Dear Kids,
      Today I sent in our scholarship money to CEU. Thanks to all of you who were so generous! I asked Brad King to send us a bio of the student we’re going to support. (One of you kids asked me, “What if they have a car? Will we cut them off?” Well, I never thought about that.) Anyway, it should be interesting to find out who we’re paying for. If we get an e-mail address, I can send encouraging notes to our student, telling him or her to keep up their grades or else! (Just kidding!) I’ll let you know when we find out more.
      Nora’s friend Marissa was the official photographer at Monica’s wedding, and finally we have all her pictures, reduced into jpeg’s, if any of you want a disk. (I’m already sending them to Monica and Vanessa.) It’s been fun to look back through them, and remember how great everybody looked (especially Monica and Neil) and what good food we had, and the tents, the bluegrass group, it was all a great adventure. I hope I can ever get the cabin yard looking that good again.
      I spent Tuesday at the cabin, walking around the property, seeing how much damage the deer and elk and rabbits did to our shrubs over the winter. From now on, anything I plant has to be guarded by tall cages with a layer of chicken wire inside. Most of my junipers I’ve planted in the last seven years were ripped to shreds by the elk. And most of the smaller pine trees were shredded by the rabbits. Anybody like to shoot varmints? I would gladly look the other way.
      Our bike ride tomorrow on Antelope Island is going to be freeeezing! I’m going to carry my ski bibs in my backpack, and put them on if I get too cold. Last year, this same week, it was really hot, and the bugs chewed us to death. That won’t happen tomorrow. There might even be snow in the higher elevations. But I’m still excited to go. It’s such a beautiful ride! Dad brought home a brochure about the island, and it has a month-by-month report on the wildlife. In April, we’re supposed to look for Bison calves, avocets, stilts, sanderlings, eared grebes, phalaropes, and peregrine falcons. I think I could recognize a bison calf or a peregrine falcon, but I have no idea about the rest of them.
      In May, I’m going to cook Sunday dinner on the 4th, because the week after that is Mothers Day, and Dad and I will probably be visiting Grandma Allen. So, let me know if you’re coming on the 4th. I think I’ll make lasagne again.
      Lots of love, Mom