Friday

Mom has headed off to the Baker/Rogers/Stapleton Family Reunion, so she'll be having a nice drive today. Before I got Sean off to camp today I caught the squirrels hanging around the bird feeder.

There were three of them in all, but the shots of the other two weren't quite as clear as this particular one.

As I pulled in from getting Sean to camp I saw a hummingbird hanging around in the mimosa tree, and there were also quite a few bees. I really wish I had been able to get the camera out faster. That hummingbird was really spectacular, but he evaded capture by the camera by flying much higher in the tree.

Then on a playful note while talking with Louise, I was able to get a fairly good photograph of Bubba.

I began working on the bathroom when I received a phone call from Danielle letting me know that Miss Faith was in a wonderful mood and would be up for a visit from her Mamaw.

So down went the paintbrush and out the door I went. By the time I got to Chester, she was still in high spirits. In fact, she smiled so big when they met me at the door. I do think that she was happy to see me.

Click on individual shot to view larger image.

The first two pictures were of her playing on the floor talking to me. In the next two she was propped up with a pillow so that she could sit up alone. Then we got cute and were playing peek-a-boo with little yellow "blanket". She then acted like she was so tired, but it was a ruse, she flipped right over. Finally in the last shot she was looking up at me with those big violet-blue eyes as if she was asking to go to sleep. She went to sleep in my arms before I left. It was a precious time.

Sean came home this afternoon with a first place ribbon for a boating competition. He also had a button for shooting a bullseye, and a first place ribbon for that accomplishment also. Great shooting. I found out on the 3rd that he had also been awarded a third First Place ribbon - he said is was to do with art. Maybe we'll get to see the art project once he returns to camp on the 5th.

I spent some time this evening visiting with my brother's family. We had a really nice visit. Miss Abigail was having some trouble with a critter that was hiding behind her closet. So we said a little rhyme to make it go away, and then on my way home I threw it in the river so that it wouldn't bother her any more. She was so sweet she told her mommy that she was her Aunt Judy's princess. Oops. I may have started something there.

Thursday

I got Sean off to camp this morning before the morning counsel. I dropped by and visited with Mom & Dad for a great cup of coffee and even got to spend some time with Andrew & Cassie. After Dad & Andrew headed off for some fishing, I was able to spend some really enjoyable time with Mom & Cassie.

I brought home my highchair from Mom's - this is the highchair that I got for Christmas when I was three months old. I'll have it here now when the little ones are here to visit.

I got a bit ambitious and have been painting the upstairs bathroom. I'm doing it in a yellow to coordinate with the blue checked shower curtain. I also am going to paint the woodworks and cabinet in contrasting colors. [photo to come].

I was walking around the yard this evening with Carla when I came across this day lilly with a triple blossom. The funny thing is that I never purchased any daylilly bulbs. This one was in a bunch of transplanted ones from our old house and they've never had more than a single blossom at a time before. So it was a wonderful surprise.

I got this in an email today from Aunt Barbara, and thought it worthy of passing along:

George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get oldis when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . you become 21.Even the words sound like a ceremony . . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!" May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

Wednesday

What a morning! Sean awoke with the beginnings of a migraine, so it was back to bed with plenty of advil.

We were scheduled for an 11 am installation time for a new storm door, when just before 9, Carla was going crazy at the front door. The installers had arrived early. Fine with me. They were able to put the new storm door on in a matter of 20 minutes. Funny thing was though they were going right across the street after they finished to put the same style door on another neighbor's house. Before long everyone on the street is going to have the same storm door.

Sean woke up - headache passed and hungry. Once he had eaten he was ready to head off to camp he only missed about 2 hours and they hadn't gotten to their swim time yet, so that was a plus.

As you can see from the picture, Carla is involved in her favorite activity laying in the sun. The door does offer a great view of the deck and backyard. I am really going to enjoy having it. Thanks - LG!

I finished up painting the dresser in bedroom this morning - the Advil kicked in so I was able to paint (thumb injury acting up again). It really made a difference in the way the dresser looks. I'll update yesterdays picture sometime soon. It has also put me in the mood to paint the port-a-crib the same color as the furniture. Since it is an acrylic paint and nontoxic it should not be a problem for Faith or any other little ones that come to visit.

