Birthday Treat

Someone here celebrated a serious over-the-hill birthday this weekend and was treated to a visit. Son Rob and his family were here for a couple of days. Since this was Eleanor's first-ever visit to the lake, we had to get in some important sandbox time. We sifted sand; used molds to make trains, planes, and towers; and piled sand into a "mountain." Of course, you have to involve some water, so the little watering can was a hit too, although Eleanor preferred to put the water on Grandma's nearby flowers.

She loved the rake most and wouldn't put it down.

Eleanor and her "Pop", as she calls him, looked at pictures he had taken throughout the day.

Eleanor brought along her USA puzzle, and it turns out she has a pretty amazing command of the names of all the states, their locations, and how to put the puzzle together. All my grandchildren are brilliant and beautiful, of course, and here is some proof.

We went for a boat ride too. Oscar seemed to like riding in the dip net.

Eleanor and her mother seemed to enjoy the ride too. Eleanor loves that hat.

We had barbecue at Famous Dave's. I guess Rob was trying to get Eleanor to try a specific type of smile.

Afterwards, Eleanor spotted the horse ride just outside the entrance. It was either the horse or the carousel. Here she is prior to the insertion of quarters. After the quarters were inserted and the horse started moving and the annoying music started playing, Eleanor was just not sure about the whole mechanical horse thing.

I hated to see them leave this morning and am going to miss seeing these little shoes parked near the door.

But, I got a great shot of them all on the deck before they loaded up and headed back home. Aren't they a great-looking family?

Thanks, Rob, Carrie and Eleanor for helping to make my birthday so special. Come again soon!

Boat Float

Recently, I pulled my radio-controlled boats out of their boxes and tuned them up. After all, with company coming, especially my granddaughter, I thought it would be fun to try them out in the lake. So, here is the Coast Guard cutter. Years ago, the decals that mark it distinctly as a Coast Guard vessel, washed off. So, I got some new ones, but then I failed to get them applied in a timely way. When I tried the other day, they just crumbled to pieces. I have a way to make some new ones now, since the company that made the boat doesn't offer them anymore, but I haven't gotten around to this yet. Anyway, it looks pretty good in the water even without the distinctive orange and blue stripes on its sides.

When Sarah was here, she took a turn operating the boat in the lake.

Here is a short video of the boat in action:

Then yesterday, with Eleanor and her folks here, we took the sailboat for a spin too. I built this one from a kit years ago. When I put it in the water yesterday, I forgot to switch on its receiver, so I had no control over it when the wind took it sailing across the lake. I had to go retrieve it with our big motor boat. After starting over, with the switch now on, Rob took over sailing her.

There is lots of tree pollen in the water right now, so if it looks a little scummy in the picture below, that is the reason.

And here is a short video of the sailboat in action. Rob was sailing it, while I shot the video. You may here Rob, Carrie, and my granddaughter in the background.

I'm So Proud

There simply are no words to describe the sense of pride I feel in looking at these two sons of mine––outcasts from the Red Green Show, I think.

Hummingbirds Harangue, Hold Forth, Hover, Hang Out and Heartily Partake

Here is some of the action just outside our living room window. These bold little guys just don't seem to mind your being nearby, even if you stand within a foot or so of their feeder. And if you are refilling the feeder, expect to have them buzzing all about your head, hands, and generally urging you to hurry up already. This is actually a small gathering. Each evening, just as it is beginning to turn dark, there are approximately two dozen there at a time, sometimes taking turns patiently and sometimes not. This is quite a sight!

Memorial Day Weekend Visitors

Niece Sarah and her friend Josh joined, Kathie, Mom, and me for a Memorial Day weekend at the lake. As you know, one of our "rules", if you visit us at the lake, is that you have to prepare one meal. Here we are enjoying Sarah's superb offering of stuffed pasta shells, salad (can't recall the name of it, but it has broccoli, onions, raisins, and other good stuff in it), and Texas garlic toast.

Sarah was also very kind to her old "Inkle Bill" by making a special peach pie from a recipe that my mother created. I always think of it as being very much like a dutch apple pie but with peaches instead of apples. Wow! A blast from the past and great tastes. I had two pieces. Everyone else only got one each.

Being at the lake involves some required time crashing on the couch or outside on the deck furniture.

Mom loves Josey and Josey loves Mom. Mom spent some time brushing Josey. She is more gentle at it than we are, so Josey is more tolerant of her attentions.

