We love our . .

Being here in Utah has been quite an adventure so far.  Even though the Kevan's have had coughs, runny noses, and a round of the stomach flu I have managed to remain unscathed.  I feel lucky.  During the past 2 weeks I have figured a few things out:

Sadie is a chatter box.  She loves to talk.  She loves to talk!  Did I mention that she loves to talk!!  So when there is no talking she's probably doing somthing she shouldn't be doing.  But either way - we love our Sadie.

Zachary isn't a chatter box.  Not yet.  The one word we can count on him saying - guesses anyone?  The word "no".  He doesn't even mean no most of the time.  It usually means yes.  We have been trying to get him to nod his head yes.  He has us working full-time getting games out of the closet for him.  He goes to the closet and looks up.  We know he wants a game.  We ask him if he wants a game and he pleasantly says, "no".  That means yes.  Then I have to lift him up so he can point out the game he wants.  It usually has a lot of pieces.  We get them out and go through all the pieces.  Then before you know it he is singing his version of "clean up clean up everybody everywhere".  So cute.  Then we put the pieces back and put the game on the shelf.  Then it is on to another game.  He does a lot of things that Sadie does.  He likes to follow her around and then play nicely with her.  Well sometimes the nicely part isn't quite right.  But we love our Zachary. 

Emery is coming up on 3 weeks old.  She passed her 2 week check-up with flying colors.  Actually he had her tested for jaundice - but she wasn't really yellow I just think someone in the lab had a boat payment due.  She weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. She seems to be a little congested.  We consider it fortunate that she hasn't had the stomach flu that everyone else in her family had.  We love our Emery.

As usual Rob is taking good care of his family.  He works hard every day.  Then comes home and lets the kids crawl and jump all over him.  We love our Rob.

Lindsey has the patience of Job.  Really!  Her kids are a jumble of action, talking, playing, arguing, fighting, and being nice too but she just keeps her cool through it all and manages them perfectly.  We love our Lindsey.

It seems that my description of Zachary has taken the most space but I must tell one more story.  We had a huge batch of delicious popcorn.  Zac and Sadie had their own bowls of popcorn.  But Zac just couldn't stand leaving Sadie alone.  When her guard was down he would dart over and steal some of her popcorn.  And then Sadie would howl and fuss.  She would go take some back.  Then after a mild scolding from dad they would be fine for a while.  But Zac was always on alert and as soon as Sadie was distracted and not protecting her bowl he would zoom over for another attack.  It was quite funny to watch.  I'm sure dad was frustrated with the entire incident.  But I'm sure it is just a small precurser to many future events of sibling teasing. 

And for sure:  WE LOVE OUR KEVAN FAMLY!

Emery

Emery is beautiful. 

Emery is the center of our attention. 

Even though Emery could demand a lot more time

she seems content to eat, sleep, and use her plumbing. 

Here are a few pictures of my time here so far.

I'm loving it!

I even won over Zachary -

that is a great accomplishment!

Less that one day old, Emery meets Grandpa.

Alittle snow for Sadie and Zach to play in. 

 Calvin seems to still like us - Shanna too.

 When given the chance Emery sleeps arms up by her head.

Emery and I doing a little syncronized sleeping.

That's all for now. 

It already seems Emery has been a part of this family for a long time.

She's definitely a keeper!

Baby

This morning I am frantically making plans to leave Phoenix and get to Springville.  WHY?  Lindsey decided to have her baby 2 weeks early so I will head up there to help her.  It seems that Doug will drive me up there today and then I changed my ticket to arrive back home shortly before Christmas. 

Oh, you probably want the details.  She had a baby girl on December 1st  8 lbs. 1oz. 20". They named her Emery.  She's quite photogenic too.

11-11-11

This year Veterans Day was on November 11th.  Actually that happens every year.  But this year the date was 11-11-11.  That is kind of special! 