I caught these couple of finches nibbling on the black-eyed susans out next to the bird feeder. It was really interesting to see them. I did get a second photo, but one was in flight behind the one perched on the upper flower.

Since I was lurking around in search of another finch on the black-eyed susans in the front yard - no finch, but I did get this little guy hiding in the forsythia. It does seem to be an immature bird. but I'm not able to identify it.

UPDATE ON FAITH
& DANIELLE

Faith is definately getting a tooth because she is now not sleeping well. She's now weighing in 13lbs 12oz almost 14lbs!! Danielle has started summer school and has highjacked Walter to do some tutoring for her in chemistry and a second to help her out with Algebra 2. Good Luck Danielle on getting these classes out of the way before school starts in the Fall.

Tuesday

I heard a new one this morning, "It's raining domestic animals outside." Politically correct at all cost I suppose. I jumped into finishing the woodworks in Danielle's old room this morning and even began to paint the furniture. I've got the first coat on the nightstand. I may possibly get the second coat on it this afternoon.

Heading out to fill up with gas, and see if I can find the right sized screw for one of the drawer handles. Finding screws is a difficult proposition - I came back home and hunted through the spares here at home and did find ones that would work.

Now all that remains is to paint the chest between the windows to match the nightstand; and of course, now I'm all set for a visit from Miss Faith. She's even got her own place to take a nap.

Sean had a great day at camp. They really got into the fun of the rainy weather. Jumping in mud puddles and getting muddy. On a dryer side they did play some indoor games.

Monday

Today began with the prospects of becoming a gloomy, wet & rainy day. The foul stuff held off until this evening. The news had reports of mudslides in Northern Virginia which closed portions of the DC Beltway and closed the Amtrak out of Richmond. Pretty messy for traveling in that area.

I got to work this morning painting in Danielle's old room. It went from a purple/lavender to a color called "shrimp toast', which is sort of a cross between a khaki and a shrimp pink. I got all the walls painted and the all the doors done. Tomorrow comes the woodwork and possibly a start on the furniture.

I received the following email via snail mail from my Great-Aunt Jo:

A boss wondering why one of his most valued employees had not phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

"Hello."
"Is your daddy home?" he asked.
"Yes," whispered the small voice.
"May I talk wiht him?"
The child whispered, "No."

Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"

"Yes."
"May I talk with her?"
Again the small voice whispered, "No."

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, "Is anybody else there?"
"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman."

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"
"No, he's busy", whispered the child.
"Busy doing what?"
"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.

The boss became even more worried as he heard the sound of a helicopter through the earpiece on the phone. Then the boss asked, "What is that noice?"
"A hello-copper" answered the whispering voice.
"What is going on there?" demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper."

Alarmed, concerened and a little frustrated the boss asked, "What are they searching for?"
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle".........."ME."

Sunday

Miss Faith was absolutely adorable this morning. She had on the loveliest yellow checked dress. The little green flowers on the hem were so sweet.

Here she is playing with her kitty. One below on the left she has the kitty's tail in her hand. The other on the right is of her sucking her thumb - aparently this is a very hard photo to obtain and the other is of her mommy's lap.

I took her for a stroll down the sidewalk at church, so that I could settle her down. She really enjoys being outside and looking at all the things that are there to see. She was hungry and becoming a bit grouchy. I hope that they were able to get her all fed and comforted before heading out to visit with Uncle Walter.

I left church after taking Faith for a walk and headed over to Rockwood Park to settle my nerves. There I saw this awesome green frog, in the pond in front of the nature center. He had several bull frog friends but he was the most photogenic.

Walter had lunch today with Ben, Danielle & Faith at Red Lobster. As always once you have lunch at Red Lobster you don't need to eat dinner later on in the day.

He dropped by afterwards with some camera phone shots of Miss Faith & Danielle. Poor Ben never in any photos, everyone seems to concentrate on the girls. The photo translated into black & white much better than color.

Here Faith is getting ready to get a "BIG" bite of the wooden spoon that Mamaw gave her to chew on while she is teething. It looks like she is really going to have a go at it.

The room is complete. Sean has officially completely moved into Walter's old bedroom. As you can see Sean is really enjoying the futon as a place to crash and watch television. Now comes the hardwork of fixing up his old room as a workout/library/computer room. I guess that the biggest item on the agenda will be the painting followed by bringing in the exercise equipment.

