20130331 Easter at Fergusons

On arrival, there are so many things to review

Dyeing the eggs

Our hosts

Many much gamesen

Early birthday

Easter Day.

First, the chocolate egg, in the house, hunt

Then the plastic egg, outside the house hunt

And the real egg, outside the house hunt

And the Easter Dinner That Couldn't Be Beat

20130319 Mother Nature's Got a Sense of Humor

This is the 19th of March.
Past St. Patrick's Day.
Practically the Vernal Equinox.

(Say it with me, Potterheads)  "Ridikulous!"

And it snows.

Mother Nature couldn't have gotten it out of her system when she snowed on the 8th of March?

Or on the 16th of February?

And we all remember the previous post from the 9th of February:

20130209 Snow

Ok. I've been out. Yerg.

I've not been out yet but it would appear they were right about 18-24" The storm is only supposed to give another inch or two but it is quite deep already. (edit: weatherman said 23", I measured 22" in the middle of my driveway)

Clearing the driveway. Yes, Virginia, there is an Accord under there

And I had help

20121128 Moon & Jupiter

Ok, so I just ran outside and snapped this:

20121119 Minnechaug Girls Volleyball Banquet

I uploaded an album of pics from the banquet here

20121107 News Article about Monica's Volleyball game

20121104 Finishing the Dominoes

Remember the Anniversary dominoes I made? Well they needed a box.

And a lid:

Too cute, right? I love making sawdust. (Incidentally, that's lid #2. #1 taught me a lesson about eyeballing the centerline of a router bit when flipping pieces and routing "equal" distances on both sides--the pips lined up like I'd been into the 15 yr old scotch all day. It also taught me that if you slip when lowering a small wood piece onto a metal bit going 25,000 RPM driven by a 1/2 HP motor, there is nothing but an act of God to keep you safe. I still have my fingers. And my spleen. But I had to change my pants. Just sayin')

20121022 Visit TN for Dad's BDay

Yes, this is out of order, but I never posted and there was a request. So here are some pictures from my drive to TN for my Dad's birthday.

My Dad and my big Sis, Susan:

Then Mom, David and Elizabeth, practicing their best "Joseph has his camera out" smiles 

 The whole fam. I'm practicing sleeping in church.

 The trees sure have grown up around my telescope mount!

 The birthday celebration with Uncle Joseph, Dad and David

The all important, and ubiquitous, Joseph sees a sunset, therefore.... (This must be where this all began)

We even had a chance to drive by the old place in Knoxville on Colonial Rd. OUR BASKETBALL HOOP IS STILL UP! Yeah, go ahead and drive down the left side, right into the marble walled flower bed--I dare ya!

 No visit is complete without the tractor and chainsaws.

C'est finis.

20121031 Halloween Pumpkins

Monica and I each did one this year. The Mockingjay pin from "The Hunger Games" and The Lorax.

20121008 Pruning the Blackberries

This past Summer was different than most. While we have a hot spell that would melt your face off, the back yard did not burn to the normal taupe ashy scorched earth. Strange indeed. However, while the grass merely survived, the blackberries thrived. There were flowers and buds and beginnings of berries at the usual time--just prior to our leaving for a week in July on vacation, expecting to return to empty bushes as is the norm. But that was when the 105 heat descended and lay about the land. The berries were still on the bush when we returned and over the next week or two, slowly shriveled and just died.

Then something strange happened. The weather returned to normal levels and a new set of canes sprung forth from the blackberry patch and actively worked at unseating me as I mowed. They were like demon fronds of thorny bad-assery, and I did fear them mightily, and respect their savage existence by taunting them harshly...from afar. And grow they did. As an example, here is an old photo from 2007, showing a mere portion of their prodigious being 5 years ago:

Today, I took up arms against a sea of thorns. I battled the wrath of the thorny beast and tamed its wildness. I discovered a couple of interloping nasties along the way, at first bearing close resemblance to blackberries but the leaves were different and the thorns were black instead of green, and they were climbing over and through EVERYTHING. They alone accounted for the majority of the mess, and another major creeper was pulled out which not only went vertically into the elm and walnut trees and blackberries, but had laid down intricate roots running 20' into my yard and through the rock wall just as far into my neighbor's garden adjacent to the patch! I think I left part of my sacroiliac on the ground when I yanked those out. But next year, oh next year, I probably won't be able to find enough buckets to contain all the blackberries.

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath either.

20120910--24 Years

24 years ago, the most beautiful girl in the world said yes.

So, naturally, I made her some dominoes. I mean, who wouldn't?

20120829 Last First Day of School

And this is how it all began...

20120818 Katie back to School

The drive there...

The room...

The 15.5 hr drive back has no pictures. It were a long, long drive. Ugh.