Doug and I were out racking up some more hiking miles that day.  We had finished hiking and just left the park boundaries when we realized that our odometer was about to make an interesting milestone.  Check this out.  (Please excuse the dust)



Don't worry.  The picture documenting our odometer reading 110,011 was taken after we safely pulled off the road and positioned the camera. 

ISAAC

Our family is so lucky.

 We had a Thanksgiving Baby 24 years ago. 

This year we celebrated his birthday on Saturday. 

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISAAC! 

Our day went something like this. 

I made breakfast for Isaac and we served it to him in bed while singing a rousing version of Happy Birthday. 

After eating he opened his gift. 

 It was pretty special because Doug wrote a poem to explain what we were giving him and would need to shop for during the day. 

Here is the card and poem - you can let us know how you like it.

The holiday season gets started each year

When pilgrims and turkeys come out and appear

They come to adore him, to bring him good cheer

For it's Isaac's birtday, we hope he'll appear.

He gets a few presents - traditional stuff

A check with some moola, not filler or fluff

But this year we'll outfit his dogs with a treat

some shoes to help comfort his poor aching feet!

So with these new shoes so handsome and fine

Go conquer the Amazon jungle and vine

No more dreading work's unbearable days

Your feet will be comfy and singing your praise.

And with this small gift, your feet will feel cool

They'll help meet your goal - to get back to school

So keep working hard, and we'll shout out loud

"We knew you could do it, you sure make us proud!"

We (myself, Isaac, Doug, and Scott) left Phoenix at about 9:30.

Stopped at 3 stores looking for the good sturdy shoes for Isaac.

Continued on to Mesa without new shoes.

Arrived at Scott's house to assess and resolve "issues" so he could install and start using his washer and dryer.

A run to the hardware store to get needed hardware was needed.

I stayed home to clean the appliances.

Discovered that Scott's cleaner bleached the color out of my shirt.  Dang!

Left for mom's house to enjoy a nice birthday lunch at The Olive Garden.

Returned to mom's and Scott and I did some filming while using the golfcart.

Isaac advised and assisted. That was fun!

Doug returned to Scott's house and made a little progress on installation.

We left mom's and headed back home.

Stopped on the way home to get the shoes Isaac liked best.

I gave Doug a hair cut.

Later we had cake and ice cream.

Isaac failed to blow out all 24 candles! 

Wow! 

That's a first!

He nearly passed out trying!

Due to cheating nobody saw Isaac's teeth on his first bite of cake.

Kristina came over and we played Stack Attack and Monopoly Deal.

That ended our day to celebrate Isaac's birthday.

Google +

Our last attempt at video calls with the Utah kids failed!  We tried to get Google + going on - that way we could have a multi-computer chat.  But for some reason we couldn't do it.  Then when we tried to do a single person video chat that wouldn't work either.  So we made do with a regular phone call (not nearly as satisfying).  Anyway, I'm happy to report that we seem to have our problems fixed and we will be up and running for a Google + video call with the kids today. 

Why am I so sure about that?  Well because Doug had Scott and Isaac working together to make it possible.  And they even tried it out by having a 3 computer video call going on.  Here is documentation of the event. 

Hopefully Google + works when the computers are more than 5 feet apart too!  It was so funny to see and hear them sitting next to each other in the same room video chatting!  Silly guys!

Turkey

I have lots of posts to catch up on.  But today I thought I would show you a perfectly cooked turkey.  They don't often look so beautiful.  The great thing is that the meat was tender and juicy too.  We gobbled up lots of that turkey.  Yummy!

