The Tree is Up

This is an ornament with one of my favorite pictures of Patrick and Brian in it. I try to make at least one ornament each year with a family picture, or a picture of the boys.

Trampboarding

Our thanks to Rosie! (http://www.rosie.com/)

Aviary: population 9

These three little guys are all between 13 and 17 days old and are from Sunshine's second clutch of eggs. The two bigger ones are favoring their Mom with mostly yellow feathers so far. In about two weeks they'll be ready to leave the nest.

Monarch

I love these pictures. I was going through an old SD card and found them. They're from last year when we bought plants which included catipillars and watched them every day as they crunched through leaves, grew bigger and then finally transformed inside the chrysalis. This one is resting on Brian's arm before we took it out to the front yard where it stayed for a few minutes and fluttered away.

Hatchlings

Is that most most pitiful little creature you've ever seen? This is one of the three baby parakeets which have hatched in the past two weeks. This one is one day old in this picture. So ugly and so precious.

It had to happen some time...

Well, I personally think she's got a lot of nerve doing something like this but my beloved Niecie has gone and growed up bigger than me! Only 14 years old and she's so proud. But look at me as I smile through the pain of attempting to simultaneously suck in my stomach and stand up tall. That takes effort, people.

Craziness in the camper

Who said we have to participate in the whole gravity thing? And the best part of waking up: stealing Mumma's coffee!

Amusement Park 2

This is a ride which will lift us up 125 feet into the air and then plummet us back to Earth with a zero G, Ooops-do-I-still-possess-a-stomach sensation. That's the whole point, right?

Amusement Park

Roller coasters, animals and babes on waterskiis --what more does one need?

Infestation

Isn't that inviting? There is no way to spin it: we have a small colony of little gray rats living under our jacuzzi. When we removed the paneling around it the other day we were greeted with not only the unmistakable scent of a barnyard soaked in animal pee, but also the location of every toy and small article of clothing which has vanished from our back porch. Snoopy (Beagle Emeritus) looked at us with pity and an expression that said, "Ummm... DUH!! I've been trying to tell you about them for months!" The rats have dined upon electrical wires and pulverized insulation to plump up their nest. Their main source of food has been the millet stalks we feed the parakeets. Brian and Jackie had the population count at eight the first day. Eight. Well, it must be down to seven because today we evicted Numero Uno: