Picnicking under the blossoms

Gavin has been asking when we could picnic under spring blossoming trees. I was happy to make that wish come true at Water Works park today.

Bluebird Monitoring

My weekly bluebird trail nestbox monitoring has begun, and three out of four of my boxes had nests this AM. A female flew out of one of my boxes when I tapped on the side, and inside I found these six beauties:

I also enjoyed watching this flock if pelicans and cormorants hanging together:

Rainy day warm-up

A rainy, gray day calls for a big ole pot of homemade chai, simmering away on the stove and filling our home with spicy warmth. It's about to begin....

LONG day!

Today was a long day. I got up before 5am to drive to Chichaqua for the annual Sandhill Crane count with my parents. We heard a couple cranes, and viewed one in a cornfield. It was a nice, rainy two hours spent in the stillness. I enjoyed it. Got to see this little leopard frog on the trail:

I missed the boys' soccer game as I spent the rest of the day setting up and working at our school's Family Fun Day carnival. Whew, I was exhausted by the time I got home at 5pm!! Looking forward to a peaceful Sunday spent doing almost nothing.

Weinermobile

Chance sightings such as this make me happy

Spring cleaning

 We spent Sunday spring cleaning the garage. I don't normally care much about thr garage, but when it's clean, I really appreciate it! And we scored a full-size fridge/freezer to store extra food for only $50!

Shifts

Mike quit his job on Monday. Hooph, big words! Two weeks from tomorrow will be his last day, and there are a lot of questions not yet answered. If all goes perfectly well, he'll have a week "off" and then find out he received the contract for his Consulting Business on the 1st of May. If they don't award him the contract, then our level of trepidation rises slightly. His business has been doing really well in the interim (and they've allowed him to continue working with them, using a small number of consultants, until they decide who to award the exclusive contract to), so he'll have paychecks coming through the beginning of June. That gives him some time to apply to other jobs if things don't go his way. Unfortunately, though, the job market for pharmacist hasn't been ideal lately, with several Dahl's food stores closing and leaving dozens and dozens of pharmacists unemployed. He's applied to a few Hy-Vee openings, and did not receive interviews with any of them. So becoming employed as a full-time pharmacist may not be a piece of cake. Even so, we're staying hopeful.

For my part, my job search went on hold when everything I was finding resulted in the tally of hourly pay vs. full-time childcare for three kids during a loooong summer break. It just doesn't add up. So I took a breather and am waiting a bit. Yet with Mike's future in the unknown category right now, I've upped my level of urgency and am questioning whether I should be more actively looking in order to prepare for the worst.

Leaps of faith are not my strong point. Oofta.

Surprise weekend in Omaha

We went to Omaha for the weekend to surprise my brother, for his birthday and in celebration of his recent perfect score on a grant that will get him the funding for his own lab. We first surprised him with my parents at Benson Brewery for lunch. He's not much into surprises but handled it pretty well. After my parents left, Jenna and I sent he and Mike on a beer and cupcake run while we set up for surprise #2 at their apartment-- several old friends and both his current lab boss and his old lab boss at UI came for a mini-party. It was a great time. We stayed the night at their apartment and enjoyed breakfast the next morning before heading home.

Maren and I; drum majors reunited!

Matt-new boss, Rick-old boss, & Adam

My first experience playing Cards Against Humanity. I discovered that it's very hard to photograph people playing this game, as no one ever stops laughing long enough to get a still photo!

The happy and tired couple at breakfast the next morning

Springtime pops overnight

After an overnight rain, I was delighted to see so many signs of springtime suddenly visible in the morning! Not only was grass greening up, but the goldfinches at my feeder were suddenly wearing their yellow feathers, the first blossoms appeared on magnolia trees around town,  and the most excitement we've had in some time was watching a beaver swim around the pond. Our annual neighborhood easter egg hunt also went off without a hitch at the park this evening. It was a nice day had by all!

Gavin's BFF from preschool & the neighborhood-- his buddy who is also named Gavin

April hiking

Gav and I spent the first day of April hiking a couple trails up at Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt, volunteering to clear  timber from the trails and lay some native seed on a newly acquired area of land. Less than 5 minutes on the first trail we found a pile-up of garter snakes and two dead raccoons (seems there was some raccoon-rampant illness causing the early demise of many raccoons in the area). Gavin insisted I photograph the deceased mammals, but I think I'll just post the photos of the wildLIFE we discovered.

After a day spent in the warm natural stillness, we ended the day at Skyzone with a very LOUD bang, for neighbor friend Miles' birthday party. The boys had a blast jumping their hearts out!