Labor Day

Another season of Leave It To Beaver is released on disc.

The kids spend the morning with the Cleavers, I wander the yard with a camera.

Rest of day

• Mary's friend Stephanie comes over to play, stays through supper
• I take Jonathan to Target for shorts & t-shirts;  we play with a Droid
• Evening entertainment:  Henry VIII lecture and more Beaver

September 5 2010

Lazy Sunday.....

The past two mornings, while it's still dark,  high-pitched squealing in the back yard, then the cat anxiously pawing at the door to get in.  Possum?

Early walk.....

Hummingbirds

• As the cat lazes - exactly as in the picture above - a hummingbird zooms in a hovers in his face.   We expect him to bat it, but... he yawns and begins cleaning himself.
• The yellow and red windmill fools the hummingbirds anew every hour.

OBAMA SUCKS says the bumpersticker.  This is in California.

Identified a new butterfly.

Can not identify a new bird:

Evening movie: The Battleship Potemkin

Cross-Country Training

Jonathan's first race is Wednesday.

We measure a course on the neighborhood roads for practice.
Mary and I head for the back forty to watch & yell encouragement.

Here he comes.

There he goes.

Now headed home.

That's my boy.

Morning, a walk with both kids.

Chore, plastic to recycling.

...don't get me started on the idiocy of the California environmental bureaucracy - nothing works, money down the tubes, unintended consequences galore, bleh.

Even the kids are bummed by the stupidity of of it all.  They made $5 dollars each from this charade -- it probably cost the family $50 in deposits and time.

I try to make it better with a milkshake.

Evening movie: "The Philadelphia Story"

The characters were shallow and unlikeable - and they weren't supposed to be.
A period piece; the kids learned what was considered dashing in 1940.

September 3 2010

Fetching the kids from school... it's Friday, and a long weekend!

Jonathan needs a slingshot for a class project. He hunts in the woods for a suitable branch and cuts it out.

I've been trying to rehabilitate an old barrel, to give animals water.  Everyday I fill the barrel, and everyday the joints tighten and the leaks are fewer.

This turkey can't wait.

She reminds me to fill it up again.

We sit in the shade and watch birds while supper cooks; a  neat discovery about the nuthatch (see here).

The girls go shopping, Jonathan plays a game, I walk down to the field and watch the sun set.

While down there I check on the weird Soap Plant.  It's seeded (see here).

Kids cook supper tonight: Cucumber Salad & Tuna Casserole

Onions, scallions, cherry tomatoes, dill seed...
...but we discover we're out of Italian marinade...

Mary & I drive into town.

The warehouse/wholesale outlets -- Costco, FoodForLess -- are killing traditional grocery stores in this community. The groceries have been forced to drop prices dramatically.

Safeway upscaled with wooden floors and soft lighting, and then the economy tanked.

Those aren't my liquor supplies;  a bleary eyed fellow ahead of us stumbled to his car.

Bedtime movie: "Alice in Wonderland"