Balrog's Blog

20120108 Katie Goes to India

2012-01-11T05:06:00.000-08:00

Air India. They actually close the ticket counter an hour prior to flight departure. Wild.

2012-01-08 Katie has left the building

2012-01-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

~~In case anyone who reads this is interested, here's what I think is a link to live tracking of her flight:~~

She has arrived safely in India. I think she's looking for elephants to ride now.

20111225 Zooming the Xmas Tree

2012-01-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

Zooming the lens while taking the picture

(yes, "art")

20111224 Xmas

2012-01-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

XMas at our house with both famblies

20111217 Putting up the tree!

2011-12-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

A tree hugger.

We. Don't. Like. Our. Picture. Taken. While. Trimming. The. Tree. Grrr.

They did it all.

I was cutting up grapefruit. Really.

20111215 BDay. Again.

2011-12-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

What?! My birthday?! Again?!

A really nice outdoor work coat from the TN Stiefels

I am now truly the envy of the geek world. I have my own StormTrooper snowflake!

The last Potter movie

Something else?

A 28 position ladder!

You would not believe the flak I caught for doing this. It wasn't even extended very far!

Coconut cake. Yummy!

20111215 My BDay gift

2011-12-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

So at the local barber shop, my leetle zeebas went in and asked for a window message for this morning...

20111208 SKINNY SANTA!

2011-12-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

In one of the neighborhoods through which I drive to and from work:

Yes, kiddies, it's "Skinny Santa" from the Rankin Bass "Rudolph" shows.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

20111206 Monica Winter Band Concert

2011-12-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

After the Fiedler piece they got a standing-O

20111203 Curly?

2011-12-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

Monica's friend gets a new curling iron...

20111201 Final Beard

2011-12-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

IN the aftermath of a week without power, I stopped shaving and went November with the result.

Much too much gray.

20111124 Thanksgiving at The Fergusons

2011-12-15T10:29:00.000-08:00

DINNER!

Then more games

And even outdoor games....someone liketh not to lose (notice Kushball on ground behind her)

20111125 Obligatory "Art" photos taken on the walk

2011-12-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

20111124 TDay walk with Fergusons

2011-12-15T10:21:00.000-08:00

Dan, his mom and sister

Wif Monica

20111124 Thanksgiving with the Fergusons

2011-12-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

Um...they're getting along?!

20111122 Picking up Katie for TDay

2011-12-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Drove to Illinois to get Katie to come back for Thanksgiving in Syracuse.

20111030 Halloween Snow

2011-12-15T10:14:00.000-08:00

Halloween Eve, 2011. Spent here...

Because of 24" here...

Little did I know at the time that the power would be out for over a week.

20111027 Monica National Honor Society

2011-12-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Ah, suffering the slings and arrows of the paparazzi

With her pals afterwards

20111029 Snow before Halloween

2011-10-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

Just finished mowing the yard.
We're expecting 15" of snow.

Fifteen.

Not even Halloween yet.

This is crazy

20110920 The grownups at ChuckECheese

2011-09-20T12:37:00.000-07:00

Whack-A-Mole is now Whack-A-Shark

We haveeng fun? Sure hope the ibuprofen kicks in soon...

And of course Mom has to ham it up in front of the TV camera that's simulcast onto the screen above left. Very nice, Fran.

20110920 Wm Bday

2011-09-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

More presents at home

And cupcakes

And putting very very small pieces together

20110920 Wm Bday Wknd

2011-09-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

With the big cheese himself

This is a ticket blaster. The kid is given eye protection and they put him in a large tube where they blast tickets around him with air. His gets to keep those he catches.

(had I done that to my kids, they would *STILL* be in therapy)

He loves showing Cousin Monica his stuff

Presents at home from us

20110920 Wm Bday @ ChuckECheese

2011-09-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

20110920 Ferguson WM Bday Wknd

2011-09-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

Fayetteville Festival

And a giant frisbee

20110920 Soccer Wm Bday Wknd

2011-09-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

20110902 Drip cap, Brick mold, oh my

2011-09-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

I have many windows. I'm painting shutters black. On the East side of the house the windows have water damage on "drip cap" and "brick molding".

What fun.

20110808 Soap Dem Bees!

2011-08-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

Lots of bees behind the upper floor shutters, as I never go around and spray the way I do on the ground floor. I've gone through too much ($$) wasp spray and started reading online.

