15 JUL 25

It's throwing rocks and slapping clay and splashing creek water for the young ones that morning... “MOM! AN ORANGE SNAKE JUST SWAM OUT OF THAT HOLE!”... but it's no copperhead... so the kids return to throwing rocks and slapping clay and splashing creek water... then the fighting begins so after I sort my pile of fossils and rocks... it's time to leave...

Back home the kids stop fighting for awhile during lunch... of course Yali seems to think that a gap in the fights provides perfect opportunity for filling a balloon with air and making it squeal over... and over... and over... and over... again...

Meanwhile Puck is on the phone with a used car dealership in Milwaukee arranging a Lemon Squad inspection for a '78 Lincoln Continental...

Eventually Mama stops washing dishes and folding laundry and pulling weeds to introduce Yali to the world of Spain and the Moors in “El Cid” which is somewhat intriguing to him...

Then a grumble of thunder in the southwest and we're back outside to watch... Yali crawls up on top of the minivan for a better view before I remind him that metal and lightning aren't so much compatible...

Evening is homemade cheeseburgers as Oxbear walks out from his closet-office after another full day of basically non-stop video calls before a two-day leadership conference in St. Charles...