How to segue from a Congressman to a raingutter mater

Last April, the kids participated in the Walk for Sidewalks event. The goal was to get our legislatures to approve the funding to get sidewalks built in our little town. The campaign was successful. My friend Rob called me today and asked me to bring the kids to meet the Congressman who helped work to get it approved.

This was such a great learning lesson for the kids. The homeschooler in me came out as I pulled them out of school, and we got to talk about what our congressional leaders do, and how even school kids can participate in getting things changed. I think we might have also talked about why pre-teens should always wear deodorant. It was all equally important, as any nose knows.

We arrived at Rob's cafe and the kids talked a little bit with State Rep. King while they waited for Congressman Boozman to arrive. They practiced posing for the photo for the paper too. I love staged candids...lol.

There is Chet shaking hands with the Congressman. Pastor Nestor (in the middle) also participated in the walk to school program. Remember me telling you the joke about a Methodist secretary, a Baptist preacher, a cit councilman, a four year old and the chief of police riding in a car that had no punchline? Well, Nestor is the preacher. That cute little four year old is on this picture too... but she is not four anymore.

All that practice paid off... here is the carefully posed candid for the newspaper.

Oh, speaking of newspapers, I had a funny story I meant to share the other day. Last Wednesday I attended a Meet the Candidates event at our library. Apparently I sat right next to the real reporter from the paper without realizing who she was. I went to this because I am just a political junkie. I think I was literally the only one who attended just because. Most of the ladies were from the club who hosted the event, and everyone else in the room was either a candidate or a relative of a candidate. And the reporter. And of course.... me... the lone person to arrive just because I wanted to hear what they had to say. (Apparently they didn't think people actually do that.) I brought my camera because that is what I do. When the reporter stood up and took photos I did too. Why try to get them all gathered up again for another shot, right?

So do you see where this is going? Yes, it was assumed I was from the press as well. (I think the press in our county consists of about 5 people.) During the half hour that was open for the guests to ask questions, a couple of the candidates commented on how the members of the press weren't even asking questions. Color me clueless, but at the time I honestly had no idea I was being included in that category. But now that I know this I can't help but laugh and think of how I could have "interviewed" them. If I could have pulled off the "boxers or briefs" question with a straight face, what do you think they would have done??

See the guy on the left? Doesn't he look like the actor who played the sleezeball attorney on Night Court? I think he is actually a good guy who does his job well, but that resemblance throws me off everytime! Actually, several of them impressed me, one or two were already on my "to vote for" list, and at least one left me surprisingly unimpressed. Overall, though, I really like small town politicians and politics.

Anyway... back to today. After our little photo opp, Rob asked if I could take the other girls who had come to meet Congressman Boozman back to school with my own kids. We don't have that many seats in our truck, so Jack drove Chet and Faith to theirs and I walked the elementary kids back to theirs. Kyle walked backwards nearly the whole way.

In this picture they were walking under a pecan tree full of nuts. The tree is on an empty lot, so I am thinking of going back with the kids and gathering the nuts up. Between those pecans and the mountain of walnuts in my background there could be some really yummy baking going on this holiday season.

And speaking of edible vegetation, look what Jack found growing out of our raingutter today. Don't ask me how a cherry tomato plant took root in a rain gutter. I just don't know. It is as much a conundrum to me as the mystery of how I keep ending up with pumpkin patches in July, or why my broccoli plants have risen from their grasshopper-induced graves.
Fess up, though, you are jealous of my freakishly mad gardening skills aren't you??