PET ME

Minding her own business, reading a book (albeit strangely)...

...and one of her boys decides she needs to take a break and pet him

FALL PORTRAITS 2019

MILITARY PARK MORNING

Some mornings, the sunrise during my 5:00am runs is pretty enough to make me stop running and enjoy the moment

CATAN WIN

(If only the iPhone "bounce" function worked on the Blog... James has the best happy dances!)

SCENES FROM SCHOOL: STEM

AROUND THE YARD (POST TREE FALL)

 Now that the tree is gone and the stump is cut and burned, it was time to add some soil and move some rocks in prep for Jay's new "bulb bed" (to be planted much later).

(Side project - fixing the drainage area under the kitchen windows, and removing a very problematic and grumpy raccoon)

(More garden prep and heavy lifting...)

C+C MUSIC FACTORY

It's "been a minute" since school started, and even though the girls now see each other at least 5 days per week, it's not enough. Cora went home with the Hearns after Girl Scouts for a sleepover and she did not want to come home on Saturday ;-)

They still call themselves the C+C band (because they like to write song lyrics and sing to each other) and Cora doesn't understand why I always respond by yelling "C and C Music Factory!"

TROOP 3315 FALL KICKOFF

Girl Scouts kicked off today and I had one very happy little girl to get to spend time with her Scout friends, including some new little recruits (we have our first "Sprout" this year in Sadie, Anna Paiten's little sister) and a visit from one of Cora's favorites (Bailey) who in 7th grade this year and no longer at Bowmar.

We pulled out an oldie-but-goodie rainbow craft to help the girls learn their Girl Scout Promise and Law, and it seemed to be a big hit with everyone:

TIMBER!

Late one night a couple months ago, the wind was howling so loud and so suddenly that Jay and I jumped out of bed and I ran to the back window to try to figure out what I was hearing while Jay watched from the other side of the bed. We stood there confused for maybe 5-10 seconds until we heard a huge crash, then we bolted downstairs to check on the kids. The noise hadn't sounded like anything had hit the house, but still. Once we knew the kids were ok, we grabbed the flashlights and looked out the front and back windows. We finally realized what had happened... the huge, old, rotting tree in the front yard alongside the driveway, that we've been worried about since we bought the house, had fallen. It was starting to rain at this point, but we went outside to take a look. Somehow, the tree was whipped around and landed down the length of the driveway, missing the house, carport, and even the birdfeeder. I don't know how we got so lucky, but we are so thankful.

The next morning we took a closer look, then quickly called into work to tell them we had to take a personal day (we couldn't get the cars out of the driveway).

The wind also whipped the kids' swing up around the tree it hangs from:

Here is a close-up of the damage to the driveway (miraculously, the only damage the property suffered other than a few other branches knocked down by the top of the fallen tree):

When the kids got up, they were shocked. James and Buster posed for a scale picture for me:

Not long after that, calls and texts from friends and coworkers started rolling in and a plan was put in place for getting the tree somewhat cleared (off the driveway enough that we could at least get our cars out). Chainsaws were sharpened (over and over), carloads of folks arrived, and the mess was chipped away, hour by hour.

And THEN, my boss' wife went to the store and purchased the makings for hot dogs and hamburgers and sides, and we fired up the grill (power was out) and got all those volunteers fed. I was so grateful for her generosity and all the help we received. For not having family around, we are VERY lucky to have such a wonderful community of friends!!

Towards the end of the day, our neighbor arrived with his brother's tractor to help up push the main section of the tree (too wide for any of our chainsaws to get through) off to the side of the driveway, where it would then sit for a few weeks...

In July, Bobby, Nathan, and Nate came over after work one evening (when Cora babysat baby Ella) with a wood splitter and a long bar chainsaw to take care of the remaining tree (and take some of the wood home, because we certainly didn't need it all!)

So much sawdust...

That following weekend, the kids helped collect some of the sawdust (to make firestarters with), we moved and piled the freshly split wood, and Jay started burning and trimming the remaining stump.