Windfall

Remember the hurricane that roared through town
in September? A buddy of mine was helping clear some
fallen trees and asked if I wanted some black cherry.
"Are you kidding? Of course I do!"

The fallen tree yielded four logs about eight feet long.
We painted the ends to prevent splitting.

Add one bandsaw mill and the fun begins.

First cut on the first log.

Making lumber. This was quite
an operation to watch.

The lumber has to dry for at least a year

before we can use any of it.
Four wheelbarrows of sawdust later,
400 board feet of black cherry. Yippee!!

Hersey finds a home

OK, I didn't want another cat.
My prior cat (Kiki) got hit by a car last winter and I had kind of gotten used to not messing with taking care of a pet.

But I had never seen a kitten on his own that was this young before. He could have fit in the palm of one had and he still had baby blue just-opened eyes when I first heard him mewing under my deck. In these pictures, I've already been feeding him a couple weeks, so he is just now about weaning size.

He seems to be pretty well adjusted for one abandoned so young. I've just starting introducing him to the house and he has pretty good manners so far.

I've never seen a cat with this coloring. He has dark face, feet and tail, On his body, he has very dark undercoat...like chestnut but he has a bit of a white overcoat. In a horse, this color is described as Roan. I considered that for a name but Olivia helped me come up with some much better options. Some were just silly but most of the names had a coffee theme.

"DeCaff", "Starbuck", "Latte", and others. I settled on "Hersey-Mocha-Latte" with Hersey for short.

Now if any of you need or want a kitten, I could let him go. I'll break him in and have some fun with him for now, but, like I said, I really didn't want a cat.



But he seems to have found me.

Pentawards

I have to brag about Christopher.
As most of you know, he works for a big graphic design firm downtown. They follow a team approach but Chris has had primary responsibility in the last four years for packaging and labeling of P&G's Vicks product line (Vicks, Dayquil, Nyquil, etc).

His company recently won an award for the Vicks labeling and packaging.
Congratulations Chris!!

Check it out by clicking the title above. Scroll towards the bottom of the webpage.

what would lawrence think?

In light of economic and political tension at the moment, I thought a little humor might be in order. We must confess we have laughed outloud at this from abroad. I can almost hear Jim clearing his throat and jingling coins in his pocket in measured protest:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/the-lawrence-welk-show/727501/

Sorry for the commercial up front. I couldn't get the video to embed properly.

Northeast Ohio Trip

September 12th through the 14th we visited northeast Ohio to ride the
Ohio & Erie Towpath, and visit family in Canton, OH.

We planned on riding the towpath Friday and Saturday.
It rained and rained. We got wet Friday.
Didn't get any pictures of the times we crashed.
Saturday we decided to stay dry.

Instead of riding we drove
to Carroll County and saw the house at New Harrisburg.

Gone was "the Minerva", the sand pile, and the garden shed.
The yard seems smaller now that I'm an adult.
It was really big the time I had to cut all the grass.

About 3 miles from Dad/Grandpa's boyhood home
we saw this hawk.

We ended our trip visiting the Canton Clan.
It was good to see Arch and Gail.

Even More Bikes

I like seeing the Westsiders travel all over the country on their bikes.

Remember when you were a kid and you could travel everywhere with your imagination?

Riding the C&O Canal Again

We enjoyed our May bicycle tour so much that we decided to do part
of it again. This time we took the girls along.
We rode the towpath over 5 days instead
of four and went downstream instead of up.
It made for a more relaxed pace.

Biker Babes

Got weeds? This is what happens when Biker Babes trade seats.

Ribbit...

Emily emerging from Paw Paw tunnel.

Looking east from Paw Paw tunnel.

We visited historic Fort Frederick.
Here's Dwight & Julie on the balcony
of one of the fort's buildings.

Taking a break along the Potomac River.
In the background is Dam No. 4.

Our Babes in a cave. During the Civil War people from
the town of Sharpsburg Va. took shelter here
during the battle of Antietam.

Didn't get enough exercise riding all day so we decided
to schlepp our bikes up three flights of stairs.
Actually, this was the only way to get across the river
to Harper's Ferry, WV. where we stayed overnight.

Buzzards or Vultures? Is there a difference?

The Biker Babes at Great Falls. Much less water
than was here in May.

This was a great vacation and a wonderful way to
end the summer together.

More Mileposts

Remember our bicycle tour in May?
We rode from Washington DC to Pittsburgh PA.
The trip was a combination of the C&O Canal Towpath
and the Great Allegheny Passage, a rail-trail.

