Robin and Dawn

Dawn wanted a picture taken to pass on to little Eden so she could see us up close for Valentine's Day. Here we are 5 days before Valentine's Day, 2007

More Ice Shots

Special Iced Shots

Iced grass, iced fence, downed trees along our walking route, make it all look like an ice-war zone.

The Trees Were Hit Hard

The broken branches on the bottom and top photos in this group are of the same tree shown on 11/30/06 before the 1/13/07 Ice Storm. The ice on the roof of our house can be seen in the bottom photo. All these photos are at the north end of our lot or in the alley.

The Ice Storm Impacted Light

The Ice Storm hit January 13, 2007 & the power went off that evening. We wanted to read and so we used two lantern-oil lamps and three mirrors to make the best advantage of our light on the page. The concave make-up mirror worked the best. It enhanced the light.

A backyard tree 11/30/06 a month before the Ice Storm

Since the last post

The lot next to us is vacant, now. No more burned house.

Never a Dull Moment

Fire @ 1131 E Thoman

Never a Dull moment!

We awoke to the sound of sirens in our neighborhood about 1:25 last Saturday morning. The house next door was on fire.
The house was in flames with smoke and fire coming out of the windows. It seems to be a real possibility that the blaze was set by an arsonist. The house was torched 1.5 years ago in August '04 and had been partially repaired and then let sit still for over a year.

We don't know if it will be repaired again.

Sugar Smile

You may have missed the story that goes with the 1/31/06 post, "Eden's grandparents."

Here you will see the shot a little closer and cropped to highlight Eden.

It was late 12/29/05 & we were preparing to leave the Thomsen's.
"Let's not miss this opportunity to catch a shot of Eden with her grandparents."

Eden was getting tired, but her smart daddy, Troy,
found a quick fix to Eden's late night fatigue.
As we prepared a "photo op" Troy stuck his finger into the sugarbowl
and promptly slipped into Eden's mouth. "Wow, Daddy-O!

You can see the pleasure on her face in this shot.


Can you say, "Sugar Daddy!" ???

Birthday Girl!

Dawn had a birthday yesterday...

I found 14 Roses (Red & Yellow), fixed her supper
(roast beef/carrots/onions/potatoes in the crockpot)
[our seminarian Christy made the salad]
and we celebrated her birthday before I went to work last night.

As for the sweatshirt - Dawn is no Bum!

Away with the Old & Horray for the New

We ended February with an end of ownership of two tired cars. The '82 GMC Suburban was old enough to drink & it did, diesel that is, & the '90 Caprice Wagon was aging too. My college roommate, Tim H. once remarked, "Rob, you're the last owner of your cars!" Someone else once offered the following wisdom, "Never buy a car from a blessed man--the blessing might not follow the car!"

At any rate, the dealership gave us a little cash in trade for our two old vehicles and we bought the White '99 Chevy Suburban (foreground) with the money we had in our car sock. --That's the best way to buy a car... drive old ones while you sock away payments to your sock fund... when the "sock" gets tight, count it... if it is enough... then it is time to buy. We bought.

[It's so nice to never have had a car payment in our lifetime.]

Eden's Kitchen Sink

Eden's Grandparents

Christmas 2005

Eden Marie is watching

+
These little eyes are watching,
This little heart is learning.
This little life is growing
This little mind is turning.
+
Give my eyes good things to see.
Give my heart the Way to learn and be.
Give my life the One who holds the Key.
Give my mind Truth to stay set free.
+
And I'll grow up to thankful be.

Life from the Garden

One never knows just exactly what kind of life they will bring near when they plant seeds, nurture seedlings and weed weeds. Here are some samples from Dawn's Garden.

You will find a very personable Edgar Eggplant and Busy Bees on Basil.

Edgar looks a bit like one of the Microsoft silhouette figures, don't you think?

Always be careful what seeds you sow.

Troy - Manchild #2 is 25 today!

The Descent & Return

We left the summit and headed down and back to Camp Muir where we stayed just long enough to pack up the sleeping gear and belongings we had left there during our summit climb, topped off our water, and fueled our weary bodies with some food.

Mt. Rainier, 14,411' Summit, July 18, 2005

With beautiful weather (windy & cool) we summitted Rainier around 8am Monday morning. The conditions were desirable and our bodies were weary. Two days earlier another team had been turned back at 13,200' due to bad weather. With great gratitude and a sense of accomplishment we met our goal.

Here I am with Mt. Adams in the southern background.

The upper shot looks toward the north with Puget Sound visible in the distance.

Camp Muir on Mount Rainier @ 10,000' at Sunset July 17, 2005

A gorgeous sunset met our gaze as we concluded the first of two days on Mount Rainier. Mount Adams is visible to the South and Mount St. Helens can be seen to the SSW. Earlier this evening Oregon's Mt. Hood was visible - almost directly behind my head in this photo.