The "Finnster, et al."

One day in September 2020, a little black chicken wandered into our yard. We had no idea from where she came.  We all thought that it was pretty neat that a chicken was in the yard - but we didn't think that she would stay very long.  As night fell, we noticed that the chicken was roosting in one of trees on the other side of the driveway.  When we woke up the next morning the chicken was pecking around the driveway.  We were stunned that she was still hanging around.  What made her continued presence all the more puzzling was the fact that she didn't seem to mind that she was constantly having to dodge certain death.  Meg, the cat that catches everything that moves (snakes, moles, birds), was always just a few feet behind ready to pounce on the chicken.  At first we kept Meg locked in the house until we could find the chicken's owner.  We wanted to return the chicken to the own alive instead of in a stew.  Much to both our surprise and her o...

As a Fifth Grader, Finn was able to participate for the first time in organized school sports at Davidson Academy.  In order to get in shape for other sports, Michael felt that it would be a good idea for Finn to run Cross Country.  Cross County practice began during the summer months.  The kids practiced every Monday through Thursday during the week.  Once school began they continued this same practice routine - but after school.  This caused quite a schedule stir for our family as Sam and Will were released from school at 3:00 and Finn did not finish practice until 4:30.  This meant that I regularly picked Finn up from practice. While the drive was not particularly fun, I really enjoyed my alone time in the car with Finn.  We were able to talk about a lot of thing in rush hour traffic.  We discussed politics, spiritual matter, bullies, relationships with friends, silly stuff and everything in between. I remember one day being astonished that he ...