Winter Weather

We are having a wonderful autumn.  We have been having the most heavenly temperatures.  We had a couple of rains too.  So as soon as the evenings cool down we open the windows and blow cool air into the house all night long (providing the cattle yard stink doesn't float our way).  By 8 in the morning we close everything up and enjoy a comfortably cool house all day long.  We have been enjoying the routine completely.
Enter - cold front.  Most recently it has been downright cold.  We are actually having some Winter Weather!  I love the cold.  I sort of save up or make up from the hot sweaty weather we know will come again soon enough.  Well with the cold front we had clouds, huge wind, and rain.  Yay for rain!  But a few nights ago all the wind and clouds and rain stopped and the sky got clear and it got COLD!  In the morning our outside thermometer was registering 38 degrees.  Ch ch ch chilly!  That was Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning is also tennis morning.  It took me longer to get ready because I was layering in order to stay warm.  I wore a long sleeve shirt with a short sleeve shirt on top.  I wore 2 jackets on top of that.  Then I had on capris with track pants over that.  Then I spent a good amount of time searching for a warm knitted beanie hat and my gloves.  BTW - I found them eventually.  Anyway - here is a picture documenting the ensemble.  It did keep me warm.  Actually after a few short minutes on the court I ended up taking off the jackets, the track pants, the beanie, and eventually the gloves too.  So Winter Weather you didn't beat me.

Now the curious thing is that the missionaries who live downstairs had their double fan unit in their window all night and morning blowing that Winter Weather cold air into the house.  Why?  I can't tell you that.  But their actions resulted in our inside temperature hovering around 63.  Now that is chilly.

Lack of Posts

Can you all visualize a sad frowny face? That is what I look like every day when I come to my blog page. You see, the old desktop computer died. It died a rather slow and painful death. But finally it refused to even turn on. It still sits here, on the floor next to the desk, haunting my days and nights. The problem is that it died with all its contents encased inside. Those contents are mine. MINE - I SAY!! All my documents, pictures, and so many of my favorite places on the internet. But the old computer carcass refuses to give them up.

Actually, Doug had a back-up machine that supposedly has all those contents as well, but we now find out it isn't completely compatible with this windows version. Rats! It couldn't have been easy for us? No. But he has assured me that he can get stuff off if I'm specific about what I want. He doesn't seem to understand - I WANT IT ALL! So I am at his mercy to get stuff that I want/need. And since he rarely sits here at this computer I have to interrupt to have him and his expertice working on my demands.

So here I sit - and now you know why there has been a Lack of Posts.

If anyone wants to do something nice for me they could send me a couple pictures of my cute grandkids, siblings, parents and any in-laws as well so I can at least put them up on my computer as wallpaper. Hint, hint. And don't waste too much time feeling sorry for me. I have been crazy busy lately too - I'll try to take some pictures and gets new posts coming your way soon!

Tennis

A friend gave me her ticket to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Tennis Championships at Surprise Arizona. Wow! That was a mouthful! From now on I will refer to it as Tennis. There, much easier. It happens every year and tennis "has beens" or putting it in a better light previous tennis champions come and participate. This year we had Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Jim Courier, Mats Wilander, Chris Evert, and Tracy Austin.

Anyway, I got her Saturday night ticket. I went with a friend of hers and we enjoyed the cool evening out at the Surprise recreation Campus Tennis & Racquet Complex - another mouthful.

Here is the rundown on the evening:

Semi-Final #1 - Courier def Wilander 6-3

Semi-Final #2 - Sampras def Chang 6-3

Championship - Sampras def Courier 8-7

I had a good time watching Tennis.

@#$!!@#$

@#$!!**@#$!

Doug is out of town and I can't figure out his alarm clock. It is a projection clock and I like being able to see the time on the ceiling - but he has the alarm set for 4:30 am! And if you are clever you can tell I CAN NOT figure out how to disable the @#$!!**@#$ alarm! So I end up wrestling with it every morning - hitting snooze and then wrestling with it again a few minutes later! This morning I gave up on trying to go back to sleep.

@#$!!**@#$!

Is summer finally over?

it is 5:00 in the morning. I am wide awake and sitting in the family room with a blanket over my shoulders. I have a question bouncing around inside my head: "Is summer finally over?" I probably shouldn't have even thought about that. But I was like the guy in Ghostbusters who wasn't supposed to think about a villian who could attack - but he just couldn't help it. It just popped in there. And just like that guy, when you live in the desert it is dangerous to think - "Is summer finally over." If fate hears that thought bouncing around in the minds of us desert rats - then usually another round of three digit temperatures comes our way.