Lazy Saturday

Sean got up early this morning. His internal clock is getting set for normal camp time during the week.

Walter dropped by to find out about his noise in the backseat of the car. All it took was a quick ride to the end of the neighborhood and the problem was found. A loose screw and a little WD-40 will take care of the job.

I went out briefly to water a few things and to make sure the bird baths were filled when I noticed that the bees seem to be out in force, visiting just about every flower in the yard. The other "problem" insect is the Japanese beetles. I've put the beetle trap out, which has worked to some extent, but...our neighbor Jay was out spraying posion on his trees and shrubs and hit the rose bushes and birch trees next to his yard too. Thanks Jay!

These honey bees were flying around though the clover collecting pollen this afternoon. I like the way that I was able to capture the pollen that had collected on their legs.

I believe that all three of these are bumble bees. I'm just not quite sure about the first one because it is white instead of yellow.

The bees below were hanging out on the black-eyed susans near the driveway. I'm not sure if they are honey bees or not.

Sean & Dean headed out in the afternoon to do some fishing. I hope that they are able to catch a few. The guys did catch a few fish, perch I do believe that they said. They didn't bring any home they were just out for the fun of fishing.

Alice dropped by to get a haircut before her big adventure to Atlanta tomorrow. Her first trip on an airplane too. I do hope that she has a fantastic time and truly enjoys herself, as well as having fun with their presentation and is able to learn lots at the meeting that she is attending. Way to go Alice.

Busy Friday

This has been an extremely busy day. I began the morning leaving out, at the same time as Dean & Sean, for the grocery store. So I was able to get all my shopping done and put mostly put away. I even put dinner into the crockpot so it would be ready as soon as everyone got in this evening.

Mom came by around 11 and we dashed off on a trip across the river to visit with Aunt Jo. We had picked her up a very small birthday cake and card to celebrate her 83rd birthday. [The card was a riot, a 90 year old man runs naked through the flower show and won first place for the best dried arrangement.] She got a tremendous chuckle out of it. We then headed off for a lovely lunch at the Olive Garden. Zuppa Tuscana - wonderful! Aunt Jo even sent home some cookware for Walter. After we told him about it, he later told us that one of the guys that he works with was jealous because she had sent him a double boiler. She also sent along a flour sifter, which had belonged to her grandmother, which makes the sifter approximately 125-150 years old.

Aunt Jo gave Mom & I a humorous listing of the:

World's Thinnest Books

• French War Heros, by Jacques Chirac
• Things I Love About My Country, by Jane Fonda & Cindy Sheehan. Illustrated by Michael Moore
• My Beauty Secrets, by Janet Reno & Whoopi Goldberg
• All the Women I Have Loved Before, by Barney Frank (D-Mass) & Boy George
• My Christian Accomplishments & How I Helped After Katrina, by Rev Jesse Jackson & Rev Al Sharpton
• Things I Love About Bill, by Bill Clinton
• My Little Book of Personal Hygiene, by Osama Bin Laden & Willie Nelson
• Things I Cannot Afford, by Bill Gates & The 'Donald'
• Things I Would Not Do For Money, by Dennis Rodman
• Things I Know To Be True, by Al Gore & John Kerry
• Amelia Earhart's Guide To The Pacific
• A Collection of Motivational Speeches, by Dr. J. Kevorkian
• All The Men I Have Loved Before, by Ellen de Generes & Rosie O'Donnel
• The Guide To Dating Etiquette, by Mike Tyson
• Delicious Spotted Owl Recipes, by PETA
• The Amish Phone Directory
• My Plan To Find The Real Killers, by O.J. Simpson
• How To Drink & Drive Over Bridges, by Ted Kennedy
• My Book Of Morals, by Bill Clinton with introduction by The Rev. Jesse Jackson
• How the Gay Cowboys Won the West

The late afternoon and evening turned out to be busier than I had anticipated. Walter called and asked for some assistance in getting some new furniture moved to his apartment. One of the fellows that he works with gave him a lazy boy sofa and chair. It is much more masculine than what he currently has. Dad had the truck and I helped with the lifting. A thunderstorm came in as we were leaving and the furniture did get a bit wet during transport, but Mom was loaning out the Rainbow to Walt so that he could take care of that little problem. That storm however, did seem like it was just following the us all along our route.

