Camera Ready!

I took the money we have saved and scraped and scrounged and put it in the bank, then, after a process of elimination and comparison and re-comparison and research and forehead massaging, I purchased my camera on-line at Wal-Mart.com.  Yes.  I did.

Wal-Mart sells it below what the recommended price and it saved me almost $150!!  Plus, free shipping to my door.  Soon, I will be shooting 1000s of pictures!  With!  A! Nikon D90!!!!!  It should be here in a little over a week.  So, instead of whining about getting a camera, you will likely be seeing me writing scathing commentaries on delivery companies and their short-comings.

I have had many kind people offer me their opinions on which is the better camera.  I have taken their suggestions into account.  I compared those cameras side by side.  The guy at the local electronics store was nice enough to take a couple out of the box for me so I could have a look and a feel unfettered by security devices.  I have also done much research on the internet and when I narrowed it down I bought a book concerning the camera in question. By the time I arrived at the right amount of money, my decision making process turned to where to buy it.

So, it is on the way...or will be in one to two business days!!  I cannot wait!!

In the meantime I will be finishing the sign I have been working on in the back yard.  I need only touch up a few details and then I shall deliver it!  After that I shall have my yard back again!!  ...And the two small tables that we usually set our beverages on...they have been supporting the sign.

We had grilled steak and zucchini last night.  Our zucchini plants finally delivered a zucchini!!  I took that baby and sliced it up, rubbed some olive oil on it and some of my home-made Johnny's seasoning and then threw them on the grill.  I did that with store bought zukes the other day, but the taste difference was incomparable!  The fresh zuke, even after sitting on the grill, was crisp and fresh and heavenly!  It complemented the steak, too.  "Hi, I'm a sliced zucchini.  Wow, Mr. Steak, you look good today!  Well done!" (You didn't expect that one, did you?) (oh, and the pun, did you get the pun?  "well done"  I can't believe all this stuff comes out of my head!!)

Anyway, back to my camera.  I will pet it and love it and care for it and sleep next to it and I will name it George.

Cora may get jealous.

Side Yard

Our side yard has become quite the haven for little winged flurries of feathers.  The little free-loaders have no issue mooching off of us.  I don't mind, though, since some of them are VERY pretty!  I guess the Gold Finches are my favorites, but the House Finches are pretty, too.

I have been reluctant to get a new barbecue, despite Cora saying we needed one.  Well, last night, ours burned me- not out of spite, it is simply cantankerous and on it's last legs.  It doesn't know any better.  It wobbles and the small upper grill fell out a couple weeks ago, and I forget to replace it when the thing is still cool.  Only after I have fired up the charcoal do I recall the small upper grill hanging above the BBQ.  Oh, and there was a screw or bolt or something that held the lid on nice and even...that disappeared.  I don't remember how old the thing is...is it only one year old or is it two?

I guess you don't need anything particularly special to BBQ steak, and that may be why I have been reluctant to get a new grill.  All I need is a hot bed of coals and a hand full of hickory chips and my steaks taste pretty damned good!  I also love hickory smoked chicken...yeah, yeah, I know!  All of you are saying "Mesquite is better for chicken."  Well, have one of my hickory smoked chicken breasts and see if you don't change your mind!  I wish we had hickory trees around here.  I would raise my own smoking wood trees!

on the bright side, we paid the minimum for the grill we have.  I think it was 30 dollars...not bad for all the use we get out of it.  Maybe it IS time for another 30 dollar Wal-Mart BBQ...

Maybe I can make the old one into a mulch maker thingy...

Where I describe JUST how super I am

We could not take pictures of the Hanford Site, but we took a picture before we got out of the car!  See the sparkle in her eyes?  She can't believe I went to such extreme measures to be sure she could experience Hanford!!

We worked around the house this weekend.  We planted some flowers and created a low rock wall.  It started with a short trip into town.

Cora and I decided our front gardens needed just a little more.  So, a few weeks ago I took out the red scalloped bricks we've had for several years.  So, then we had nothing.  Then, last weekend, Cora took it upon herself to make the gardens square and befriend the neighbor kids.  We knew we wanted some new stonework to border the gardens.  I did NOT know how stones seem to gain mass as you work with them.  You can see evidence below.

So, we went to the local garden center.  We bought a half ton of stone.  Which was my duty as husband to load onto the cart.  Then I had to load it into the truck...then off the truck into a wheelbarrow.  Then I had to make sure the ground was level for each stone...of course it was never right the first time.  So, I had to move the stone a few times.

We were JUST going to have a single layer...but I HAD to try out a second layer to see what it looked like.  What a dumbass.  Because, when Cora saw it, she said, "WOW, What a great idea, oh, wonderful husband of mine!  We simply MUST have more bricks!  Thank goodness I married you!"  or words to that effect.  Give or take.  Sort of...

So, off to the store I went and I got another sixteen tons of stones.

I began unloading them.  Thirty-two tons later, I had them out of the truck.

Then I took them out of the wheelbarrow.  All sixty-four tons.

At one hundred twenty-eight tons, I laid the last one to rest.

Cora, during this time might have planted a some plants, and then, because she still had lots of energy, she planted some pansies for the neighbor kid.  As I dragged myself to the door hoping a taste of cold beer, she said, "I think that one's low...you need to raise that one up or lower the other."  So, I fell back to work with a hammer and chipped some stones and re-stacked some rocks.  Finally, it was done.  And you can see what the result was!  

Two hundred fifty-six tons of stones later, I sat, a ragged shadow of the man I had begun the day as.  Another day older and a deeper in debt...

