Handy Man

The "valuable" Walmart toy bench finally bit the dust yesterday. Since there were a couple of good pieces of wood salvagable, I began to take it apart. Jacob was sure I needed his help. I tried to coax him into using his plastic toy screw driver, but he looked at me like I was nuts. When he lost interest in the bench, he wandered off to see what else in the house needed his expertise. I called to him and said, "Jacob, bring me my screwdriver." He walked back in the living room, retrieved the plastic tool, and proudly offered it to me.

Spring Snow

We woke up this morning to about 3" of snow...and still counting. Can't believe that three weeks ago it was 93 degrees. Guess I'll drag out the sweaters and winter coat again.

Getting Reacquainted

Neal is home for the weekend. He and Jacob had some time to catch up yesterday. Here they are in the back yard enjoying the great weather we've been having.

Life of Ease

The new automatic sprinkler system is now installed and functioning beautifully. No more hoses drug across the yard. No more faulty, cheap, plastic sprinklers. No more random spots in the yard completely missing out on moisture. I never thought I could be so excited about plumbing! Now, if I could just program a robot lawn mower to pop up out of the ground periodically and cut any grass that had reached the 3" limit! Don't laugh, some day that will be invented and I'll kick myself for not patenting the idea.

Best Friend

There's a story behind this owl. We have had problems with birds building their nest in our chimney ever since we moved to this house. The bird screen is supposedly the strongest that's made...but they manage to break through. For Christmas, my in-laws gave me the owl to post watch over the chimney, but I haven't been able to solicit the help of anyone to climb up there and secure it. Jacob has taken a shine to the ominous bird and takes it for rides on his motor bike. "Owl" is one of the few words he tries to say. He puts several vowels together and it's close enough.

The Park

Jacob and I went to the park today. It was cooler today--yesterday we smashed all the records with a 93 degree high--so I didn't plan to stay long and didn't take my camera. Huge mistake! Jacob squealed with delight when he saw the dragon (dinosaur?) slide and the swings. He was able to climb the steps and slide down all by himself and applauded himself each time. I think he laughed the entire time he was in the swing, and to top off the day, there were several dogs in the park and he had to pet each and every one. Next time I will NOT forget the camera.

Birthday

So far, this has been a very good day. My day started with a phone call from Jeff followed immediately by a call from Gaylyn. Later I received phone calls from JoAnn and Mom & Dad. I was treated to lunch by Jeremy, Trista, Bruce, Heather and Bryan and will be going to dinner with Janet, Susan and Cindy. Fed-X was just leaving my house as I returned from lunch. They had delivered a beautiful bouquet of tulips. As I entered the house, the phone was ringing. Neal was calling to wish me a happy birthday. I told him I had received flowers (thinking they were from him) and he quizzed me about who had sent them. I finally found the message with the flowers from Linda and Marcia! Who knew 50 could be so fun?