The Post With No People

Allow me to show you a few points of interest around my house.

1. The neighbors' wall tent. Our new neighbors put up this wall tent in their backyard to store all the stuff that had previously been lining the side of their house (their garage is full of stuff). It is an improvement over the old barbecue and yard tools. Unfortunately, it is also home to a few neighborhood feral cats. I watched a cat carry a lifeless baby gopher in it's mouth right into the tent. The neighbors are in for a few surprises come spring.

 2. Sarah's map of the United States. Do you notice anything on this map that you have never ever noticed before?

 What about now?

Whaaaat? you say? What the piece of Minnesota in Canada! I noticed this the other day as I was walking past and it stopped me. How have I graduated college and looked at maps a lot and never noticed this? Naturally I went straight to Google maps to solve this geographical mystery. This little notch of America is technically a "practical exclave" and goes by the name of the Northwest Angle.  152 people live here. I imagine this bit of knowledge will be a final Jeopardy answer at some point or at least the winning question in Cranium. You're welcome.

3. The pancakes I made on a school day. Contrary to how I portrayed my breakfast making skills in my last post, I actually like making pancakes and I'm quite good at it. I like to eat them too. I am just not focused enough in the morning nor allow myself enough time to make them on a school day. Well last week I attempted it. They turned out great but Sarah missed the bus.

 4. Sarah's sunflower sprout. Sarah brought home a cup of dirt with two sunflower seeds inside. To my dismay the seeds have sprouted and are growing at an alarming rate. What do I do now? Transplant it into my yard? Last summer I looked out my kitchen window and noticed a tiny sunflower springing up so I put down my spatula, tore it out then went back to making dinner.

 5. My new coat. It has been over 12 years since I bought a coat. Thank you, after Christmas clearance.

 7. The cribbage board shaped like a boat. I got this for Justin for Christmas. We play cribbage when the kids are in bed sometimes.  I was terrible at keeping score on our old board because I would get mixed up and change directions. So this was kind of a gift for me too. I haven't won with this board yet which makes me think it was only due to mixing up my score that I ever won.

 8. Our new license plate sticker. Both of our cars expire in January (not such great planning). One of the new stickers arrived in the mail the other day and it was weird for me to see a 17 when I'm just now getting my mind around 2016.

 9. Henry's snowman. I just like it.

 10. When I came downstairs from putting Erica down for a nap, I found this on my kitchen rug. Henry told me a rabbit put it there to make a snowman later.

 11. Henry's boots. After a couple of days of Henry's soaked socks, I figured out the reason why. He wore down the soles of these boots quite a bit last spring dragging his feet while riding the balance bike and they finally cracked through this week.

So there you have it. An entire post with no cute faces of cute, misbehaving kids.