Smarter than Common Sense

Talmage had another instance of his intelligence out weighing his common sense.

We were at our soon to be new house with our real estate agent, checking everything out and making sure the roof is good, the outlets all work . . . When Talmage comes into the room I was taking measurements in and told me he changed the combination on the lock box.

This house for some reason has a combination lock box instead of one of the fancy digital key ones. When we had visited the house previously our agent had not mixed up the combination before Talmage had a chance to memorize it. So when we came to the house on this visit the agent let Talmage be in charge of opening the door. Talmage hurried up to the door, did the combination, popped the box open, pulled out the key and opened the door for us. Our agent said Talmage could be his assistant and quickly forgot about the potential problems of having a 7 year old running around with the combination memorized.

So after Talmage had finished testing all the outlets in the house with a lamp, to see if they worked (they did), he decided to find himself another job. The lock box looked like a good place to start. So he opened the box and read the directions on the inside of the box on how to change the combination. He then proceeded to change the combination and shut the box. Then he realized he had forgotten the combination. So he came and told me he had changed the combination. I figured he meant that he had spun the tumblers so that the numbers weren't left on the combination. That is not what he meant.

About five minutes later the kids were rolling in the grass out back (this house has very nice grass) when Aaron and our agent decided to get the key out of the lock box to open the garage and check things out in there. Well the lock box wouldn't open with the combination. That's when I realized that Talmage must have really changed the combination.

So I call Talmage in and started asking him questions, like how did you know how to change the combination, and what did you change it too. He said he had opened the box and followed the directions inside (that is now closed) and it told him to push this button and change the numbers and that he had forgotten what he had changed it too. Our agents eyes were big and I could see him thinking "how are we going to get out of this?" The people that are selling the house do not live near it (it was there parents home who have past away) and the selling agent lives nearly an hour away. Lucky for all of us I knew that Talmage's memory is better than he thinks. So I asked him if he could remember the first number, he could and told it to us. I then asked him if he could remember what the last number was, he could. Then I asked him about the second and so forth until we had all the numbers and the box opened. We were all relieved and our agent reset the combination and Talmage promises not to touch the box again-- even though he knows the reset combination and could get the key out anytime he wanted too.

Buying a House

We've found a house to buy here in the valley and we are so excited to move in. It has a beautiful yard with a HUGE garden and has lots of space inside. It is bigger than we were looking for but it's a good price and I'm not going to complain about having to have a sewing room. We are still in the middle of inspections and and keeping our fingers crossed that nothing odd comes out of it. It seems like a solid old home in a great area. If all goes well we'll be moving in the first of next month. Hurray!

Still Learning

I love that I'm still learning things everyday, but sometimes the things I learn make me feel dumb.

This week I learned that Mums (the flower) and Chrysanthemums are the same thing. Makes sense now that I think about it.

Other times I feel smart, like after I read about a character in a Little House on the Prairie type novel putting cloth out in the sun to bleach, I put one of Talmage's white polo shirts on the window sill and the sun "bleached" a stubborn watermelon stain out of it. Awesome! Who would have thought a children's novel could help me with my house work.

Anya also has been learning a lot. She is quite the animal lover and enjoys any chance we get to be near animals. She loves horses, goats, chickens, ducks . . . So she has decided on what she wants to be when she grows up. She wants to be a farmer's wife. She figures as a farmers wife she can do all the great things like feed chickens and collect their eggs (she has stock piled about 10 egg cartons now-- she has been collecting them for the last few months), milking cows, herding goats and sheep, and shoveling manure. She also wants her own horse to ride, and brush, and braid it's mane. We sure love Anya! We'll definitely take her to the county fair this summer and let her spend lots of time checking out the animals. We are in a good area of Utah for seeing livestock and smelling them too.

Not A Cute Baby

Anya loves looking at her baby pictures. I finally gave up thinking that I would put them in a cutesie scrapbook and let Anya make one of her own. She loves it. I gave her some paper, ribbon, stickers, and crayons and helped her glue the pictures on. It's in a nice binder with sheet protectors and everything. She is very happy with the results and now I don't have guilt about it. She takes her baby book out every once in a while and looks at it and shows us how cute she was. Then she usually pulls out Talmage's and Aaron's and checks those out too.

So the other night we were eating dinner and she asked me why I don't have a baby book. (I only have one picture of me as a baby and I don't think she has ever seen it. It must be in a box somewhere.) So I told her I don't really have any pictures of me as a baby. She looked at me for a minute and then said, "You must have not been a cute baby." A long discussion ensued after that about why I don't have more baby pictures of me. But in the end she still thinks it comes down to me not being a cute baby. Oh well. At least she has a baby book of her own and enough self-esteem to get her through high school-- hopefully.

Buffalo and Coy

Near the ranch were Tina keeps her horse, she has made friends with a man who owns a huge buffalo named Cheyenne and the biggest Japanese Coy I've ever heard of. Anya loves animals and has no fear of them-- even though she probably should.

Here she is petting the coy. There's no way I'd touch one of those-- yuck. Well maybe for a hundred dollars, but who'd pay someone to do that?

These fish would just come up and let her pet them, like they were dolphins at SeaWorld or something. Strange fish and strange little girl.

Here is Anya trying to make friends with Cheyenne. Big buffallo!

Anya wanted to feel how rough her tongue is but Cheyenne was in a bad mood.

So Anya tried feeding her a bottle. A bottle a day is supposed to keep her docile.

She checked out the bottle but wouldn't take it because she was in a bad mood.

So Anya contented herself with brushing her with a curry comb. She had no problem hanging out near Cheyennes back end on her side of the fence.

Talmage wanted to be part of the fun, but from the safe side of the fence.

Here Anya is having a little ride on top of Cheyenne. Even though she saw that Cheyenne was in a bad mood she still wanted to ride on her. Talmage took off for the car so he wouldn't be asked if he wanted a turn. I'm going to need to keep an eye on this girl or she'll run off and join the rodeo or the circus if they let her play with the animals.