In the anticipation of my brother Nathan coming home from a three week work thingy, we tally-hoed out to his place to mow down some mean, green, yellow things!
Betty, our work horse commercial mower, did the job well. I think mowing with her is terrible fun, really! If you put her in 5th gear, you literally fly with your legs up in the air behind you. 4th gear keeps you running and 3rd gear is a brisk walk on the wild side! Dan here is taking his turn. We usually argue back and forth at who gets to mow. He usually plays the "You need the rest and I don't want you to over do it" card which always works to my chagrin.
Hot, sweaty, dusty and dirty, the children and I ran and jumped into the water.
Ahhhh, refreshment!!
Nate found this wok like thing, super sized, that is maybe 3ft in diameter. We can ferry Parley and Preston and O.P. across the creek or AWESOME rocks we find.
Well on this day, we were going to check out the downstream area. Laura scooted Preston down close to these little rapids, slipped and was barely clinging to the saucer occupying Preston.
Long story short, I quickly grabbed the saucer and then told Preston I will walk him down the little rapids. Well, he did not like that idea. I picked him up and told Laura to let the saucer go down to see how it will flit and flutter in the water and then I'll jump in and get it.
BIG MISTAKE!!!!
I didn't calculate the time to get Preston to the shore and jumping back in. Needless to say, I was running for my life after that darn saucer! Putting it in full sprint, I pushed myself thru the shallow water to catch up the beloved saucer. After falling many times when I was almost in reach of it, I decided the rocky land would be faster.
I high tailed it to land and pushed myself as hard as I may. The saucer then caught on branches that over hang the water. I paused, just to make sure before I crossed the water that it would stay. It did, thus I entered the water again. As soon as I got to the half way point, the branches released it's victim, laughing at my poor attempt at trying to be in shape!
Well, I will show those branches whose clever now, I thought as I returned to land just in time to see the next tiny rapids to push the saucer farther from my clutches.
Oh, that wretched curiosity I had to have to watch it go solo. I cursed the day I was born, well not really, maybe the day that I started not being in shape....or thought of the dumb idea!
Anyhow, at the rate of a race turtle, I tried to position myself on the other side of the tiny rapids to catch the bleep, bleep, bleep! ( I really do not swear, but I thought saying "bleep" would appropriately show my frustration!)
Although my utter slowness and dragging breath did not lend me the ability to get to the spot I wanted, the thoughtful saucer went down the faster moving water and gently came to the shore side on which I stood and I gratefully claimed the prize, leaned on it (for the ground was way too lumpy with BIG rocks ((which in any case I wanted to bring home with me)) to collapse on) and tried to will myself to live through the trauma I had just put my body thru.
As I stood panting and weak, I swear I heard the saucer laughing and then realized I was in no mood to be mocked and quietly apologized. After some unknown time of agonizing pain as life slowly crept back into my being, I was able to begin my journey upstream to where my children were and to Danny sitting in the middle of the stream, in pain as not having brought his water shoes...
...but that's another adventure in saving him and the children.
We say bicycle, the "y" sounding like ick or lick. 
But we then say motorcycle, the "y" sounding like kite or icecream. Is it because motorcycle, (sounding like kite),
