Luncheon for Elise

On Friday, May 30, 2008 - Elise became a citizen of the United States of America. The ceremony at the County Courthouse was fascinating. 59 people were Naturalized from all over the world. But only one Aussie! They all stood and took the OATH of Allegiance - and then we all stood and recited the PLEDGE of allegiance. Here is a link to THE OATH f0r those interested!! It's quite the pledge! http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=931696981298d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=d6f4194d3e88d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD Then we had a wee little party. Elise shares some good yak with Jeanne and Heliena from the Mom's Club.



MANY THANKS to my Grill Women - - Chrissy, Jo-Anne and Heather. I couldn't have pulled this off without you! Truly - THANK-YOU so much. I've promised NOT to share this with the hubs - we wouldn't want them to know we CAN grill on our own now - would we!! ?? !!




Then she moved on to circulate with her neighbors - Polly, Stefanie and Mary Louise.

Elise received an "AMERICANA" gift or two. Jeanne gave her a funky USA t-shirt and Heather provided an Uncle Sam hat for the occasion! The Budweiser - well - - what American Summer Picnic would be complete without it!! Sawyer's not to sure about all this fuss! He sure is the spittin' image of his Mum in this shot - isn't he?

Here are Lora, Heliena and Jeanne enjoying a munch or two in the kitchen. The kitchen sure is a place to congregate. Well - if you look on the back counter behind Lore you can see why - we tipped a few bottles of Champagne... Ummm - a good time was had by all.

Thanks to everyone. The food was delicious........ Several recipes have been requested and I'll send them around as folks send them to me...




CONGRATS ELISE!

WELCOME TO THE USA!

I hope everyone enjoys theweekend - and the much needed rain!!

Awwww - - so cute!

Well, for a picture taken with a cell-phone I hope this isn't TOO bad. Mom here was almost in tears.... This was taken at the teachers house today during their lesson. It is just so darn cute to see them playing a duet together.... There was just a LITTLE BIT of elbowing going on - - they aren't so serious that they forget they're related. Grace gets peeved if Ingrid doesn't play PIANISSIMO!! BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE LOW PART AND I HAVE THE MELODY!!! They are set to play it at their recital in a couple of weeks. I'll try and learn how to use Dazzle by then so I can put a decent video of it here... Wish me luck - and if you've any hints on Dazzle - let me know. I haven't even had a chance to take it out of the box yet.......

Adventuresome Chicks

Well - today was a busy day. DAVID FINISHED THE CHAINSAW work on next years wood. HAPPY DAY!!! For fun we decided to make a temporary outdoor area for the chicks and see what happened.
It took about 20 minutes - but they finally came OUT! It was a tentative effort at best... They JUST DON"T GET IT!
Then after dinner - David had to go wrangle them in. They didn't want to go. Then it started to sprinkle a bit - and they GOT THE IDEA! Hey - it's night time - time to head in where it is warm.


Today we've accomplished a bit - more news to come if it rains. If the weather stays nice we may check out the drive in. I heard Indiana Jones was playing this weekend. Time for the summer season to get underway. Enjoy your HOLIDAY WEEKENDS!

Cool Weather

What a view! According to local meterologists we have a large vortex in eastern Canada that has been slugging us with clowdy afternoons and unsettled weather for the last few days. This is the result. Little (by Midwestern standards) thunderheads, black clouds underneath, rain dumping out of them in "scattered showers" and yet the blue skies peek thru.. For those of you from outside the Capital District - this is a shot from East of downtown Albany. The tall tower is the Corning Tower which is part of the Empire State Plaza Complex. You can almost see a shower coming down over the Plaza. It was a cool picture opportunity... To the left of the downtown area - and on the horizon is the Helderberg Escarpment - probably on the order of 15 miles from where this shot was taken. A very cool day indeed.

GORGEOUS!

This was the view out the back window at dinner time... Note the DOUBLE Rainbow just outside of the first. It was BRILLIANT! No more need be said.

Preps for the 08-09 Heating Season.....

So - yea - the work goes on. David almost seems to enjoy this time of what he considers de-stressing. It, of course, has stress of its own. He has done the math - - - and figures another 1-1/2 hours and he'll be done with the chain-saw. (I for one will be very glad when this hour comes and has gone without incident). He is so careful - and does not do this unless someone is home. Wise move I think. If I'm not mistaken I believe he figures that it is about 10 hours time to cut up the 5 cords of log-length that we purchase. What is pictured here un-cut is probably 1/4 of the pile. This was taken BEFORE the estimate of 1-1/2 hours remaining...

So from the chainsaw work, he naturally moves to splitting. He does this all by hand... He is VERY GOOD at this. Has also figured about four hours a cord. Not bad for a guy over 40! Ehh?



Well, it was a pretty busy weekend. While we are busy - the girls stay outside and keep themselves occupied pretty well. Yesterday they HELPED THEMSELVES TO SMORES!! Ingrid even found our very cool roasting sticks ON TOP of the frig!! I'd call that resourceful. And YES - I made them take in the 6-pack of Hershey's she found way UP in the cupboard (I thought they were hidden and not known about) - and made them keep it to ONE chocolate bar PER ROASTING SESSION PLEASE!!!

