Sunday, July 30, 2006

You'll notice I'm in a GREAT mood for a mid-summer Sunday night...three reasons:
1.
Here in the heartland, we're enduring temps in the 90-100 range lately. My sibs know how grouchy that would normally make me, but last Thursday, I had a new furnace AND central air installed--a birthday present to ME...lol
Now, since I've spent the weekend ENJOYING cool non-humid air, we've decided to keep the heat one more day, and then send it East--
LOOK OUT, CHICAGO!

2.
Becky sent pics today of lil' grandaughter managing in the heat...trust me, they're cute, but Blogger won't let me load 'em. I even re-sized them, but no...maybe later tonight, 'k?

3.
Just because I know you'll enjoy this, here's a FUN search engine for when you're just playin' rather than "Researching"...it explains itself: http://www.bananaslug.com/

xoxo

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

What IS it with me and cameras??

Yes, I DID get new baby pictures today, don't worry...but the thing refuses to flash, so it's really cool that the computer program lets you mess with brightness and contrast...lol

My little sweetie is getting so big! When I saw her last, she couldn't hold her head up...(only a month ago)...and now look at her! She pushes with her legs the second her feet touch something firm, and she much prefers standing to sitting...lol

She's not even 5 months old!



When I arrived this morning, she was in her infantseat in daddys' office...just watching him. When he turned to her, she smiled, and they showed me their newest game: "Where's the baby?" which is J throwing the blanket up over her head, and Kendall kicking and chattering till it's completely off!
(Takes about 5 seconds, start to finish...lol)










Some other pics, ok? Here she is with her auntie....





























.....and with her favorite dad...lol

(Sometimes too-dark pictures turn out pretty neat...)

Monday, July 17, 2006

Pondemonium 06 is history...

Have you ever considered what it would take to build a pond or waterfall in your yard?

Well, let me tell you,
ok?

Beyond a pump, liner and skimmer, you need ROCKS--say, 5 tons of nice big boulders, and another few tons of smaller rocks and pebbles--and you need to dig a hole. We had 65 people in that yard (it was Build-a-Pond Day), but you really need only about five good strong hydrated folks, and you'll be done in a day.

Why YES, I did take pictures...how nice of you to ask!









This is how the pond is laid out--with the garden hose. You play with it and decide how you'd like to see it from the house, and where the waterfall should go. Then, the outline is traced on the grass with a can of orange florescent spray paint (!) and you start digging.









Of course, you need to dig deep--the boulders fill lotsa space and need to be stacked carefully around the edges, propped by the medium stones and filled with pebbles, but only once you've laid in a thick underlayer and a liner.









By lunch, you should be filling the new pond with water.....it'll be cloudy because of all the rock dust, but that settles out or gets caught by the filters, don't worry.







After lunch, you build the waterfall...if you started at six in the morning, by 3 the waterfall could be running.








Umm, this was about 2 PM.



Ahhh, the pump's turned on and the first spill of water is a thrill, promise!








Of course, I forgot to get a long shot of the finished pond, but trust me, it was magnificent!

Monday, July 03, 2006

Well, yes, it needed it....



.....lol....see the cherries ON the mower? If nanking cherries are ever comercially harvested, they probably use some kind of vibrating machine to accomplish it.....either that, or trained robins.


I keep forgetting to blog....lol

(Hmmm.....I have Monday of a long weekend off...I need to mow the lawn...it's cool outside...and I'll be in Chicago next week for PONDEMONIUM 06 .....what's to write about??)

I am a
Daisy

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