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I wonder how many ladies who are pushing 60 get invited to a high school girls' slumber party. I am counting my blessings. I am certainly not the life of parties like this or any other kind of party, but it's nice to be included in these girls' lives.

I'll have to admit that I didn't persevere through the whole night. I came home and slept in my very own bed after the planned evening activities were past. Norma braved it the whole night. It's wonderful to have a young and chipper female staff member.

At the beginning of the evening there was lots of volleyball and basketball. I don't watch a lot of basketball, and I was surprised at the girls' fast-paced game. I found myself mentally doing some refereeing from the sidelines, so I think it's probably just as well if I don't get too involved in a spectator role. More precision probably doesn't automatically translate to more fun.

Ken and Gina invited us to take over their basement for the night. I hope the firecrackers someone felt free to detonate outside didn't disturb the younger Schrock children who were already sound asleep.

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Last Thursday we had night school. After a normal school day we met again at 6:00 for our "Friday." Choir happened at a decent hour of the evening, and cleaning started around 12:30 AM. Before that the students had played Whistle, Wink, or Wave in the dark. We all agreed that it would have worked better with only one person being "it." With two, one could always stand guard over the prisoners, and there wasn't enough chance to escape. After the game-in-the-dark activity, we all gathered in a circle in the learning center and Mr. Schrock turned off the lights, and we sat on the floor and sang around an imaginary campfire. By then it was raining again outside. It was a great feel-good moment after a normal day's worth of classes.

During accounting class Miss Miller had turned off the classroom lights. This wasn't as chaotic as it sounds since they were having a QuickBooks day and each of the 11 students was sitting in front of a brightly lit computer screen.

Having a limit on caffeine consumption was an improvement over some past night school events. We still had plenty of sugar, provided by the impromptu snack the students brought in for our "lunch hour." The main dish was cereal--the kind that I never bought for our children, but Hiromi did--things like Fruit Loops and Fruity Pebbles and some kind of brightly colored "berry" cereal. (Contented quote by Nathan: What could be better than night school and Fruity Pebbles?) One dad who came in bearing several bags full of snacks, which he carefully lined up on his daughter's desk while she was in choir said, "I know it's over the top, but it was so much fun . . . I wish I could see her when she sees this." That's the spirit.

Former students came in during break to provide more goodies, which we were almost too full to consume--but their presence added cheer and novelty.

Students had worked hard to earn "E" privilege so as to be able to take full advantage of night school, but it still actually seemed to be a fairly productive "day." I'm hoping, though, that no parents are under the illusion that we kept those students' noses to the grindstone right up until 3:00 in the morning when I heard that some finally got home. I got home at 1:45, and I didn't hurry home after school was over. But then I didn't play in a basketball marathon either. Tsk. Tsk.

Sleeping late the next morning and having the rest of the day off was the best part of having had night school.

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My brother Lowell was ordained in our church on Sunday. For this event, my sister Carol and her husband Roberto came from Shawnee (KC area) and my brother Ronald and his family came from Oswego (Labette County). Ronald and Roberto are both pastors.

Having these non-local family members here called for some family gatherings. We were at Linda's house on Saturday evening for pizza and strawberry shortcake and some other accompaniments, and then those of us who were still here on Sunday evening got together at Lowells. I really treasure these family times. There's no one I'd rather spend time with than my family.

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My typing students were inordinately amused, and carefully recorded for posterity a comment I made in class, during break. They had been talking about the $300.00 a day that someone we all knew had gotten for babysitting a dog. One of the students thought it would be just the thing to do to tie the dog to a tree for the day and then go off and do whatever one wished.

"I doubt that the owner would be too impressed if she came home and discovered dear little FiFi tied to a tree," I said. That was the source of the hilarity. Can you believe it? They wrote it on the "quotes" page for the Pilgrim Perspective.

I wish I could remember where I got the "FiFi" mental prompt for the dog's name. A James Herriot book maybe? My family knows that when I'm reading and emitting belly laughs at regular (or irregular) intervals, I'm probably reading a James Herriot book. It's true, of course, that I've probably read all of those funny stories multiple times in the past, but forgetful people are easily amused. That's me.

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I have quite had my fill of chasing black female bovines--in the evening when I'm here by myself, and in the morning when Hiromi's here and gives the distress call.

Shane is letting his cattle do some intensive grazing now that the pastures have finally had enough moisture and warmth to put on generous growth. It takes the cattle a while, apparently, to adjust to the new fence locations, and they have no qualms about barreling right through the electric fences.

Right after Shane had set up the new fences, it happened three times, one time right after the other. Fortunately he hadn't left yet and could take care of the problems himself. I didn't witness the incidents or any choice words that might have accompanied them.

The first time this happened when I was here alone, I looked out the dining room window in time to see the cows stepping smartly across the very well-soaked front lawn on their way to the roadside flower bed. I rushed out, making incoherent noises, and they got my message and hightailed it for the far corners of the back yard where they could commune across the fence with their more staid companions. I had to go get milk and hoped they'd stay there till Shane could come help put them in. When I got home, Oren had parked his pickup in the drive, pointed toward the road, with several very large hogs in the trailer. I suspected that, on his way home from doing hog chores, he might have parked and exited the truck abruptly upon sighting one of the afore-mentioned cows in an unseemly place--like the front lawn. I was insufficiently motivated to go looking for Oren and the cows to get the details.

When Shane got here shortly after, Oren was still here, and Shane looked up to see one of the offending animals hurrying around the corner of the house where she had gone, presumably with Oren in pursuit.

On Facebook, if you look up Home Place Quality Meats, you can see portraits of these cows. On those pictures, they look deceptively placid though. By the way, if you're so inclined, you might click on the like button and help spread the word about the high quality meats being produced right here on the home place.