Last week we were into the 100's all week. It was hot. The nights were hot too. No chance of putting our fans in the widows. Even Monday was pretty warm. But things are feeling different now. Even the weather men seem to imply that summer is gone and we will be free to enjoy the outdoors once again. I mean really enjoy it. The next 6 months in Phoenix will be heavenly! I am so looking forward to it!

The proof this morning is this: Outside temperature 49.6 - Inside temperature 68.4! That is why I couldn't resist asking the question - "Is summer finally over?" All I can say now is - I CERTAINLY HOPE SO!!!!

Amazing Race

To all my family and friends.

I am sorry to inform you that

until further notice

I will be busy on Sunday evenings

from 7-8 pm (AZ time).

A new season of Amazing Race starts tonight.

YES!!

FHE - Mystery Dinner

We actually had a planned FHE a few weeks ago. WE did an oldie but a goodie. We had a Mystery Dinner. The participants were: Doug, Isaac, Kristina, Scott, and myself. The idea was that each of us would be given an amount of money. We would go to the store and buy anything for our dinner. It could be something you cook. It could be something already cooked. It could be a protein, vegetable, or dessert. Participants could hook up and jointly use their money to buy something together. They COULD NOT spend more money than they were given. No pitching in a few cents - AND we would collect receipts to make sure there was no cheating! The left over change was also collected - this was not a money making event for the participants! If some basic sauces or butter or ketchup was needed - those items could be used out of our home supplies. Also whatever you selected, you were responsible to cook and get ready for the Mystery Dinner. PLUS - all items had to be shared with everyone. No keeping your items for yourself!

So this night we were each given an envelope with $3.50 inside. We all drove to Fry's and then scattered.

Doug got what I thought he would. He got a bag of frozen french fries. Then he surprised us by getting a box of a chicken flavored noodle side dish and a single package of Fig Newtons. Nice touch. (Isaac busting in on Doug's photo op.)

I ended up getting a package of spaghetti and a jar of sauce. Basic and a little boring but it would fill us up if everything else was sweets.

I had to get stuff for Scott because he was going to be a little late. But he had thought out his contribution and it was a real winner with everyone. He wanted to get stuff for guacamole. So he had enough money for one avocado, one tomato, and a guacamole spice envelope.

Isaac and Kristina pooled their money and got two giant burritos, a bag of Sour Cream and Onion chips, and a pcakage of M&M cookies. Yummy! So for their burritos we used some salsa and sour cream from the fridge. Also Scott's guacamole went really nicely with the burritos.

After I had shopped for myself and Scott I had some extra change. I also got Doug's extra change and went back in for a couple of candy bars for dessert. I had enough for of them. So I put the Milky Way with Doug's dinner, the Snickers with mine, and the Twix with Scott's.

After all the shopping was done I collected receipts and change. This was all that was left over - 53 cents. Pretty good. I would count that as a successful FHE - Mystery Dinner.

Some News

I have some news.

A few weeks ago there was another missionary transfer. Elder Hohman (Mr. Fix-It) is out and Elder Johnson is in.

This is Elder Johnson and Elder Waynick. This set of missionaries seem to have a more traditional schedule and lots less grease under their fingernails. I am very happy about that! Doug and I both think Elder Johnson looks like our nephew, Kevin DeWitt. I'm not sure the picture shows the resemblance or not.

Yesterday I trimmed our tomatoe plants way back. I am hoping to get a fall crop of tomatoes. Our summer crop looked promising but other than a few tomatoes - they were very small and disappointing. The red tomatoes that are on the plants nowadays seem to have wierd lumps and bumps and look almost like an "alien" variety. I think the extreme heat in August must have boiled the newly polinated fruit and caused it to grow in very unique and unpredictable ways. Here are a few pictures.

We just found a scorpion in the house. It was on the plastic chair mat in front of our desk with THIS COMPUTER. I left the computer and just seconds later came back to find the nasty little critter. It was so near my bare feet! YIKES! I am still walking around with my toes curled under and my eyes peeled in case another intruder found its way into the house. I guess it is time for another Scorpion Hunting Blitz - starting tonight!