When I got home it hadn't even rained here at all. Walter gave me the little blue barrel chair out of his living room since the "lazy boy" was going to take it's place. I have it in my bedroom where it makes an excellent accent chair. Walter even moved the chair that I had in that room back to the living room where it belonged.

Sean must have had a great day at camp today. I know that he got to ride the "Zip-a-Gator", a zipline that rides down over the lake; and of course he did some swimming (I'm not sure if it was free swimming or lessons). I don't know much else of what he did today, but his clothes were truly muddy and looked like he had obviously had a great time. He was down to sleep by 7:15 this evening. I hope he sleeps late in the morning and gets a great rest.

Today

I received the most wonderful surprise this morning. I had taken a break from putting the first coat of Mineral Blue paint on Sean's closet doors when I received a phone call from Danielle, letting me know that they were coming to visit. When I asked when she said look outside, and there they were in the driveway. Miss Faith had awaken early and they took the opportunity to head over to surprise me.

Sitting on the sofa all by herself. It won't last too long but she sure is trying. I bet she'll be doing it all by herself before the summer is out.

Here she is just laughing at her silly Mamaw.

After Miss Faith had had a little lunch and a diaper change we went outside for a walk around the yard. We went out to investigate the black-eyed susans that were growing around the base of the bird feeder. I believe that she was having as much fun kicking her feet into the flowers as she did looking at them.

The we went around to the side of the yard to check on the hostas and I was showing Miss Faith the only one that was blooming at the time and she really took to it. At first she appeared to be going to smell them, but then she gave us the impression that she was going to eat the blossom and the she took a bite at the stem. I think that she was looking for somethingelse to teethe on. She did look like it was tasty.

We moved on to the front yard next to the driveway and a few more black-eyed susans where Faith did manage to get hold of one of the blossoms. I helped her out and we plucked the flower so she "could give" it to her mommmy. She looks so sweet holding the flower. Then she started looking at it; hmm......I bet she was thinking, "This could be tasty too. I'd better get a bite before Mommy gets it."

Faith began to get a little fussy and was trying to bite on everything. After she had gnawed on my finger for a bit, I got her one of the wooden spoons. That seemed to really make her happy, at least for a while....

A new teething tool.

I got the call that I have been waiting for this afternoon, my Camry is ready to pick up! The part that they had been waiting for was a gasket, it is the little things that hold up the big things. When they replaced the passenger sun visor it corrected all the problems with the interior lights - there was a short in the wiring in the old one.

Miss Carla relaxing in the kitchen.

When Dean & Sean arrived home this evening they called me to come with the camera. Here on our front door was an adult sized praying mantis. He climbed the glass and then climbed up on the porch light. I was able to get a real close up of his face. It sort of reminds me of the pictures that people create to represent aliens.

This evening we headed out to Camp Thunderbird for a family dinner. Before dinner Sean took us on an after camp tour and activities.

Sean and his friend Shawn fishing. They were using cane poles and bread ball for bait.

Sean caught a fish which captured a lot of attention.

We all three went out in a canoe. Dean and Sean did the paddling, while I sat in the center. I was able to a good photo of Dean, but Sean had his back to me.

Events of the Day

I've been busy this afternoon painting the woodworks in Sean's room a faded denim color, and have started work on his closet doors - 2 panels are painted tomato; and the other 2 will be mineral blue. I'll post a picture when they are completed.

Door Picture as promised (6/22)

Time for a quick break and a check on the Camry. Update: Camry part hasn't come in yet, looks like UPS is slacking up or it is coming in from New York and won't be here till Wednesday. But not to despair I'm not stuck - they have issued me a vehicle to drive until mine is repaired. YEAH!

Walter dropped by this afternoon and visited for a few minutes. He transferred a couple of photos of Miss Faith sitting on her Uncle Walter's sofa from his cell phone. He tells me that it was taken on the 11th and that it was just before she started getting fussy.

Then he headed off for home with his "weeds" [remember the two pots of herbs that I've been sitting]. It was nice to see him and know that he is feeling much better than on Monday.

Sean seemed to have had another full day at camp. I believe that he did some swimming, Outdoor Education, and were lined up to do the zip line, but there were so many of them they had to put off doing some of the campers until Friday. I know that he had a great lunch, because he came in talking about how good the Chef Salad tasted.

