The Painted Desert

This is one of Maddie's latest works - she's actually painting this desert item, or is it a volcano?  She's just getting started on this, and is learning to paint here, but she's doing a really good job.  She sent this to me from school and I've been loving these in-progress shots.  I think it's going to turn out really good!

The Great Squirrel Exodus is continuing, as get this, we've relocated six squirrels so far.  And we still have a few more to go.  We have to keep removing hanging bird feeders because these squirrels keep coming in, scaring the birds off, and knocking down the feeders themselves.  It's super annoying, but we're seeing bigger breaks between the visits now, where a great variety of birds show up again.  We have a few pairs of cardinals, and a few pairs of finches too.  Then there are the bluebirds, and the blue jays, the chickadees, tufted titmouse, joncos, and the mourning dove gang.  But each trip to taekwondo lately has also been a special delivery to the KidPak area where we drop off a new guest to the squirrel sanctuary.  More guests are going to arrive soon, because these last two squirrels are already infuriating.  

Anyway, tonight Maddie did have taekwondo, and that started out with her as an instructor, and then followed by her training with leadership.  They're using swords, and she's looking ready to get into a sword fight hopefully soon.  Maybe we should get her a black saber!  We stopped at the gas station on the way home in order to pick up some free drinks, and then got home in time for her small groups.  That one lasted a while, so Mom and I were watching the movie "Old Dogs" while she was online in her small groups.  We really liked that movie.  Maddie caught the end of it, and the bit with the gorilla was pretty funny!

We ended the day with some reading from the Discworld, where our astronauts have reached the moon, looking upwards as it orbits around the Discworld itself, seeing firsthand the ginormous elephants standing there and holding it all up while riding upon the back of the Great A'Tuin.  After reading a bit, we were ready for bed - we said our prayers, and were asleep fairly quickly today.