Girl Scouts Bird Watching

At our meeting this month we continued trying to sight and identify some birds. We did see Starlings, Junkos, more Downy Woodpeckers, and best of all we saw a "yellow-bellied sapsucker". This is a type of woodpecker, but it is a type with a red neck, which Jordan spotted. The picture I got wasn't very good, but was enough to identify the bird, so we were happy about that.

I love this first picture of the girls on the church property. Click to see the larger picture.

Girl scout babysitting project

I spent almost my entire weekend with the girl scouts troop babysitting project. I was really surprised that we didn't get many children. But the gals made $85 towards their New York trip, and every little bit helps. Here are a couple of pictures from that.

Fireball the egyptian...

When the kids and I were getting out the Christmas decorations, we came across the Halloween things, and were playing around with this egyptian wig that Jordan wore about three years ago. I guess I should say, I was playing with it, and the kids were trying to make me take it off! So, my next target was Fireball. Poor kitty. He was not a happy camper, as you can probably tell. But doesn't he make a cute egyptian?

Bunko Babes

We had our Christmas Bunko party. Unfortunately one of our Janes couldn't make it, but Carla came in her place! It was so nice to see Carla again after the couple of years she's been out of our group. Loretta as usual prepared a wonderful dinner. I had her homemade minestrone which was just fabulous. I won $10!

Dec 9th - TKD housewarming party

A big crowd turned out for the Davidson's housewarming party. I thought I had more pics, but this is the only one I uploaded. Their home is lovely and we had a great time.

Dec 9th - Darleen graduates!

My friend Darleen has been working very, very hard and she is pretty darn smart! She graduated from Rockhurst today! She already has a job to boot! I am so proud!

Here she is with her brother Garrett.

Here are Darleen's dad (Doyle) and stepmom (MaryAnn)

See that round cake? Garrett made that, "italian cream cake". It was very, very good. That's Denise in the back looking hungry.....hehehe.

Dec 8th - Rick's 30th - Quentin Tarentino party

Karen and Janessa

The crazy cake. And yes, the gun was edible.


Wow! Look at that GLOW from the many, many, many, many candles.......

Dec 6th - Visit from my sister

Here are some pictures from when Bea, mom and dad came over on the 6th.

Here is dad sipping on his tea....

Mom...

Hmmm...... What are these crazy people doing? Could they be taking pictures? Hmmmm. Looks like they are taking pictures.! What do you suppose they are taking pictures of???? It must be very important!

Here it is! These horses are a ceramic piece my Aunt Bonnie gave as a wedding gift to my mom and dad. My mom handed this down to me about 10 or so years ago. I have always loved it. I have many early memories of this piece! Mom thought since we had a nice fireplace at the time, I might as well have it, rather than have it packed away.

The gals....... Me, Mom and Bea....
The family!
Back row - mom, John, Jordan
Front row - Steve, me, dad, Bea

I got the idea to have mom and dad's hands. Another photo op! But a really nice picture.

~~FROZEN~~ in the cave!

I thought you all might enjoy some more cave pictures! This first one is of the entrance after the ice/snow storms.


Near the SpaceCenter corporate office is a "sunroom", basically a hole blasted on up to the surface. They have built windows all around this hole and you can even walk out through a set of doors and enjoy the air and sunshine!


Another view of the "sunroom"

Dec 2nd - Scrappy breakfast and grand opening

Here are the hardy breakfast crew at IHOP. From left to right: Karen, Carey, Kathy, Joann, Annette, Sunni, and Deb! We had a nice breakfast.

Here are Dana DeCarlo and Joann

Here am I - with my Kara Ward make & take. (Kathy and Deb chatting in the background). Kathy was patient and waited for us to do the make and take.

Week in Review....

A week or so of updates

Thur 12/07/06 – Took the kids to get a birthday gift for dad. Attended Girl Scout service unit meeting.

Wed 12/06/06 – Worked in the cave for 6 hours, then took off a little early, since mom, dad and Bea were coming over from Topeka. Bea said she had to see the young man with the deep voice (that would be Steve). So, we had a nice lunch of John’s most excellent stew and some fresh baked Schwan bread. Mmmm. We took a lot of pictures too. In fact, I took a few pictures of Bea and her monster camera taking pictures of other things. It was pretty funny. The kids got home from school and we sat around shooting the breeze for awhile. John arrived and accepted many compliments. We had some fun trying to find a particular quote in Macbeth.

Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.
It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

After they left I had to go to our Northland church planning meeting for the diocese. It was quite interesting. I don’t feel I have that much to contribute personally, but I really love maps, and they had a BUNCH of huge maps of various areas of the northland.

Tue 12/05/06 – Mom’s 70th birthday today. I think she liked her surprise.

Mon 12/04/06 – Picked be up at 5:00 pm, drove her over to Topeka. It was quite fun. I had Bea wait at the garage, went up to the door and rang the bell. When mom answered the door, I said “We’re here!”. She wanted to know who “we” was. I said that the kids and John were getting something out of the car and would be right in. I said “didn’t you ask us for dinner tonight???” She said “ummm, no..”. That was funny. After we were talking for a minute, Bea came in and mom was surprised, although she didn’t show it much. We had a really nice visit before I had to head back home.

Blog challenge.....

From Sara: Ok, you guys know how this works.. I'll post it, if ya feel like taking it yourself, I hope to see it on your blog.

1. List 5 hobbies that sound fun, besides scrapbooking

• Oil and watercolor painting
• Treasure hunting
• Cave exploring
• SERIOUS Bird Watching
• Amateur archeaology

2. List 5 classes that sound fun

• Japanese for tourists
• Visual Basic Programming
• Ancient History of the World
• Wine making
• Travel Agent school
• Belly dancing!

3. List 5 things you personally would never do that sound fun

• Bungee jumping
• Sky diving
• Snow skiing
• Gun-less bank robbery
• Jumping off the high dive

4. List 5 skills that would be fun to have

• Translating many languages
• Sign language
• Natural musical talent for any instrument, especially drums!
• Psychic ability
• Auto Mechanic skills

5. List 5 things you used to enjoy doing

• You've stumped me. I can't think of anything I used to enjoy that I don't still enjoy. I can think of many things I like now, that I didn't like before, like broccoli and green peppers, but not the other way around.

6. List 5 silly things you'd like to try once

• Frog legs in France
• Jumping on the velcro wall thing
• Level IV white water rafting
• Painting some graffiti somewhere
• Standing on the corner with a weird sign (like "THE END IS NEAR") and see what happens

It's just for the BIRDS! (yeah, more bird pictures...)

Hey all. I took a birthday walk today and did a little bird hunting. I think I like this hobby because it is TOTALLY FREE! Also, it involves the outdoors which I want to get more of.



Well, today I saw a LOT of cardinals. Some some junkos, a small "herd" of birds chirping up a storm in a thicket, until I got too close, then all was quiet! I saw a hawk- probably a red tailed hawk but not certain, a male and female downy woodpecker, and something I had no idea what it was, a RUBY CROWNED KINGLET. That was cool! Just a pretty little greenish bird. I really had to look through the book awhile before I matched it, but it was an exact match.



Here are some pictures.



Ruby crowned kinglet....


Female Downy Woodpecker......


Male Downy Woodpecker.....


Hawk about to take off.....

Happy Birthday to Me!

What a nice relaxing birthday. I did some shopping with Jordan yesterday, got some free goodies (I had a $10 fashion bug and a $10 Macys) We also went to Gorman's and I picked up a couple of things with my 20% off coupon. All-in-all it has been a very relaxing holiday weekend.

Today - My birthday pictures!

Here are the kids doing their "gansta" thing. Whatever.....

EYES of a child.....

Actually eyes of a teen.

Why you ask? We were trying to PROVE whether Steven's eyes have different colors or not, once and for all, and well, the thing just kind of grew into a picture taking fest.

Steve:

Jordan:

Thanksgiving sadness and hopefulness

This is a long post with the upsetting parts at the beginning, happy parts saved for the end.

What an emotional Thanksgiving. Some background. My FIL has just recovered from prostate removal for cancer. While he was recovering, MIL tried to start the lawnmower, injured her shoulder and required surgery. As of Thanksgiving, they are both well on the way to complete recovery.

