For Evelyn

Photo 159 - February 29

I've started my own tradition of making afghans for my grandkids. Josephine's blanket was my choice, and was made before she was born, and even before we knew that she would be a girl. Kenny picked the colors for his blanket, and it looks a little bit like Spiderman, which suits him just fine. When I was visiting over Christmas break, Kayla picked the pattern she liked, and she and I went shopping for the yarn. This is the beginning of Evelyn's blanket. It's definitely a girly-girly thing, and is very soft and will be nice and warm. Those nights in San Diego get downright chilly!

I take my chocolate white

Photo 158 - February 28

People who know my tastes in chocolate know that white chocolate is my definite favorite. I found some great Hershey's Bliss White Chocolate, and it has become my best guilty pleasure. On my last trip to Walmart, they had white chocolate hot chocolate...the first I've ever seen. It is the same Hershey's Bliss, and it is amazing.

Volleyball Monday

Photo 157 - February 27

Tonight we started the end of the indoor volleyball season with our annual tournament. Win the first match and we keep on going, or lose the first match and we get next week off and then continue on in the consolation bracket the following week. We played three long games, but managed to pull off a victory. The last point was ugly, but it was all ours.

Chili Supper

Photo 156 - February 26

It was a little strange to have Chili Supper today at church and not have Dale there. I was able to Skype him in for a little while, so he could oversee the progress and say hello, but it wasn't quite the same. Laura did a wonderful job with the cooking and the seasoning. In fact, I only heard one spicy complaint. The funniest thing about that comment was that the person who made it also said it was spicier than last year. Ummm, sorry, no - not by a longshot.

Birthday Trio

Photo 155 - February 25

With so many birthdays to celebrate in her family, Kristin tries to group them together. This works especially well for her, now that she has four children usually running in four different directions. Today we celebrated with Jesse, Kristin and Renee, who will be celebrating their birthdays within the next couple of weeks.

Looks prettier on the trees

Photo 154 - February 24

I definitely think the snow looks better in the trees than on the ground. And we have been so lucky this winter to have gotten very little of the white stuff. Last night was an exception, though, and there was about 6 inches of heavy snow waiting to be cleaned. But the best part of wet snow is how it sticks to the trees. So maybe if more of it stuck to the trees, less of it would find its way to the ground? Funny how it doesn't work that way.

Olive Garden!

Photo 153 - February 23

Olive Garden is not only my favorite place to eat dinner, but it is also Liz's, and we have been talking about making time to go there all week. Since tonight is their last night in town, we figured we needed to get there. James invited Jeff, so we had a happy foursome. My dinner was Smoked Mozzarella Chicken...awesome stuff. I even have enough for another meal tomorrow...no complaints here.

It's Ash Wednesday

Photo 152 - February 22

Took half the day off to spend some time with the kids, and we showed Liz Covered Bridge. I told James that of all the pictures I took, I probably would have maybe one picture that turned out decent, since he is such an obnoxious subject, and that's about all I got.



And it was pancakes for dinner at church tonight, prepared by the youth. The food was good, and the youth are always entertaining.

Hey Mom, I got a little bit snowy...

Photo 151 - February 21

Guess I need to watch the weather a little more often before bed, to see what I can expect to find when I wake up. Trinka and I found a little bit of snow this morning, and it was coming down pretty good when we took our walk. She kept shaking her head to try to keep the snow out of her ears. Not sure how successful she was, but it didn't bother her too much when we got home and played a little bit of ball before breakfast.

Little frosty

Photo 150 - February 20

Frosty truck windows! It's very pretty, but much more so when you don't have to be scraping it off. At least I had my car running and it was partially thawed when I took these pictures of Dale's truck window.

Hello James and Liz

Photo 149 - February 19

Amazing...James found someone who hates photographs as much as he does. But I caught them after church, on their way to Laura and Andy's. Nice and sunny outside...and believe it or not, they take great pictures.

Fun meter is pegged out

Photo 148 - February 18

I am seriously hoping to get some better pictures of James and Liz while they are here, even if James complains. They went out last night and met up with some of James' friends, and then Laura met them later. I think they had too much fun - and needed a chunk of the afternoon to catch up.

At the airport

Photo 147 - February 17

You would think that since I picked up James and Liz today, that they would be the subject of today's blog. I'll actually be lucky to get pictures of him, since he seems to have this huge aversion to me taking them of him. My goal is to get some nice shots of the two of them together, and I have until next Friday to do it.

The Mad Hatter?

Photo 136 - February 16

Nope - I'm told she's the White Rabbit. The hat kind of threw me - I was guessing either the Mad Hatter or March Hare. Tonight was more head shots for the play the kids will be in, and I will unfortunately miss because I'll be with Dale, next month. They're going to try to see if I can sneak in for a dress rehearsal before I leave, which would be great. I think I should be able to qualify for that - I did take all of those pictures.

We don't need no stinkin' feeder!

Photo 145 - February 15

The door to my Rubbermaid shed has been jacked open a couple inches, and could not be shut because of the snow. Well, it appears that the squirrels have been capitalizing on it. I'm sure that when the spring comes I will find that they have totally obliterated any and all sunflower seeds that were stored in there. Between the seeds and the apples, I don't think any of them are going hungry this winter.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo 144 - February 14

Nothing mushy to post today to celebrate this Hallmark holiday of candy and flowers. Just something that shows love of something else. Dale was actually awarded it for his attitude during an Air Force exercise, but love of country it definitely represents.