These are the first mileposts we noticed.
The one on the left is an original, maybe 180 years old.
On the right is a typical milepost by the National Park Service.

Mile 184 was the goal of our toughest day.
We were elated to finally see it.

While near Hancock MD we took advantage of the Western Maryland Railtrail.
Here is a milepost left by the Western Maryland Railroad.
It's just a piece of rail with paint.

Below is a typical milepost on the Great Allegheny Passage.
It's not vintage by any means.

Above is a concrete milepost of the WM Railroad.
I think the 'B' indicates miles from Boston.

A milepost remaining from the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad.
The P&LE met the WM at Connellsville PA.

Railroads used whistleposts to alert engineers to blow their whistles.
Road crossings were / are not always easy to see.

The perfect tri-fecta, a railroad milepost, a whistlepost,
and a Great Allegheney Passage Milepost
all in the same shot. Does it get any better?

Bon Voyage

Dear Family,

I just wanted to let you all know my send off date is this Saturday August 9th. There will be no party or celebration just a big ol' long 12 hour drive. So if you could pray for my parents and I for safe travels. I hope I don't forget aything!! North Carolina here I come!!!!

Love Always

I did it!!!!!!!!!

I HAVE A JOB NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will be teaching 2nd grade!!!!!!!!! I'll send you all a link of my school!!!!!!!!!! Ahhh!!!! I'm floating on cloud-9!!!!!!!!!

Our Mary is getting married

We are never sure about little sisters...but my experience has been they turn out to be your best friend.

Today Annie hostessed a shower for Mary. Do you realize how quickly October is approaching?

























Mary is already beautiful and bride-like. I can't wait to see her in her real wedding dress.



















Thanks Dad, for being dad, and especially for entertaining the dogs while we partied. Of course we saved you cake.

More Gatherings in July

More family gatherings so far in July.
How do you get five brothers to smile and stand where they are told?











It takes lots of women.




















At Annies Graduation, we were happy to have Monika and John.
Nice to have visitors from afar.



































I'm happy to see the bond between my two youngest brothers.

July Blooms on Mapleleaf

The deer can't reach my deck, which may be one of the reasons I've become fond of orchids. The heat is a challenge but some of them can take the summer sun when dappled through lattice or high shade from trees. These are under a pergola with added lattice.






















I love this one but it has no tag so no name.


















Hazel Boyd














Susan something or other has two spikes of blooms.















Even with the heat, the blossoms last several weeks. It is always sad to see them fade and go.

Job Update

Hi Family,
I know many of you have been anticipating my future status on jobs and whatnot. I appreciate your support behind me every step of the way and your interest.
Well my trip to NC was very fruitful and properous. It went a little something like this...
I had to go to Human Resources first to get a map and speak with some people about my pay and packages and benefits etc. So I had my suit jacket in the backseat so it wouldn't wrinkle. I get there and of course I lock my keys in my car!!! I died a little on the inside but immediately asked the stranger next to me. She got AAA on the phone right away and the HR rep. came out and stood w/ me telling my not to worry and my interview schedule can be botched so I can get to all of the schools (5). W/in 30mins. help arrived in the form of 3 service gentlemen.
Then I began my adventure I went to my 1st school which was great they said if you want to work here call me and we'll set it up. The 2nd school was the same story, but it was for 4th grade and that's not really my forte.
The last 2 schools I really enjoyed and they said they would call me. So right now I'm waiting to hear from them. If I don't hear from them I will take the 1st school. So I HAVE A JOB! Just don't know which school and that stuff. Which is scarry.
The next day my dad and I went apartment shopping. I fell in love w/ the very 1st apartment I looked at! It is 1 bdrm. 3rd story w/ a balcony overlooking a beautiful lake. The complex has a swiming pool and fitness room. We took pics but they aren't loaded to my comp yet.
More news to come and I hope to see all of you tomorrow for the photo shoot!
Peace and Love,
Anne

Graduation

These are all the graduating seniors from my sorority minus 1 or 2. We normally have larger classes gradating (20 or so), but we are a smaller class and the other seniors are staying on an extra year.

These are my pleased parents after the ceremony with my beautiful diploma!!!

Whew! I did it!!! FINALLY!!!

Well I am officially a college graduate! Wow! I cannot believe it, just the other day I used my student ID to get the student price at the movie theatre. I knew I technically should not have done that, but I'm a broke college graduate, and I'm not stupid. I paid for that ID it's time it starts paying me.

Anyway, I graduated June 15th, 2008 sometime it the afternoon. It was a wonderful ceremony and the best part is...I never have to right another INST paper again!!!!