Dear Kids,
          OK, so I’m a murderer. I destroyed a magpie nest! I should have gotten a clue when the same magpie flew away from our big pine tree every time I stepped out the greenhouse door. Finally, this morning, I got suspicious, and set up a ladder and climbed up to see. I knew immediately when I saw all the twigs up there. But I’ve never examined a magpie nest up close and personal. Inside all those twigs, there’s a real nest of mud and rocks. (We knew all along they had no class.) There were seven eggs in the nest, and I threw them down into the parking lot. (Luckily they weren’t baby birds, because I wouldn’t have had the heart to kill them.) Then I started flinging the twigs down, but I had to get a crowbar to break up the nest. It was practically cemented to the tree. When my work of destruction was done, I raked up all the twigs and carried them out into the field. Meanwhile, the magpie was watching. When I left, she flew into the tree and jumped from branch to branch. She was very confused. Finally she flew off into the field where her mate was waiting. ("Yo, Robert, our nest is gone! We’re free!") And they flew off together. I told Dad my story, and he said I should get $35.00 in bounty money for killing seven magpies.
          Speaking of Dad, I found out he knows practically zilch about the Dr. Seuss books. I thought everybody in the world knew them all by heart. We had gone to see "Seussical" at Valley Jr. High, because Spencer and Elise Fulton were in it. It was a great production, but Dad didn’t get it. About the only Seuss he knew was "I do not like green eggs and ham" and the Grinch. I started talking about Horton and the Whos and the King’s Stilts and Bartholomew Cubbins, and he hadn’t heard any of it. Luckily all the books are on Amazon, so I’m ordering them one by one, and we’re reading them for home evening. I started with "The King’s Stilts," and I have "Bartholomew Cubbins and the 500 Hats" coming. Maybe those earliest books aren’t so familiar now, but they were the best ones. I’ll take them all to the cabin when I’m done with them. There’s so much more to Seuss than green eggs and ham!
          I’ve been very busy at the cabin laying tile. I’ve done about 100 square feet, and it’s starting to look really good. I went looking at kitchen cabinets, however, and discovered that you sometimes have to wait five or six weeks for them! (That’s from Home Depot.) I have to get everything done by the end of July, so I have to make up my mind and order them soon! Donna and Bevan’s friend’s father, who has his own cabinet shop, is coming to give us an estimate tomorrow. Why are cabinets so stressful?
          But life is good! I hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it! Mom