Surprise Wake Up

I had an exciting wake up call early this morning.

 At 2:45 AM I heard my doorbell ring twice and Harley started barking.
I look out front and see police cars, an ambulance and firetruck.
Not so good to wake up to.
 I answer the door to a police officer that tells me they need to search my backyard for a suspect that might be hiding. From what information I was given, officers were responding to an unrelated call in my neighborhood. The responding police car was hit by a suspect driving in a darkened, unlit car who then fled on foot into a closeby neighbor's yard.

So, their first search was by a handful of police with night vision in my yard for the suspect.
No spotting of the suspect though.
I have a north bank hill full of very thick shrubs (perfect for hiding, I might say) and police inform me they would be returning to search it with a dog.

Fast forward to another knock on my door to more officers that prepare to search with the trained german shepard. They wanted to be sure no people or pets were in the backyard as they proceeded.

Wow, it was a sight to see 13 armed officers and the police dog surveying my yard.

They clearly announced one last warning to anyone hiding before they brought in the dog.

They fanned out in the yard and screened it a second time and I could hear the dog make his barking calls here and there. No luck in finding anything though and the police proceeded to search my nearest neighbor's yards too.  This is for sure NOT an everyday, typical event in my area, so it made for a very surprising start to my weekend. I can't remember the last time I was still awake at 5:00 AM!

Since I slept in today (I have an good excuse) I'm a little late announcing that I'm having a Spring Sale in my TPT store.

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Spending Money on Spring Break

I spent money on Spring Break, and not in the way I wanted.

If I've not shared before, I have a beautiful yard, but it is a 1/2 acre.

1/2 acre = lots of my time maintaining it over Spring Break.

Good thing I have my good buddy, Harley, along to keep me company.

He gets to lounge in the cool mondo grass while I sweat it out with weeding
The start of spending money was on replacing 2 sprinkler valves plus broken sprinkler repair.

Sidenote Harley story:  My parents dogsit Harley at their house while I work when they are in town.
My dad took him on a walk the other day, and 2 loose dogs came charging up to Harley.
Harley gave them a back off warning growl, and that's when the dogfight started.
The 2 boxers had the advantage because Harley was leashed up. My dad was hollering, and went into the middle of the street with the 2 dogs following. A car stopped and tried to help by honking repeatedly to get the dogs away but it continued. Harley came out of the tag team fight with no injuries, but my dad was upset that numerous parents walking their kids to the nearby school did not even mention to him as they passed by that these 2 dogs were laying loose up the way in a driveway.
It would have given him the chance to change paths or avoid the confrontation.

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This pretty group of flowers sprouted up as a surprise.
Squirrels must have spread them to my yard.
Not quite sure what kind of flower it is though.

A big chunk of my unexpected Spring Break spending went to cutting down these 3 Queen Palms.

I wouldn't have cut them down except their roots were eventually going to destroy my brick planter. In order to save the planter, they had to go.

Cutting down in process

If yard work weren't enough add in some home maintenance.

My dishwasher has a leaking valve and needs to be repaired. 

Don't you love waiting for repairmen? I have a window of between 12pm and 3pm for it to be fixed.

Who has bets it is at 3 pm?

Hope your break will be more cost effective than mine or at least spent on something more FUN!

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Get Your Draw On

Top o' the morning on this St. Pat's Day

I wanted to share the neatest art site, Art for Kids, which is authored by Rob, a dad of 3 who shares his love of art with them. The site includes guided step by step videos plus printable "How to" sheets for each design. In shamrock spirit, here's the link to drawing a leprechaun.

Have fun exploring more "Draw It" designs from Rob {HERE}

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Zoo Fieldtrip

To kick off a unit on Living Things my class went to the zoo.

What a fun day!

Here's a simple zoo song to review many animals we saw today

And a cute habitat song

And after a long field trip day, I'm off tomorrow for a furlough day.

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Whimsical Tree Art

My class put their spin on an art project idea from the Art Project for Kids site.

Start with a whimsical tree, simple as can be.

Add splotches of water color and it's fancy free!

And if you read my previous post, fortunately no paint brushes ended up down my sink drain....as far as I know :)

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