Happy Birthday Mike

Today is my little brother's birthday, HEY MIKE! Happy Birthday!!!

There isn't much exciting going on here. After last week and all the activity, this is nice. I took care of the Glen Allen Three yesterday for mom to go on a grocery run, and other than Yoga class, have been pretty close to home.
The Knitter met to dye with more natural stuff and have a pot-luck lunch. We had more luck with lunch that the stuff in the pots brewing! We tried blackberries, and though the color was acceptable, I'd have liked them better cooked up in Mom's cobbler! LOL.

Eric had his dental surgery on Wednesday, and if recovering well. Just a tiny bit of swelling, but no pain at all. I'm amazed at what they can do. The verdict is still not in on whether the loose tooth can be saved; it might have a fracture in it. So, time is needed here and until later, he just heals and carries on.

Neither of us have been upstairs working on train scenery, though it is time for me to start working on the third panel of a series of four going up on to the left of the window, along the side of the rail yard. So far, I have in a Creamery and Ice House, and in the distance homes and hillsides. I'd like to do cows (lol) but am not sure I can pull that off.

We've had a bit of rain, but still not enough. This weekend though we have a prediction of two days of possible showers. Hopefully that will happen.

Jake is 5 Months Old

Here is a group of pictures of Jake taken this week - he turned 5 months old on Wednesday. Jake spent every morning with us while the others went to church for Avalanche Ranch - VBS, Z and M had breakfast each morning before going off.

Be sure to watch for the surprise ending to the video!

Parsley

Last year I planted parsley for us to use in cooking. The swallowtail caterpillars dined on it and we didn't, at least not until late in the season when they were gone. This year, I planted again, and they came again, only this time, they have not left anything to speak of, if there is a second crop it will be a miracle.

Friday Night Forecast - No rain

Last Night

This picture was made by Tom the last night Mom and Dad visited in Virginia. There are four generations here, great-grand parents, grandma, daughter and great-grand children! I am sure everyone recognizes us all!

Jake is Baptized

Latest news - Hot off the Needles

What happens when you dial the wrong number?

Zack called and left a message this morning about 8:40 and said he wanted to have breakfast when he came over. He, Maddie and Jake were coming for their monday morning visit. I didn't bother to call back, as I knew they'd be over soon.

About 30 minutes later, a very flustered Becky arrived, with a sheepish Zack. The first thing out of her mouth was, "You need to change your phone number". It seems, when Zack dialed the number (he is learning to dial himself) he hit one of the numbers wrong, so he hung up. He then dialed and left the message I heard. In the meantime, Becky got into the shower. A few minutes later Zack came to the bathroom door and said, "Mom, there is a man at the door." Becky was expecting the contractor who is doing their garage renovation, so she told him that was ok, she'd be out in a bit, don't open the door. She continued her shower, but when she got out and opened the bath roon door, Zack was standing there with a worried look on his face. He said, "Mom, the man is still there, and he's a policeman."

Well, Becky hoped into her clothes, ran downstairs, and opened the door, and two patrolmen were about to walk around the house and try to get in, since the kids wouldn't open the door. There first question to her was, "Is everything all right?"It seems, when Zack dialed my phone number, which begins 915 - he actually dialed 911, and then hung up. He knew that wasn't right. She said the fact her hair was dripping wet seemed to convince them the story was right. What a morning!

I've been working on the railroad

1. Mix and stir, 2. Your turn, 3. Stir, stir, stir, 4. Glue, more glue

Celebrate

My Birthday was today, (50+++++++++ if you want to know) and my family - DH, Daughter and Son-in law, and my three sweet DGKids helped me celebrate in style. I had calls from my parents and son too!

First the day started with some of this:

I came home after a wonderful class (I do recommend Yoga for anyone looking to increase balance, flexibility and strength) and worked some on this:

Of course there were cards and flowers:

And gifts from the grandchildren, who have pronounced themselves ready to learn how to knit. The orange is grandson's FAVORITE color, and of course, the granddaughter picked pink (though she usually says green when asked for her favorite). Grandson says he wants to make a scarf, and granddaughter a blanket.

The evening was capped off by dinner out and I pronounced myself blessed. It was a perfect day.

Trains

I know, it has been ages since I have blogged here. I am embarrassed to even look and see how long it has been. Hope you all will forgive me. I guess it's a good thing I don't do this for a living, right?

