WEEK 2

 June 24th, 1989

Up at 5:00 am to see if David wanted to go riding. He didn't so Mark and I went to eat at Marilyns. Came home and saw David and Philip standing by the garage crying hard. I asked them what happened and they told me Holly (Karin's cat) ate Pretty Bird (our parakeet). She knocked over the cage and grabbed him.  David went to rescue him but she had already killed him.  9:45 am Beth came to pick me up for SHARE. We stopped and picked up Diane before getting our food.  I brought all my rabbits back with me. The buck was put in the rabbit hutch while the 4 does were put in the chicken coop. Those chickens didn't know what to think but they are leaving each other alone. Noon I had to be at the jail and cut pies. They had a lot of hep so I only stayed 45 minutes. I came back and Diane and Beth are sitting in one little swimming pool and all 11 kids are playing in the other.  We let them play for a couple hours and then brought out the soap and shampoo and gave everybody a shower outside, even us. We are waiting for Mark to come home so we can go to supper at the jail. Ate supper and used the extra 5 tickets to take home for extra meals. I'll use them tomorrow for the Sunday School picnic. Now I only need to make a dessert.  We took Ben and Rhoda for a walk in the cemetery. They loved it. Rhoda found all kinds of flowers. We came home at 8:00 pm and I started cleaning up. This was an easy day with 2 meals eaten out.  It only took us 35 minutes to clean up the downstairs. The Readers Digest came today.  I can't wait to get to it. 20 eggs.

June 25th, 1989

Sunday. Everyone up and getting ready at 7:30 am.  I got up earlier so I could fix Rhoda's Sunday dress and make a bow to match.  Beth M called at 8:00 am, she wanted us to pick up Kristin and Jackie and take them to church with us.  We left at 8:30 am for Hardees. They were out of hashbrowns so they gave the boys  2 biscuits in their meals.  When we stopped at Beth's at Beth's we took Tommy and Kristin. Jackie decided to go with her dad.  We picked up Eldora and were off to church.  Mike spoke in the morning and Rick in the afternoon. He had an amazing sermon. I really needed a good sermon to get through the week.  Came home and got ready for the Sunday school picnic. I had Mark fix a fan for the chicken coop. It is just so hot, I only got 20 eggs today.  We came home from the picnic at 7:00 pm and it was still 90 degrees so we went to John and Beth's (they have air conditioning) and watched 2 movies. One I would like to copy to show Dad. He would really like it, John sure did.  Came back to kill more flies. Every night we kill 30-50 flies, too many times windows or doors are left open and we are just inviting them in. Grandpa Meister would tell us, "kill one fly and 10 come to the funeral." I saw a window open in the attic and sent the boys to close it.  They came down with a dead snake! God I really didn't want one loose in this house. I need to lecture all of the boy grandkids about bringing snakes inside. 11:20 pm bedtime.

June 26th, 1989

We were awakened at 3:00 am with a phone call from the police department. "we have a car in back of 823 S Baer, would you please go out to meet them?" The boys went back to the car last night to get their soda out and left the door open. The dome light was showing. The white car had the windows down and so did the van. Joan's keys had been left in her car.  Mark explained all was well and we would be a little more careful then brought Joan's keys inside. We leave the keys in the cars just in case someone would need to borrow or move the car but didn't know that the police in the area frown on that.  We got up at 7:00 am for real.  I was 10 minutes late to camp this morning. I gave David some paint to put out in the van. He dropped it on the stoop and I had to clean it up before we left.  Camp was a big success today. We made a big egg breakfast for everyone. The little Indians made tambourines while the big boys made buddy braids and survival kits. We gave diving lessons to the Cheyenne (the tribe name of the older boys). I hit my head on the bottom of the pond demonstrating a steep dive. My neck, head and shoulders still hurt hours later. I'm thankful I didn't break my neck.  We closed camp at 3:00 pm since it looked like rain. The storm blew over and I don't' believe we got even one drop. Drove to Riverview hatchery to pick up bird seed for the feeders tomorrow and also bought rabbit food. Got home at 4:30 pm and let Jenny, Andrew, Chad, David and Philip go to the creek so I could rest. I hope they come back soon. Mark has a job for them. Those poor kids! We have 10 of them shoveling rock out of the solar heating system dad tried into Mark's truck. They will sleep good tonight. 8:20 pm everybody up for showers. They really worked hard.  21 eggs today.

June 27th, 1989

Jenny and I were up by 5:00 am to tack up the horses. We took off at 6:00 am and rode for an hour. Twinkle put on a show for Jenny, just rearing, as I wouldn't let her gallop. Even Blaze was feeling is oats. He almost tried to buck at the gallop with Jenny. Jenny sure enjoyed riding. time for breakfast. I still have a lot to do before camp.  The Cheyenne made and decorated their teepees. Today we also cut down enough trees for all of the other tribes and put up the big teepee. When they were tired of building, I put them to work making bows.  Tomorrow they will make the arrows to go with them and finish their teepees.  David spent the night with Chad and Philip with Andrew so I only took Ben and Rhoda home. That helped as I still needed to clean church. church was very hot.  It wasn't that hot of a day 86-89 degrees. We had a nice thunderstorm last night which kept it cooler.  Maybe now the grass will grow and we will have to mow. I kept the fan on  low in the chicken coop, 21 eggs today. Saber spent the day in Beth M's basement. I think he wants to get away from flies and stay cool. Misty always comes to camp with us. Ben learned to swim today. Rhoda took her tube off and went under while I was cutting wood. Rhonda saw her and Beth saved her.