And Cora loved me forever and ever and ever!  All because I created a wall for her.  Several hundred tons of wall.  And she still calls me "Oh, great and wonderful husband whom I do not deserve, yet miraculously wake up next to every spectacular morning!  Being married to you is like the gift that keeps on giving!!"

She's right, of course, I AM wonderful.

Poor Me

Why is it that sleepless nights don't happen on the weekend where the following morning can be spent relaxing and napping?  No, of course, sleepless nights exist only on work nights.  I awoke at sometime around 2:30am.  I got up, had a drink of water and tried to return to slumber.  NO LUCK.  I tossed and turned.  So I got up and sat looking at the computer trying to decide how best to bore myself to sleep.  Cora joined me at some point and we had a glass of milk.  I thought this might help and returned hopefully to bed.  Still no sleep.  I read a book.  no luck.  I watched Firefly.  Still not tired.  I finally found my eyelids becoming heavy around 5AM.  I tried going back to bed.  So, I basically lay quietly for an hour, but may have slept for eight or ten minutes.  I am up to stay now.  Drinking coffee and preparing for the day.

This afternoon, I get to return to the dentist and hope they are more gentle with me this time.  My teeth are still sensitive from last time.

We had a pretty good day yesterday.  We worked in the gardens and made some progress with the house.  We might add some flowers and some bricks and make a decent looking dwelling after all.  Best of all, though, I got to spend the day with my incredibly beautiful wife and her new haircut!  Skip on over to her site and have a look at her new do!

Garden

I walked out to the bck yard the other evening and took a few pictures. I had intended to post them immediately, however, I seem to have caught the LAZIES in reguard to my blog. I think I have been just too tired to do much.

So, enjoy these pictures of summer...I keep getting little reminders that Autum is on it way...stupid stores and their bck to school sales that start in early July!

Squash and Zucchini in the unmowed part of the lawn...since it is now garden. Cora's brilliant idea was to use part of our yard for growing things...works nicely!

above you see Tomatoes, Cukes, and Corn...if you look closely you might be able to see peas growing up on the corn and cilantro and basil growing in the spaces in between.

When I returned to the back door, I heard a loud little bird in the tree,I looked up to see this little fellow enjoying our thistle in that sock thingy. He was abou 6 feet away and unbothered by my presence.

Sunday Blues

This morning dawned early. Earlier than I wished. I still have this fracking cold. I used some Afrin the other day and my morning symtoms vanished, but more than three days may cause you to become addicted, physically (Trust me, I don't think it is psychologically fun to do). Still, it clears your sinuses REALLY well! I like that. Still, yesterday I needed to stop taking it. So I did. This morning I woke up with a case of the "Horrible Boogers From Outer Space" and shed more than my fair share of nasty boogery things...at about 7AM! I hate 7AM! It was Sun-fricking-day, why in the name of all that is sleepy did I HAVE to wake up before 8???? On A SUNDAY!?! Argh! I hate early Sundays!

Then Cora awoke...about two hours later. I spent the intervening time sitting outside in a lawn chair, reading. I had coffee, a comfortable chair, and a good book. I have been re-reading "When Thunder Rolled." It's a good book about F-105 pilots during the Vietnam War. It was a warm morning. The thermometer said 75...I was more than happy to sit outside and read. The hot coffee helped. I also made sure that my feet were in the sunlightg longest, my socks made a white cutoff on my feet. So, I was tryng to remedy that situation. Then Cora got up. I made her coffee and then went back out for awhile. All-in-all, it wasn't a bad way to start a day.

It was sometime after 930 when my mother-in-law called to ask for help movng some furniture out of her Dad's place. Cora and I left and spent a few hours helping out. It was a good day. We were done by about 2pm and I came home. Then, after a short rest, I put together a shelf we had bought yestreday. Here is the picture.

Here are the Squash we planted a few weeks ago. Look how they have grown!

I went out to take a picture when I noticed Toby digging in the garden, but being extremely careful not to touch the electric fence, which happens NOT to be on, still, it's cute.

I barbequed a steak and some squash and zucchini again. I can't show pictures because it is all gone, we ate it.

I also found yet another of the house' residents in the back yard...

I will be teachng fifth grade tomrrow. Late start. Maybe I will sit outside agan...

April Weather

I taught kinders today. They were great, but what was interesting about the day was the weather. It began a bit overcast. As I walked toward the classroom, though, there was a breeze that made me wonder if I should have brought a parka. If the breeze didn't do it, about 9:30AM it began snowing. BIG FLAKES! It did that for about an hour without sticking, then it stopped. It was wet and kids came in from recess with soaking shoes. I let them take their shoes off...a rare thing for Mr. H. I tied more shoes today than I care to count.

Then, about 2:45PM it began to hail. No, not hail. HAIL! It started soft, and I calld the kids away from their work to watch it. Then it got harder. I decided this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We stepped out and watched it come down, with lightning in the background. I gathered a few pieces of hail to show the kids. Then it got HARD! It a space of minutes the ground was covered in little snowballs the size of dimes and marbles. The roofs of nearby houses looked to be covered with snow! The kids loved it. I enjoyed it.

I did not have a camera at school, but when I got home I took pictures of the front garden. Our bleeding hearts seem to have weathered (Pun?) the storm.

Look at the size! I know it isn't anything to Great Plains' hail, but for around here...well, it's the biggest I have seen here.

I love the cloud formations that movedthrough the area. I wish I had a better camera.

I posted my paintings on Cora's blankets and stuff blog. Have a look! They are for sale!!!! BUY 'EM!!!!