Yesterday was the first Cross Country meet of the year for Mazama
(actually, all the teams in the Basin, I think). The kids look pretty
good, though I can't imagine that we are going to do really well in
this new conference. Zoe came with me, while Zia stayed home with Amy.
I think that Zoe had a good time, I know that I did, though it is hard
not knowing the kids names, and I feel bad yelling out "Go Mazama"
instead of giving specific instructions to specific kids. I will learn
their names, it will just take some time.

I'm trying to think of what else we did yesterday. We ran some errands
out to the Credit Union to cash some checks, then we took the scenic
route home because the intersection at Washburn and S. 6th is closed
for six weeks. It is a lot farther than you would think to drive from
the CU to the Southside Bypass back to downtown via Greensprings. I
keep being a little skeptical about the whole intersection being
closed: can it really all be closed? We haven't driven to it to see,
but I suspect that it is, which makes getting to Bi-Mart very difficult
(there are no roads to Washburn from the west south of S. 6th St. So,
we have to drive down Altamont. Anyway, this talk of construction is
getting boring.

This morning, Zoe got up at 6:30 and said that she didn't want to go
back to bed. That was fine, but usually she gets up between 8:30 and
9:00 and so we spent an extra two hours together this morning. It all
went well, though I began to tire at the library. Everyone was really
good, but by the time we left, Zia was getting tired and we had about
forty pounds of books (it's hard to say no to a kid when she picks out
her own book). Story Time was good and the craft today was tie-dyed
shirts. The library had shirts leftover from last year so we spread
them out on a table, placed random pieces of tissue paper on them, then
soaked the tissue paper. When it was all good and wet, we rolled the
shirt up and gave it a good twist. The shirt looks pretty good, though
not as good as it would have if we had done actual tie-dye. Of course,
this was way less messy.

Lunch with Amy again, then we drove out to Western Tool Supply to see
about a new pair of nail nippers for horseshoeing: They had a pair!
Papa will be so surprised. And, bonus, we won't pinch our hands in the
handles every tenth nail!