June 28th, 1989

Sitting eating breakfast when Holly jumped up into the window sill letting us know she is hungry. She punched through the screen. One would think we never feed her. Our cat came up and joined her. I guess I need to leave my breakfast to feed the cats as I can't stand their pathetic crying. I'm surprised how well the 2 cats get along together. I haven't seen them fight each other only the dogs. Saber and Pepper (Beth M's dog) give those cats a wide berth. Kitty attacked Pepper. She jumped right on his head and he took her for ride yelping all the while as he ran home.  I thought someone was killing a dog he was so loud. . I think she is meaner than Holly when it comes to dogs.   Misty is gone this morning. We looked and called for her until it was time to leave for camp. She was here last night when we got home from church. Today I took JR and Tommy to camp. Beth needed a baby sitter. We made our arrows and finished our teepee. The boys then made their totem pole head.  tomorrow we make the loin cloths, then we should be done. The whole group made bird feeders today.  Jeremy was dropped off about 6:30 pm. we brought in 20 eggs and played with the kittens. Then since it had cooled down we went riding. David and I went first and went down the cemetery road. When we got back up a lady was asking if our dog was missing. Misty had followed her down the road at 7:00 am and didn't come back up. I put her on Blaze and I rode Twinkle so she could show me where Misty went but no sign of her.  I came back and gave Jeremy and Rhoda a ride and then Philip.  Philip tried cantering in the field today and was successful. He rides well! Back to the dishes and laundry.

June 29th, 1989

We sure didn't have to worry about oversleeping today. Jeremy had us all up by 6:00 am. He has an abundance of energy. He was still talking at 10:30 pm last night and Mark had to get after him.  He found a whistle in the toy box last night. We sure heard a lot that this morning.  We left for camp about 8:30 am I couldn't ait for the kids to be out of the house. One kid in particular. Today we finished our loin cloths and built a fire to roast marshmallows.  Then came the program and everybody at lunch in their own teepees. After lunch we had teepee and costume judging and a surprise birthday party for Tanya. Then came playtime at the lake. It was a beautiful day. It was only supposed to reach mid 80s today. We came home from camp at 5:30 pm and cooked supper then I had David and Philip clean out the van while I cleaned the shop.  Came home to a full kitchen. They had emptied the van of all camp supplies into the kitchen.  As I was cleaning got a phone call, someone wanting a kitten. Rhonda had put an ad in the Thrifty Nichol. She wanted one now and didn't want to wait until I could get one of Rhonda's here. She brought a friend and they ended up taking TWO of ours. Jeremy wouldn't leave the two ladies alone.  It was really embarrassing. I was going to clean church after the shop but I'd left the keys in the van. Mark's been working on getting another pick up load of rock out to Frye. It looks like we need 4 or 5 more loads there and it should be emptied here by then.  Misty is still lost. We are afraid someone let her inside and decided to keep her.  20 eggs today. I had to put all the rabbits together in the hutch, the does kept getting out while in the chicken coop. Hopefully the buck is too young but I'll find out in 32 days.

June 30th, 1989

Still no Misty.  Jeremy woke everyone up early again today.  I need to clean church and do some grocery shopping today. I also want to disconnect cable. I was ready to go at 9:30 am but Jeremy decided he didn't want to go.  I told him he had to since I was in charge of him.  He ran and hid under the truck. I walked over and told him to get out form under then and get in the van. He said, "NO" then hid behind the bushes by the kitchen. He refused to come out under threat of spanking. I had to get David to guard one side and I ran to the other and pulled him out then spanked him in front of the kids as soon as I caught him.  Can you imagine an 11 year old acting like that!  We cleaned church then came home and worked on the downstairs. Then I decided it was time to mow but couldn't get the mower started. I drove over to Diane's and picked up our battery charger and the hutch so the rabbits could be separated.  I still wasn't able to get the mower started. Mark came home and helped get it started. He was teaching David how to mow when the mower hit a bone, it flew out and hit Mark in the arm. He had a huge knot. It's really going to be sore. David needs to finish mowing the apartments and mow the front yard tomorrow. About 8:30 pm a lady stopped and told me she had seen Misty down off Laramie by Augustina. We will start looking for her down there tomorrow as it is already getting dark today. Jeremy asks to take a bath everyday. Today he took a bath and came down stark naked then wanted me to go up to get his pajamas.  I ignored his state of undress and told him to get them himself. He wouldn't go to bed until after 11:00 pm tonight. I'm wondering if the money they are paying for me to keep him is worth it.  He is one disturbed child.