Thursday, February 25, 2010

Catch-up Stuff

 

For those of you who read my blog, I put in a picture a few weeks back showing my backyard from my office window. You will remember the pine tree limbs were hanging way down, almost parallel with the trunk of the tree. So here is a picture of them after the snow left. There were pine trees in the area that lost limbs due to the snow, with an undercoating of ice. We were blessed to have missed that ordeal.
I am happy to say that I have successfully pruned my apple and pear trees (only 3 in total), and have put the coating of dormant spray on them. After the blossoms have come and gone, I will need to spray them once more to protect the new fruit. I did prune the tops of the apple trees in order to strengthen the root system. I hope to be able to report an apple crop later on. One tree actually comes due the 1st of July.

Here is my grandson, Brent, enjoying a new figurine on our living room coffee table. He may be small but he has no difficulty reaching things. He simply climbs onto a table or shelf to get at what he wants. I probably should be concerned about that, but he is so cute and sincere with his activities, it is hard not to let him get away with things. And then, being one boy in the midst of three girls, I have to give him some leeway.

I want to remind all that I do have an inspirational blog as well. Click here to enjoy.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Fun Weekend

What a marvelous time we had last weekend. It was the ORU alumni homecoming. Since both my girls and my wife graduated from ORU, it was a nice time for all to get together. It had been a while since everyone was at home here. So we did some fun, and crazy things. One crazy thing is that we took a hike through Honor Heights Park. The wind was quite bad and cold, but we got out anyway. (click on any picture to make it bigger)

We parked at the water tower parking lot at the top of the hill. Here are the girls all ready for the hike. I took the picture, but where is Brent? (2 granddaughters from St. Louis, 1 from Dallas. Is it possible to all have the same coats?)

Next picture is at the top of a very tall water fall (see water to the left of Judy). It is over 100 rough hewn sandstone steps down. Ava and Brent led the pack, going down lickety-split. (Ah! There's Brent!)

We finally reached the bottom and took another picture with the water fall in the background. (Just think, we have to go back up the steps at the end of our hike. We did, too, with no trouble at all.)

In the park, we couldn't resist a picture on this big rock. With everyone on top, except for the two old folks, Mimi and Papa, we got this picture.

Getting ready to go back up, we stopped for this picture of Mimi and Papa with their precious grandkids (l to r: Olivia, Brent, Ava, Caitlyn).

After a trip to Incredible Pizza, we made it to the game. Boy! Everyone had such fun, and they really watched the game all the way through. We got some little basket balls (3) that were thrown into the crowd, some posters, and of course, popcorn. We won by one point with about 8 seconds left in the game. A really close and exciting game!

At one of the time outs, you could go out on the floor with your parents (Mimi in this case) and dance with Eli the Eagle to the tune of YMCA. Brent decided to have fun all by himself, instead of dancing. He would run and throw himself down and slide across the floor. He gathered quite an audience, too.

Friday, February 12, 2010

The Happy Camper

All my grandkids are just about here. 2 from Dallas, where they have had 12.5 inches of snow, and 2 from St. Louis where there is snow, as well. All weekend long! Now that is my kind of Valentine's celebration. May even have a birthday party for Ava, who will be 5 on Tuesday!

God is so good to me. One 2-year old Brent, 2 5-yr old Caitlyn and Ava, one 6-yr old Kari. Right here with me. Guess I will let Mimi love on them a little. (Pictures to come.)

Monday, February 08, 2010

The Snows of 2010

What great, and fun, snows we have had this winter. Our first snow was the night before Christmas, 2009. It was 6-inches of great fun, more of a dry snow. My brother had never had a white Christmas or shoveled snow. (That was remedied.) And we had Judy's parents with us also, which is always a delight.

In January we had another snow of 6-inches, this one a wet snow. But truly just as much fun as the other. Judy helped me shovel snow this time, although shoveling isn't all that hard when you learn how to use a snow shovel like a snow plow. Makes for warm, cozy days inside looking out and enjoying the snow with a warm cup of something in your hand.

The above picture is the scene I have outside my office window. Very relaxing, very motivating, to say the least. (The light in the upper right of the picture is a reflection of my office light.) God has blessed us with this house in so many ways, but one that stands out during the snows is the many windows we have. (Notice the limbs on the pine tree are greatly weighted down. As soon as the snow melted, they popped right back up.)

Here is a picture from our front porch. I am blessed to live where we can get the occasional, great snow! Seems a shame when the first foot-prints, or car tracks, are made. I call snow "the great equalizer". The ugly yards that are messy and unkempt are just as beautiful as the neat and well-kept yards.

Here is our front yard from the porch with the street light on. The light is hidden by the oak tree, but the color from its glow gives a wonderful awe dimension to the snow.

The picture below was taken today, February 8, during another, smaller snow. If the temp had been below freezing, we could have had about 3-inches. But it was gone immediately after the last flake fell. And it was leaving all during the snow.

Notice the man in the tree harness/swing. The electric company came today to clear out tree branches in the path of the power lines that run across our backyard. I have been working since early fall to get them to come out before a winter storm might take out our electricity. Finally, they made it out today. But it makes for a good picture, and our electricity is a little more safe-guarded. (Click on any picture to make it larger.)