Memorial Day Memories

Today we had a very homey type of day. After being away for a wedding over the weekend, we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and get our garden started. It had already been plowed, rotor tilled, and four wheeled.

Yes, I said four-wheeled.

I allowed one of my son's friend to do donuts with his four wheeler to help "throw" the soil around to flatten it out a bit. We have VERY VERY VERY VERY rocky soil, and it was much easier to let a machine take care of as much of the work as possible. It worked really well!




This morning we bought some plants and some flowers. By the time we got home everyone was hot, tire, and ready for our bbq dinner. We had cheeseburgers, potato wedges, a big veggie salad, a cake for dessert.

After dinner (and I mean a midday meal here, not supper) we dispersed into our different jobs. My daughter Elizabeth had stirred up some bread dough while Esther was making cake earlier, and punched it down into loaves while we were eating. It was ready for the oven, so I put it in, set the timer, and told Josiah and Caleb, who were on for dishes, to let me know when the timer went off.

Meanwhile, Esther and I went out and cleaned out the memorial garden, and started planting the flowers. Dale and Elizabeth went to the veggie garden and started planting tomatoes and peppers.




You can see around the edges that we need to get some gas for our weed whacker and put it to use!


I helped plant the onions, lettuce, cabbage and herbs.





It isn't finished yet, as we still plan on planting green beans, and squash. But it is good to know we have a very good start on it! Hopefully we won't get any more hail like we did last night!

We also have lavender....




chamomile....



Spearmint, Peppermint, and Oregano....



There is also Lemon Verbena in there, but I neglected to get a picture of it! It is a tall plant, with little white blossoms on it, and smells very lemony!

The herbal part of the garden is something of an experiment for me. I tried years ago to have a nice little herbal garden where the memorial garden is, but failed. I don't think it got enough sun. We have streamlined our vegetable garden this year, and I have the space to play with some herbs. My guess is that they will do much better in the full sunlight.

Benjamin did some prep work for putting up our pool and fetched water for all us gardeners and played with Isaac when he was up from our nap. It is such a blessing to have so many good helpers!


After all the hard work we went down to the creek to cool off. The current was quite strong due to the recent storms we have been having, so the littles stayed up in the shallow end with Daddy and I took the older, better swimmers to the "swimming hole" as they call it.



We are all having a "grazing" type of supper, baths, then popcorn and a movie.

It has been a very busy, productive day here! I hope you all had a great weekend too!

Blessings!

Wedding Quilt "Pieceful Waters"

Yes, it's done!
Well, except for the label, which is all made and pinned on and I will be attaching during nap time today.




I'm very pleased with this. Actually, I don't think you can go wrong with Batiks, but that is just my opinion.

I have a niece getting married next month, but we won't be making it to her wedding, so I have extra time to get that one done. After the kids' bathrobes are finished, I'll turn my attention to planning that quilt. I have a nephew getting married in September, and a niece due with her first baby in November. Whew! It never ends, does it?

Boy Meets Physics

Newton's second law of motion states:

" A body of mass m subject to a net force F undergoes an acceleration a that has the same direction as the force and a magnitude that is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass, i.e., F = ma. Alternatively, the total force applied on a body is equal to the time derivative of linear momentum of the body."

So, let's apply this to every day life.

Say your 15 year old son and his buddy Tim somehow get their hands on an old, broken down mower back in March. They remove the blades and mower deck and any other extraneous components and discard, a.k.a, toss them aside in the yard and later have to be cajoled, threatened, bribed, roped into disposing of said items properly.

Over the next two and a half months they tinker, bragging they are going to get it running so they can ride around and have some fun. The parents wonder out loud, pointedly, how they will pay for the gas for said mower, but the two teenagers shrug it off since it is so far in the future it doesn't concern them.

Then yesterday, after much tinkering, recharging of batteries, pilfering parts from certain parents without permission, and using of tools that don't belong to them, they actually get the thing started.

It doesn't sound pretty, but hey, it's working!

The brakes and the clutch are set up a bit because the thing hasn't moved in the two years previous to their owning it, but that doesn't stop them.

What does Newton's law of Motion have to do with it? Well, it seems to go hand in hand with Murphy's Law... that "the stupidity of your actions is directly proportional to the probability that somebody saw you."

Oh yeah. I saw it. I wish I had it on film.

Benjamin was driving, and Tim was standing on the back of the mower, hanging on to the steering wheel with Benjamin in front of him.

So let's review the second law of motion, shall we?

" A body of mass m subject to a net force F (That would be Benjamin) undergoes an acceleration a that has the same direction as the force and a magnitude that is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass,(That would the mower) be i.e., F = ma. Alternatively, the total force applied on a body is equal to the time derivative of linear momentum of the body.

That last part would refer to the brake/clutch mechanism suddenly kicking in unexpectedly, and Tim flying over Benjamin's head, slamming it into the steering wheel, and Tim going head over shoulder over the front of the mower.

Enter: The law of Reaction.

The result.

See for yourself.





Hard to believe the kid scored so high on his CAT's, isn't it?


(Please Note: The names in this little tale have NOT been changed to protect the NOT SO Innocent.)

Upgrades

No, not our computers. They are running good enough for us, thankfully. However, we knew coming into this season we were going to need a new grill.


Here is our first "grill". We had it for a long time.



This grill was given to us, very used, after we moved. It served us well for a few years until it gave up the ghost last fall.




This is our brand new grill. Isn't it a beauty? Dale picked it up last week and we've already used it several times. It works wonderfully!



So, the question is, why do we still have those other grills kicking around?

Ahhh... such is the life with a pack rat husband. I love him anyway. Besides, he brought me roses yesterday. Yeah, I'm easily bribed. :P

Happy Birthday Caleb!

We had a fun evening last night celebrating Caleb's 9th birthday. Nine! Last year of single digits for him. :) Caleb is my most laid back child. He is very flegmatic. I can't imagine where he gets that from. (Let me give you a hint... it is the same place Benjamin gets his height from!)

Here are some pics from the festivities. For supper we had hard shell tacos, watermelon, chips, rootbeer, and chocolate cake with blue frosting and ice cream for dessert. Caleb made it very clear to me he wanted BLUE frosting. I think he is still suffering from Jerusha's all pink birthday party back in January.

Spring Fling Quilt

I've been working on two quilts. A wedding quilt, and our Spring Fling quilt. I am almost done with the wedding quilt... good thing as it is for a wedding in a couple weeks! The Spring Fling was finished this morning before lunch. I love the Carribean type colors in it! It will make a fantastic cuddle quilt for those chilly nights sitting out on the swing. If the rain ever stops, that is.


Front:



Back:



Binding:

Hmmmmmmm.............

SOME OF YOU WILL APPRECIATE THIS
AND SOME OF YOU WILL NOT.

I DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR ANY OF THIS
BECAUSE ALL OF IT IS TRUE.


If any other of our presidents
had doubled the National Debt, which
had taken more than two centuries
to accumulate, in one year,
would You have Approved?

If any other of our presidents
had then proposed to Double
the debt again within 10 years,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had criticized a State Law that
he admitted he never even read,
would you think that he is
just an ignorant hot Head?

If any other of our presidents
joined the country of Mexico and sued a
State in the United States to force that State
to continue to allow Illegal Immigration,
would you question his patriotism
and wonder who's side he was on?

If any other of our presidents
had pronounced the Marine Corps
as if it were the Marine Corpse,
would you think him an Idiot?

If any other of our presidents
had put 87,000 workers out of work
by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on
offshore oil drilling on companies that have
one of the best safety records of any industry
because one foreign company had an accident,
would you have agreed?

If any other of our presidents
had used a forged document as the
basis of the moratorium that would render
87000 American workers unemployed,
would you support him?

If any other of our presidents
had been the first President to need a
teleprompter installed to be able to get through
a press conference, would you have laughed and said
this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is
really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?

If any other of our presidents
had spent hundreds of thousands of Dollars
to take his First Lady to a play in NYC,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had reduced your retirement plan holdings
of GM stock by 90% and given the
unions a majority stake in GM,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had made a joke at the expense
of the Special Olympics,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive
and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown
had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had given the Queen of England an
IPod containing videos of his speeches,
would you have thought it to be a
proud moment for America ?

If any other of our presidents
had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia ,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had visited Austria and made reference
to the nonexistent "Austrian language,"
would you have brushed it off
as a minor slip?

If any other of our presidents
had filled his Cabinet and circle of
Advisers with people who cannot seem
to keep current on their Income Taxes,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had stated that there were 57 states in
the United States , wouldn't you have had
second thoughts about his capabilities?

If any other of our presidents
would have flown all the way to Denmark
to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics
would benefit him walking out his front door in his
home town, would you not have thought he was
a self-important, conceited, egotistical jerk?