Chickens - Almost 4 Weeks Old

OK - so here are the guys and gals in their BOX! Lets just say it's getting a bit cramped in here. David has added more TOYS. See Jr. here on "the perch". They really do like "the perch" and the little cardboard jumping shelf!! They even try to sleep on the perch. It is kind of funny... However, they are also flying more. We have had to help a couple of them down from the edge of the box - which is about 3' off the ground. To try to prevent concussion - we decided it was time for "THE BIG MOVE" today. Yup - off to the coop ya little buggers!

So - here they are... We watched for the longest time trying to make sure they found their cool new feeder and water container (the big galvanized ones). David is worried about his brood - and put in one of the chick sized plastic water cans too... Never fear - an hour later they were really going at the feeder. All 18 around it at once. QUITE A SITE!!
So - here is the proud PAPA~ The many windows on the coop make for easy viewing. This is COOL! From here you can see everything - and this window is low enough for the kids to easily look in too. You can see the brooder light - Supposed to get down into the 30's here tonight. BRRRR You can also see the "ADULT" sized perch David built.. It is quite the cozy place. Just after we moved them in I remembered that I had wanted to camp out iin the coop BEFORE the flock moved in - - OH WELL. That idea WILL NOT HAPPEN now. TOO much chicken POOP everywhere. Let me tell you - they wasted no time making their MARK on the place. I'd say - about 30 seconds!

New Gardens

Well - it was high time we gussied up the mailbox. Ingrid took it upon herself to do this task. Grace was the "camera-lady" and did a FINE job.

Ingrid even watered her little plants and PROMISES to make sure I remember to cart water out here every day or so to keep them alive. David thinks this is a really funny picture of Grace.
She is standing there STUPIDVISING with her arm draped over the handle of the wagon. She has the stance of a road crew worker.
Yea, I'm quite the Mean MOM around here. I make them trudge ALL THE WAY up our 1/4 mile drive with the trash can and the wagon full of planting supplies. HEY - at least the containers are EMPTY!!!

Here "oh-so-glamorous" me (HA) is raking up pine needles and having a little bon-fire. This is our camp-fire area. It used to be the gravel pit during construction and the woodpile for the first year we were here. I was sick of it looking like hell. THIS was the weekend to FIX the problem. First I cleared out tons of pine needles. Then brought in 2-1/2 yards of topsoil. If all goes well with this post -there will be a little video of the girls helping me unload the truck. They are TRULY helpers these days.
While all this was going in - David finished skirting in the little porch in front of the mud-room. This week I'll scrub it and put a coat of wood-guard on it. We really like this product. More of a wood treatment than stain - - has worked GREAT on the logs. Also note the BEAUTIFUL Ferns. Elise gave me these and my MIL gave me even more of them.. Hers will go over along the west side of the house and fill in there beautifully!! LOVE THE FERNS LADIES - MANY THANKS! Now our everyday entrance to the house looks welcoming - doesn't it???

The Chicks are 2-1/2 Weeks Old Already

Today David decided to let the chicks get a view of what will be their home in another couple of weeks. They seemed to LOVE being out of their box.










Here is a close-up shot of them. We've had some posterior issues (I'll spare you the gory details), but so far all 18 are still with us! To us they seem at least twice as big as when I brought them home two weeks ago. LOTS of feathers - especially on their wings and tails. Some are quite fiesty - we think the redder ones are the roosters. They are starting to develop little combs!

Following is a little video of them running around their "yard"! Enjoy and stop by soon if you want to see them while they are small!

The FIREWOOD Saga Begins

This isn't really the beginning of this story - rather the midpoint. We had 5 cords of log-length hard wood delivered. David works to chain-saw it into 16" lengths - and then splits it by hand with a splitting maul and/or an axe. Then Gretchen and the girls take over. Gretchen is the "GROUND GIRL". Loading all of the wood into the truck and then stacking it in the woodshed.

Here is Grace, doing her best to - I guess - stay out of the way. Not productive - but indeed - helpful.
Ingrid ot the other hand - is TRULY HELPFUL. She dons her work gloves (which we've somehow misplaced ) and helps to move the wood from the front of the truck to somewhere where I can reach it. This is SO helpful. It saves me climbing in to the bed of the truck twice to move wood another time... This growing up idea isn't so bad. Today she was a real trooper about it all and helped me with 1/2 a load in spite of not having her gloves. We'll have to make a big effort and locate them soon. The shed is more than 1/2 full already. About a cord was left over from last year. I'll add pics soon with the rest of the pile and David's efforts.

Mermaids

Here Nina & Elise chat it up. Sawyer is there to QC the conversation!
It was the most relaxed meeting EVER. We met at Stewarts - no one had to clean house, no one had to prepare snack and Ingrid decided to try her hand at leading a craft.
Here is the result. 7 little LIZARD GIRLS! GOOD JOB everyone! Hope you had fun and enjoyed your ice cream! See you all soon.