November Snow and Our Adopted Part Time Cat, Oscar

Our first

 Our first snow of the year was a small one, but a harbinger of things to come.

 And, on November 26th and 29th, it did come. This is our view from the bedroom - nice huh? I don't see any need to shovel the deck - the snow's  too pretty to remove, anyway, don't you agree?

From our front steps. No, Kevin, this isn't equal to the snow you brought with you those two times, but not bad (without a pipeline to you know who). Some background: Many years ago, Kevin and friends came to Utah twice to ski. The 1st time they arrived 1/15, we'd had almost no snow in Dec and 1/2 Jan, then all hell broke loose. We got more snow in the last two weeks of Jan than in any full January, EVER. Now, if that's not divine intervention, I don't know what is!! To top this, next time they came, we got the largest one day snowfall ever recorded. Snowed so much both times, K and friends couldn't even get up the canyons to enjoy the bounty. Serves 'em right!!

 Oops, notice the frozen hummingbird feeder - forgot to bring it in. Also, see the evergreen that I've knocked snow off of? It was laying on the ground after the 11/26 snow. I got a neighbor to help me chain it up to the fence. Hope it survives - it's part of our privacy line of trees. MK and Steven planted these rocket junipers along the fence when they first moved in about 20 yrs ago.

 Ah, here's one reason MK spends as much time in her office as she does. Summer or winter, a great view. Cute little "snow caps" on the bird feeders, yes?

 Our sometimes guest: Oscar. Monk and Devon travel a bunch and we get to adopt  him for several days at a time. I keep him downstairs with me and let him roam the full basement. He's a good companion while I play pool or work at my desk. We'd like him upstairs, but then there's Janie and Melon.
He's saying: Whatcha' takin' a picture of me for, huh??? He sleeps in his carrier. Our cats hate theirs 'cause it means a trip to the vet. Oscar seems to love his tho. We've applied several times for a permanent adoption, but no success yet. We'll keep trying - O is the sweetest cat!!

Travels With Bob

The 1st trip started out with a quick visit to L, C, and R's house. The bouncy thing is a wonder (for both Riley and Lindy). All kinds of entertaining things hanging around. Anything to give you a breather, eh Lindy? Squash? Carrots? Who cares, just bring it on! I, says R, can make a mess of/with anything you choose, Mom. Good eater, tho.

As one would expect, Mimi (Grandma Melissa) sent a care package for her favorite granddaughter. Books and toys abound. R likes 'em!!

Mommy and R as I came in the door. Notice the shyness (Riley, not Lindy)? Didn't take Riley long to warm up to my considerable charms, big voice and all.

Like I said! I'll bet I took 50 pics of this child - more than I ever remember taking before, of anything. Since MK couldn't come along on this trip, it was either take lots of R pics or DON'T COME HOME!! OK, I just dutifully clicked away.

After 2 fun-filled hours with the Kincaid family, minus Chris (work called), I drove a short way to Jan's and Jack's in Bastrop. They have almost completed the house and yard (yea, right. As long as J and J are breathing, they'll be doing projects). Notice the boot? There are several more Texas artifacts not shown. Proud to be a Texan, are you? So are David and I even tho we're 1200 miles removed.

OK, here's the "essence of Jack." Took several months to build in between square dancing all over TX and CO. Lots of storage (Jan), lots of workshop space - with real tools (Jack), lots of loft sleeping space (Eric's crew), and all 'round good job, Jack. Eric helped some, as I understand it.

Left Bastrop early Thursday for the Valley - HW 77 all the way from La Grange to Sebastian (find that on your map). Had lunch with my EEHS Hispanic buddies (the reason I went to the reunion) and then over to the Casa de Palmas Hotel in McAllen. No cartel sightings tho. Was I ever disappointed!

Abour 150 attended, mostly Hispanics. After all, it's the Lower Rio Grande Valley. There was a ~ 2 hr Memorial honoring Vets who died as well as all the deceased who are known to the Committee. This pic is of Domingo Sanchez, my EEHS teammate and was the most wonderful guy in the world. Died in a car accident when he was 20, and was the starting fullback at Sam Houston State. Tragic!!

Hotel patio where a lot of visiting happened. The Committee made tons of food so we all sat around and ate tamales, tacos, sweets, etc. Even had a sip of wine or two - can you believe it? Billie Cellum (seated left, Class of '46, John Tayloe (seated right, Class of '60), and James (Bubba) Richardson standing, Class of '66. Lives around the corner from Jan outside of Bastrop.

Mary Etta Rumfield (not a good pic) from Del Rio, Leonard Wilson - Houston (ultra right winger who gives me no end of ----. Was a neighbor in Elsa), and Gregg Carter - still in the Valley and has a nice home in Ruidosa, NM.

