Our Nightly Walk

As you know (or maybe you don't) we live out in the boonies.... the country... little house on the prairie.  We live on a County Road so we have no sidewalks.


But one thing we do have is a huge backyard.  Here is only about half of it:

That  is the back of our house and our seemingly never ending supply of firewood that hubby cuts and splits himself.


Anyway... where am I going with this?  Oh yeah.... walks.... I don't particularly like walking on a County Road but liking the exercise that you can get from walking, I decided one night, to walk the entirity (is that a word) of our backyard  (I now do it three or four times depending on the weather).  I  took the dog along to run, sniff, explore, whatever it is that  dogs do.


And now....it has become a nightly ritual.  


He knows that after dinner is over and things are cleaned up that IT IS TIME!  He stares out the window (observe pictures below) and whines and whines, and....um...oh yeah... whines.

(That is Easter grass on his snout)

Once I have my shoes on... we are on our way,


Let the exploring begin.

Stream of Thoughts

Here we are in May already... although you could never tell it's May by the weather we've been having lately.  It seems we are stuck in the 40's and temps in the 50's have been reason to rejoice. We all know how I feel about this... soooo....... moving on.


Son number two (Jon) came home from school today touting his graduation cap and gown.  Even though I knew this was coming, it hit me like a slap in the face....I am losing another son....soon....like in a month!   It brought me to the brink of tears many times this evening.  And because I like to inflict punishment on myself, I popped open youtube and loaded that song that goes "let my love give you roots and help you find your wings."  That song truly wants to make me cry... and little did I know that Jon was listening too and admitted to almost crying himself!


In other news, God has still not revealed his plan for me next year.  The only certainty will be that I will begin class(es) in the fall.  How many I take will depend on whether God has a job for me to do next year.  I have applied at different places and am now just praying that God will open doors that he wants opened and closes doors that he wants closed. 


 Hubby and I are fairly certain (95%) that Zack will be back at Oshkosh Christian next year thus ending our year of homeschooling.   Homeschooling was great and I will always look back and cherish this year - but - some subjects are too difficult to teach from home...for me anyway.  Also, he is in desperate need of more social interaction than his music and gym classes are providing.


My teeth continue to be an issue.  Lets just say that I maxed out my insurance for the year already by the end of January and could use a ton more work!  I hate tooth pain..... I hate my teeth... and I hate Vicodin!!!   I just want them all yanked....  but I cannot get my doctor to agree.  In case you are wondering....YES.....I am in pain right now.  A bit less pain right now than I was 4 hours ago when I couldn't even eat dinner thanks to some Vicodin I have left from two months ago when I experienced my previous tooth pain!!!!!! UGH!!!


My mom and dad come in two weeks and C.J. in a month.  Gosh, I miss everyone so much.  Once C.J. gets here...  he'll be here for a whole month!!!! WooHoo!  


That is about it in the Schneider/Koeck household lately.

Pampered Pooch

The Aftermath

So, the official statistics have us getting 6.5 inches yesterday.


Let's look for a bright side... shall we:  Appleton got 9 inches....Green Bay got 10 inches.... so it could have been worse, right?


Who am I kidding... I cannot find a bright spot in this.


And to top it all off my son wakes me at 7:15 this morning because he missed the bus...so I get up...get dressed... put contacts in....brush teeth... and head downstairs... only to find out........ his school had a two hour delay and he did not miss his bus after all!


Oh well... it can only go up from here...right?

April 19th..... No Really It Is

 These pictures are not from December, or January, or February, or even March.


Nope... these pictures are from today... April 19th.


Anyone who knows me well  knows how I feel about this.


I simply have no words!!!!!!!

 And I believe this is only the beginning of the snowfall we shall be expecting today.

April.....Really????

..WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON 
THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON... 

A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY AFTERNOON 
THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 

* A BAND OF SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHERN WISCONSIN 
TUESDAY MORNING...AND THEN SLOWLY PUSH NORTH OVER CENTRAL AND 
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN MIDDAY ONWARD. THE SNOW COULD BE HEAVY AT TIMES 
LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY NIGHT...BEFORE DIMINISHING 
WEDNESDAY MORNING. 

* THE STORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE A BAND OF 6 TO 10 INCHES OF WET 
PACKING-TYPE SNOW. ALTHOUGH STILL SOMEWHAT UNCERTAIN...THE MOST 
LIKELY SCENARIO IS FOR THE HEAVY SNOW BAND TO SET UP JUST TO THE 
NORTH AND WEST OF GREEN BAY AND THE FOX CITIES. LOCATIONS NEAR 
LAKE MICHIGAN WILL SEE THE LOWEST AMOUNTS...DUE TO THE WARM 
LAKE AIR KEEPING TEMPERATURES JUST ABOVE FREEZING. 

* SINCE THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR A SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL...A 
WINTER STORM WATCH HAS BEEN POSTED FOR THE ENTIRE AREA. BE 
SURE TO MONITOR LATER FORECASTS WHICH WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE 
MORE DETAILED SNOWFALL ESTIMATES. 

* HEAVY SNOW WILL CAUSE TRAVEL TO BECOME EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS AS 
ROADS BECOME SNOW OR ICED COVERED. HEAVY SNOW COULD ALSO REDUCE 
VISIBILITIES TO A QUARTER OF A MILE OR LESS AT TIMES. 

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT 
SNOW OR SLEET ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO 
MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS. 

More Basketball

Time for the father/son basketball game again.


Remember last year?


This year... they moved it to April to coincide with their annual Open House.


Also, this year Jerry was able to go.

The first game was actually the fourth graders but Jerry still played since there were not enough fathers present for that game.


Then it was time for Zack's game.

Zack did the opening jump ball....

...and scored the first two points of the game.

And who won?   The little boys... not even close!   Okay, they did have a little help from the refs... and even from the father's once in awhile... but they had FUN!  




After his game was over, we stayed to watch the girls play, the 7th and 8th grade boys play, and the high school boys play.  A very fun evening.