Nobody’s birthday: Last night I sat typing in the car, parked in the garage. I had WiFi from the house and tea in the center console (who needs Internet cafes?) Upstairs Matt and the Dynamic Duo played and tidied up the kitchen. They baked a small cake, just for fun, and after David dug around in the kitchen drawers and found a set of birthday candles, the Duo decided that we needed to celebrate a birthday. We designated a birthday dolly, not shown in the picture because he’s flammable. C&D said they were clowns* (an appropriate role) and eagerly inserted about a dozen candles into the cake. Carmen sang Happy Birthday (and I guess decided mid-song it was my birthday, instead), and then the Duo blew out the candles with the customary birthday huffing and puffing. Carmen had so much fun (and maybe so much cake) that she couldn’t fall asleep until nearly midnight.

Ranch day: With a pleasant breeze, and a high near eighty, we escaped town and headed west. We did some visiting, gave the pigs a good scratching, loved on some chickens, watched our favorite horse work on following directions (C&D need to work on that, too), and C&D got to harvest some turnips and beets. Now the Duo are in the bathtub, getting the hay out of their hair before bed.

(Carmen insisted on stuffing her veggies in her overalls pocket.)

(Riding the calf-style roping dummy, aka “the sheep.”)

* Clowns. A certain potty DVD makes them think this is a common visitor at birthday parties.