Last night we met for Book Club at Cracker Barrel. There were 11 of us I think. We of course had many different conversations going at all times. The food was great and some people loved the book A Thousand Acres and some people didn't like it at all. Our new book is Gone for Good by Harlen Coben. All three books sounded good this month.

The best part about book club this month was that some good Samaritan decided to buy us all a Strawberry Shortcake dessert. He walked out before we could thank him. We all agreed it was one of the kindest things any of us had seen for awhile. Thank you mystery man for your kindness, one good turn deserves another.

Okay we have had the dog now a couple of days and already the funny stories are too plentiful for me to write. Terry hurt his leg playing soccer yesterday so it was up to me to do the 5:30am dog walk. Well wouldn't you know that D.B. needed to go out at 3:00am. Here I go half asleep down stairs. When we get outside I immediately see a skunk right off the side of the front porch, I shake my bag (prepared for poop) and the skunk runs the other direction. Thank goodness he didn't feel the need to stick around and spray us. D. B. did his business (1&2) and can you believe it was so dark I couldn't find the #2 to pick up. Oh well. I am now one of those terrible dog owners not picking up the poop. And yes D. B. did need to go out again at 5:30 to again do #1 & #2. Hope this potty training doesn't take too long.

Here is the newest member of the Fort Leavenworth Clark family. On Fathers day we met a family with a tiny puppy. After many sad looks from Dylan we agreed to go look at the rest of the litter. Terry and boys went and picked out this adorable full blood Golden Retriever. His personality and adorable good looks make him a perfect addition to the Clark boys.

Naming him has been tough but the one sticking is D. B. Ranger. D. B. stands for Disciplinary Barracks. (Cute huh) The boys love him and even mom is enjoying picking up puppy poop.

Today before going out to play on Maggie's water slide we (kids and I) decided to clean up a bit. So we vacuumed, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher. Changed the laundry and so forth. I also changed the cat litter and put the old stuff in the trash bag. As we gathered up towels, and sunscreen I decided to make some tea and take it along as a refreshing drink. My wonderful kids dashed down the stairs and were nice enough to keep yelling up the stairs "can we go now?" about a million times. I grabbed my pitcher of tea and I decided I better take the trash bag out with the kitty litter in it. As soon as I headed to the back door to go down the stairs the bag ripped and lots of litter dumped out. So I put down my tea, put the trash bag in another bag and get my little broom and sweep up the rest. So here I go again with my tea and a very heavy bag of trash and litter, oh did I mention I had already thrown the plastic container that the new litter had come in down the stairs. I get halfway down the stirs to where the plastic container is and Tyler opens the door again to ask "Can we go now?" and so I kick the litter container down the rest of the stairs right to him. He is nice enough to pick it up and take it to the dumpster. I get outside and put down the tea so I can put Jason's shoes on and I take the heavy trash bag to the dumpster where Tyler is climbing up on it trying to open the door enough to get his plastic container in it. I help him out and get rid of the trash and am headed back for my tea. Jason is trying to "help out" and carry the towels, he knocks over the tea. OOPS!!! And he says "sorry momma for dumping your tea" so how mad could I be.

Today we filled up our new Tahoe with E 85. That is the Ethanol stuff they make out of corn. We paid $2.60, unleaded at the same stations was $2.79. Terry has already mapped out our Vacation to Colorado and has found many E 85 stations along the way. So even though I am driving the gas guzzling SUV we are trying to buy the right kind of fuel.

www.e85fuel.com

In the summer time everyone starts selling Patriotic items. I have a friend selling Premier Designs Jewelry. They have a Patriotic bracelet they are selling. They are also donating a portion of the sales to the families of fallen soldiers. Please take a look and if you would like one email me and I will get you one.

We have lots and lots of Lighning bugs around here. Every night around 8:30pm you will see little flashes of light. Since they don't exist where I grew up I am always fascinated by them. Here is a little factual info on them that I dug up on the Internet.

WHY DO LIGHTNING BUGS FLASH?
Flashing Lightning Bugs are trying to attract mates. Among most but not all species of North American Lightning Bugs, males fly about flashing while females perch on vegetation, usually near the ground. If the female sees a flasher and she's ready to mate she responds by flashing right after the male's last flash. A short flash dialogue takes place as the male flies closer and closer, and then, if all goes well, they mate.

So that a flasher doesn't attract a firefly of a different species, each Lightning Bug species has its own specific flash pattern. Flash patterns range from continuous glows to single flashes, to series of multi-pulsed flashes.

Among some species both males and females flash, but among others only the members of one sex do it. Some Lightning Bug species don't flash at all. All known firefly larvae, which are wingless and mostly live on the ground and under bark, produce light. If you see only a glow on the ground, it can be tricky deciding whether you're seeing a firefly larva, a glow-worm, or some other luminescent insect.

To learn more about how Lightning Bugs make their light, visit the Bioluminescence Web Site.

Angie organized another Date Night for us and this time we went to STYX in Legends. A few people were running late so we stood in the Lobby (hostess wouldn't seat us till we were all there. Little did they know we would have sat there drinking the whole time) for about 30 minutes. To pass the time the women complimented each other and we compared shopping stories, who knows what the men did. Terry and Bill went to the bar and got to taste wine. When everyone finally arrived that sat us at two tables (we were seated at the cooking tables so the two tables are together) and they sat a poor family of four with us. I felt sorry for them to have to put up with such a rowdy group. I tried to introduce Sake to the group, but I am not sure it went over well. Someone (Fred) gave the drunk girl the camera which explains many of the photos. It was an exceptionally good time. Here are some quality photos!!!!

Terry didn't make it into SAMS. Whole other story about that. So now we are in the waiting game to see what is up next. Had he gotten into SAMS we would have been here in Leavenworth till May 09. Wow!!!! Now we hope to hear late summer where there will be jobs, then we pick so many (17 I think) and someone sitting at a desk in DC decides where the Army needs us most. We probably won't know anything till sometime in October at the earliest.

Because Terry is a 96 guy and has time the Advisor (MIT Team) jobs are a real possibility. These are the small teams that go help train the Iraq military. It is a year tour with a train up at Ft. Riley, KS. Then I have to decide do I stay here or go somewhere else and where would I go.

We have been very very lucky with our assignments so far so I'm not complaining. Just anxious to know what is next for us.

We just finished our third book, by far the most entertaining. It was called My heart may be broken, But my hair still looks great by Dixie Cash. The book was based in Texas and was a very easy read. My complaint was that it seemed to be too front end loaded, we spent alot of time building up the story only for the ending to come to quickly. Oh well.

This month we are reading A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. I read this book many years ago and don't really remember anything about it. It is a the winner of a Pulitzer Prize so it must be good. My brother says it is based on King Lear. It is about a father dividing up his farm between his three daughters.