They have turned over the reins, so to speak, to the kids to have holiday events at their homes, and only Christmas dinner at their place. John "signed up" for this Thanksgiving, but not any of his siblings came. It was John's parents, my parents and us four. Well, I won't go into details about the family squabbles, but we choose to just stay out of all that and focus on our parents. The main thing that makes me mad, and this is the mother lioness in me, my kids feelings are hurt. I can't stand for them to hurt, but I know it's life and we have to hurt sometimes. Today we are all in a much better spirits after talking it out. I just remember the first few years of our marriage when all 8 of his sisters and brothers and their kids would be at the in-laws for everything. People just don't realize what they have, then it starts to fade away, and I just scream inside when they don't fight to keep hold of that something special. It's the same way I feel about friendships I guess. I just can't seem to let things go. I have to fight to hold on, even when it seems hopeless. The last few years I have just dreaded almost every holiday, because of the fractures in the family fabric. At some point you do have to throw in the towel though, and I think John and I have agreed we are now at that point. Time to give up, say "DONE" with that. Move on and truly, truly appreciate what we DO have. That is my Thanksgiving wish for myself, that I really can learn to stop begruding the missing elements for being missing. Stop wasting emotional energy, and stop feeling sorry for myself.

Another sorrow, my cousin Jesse died Wednesday night. He is about a year older than I am. My sister and I had cousin crushes on him! Anyway, as he grew older, with his troubled homelife he turned to drugs and crazy living. He ended up dying of liver disease but did have full blown AIDS the last several years. I will pray for his spirit to find peace.

On with the happiness.... Our dinner turned out very, very good. MIL made pumpkin pie which was very good. My mom brought special jello which was Yummy! She also made some deviled eggs for us which were also good. I have always liked hers the best. Tom brought Colette and Trinity over for some dessert later that evening. We had a really nice time. Trinity is such a hoot! She was playing hide and seek, well, not really, more of a chase thing, and just screaming with laughter nonstop. It really livened up the day. Hence, the hopeful attitude gets reinforced. Jordan was going to read her a book, but got her feelings hurt when Trinity turned one page and then decided that was plenty. We had to explain to Jordan, that is just par for the "two year old" course!

PICTURES:

The gals out on the patio

Mercedes, Annette, Jordan, LaVonne

Francis and John watching some football

Jim sleeping, per his usual and Steve wishing I didn't have a camera

John tossing Trinity up in the air.

Tom, Trinity and Colette

FOOTBALL! The Chiefs won of course.

Workin' in THE CAVES......

Here's the latest news about netty. I got what is known as a "detail". In layman's terms that means I have been assigned temporarily to another area to help out for a short term assignment. The secretary at NRC is ill, so I am filling in for a time. What is NRC you say? Well there are a LOT of boxes with files in them.

BIRD NERD, That's Me......

I love birds. I think they are very cool. I like to identify birds. Not too long ago I saw an unusual bird up at G&G T's and I couldn't figure out what the heck it was. The men were trying to tell me it was just some hawk, but I knew better. I thought vulture.... But I had seen a Turkey Vulture just this summer and knew they had a red head, this crazy bird didn't. Well, I FINALLY purchased my first Bird Field Guide and found out what the heck that bird was. A JUVENILE turkey vulture! They just have a brown head. Crazy! Here's a picture with a bunch of zoom on it.

To continue my bird nerd adventure story. I was driving home today and saw a couple of regular turkeys right next to the road, so nerd that I am, armed with a camera at all times, I made a U turn and got some turkey pictures. Here's the best one of the male.

SQUAW - my new acronym

So, I was feeling a little rambunctious the other day while Jordan and I were doing some bread baking. Okay, I was actually doing the baking, and Jordan was being forced to learn a bit about bread baking!

I started wondering what I was going to be like at 50, still spry and goofy? I began thinking up adjectives to describe me at 50. After writing them down, Jordan realized they could almost spell squaw. So we fixed that:

S: Spontaneous
Q: Quirky (or Queen of the House)
U: Ubiquitous (present everywhere at once) or Unforgettable
A: Adventurous
W: Weird

Here are some recent pictures.....

We really love Monopoly at our house.

I especially like it when I win....

There was a really foggy morning last week
and I had to drive to work
very, very slowly....


This is Rick and Karen in
front of their new home...


Here is Steve jamming on Rick's guitar....


Here's a shot from Bugsy Malone....


Chad and Steve with their silly string guns...


Jordan's official homecoming picture....