Just in case you are interested it is hotter today

However, do not mistake the weather report for a complaint. Today I had to change out my trucks license plates and stupidly did it at 10:30 am and the truck is on the east side of the house. So I broiled but I survived and still there was noting to shovel. I should have waited until later this afternoon when the truck would have been in the shade but I will learn and if I get really uncomfortable Mel's pool is always open.
For those who have not seen the back yard for a while I have pictures below of the new deck and patio. The contractor did a great job and when the building inspector came out for its final inspection he commented that you don't often see such good work as we had done.
Enjoy the pictures, come and visit an enjoy the patio. Actually after 7PM, this time of year, is is rather comfortable to sit and sip your favorite libation. I even eat breakfast and drink my morning coffee and read the morning paper out there on some mornings, if I get up before 10am anyway.
Enjoy the pictures!
Pete

First picture is the whole back of the house with patio and deck. We plan on putting a pair of Sunsetter awnings on the deck portion, but not quite yet. In the winter there is really no need as the back faces west and is comfortable without shade during the day when it is cooler. Right now as I am the only one living here I thought we would wait until we move in permanently. Then, on hot days by putting our the awnings they will help keep the house cooler as the deck does now over the patio. the sun does not actually come through the windows until very late in the afternoon.

The whole back of the house



Picture of the Patio 1



Picture of the Patio 2




Picture of the Patio 3



This is a picture of one of the patio fans, there are two, one on each side.

Hot Hot Hot

Oh yeah it is hot here in Arizona. Doing chores or traveling in day is exhausting. Yet the sun shines and you can see a lot of birds even from my back yard. There is a wild rabbit around somewhere but I only saw him once. I miss the squirrels and bunnies but once our yard is finally being landscaped I think it will draw a bit a wild life.
I am doing well. The only reason I am still here is becasue I have an endocrinologist appointment on July 10th and if she is not a total idiot like so many others I may be here a while longer. As much as I miss Chris an opportunity to control or get rid of diabetes makes the wiat worthwhile. we will have to wait and see.

I have pictures below just for fun take a look at my Arizona summer front yard:

In a Month

It has been a month since we lost Logan and it still hurts!
We went to Hawaii and I got so sick we had to go to the hospital!
Monday, June 2 I am having my gall bladder removed here in AZ and Chris is in WI (But I do have Mel and Jane who will watch over my recovery)!

It all seems so sad, yet life goes on and (except for Logan) it is still somehow humorous.
I am looking forward to better days and better times.

Wish me luck on Monday.

IN MEMORIUM

Today, April 29, 2008 at about 6:10 PM

Logan left us.

He was a loyal, faithful and loving

member of the family for eleven years.

His loss is already felt and

Chris and I are devastated.

He will be greatly missed and

leave a hole in our lives.

Easter Bunny

Apparently there was some positive feedback along with confusion about the Wisconsin Easter Bunny. For those of you who did not get to see it take a look below:

Easter 2008 in sunny (Bad Weather) oh yeah that is the local tribal translation for Wisconsin

Postings

Okay, so I don't have any cute dog pictures, or enticing hikes through the wilderness, but I am posting anyway because I have been sick as a (I can't say dog as Logan is doing fine), but about as sick as sick can be. It is "just" influenza, but it has felt like pneumonia. I still feel crappy and it is taking waaaaaaaaaaaay to long to feel better. Oh I am about 90% better, but I still have no plans to go outside as even going up and down the stairs is exhausting and makes me hurt.
This is really annoyning not to mention that it is probably the second worst winter I have had to live through, the worst being the Blizzard of 77 back in Buffalo, but 30 years takes its toll.

(:-((

Enough already

While I am sure Colin and Nate can't get enough of snow, Gramps has had enough. So these will be the last of the snow pictures unless something really unique comes along. I took these Sunday and it was a sunny day although the temperatures never rose above the 0 (ZERO) point.

Here is something you will not see in the Valley of the Sun. Ice crystal frosted over windows. Pretty to look at...

This is looking down the street from the side, front window.

And so is tis from a slightly different angle.

And here are the cars n the driveway. It seems no matter how many times you clean them off the next time you look at them they are covered again. Of course the 30 MPH winds accompanying the below zero weather helped to move the snow around and cover what you just cleared.

And the last picture uploaded is looking out the dining room window, over the cars to the street. There was some reflection in these two pictures as they were taken from inside, where it was comfy, and the bright sun on the windows make reflections you could not avoid.

