36/52 - Old Friends, New Wildlife, 1st Grade!
We see lots of wildlife around us on a daily basis; we practically have deer living in our yard fulltime. But it's still a nice surprise when we come across some of the less common creatures.
Coyotes are no stranger in our parts, but they are animals that we mostly hear and not see. (And boy, can they make a racket at night.) But recently we have seen a lone coyote out during the day and wandering through the lawn. We're guessing that it's a younger animal, perhaps born in the spring. We're glad to see him around! He should feel free to eat as many mice and gophers as he likes.
On a different day after some irrigation work outside, I walked back to the house only to find that somewhere along the way I had unknowingly picked up a hitchhiker: a praying mantis!
He seemed perfectly content just sitting on my shoulder. It even looks like he is posing for the photo.
After our shoot, I dropped him off back out in the tall grass. Hopefully that's where he wanted to go.
We happened to notice via social media that a college friend of ours from the East coast was going to be at a library conference in Portland, so we made plans to join him for dinner after his arrival. After he took a brief diversion - public transit in a new city is hard! - we took him out to a few of our favorite eateries in Portland while we refreshed old friendships.
Salt & Straw
Great to see you, Tom!
Each September, the town of Bingen WA hosts a Huckleberry Festival. In addition to the huckleberry ice cream and huckleberry pie, they always put together an engaging lineup of live entertainment. This year we enjoyed a raptor demonstration, a jazz band, a juggler, a swing trio, and a fire dancer/juggler pair.
The entertainment that made the biggest impact, though, was the evening rock band, LiveWire. While primarily an AC/DC tribute band, in their first set they did a veritable tour of 70s and 80s rock: Journey, Foreigner, Guns N' Roses. But the one that really stuck with Anders was their performance of Hot Blooded by Foreigner. (Thankfully, he doesn't really know what the song is about.) We stuck around for the beginning of their second set as well, but by that point it was getting late so we headed for home.
Before the show we had explained to Anders the concept of a tribute band, and that LiveWire was an AC/DC tribute band. But apparently we had neglected to mention that the band's first set wasn't actually AC/DC songs. The next day at home, Anders kept asking for us to play AC/DC. But when we did, he got upset: "Dad, I wanted AC/DC!" What he really wanted was Foreigner and Journey. I'm afraid he might be confused about AC/DC's music for some time. He did notice that the font on the side of his AC/DC Hot Wheels vehicle matched the one that LiveWire used on their drum kit.
Several days later while he was laying in bed, he made the following observation:
Dad, I've noticed that in music they use the word 'tonight' a lot more than the word 'today'.
He then proceeded to demonstrate by singing Hot Blooded and Rockin' Robin, two songs that have probably never been sung in succession in the history of civilization. I think he's going to be a good person to have on your team during a Sing-Down.
Anders is now a first grader! He actually missed the first day of school, home sick with a mild fever. But he was excited to rejoin his 15 classmates on the second day.
Kindergarten started an hour later than the rest of the school. So last year, Anders rode a dedicated kindergarten bus route which arrived at our house around 8:30am each morning. But starting with first grade, he rides the regular morning bus which stops at our house at 7:13am. That is early, and we are not morning people. Anders, in particular, loves his sleep in the morning. As an example, Anders didn't wake up until 10am on Christmas morning this past year.
In preparation for the earlier bus time, we did shift Anders's bedtime routine 30 minutes earlier when we returned from our trip to the East Coast, before he had a chance to readjust to West Coast time. But man, it's still feels early.
Did I mention it was early? We all look tired.
Despite the early start, he is still loves going to school.
Anders and his 1st Grade teacher, Mrs. Davis
Enjoy First Grade, Anders!
- Mike, Corinne, and Anders
No comments:
Post a Comment