I'm not tired

Has anybody fallen asleep while ...

• sitting on a bar stool?
• at 5pm in the evening?
• while resting your head on a piece of granite?
• while eating?
• and completely sober?

Thanksgiving 2016

Highlights:

• Traditional dinner (including green bean casserole)
• Farm animals: horses, goats
• Hay bales / jungle gym

Low lights:

• RJ has 103.5 fever
• Sara sick
• Julia meltdown after short nap

RJ on hay bale. Plenty of wind mills in the background - although we were 'thankful' that the wind was calm.

North Dakota - Farm Walk

Farm Walking

Julia liked walking around the farm and climbing up grain bins, wood piles, and seeders. Cousin Anika helped Julia climb the John Deere seeder. Anika and Julia in a tractor tire rim. As we rolled the rim, Julia could walk around the inside.

North Dakota, Pre-Thanksgiving

Pre-Thanksgiving

Prior to Thanksgiving in North Dakota, we got farm time. Sunny, 36 degrees, no wind!

In DC they call this a boom truck, in North Dakota they call this a swing-set. And when put into action ... In case you want to see what it looks like from the raised boom ... hi Cousin Jett! And you get a nice view of the grain bins ...

Fall 2016 - Mom & Daughter

Shocker: Dad took some pictures

Mom and Daughter feeding the ducks at the Georgetown Waterfront. The Canadian Geese were brave enough to eat our of your hand.
Mom and Daughter in front of the capital ... ten minutes before a trip to the air and space museum.

Boys Day Fishing on Chesapeake Bay

Beautiful, sunny day with Captain Grandad started with super excitement.

After trolling around and spotting a lot of fish on the depth finder, we admitted that things got "a little boring" at times. We were limited to 3 1/2 catches ... and no keepers. The 1/2 catch was for the fish we caught 2 feet from the boat while the line was pulled up.

Shed 2.0

Grandpa Farmer Bob came to town. We took a pile of wood and turned it into a shed in 3 days. The high temperature the first couple of days: 100 degrees F.

DAY 1:
Laid and squared out the foundation on the not-so-square slab. Built walls, raised walls, and placed center support beam.

Here is where things stood a couple hours into the second day.

DAY 2:
Measured angles, cut, and secured rafters. Put up walls. Cut and secured USB boards for the roof, applied drip edge.
Specials thanks to:

• Joe (tool rental and roofing work)
• Dien (walls and siding, and more)
• Nick (roof sheathing, walls, drip edge, and more)

Lining up the fascia boards with Nick and Bob.

 

Dien and Bob work the circular saw for wall assembly.

Day 2 materials glitch: 3 feet short of trip edge = late night trip to Home Depot.

DAY 3:
Applied shingles. Finished siding and eves. Applied trim pieces.

On day 3 the safety regulations were loosened.

Weekend 2:

The next weekend I had to fly solo. Luckily not much was left to do ... built doors, painted, and used some left over 2x4s to build the interial workbench.

Shed 2.0 Planning

Shed 2.0 was planned. Per Fairfax County regulations, the height would be less than 8' 6" tall. Using Punch! Home and Landscape Design, I was able to design and create a bill of materials. After three trips to Home Depot and an online order for windows/door hardware, we are ready to go.

About 70% of the materials

Yard Creatures and Vermin

Garden Nuisance

Our garden was carefully fenced with chicken wire and metal stakes yet we are missing: 6 sunflower plants, 2 cucumbers (half eaten), 1 watermelon (mostly eaten). RJ and Sara have an idea - put the remaining watermelon in a trap. The result:
After dressing up in a jump suit that auto-mechanics would wear and putting on super thick gloves, I released the ground hog. The ground hog was not nearly as scared as the squirrel ... he looked at me as if thinking ... hurry up buddy, I have to get home.

Orb Spider?

I've seen a lot of these in Florida, but this is the first in Virginia. Contemplating getting rid of it, but also thinking that this thing could catch a lot of mosquitoes.
After I destroyed it's web in the middle of a walkway, the spider relocated to a less obtrusive corner.

Neighborhood move - with lift

Moving is normally not too exciting - unless you live in Clearview Manor.

What do you do when you have 2 pieces of furniture that will not fit up the stairs? You use the neighbor's lift to bring them in through the second story window!

Rolling Thunder

Memorial Day bike ride was pretty quiet because we were on the rolling thunder parade route before the parade got there.
We refueled with a lemonade at the Fish Market and heard the motorcycles in the distance.

Fireplace Project

Armed and dangerous

My helper

In-Ground Swimming Pool

Our home renovation includes a free in-ground swimming pool.

I knew we should have splurged for the grading plan.

Frosty the Snowman

Our snowman melted, so this happened...

More Snow Fun

RJ smiling after a good run

Kimberly giving Nicholas and RJ a boost

Nicholas and RJ

Clean Up!

Front door

RJ and Julia helping clean up

RJ trying to make a path to the front door

Julia really wanted to follow him, but quickly realized she wasn't going to get too far.

RJ came up with a new plan.

The shovel works much better, but lost interest quickly.

Our street which looked pretty good, all things considered.

Playing in the mostly cleared driveway....And, yes, we had plenty of toys out for riding, scooping and pushing.

SNOW much fun!

RJ's snowman drawing

A little snow around the pickup

Doug starting the shoveling

Snow!

They both wanted to look at the snow out the window, so the solution was to have Julia sit on RJ's shoulders.

Doug shoveling while Kimberly and Nicholas trek through the snow

Nicholas sledding

RJ sledding

Julia next to the snow

Julia was not thrilled about the snow/wind in her face, but stayed out and played anyway.

Ready for his first hot chocolate