And, one of the rerasons I went. Juan Capello and new wife, Cynthia. Juan was an outstanding football player and student (our Saluditorian). Went to Texas A & I on a scholarship, was on a National Championship team, and then on to med school. He's a renowned ortho surgeon in the Dallas - Ft. Worth area.
Saturday night, we honored his brother, Robert, who has won 966 basketball games, the most in the country by a Hispanic coach, and not far off the current national record.

I went on the SA to see and stay with Bruce Gregg, a SWT basketball teammate and my best and most long lasting friend. No pics, tho.

Next trip was a consulting trip - eat your heart out, Bob K, Kevin, Chris K, and Narith. This is the clubhouse at Entrata, a Troon managed resort property in St. George, UT. The windows at ground level were where I facilitated and presented at an off-site for one of my SLC clients. Tough duty, eh?

Did I say Utah? Didn't I mean Hawaii? A 200 yd carry for a mid iron, or for you bigger hitters, a short iron if the ball isn't in the unplayable lava rocks. Good hole for 375 yds from the blues.
Ah, a simplier hole. Just bend it twice and you're home. No problem for you, Narith - you hit it crooked anyway!

We (I) opted to hike instead of attempting golf (after a 5 yr layoff). The red rock structures are much the same as the world renowned red rock around Moab.

Petroglyphs everywhere. This whole area is less than 10 minutes from my host's house.

Watch that 1st step, it's a b----! In the backgroung, you can see the golf course and Snow Canyon is to my left about a mile. Quite a place.

I stayed with Don and Kay Simon - I bought OCM, my prior consulting firm, from Don in '90. We've been pretty god friends since then. He also teaches skiing at Park City - at 65 yet! Has a good life!

Look closely in this "narrows" and you'll see Don. We had to backtrack to get out. Please, no flash floods whilst we're in there.

The fini - Don and Kay's house. They have a golf cart and just hop in it and run to the Entrada course, spa, courts, or restaurant. Looks like Santa Fe or Taos, verdad?

Well, Folks, so go my travels recently. Unfortunately, I leave for beautiful Dayton, OH Sunday and on to the scintillating community of Radford,VA after that. Then, I play in the Utah Open Pool Tourney. Just hope to not embarrass myself.

Perennial Gardening 101

It was a big time gardening weekend! I cleaned out the backyard NE corner of almost all plants and roto-tilled in some garden mulch. Then, MK and I picked out some new plants (~10) and we replanted some we wanted to keep. This shot doesn't have great definition, but you can see the potential for this corner - color and spacing! We also got some new plants for MK's "Hill" outside her office window. We're going to put in 72 tulips in the back, most going into said corner.
In addition, we decided to do our perennial magic on Chris' and Devon's rental, per their request. Invoice to follow at our consulting rates.

Scroll down and see the "before" pics first. A real mess, to say the least!! This is a east facing garden with good south sun and the perennials, most of which came from our garden, will do real well. We brought in a half yd of treated mulch and top soil, then roto-tilled that in. Laid some sod where needed, too. They did the rock border from stones around the yard. They are going to get 6 or 8 batches of tulips this week and we'll help get those in. Should be a killer, come spring. Notice the figure lurking behing the tree. Hmmm, a Devon sighting??

Just who is that hulking beast watering the new plants? "Monk, get that bubbler closer to the plants!" Damn, just can't get good help these days.

Before my aggressive clippers went to work. That (ugly) tree is a volunteer, trash, tree but it provides nice privacy for the porch area. Luckily, the new next door neighbor had a dump truck available for us to toss the big pile of cuttings in. (Into which we tossed--?)

A mess, eh? Cute little house, though.

Now, the big challenge will be for Devon and Monk to keep the dogs out of the new garden. New smells, fresh dirt, steer manure in the mulch - delectable treats for Pepper and Waylon!

Travel, Travel, Travel

And here are at our B & B in Tacoma for the wedding and celebration. We had about 75% of the rooms in this large old home. The owners were marvelous cooks. MK sitting on the railing talking with her Dad and Sydney.

You can see plenty of wedding pics on Duncan and Betsy's blog site.

Reversed the direction and got this picture of the Sound. We ate down on the water one night. Tacoma is listed as one of the Top Walking Towns in the US. But, Folks, it's up and down, not level like TX.

As you can see from my blog's opening page, the girls were having a great time at a lake in SE Oklahoma. Spent a week there and I wish I could have joined them.

No pics of our next and upcoming travels. I fly to Roanoke, VA for a two day coaching thing for ATK in Radford. I'm staying at the Inn at VA Tech in Blacksburg - always wanted to see the school. Here's where the fun starts -- ROAD TRIP! MK is flying into Roanoke on the 4th and we drive over to Charlottesville to see the Thomas Jefferson historical estate. Then, on to Columbia, MD, to visit L and J for a night. Then, on to Voorhees, NJ to stay a couple of nights with Bob and Syndey. Whew!! Lucky we don't have more than a couple of hrs driving on any of these legs.