If any other of our presidents
had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to
"Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador
when it was "The 5th of May" (Cinco de Mayo),
and then continue to flub it when he tried again,
wouldn't you have winced in embarrassment?

If any other of our presidents
had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel
to go plant a single tree on Earth Day,
would you have concluded he's a Hypocrite?

If any other of our presidents'
Administrations had okayed Air Force One
flying low over millions of people followed by
a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing
widespread panic, would you have wondered
whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?

If any other of our presidents
had failed to send relief aid to flood victims
throughout the Midwest, with more people killed
or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you
want it made into a major ongoing Political issue
with claims of racism and incompetence?

If any other of our presidents
had created the positions of 32 Czars
who report directly to him, bypassing
the House and Senate on much of
what is happening in America ,
would you have approved?

If any other of our presidents
had ordered the firing of the CEO
of a major corporation, even though he
had no constitutional authority to do so,
would you have approved?




So, tell me again,
what is it about Obama that
makes him so brilliant and impressive?

Can't think of anything?
Then you'd better start worrying.
He's done all these things in 28 months --
and you have less than 19 months
to come up with an answer.

Every statement and action in this email
is factual and correctly attributable
to Barrack Hussein Obama.
Every bumble is a matter of record
and completely verifiable.



"All it takes for evil to triumph
is for good men to do nothing."


(Thanks to Dale for this excellent email.)

The Appalling Truth About Our President

Read it and weep folks.

Whitehouse Insider: Obama Hestitated in Osama Bin Laden Kill


ARGH!!!!

Happy Birthday to my oldest!

Yesterday Benjamin turned 15.

Seriously, I don't think I'm old enough to have a 15 year old, but there he is. Taller than his 6'2" Daddy, and smarter than a whip (don't tell him I said so!)

Only one year until the driving lessons begin.

Oiy vey.

Today is the 13th birthday for Esther and Elizabeth, my "I can't believe they're twins!" twins. If I had a dime for every time I thought "I can't believe they're twins" or heard someone else say something to that effect, both their college fees would be paid in full. They are night and day. Definitely their own people. They have developed their own personalities, and have their own varying likes and dislikes.

And now, they are officially teenagers.

We are officially now a 3 teenager household.

For a long time the girls have been begging to cut their hair. I had trimmed it through the years as it was needed, but they wanted to cut a great deal off the length to donate to Locks of Love. Dale and I discussed it, and decided to surprise them for their birthday.

Yesterday afternoon I told the girls I had to go out and run some errands and asked if they wanted to go with me. I told them I had to run up to the mall. Of course they wanted to go then. On the way I broke the news to them.

"Girls, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is there is NO way I'm going to be able to get your bathrobes done until after this wedding quilt is finished," which was totally true, and a whole different post.

"That's okay mom, we don't really need them right now anyway."

"The good news is, that we are going out to lunch to Panera."

This was met with general cheering.

"Oh, I forgot. There is one little thing we have to do first. You're getting your hair done. That is, if you still want to."

They assured me they did, and the magpie chattering that ensued made me wish fervently for earplugs.

Anyway, here are a couple of before pics:





While they were actually getting their hair done I couldn't resist a couple of snapshots.



While Esther was getting her hair done I kept hearing the hairdresser exclaim over how straight,smooth, and silky her hair is. I've always said that about Esther's hair, and wished I had it!



From under there somewhere, as soon as I snapped the picture was heard, "Moo-om!"
I should have warned her hairdresser about blow drying Elizabeth's hair. Her next client walked in as she was just starting to blow dry Elizabeth, and she said "I'll be about 5 minutes!". Ummm... I don't think so. Elizabeth has very thick hair and I know how long it takes. Try... 20 minutes at least! Guess who was right. :)

So, here is their "after" picture. I was going to take more pictures but the battery was dying. Maybe you are thankful it did! I think they look cute, stylish, and feminine, and.... (sigh).... older. I supposed it has to happen, eh?



I got my hair done too, but it was just a trim and a little shaping, nothing exciting. LOL. It was much more interesting to me to watch my little girls' transformation to young women before my eyes.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Divorce Agreement

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.

We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors.. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem." I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World".

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.


Would you agree to this?

Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American


P. S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you.


P. S. S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.


IN GOD WE TRUST

( Sounds like a good idea to me! Thanks to my Dad for this awesome email.)