Mountains, Men and Windy Plains

Well the Crazy Family just got back from a whirlwind trip to the badlands of South Dakota. D wanted to get out of town and so we did. Of course it was a long trip (10 hours there, 14 hours home) but worth the drive. We all saw carved mountains, caves of jewels, an alien mountain, and a crazy theme park with Fred and Wilma (although, only from a distance).

Mount Rushmore was great. It is truly an awesome sight to see these heads that were carved by men hanging off the side of a mountain.

Here are the kids in front of the Utah flag as you walk up to the mountain. We walked around the monument taking pictures of the faces from different angles. We then walked down to the studio where the man who created rushmore lived and worked. They had a cool model of what the mountain was supposed to look like when it was done.

After Mount Rushmore we went to Crazy Horse which is what will be a huge memorial to the Native Americans. When it is finished all of the heads from Rushmore will fit in the head of crazy horse. It was very neat. They have a museum and native american cultural center and during the day artisans sell their wares inside the buildings. We missed the booths as we went just before dark as they do a lazer light show on the mountain which we wanted to see. Boo got a couple of cool pictures of the mountain at night but my camera did not like the dark. We went back the next day so that the kids could shop at the booths. They had some really nice jewelry, carvings and blankets for sale.

This is a model of what the mountain will look like if they ever finish it. It is three dimensional and will be the biggest statue or carving in the world. There is no government funding for the monument it is all funded by donations and gate fees that they charge to see the monument.

We also went to Bear Country. I was disappointed in it as we did not see much wildlife but the kids really liked it. It is a big drive through park with animals and then at the end there is what they call "babyland" where they have cute baby animals. There were a lot of bears and this is one just sunning himself on a big rock. Bears walk right up to your car and wander around this huge enclosure.

This is a shirt that D and I wanted at Bear Country. Ty bought herself one but it was a bit expensive for me.

South Dakota is also full of really cool caves. We toured the second longest cave in the world called Jewel Cave that they have mapped at over 150 miles so far with no end in sight. It was a great tour and we saw some neat formations. This time I forgot the camera so I don't have any cool pictures from inside the cave.

The Flinstones theme park was across the street from our hotel. We did not go in but took some pictures of it.

On our way home we detoured to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. We did not actually make it into the park but took some cool pictures just outside. I loved all of the alien stuff in the gift shops.

We had tried to stop at Independence Rock on our way to Rushmore but it was so windy that we did not get out of the car. On the way back the weather was much better so we stopped and walked to the rock.

The little dots at the top of the rock are Boo and Bear who climbed to the top of the rock. They saw some of the signatures and said the view from the top was great. Of course Boo forgot a camera so we don't have any pictures from the top.

It was a fun mini vacation that was very needed. There was a lot of stuff that we did not get to do. We wanted to tour more of Custer State Park as there are some neat stuff to do there and there was activities at Deadwood and Lead that we did not get to do. Rapid city has some fun stuff to do and we did not make it to Wall Drug. I guess we will have to go back some day. All I know is Wyoming is a really long state with a whole of nothing but wind and grassland. After driving across it I have new respect for my pioneer heritage.

We've been hacked

Imagine the frustration of trying to get into you email to find that your password has been changed and that you security question is now in Chinese. Not a lot of fun. D has had trouble with hackers, first his Aion account was hacked into and all of his characters stolen and then yesterday he found that his Warcraft account had been hacked. The trouble multiplied as he tried to get into the email today to do the Sunday program that whoever got into his Warcraft account got our email address as well. We are in the process of trying to recover our old account so that we can close it but we all know how helpful Microsoft is. So those of you who read this blog that we email regularly or email us, please call D on his cell so that we can update you on the new email and get you back into the old/new address book. I guess this is one more reason (as if we needed more) why we should be careful when working online.

Happy Birthday Bee!

