The day that children ages five to 17 have been either dreading or eagerly anticipating is upon us. Today is the first day of school at Le Mars Community and Gehlen Catholic.

Administrators, teachers and support staff have been getting ready as well, and hopefully everyone will have a great year.

There's something magical about new beginnings, a fresh start. I'm sure the first day of school conjures up powerful memories for each and every one of us. I can remember kindergarten in Mrs. Rowedder's class vividly, even though it was 39 years ago. At my school, we used "Hello my name is" stick-on nametags for the first few days and were grouped in tables by animal names. I sat at the bear table.

Memory is a strange and powerful tool. It doesn't seem like it was 16 years ago that my first born started school, or ten years ago that my second had her first day, but I can recall the days and the strange sensation of moving through a landmark in my life.

Parents, you know what I am talking about. You have the same sensation when our child enters middle school, high school and the huge whammy -- graduation. You get a short period to get over that one before you leave your child at college. The college drop off is where you realize that the first phase of our job as a parent has officially ended.

Enough introspection. Time to get on to the real tale I wanted to tell. We live in the southwest corner of Le Mars, in an area that is still being developed. When we moved in nearly eight years ago, there were three houses on our block, and no homes behind us. Now our block is full, and the final home is being built behind us to fill in the block. At our last home, we had trees that towered over our one and a half story home and my wife had beautiful flower beds.

In an effort to make our new home more like our old home, we have landscaped and planted trees. I hope I live long enough to have to rake leaves -- it's going to be a while.

One of the benefits of planting flowers and trees is attracting wildlife. We have some bird feeders in the back yard and have had a pair of Eastern Goldfinches, our state bird, come to call. Each spring, for the past few years, a pair of finches have nested in hanging baskets on our front porch. It's been fun to peek in on the nest and see the progress of the eggs and young hatchlings. We have learned that it is best to put some silk flowers in the basket so we don't disturb the family with watering the plants. In late spring the new birds leave the nest.

We get that same funny feeling when they go, but we are glad that they are on their own.

This year, we discovered a nest of a different sort in our back yard -- a nest of three baby bunnies. Fortunately, we discovered them before our dogs did, and have stood watch over them while the dogs are in the yard. This weekend, we got our first glimpse of the family. I'm a sucker for baby bunnies, and these little rabbits would literally fit in the palm of your hand.

It seems that they have now left their nest as well, much to our relief. But there's that funny feeling again...

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.