I'm still here!

It would appear I've taken about 8 weeks off from blog posting.  My OH my how the time does fly.

Since the last post of October 30 I have been spending a lot of time sitting on my butt but (get it?) I have accomplished a few things.  Very few.

Denver:
I took a trip to Denver where I met up with #1 son and #1 daughter but actually my daughter is 9 but it gets confusing... her nickname is 9 but she is really #1 daughter to me.  Anyway, while in Denver we all got together  and fixed my son's bathroom door.  The door stuck in the upper right corner (unless you were standing on the other side of the door which would have been the upper left corner) and one couldn't get much privacy when using the facilities.  It was great fun fixing a door by committee.  I ran the reciprocating saw, Kirk abused the wood with the hammer and Janine was in charge of the pneumatic nail gun.

The door jamb now sports a distressed motif.  The reciprocating saw sometimes went it's own way... Kirk hit the nails on the head every now and then... Janine did well with the nail gun except when doing angle shots.  With the help of caulk and paint and sanding and maybe some luck it will look just great.  It was sure fun though.

The door now closes and opens properly so we will call this project a unqualified success.

Pond Pump:
It's been 8 weeks and the only water in the pump pit was from watering the trees (yep, we water trees in the winter unless it's been snowing).  I did have a bit of a go-around with a mouse however.  This little guy wanted to make the warm pump pit his home.  Normally I wouldn't have a problem with that except they crap all over the place and eat wires and stuff like that.  So I put poison in there... something I'm not real happy about but there are just some places these little guys aren't welcome and my pump pit is one of them.  So A week or so after the last installation of the pump I checked the pit and found 2 dead mice.  I removed them from the pit and disposed of them according to natures way... yep, I tossed 'em over the fence.  Then about a week later I looked in the pump pit and there was this little mouse curled up and I thought it was dead.  Heck, it didn't move when I lifted the fake rock.  When I reached in to remove the little guy he jumped and I jumped and he ran around and I said a dirty word. Glad the granddaughter wasn't here as she would have fallen to the ground laughing at her grampa. Whew... that got my heart a-pump'n.  The next day I checked the pump pit again and here he was all curled up just like the day before.  I tentatively nudged him with my finger and he didn't move and sure enough he had made the trip to mouse heaven..

There have been no visitors of the mousy kind since then so apparently the word is out about the pump pit.  I still check now and then.

Hawks:
I have only spied 1 hawk in our backyard so far this season.  The winter has been very mild compared to previous and I'm blaming the weather for not bringing in the hawks.  We may get a winter yet but so far we have only had one snow and it wasn't anything to write about.

I'll also blame the weather for not updating this blog for 8 weeks. I have no real reason to do so but...

Christmas is near and then New Years and then we start all over.  Ain't it grand.  Merry Christmas y'all.

whoohoo