You take a little spray can (I happen to have)

And you mix 16 oz water, 1 oz liquid dish soap, 1 oz rubbing alcohol.

And spray.

And they drop like they've been hit by a brick

It was unbelievable. Highly recommend soapy water bee spray.

Stay away from them on the ground, they aren't dead but will be shortly as the soap keeps them from flying as well as from breathing through their exoskeleton pores. They can still get you however so keep away.

20110806 Ladder Innovation

2011-08-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

So I need to get up to the 2nd floor, chase away the bees, take down the shutters, pressure wash the siding, paint the shutters black, scrape/sand/prime/paint the badly chipping window brick mold, sill and drip cap, and reinstall shutters.

On 9 windows, then there are 3 shutterless ones on the back of the house.

It was clear that setting up the ladder on one side of a window, moving to the other, was just not going to cut it. So I made a standoff. And used it. And reinforced it.

20110726 Tornadic Activity

2011-07-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

Once again, Mother Nature brought tornadic activity to Wilbraham (and Springfield and Chicopee) following essentially the same path as the June 1 tornadoes. The downed trees and damage were not as severe, but the width of the destructive path was much more far reaching, covering a path several miles wide. 92% of Wilbraham was without power, and a day later there are still sections without power--most traffic lights on Boston Rd are still out.The hail was up to 1" diameter but stacked up nearly an inch deep in the 10 minutes of hail. The rain rate was so torrential that sheets of water were shooting off the roof. These two photos were taken as the hail started, but as it got blacker and the 60mph winds hit, we headed for the basement.

After it was over, maybe 20 minutes later I saw that our yard escaped damage but our neighbors had 3 trees down across their driveway and power lines to the house.

20110722 Water Balloon Pary

2011-07-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

20110719 New Driver In Training

2011-07-27T05:53:00.000-07:00

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Many campfires this year

And games

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

Playing games

The Judge

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

Dan and the boys fishing

YAS* (Yet Another Sunset)

Playing games

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Fireworks

Ducks

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Around the campfire

2011 Skaneateles

2011-07-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

20110705

2011-07-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

2007 July Skaneateles

2011-07-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Sunset, July 5, 2011

20110613

2011-06-13T04:21:00.001-07:00

Somebody's getting OLDER!

20110608--Tornado path from space

2011-06-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

The wiki page () has the satellite image of the path which I've crudely pasted onto Google map:

(39 mile track)

20110608 Tornado Aftermath

2011-06-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

After the tornadoes, there are so many trees down. Wilbraham is gathering brush in 18 wheeler dump trucks from the neighboorhoods, bringing them to Post Office park where the Mother of All Woodchippers has created a couple of two story piles of chips. This does *NOT* do the piles justice.

One of the kid's friend's house; left side of image showing treetops ripped off:

In the beginning, from the paper, showing the claw loader:

20110603 Two days after tornado

2011-06-03T10:49:00.001-07:00

There were 2 tornadoes; the first tore through West Springfield, through Island Pond, through East Longmeadow, up Tinkham Rd about 1000 yards South of me and continued up and over the mountain to tear up Monson. Within the path the destruction is unimaginable.

Here are a few photo and video links. My family was very lucky. Now we need to help our neighbors and church members. The cleanup will take a very long time.

http://www.wwltv.com/video?id=123029943&sec=554827

http://www.wrnx.com/cc-common/gallery/photos.html?album_id=282835&p=17021846#/95/17025273

http://photos.masslive.com/republican/2011/06/aerials_of_tornado_destruction_38.html

http://www.wrnx.com/cc-common/gallery/photos.html?album_id=282835&p=17018792#/34/17018792

http://videos.masslive.com/abc40/2011/06/springfield_tornado_the_day_af.html

http://www.wwltv.com/news/slideshows/Photos-Tornados-rip-through-Massachusetts-123035523.html?gallery=y&c=y&ref=%2F&img=9#gallery-image

20110528 Spring Flowers

2011-05-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

20110514 The Flowers of Spring

2011-05-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

20110321 First Day of Speing!

2011-03-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

That's right. Mother Nature has a twisted sense of humor.

Snow on the first day of Spring.

Sheesh.

20110307 Anybody got plans for an ark?

2011-03-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

The rain Sunday did not come into the basement in the two little corners that sometimes get water in the unfinished part.

