Special delivery from Hogwarts .......

Well I spoke too soon. This afternoon the owl turned up again in about the same spot in the back yard. I am hoping it's like the Owl rescue guy told me yesterday and he is trying to escape the heat! We have had three days of heat advisory in a row, so it's HOT. Today he was sitting up a little higher on a ledge toward the bottom of the fence but still under the lemon tree. Later on this evening I went out to check on him and he was gone from that spot, I looked around a bit more and found him sitting up on the fence in between our yard and the Kessner's. I think our cat Maisie must have spooked him because he was keeping a very close eye on her...she would make a great meal.....she far outsizes him but he has some big claws not sure who would win that fight!


My friend Bill pointed out that the owl could be on a special mission to deliver mail from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Emily will be 11 in a little over a week and that is the age students start school there in Harry Potter world! So perhaps he has a letter to deliver to Emily written in green ink.... or perhaps i have read too much Harry Potter this summer! So in the mean time we have nicknamed him Pigwidgen after Ron's owl in Harry Potter, and are hoping he is just looking for a new home and not hurt or lost.

Emily had a great first day of school, sounds like 6th grade will be a blast!

First Day of School!

I can't talk about it without feeling like it's not possible but Emily started 6th grade this morning! When did this happen! She looked great and was so excited to start the new year, she has been looking forward to it for a while! Her teachers this year are both great! Ms. Yazzie and Mrs. Picciotti have been teaching together at Benchmark for about 6 years and Emily has been looking forward to being in their class! This year should be a lot of fun, if for nothing else than the week long end of year trip to Catalina Island in California!

Today was also my first day at my new job, but it ended up being kind of a false start! I arrived to find out the AC in the office was out and almost everyone had already left or not even come in. I filled out some quick paperwork and then left for the day! Hopefully tomorrow will be a real day, I am really excited to get going, I really like all the people I have met so far and it seems like a great place!

So quick update on the owl we had visiting us yesterday....we went to check on him after dinner and he seems to have moved on and wasn't anywhere in the yard! Phew!

Wild Kingdom.....

OK seriously! I feel like Marlin Perkins lately....within the last 6 weeks or so, we've had a gigantic scorpion in the garage (nothing a $175 Taylor Made driver with the price tag still on didn't take care of). Then an 8 inch long lizard decided to move in with us for about week, he started out in the family room and finally surfaced in the laundry room to greet me coming home from the grocery store. Well about a half hour and the greatest neighbor in the world later he had been banished to the garage! This afternoon Emily came in to tell me there was a bird in the back yard to come look at it...well it wasn't just a bird but an owl. He is crouched in the back corner of the yard under our lemon tree. Why me!!!! I snapped a few pictures of him and called the Wild at Heart animal rescue. The nice guy who i talked to said he is probably a juvenile Western Screech Owl. That he is most likely OK and just finding shade from the heat. But that if he is still there after sundown to try to approach him and see if he will fly off. If he doesn't fly or seems hurt to grab him (yeah right!) and call them back and they will come. Not so sure about the grabbing him part but hope he is right that he will be off on his own.

School House Rock!

Emily had her last day of camp at Valley Youth Theatre today. They have been working really hard for the last month on the musical School House Rock! They did all the old favorites from Saturday Morning cartoons....do they still have those...remember when we could only watch cartoons on Saturday! Well they sang, danced and performed their little hearts out to, Conjunction Junction, I'm Just a Bill, 3 is a Magic Number and lots more. Here is Emily talking to Bill "Listen to all those congressmen arguing....is all that discussion and debate about you?" She also had a part as Thomas Jefferson in a discussion with Napoleon about the Louisiana Purchase.