20111029 Snow before Halloween

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

Fifteen.

Not even Halloween yet.

This is crazy

20110920 The grownups at ChuckECheese

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

More presents at home




And cupcakes




And putting very very small pieces together

20110920 Wm Bday Wknd

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

20110920 Ferguson WM Bday Wknd

Fayetteville Festival





And a giant frisbee

20110920 Soccer Wm Bday Wknd

20110902 Drip cap, Brick mold, oh my

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!

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

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

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

20110719 New Driver In Training

2011 Skaneateles

2011 Skaneateles

Many campfires this year




And games