Hero Roadtrip and Chicken Poop

This past Friday Tony and I took a roadtrip to Lincoln for a once in a lifetime experience. His IDOL, his HERO, the reason for his animal/nature obsession, JEFF CORWIN of Animal Planet fame was speaking at a community college about his career and new book, "100 Heartbeats" dealing with the race to save our most endangered species.

I was so excited to be able to provide him with this special experience. Jeff Corwin is to Tony what Brett Favre would be to a football fan, or Wayne Gretzky to a hockey fan....you get the drift. We purchased the book and anxiously awaited the talk to start.

No pictures were allowed during his presentation, but you can see how close we were. It was a very intimate event with perhaps 200 people present.

Tony brought his collection of Jeff Corwin books to read while we waited. His books were a hit to all those sitting around us. It was a very informative, funny and enlightening presentation. I wish I could have captured the look on Tony's face when he took the stage...he honestly had tears in his eyes (sorry Tony). Mr. Corwin spoke for nearly an hour & 1/2, then took questions from the audience for about another 1/2 hour.

After the talk, we had the opportunity to have books signed. Again, no posed pictures - which you can imagine about killed the blogger in me. Here is the back of Tony's head as he waited for his turn. Mr. Corwin signed his new book as well as all the dogged books Tony brought along. How nice was that? It seemed disrespectful to snap away, so this is the only one I got.

I took this sweet photo at a stop light. The poor kid was absolutely exhausted after a long day of school and the exciting night.

I had to post the above picture for my mom. Here is Chris' fertilizer of choice for this spring....Chicken Poop! Oh my goodness does it stink. However, I am all for it as we refuse to put chemicals on our lawn or in our garden. While the rest of our subdivision keeps the TrueGreen truck in business, we are happy to spread around chicken poop.

Just hanging around enjoying a beautiful spring day.

Tony was pretty proud of this move...his legs have grown about 6 inches this winter!!!!

Here the kids scatter as dad comes near with the chicken poop. We had to turn the sprinklers on to help with the smell. I'll let you know how good it works! Chris also got our garden ready...yay! He has planted onions, carrots and potatoes. Our MN rhubarb is looking good and the chives are up. Seeds are started for watermelon, cantaloupe and cukes. We will buy our tomato plants in a few weeks. I cannot wait for all the fresh produce right outside our back door! After working in the yard all day Saturday we reserved Sunday for a long hike in the beautiful Loess Hills of Iowa. (or Eye-Oh-Wa as "marlene the gps" says) We packed a picnic and a very tired 11 yr old who had a sleepover the night before. At one point as Chris, Tony and I hauled our behinds up a high, steep hill, Olivia found a shady spot at the bottom to take a nap. Good thing she wasn't eaten by coyotes!!! Too bad I left my camera at home...it would've been a classic.

I hope your forecast for the week is as beautiful as ours...amazing what a little sunshine does for the spirit!