Here's a photo that would have had a rabbit in it if it hadn't hopped out of frame. Instead it has some small, barely visible birds (Juncos, I think) towards the bottom. It doesn't matter though, since it is a better view than a lot of people have at work, even those with corner offices. The only other photo I took today was of a small, very surprised field mouse, which turned out blurry. I didn't photograph the small, very dead, shrew on the road.

At home, Sophie and Nate managed to break three of our four plastic backyard chairs by throwing large rocks at them. So now all that remains of our table and chair set is one chair. The table met an untimely end during the Tree Trimming Incident some time back. I guess our yard furniture is just ill-fated.

We are enjoying the new shade structure that K gave to us, and the new/old pale blue, wooden picnic table she indefinitely lent to us. It's all out on the patio, and it's almost as if we've added an extra room onto the house. A nice place to do homework for the boys, and a nice place to eat for those of us who feel so inclined... until it rains, anyway.

Nothing much else going on. I'm trying to break up my routines at work by trying new stuff - new educational strategies. One of these days I'll actually write it all down. I got the benefit of having one of the long-time field instructors observe my class today, and he had some helpful observations. He, along with one of the other old-timers, are mixing it up this week by trailing along with different classes to either observe or be observed. In addition to this, there are a couple of people from an outside agency randomly observing the staff as well. It's good to get feedback. I don't know about others, but it always lights a fire under my butt when I get any kind of feedback. It makes me want to improve the way I do things, even when the feedback is positive.