Rain, Rain, Rain and Rain Again

A short but sweet posting. This week has been full of thunder, lightening, and rain. If it rained in town it didn't rain out here and if it rained out here, it stayed dry in town. On Wednesday it rained so hard at our house that the satellite went out. I didn't have to water though so that was good. Yesterday the rain in town was somewhat of a flash flood. Nathan and I walked through the shopping malls parking lots with water running over our feet. It was running so fast that I got vertigo when I looked down. The coming week is promised to be more of the same.

We started today out by going into town early. We did the shopping for our birthday dinner tonight. We then picked up worms for Carl, with funny looks and all. An elderly man kept insisting that we just wait until night time to get our worms.

We then went out to the nursery to pick up some composting and grass seeds. We plan on tilling the backyard tomorrow since the rain has loosened the dirt. Driving home with the compost was quite an experience. It is probably the foulest smelling stuff ever. The nursery lets their sprinklers wash over their bags of compost and such and getting them wet not such a good idea.

We had about twenty people out for Nathan's and my birthday. I made tacos. Tim bought me a house plant and did the house work. I also got some bowls, glasses, and dishes.I also received a necklace and earrings from Holly and her parents that are made from glass that came off of the space shuttle. The maker works for NASA. Nathan got $ and shirts.

Well, that's about it for now. There's only 10 days left in school, three of which are minimum days, and then I will be starting my summer school classes June 15th. I'm only got into one class but on the waiting list for the other so hopefully I get in.

Tootles to all.

Update

Well, here's the update on the dogs getting more room to roam. Tim and I spent hours Monday getting a total of 800 square feet fenced in for the dogs. We used or existing kennel panels, outside house walls, plus fifty feet of some four foot fencing from Dad. Well, it turned out great and Tim and I stood back and admired the heck out of it. "If Tipper can get out of that, then she deserves to be out!"
Well, guess what, she climbed right over it!!!!! Tim's comment after watching her climb the fence was, "she was so graceful and did it with no effort." Go figure.
I just spent the last hour (Tim is teaching tonight)adding another three feet to the top of the existing 50 feet; for a total of an eight foot high fence. If she can climb it now, she will soon be greeted with the wrath of electricity. (only a 9 volt shock) Now I have to go fix my tattered nails.

Well, the rest of the day was good. My classroom got pretty hot and I'm glad the year is almost over. Tim had the day off because of his flex days. He did lots of housework and of course chased the dog through the woods; twice.

Memorial Week End

We got a long week end because of an unused snow day so it has been a nice break. Tim even gets Tuesday off. We only have 14 days of school left and then I will be taking some summer courses, if they don't fill up before I get admitted.

Raynelle' was up for a couple days so that was nice. It was a short visit though. We had dinner with everyone, Sharrill and family, Randy, and Dad.

Other then that we haven't been up to much. I do still want to plant the Marigolds but haven't been able to find enough for the area I want to fill. I figure it will require about 100 plants.

We have a fire pit in the back so we've been making smore's and last night we all sat around the fire playing different instruments and having a great time. It does still get too cold at night, even with the fire.

Week End Fun

Well, the week end started out with Tim doing a bike ride. He road almost 10 miles, 4.5 of which were uphill. He did the ride without having to stop and walk. He wanted me to do it also, but I knew there would have to be a hill in there somewhere and that was not how I wanted to start my day.

After the ride we went into town to attend the the hospital sponsored Health Fair. A friend of ours and Chris were playing. I got pretty hot and of course I got burned a bit. When we got home we worked in the yard. Nathan found an unusual lizard which Mike couldn't identify and we couldn't find on the internet.

I took my last final for the semester. When I was getting organized for the test I realized that I had left my book at work so I hope I did okay. I wasn't that hard but I would have felt better if I could have studied some.

Today, Sunday, was Chris' recital. He and Holly played some duets and the Stringbeings played. Everyone did a great job and Johny, his music teacher, did a great job. When we came home we worked on the backyard somemore. (the sun had gone down so it wasn't so hot) We are working on getting the back cleaned and reorganized. We are going to plant grass from seed but the ground needs to be loosened and we need to configure the dog pen situation so they have more room. We will be putting in gravel for the dogs area.

Well, we have a four day week and Raynelle' will be up on Thursday AM. Hopfully the week will go by fast and the vacation will be slow. I think we will be doing a BBQ this week end. If we do I plan on making a low carb meal and then letting everyone bring their own alternate meal if they want something different. This will be the first time I haven't made something for everyone so we'll see how it goes.

Some more videos:

Music Videos

Here are some videos of Chris and Holly. Putting these on through a satellite connection is not very enjoyable! Visual quality might be a bit iffy but compression tends to do that. Enjoy.

Nothing New, Just More of the Same

Well, I'm at the end of my semester at Chico. Two more tests and one paper and I can take a break until the summer sessions start. I will be taking some history classes, no not my favorite. I also need to start studying of the CSET tests. Because I am getting a multiple-subjects credential I have to take all four tests. I will work on taking two a semester.

