Sunday

Boy was I tired this afternoon. I was trying to read the newspaper after we got home from church and I just could not keep my eyes open. I had a long Sunday afternoon nap. It was a busy day as Teri and I both had assignments at the Yakima 1st Ward Conference. And it has been a busy week besides. Perhaps that is what wore me out and required the long nap. After I woke up I went to a Single Adult Fireside in Sunnyside. (I am the high council advisor). Now the day is winding down. Hope I can sleep all night since I slept so long this afternoon.

Now isn't this an exciting post?

Daylight Savings Time and Other Thoughts

It is hard to believe that it has already rolled around to daylight savings time again. I know it is earlier now than it used to be but still spring is rapidly approaching. Do you realize that it will be May 8th before we see the sun up as early in the morning as it was today? Two more months of going to work in the dark. It is a good thing that we have more daylight in the evening, I suppose, but I was getting used to the idea of not needing the headlights to go to work.

It was near 70 degrees here today. I saw a lady planting plants when I took Rose to bassoon lessons this morning. I thought, "Does she not know that it still freezes at night?" Hopefully they were hardy plants that will take the cold.

I suppose that I should be thinking about getting the garden ready to plant. Peas and radishes and those kinds of things could be planted anytime now. I think I will wait for some weeds to come up first though. That way I can till them up and get rid of that first round of weeds.

Eclipse

I spent part of the evening last Wednesday looking at the lunar eclipse. One of the problems we had was that there was a partly cloudy sky. During the early and full stages of the eclipse it was very hard to get a good view. Later, as the eclipse was ending, I was able to get some pretty good looks through the telescope.

Here are a few pictures I took with the zoom lens of my camera. Not too clear but it was fun to try.

Musings in Late Winter

The last couple of days have felt more like spring than winter. I know some of you live in places where you may not feel the same. It will not be long before the growers here are thinking about planting crops. In not too many days we will be hearing the roar of wind machines when we wake up in the morning in an effort to protect the fruit crops. That is one of the unique things about the Yakima Valley, the long slow coming of spring with the threat of frost putting an early end to the hopes of a good fall harvest. You may not see the slow crawl of frost warnings along the bottom of the television screen where you live but here it is just a part of everyday life.

The other sure sign of spring is that the schools begin practice for spring sports on Monday. Can you believe it is already time for tennis, track, softball, and baseball? And the sure sign of spring for our household is that rehersals for the spring musical have begun. The Z-Center Stage will be producing "Annie" this spring with performances the second and third weekends in May.

The Zillah girls basketball team goes to the state basketball tournament next weekend and our kids can hardly wait to showcase what the believe is the best pep band in the state. Nevermind if the team is good or not, there is no way you can convince the pep band that they are not the state champion pep band. Of course there is one little fly in the ointment. The opening day of the state basketball tournament also is the next taping day of the high school quiz show known as the "Apple Bowl". The best Zillah quizzer is also the famous "Maraca Man" of pep band reknown. Also on the Apple Bowl team is the pep band bass guitarist--"Glenjamin" and the trombonist, Phil. Depending on the schedule of the games on opening day of state basketball this will have to be worked out. Some alternates may get their chance to be on TV. But "Maraca Man" will almost for sure have to do Apple Bowl, being the team leader. At least they will only have girl's games to worry about to conflict the schedule.

City Work

The city is installing a water line behind our house. They have had to build up the area for the installation. I tried to get some pictures so you can see how it has changed the landscape behind our house. Hope you can get an idea of what they are doing.

Repainted Bathroom

While Rose was away we re-did her bathroom

All-State Music

We enjoyed going to the WEMA All-state concert at the Capitol Theatre this morning. It was a four hour long concert featuring a choir and four instrumental ensembles but it really did not seem that long. The music was really good, as you would expect it should be with the best students in the state of Washington High Schools. We were really proud of Rosemary and her performance. She was principal bassoonist in the Wind Symphony. She had a couple of solo parts and she nailed them.