Then, back home so MK can start getting ready for another fun-filled year at Westminster. I go to Kansas City the following week for a two day consulting thing. Ain't retirement wonderful?

Monk's and Devon's 1st Family BBQ

Truth be known, the July 4th get together was not about BBQ, or even family. It was for Monk to show off his new dog, Waylon. Now, I ask you, is that a cute little face or what??

Chris and Devon moved into a rental in Sugar House area last week and this was their first "cookout" of many to come, I'm sure. Monk is working on the corn and he got it just right, too. The steaks were outta' sight - must have had a good BBQ sensei (that would be David!). Devon did a wonderful job getting it all organized - must be that Tulane degree, ya' think? Here's David going on about something or other, and is that Laura praying that he'll finally shut up? Notice the beer close to David? Eighteen months, to the day, since he's had one. This fact belongs in Ripley's Believe It or Not, don't you think?

Ah, three of my most favoritest people in the world. Aren't they a cute couple? Well, cute may not be the right word for Monk at 6'4" and Devon at 6'1". Imposing may be a better word. And that beautiful, sweet, wonderful (etc, etc) lady on the left is mighty special, too. 15 years together - who'd have thunk it? This is where several of you don't say: How could she have put up with Bobby for that long? Bite you tongues, Jan and Holly.

Well, here's David still talking!! Just any day now, he may actually say something of value and relevance. I'll bet Kayla, Luke, J, and O are asking: "Mommy, why does Uncle David have that funny moustache, or is it a beard?" Hint to the two Mommies before you answer your kids: 'Cause he's weird, that's why!!

Nice little corner cabinet in their house replete with stuff from both of them. Ain't togetherness sweet??

Ah, here's the star of the show - Waylon. Wonder where that unusual name came from?

And more Waylon with me and my wine. Monk was putting on a full court press for us to get a dog. Not gonna' happen, though both of us love dogs and have had several in our respective pasts.

That was our 4th of July and a good one it was. Thanks again Monk and Devon.

Early June Perennials

This one is outside MK's office window. She can/does look at the flowers and watch her birds go to and fro. We have, at last count, 7 bird feeders + a squirrel feeder (the racoon likes that one and has torn it down three times, so far). Every time a UPS or Fed-Ex truck stops in front, I say: "Oh, no, yet another feeder." But, MK has attracted a whole new group of birds this year which gives us hours of watching pleasure.

Back yard looks better this year than it ever has.Lots going on in this frontal look.

I especially like the way the roses frame the porch and steps. The Japanese maple is a nice touch, too, don't you think?

BIG rose bush. In a couple of days, it will have several 100 blooms. Pretty! One can see it from the bottom of Stringham, a long block away.

The day lillies bloom on or around Lindy's and Logan's birthdays (27th and 24th, respectively), and that's how MK remembers when they are at their peak. The yellows and oranges will be a nice color addition to our palette (palette?).

Our side garden and Les' house with many changes. The young couple who bought it have done lots (it needed lots!) and will continue both inside and out. I've known him, Adam, from the Millbrook area since he was a pup. His brother babysat for Chris several times and I know his Mother, Carolyn Kirkham, from the old neighborhood. I helped Carolyn (Kirkham and Friends Realty) get the listing after Les died and Adam then bought the house. for a "song." He's going to put as much in it as he paid for it. (Ouch!)

All in all, we're very pleased with our gardens this year. There are a few spots which need work and that'll be for the rest of the summer/fall. Gotta' have something to keep us occupied.

Stay tuned!!

Ahhhhhhh, Tulip Time in SLC!

April 29th: Yes, Jody, we just thought winter was over, and so did our little tulips. Poor them -- they came out ready to show off their colors and look what happened. Oh well, they'll have lots of moisture and the cooler weather may even make 'em last longer. More for our neighbors and us to enjoy. I am barefoot and didn't want to step off the porch to shoot these pics. Lazy me!

The 4+ inches on the table shows what we're getting as of 10 this morning.

This is what happens when a new squirrel feeder is installed without providing adequate directions to the squirrels. He (she?) tried to gnaw thru the wood to get to the peanuts. All he (she?) had to do was crawl thru the gap I conveniently made for them at the top. But, no, had to damn near destroy it. Wood chips were flying everywhere. Those rodent teeth do a job!!

4/28: Outside MK's office window. She has several new bird feeders so she can commune with the variety of birds that visit us. I swear, we have the most delectable yard for birds in town (or at least our birdfeed bill indicates this).

Many new tulips were put in last year under "Lindy's" window. Made a real difference in this area.

Sorry, it's a bit fuzzy. My favorite angle. Shows the remodel (2005) well and the garden.