Summer Has Officially Arrived

Tuesday

This morning I threw Carla off kilter a bit. I did not water the yard due to storm last night. It seemed to have give us a lot of rain.

I took the Camry in to have the check engine light repaired, and received the bad news this afternoon that it was turning into a two day job. They had found once it was all apart that there was another part that they needed. Probably some little tiny piece hidden in a schematic drawing that only someone with a computer copy could find. Oh, well! I still have the loaner car and wasn't planning on making any fantastic voyages anywhere tomorrow anyway.

At camp today Sean's group worked on creating "survival" shelters. His group won for creative use of materials. [Their shelter is still standing two days later (6/22)].

Last night I did to a bit of watering around 8:00 p. and saw a sure sign that Spring is giving way to Summer. Fireflies. They took me back to my chilhood of running around the yard with a mason jar trying to capture as many as possible.

First Day at Camp Thunderbird

Sean after a full day at Camp Thunderbird. He looked like he had a fantastic day. Once we got underway, he informed me that they had:

• tested their swimming skills at the pool,
• been on the shooting range,
• and done some canoeing.

Turns out that the day really caught up with him, after having a meal he zonked right out and caught a nap for about an hour. He was in the bed by 9 with lights out - the camp day starts early at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Yard Changes

I moved three black-eyed susan plants near the base of the bird feeder. I thought that they would add some color to the corner as well as supply the finches with an extra bit of food near the feeder.

Early Morning Excitement

We received a phone call this morning about a prospective need to take Walter to the doctor about a the spider bites that he received during his campout this weekend. I called poison control regarding the bites, and they were able to rule out all the poison spider bites for the area and suggested that his other symptoms wer related to dehydration. So it is there recommendation that he take Tylenol, benadryl, and use Neosporin on the bites; plus drink plenty of fluids.

I got him out to the WalMart to pick up his supplies so that he can take care of himself properly. He'll be all set once he gets back home, with gatorade and orange juice, plus all the OTC medication.

Father's Day Happenings

We began Father's Day at church this morning. Followed by an excellent meal at Great American Steak & Buffet. After a quick trip home we found Walter waiting to wish Dean a Happy Father's Day and to let him know that he was presenting him a "future" gift of grass seed for the lawn, but he could have it until September when it was time to plant it.

We ran out for a while to do a few quick errands for Louise, while we were there I was "caught" chasing the bees around the yard. These are the two best shots that I was able to get.

Honey Bees

Congratulations to the Magnin's on their new grandson. Who arrived this morning at 6/18/06 at 10am weighing in at 8lbs 13oz and 20in long. What a special Father's Day for his dad and grandpa both.



Meanwhile, I found this photo of Faith enjoying the pool, on her mommy's blog. They look like they enjoyed Father's Day afternoon as well.

Father's Day

To my Dad, thank you for all the wonderful and special things that you have done. I appreciate all that you have done for me - Judy; Dean you have made a difference in the lives of all the children.

Running Around with Mom

Today was full of events, Mom & I went out to run around. We first headed off to see Samuel play his final T-ball game. He plays for the Bethlehelm Little League - they all looked like they were having a fabulous time.

T-Ball Antics

Samuel fielding a couple of balls. He was giving it a great try. He got the first on and threw it to first base while the second one hopped his glove. Great try though.

In the photo on the left Sam seems to be experiencing one of those "I can't believe that just happened" moment. On the right he is getting ready to head off to second base.

Spectators

Mom in position to take the best shots that she can; and Tim is coaching on third base.

Elda posing with the dangle ear rings and Tim trying to get a photo of me while I was getting a photo of him. A battle of the cameras.

Miss Abigail

Miss Abigal posed on the team bench while they were out in the field.

While Sam was playing in the game, I took Miss Abigal for a walk around the school. She and I had fun marching and flying in the breeze. We also took a tour through a garden that the school had established - Abbey and I had fun looking around the flowers and spotted a bee and several butterflies.

While Miss Abigail and I were exploring the garden we found this bee on a butterfly bush, it flitted around on several flowers while we were watching.

Mom & I then headed off to Magnolia Grange to see some of the activities that they had going on there. They had re-enactors and several demonstrations.

Being from Virginia I was kinda partial to the Confederate re-enactors. They seemed to be a real laid back bunch and having a good time.