Kathie and I took Sarah and Josh fishing two times. The first outing was a bust, except for one Northern that Kathie caught. But on Sunday, we decided to try for Bluegill, since we thought we might see more action that way. "More action" was an understatement. We kept the 21 fish you see below (20 Bluegill and one Bream) and had a very good dinner, although I don't want to clean 21 small fish again anytime soon. I actually didn't do much fishing, because Kathie, Josh, and Sarah were hauling them in almost as fast as you could get bait in the water. So, I pretended to be the guide by removing fish from hooks and transferring them to the livewell, rebaiting hooks, and rerigging when necessary. They used up a dozen worms, one piece at a time, and probably caught three dozen or more fish altogether, including four or five stray bass, that couldn't be kept because the season for bass hasn't opened yet. There was lots of hilarity, some unnecessary screaming (not by Josh), and much fun had by all.

Turns out that Josh beat everyone at ping pong. Here he is preparing to receive one of Sarah's spinning serves.

And here he is ready for a smash back across the net. Note the required facial expression for such a move.

Dala was here too, of course. Here are our three guests shortly before their departure.

And Josh and Sarah on the porch, eager and ready to head back home and to their respective jobs. Right!

Flowers, Birds, and Fake Bears

I've been enjoying the early wildflowers this past week, as well as the birds that have found their way to our treats. Frequent visitors to this site may find me very predictable, since I find it difficult to avoid posting pictures and stories about these flora and fauna. Just humor me.

I believe this one is called the Wood Anemone. In the early morning, when it is still cool, the flowers are often closed up and look like a bell or a Lily of the Valley blossom.

I believe this one to be the Common Blue Violet.

Of course, this is a Dandelion, and in the woods, where they are not overcrowding a lawn, they are quite pretty.

We have had dozens and dozens of finches of all kinds around our thistle feeder. I have to refill it every 24 hours! Blue Jays, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Robins, and other familiar birds have been around too. Hummingbirds have been here in large numbers, and as in the following picture, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are here.

But the real fun this year has been our ability to keep a pair of Baltimore Orioles interested in us. They have tried to use the Hummingbird feeders, but the ones we have don't work too well for them. The female keeps trying to get at the juice from the bottom, and that doesn't work, of course.

But they do like the Oriole feeder I put up. Here is the male.

And here he is enjoying some oranges we put out.

The other news is about Gus, the bear that guards our entrance. Unfortunately, wood ants attacked Gus's base and did very serious damage last summer, through the winter, and this spring. So, I cut a significant portion of the base away, treated the bottom with lots of an epoxy product, and remounted Gus on a new stand that I constructed from treated wood. I also gave him a new coat of fresh paint. Honestly, I don't think I have completely stopped the ants yet, because I still find some little piles of sawdust around the base. I'll have to work on that further, I guess. I sure would hate to lose Gus prematurely, but he is, after all, made of wood, and so I suppose it is inevitable that he will eventually need to be replaced. For now, he looks pretty good, though.

Celebrating EJD's Birthday

On Friday of this week, EJD will celebrate her ___ (fill in the blank) birthday. As I did for each of Will and Rob, I present here a, not-necessarily-in-chronological-but-almost order, set of favorite pictures of my sweet little girl. (She is always blogging about her sweet and adorable children, so I get to do the same thing.) I also offer this disclaimer: If I have inadvertently chosen more pictures of EJD than I did for either RAD or WFD, that's just too bad and says nothing about me liking one more than another. She's just so photogenic!!

She's intelligent, well-educated, and accomplished. She married a great guy and seems a good and loving partner for him; that means a lot to me. She has proven herself to be a wonderful mother. She remembers her old dad and always has an understanding way with him and his quirks. She's very dear to me. What more can I say?

So here for your enjoyment and amusement are some of those favorite pictures. I don't have many from her teen years digitized yet, so pardon the time gaps. Most of these pictures are offered with minimal comment, since they speak so well for themselves.

Her brothers love her too and always have.

Dad thought she was pretty sweet.

I wonder what she was saying to Mom. Given her expression, it was some big secret, I think.

Was she enjoying this or not?

Aaaaawwwwwww.

The parents were not being diligent about seat belts, obviously! Or maybe the vehicle was not in motion.

This is from our father-daughter, post-high-school-graduation trip to the Big Apple. We actually went up to the viewing platform at the top of those towers! Hard to look at now–just concentrate on the babe in the foreground.

The next day after this picture was taken, there was a huge snowstorm in progress and they almost didn't get out of the airport at Baltimore.

Does this mean she is Herr's?

Aaaaawwww, again.

Aaaawwww, again, again.

Love you, sweetie.