Thursday, October 28, 2004

Green Thumb ...

Hello Everyone.

I do like gardening, but I don't take as much an active part in it as my husband Bob does. He has his books and seed catalogs -- the arrival of which brightens up his otherwise bleak and dreary February like nobody's business. He marks the pages with sticky notes and highlights his choices in green. (The pink highlighter is reserved for our 5-year-old daughter Neva's selections.)

He has his garden plotted out shortly after and knows what crops should be rotated where. He starts the seedlings in March and has them in the cold frame before we've even doffed our winter coats. He turns the soil by hand -- how else? -- and surveys the bricked pathways to see how it faired through the cold weather.

It's much more than a hobby for him. It's a passion, if a bit obsessive. And it's hard not to get caught up in it. But I must say, even I was surprised when, while scolding Neva for tracking dirt all through the apartment when she brought me fresh carrots she just pulled from the garden, I couldn't help but think as I shook her pants out in the tub:

"Wow! That's really nice soil!"

Happy sweeping,

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Clever?

Hello Everyone.

What kids can do is often really amazing. Take for instance my 5-year-old daughter Neva and some of her accomplishments. Just the other day, she found three one-foot long tree branches and colored them completely with chalk. It takes some kind of patience to fill every nook and cranny, but that's what she did.

Then, a short while later, she discovered that if nobody's looking she can climb to the top of our bedroom dresser and jump off of it, landing on our bed. Without hurting herself! Even more impressive is that she likely jumped a number of times before we even caught on.

It takes some creativity and imagination to come up and carry out such endeavors. And yet, even though she has been told a hundred times, I am baffled as to why Neva still can't seem to wash her hands with soap.

Happy sweeping,

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Age Old Story ...

Hello Everyone.

As soon they start to talk, we teach our kids say how old they are. This is what I heard after my husband Bob taught that lesson to our 2-year-old son.

Bob: "How old are you, Milo?"

Milo: "Two-free-four."

Bob: "No, how old are you?"

Milo: "Two!"

Bob: "How old is Mommy?"

Milo: "Two old."

Me: "Milo's two years old? Good boy!"

Milo: "No, Mommy too old!"

When eight-month-old Willa starts talking, remind me to teach her myself!

Happy sweeping,

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Fall's Lament ...

Hello Everyone.

It's fall in our part of the world, the weather has turned rather cool and the wind, now coming from the east, sends a chill right through you. Leaves are falling from the branches that they have called home for an entire summer and the days are rapidly getting shorter. But the true calling of autumn is not found in the arms of mother nature, no, what really signals the coming of winter is the five runny noses that live in our home.

Happy sweeping,

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com