This is my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Poor red car stuck in the mud at the farm!

Rex to the rescue, pulling grandson, Derek, out of the mud.

Well we had more excitement at the farm today than any two people should have...or four...or six. Here is how it went down. Kathy's grandson, Derek, came for a visit, bringing his lovely girlfriend, Melissa, for us to meet. For whatever reason, Derek did not want to block Bonnie's car in and pulled off the gravel drive on to the mud.

"What is he doing?" asked Bonnie. "He can get stuck."

We raced to the door and tried to get him to back up, but it was too late. So for his attempt to be considerate, Derek became quite stuck in the mud. Of course everyone had his/her own idea of how to get the car free of the mud, but mostly it was Kathy and Derek who tried everything imaginable and only sunk the car in deeper, almost to the front bumper.

Kathy was particularly covered with mud, resembling the Abominable Mud Woman.

A tour of the cottage didn't change the situation with the car, and after several further futile attempts, Bonnie (who was dry and mud-free inside the cottage with Melissa) asked, "Are you ready for me to call someone yet?"

"Yes," said Kathy. "Call Rex."

Bonnie, instead, called Jonathan, who was out of town. She then called Rex, but Jonathan, who had a quicker speed dial finger than Bonnie, had already reached his father and apprised him of the situation at the farm.

Rex and LeeAnn, bless their hearts, drove to the farm from K-Mart, and Rex had Derek out of the mud in a jiffy. Many, many thanks to Rex and LeeAnn for the prompt assistance, and on Palm Sunday afternoon no less!

Poor Derek, not only did he get his car stuck in the mud, but Kathy kept calling him Kenneth or KJ and placing him in movie theatres watching films that were released about 15 years before he was born! (Now Kathy knows how it is when her mother calls her Jane all the time!) So, apologies to Derek. Your grandma really does know your name and will attempt to place you in the right generation when next we see you. We have offered Derek and Melissa a rain check visit. When the weather gets nicer and we are moved into the cottage, we would love to have them back when we can have a real visit and cook out. Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Just a note: Derek and his band, Beyond the Puppet, won The Battle of the Bands at Warsaw High School last week to claim the $500 first prize. You can read about it here:

http://www.timesuniononline.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=224&ArticleID=39379

Way to go, Derek!

Bonnie worked in the basement today and Kathy had hoped to beat the rain and work outside but didn't win the race. So she did some more touch-up painting and helped Bonnie in the basement..until the car got stuck.

Yesterday KJ arrived with his chainsaw after he got done with school and cut down the rest of the trees north of the driveway. We left a couple of trees that we thought about cutting down and will see how they do. Kathy got all but a few limbs and twigs cleaned up yesterday as well as moving the cement blocks and some other things behind the shed. She also straightened the woodpile behind the shed.

Bonnie's seeds arrived Burpee and we are excited about getting our veggie garden in!

Note: Bonnie wants our readers to know that we frequently had campfires the year that we camped at the Peru campground. Kathy doesn't remember as many as Bonnie does.