Well little Bee is growing up

Tomorrow is her birthday

I can't believe that she is already 11

and just as feisty as ever

as the youngest she is, of course, spoiled rotten

loved and always wished to stay young

It is hard each year to see her grow up

one year further away from the memories of

wrapping her in cuddly blankets

dressing her in frilly little dresses

smelling that delicious baby smell

Now we get disaster area of a room

homework not finished

teenage hormones around the corner

but becoming a beautiful young woman

Happy Birthday Bee

Many more to come

I love you!

A fun bit of historical fiction

Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer

With the plague running rampant in London in 1797, Mary's parents and sister are soon counted among the dead. Left alone and penniless, the eight-year-old is taken in by a gang of orphans and learns survival skills. However, when their leader is killed, Mary decides to try her luck elsewhere. She strips the dead body, cuts her hair, renames herself Jack Faber, and is soon employed as a ship's boy on the HMS Dolphin. When the vessel sees its first skirmish with a pirate ship, her bravery saves her friend Jaimy and earns her the nickname "Bloody Jack." Told by Mary/Jack in an uneven dialect that sometimes doesn't ring true, the story weaves details of life aboard the Dolphin. Readers see how she changes her disguise based on her own physical changes and handles the "call of nature," her first experiences with maturation, and the dangers to boys from unscrupulous crew members. The protagonist's vocabulary, her appearance and demeanor, and her desire to be one of the boys and do everything they do without complaint complete the deception. This story also shows a welcome slant to this genre with an honorable, albeit strict Captain, and ship's mates who are willing and able teachers. If readers are looking for a rousing, swashbuckling tale of pirates and adventures on the high seas, this title falls short. However, it is a good story of a brave ship's "boy" with natural leadership abilities and a sense of fair play and humanity.

I actually listened to the book on cd of this novel because we had a patron who wanted us to move the audio from the young adult area into the adult area due to some of the situations that young Jackie finds herself in. I have to say I was not excited to read the book but found myself sitting in the car to find out what happens next and I really enjoyed the story. Jackie is quite a character and I was rooting for her to survive all of the interesting scrapes she seemed to get into. I have now finished the next two books in the series and find that they are exciting and fun to read as this one. It is meant for older teens ( 11 and up) due to the fact that Jackie and the other ships boys are all entering into puberty and there is a near rape towards the end of the book. Not many pirates but still a fun adventure story of a young lady doing what she needs to survive. Loved her sense of humor and fun.

A Little Bit of Steampunk

Carriger debuts brilliantly with a blend of Victorian romance, screwball comedy of manners and alternate history. Prickly, stubborn 25-year-old bluestocking Alexia Tarabotti is patently unmarriageable, and not just because she's large-nosed and swarthy. She's also soulless, an oddity and a secret even in a 19th-century London that mostly accepts and integrates werewolf packs, vampire hives and ghosts. The only man who notices her is brash Lord Conall Maccon, a Scottish Alpha werewolf and government official, and (of course) they dislike each other intensely. After Alexia kills a vampire with her parasol at a party—how vulgar!—she and Conall must work together to solve a supernatural mystery that grows quite steampunkishly gruesome. Well-drawn secondary characters round out the story, most notably Lord Akeldama, Alexia's outrageous, italic-wielding gay best vampire friend. This intoxicatingly witty parody will appeal to a wide cross-section of romance, fantasy and steampunk fans.

I enjoyed this book. It did take me a bit to get into the story. I brought it home, read the first 10 pages and then had it promptly stolen by Ty and D who both read it before me. It has an interesting prefix with Alexia having no soul and therefore she is like the anti supernatural being. Her power negates those of other creatures. If she touches a vampire he (or she) loses the ability to be a vampire. The play between Alexia and Lord Maccon is good, although you are pretty sure that the two of them will eventually get together. I just started the second book in the series "Changeless" and I am enjoying it so far. Not reading it every second like some of my favorite novels. I do like the addition of the steampunk elements using the victorian setting with technology.