Last time...

Photo 143 - February 13

The last time Dale was deployed in support of the Kosovo conflict, he was in the Air Force, and was based in Germany, where they flew missions in and out of the country. He spent a lot of time eating his meals at a German diner, and they had glass stars hanging there, which were also for sale. He brought me three of them home, and they hang in between my kitchen and living room. They are household decorations that will not be replaced as I go through and try to do a little updating.

By Request

Photo 142 - February 12

Today's pictures are special for Dale - per his request. The pictures are a little more true to color, but I think you will probably have to wait until you're here to see the real thing to appreciate them fully. And I'm getting the hang of the miter saw - thanks again, Jeff, for the lessons. No worries, Dale - I have had severe warnings of how to be careful while using it. Now I just need to get the hang of the coping saw so I can do the inside corners.

Brrrrrrrr.....

Photo 141 - February 11

It was definitely cold today - complete with snow and temperatures in the teens. My lawn furniture looks like it would have been happier stowed indoors (sorry - the household furniture is in the garage instead), and there is definitely no warmth coming from that frozen sun. But barring cleaning the driveway and sidewalks, indoor work is progressing. Maybe that garage will be losing some furniture soon!

Trying hard

Photo 140 - February 10

That is the poor sun trying to burn its way through the clouds this afternoon. We got a couple inches of snow, which proceeded to blow all over the place. There looks like plenty of clean up for the morning.

Chocolate Milk...

Photo 139 - February 9

I decided that daylight or not, I was continuing to paint the living room tonight. Good thing I have my halogen light - it puts out enough to do a pretty adequate job. My Burnt Almond looked a lot like chocolate milk in the can and in the tray, but I'm pretty happy about how it looks on the wall. I have about half the living room painted, so between tomorrow and Saturday, it should be finished, and maybe I can get some woodwork cut and stained.

Can't Seem to Find the Moon at Night

Photo 138 - February 8

It seems that I cannot find that perfect shot of the moon when I'm supposed to - at night. My best shots so far have been in the morning. This morning I was amazed to see how the moon just seemed to drop out of the sky. From the time I saw it when Trinka and I were out walking, to the 5 to 10 minutes it took me to go around the block, get my gear and walk back up the street, it seemed to almost disappear. I think the last pictures I took of the crescent moon were better, and I wasn't able to crop this picture like I did the last ones I took, since I'm typing this on my new computer (yay!) that I just unpacked tonight. The colors were amazing - I love the orange moon - and maybe next time I'll be ready when it's in that just right spot in the sky.

It's Not Time Yet!

Photo 137 - February 7

OK flowers, are you crazy? Do you see the date? It's February 7! That is still winter in Wisconsin, and appearing this early is pretty much a death sentence! Here's hoping that the weather will stay mild and my wayward and early flowers will survive their poor timing.

At The Pig

Photo 136 - February 6

Since Walmart opened its grocery section, I haven't spent much time shopping The Pig, which has pretty much been my choice for groceries for as long as I can remember. But there are a couple things that Walmart just doesn't carry - one of them being my favorite string cheese. So it was worth a stop there tonight just to get a package.

Yes, I Love Thermal Spring

Photo 135 - February 5

Slowly but surely I'm getting something accomplished in my house. This weekend was a little bit interrupted by the visitors from Costa Rica, but I did manage to get the focal wall in my living room semi-painted. I say semi because I ran out of paint. One quart was almost enough to cover the wall, but there are a couple spots that need touching up, so I will have to get another quart to do the finish work. But I absolutely love the color, and I am very excited to see how an entire wall of Burnt Almond accents it. The picture does not do the color justice - it is actually quite a bit darker than it looks.

A Little Colder than Costa Rica

Photo 134 - February 4

Today we had an absolutely beautiful winter day - 40s and sunny. And it turned into a perfect day for one of our customer's and his family to enjoy an afternoon snowboarding, skiing and tubing at Sunburst ski hill. Ricky and Danny figured out the snowboarding pretty quickly, and Natalia opted for the skiing instead. And the snow tubing? Well that was pretty much a hit with everyone. They were still going up and down the hill when I headed for home.

C'mon Spring

Photo 133 - February 3

Spring is trying to appear early...and hopefully everything won't be frozen because of it. I haven't seen any flowers trying to make an appearance yet, but other people have seen theirs start to pop out. The maple tree has what I call it's "pre-buds" coming out now, which means a mess on the way as it decides to drop them all over the sidewalk and in the gutters. Some of my plants from last year do have some eye appeal as they dry out, though.

T-Shirts

Photo 132 - February 2

The unit t-shirts are going to cause me more gray hair than I need! Just when I think I have the order under control, I find out that we are short in some other size. Hopefully one more order will do it - as soon as I find out how many are required for a minimum order. But the design is great, and it's been a wonderful fundraiser for the unit. Hopefully this will be the end of it (or at least my part of it)...keeping my fingers crossed.