Well, the weekend is off to an early start. Allison was up this morning at 5:00 a.m. Happy Saturday! So much for sleeping in. It will be a busy weekend chasing kids, and Ralph and I have a large project to work on. AJ has to be in town this morning at 8:30 for the Rodeo Parade (Boy Scouts carry the banners for the winning floats) and then at 12:30 we are meeting another scout parent that will take him to Camp Lassen (outside of Chico) for the rest of the Order of the Arrow Ordeal. I need to pick him up Sunday morning between 10:00 and 11:00. Allison has three baseball games (one inning each) starting at 8:45 on Sunday, so Ralph will take her, and I will go get AJ.

Yesterday, I invited Ralph out to lunch, and he suggested a local spot by his work, and we could stop by the landscaping business close by and I could look at some fountains with him. An hour later, I went back to work with no lunch, but the proud owner of a new fountain for the back yard. (I ran through Jack in the Box on the way back.) Poor Ralph lost track of the time and thought I was angry or something when I said I had to back to work without lunch! When I explained that I had already been gone for 55 minutes, he looked at his watch in surprise! Maybe next week we can do lunch.

The fountain is really cool! It is a large basalt rock with a hole drilled up the center. Water is attached at the bottom and dribbles down the sides of the rock. It is going in the little corner rock area we have just off of the patio. We are also replacing the "pink" rock that is there with River Rock. Oh happy days! (I hate that pink rock!) Ralph is going to work on the set-up this morning and go pick up the rock and all the parts, and some of the gravel. His truck won't hold all that we will need, but he will get enough to get the pond set up and have the rest of the gravel delivered. The water collects under the gravel, so there is no "pond" for Alli to play in. She can go and sit on the rock, but that is about it! (and I am sure she will!) They have some really nice columns of rock that I would have really liked out there, but I was afraid Alli would lean on them and knock them over. The rock we got weighs about 250 pounds, and has a nice base on it, so she shouldn't knock it over, accidentally at least. Our plan is to have it all set up this weekend, and I hope we do. We have company coming next weekend for Memorial Day, and I would like to have everything ready by then.