The weather is getting warmer, the grass is getting taller, and the flowers are starting to bloom. The trees around the house, apple, crab apple, plum, and lilac, are blooming; even more then last year. This, of course, is bringing in the bees. It's fascinating to sit under the trees and listen to the activity. We have also put our the bird feeders. There's lots of different birds eating their daily meals in our yard. It drives the cats crazy. We actually have a family of Stellar Jays living, for the time-being, in our porch light. The light is a lot like a closer chandelier so they had plenty of room to make a nest. We didn't have the heart to kick them out. It's been amazing watching them build and keep trying until they got just the right kind of twigs. I will post pictures as soon as I find my charger.

We did go see the new Star Trek movie, how could we not. It was a two hour movie but enjoyable. Even if you are not a fan, you will like the movie.

Chris and Holly went to the prom this week end. Yes, Holly is that gorgeous and yes Chris is that humorous. He didn't get home until 4:00am. They went to two after parties, which surprised me since Chris is not the socializing type.

Raynelle and Paul will be coming down next week. It will be great because I have that Friday off and Tim will be taking that Friday off. I am sure I will be making a big dinner for everyone. Our house has become the meeting place.

Mike and Carina are buying a second car. One of Mike's dream cars. It's a 1975 BMW in good condition so far. He hasn't been able to drive it yet, not til tomorrow but they have both fell in love with it. The car is an automatic so they both will be comfortable driving it.

Tim had Monday off so he did some yard work. While he was taking the raked up material to the community burn pile, he met a fellow Greenhorn resident. He turned out to be the father-in-law to a friend of ours from school. He is 90 years old and still quite active. Tim ended up going to his home and looking through family photos and taking a tour of the ridge area above our house. Needless to say, he didn't get every thing hauled away.

Well, that's that, not much else going on.

Wow, What A Week

Well, this has been one hectic week. The Community Orchestra had their annual concert on Sunday; which Chris and I played in. Then I came home and spent hours writing my paper, which gave me four hours of sleep.

Monday wasn't too bad except that we had rehearsal that night. Tuesday Chris played at a presentation for a friend so we went to listen. Wednesday was another rehearsal night for me. Tonight, Thursday, Chris and his trio were headliners at the weekly Words and Music event. I videoed some of the songs for posting sometime in the near future.

The weather has finally warmed up. I actually had to turn on the fan in my classroom. This week is state testing so the students are a bit our of sorts. Thankfully the week went by quickly.

Long Day in Reno

Well, I started out my day with a class early this morning so we could get some breakfast before going to Reno. Mike and Carina decided to join us so we all started out little adventure a little late which was fine because it's always fun when we all go. Chris had to work so he stayed home.

Our first stop was at Bizarre Guitars. ( a huge store with wall to wall and floor to ceiling guitars) Mike and Nathan wanted to look around. Well, as it turns out, they were having a huge sale so Nathan got an early birthday present. Mike almost bought a guitar but settled for a replacement saddle for his current guitar.

We then went to Target where I discovered that I have dropped 6 pant sizes. The boys were quite patient while I had to exchange clothes I was trying on.

From there we went to the game store which was a test of patience on my part. Nathan had a gift card and couldn't decide what to spend it on.

We had lunch at Claim Jumpers. It is always good but, seemed to take such a long time.

Best Buy and PetCo were our two last stops. Went home with some CD's and collars for the dogs. (don't know what happened to their old ones but they are gone)

Now that we are home, I'm relaxing and putting off the paper I have to write. As always, it is written in my head so I just need to take the time to put it on paper. I applied for graduation on Friday so I am going to be cramming the last handful of classes in to the next year by taking some summer classes.

The Pitter-Patter of Rain Drops on My Head

Well, the rain has arrived and will be with us the rest of the week end. It will really help the grass get started, especially if it warms up.

Our Lab finally figured out how to get over the six foot fencing so she had a great time taunting us while we tried convincing her it was time to come home. When it rains; which it has been doing all day, the creek behind the house starts to run and Tipper loves to play in it. She came home drenched each time but kept going back for more. I don't know where she finds the energy to run that hard for so long. The other dogs would prefer to stay in a dry house.

Tim's jury duty turned out to be for the Grand Jury. He agreed to serve but they said he would probably be a alternate. He would have to go to Sacramento for training over a week end and then do duty two days out of every month for a year.

This week end is the big orchestra concert. I love playing but don't really like the fact that we do it on a Sunday. On Thursday the string trio will be playing at Words and Music. They will be the featured artists. Chris is going to play his banjo as well as accompanying some other artists.

Raynelle' and Paul will be coming down for Memorial week end. It will be the first time they have been to the new house. I am hoping the vegetation around the house greens up by then. It will be a short visit and they will have to go home the same day as Chris' recital. There are only two flights out on that day and both are early.

The ranch that Chris works for is getting rid of some baby chickens, I guess they have enough, so I am contemplating getting a couple. Tim would like the eggs and as long as they are not roosters it would be okay. We could also feed them our composting (veges and such). We have plenty of room on the back of the property. Our neighbors have chickens and we very rarely hear them.