Runde, Round 2

4 June 2013

Kory went to visit Tante Ruth today but then locked his keys in the car so Kaleb had to ride his bike a ways to give Kory an extra set of keys.  Life happens.

Kaleb pushed through a week’s worth of Algebra today in just one day.  He was motivated to get in on a little “profit sharing” I’d promised him if he finished the class early, as I buy TIME with Johns Hopkins, not classes.  For each three month block of time, I pay big bucks, but he can do as many classes in that time as he is able… so it literally pays him to do the classes quickly.  Most of the classes require six months to complete, but he always does them in three months so he shares in the savings.  He got another 100% on his chapter test so he was whistling Dixie by the end of the school day and he started planning all the books he can buy with his spending money.

Shortly thereafter, his mood turned sour, however, as he realized that he was restricted from electronics because of some choices he made last week to disobey.  He gets mad at himself, but obviously, takes it out on me, so he spoke a little too disrespectful to me for my liking and lost a bit more of electronics time, which only caused him to pitch a bigger fit.  It is not my favorite way to spend time with him and it creates far more stress than I want in my life.

The only thing that broke the tension between us was a trip in the mountains.   As they say around here, “ut paa tur, aldri sur” which directly translates means, “out on a trip, never sour” and that was surely the case today.

For some time now I’ve been wanting to take my Pal Vestina (above) to Runde to show her the nesting puffins, but she’s either been busy or the weather hasn’t cooperated.  We were just there five days ago but I had a strong desire to go again since it was so cool.  But my, oh my, what a difference the weather makes out there.  It was sunny enough, but the wind was strong and it was cold! 

I was worried there would be no birds left, as they are only supposed to be out there in May, but we were treated to a few stragglers anyway.  The number of birds was significantly less and with the wind blowing, it was significantly less enjoyable, but it was still worth the trip.  I even found a puffin beak as a sick kind of souvenir.  The sea eagles were visible today and obviously still finding plenty of food to eat.

Kory and Kaleb sat on the edge of a very steep cliff (above) to watch the puffins return to their nests, but it made me nervous just looking at them dangling over the edge. Vestina and I opted for a little more comfort and safety on a grassy hillside.  She was glad she came along so she could see where the trail started and how to get to the top, but it was far from an ideal experience for her as there is no fat on her body and she was as cold as Kory and Kaleb.  Naturally, I was just fine.

We didn’t get home until midnight, and the sky was a gorgeous shade of pink in every direction. 

We put an ad in the newspaper today to rent out our condo so I’m anxious to see who God will have living here, but I’m sure not anxious to pack up all my stuff.  It’s going to be a busy next couple of weeks.