poor orphans

My dad found two little orphan kittens at the farm. It was so sad to see them running and crying to us. We waited a couple of days trying to see if their mom would show up and she never did. So we tried to feed them with these droppers (my mom is not choking the kitten. They were so crazy they wouldn't hold still!), then went to the vet and bought some tiny kitten bottles and kitten formula, which was really cute, and they ate, but were still so crazy. Turns out the mom cat does a lot more for the kittens than just feed them. We tried cleaning them with a wash cloth but it made them look worse. They needed other things too so then we finally tried just putting them in with our mom cat's other kittens. She had hissed at them before, but when my mom stuck them in with her cute nice tame kittens she just started licking the orphans and we thought she would take care of them. But dumb Tiger moved her kittens to a new spot and didn't take the orphans with her. And now they are gone. No one knows where they went. If she had left them in their old place my parents would have heard them crying. Mean ol' Tiger. I feel sad for the orphans.

take a look, it's in a book...

I just heard the sad news on NPR that Reading Rainbow is being canceled.

Although I didn't even realize it was still being broadcast, I'm really sad about this. Reading Rainbow was a big part of my childhood. They said it is being canceled because no one will fund it anymore:

"...PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that's not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.

"Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read," Grant says. "You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read."

Seriously, when I was a kid (and even now...) any children's book that I remember was on Reading Rainbow has serious clout. Anything LaVar Burton would read MUST be important. And after everything people say about how important it is to read to kids it is sad to cancel the one show that really did read entire books outloud and THEN LaVar went on a little adventure so you could learn MORE about the topic at hand. What a great show.

If you are as outraged as myself, you can leave a message for PBS here.

C'mon. If people were able to save Chuck, Reading Rainbow should definetly be saveable.

NYC to SLC

I flew out to NYC, visited some friends (thanks Ty and Gaby for letting me stay with you!) then drove West with Becca Shim in her van with motorcycle in tow. We had some great adventures. Here's a bunch of pictures:

The van. Becca Shim, me, Ty Mecham (Ty rode from NYC to Missouri).




In Cincinnati Becca's family treated us to some great Cincinnati treats. This was chili with more cheese than chili. My favorite was the ice cream from Graeters (I had just jumped out of the shower. It wasn't raining).


Longest Yard sale in the world:



Kitten watch I probably should have bought...



City Museum in St. Louis:







corn dogs in art. Is there anything I could love more? Maybe if there was a kitten in there somewhere too...


My new shoelaces from the shoelace factory at the museum:



The Badlands:
Mt. Rushmore:


Corn Palace:


Wall Drug:

Devil's Tower! I loved this thing. It did not look real.

Yellowstone National Park.

Becca also got to experience the Madison County Fair and Parade while we were in Rexburg. It was one great trip. She is on her way to Seattle. Have fun Becca!