Sigh....

It's raining again. Aren't you a little tired of the gray? Me and the kids made our own color today at dinner. Soup and hot sandwiches with peaches.

Tree Be Gone~

We had this big Birch tree in our front yard. It was a great tree in a bad location. I'm glad it's gone. Our tree guy gave us a great deal and we're very happy.

Facts:

• Tree planted around 1958ish. The original owner (we're the third owner) lined his whole property with trees and the back yard has lots of trees too so I'm guessing this tree was planted around the same time the rest of them were.


• The root system is (soon to be was) massive. Goes from curb to house. Mike, the tree guy, is also taking out the tree at the neighbors to the right and he has already taken out a tree at the neighbors to the left so he'll do all three roots at the same time. Soon.


• The tree invaded the space of the power lines so the tree was trimmed yearly by PGE and it was....well.....lopsided.


• The tree lost its massive amounts of leaves over the course of 2-3 months so we always had leaves to pick up.


• The tree dripped sap during the hot weather months so no matter how often I washed my car, it was dirty with the tiniest little sappy dots. They made it hard to see out the window.


• The tree had these little long pods that were made up of 2.7 billion individual brown round thingies and when they dropped on the ground and dried out, they'd fall apart x's 2.7 billion and we'd bring them in the house on our shoes. I loved sweeping them up daily. Do you know how many two of my own children bring in on their shoes and when they both have at least 2-3 friends with the each of them, well you can imagine how many billions that is being trekked in.


• The tree attracted the most annoying squirrel who would climb half way down the tree and yell at our cat to taunt him. What else did it have to do with its time?


• The tree was very acidic and was eating away at our roof which is why we now have to re-roof this summer. Some of the places on our roof are a little soft so it should be fun when it gets time. We are doing it ourselves. Can you say 'nothing but good times?'

Mike, the tree guy, used to log for a living but an injury doesn't allow him to do it full time but he does take down trees on the side. Watching him take down this tree was fun because the guy is really good at it and it's an art for sure. While cutting down the tree, Mike discovered that the core was rotting and the part that hung over our house was the part that was rotting so it was just a matter of time before that baby came down.

For the last four years I've lived under this tree, parked next to it, enjoyed its shade and watered the plants planted at the base of it and I never realized it was so tall. Not until I was photographing Mike, the tree guy, doing his stuff. Did I mention I'm so glad this tree is gone?

Twilight Zone~

Okay, what's up with having snowfall on April 19th? Aren't we supposed to have winter behind us? We were in CA at the beginning of March and had high temperatures in the high 70's two day then it was in the 60's but we had flowers, sun, heat, sun, warmth, sun and more sun. We were at the beach, at the park and took walks in the sunshine. Residents were in Ugg boots still and some had coats on. I laughed in their faces. Phuuleeesssee. There was color everywhere and it never felt so good to go home.

We don't complain about the weather here in Oregon and appreciate the sun when we have it but come on.....snow this late in the year? Enough already. I want this cold to stop and I want it to stop now. I mean it.

Lists~

I'm sending out this booklet today. It's my 10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1 swap. The subject of the lists could be my choice as long as I listed 10 things, 9 things, etc. What is was written on and how it looked were all my choice too. The only requirement was that it had to be hand written.

Here's the cover: Back looks the same without the girl.

My favorite lists: 9 dreams~ Live on a farm. Travel to Greece. Learn how to knit. Have a green thumb. Lost weight effortlessly. Have straight hair for a day. Raise chickens for their eggs. Have money to fly to see family. Have a maid.

7 things I'd change about myself~Read the Bible more. Enjoy cooking. Live in the moment more. Laugh with my kids more. Not be so uptight. Do more and think less about doing more. Take better care of myself.

6 things I look forward to this summer~ Camping in a yurt. Going to St. Helen's WA. Walking to the farmers market every Sat. Long weekends to explore OR & WA. Working outside in the yard. Fruit from 'you pick' farms.

Here are other pictures of the inside.

Too Long~

FINALLY my boy brought back my laptop. He had some work to do on it but I'm telling you, it was so hard being without it. I can't believe how much I missed this little gem. So many pictures to show but now some of it seems so yesterday and I've moved on so not sure if I'll try to go back to talk about it but who knows...maybe I'll feel like it at some time.

This is the latest picture of my granddaughter-Tyler. One year is she. (I've been watching too many Star Wars movies lately. I'm starting to talk like Yoda) Picture is from our March trip to CA. She's a peach but then you'd expect me to say that. We went down for her first birthday celebration. Man this young ins parents know how to throw a bash. They put out all the fix ins. (Looks like I've been watching too many cowboy movies too)

Here's the latest swap I sent out. It was called 'My favorite color inchies swap'. The person I sent to gives me four of her favorite colors and I pick two colors to use. My partner liked purple, forest green, periwinkle and one other color I can't remember. Each of these little squares is one inch.

I also sent her a couple of Big Hunk candy bars because she can't get them in Canada and really likes them. Also sent her some office supplies in her favorite colors, a green handkerchief because she collects them, one of my Moo cards with a picture of a cupcake Maya made that happened to be the right colors and to top off my package of goodies...one of Sue's photo cards of a hydrangea. Of course the flower was the perfect color to complete my envelope of goodies.

Well that's all for now. Man I've missed you guys. I'll be back with more. Peace.