Family celebration

Well, we were rudely awoken once more.

The smoke alarms went off again last night -

or should I say this morning!

They had been silent all day yesterday so we thought we had taken care of the problem.

But NO!

We decided we should replace the batteries.

We didn't have any 9V batteries.

So Al got dressed and made a Wally World run.

Thank goodness for 24 hour Wal-mart!

Al took each alarm, cleaned it out and put in a new battery.

Mind you, the smoke alarms are up real high.

16 feet to the peak in our study.

12 feet in our bedroom.

14 feet in our living room.

When he got to our bedroom, lo and behold, there was a live

spider inside! No wonder the alarm was going off!

Spiders are nocturnal, so it makes sense

that the alarms wouldn't go off during the day.

I thought it must be awful noisy for that critter!

Wouldn't he go deaf? I had to google it.

Can spiders hear?

"No, spiders cannot hear sounds.They do however have tiny hairs all over their bodys and when a noise is made the vibrations hit these sensitive hairs, allowing them to know when something is creating noise.Many spiders hunt like this.For example, when a tarantula hunts, it stays put on the ground.It will sit until some sort of prey comes close enough for its sensors to pick up.It will then grab and kill its food. "

Al says that the smoke alarm made his hairs vibrate too. Ha!

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We had a family celebration for my parent's 60th anniversary today. My brother Doug, from Pennsylvania came. So did his son, Brandon, who lives in Kansas City, and his precious daughter, my great-niece (that makes me sound so old!!!), Layla. My brother, David, who also lives in KC came. Linda, my sister-in-law was not able to come.

When Mom and Dad were missionaries in Japan, they used to take lots of pictures. Slides.

They used these for deputation - to show at churches that supported us.

The folks put together 5 carousels of slides of our growing up years for us to look at and laugh at. Yes, a few geeky pictures too. Junior high pictures are the worst!

Dave and my Aunt Millie

Hannah shelling an egg from my brother's farm, Bowback Mountain in Bow, Washington. He shipped them to the folks. They have very pretty chickens, not just the ordinary run of the mill kind of farm chickens.

Doug, Brandon and Layla

My family. We were so disappointed that my brother Dan couldn't be with us.

The cousins.

Wish Josh, Staci and Emeri lived closer and could have been with us. They'll be coming in just a few weeks for Sophia's 2nd birthday though!

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Update on Cora's Playground - due to rain, the concrete was not poured today.