Crazy Friday Homeschool Speech and Debate Tournament
Speech - Benjaman tied with a 4 year competitor for 1st place with his Original Oratory on hunting
Debate - Benjaman filled in for a 4 year debater and his team won 1st place
General - Benjaman won "Most Improved" in his speech and debate club

This is Benjaman's second semester in the Say It With Class speech class, based on the Toastmasters model, and his first season debating. He loves it. I guess that's no surprise to anyone who knows him!

This spring he will be competing in Los Alamos, Farmington, Albuquerque and San Diego.

ps. Go here for a comparison on how much Benjaman has grown since February 2008. He's growing up!

Sleep...naughty puppies...smoke detector

Picture this....

I am finally sleeping peacefully, having a dream about working with the horses. All of a sudden there is this loud beeping noise. I know Bo has left for work, besides this beeping doesn't sound like our alarm clocks. I listen for a second...then it hits me... THE SMOKE DETECTOR! Oh my God! I've been fearing this day since we moved into a mobile home! My dad, a volunteer firefighter, always warned me to never live in a trailer because a whole trailer will go up in flames so quickly that it will be gone before the fire department can get there. Flash back to reality, I don't hear anything but the smoke detector. I bolt out of bed, forget to check if the door is hot, blast out of the bedroom to a smoke filled room. Both puppies are standing there, wondering why I'm in such an uproar. Then I see smoke wafting from my cast iron skillet on the stove. The burner is on! I see debris on the living room floor... the spatula, the butter dish, other plastic. WHEW...what a relief! I turn off the burner, turn on the exhaust fan, open the kitchen window and back door. But I wonder why Benjaman is still in bed. The smoke detector is still blaring. I go to his door, knock and open it. He is gathering his books! I ask him if he knows what that sound is. "Yeah, it's the smoke alarm." he says. I say, "what are you doing?!" "Mom, I have very valuable books!" Okay, so I have to explain to him about insurance and that the books can be replaced, but we need to focus on the people and the animals that depend on us in case of a fire! What a start to the day! It can only get better from here!

Belle's home with a new knee

Remember Christmas 2008 when Belle got hit on the interstate? A side-effect of that accident was a weakened knee. Summer 2009 she came inside after being out all day with the horses holding her leg up. She never quite got better. The vet warned us that she might blow out that knee. So, here it is, bonus and tax return time, and Belle gets a new knee. She came through her surgery well, but will have to be confined to the laundry room for 1 month to rehabilitate her knee properly. I don't think she'll be very happy about that! The vet also said that her other knee was pretty loose and might blow out due to her activity level after this knee heals! So I guess we know where next year's tax refund will go! She's a really great dog and we all love her, but she better live a very long time and be very active for the rest of her life!
Here she is after her ride home from the vet ~ she hates that stupid cone. It's so embarrassing!
Here's her incision. It is huge!
She's now resting in her crate in the bedroom, behind a closed door, as far away from those stupid puppies as she can be! Poor baby girl!