"And that's the way it is"

We got a lot done on Friday and Saturday. Here are the highlights.

Being a retriever, the dog likes to retrieve. This impulse is so strong that leaping off a 2.5 foot high retaining wall in pursuit of the ball, with no consideration of the consequences, is normal everyday behavior. Not all of her landings are graceful but that does not deter her.

The purpose of the retaining wall is to create a level piece of ground for a new lawn in front of the house. Thomas and I are hauling load after load of dirt from the pond, the dry pond, to raise the ground level up to the top of the wall.

We are treating this as a form of exercise. If we didn't see it that way, it would be torture.

Trudge, trudge, trudge.

Seven loads a day was all either of us could do on the first day, but I did more than a dozen loads today. It is about 500 feet from the bottom of the pond to the front lawn with about a 40 foot gain in elevation. Thomas went to work today and did no loads; he is in catch-up mode. Another 90 loads ought to do it!


This isn't what it looks like. Thomas is not addicted to boating nor is this an attempt to sneak a boating picture into this post. The motor ran a little rough on us the last time we went out and we are running it to get all of the sludge out of the fuel system. The previous owner let it sit for 5 years before selling it to us. Fuel systems don't like to be ignored and they get revenge if they aren't put to use.

Mrs. H, Ben, Nick, Anthony, Laura, Becky and Sara went to Arnold today. They went to the stfarc & stra lavitsef. I'm going to turn the computer over to Ben and let him tell the rest of the story.

Hello blogging world!!!! It has been awhile since my fingers have typed up anything blog related. It is clear that y'all really miss my picture-limited historical posts, by all the comments clamoring for their return! Alright, alright, no more soapbox speeches, on to the post.

The Arts and Crafts Fair was a simple affair, with around 50 shade tents housing various local wares. It was nothing like a Middle Eastern bazaar, since no one was hawking their wares, or bartering, which was very sad, since bartering is the best part of going to a market!

Mom and the girls liked the miniature covered wagons. We started worrying when she began muttering to herself about "Must go West, must go West...." Yes, I have no doubt that mom would have been one of those pioneer women, out on the plains, fighting off Indian attacks, and taking down whole buffalo. She would have been a legend....

I joined the wrong Fire Department!! No, that wasn't me, Dad had to sneak one last comment in before surrendering the keys.

Lovely olives! These were delicious, and the lady gave us lots of samples. Helpful hint, adopt cute little girls, and people love you! All of our purchases were food related. Shows you what we value.....

Just next door to the craft fair is one of our favorite stores in the area! Books, glorious books!

Our actual reason for going in the first place was for Mom's appointment with Dr. Vick, the chiropractor. No, I don't think he promises fast symptom cold relief....

No, Bex did not suddenly decide to go to Yosemite without us! That is an amazing bit of stained glass work. No playing ball in that place!

This was our favorite piece. Your's too for the low introductory price of $5000.00, plus sales tax. We decided not to get it, since someone would just knock it over anyway.....

On our way home we kept seeing yard sale signs, and we just HAD to stop and see what they had. Anthony would let out a groan saying how hungry he was. There were mostly girls in the car, plus Nic and me, so he didn't get much sympathy. One place had a very cute set of dishes, six dinner plates, six salad plates, six bowls, and the pitcher and butter dish, for only $10! They are "Laura Ashley", which mom said in the same awed tone that Nic uses to talk about a Lamborghini, so I'm not sure what that means. Like the dishes, though.

Here are the rest of the dishes. They probably haven't been used in awhile.

On the way home, we also spotted a Library book sale! Oh glorious raptures of the moment! Book stores are great, but you never know what treasures are to be found at a sale such as this! Amongst our finds were a few Horatio Hornblower books, Sir Walter Scott, Happy Hollisters, and a few others, as you can see!

Next stop, Family Camp! Unless they improved their internet connection from last year, it is unlikely we will get any posts up while we are there, but we will give it a shot!

"Dumbo, shmumbo, look at me fly!"

Leave them laughing, that is the best way, to end a post.