Two Cuties Dropped By

The other day my sister Linda dropped by with her pretty little granddaughter Shaylah.

Shaylah with our Boston Terrier Daisy.

A great picture of Shaylah and Nana!

Many Smiles To You,

D~~~~

Backyard Clean-Up

We just finished up several days of much needed rain, but before it rained, we took advantage of the nice weather and started raking up the leaves under part of the treed section in our backyard.

We raked from the fence up by the pavilion over to the dry creek bed which is about halfway across the yard.

I raked...

and raked...

...a little each day for four days.

The picture above is taken with the 

dry creek bed about 10 feet behind me,

our stopping point for now.

When George came home from work 

each night, we picked up piles of leaves.
We sat under the pavilion too.

It goes like this: 

pick up a few bags, 

sit under the pavilion, 

pick up a few, 

sit and sit and sit, 

pick up a few, 

sit and sit and sit and sit, 

pick up a few, 

sit and sit and sit and sit and sit

and sit and sit and sit and sit

and sit some more.

It took me about 4-1/2 hours total 

to rake them all but it took us at least 

four nights to pick them up because 

of all the sitting that is required. 

It's a law.

In Texas.

Must sit between raking 

and picking up leaves. 

Or go to jail.

We don't want to go to jail. 

It requires too much sitting.

Daisy was taunted by a squirrel during the 

raking, picking up, and sitting process.

It kept her busy for quite awhile!

When it was all over with, we had about 

45 of these Contractor's bags full of leaves.

Notice I capitalized Contractor's?

It's because Contractors 

are very important.

They have their own bags.

If you get your own bags, I'll 

capitalize your name and title too.

(Your Name Here), Bag Owner.

A storm came through about a 

month ago and did us a favor by 

bringing down these dead trees. 

Can you see them?

Cutting them down was on our 

to-do list but we can mark it off 

now and go right to the clean up!  

By the way, the bottom of the picture
above starts just across the dry creek bed.

In addition to the tree clean-up,
there are more leaves to be raked
but thankfully not as
many as we just removed.

I'm sad that we only got about 2 or 3 hours of snow this year but I'm happy that spring is pretty much here. 

I'll be much happier if it will linger until September though.

Spring Smiles to Y'all,
D~~~~

Shop Stairway

Awhile back, George finished building the steps up to the storage loft in the shop.

Yeah, I'm slow at blogging it!

The steps pulled out for climbing.

And now they're tucked
away against the wall.

Nice!

This is a worktable that he made.

He has everything in his shop on wheels.

Very cool.

Here's the bigger picture.

He's quite a nifty, crafty, smart, builder.

Cute too!

Smiles,

D~~~~

Mom on Valentine's Day

I'm late on this one but I just remembered that I didn't post it. Actually, it happened when I saw the pictures just sitting there in the file, glaring sadly at me. Then they yelled, "Yoo-hoo! We're still waiting to be posted!"

And when pictures talk, I listen!

Mom's nursing home had a Valentine's candlelit dinner for the residents and a dance afterwards.

Doesn't Mom look cute?

George and Mom

We opened her sweater so 

you could see the dress.

People donated dresses for the

ladies and jackets for the men.

A seven-piece band performed lots of 

good, really old country songs.

We enjoyed listening to them.  

They were nice folks from Gainesville,

Collinsville, Pilot Point and other

towns in the area.

On the way out, George says to me,

"Hey, they're here once a month!"

I detected a bit of excitement in his voice.

I had to ask--

"So now you want to come to the nursing 

home once a month to hear the band?"

He chuckled, and said yes!

So we'll be having a big 

night out once a month now!

At the nursing home...

I hear you laughing.

So am I.

With Smiles and Gallons of Laughter,

D~~~~

THE BIRDS!

Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds came to mind when I spotted this flock invading our yard and the neighbors yards this morning.

Grackles

and grackles

and grackles

 and more grackles!

If there's a grackle hunting season, someone should alert Elmer Fudd.

Many Smiles To You,
D~~~~

~~Shop Update~~

It's been quite awhile since I posted progress pictures of George's shop. Okay, it's been forever so here's a bit of something--FOR NOW.

Geo has one lovely and very large red wall in the shop. 

Can you see it in the picture below?

Okay, good.

He finally got the TV he wanted too.

Can you see it in the picture below?

Okay, good. 

If not, squint real hard and look behind

the yellow ladder. That's where you might be 

able to catch a glimpse of the sleek and 

elusive electronic beauty!

The TV isn't hooked up yet though. 

Geo (I like to call him Mr. Electronics) is 

waiting until March when Dish Network 

distributes their brand spankin' new DVR.

I suspect it's probably a 

heavy duty, 

high definition, 

state-of-the-art,

super duper, 

industrial strength,

lumber scented,

well-oiled,

high-powered, 

fat-free,

sugar-free 

DVR!

But what do I know!

Now that's all well and good but it's not 

what this post is about.

Good thing, huh?

Anyway, can you see the three cutouts on 

the left-hand side, at the top of the 

lovely and very large red wall?

Okay, good.

There will be steps up to the cutout on the far-right of those three.

See the blue tape next to it?

Okay, good.

It really isn't important, I just 

wanted to know if you could see it!

Can you see the steps in the photo below?

Okay, good.

Geo built them! 

Since then, he's been working seven days

a week so the steps are just layin' low 

until he can take the next "step" 

which is putting them up.

And another view.

The steps will sit flush against the wall

and roll out to be in the proper stepping

position when they're needed.

Very cool!

The cutout on the far left of those three, 

holds a speaker that was made for Geo 

by his brother Jim many moons ago. 

Geo custom made the cutout to fit the speaker.

The cutout in the middle is 

a pet project that Mr. Electronics

has planned for the future.

He wants to build an electronic 

platform on which we can load tubs, etc.

to be lifted up to the loft with the mere

push of a button!

(That will sure come in handy at Christmas!) 

I guess you could say that it will be

a modern-day dumbwaiter.

Probably a 

heavy duty, 

high definition, 

state-of-the-art,

super duper,

industrial strength,

lumber scented,

well-oiled,

high-powered, 

fat-free,

sugar-free 

dumbwaiter!

But don't hold me to it.

I have no doubts that it will be a 

magnificent dumbwaiter because 

Geo is really good at this stuff!

I'll post pics of the new ladder (not the old 

yellow one unless there is a high demand for it) 

when he gets it in place.

You may or may not want to stay tuned!

Smiles and Grins,

D~~~~