Birthday girls

Vivian (3) and Rebecca (7) celebrated birthdays this week. We called Vivian Monday evening to wish her happy birthday. It wasn’t easy to understand her but Jill was on the line to help translate. Maybe it’s hard for her to understand us, too. Li’l r was at the rat pizza joint with her folks when I showed up to take Abigail to ball practice. The rest of them were headed to an open house after. Rebecca grabbed me and sat me down in one of the little attractions they have which took our picture and printed it on a credit card-sized card. It was just a head shot and we had to put ours together to get both into the pic. If she keeps up with it, it should provide a few laughs over the years.

Arty B and I moseyed out to the ranch one morning last week to shoot off our pistols without upsetting anyone. It was a nice morning, like most of the mornings lately, and I was glad to see that the range was in much better shape than when we were there in early summer. Although it was dry, Riverland had clearly gotten some good rain. Some of the roads were deeply rutted and the grass and weeds were tall. Unfortunately the flies and mosquitoes were out in force which caused us to cut short our target practice.

Abigail went to a party Friday night, a sleep over for those allowed that privilege, which the Abster wasn’t. She told me they went to Goodwill with $7 each and bought things to make a costume out of, which they later wore to the mall. I couldn’t quite follow Abigail’s description of her costume but I did gather that it was too tight, especially since she wore her close underneath it. There was something about a thong, a wedgee, butt cheeks and the hope that none of the myriad pictures taken and posted to Facebook caught her from behind.

Joyce caught Rojo servicing one of the chickens the other day. He’s a young and healthy rooster and will no doubt make short work of his 16 virgins. The two elder chickens, Joyce’s pets, are allowed out of the chicken yard most of the day. Joyce doesn’t let the others out yet I suppose because she’s not sure they are accustomed enough to the chickenhouse to not cause problems getting them put up in the evening. It is comical to watch Joyce and her buds. Wherever they happen to be, they come arunning when she comes out of the house because she often is carrying a treat for them. They will escort her all the way to the shop.

Rebecca celebrated her birthday with friends Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, the place was green and Grampa was giving rides in the trailer behind the tractor. Kari stumbled across some John Deere- themed party plates and napkins so that was the theme of the party. The ride went over pretty well and I made many a circuit with a trailer load of young’uns.