Monday, however, sometime midday, the water table rose.

There were at least 7 places where the water came up through the basement slab floor.

Up all night with pump and shop vacs.

Heartbreaking losses. Total mess.

Our "game and tv room"

The large storage room

My shop. If you look carefully, between shop vac and table saw, you can see one of the floor cracks that ran left to right all the way across the floor and poured water up through it all night long.

20110212 On this particular Saturday

2011-02-12T10:16:00.000-08:00

Monica & I decide to make popovers:

Then when painting, I see these guys checking me out, just outside the window:

20110201. Yes. Seriously. More Snow

2011-02-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

The first part of a nice two phase dumpage has ended with another 8-9" on the ground.

But wait! There's more! Mother Nature is standing by, regardless of your call, and will deliver not one, BUT TWO snowstorms to your door, the second one bringing another foot.

That's my car hiding behind the smallest snow mound in the yard. It's has gone from sublime through ridiculous, bypassing absurd, throwing a casual nod to psychotic and heading straight to the "Cliffs of INSANITY" (Princess Bride reference; one of the best movies ever made)

So the last snowstorm, NOAA said storm total would be 3-5 or 3-8 and we got 11. This time it says 13-14--do I multiply by the same factor? Do I buy stock in snowblower companies? Ibuprofen? It's getting nutsier and nutsier. Truly.

20110129 Snow. Roof Rake. Yea.

2011-01-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

Icicles. North side. Worried. Have Roof Rake. This is what 3 hours with a roof rake will do when it's too danged short and you get PVC pipe to extend it and then fight with a too-flexible 27 foot long implement of bush bashing fun

First, I had to wade through thigh deep snow to even get to the back of the house so I ran the snow blower around the house first. If I fill it will alligators I can keep the huns out now.

Stalactit-ish-icles, spawning Hemlock-icles

I got yer icicles hanging over the front of the gutters, the back of the gutters...

20110127 Eleven more inches of Snow

2011-01-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

A couple of panoramas of the snow

The front yard...

And the back yard

20110127 Eleven More inches of snow

2011-01-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

Someone said we've had nearly 58" of snow this season.

The ends of driveways are veritable mountains at this point.

And mailboxes are buried

Note the depth on the top of the pool, not to mention the snow is more than halfway up the side of the pool!

20110120 Snow remnants

2011-01-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

This is what 21" of snow, followed by a couple of inches of snow and 1" of freezing rain, then 5 more inches of snow, looks like a couple of days later.

Poor bushes.

20110122 Painting?

2011-01-22T12:53:00.000-08:00

There are 3 double hung windows, and the bay has two more little ones, needing painting. I did one today, sort of. After all, it's only 20 outside, heading down to -7 so I'm in no big rush to tilt windows in and out and paint edges and outside bits of wood.

20110118 More weather

2011-01-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

No pictures. Sorry. 1/2" of freezing rain ice on everything today turned the world as I know it into a skating rink. The main roads were pretty good on the evening commute but the parking lots and driveways were slicker than greased owl excrement, as my Uncle J used to say.

Just icky.

Not as smelly though.

20110113 More pics of snow

2011-01-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

The cavern leading to the door. I ran the blower (finally got it going) down the front walk just to show what 22" looks like

As the bushes sag under the daily sun warming, they're going to be in tough shape

The pool has a good indicator of the snow depth too

Things to notice: The snow is so deep on the step that the door swept some away on opening; and that is my grill with shelves showing how much snow piled up. It is an INSANE amount of snow.

20110112 Snow

2011-01-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

Ok. So. They got this one right. Actually, they said 12-16 and have just changed it to be 19-21. We have about 20 on the ground and it's going like crazy still at noontime.

Many much snowsen.

20101219 Decorating the Tree

2010-12-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

20101215 My Burfday

2010-12-20T07:21:00.000-08:00

20101213 Preparing for Xmas

2010-12-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

Ah, nothing like a little quality family time, with a fire going, the tree is up, Katie is home, all of us in the Family Room.

On our own laptops.

20101207 Monica Winter Band Concert

2010-12-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

They also did a joint band/choir number

20101129 The Elliptical bearing

2010-11-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

Or lack thereof

The other side, or, what it should look like:

20101125 Thanksgiving with Fergusons

2010-11-25T16:31:00.000-08:00

Connie and Fran once again have outdone themselves with tons of food.