Be aware there is a small love scene at the end and some foreplay situations in the story as she and lord Maccon dance around each other. Other than that the book is pretty clean.

what possesses people

This is totally yucky story so many of you may want to turn away. We have had a couple of instances of a group of young teens (13-14 yrs old) that have decided that it is fun and cool to leave a present on the floor of the mens room and then spread it all over the bathroom stall. I am talking all over including floors, walls, light fixtures, toilette and everywhere. I know, gross huh, I do not know why they would think this is appropriate let alone fun. It happened a couple of weeks ago and one of my poor staff members had to clean it up. It happened again last Thursday although when the group came in we had suspicions that it was them so we did watch them so when they got into the bathroom they had to do a rush job. Let me tell you I have never cleaned up anything so gross in my entire life and I am a mom! I mean what would possess someone to even think of doing such a thing and in a library to boot. Well we called the police and they were less than helpful about the situation although they did take a report and let us know that if the boys come in again to call. I had hoped when I caught a couple of the kids in the group last time and threatened them with police action that they were done but they came in again tonight. Police were called and I am not sure what was said or how this will all turn out as I was not at work tonight but I guess I will find out tomorrow. I have to say that this has really made me worried about those who we are looking at to run our country in the future. We think things are bad now what will happen when the "Poop Bandits" take over. These kids look like good kids. Not rag tag but well dressed and clean cut. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover because look at the result in this case. It really makes me sad that this is what things have become and that I may have to start locking our bathrooms and have a key on a toilette seat that patrons have to ask for to use the facilities.

Lets hope this is the end, I have doubts, but a glimmer of hope remains.

how do you let them go?

Those of you that have read Boo's blog you know that she is leaving to go to California tomorrow for orchestra. It is hard as a mom to let her go. When Ty went as a sophmore I went with her and was a chaperone. I couldn't go this year due to work and having several people off, one for maternity leave and one with a family emergency in Georgia. I can't say that I am not worried about her going. I know she will be safe but I worry, will she have fun? Will she run out of money? Ty went to New York as a senior but we were able to get her a visa card tied to our account so if she ran out of cash she had another source of money. With Boo this trip crept up on us and we did not get her a similar card so we are sending her with cash and hoping she doesn't run out. She is really excited to go but starting to feel nervous as none of her really good friends are in the orchestra or band and are not going. She has a few friends in the orchestra they are not the people she hangs out with much. Boo also hates rollercoasters and is worried people will not be nice if she isn't as willing to ride as they may like. I guess I just let her go with lots of prayers and trust in the leaders and chaperones that have been chosen to go and miss her while she is gone. It is not easy to see your kids grow up.

Work has been insane. I feel like I just get things figured out and have enough people to work when another catastrophe strikes and I am working the desk alone again. With many library staff going to Portland this week for PLA there is not a lot of help to be found. I was scheduled to go as well but some sort of inner voice said not to go so I backed out a couple of months ago. I am glad now that I did as I don't know what the staff would have done this week. I will be happy to have a full staff and hope that at least for the next four days that no one ends up calling in sick.

Crazy family is all good, I guess. D is starting into the busy time at work so he is working extra days. The overtime is nice but it sure makes him grumpy. Bee is hormonal. She is becoming a young lady and I do not know if I am going to survive her. G-Bear was ordained a deacon two weeks ago by D. He passed sacrament last Sunday for the first time. It is neat to have a husband that has a strong testimony and can pass this great gift on to his only son. While my testimony waivers often D is our rock and I love that he is so willing to get up early on a Sunday and make sure the G-Bear and Bee make it to church and can continue to grow and learn. Ty is working and taking a couple of classes. She seems to like it but you never know with her. She lives in her own world and while we tease her about living in the basement for the rest of her life we are so proud of her by taking the risk of going to college and to keep working at a job she seems to like. Boo cut her hair (12 inches) and is doing so well at school. I am so proud of her and the determination she has shown to keep up her grades and to participate in school as much as she does.