Hurrah for Ryan!

The Centre hosted a Chess Tournament on Saturday and Ryan was able to compete in it, along with his cousin, David. Ryan was pretty sure he wouldn't do very well since he hasn't played recently.

To Ryan's surprise, he ended up winning the 1-4th Grade catagory. Now, to David's credit, he probably should have won, but there was a mix up and David ended up competing in the next higher age group.
Good Job!

Posted by his proud mom, Pam

Pick Axes & Pictures.

During the winter, one of our (our = Jenny, Cordell, & Ryan) daily chores is to break a hole in the ice on the pond for the cows. While this is normally not a very fun job, it can occasionally become, if you have a friend with you, a grand adventure.


-Such was the case in the following pictures. =)

My bff, Desi, looking simply overjoyed to be doing chores. ...?

Me holding the weapons of choice.

Here, Desi is demonstrating the practical method of "drop, roll, & stand up" to get past the electric fence.

Once at the pond, you stand near the edge, lift the sledge hammer over your shoulder, and swing!

It's that simple.

Note* Wide stances help achieve the maximum amount of force.

Desi - 1 / ice - 0

And then I take a swing at it...

Sometimes, bits of snow, ice, and water, will fly up at you, so you have to make sure that you keep your mouth closed.

Unfortunately, sometimes you forget.

Once a large enough hole is broken, you then use the pick axe to shovel out the large ice chunks floating around in the water.

Me holding an afore mentioned ice chunk.

Lastly, we return the tools back to the barn, and on our way up to the house, make snow angels.

It was a lovely outing. =)