So much for Some News from me.

Ward Variety Show Videos

These are the long awaited for

Ward Variety Show Videos.

Ward Variety Show

We had a Ward Variety Show this past Saturday. My last post was about the dessert I brought for the event.

When it was announced that the ward would have a talent show - the sign-ups were nearly non-existent. When they changed the format to a Variety Show more people seemed slightly more willing.

Doug was coerced into performing on his unicycle. That, of course, would necessitate some brushing up. But he agreed. He left some mad unicycle tracks on our driveway while he practiced. He also suffered a minor wrist injury and an ankle bite from one of the pedals. But by Saturday afternoon he was ready to rumble. He added to his original committment to "ride across the stage once" by first juggling tennis balls (I donated some of those to the cause) and spinning a basketball on his finger. And as promised he did ride across the stage on the unicycle. But he really needed more room to be able to make a turn and really get rolling so he came down onto the cultural hall floor and put on a real show. He not only juggled the tennis balls while riding even if for only a few seconds - but he also made a basket with one of the tennis balls in the basketball hoop - first try. Next he rode the unicycle while spinning the basketball on his finger. Another success. He also ended up by making a basket while riding his unicycle under the basketball backboard - on his first try! The people cheered and gave him a standing ovation! He was awesome!

I signed up for a group number. Our Relief Society Presidency and spouses would perform the Grecian Urn Dance. I had to do a little convincing but we did it. One husband gave his wife the business about not coming if she insisted that he do it. I let them work it out - he came but didn't perform. We performed, we got wet, we got laughs (intended), and it was fun. Many folks have said they thought it was hilarious!

We might or might not have a video recording of our dance -

but our Ward Variety Show was a great success!

Funny Bone

Who is an anatomy expert? Anyone? What is the real name for a spot on our elbows we call a "funny bone"? I'm sure that isn't the real name. But I think the game "Operation" labels it a "funny bone". Does that count?

I have one reason that we call it a funny bone.

I made cupcakes for our Ward Variety Show (future post may or may not document this activity). I had them perfectly frosted with cute sprinkles on them. Cute sprinkles always entice the little kiddos to grab and gobble. I didn't want to bring a tray-full home so the decorations were my no fail solution. So anyway, we loaded needed supplies along with the cupcakes into the truck. I had Doug hold one plate to give me once I was in my seat and buckled in. He got in a hurry and set them down between our seats - on a handy arm rest. Well, I guess you can figure out the rest. He got into his seat and wiggled and got settled in his seat by using his elbow - read "funny bone". I heard an "oopsie" and looked over. Yep he had crushed 3 of the cupcakes - WITH HIS FUNNY BONE! Really smashed them. Rats and double darn!

We took them into the kitchen anyway. I boldly started giving one person my weak explanation of the mis-shaped goodies. Soon my voice was fading out and I turned and walked away looking at my feet (hoping to find $5). No such luck.

But the best part of this funny bone story is that at the end of the activity - every one of those cute, delicious, decorated, and smashed cupcakes were gone! Yes - every one of them!!

Happy Anniversary, Doug!

Yesterday was an anniversary - for Doug.

Yes, 27 years ago yesterday

Doug started working for APS.

He left me in New York

with Scott and a week old Evan -

and flew to Phoenix

to begin his career as an Elecrical Engineer.

If I remember right he flew back on Labor Day Weekend

and we flew back together.

Happy Anniversary, Doug!

We celebrated by driving to the Metro Light Rail station at Christown mall.
We caught the train and rode it to The Old Spaghetti Factory.
We ate a meal.
I got Chicken Parmisiana and Doug got the Baked Chicken Dish.
Both meals were good.
The entre's came with soup or salad (we got the salad),
milk, coffee, and iced or hot tea (we didn't get any of that),
hot loaf of freshly made bread (yummy)
and either vanilla ice cream, spumoni, or rainbow sherbet (we got the sherbet).
The meals were $11.50 and I couldn't even finish mine. So a good deal too.

