!! I think there were 12 pictures of dead prairie dogs!

Greg's plane trip

Greg left Saturday for Wyoming! This is his first time to fly, and he went alone! He went to spend a week with his friend, Taylor Stock. They met with us in our Sunday morning meetings when they lived here. Greg and Taylor haven't seen each other since they moved out west last year. Annie met him at the airport in Denver and then drove him to Fort Collins where the Stocks picked him up.

Greg waiting for his plane to get in at Indianapolis Airport. Allen and I got special boarding passes so that we could walk him to his gate. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to go any farther than the security gates.

Greg's plane arriving at the gate.

Guy washing the windows...I had never seen this done before!

Fueling up the plane...this is always good to see!

Greg getting ready to board the plane. Notice the green wrist band. This was to show that he was an unaccompanied minor. When he lands in Denver, they will not release him from the gate until the designated person (which was Annie) arrives with a proper ID. We had to tell the airlines who would be picking him up in Denver and also give them Annie's phone number and address. Annie then had to get a special boarding pass at the ticket counter in Denver so that she could go through security and pick Greg up at the gate. She will then have to show a photo ID at the gate before they will let him go. Made me feel better about sending him alone.

Greg's plane leaving the gate.

Greg's plane in the air. You can barely see it in the bottom of the picture.

4th of July Picnic!

We had a really nice picnic here on the 4th. All of Allen's siblings were here except for his sister Meredith. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Jon, Allen and Barb in deep discussion

Beth (Allen's sister)with her husband Jerry

Dave Shultz and Barb (another sister)

Shirley Shultz (cousin) and Steve (Barb's husband)This was a very serious corn hole tournament that these two couples were playing. It was the women vs the men.

The 4 wise men:

Dean Harger, Jewel Rogers, Jack Quinn , Bill Rundle

The 4 wise women: Bev Rundle, Maxine Rogers, Louise Quinn, Dorothea Harger

Little Miss Penny!!(Jon and Alyssa's daughter)

Cedrick (Jon and Alyssa's son)

Sarah with Coal

The brother in Laws!

Jerry and Steve

Dave and Bill

Melanie, Beth, Barb and Bev

Debra and David Thain (couple from east TN that is here for a couple of weeks on business)

Darrin (Debra and David's son)