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!