We returned to the Light Rail station and caught the train continuing to downtown Phoenix.

We got off at the station by the sports arenas.
We walked to the baseball stadium and bought tickets for next Wednesday's game.
Doug and his Young Men are going to a game.
Buying the tickets in person saved $2 per ticket for the online "convenience" fee. SHEESH!

Anyway, after that we walked a few blocks to the station so we could board the train to take us back. We arrived just after the train left. So we would have a 15 or 20 minute wait. It wasn't so bad though. We discovered that there was a solar cooler installed so we enjoyed a cool wait for the train.

HOLD ON! It wasn't a cool wait. It was a cooler wait. Why should I care about the word change? Well yesterday Phoenix set an all-time record high temperature for August - any day in any August in any year since records have been kept - ALL TIME HIGH. What was the record temperature? A mere 117. So when I say "cool wait" that wouldn't really be accurate. But "cooler wait" would be a better description. We could feel the cooler air pumping out of the vents - but this was a totally open air station and the coolness quickly dissipated into the hot humid surrounding air. But being long-time Phoenix residents - we were tough and we didn't care and we still enjoyed the evening.

We shared the train last night with lots of interesting people.

I wonder what the people thought about us?

I don't know - but people watching is always fun.

We enjoyed the evening

and are so glad that Doug's job at APS

has been such a good one and a real blessing in our lives.

Happy Anniversary, Doug!!

Bird Netting

As my tomatoes started ripening I started noticing something. I would go out in the morning to see the orange/red tomatoes with gouges out of them. The gouges looked suspiciously like bird pecks. Dang, it hate that! They take them before they are quite ripe and ruin them for us.

So off to the hardware store we went to buy some bird netting. First we had to pick off all the ruined tomatoes. Then we placed it over our plants. It was draped carefully and evenly. The bird netting had to overlap the ground on all sides - quite a task. Doug wasn't so worried about the bird netting needing to be completely to the ground but I was. So I made sure it was secured down with rocks.

But even after we completed the bird netting barrier I suspected that birds might be getting in somehow. Why? Because I still found pecked tomatoes. Not so many as before but every once in a while. Had I missed getting those off the plant originally? No - it looked like a fresh peck.

Well anyway a couple days ago I went out to fine a frantic bird trapped in the bird netting with no way to escape. There it was the dang tomato loving bird. Caught you red handed! Or red beaked! Anyway, it was jumping and trying to fly with no where to go. But immediately instead of wanting to roast that bird for dinner - I was sorry for the bird. So I carefully lifted a portion of the bird netting and then walked to the other side to encourage the bird to go that way. And before I could even see the bird escape - it was gone! Sure enough it had feasted on a few of my ripening tomatoes. Dang bird!

Drain

Yesterday morning at 6:00 am Doug loaded the car with a ladder, 3 pieces of 10 foot long lumber, two drills, big box of screws, glue, a metal brace, a jack, measuring tape, an electric saw for cutting the boards, a flashlight, several clamps, my huge stainless steel bowl, and a variety of other objects. I took my purse. We drove over to our house on 36th Drive. While in the attic a week or so ago he discovered a broken board (truss, strut, something). So he was going to repair it. He crawled in. I handed some stuff up to him. Then I sat on the tailgate and talked to our renter. We had a nice long talk. Doug worked hard, got dirty and sweaty, but was also successful! The repair has been made.

Then we went into the house to check out a "slow drain". That thing wasn't slow - it was stopped. Gross! Anyway, Doug took off the "P trap" to see if that was the problem. Well that pipe basically disintegrated in his hands. It had rusted through and was cracked. We drove to Ace Hardware and made a quick purchase and headed back over. Doug replaced that - but the blockage remained.

Then the renters mentioned they had a snake. We (meaning Doug) then tried that but to no avail. We ended up calling the Rescue Rooter guys to come give us a $99 service. Some few hours later they went over and now it is draining like crazy.

