Wildlife Begone

For memory master, Henry's Peer Proof was due this past Monday.  Since last weekend was Easter, we just didn't get around to it.  We couldn't do it in the evening with Todd because Henry is very much a morning/mid-day tester.  He does not like testing in the evenings.  So we had to make do and Josiah became Henry's peer.  I did sit in the room to supervise, making sure all was kosher.  He passed the second hurdle.  Tomorrow he goes in for his Tutor Proof which is the big one.  All 7 subjects, all 24 weeks of information.  

All week, Josiah and I edited his short story.  For his exposition strand, they have been working on a short story all semester.  By short, it has to be between three and ten pages.  He had his story written, but it required a lot of editing to make sure the reader could follow the whole story that was in his head.  He really wanted to withhold a lot of information so that there could be a big surprise at the end, but I told him the reader still needed to be engaged by understanding the characters and plot.  So in the editing process, he added a lot to the story.  No doubt he got tired of me saying, Can you explain this further?  The basic premise is a cactus father who is trying to buy his son a balloon for his birthday.  The balloons keep popping, so they had to come up with an unpoppable balloon.  Spoiler alert.  Mylar.  

Mid-week, Josiah spent an entire day at the library.  He had a yearbook meeting for 3 hours.  He is in charge of the Faces of History pages as well as another class page.  He spent the time getting all the pictures laid out.  They had a half-hour break before having a mock trial meeting for another two hours.  Caroline and I went to a nearby park to play with a friend for a few hours.  In the afternoon, we went back to the library and hung out for what felt like hours.  Caroline read an entire book.  We were so ready to go by the end.  We live an hour from this library, so the day was a long one!  It was a very cool library though.  

Henry did not want to spend the day with the ladies, and staying home all day by himself was not appealing either, so he went to work with Todd.  When making the decision about what to do that day, Henry asked Todd what they would have for lunch.  When he heard they would eat out, he was ready to be an Institutional Researcher.  

The following day, Josiah had another mock trial meeting online.  All the meetings have been initiated by his teammates, so it is exciting to see all the effort they have put into it.  They are constantly coming up with questions that the lawyers on his team will ask as well as trying to have answers prepared when they're cross-examined.  They've gone down a few rabbit holes and thrown out a few conspiracy theories about what might happen, but if anything they should be prepared!  The teams are quite secretive, too.  Josiah's friend Bobby is on the other team, so anytime we drive in the car together, they both keep their lips sealed.  How's your team doing?  No comment.  How's yours?  No comment.  End of discussion.    

Spring has sprung in our backyard with all the wildlife.  One day we looked up at the trees in our backyard and there were ducks in it.  Just two ducks hanging out.  One flew to the shed and Henry tried to snap its picture.  We've never had ducks before!

When we opened our back door Friday morning, we saw gartner snakes staring up at us.  There were two heads at that time and they were in between the foundation of the house and the concrete slab of the patio.  Every time we opened the door that morning, they were there peeking out.  The following day we noticed them at the corner of the house.  I got a video of the big, long one, but I saw a tiny head peak out of the hole as well.  So we have an entire snake family.  Josiah said they could bite dogs and cause air bubbles in their bloodstream and cause tumors.  Todd looked them up and discovered they are mildly venomous (to dogs).  Time to trim our overgrown garden area.  

Then, early Saturday morning, Todd let Benson out back.  It was his typical time to go in the backyard.  He sniffed around for a minute before tearing into the side yard.  His intense barking led Todd to investigate and, in the dim light, he spotted a skunk.  We had our regular wooden fence, the skunk, a portable wire fence, then Benson.  Josiah heard the commotion and tapped a Milkbone against the door - a common way we get Benson inside.  Fortunately, the dog desired the bone more than getting sprayed by a skunk.  That'll get your heart moving early in the morning.  We've seen plenty of skunks around here, but never in our backyard!  

Saturday was spent spending money on Josiah!  This coming week he has a Gala to attend.  The following week, he has mock trial at a real courthouse.  Both have pretty strict dress codes.  We started out at the suit store.  He found black pants, a jacket, and a belt.  As we were checking out, Caroline gasped at the total.  The sales lady mentioned that would just be the price of alterations for prom dresses.  And the dresses themselves are around $300.  (In my head, I said, Not any dress I'm buying!)  Josiah stored this tidbit of information in his head.  We had to go to a different store to find a dress shirt that would fit him.  Then a shoe store...  As we left the shoe store, Josiah said he should get a $300 budget since prom dresses are $300.  Um, buddy, the only words I should hear from you at the moment are: thank you.  His desire was to get a black dress shirt as well.  For Gala, he wanted to wear a black shirt with his black suit and have a white tie.  But he wasn't paying for it and white shirts are more versatile.  After swiping the credit card all day for him, he shopped at Todd's Tie Rack for a little bling around the neck.  

Monday morning starts with Henry's Tutor Proof followed by the last week of CC for both he and Caroline.