Lots of snow pictures, keep scrolling down to see them all

One last night time peek. Here is the front walk up to the door.

With all this snow we need to make a place to put our garbage cans. We have tried at the foot of the driveway, but they just get in the way of getting in and out.

As long as I was out there, I widened the sidewalk width a bit too.

Even the flamingos look cold in this weather. But I have not heard them complaining so they get to spend the season protecting the bench.

The shed looks lonely out there. But it will have to stay that way until the yard thaws out and dries out. Hopefully by June.

Night work (sometimes)

Even at night you have to move snow sometimes. These 5 pictures show me and the yard in the evening. The pictures were take by Chris, who did it in between some mean shovel action.

Here you can really see the snow flying

And here I am tinkering with the wheels. It can run in one or two wheel drive depending on the conditions and sometimes you have to try both ways to see which works best.

Yes that is me. The face mask makes a GREAT difference in comfort level when blowing snow around.

Still trying to get the bottom of the driveway wide enough to make sure it is easy in and easy out.

Well nearly done. But there is still some snow to be moved on the right side to make it clear for the van to get out.

Snow, Snow, Snow....

This is especially for Colin and Nate. There will be more to follow, but I thought they might enjoy this panorama from yesterday. I have a bunch more regular photos and will put them on later for your enjoyment.

Today the weather took (another) nasty turn

No matter how pretty is looks, it is still a pain in the ...


Clearly the balmy days of Summer are long gone.


The trees are fully dressed, until the next wind or squirrel goes by to knock off the mantle of snow.



Chaise and fire pit are not quite buried, but give you an idea of how deep the snow is. Actually in the yard and in the front of the house it is deeper.

Joyce celebrates another birthday

Joyce was, admittedly, a good sport about the teasing!

So here we are enjoying ourselves.

Berniece, Me and Joyce at the other end of the table.

The hostess preparing to serve the cake.

Let it snow, not (:-(

Lydia the Frontiersperson

Okay, so I still have hundreds of pictures from our trip, but most are scenery and while they make great screen savers they are not great blog material. But this picture is (;-)

Finally, I have a few pictures to post.

This is Chris outside of the UFO Museum in Roswell, NM

And at another extraterrestrial site, the VLA or NRAO in NM.

By the way VLA is clear from the sing, NRAO is the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Still in NM here is a great stop along U.S. Hwy. 60 in Pie Town, NM. There are actually two different Pie Town restaurants that cater to pie lovers and both are great! This is the one we stopped at this year. We stopped at the Pioneer Cafe the last time we were through NM.

This is Chris and Jane outside of Taliesin West in Scottsdale. Very interesting tour.

And finally we see Chris and a lorakeet. Very friendly birds that you can stop and feed if you visit Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch, south of Phoenix, nearly into Tucson.

Trip Posting

For all of you who check the blog I am getting ready to post our Arizona Trip pictures. However as there are many, many to go through and to make ready it will still be a few days. However, the trip was a lot of fun. We saw a lot of country and had a great family visit with the opportunity to celebrate the November birthday folks, those being Melanie, Colin and Chris. As soon as I have blog ready pictures I will post them.

Autumn In Wisconsin

It was one of those near perfect autumn days. Not too hot nor too cold. The sky was partly cloudy so you saw the sun on and off. If there was a breeze it was very slight and brought you the aromas of fall in the forest.

Here the four of us are posing for a picture. Kelly was our photographer. We were hiking in a Washington County Park, Glacier Trail.

And here is Kelly with Fiona, notice that Fiona nearly blends in with the autumn carpet.

Matt and puppy.

This is a rest stop near the end. The bench was situated at the top of a hill and the view was very peaceful.

Of course before we could leave this spot, Fiona decided to explore under the bench and tease Matt and Kelly. Matt finally corralled her. We understand that Fiona slept well that night. She certainly slept all the way home.

Bountiful Harvest

A few years ago a friend from work gave me a dozen raspberry plants. Here is Chris, on the last day of September still picking fresh berries. As you can see she has quite a nice bowl and that is not the first harvest of the year. We even share them with our neighbors and still get our fill.

It's been a while

Okay, so I haven't posted anything for a while. But there has not been much pictorially to post. So I was looking at some of my recent pics and found this one of Logan and Fiona. I have a couple more interesting pictures on my camera card that I'll try to get up in a couple days.