Virginia has been having wonderful weather, and we have enjoyed having the windows open and not having to use the Ac. All that ended this evening, when we finally had to turn it on, today was almost 90 and tomorrow is supposed to be the same. We are having the Edicola's over for a BBQ tomorrow, so our Memorial Day will be full of fun and activity. I am sure some will involve working on the trains.

The trains are actually the most news we have to report. I'm posting a few pictures so you can see the progress. Things are moving slow, thought that is mostly due to parts and pieces for track (switches) that have been on back-order for over a month.

This piece of blank bookcase:

Has become a freight yard:

And the construction crew:

Has produced this:

Click on any of these pictures for a full size picture.

And the winner is!

You could have blown me over today, because I won first place in the Spinning Guild's Fiber Challenge. Remember, I have only been spinning about 10 months, and some of these people have been spinning for decades, and decades. Back in January we were each issued a 1 oz hunk of pink wool roving. To make a long story short, I worked on that roving, I dyed, I carded, I blended, ..... you get the picture I think! Today 21 of us brought our finished skeins to be judged. Seriously, there were some that were much more interesting than mine, or at least I thought so. Of course that may be because I have been looking at the stuff for months. I worked hard on the one page write up we had to have, and also on the final presentation - how it all looked. And who knows, maybe it was the candy? I tried to cover all my bases!

Only a mother would love this face

Mr. and Mrs. Mockingbird and the 2 little M & M's have left the nest. It appears that sometime yesterday evening they decided it was time to venture out. No worry, I guess, that the wind was blowing so hard even the cat wouldn't sit outside. So, we think they are in the hedge around the transformer in the front yard. We see Mom M in the bush chirping to someone who is answering. Our next question is, will she nest again and will we have M & M II. Have to wait and see we guess.

Newest Addition

Here's what's newest at our house.
Move your mouse over the picture and see who appeared yesterday. Mrs. M (Mockingbird) has been very busy. I don't know what happened to egg #3, there may be three in the nest. I didn't have permission to linger long.

Look Carefully - See that beady eye?

Mrs. "M" as she is know around here, is sitting on her nest inside the holly tree. Can you see her eye and beak? Click for a larger view if you have trouble seeing. Inside her nest are three small eggs, no bigger than those tiny wrapped chocolate Easter candies. They are brownish in color and speckled, as best I could tell in the quick peek I got while she was off looking for food.

How to build stomach muscles

This little guy has found a system, he does curl ups and grabs a handful (or paw-full I guess) and then leans back down to eat!

Pickles Scores Again!

A week ago Monday, before Easter was Bunco. I've been playing with this group for over a year now, and won once before, way back at the beginning, second prize. This month, I won first place! $30.00 to ad to my "mad money" which is basically used to fuel my bad habits, knitting, and buying gifts for small children. Anyhow, April must be my lucky month, because this morning I got an email from a knit blogger in England named Julie. I had entered a contest she had on her blog and won 2 books and some KnitPicks yarn that will be perfect for socks. So, I am a happy camper!

Today Eric is working on making two blocks for the loom I am preparing for a class in June. I purchased an additional heddle for this loom in order to be able to weave finer fabric. The blocks on the existing heddle are too small, so rather than sand them and spoil them forever he'll make me a set that will replace the originals when I switch heddles. This way, should I want to do a looser weave, I just change the blocks. I am sure that is clear as greek, but believe me, it is going to work nicely. It would be nice if he had a band saw, it would make this all easier, but he doesn't, so in spite of a few problems, he should have a pair soon.

Egg hunting, 2007

I just got pictures together for a collage of Easter Egg hunting by the grandkids. Looks like they all had a wonderful time, don't you think? If you click on any one of the pictures you will be taken to Flickr, where you can see larger pictures.

A Home in the Holly Tree

A mockingbird has been diligently building a nest in the holly tree in our front flower bed. At first I thought it was going to be mighty uncomfortable, even for a bird. Lots of twigs and pointy sticks. Today I decided to take a quick picture, and what to my surprise, the nest has been transformed into a pretty cushy pad. It seems my dusty miller in the back yard has been appropriated to line the new nursery. I must say, they picked a nice soft plant to do the finishing touches. I wonder when we can expect eggs?

Silly and Eric make the news

Silly has been sending in ideas to the Pickles creator, Brian Crane. Too bad Silly doesn't get paid better. This is Eric and Silly to a T.