You Don't See That Every Day

 This past weekend we started painting trees. It was like fingerpainting when we were little. Dip your hands into a glob of paint and splatter it all over. Except this time we were using gloves, and we had a mark to aim for - the tree trunk. We paint the trees the first 2 years to keep them from getting sunburned and to protect them from sprays. In some orchards you will see collars around the young trees. We looked at this option and decided it wasn't for us. The suckers till grow up those collars, and you have to remove each by hand to the get suckers that grow there. Plus that bark doesn't get accustomed to the sun if it has a collar on it.  Painting the trees is one job my kids don't mind doing too much. It goes quickly and we can have fun while we work. We wear a rubber glove on one hand with a cotton glove over it. We dip that gloved hand into the small bucker of paint we carry and coat the lower half of the tree. 5 seconds or so per tree and on to the next one. Thank...

Most mornings begin with a little groaning and slow moving these days. But once I get out of bed, I generally enjoy mornings. Especially when the sun is shining. This morning I noticed the beauty in the mundane, everyday bits of life. Making lunches for the 3 who leave the house each day; we go through a lot of bread!  Some homemade goodness I whipped us yesterday, oatmeal zucchini bread; it's thick and yummy and chock full of good things like walnuts.  Our dog is part bovine I think. She loves to eat the grass, especially when I mow and the sweet fresh stems get dropped. As I watched the dog I saw the lilacs are in full bloom. So pretty, and they smell so good!  Breakfast and some reading awaiting me  along with grading. I like to grade the girls' books in the morning while it is still quiet and my mind is awake and working. I wonder if most people have a morning 'routine' ...

I woke up this morning and thought, I can go for a run! There was nothing pressing that I needed to do, no deadlines, or places to shuttle children to. And it sounded like a really good idea to just go run. Yes, I admit, I am one of those people who just likes to run. I like the feeling while running, and afterwards too. But I had other factors motivating me too: 1. My son's cross country team. Watching him and the other high schoolers run, makes me want to join them; it reminds me of those days so long ago running around southern Oregon. 2. My Runner's World magazine came this week. I read it cover to cover, this time without eating ice cream! 3. Usually at this time of year, my husband and I are running a 5k for the Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel. We've done this race for the past 5 or 6 years, this year being the first time neither of us are. 4. The dog looked like it wanted to run too. It's always more fun to run with a buddy, so I hooked up the pup and took her along...

One of the best moments of the day Blowing bubbles with Little K. She would blow, then laugh, laugh, laugh. Even funnier was the dog Who chased any bubble she could see, and leaped all over the yard trying to catch that bubble. Hilarious! Easy entertainment.  

In my little corner of the world, many things catch my eye throughout the day. My little girl's curls. I just love them. My dog who sleeps curled up with a hose  My son showing off his muscles  by carrying around his sisters  And finally - an advance in the remodeling department! ( disclaimer: there have been many advances of which I have not blogged about, mainly because they were the type that don't photograph well, like texture. You can't really see it in a photo.) Step 956 of 1 million: paint in the girls' room The two girls who will occupy this room first picked out the colors, and prepped the area, then we got down to work. I let them do most of the painting, with a little help to reach the high places. Tomorrow will be the second coat, and then we'll paint the other walls white. And that leads us up to the finishing steps - flooring! Curtains! Trim! Move in! (not all in that order)  

We all scream for ice cream; because, really, what's better than ice cream to shout about? at least in the food arena...  And yes, that is a lot of ice cream cones. A lot . Guess what we'll be going through for the next few months? If you come to visit, we'll be offering cones for dessert. So we had a neighborhood ice cream party on our block this past Monday. I scored some great deals on Tillamook ice cream at the local Albertson's. You think you have great ice cream in your neck of the woods!? Oh no ... this stuff is so much better than anything else out there. Seriously, Tillamook beats them all, hands down. Try it, you'll see.  So anyway, we stocked up with a bunch of cartons, on sale, and then hauled them out to the street Monday evening. With some chairs, some whipped cream, and toppings from another neighbor's kitchen, we sat and waited. Since the kids had gone around the 'hood earlier in the day handing out invitations, we didn't hav...

This dog is where most of my time and energy have been focused lately. This cute little stinker has most of us wrapped around her paw. This puppy is helping us readjust our schedules. (She sleeps so weird)

I should be posting most of these over on my other blog . Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. You'll have to just check over and see. So on Saturday our little Princess M had her very first basketball practice with Upward Basketball. You may recall the BOY playing in this league for the past 7 years. The two older girls also had a chance to play a few years ago. Now it's her turn She was so excited! And I think she did rather well. I might be a little biased, but she dribbles really well, and she even made a basket - an amazing feat when you're only about 40 inches tall and the basket is about 6 feet in the air. Our puppy is getting easier to handle. She loves to be outside romping with the other dog. But she also really really enjoys the nice cozy warm indoors. Her sleeping positions are hilarious .. although this one seems rather comfy. Princess girl also had a cousin sleep over this weekend! Add this in to basketball practice and she was so wound up on Frid...

It has, without a doubt, been a crazy week here at the homestead. On Sunday we got a puppy. A 10-week old puppy is like a brand new baby. I already have a baby, an 18-month old human baby. Nevertheless, I was up at 0-dark-hours of the night trying to comfort this new baby. Every night since then, little puppy likes to be up at least once, howling and whining in her crate. We still run her to the tree once and then back in the crate she goes. But the whining continues until she falls back asleep. So a little lack of sleep once again in our household. And then on Monday night we had some strange flickering of the lights; the refrigerator kept audibly switching on and off, like it was struggling to work. So the next day I cleaned the coils, and thought that would help things. Nope.... Later I was trying to make dinner and every time I switched on a burner the rest of the house lights dimmed. A lot. At one point I turned on the clothes dryer and all the lights went out....

Announcing the newest member of our family: The yellow lab. She is 10 weeks old and so much fun! We're still working on names. We'll try out one today, another one tomorrow - Taffy, Cookie, Tiger, Lolo, Hunny, Sunny ... She had a little trial in the middle of the night - fussing for 2 hours in her crate. Our other dog suffered through it without a sound. We've had a few accidents in the house so far. That has been one of my biggest worries. Thankfully we are replacing the carpet she uses, with our remodeling project. And on that note - we have a garage door! It was installed today! Hurrah! And the electrician is almost finished! Each little piece gets us closer to 'being done'. No garage door this morning Starting to build it Almost there Done! A bright shiny new, quiet, garage door.