Thought you all might like to know what's been going on down on the farm....wait, we don't live on a farm. We live on a busy street in the city. I have an Uncle Stephen who lives on a farm with a fence and lots of cows. That's close enough right? Mom says I just like to get dirty and Dad says I'm just being a boy, although that was before he found out where I created our little "Snipes" farm. Last fall, he used all the extra dirt that was in mom's pots and planters to fill in a low spot in the backyard. Yesterday the temperature reached 55 degrees, so I finally got to get outside and play, which is one of my favorite things to do. My idea of playing outside is going into our garage and pulling out the rusty, beat-up, small red wagon that has a very squeaky wheel. Inside that wagon is gold to me (not that I know what that means). About 2 years ago my Grandpa & Grandma Snipes were cleaning out their garage and sent some boxes that were my Dad's as a kid home with us. Last spring we cleaned the garage and went through the boxes (I say "we" as if I helped clean ~ if anything I probably created more of a mess). There was one box that Mom could have kept hidden, wrapped up for my birthday and I would have thought she'd put all of Toy's R Us in my hands. I found many of Dad's old toys. That's right, toys he played with as a little boy. Among those items were A LOT of tractors and farm equipment (fence pieces, etc.), some animals, G.I. Joes, and transformers. 
Every chance I get to be outside, I head for the garage and straight towards that red wagon filled with my toys. From there I travel to our backyard to find an area to sit and spread out and spend several hours engaged in imaginative play (Mom's words not mine). But today I found the best place to build a farm......and it just happened to be in our own backyard!
Yesterday, Mom thought she'd take advantage of me playing in the (fenced in) backyard and work on cleaning her car out in the driveway. I was probably about 20 minutes into building my farm in the dirt area before she noticed. I'm sure the first thoughts racing through her head were about how she'd get the dirt out of my clothes, shoes, etc....but she suprisingly found it funny that I'd found my way to the fresh dirt. Then when I said, "Mom I'm making a farm in our backyard like Uncle Stephen's farm." What does she do? Run to get the camera & take pictures. We stayed outside and I played "on the farm" until Dad came home and could see my handy work. Much of my farm play included putting up a fence, arranging the animals, and using the tractors/dump trucks to move dirt around the yard. I think I ruined Dad's idea of grass growing in that spot anytime soon, because I'll need to be on the farm doing work from now til next fall. I can't wait until it rains on my farm!
Dad, are you sure you cut this straight?
