Grandpa gettin' down with the Peetster

Down on the floor, that is!
Grandpa and Petey had some great playtime when
we visited to celebrate Peter's first birthday & Christmas.
We learned that you have to be fast if you want to build a block tower, since Peter's chief delight is to smash them down, then laugh gleefully.

(l) Collin & Grammy making biscuits


(r) Silly stuff before T'day dinner

A Whirlwind Fall

Time to catch up with the Sheps in AZ....

Wow, it's been a busy fall!! Since last blog we have met our 3rd grandchild via ultrasound pictures, entertained guests from Texas, traveled twice to the Midwest, celebrated 3 holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas) AND grandson Peter's 1st birthday. We've "remodeled" a linen closet (more work than you'd think!), tried to make space for a car in the garage (impossible dream) and attempted to grow a "winter lawn" (not too successfully). We've shopped for, wrapped, and shipped or personally given all our Christmas gifts. Now it's time to think about wrapping up the year 2008.

One of my New Year's resolves will be to blog monthly, which will be a major increase from my not quite quarterly postings. PapaShep has worked hard at getting our photos better organized at the computer. He's also been working on the computer to make it a little faster and less prone to crashing (yea!). I've de - cluttered our office niche so it's more pleasant to work in the small space. Hopefully, all that will help make blog posting easier. If Emily and Andrea can be current with their news while working/raising babies, well, I should be able to do it, too, right? We'll see!

Javelinas, Scorpions, Lizards and Snakes

Javelinas
This morning has been pleasant as I caught up on several blogs I enjoy reading. I need to spend some quality time with my own blog, however. There is plenty of "Life in Arizona" news to report, not the least of which is JAVELINAS!!! Nature in this place is wonderful and weird, to say the least. As if it isn't enough to have fascinating (and scary) bugs learn about, we also have to be on the lookout for these big ol' wild boars that roam the neighborhood. LBK and I were enjoying an evening walk last Sunday when we spotted two large four-legged creatures down the road ahead of us. "Odd looking dogs," I thought....and then realized what they really were. Javelinas can be aggressive, so we turned around and headed home another way.

Scorpions
That same night, I spied a small scorpion skittering across our sidewalk. It was curling and uncurling his "tail" (the stinger!), which was how I recognized what he was. This one was small, but PapaShep saw a much bigger one crossing the street near LBK's house last week. They're intriguing creatures - from a distance - but I don't desire to ever have a close encounter with one. KK's secretary was stung by one a couple weeks ago while walking barefoot. Don't forget to slip on those flip-flops if you're going outside in the dark!

Lizards
We have recently been developing techniques to chase lizards out of the house. Last month, on two separate occasions, we had to herd a little critter out of the living room after leaving the patio or laundry room doors propped while making repeated trips in and out of the house. It was hilarious and I think we could have won a prize on America's Funniest Videos, if only someone had been there with a camcorder. Some of you may remember the reputation we earned back in Michigan for our amazing ability to remove bats from our house and camper. In many respects, herding lizards is easier, and not as noisy since I don't scream as much while chasing lizards as I do while dodging bats in a pop-up camper. However you look at it, it's an adventure and now we have a new skill we didn't know we'd need when we packed up headed to the beautiful southwest.

Snakes
"Snakes? Snakes.....I don't know no snakes." Remember that line from Home Alone? I'm not a fan of snakes, though I understand that they have a purpose in this world. We had a lesson in snakes last month that was amazingly interesting. After meeting a pretty little snake (yes, I said "pretty") slithering across the sidewalk at LBK's house, I decided to try to identify it. He was quite small, shiny, and almost "silvery." I found some info which seems to identify the snake I saw: http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?search=Sonora+semiannulata&guide=Snakes

What was so interesting was the number of color variations found in the same snake. Who knew?? I surely didn't, but now you do, too! They are supposedly frequent "visitors" to Phoenix suburban yards, and hey, guess what - they eat scorpions, so LB and I decided we were happy to have them in the 'hood.

October 9, 2007 Posting Revisited

Guess what? It's August 2008 and my hobby room is at last cleaned up, organized, decorated and DONE! I promised to post photos in an early blog (10/9/2007) and now can finally do just that. Worn out carpet has been replaced by a "dark pine" laminate floor. Boring beige walls are now a warm tan color that reminds me of graham crackers. Our favorite interior designer says it's a great color for creativity. We found a multi-purpose craft table on clearance at our huge JoAnn Fabric store that will be a great spot for scrap-booking, cutting fabric, beading or gift-wrapping. It's white laminate like the bookcase we bought last fall and the sewing table Tom/Dad built for me for Christmas several years ago. There's one real wood piece, an old lamp of my mom's, and quilts on the wall to add a cozy feel to all the white furniture. On our next IKEA outing, I hope to purchase a large round rug (only $19.99!) to add a bit more color to the room and give the dogs a snoozing spot when they're hanging out with me. Closet, cabinets and bookcase are filled with things for crafting, just waiting for me to make time for hobbies. Yippee - I love my room!

Drowning...and I'm not even in the pool!

Help, I'm drowning in paper! Every week I think I'll catch up on the newspapers I didn't read on the day they arrived. Every Wednesday - the day before recycling is picked up - I have a stack of newspapers I still haven't read. It's frustrating.

Then there's mail.... stacks of junk mail, coupon mailers, grocery ads, store sale ads, catalogs up to my eyeballs. Each week it's the same - I think I'll look through it all for those coupons I need to save or that bargain I didn't realize I needed. But, usually the coupons expire before I can use them and the sales end before I get to the store.

And how about magazines?? I have months worth of beautiful quilting magazines I haven't even taken out of their plastic mailing wrappers. Am I really too busy to read my favorite kind of magazine? What about Phoenix Home and Garden? It is arguably the most gorgeous publication I have ever read. But some months they sit on the coffee table without a single page being flipped. Oh, and then there's the health and housekeeping magazines. Who needs to read them anyway - they're the same every month, filled with articles about how to get organized, how to lose weight, and lately, how to have a flat stomach. Oh, and after you lose weight and get the flat stomach be sure to make up the gooey dessert recipe featured on the cover. Hmmm, what's wrong with that picture??

So, here's my official notice to paper clutter. I'm giving up. If I don't read a magazine the month I receive it, it's going in the recycling. If I don't read the newspaper the day it arrives, it goes in the recycling. I'm cancelling the health magazine and the housekeeping ones, too. Junk mail and coupon mailers are going directly into the recycle basket. I tell you it's a veritable fire hazard having all this paper in the house. Besides that, I think I was created for a higher calling than endlessly sorting through papers and I'm not going to stand for it anymore! So there.

Dad's Birthday

Dad wanted a simple celebration for his birthday last Sunday. We had
a modified version of his "usual" birthday menu - "What! No cherry pie??" - and some great play time in the pool. Wish everyone could have been here to share the fun, but this photo will convey the idea of what a happy day it was.

So Far Behind

There's so much news to post and great photos to share! But so far, as a Blogger, I am totally inconsistent. Now, to make things worse, the cable that lets me download photos from my camera to my computer is 2,500 miles from my reach. This weekend, we'll try to update our news. We'll add pix after we solve our camera problem.

It's just another sunny day here today! 82 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Aunt Joan in VT tells me they have so much snow that they had to shovel it off the roof of their house! There was no place to dump it except in front of the barn. Now the barn door is blocked by the snow and she can't get her van out. Their temperature today was 20 degrees BELOW zero. That's extreme winter weather.