Not 1 hour later the missionaries (our tenants downstairs) came up and mentioned that the tub wasn't draining. WHAT!?! No not that - again. So we tried several variations on plunging. We had two plungers and a tub, toilet, and two sinks. Non of the variations worked any magic. And because we had Courtesty Plumbing come and replace our sewage ejection pump a few months ago (that was an expensive fix and they were very happy to fix it for us $$$$). We feel like we need to call them just in case there is a problem with that. They charge double to come during the weekend - so guess what we are doing? Yep, waiting until Monday. Luckily the missionaries won't have to rough it too much. They just get to use the bathroom upstairs. You know the one I mentioned a few days ago that has clear shower doors. Yes, that's the one. I guess they get to leave their deposits on those clean shower doors for a couple of days.

We hope our drain problem here is fixed tomorrow - and that we don't have to share as much $$$$$ with Courtesy Plumbing as we did last time. But true to their name they always smile and say thanks when we give them our check.

Discovered

WOW!

I just discovered

that the shower doors

in the pink bathroom

are not opaque but clear glass!

It only took me 3+ hours to figure it out.

Amazing!

And, lucky me,

I got them cleaned off

just a few short weeks

before Isaac will be home.

Goodbye clear glass doors -

hello opaque.

Already

Already missing our Utah kids and grandkids!

Snow Blower

Sometimes when it is really hot here I think about being cooler. I can visualize a huge snow blower (used to clear snow off of driveways and sidewalks in some locations during the winter months). I can see the beautiful, cold, white, fluffy snow arching high into the air - and landing into a huge pile. Then I can see myself right on that pile of snow in sunglasses, a sun hat, and with sunscreen on while sitting in a lawn chair in my swimming suit and sipping on an ice cold lemonade. It just seems like heaven.

Well on Saturday I think I figured out how I could actually make that happen. I was having guests to dinner on Sunday so I decided to make some bread. I got out my wheat grinder and put some wheat in it. I plugged it in and turned it on. Doh! Disaster! My freshly ground wheat flour was gracefully arching high into the air and landing in the general area of our table! Did I say, Doh! I forgot to attach the collection bowl to the grinder. Wow does that wheat grinder have power!

So I figure if I fill the wheat grinder with some ice cubes and turn it on, it would perform just like a snow blower and I could be enjoying my dream life on a huge pile of freshly ground snow. It is a definite possibility. I think I'll try it one day soon. Only thing stopping me now is that I have flour everywhere. Yes, even after sweeping, dusting, and vacuuming. So when I get every last drop of flour cleaned up I'll invite you over to enjoy a pile of home-made snow brought to you my my own wheat grinder/snow blower machine. Don't forget your boots!

Birds - Love/Hate Relationship

One day we saw 2 quail walking along the top of our fence.

I only got a picture one quail -

with topknot perfectly groomed and in place.

Cute. I love that bird!

These are my original shots

of the Baltimore Oriole

that keeps coming to our hummingbird feeder.

I guess when you are desperate for water -

even sugar water is better than none.

I love this bird.

Just showing you how my tomato plants are looking.

Pretty healthy! Right?

Tall, green, giving us yummy tomatoes.

We'll forget that the leaves are curling as long as they give us tomatoes.

I'm not even trying to make the plants look tall.

See me standing on the bricks?

Also notice that we are boat owners - see the boat?

We've had it for almost 2 years.

Guess how many times we have been on the water with it?

You'd be right if you said - NEVER.

We need some sailing lessons and some free time (what is that?).

Then we'll be "sailing sailing over ocean blue".

Now I come to the Hate part of my relationship with birds.

Very rarely do I mention "hate" and "bird" in the same sentence.

But I do hate it when my bird friends do this to my tomatoes:

The birds have finally figured out that they love my tomatoes too.

So I had to pick all my red or reddish tomatoes so they didn't suffer the same demise.

Maybe they aren't quite as ripe - but I'm not making it easy for the birds to share these with me.

But if you don't have feathers or a beak -

you, my friends, are invited over to share these orbs of garden delight.