We're smiling because we get to eat it.

20101106 Niagara Falls

2010-11-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

It was cheaper to get the family together by flying one from ILL and driving the rest, so we met in Buffalo for the weekend. It was supposed to be rain/snow all weekend here but the weather is cooperating much more nicely than that and we hit the Canadian side of the Falls today.

Off now for some real honest to goodness Buffalo wings!

20101031 Halloween

2010-10-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

Yes. Yes. It is indeed a ninja slicing off bat's wings and chasing away ghosts.

This is what you get when the kids pic the pumpkin pattern

For a few pics of Halloween Through the Years, see the Halloween Retrospective

20101029 Connie Meets Ina

2010-10-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

We went to Natick and met Ina Garten at her book signing

20101024 Rays of Hope Walk

2010-10-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Monica captained a team of ! 32 ! people,
including members of both her JV and the varsity volleyball teams

And friends who have come as many as 3 years in a row to be part of this team

Some, crazier than others...

Some walked, some found other ways to join us...

in memory of Martha and Pat

20101022 Monica Volleyball

2010-10-26T22:50:00.000-07:00

20101022 Another Fall Tree Pic

2010-10-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

20101019 Da Moon

2010-10-20T05:15:00.000-07:00

20101019 Fall

2010-10-19T14:30:00.001-07:00

The end of the street near Main...

20101015 Monica Marching Band

2010-10-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

The hat! It's on straight!
That can't be right...

OK. That's more like it...

This was the night of driving N'oreaster rain and wind and 48 degrees, by the way

Left side, 3rd from top. Crooked hat...

They did a great job

Under great direction:

20101011 The wood is done

2010-10-13T03:14:00.000-07:00

And the trees are turning. I decided to put the "wood is split and stacked" photo in the post with the "before" photo.

20101009 OOOOOOOOOOOOH!

2010-10-09T08:23:00.000-07:00

Someone's letting me borrow a toy. Consider this the "before" picture.

20101011 -- And the "after" picture:

I had to extend the woodpile, driving a couple of long stakes into the ground where the canoe used to sit. Most of that on the left "extra half" of the woodpile is walnut. For now at least. I'm sure it will shortly be walnut and chipmunks and squirrels and grass balls and piles of nuts.

20101002 Fall

2010-10-02T04:34:00.000-07:00

Last year, at this time, someone mentioned missing the colors of Fall from home so I'd posted some images for them. This year, with the summer drought making trees mostly brown & change early, and then the prospect of Storm Nicole's forecasted 8" rain possibly wiping out much chance of getting pictures, I took some early and post them here. If you see her on Sunday, 10/3, wish her a happy 20th from me.

I'll admit this next one is not reall "Fall", per se, but really kewel

And a couple from Brookmont...

20100919 William's Fourth

2010-09-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

William turned 4.
I think he was excited.
A little.

More to follow...I even have some "art" from this weekend! (I can sense Dan's excitement from here)

20100910 Anniversary

2010-09-10T05:51:00.000-07:00

22 years.

Ok, we didn't know each other when those first ones were taken

20100906 Weeding and Red Door

2010-09-09T04:44:00.000-07:00

My family is wonderful. They pick weeds for me when my back hurts. I did (eventually) sit and weed also, but they did most of the work.

And, as promised, the red door. Many coats of red. Many

20100907 Update

2010-09-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since update. I felt good enough to finally finish painting the front door, cranberry-ish. Three coats it took. Ugh. Used a short nap roller for the rails, stiles and panels to minimize brush marks. But it still took 3 coats to cover the white primer. That is one well-covered door. I can still see blotchy primer peeking through, but if others are okay with it, I'm okay with it.

The fam helped pull all the purslane and spotted spurge from the enormous area around the volleyball court that goes dormant in the heat every year and allows the weeds to take over in August. Nasty stuff.

Double Ugh. Took the 3 of us 3 days. "What a fun way to spend the labor day weekend". I know you're all thinking it. I'm just sayin'.

I'll replace that silly weed pic with the girls when I get more energy.

20100706 Skaneateles

2010-07-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

"Cottage" owner, Rick, takes people for tubing rides

Shaun the Sheep?

20100703 Skaneateles Day 1

2010-07-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

20100618 Monica has friends over for a party

2010-06-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

So this was Monica's "official" birthday party, with some friends over for volleyball, pool, snacks and a cake Monica made herself (I think it was the Xmas gift cake from Deavers)

I'm really doing lousy with keeping up the non-stop, paparazzi-style photographic journaling and took only this one picture of the whole shebang.

