Home Again

We enjoyed our week in Florida despite my being in pain for most of the week. I finally stopped hurting by the end of the week but as soon as we hit cold weather the pain was back. It's really more of a constant ache now but it is darn annoying. I saw my NP just before we left and I'm trying to decide if I should get back in to see her our just wait until my work physical on the 10th.

Anyway, we enjoyed the warmth and the sunshine. We took a day and went back to Blue Springs State Park to see the manatees again. It was a cool but not uncomfortable day.

Gar that seemed suspended in the current.

Just pretty shadows on the stream.

After our morning at the park we went to see Mary and Hugh, John's sister and brother-in-law. They have a very nice winter home near Orlando and we enjoyed our visit.

Around here we see Robins in pairs so I was surprised to see a flock of them flitting from palm tree to palm tree. It seemed wrong somehow to see Robins in palm trees. I took several pictures but I find birds impossible to photograph. I'm very jealous of those of you that not only do it well but make it look easy!

Here is a picture of a woodpecker that was in a tree at the edge of the parking lot. It was quite unconcerned by my presence and just kept working away as I took snap after snap figuring surely one of them would come out. This is the best of the lot :(

We also had a visit at the condo by a raccoon which we found surprising until we realized that the people in the unit next to us had left a bag of trash just out side their door. He traveled from door to door, wandered the parking lot and even checked out the pool before he moved on. I also took several pictures of him but I'll spare you you having to look at them.

I found this flower at one of the rest areas in Georgia. I have no idea what it is but flowers in February are just amazing to me and I was thrilled by the number we saw.


Mostly we just relaxed. I read several novels, a pleasure I never seem to have time for any more. We ate out every night :) and one night we went to a dinner theater. It really wasn't very good but it was a fun night out anyway. A one week vacation never seems long enough!

I can't recall another trip south where the traffic was so light and the weather so good. We didn't run into any bad weather on the way home until we were back in New York. We arrived home to a driveway with two feet of new snow that had drifted higher in spots. B had come over the day before we came home to snowblow it for us but the gas line had frozen while we were gone. He did shovel the end of the driveway enough that we were able to get off the road. John shoveled, B came over and shoveled some more and then the next door neighbor came over with his blower and got us cleared out.

It was tough going back to work on Tuesday but the kids were great and I thought how easy my route has been this year compared to years past. Such thoughts are dangerous! On Wednesday my secondary kids thought breaking up pencils into little pieces and throwing them around was great fun. Not expecting trouble I was oblivious to the mayhem for several minutes! They're a sneaky bunch. The ring leaders spent Thursday before the bell cleaning the bus rather than visiting with their friends. The elementary kids gave me fits starting on Wednesday too. By Friday afternoon I was really ready to head home. Hopefully next week will be better.

Mike and Alex were here for the afternoon and Alex is one sick little boy. He has both a sore throat and a tummy ache. I can't recall seeing him so miserable since he was a baby. I'm hoping that whatever he has is just a 24 hour thing and that he's back to being his usually busy self tomorrow.

I feel like I'm always trying to play catch up with this blog and I don't see that changing any time soon :( Garden club starts up again this month so I have to work on that blog some and I have fallen way behind transcribing letters for Apple's Tree. Busy is better than bored I guess. Maybe I'll make you all feel better later in the week and share some pictures of our snow.
*sigh*

Silver Anniversary

John and Apple
25 February 1984
Minetto, NY

Presents!

Sprout's birthday party was today and after greeting each of her guests she'd yell "More Presnts!!!" It was very cute. And no time was wasted after everyone was there; she got right to it. She got a play kitchen from her parents earlier in the week so she was thrilled with this little skillet filled with food.

Now most kids do not get all that excited about clothes but she couldn't wait and immediately had to put on her new t-shirt as soon as she opened it. If you look closely you'll she that she is holding two identically wrapped gifts. When she saw there were two she promptly handed one over to her brother for him to open. She is not known for sharing so it was very sweet.

Twig didn't seem to care what was in the package, he just had fun tearing the paper.

This is the look Alex gives me when I'm annoying him ;-)

Twig was in constant motion and happy the entire time we were there. I bet he was very over-tired at bedtime.

Here she is in her new clothes and headband. Her hair is always in her face but she hates to have it up. She loved the sit and spin, no sharing there! She also stuffed her pockets full of play food so that Twig couldn't run off with it. lol

This is Mike and B plying look away just as I get ready to take a picture. Check out those smirks!

They finally tiered of the game and let me have a good one. I have 10 or so to delete now.

Bean made ziti and a big pot of sauce with sausage and meatballs. It was great but we all made sure to save room for cupcakes!

Birds and Trials

Birds

Kerri has some amazing shots on her blog, Colors of the Garden. And Onondaga Lake has really made a comeback. The lake was so bad when I was a kid I never thought I'd see the day when eagles would take up residence or other wildlife either.


Trials

I have been following the Stacy Castor trial down in Syracuse with great interest. The jury returned a verdict of guilty this morning. Murder trials usually only hold a passing interest for me but in this case one of my kids knows someone who was connected to the family. My opinion right along was that she was guilty and I'm glad that the trial is now over.

I am also following the Alan Jones murder trial which is still in the preliminary stages. He is accused of killing his 11 year old step-sister. The family lived less than two miles from me, although I never met them. Then there is another trial coming up also involving the death of a child and I know some people that are really being affected by it all. I hope 2009 sees an end to my ever following these types of crimes again.

A One-Sided Conversation

"You won't feel a thing, so lets get started."

"Hmmm"

tap, tap, poke

"This is interesting....."

Poke, scrape, tap

"Hmmm, I've never seen this before"

"You doing OK, Apple? Good!"

pinch

"It's blue! I've never seen it turn blue before Patty, have you?"

scrape, scrape, poke

Now I'm sure there is a second root, let me try drilling a bit more."

buzzzzzzzzz

"Found it!!! We'll get it cleaned out and you'll be all set."

scrape, twist, scrape, scrape, squirt

"As long as we have to let the medicine sit for a few minutes we'll go ahead and fix the one on the other side. How you doing OK? Now don't close!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was in the chair for two full hours and he was right, I never felt a thing! I had the initial root canal back in mid December and he couldn't find the second root. He put something in there to soften it up and I gather that was what turned blue. I had to cancel my last appointment due to snow. Meanwhile I broke a tooth. I like my dentist and he is very good but I hope not to see him again until my next cleaning.

Sprout is 4!

It's a busy birthday week here.
Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Happy Birthday PJ!

Mid-Winter Snow-blogging

I'm tired of winter and I think almost everyone else is too. We added another foot to our pile yesterday. It's warm today so the piles should shrink just a little. For anyone that doesn't know what lake effect is I've explained it here. There was no January thaw this year and unless we start melting some of what we have soon our rivers and streams will be flooding again this spring. Although we live high and dry on a hill, Bean's house is river front so I am very concerned.

Lake effect yesterday morning.
Can you spot John?


The sun did come out for awhile in the afternoon.
John's still working on it.


Today's view from the street.
Another gray day, but it's not snowing.


The snow from the roof is really piling up.
I've stopped opening the draperies.


You can still tell there is a garden here


The pile in the center is well over my head.


"Back door guests I like the best"
The paths are clear and don't feel like tunnels yet,
so come on in and have a cup of hot chocolate!