20100618 Katie briefly home and Monica mows

2010-06-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Katie flew in late Wed night; staying only until 3pm Father's Day

Monica loves the riding mower.

...and who wouldn't?

20100613 Someone's Birthday

2010-06-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

A different way to play volleyball (Wii)

A 6 flags pass

A real volleyball and I'm glad to have a cathedral ceiling

Da cake.

20100612 Taryn's Wedding

2010-06-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

Taryn gets married 12 June in Keene

I did not take many photos, it was a good time anyway :)

Doug's famous 3 tiered Baked Alaska

20100530 Work around the house

2010-06-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

While I'm sidelined, Monica trims

And Connie mows (she's so "green" it's amazing--me, I likey my CO2-belching rider)

and with neighbor's help, sets up trampoline

They needed no Daddy help to figure the frame's puzzle out...

Stretching on the canvas with the spings

Apparently, it took a lot out of James...

20100523 Such Wonderful Family to have when I'm down

2010-05-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

May 21-3, Fran Dan and the boys came over; I'm out of commission with my back, they mowed and Monica and Fran did the shrubs (sorry Fran, I never got a photo of that) and they all opened the pool so we could at least start the chlorine going as the weather heats up (it's Wed 5/26 and 96 degrees today-blech)

Rollin' rollin' rollin' keep them blades a-rollin

Even James from next door came to help Dan and Fran take off the cover (most assuredly the hardest part of the whole process)

Unfortunately I did not get photos of Dan have *WAY* too much fun using the pressure washer to clean off the cove before hanging to dry and folding.

And there was much feasting...

And Monica's mentor is a pastry chef

Proud parents and mentor. Monica's really holding me up. Really.

20100523 They're talking...about me?

2010-05-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

So I have a bad back but I head to church for Confirmation Sunday anyway and those darned bell ringer type folks are talking and joking about something.

Without me.

I think about me.

What do you think?

20100512 What do you get when you...

2010-05-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you dig 5 wheelbarrow fulls of dirt to "trim" the edge of a flower garden across the front and side of your house, when combined with moving 10 church pews 16' long weighing as if full of parishoners, when combined with moving the logs created when cutting down two 40' trees and one 70' tree?

In my case, you get:

"Involvement between L3-4 and L4-5"

And you are flat out for the count, making goo goo eyes at a jug of Percoset and Cyclobenzadrine

Spingtime

2010-05-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

20100420 Trip to ILL to see Katie's Choral concert

2010-04-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

We drove, it was fun, we took Monica's friend so Monica would have someone to talk with for the 32 hrs in the car there and back

Them Presbyterians have a serious church in Bloomington

The choir was lovely. Esp Katie

The obligatory fam pho

Monica and Lauren found ways to amuse themselves

20100424 Tree Trimming

2010-04-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

2 major walnuts, hanging over back porch and garage
2 minor (20') trees
1 Gigundus Black Cherry threatening neighbor's

Tree trimming today. 4 hrs. So very sore.

Top left, top middle; before/after of walnut over garage
Middle left, bottom left; before/after of 2 small trees and large black cherry
Middle, bottom middle; before/after of walnut over back porch
Right, the people who climbed and cut, knowing how to do the branch-ectomy without doing a Joseph-ectomy or a house-ectomy.

A few more pics at the web album, HERE.

20100404 Easter at the Ferguson's

2010-04-05T05:58:00.001-07:00

Eastertime, this year in Syracuse

The gazebo at their church after the service

And a walk at the fishery

And dyeing eggs

And hunting eggs

And silliness

And art

20100313 Spring Break, the Fam shows Kristy Boston

2010-03-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

It rained. A lot.

Old North was pretty awesome

There be lobsters

The obligatory panorama (must edit power line...)

20100309 Monica's Pops Band Concert

2010-03-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

The band

The Clarinet Section

The Clarinet Section after their highlighted piece

And the ensuing discussion afterwards...

20100227 So little snow :(

2010-02-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

Even though the new windows are in (only one to go and all to paint)

We only got a smidgen of snow..

But it was real purty

20100216 The casements are going in

2010-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

(having issues moving images where I want them on the post so these are reverse ordered)

During:

Before: