And here’s the after!

Well, he shaved yesterday afternoon, so there's already a next-day shadow going on. But still, he shaved!!

Another “before” photo!

At least he let me trim it up a little last weekend so he didn't look completely unkempt.

One more kid “done” with school for the year

Technically they have one more day tomorrow, but we had the "drive by parade" for Wiley's teacher today. She handed out their "first grade project books"... and ice cream sandwiches!!

Thing 2 - after!

Thing 2 - during!!

Thing 1 - after

Thing 2 - before

Thing 1 - before

One last “Graduation” Photo

More from the “graduate”

Preschool Drive-by graduation

They didn't let the kids leave the cars so Portia did the next-best thing. Don't worry, she held on tight!!

Waiting for friends

The kids are so excited to have a couple of friends over today that they are all sitting on the front porch and waiting. Graydon's best friend Ishaan and his little brother Milaan are coming for the afternoon. We've essentially expanded our 'Covid-bubble' to this one family and Graydon has been over there a bunch recently. It makes the kids (and by extension, us) so much happier!!

Happy Birthday to Me, Part 2!

This is my current view at my birthday picnic with Neal at Bull Creek Park. Maren is keeping the kiddos for a few extra hours today, thank you Maren!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Neal got me some beautiful roses (didn't count to be sure but it looks about right to be 40) and some big boxes with a pretty red bow on them. Coronavirus birthday is kind of anticlimactic, but I appreciate all the love I've received from nearby and far away today. Love you all too!

Sign of the times...

So when I mentioned to the kids that tomorrow was my 40th birthday but we were going to wait until next year to celebrate, Portia said "but Mami we could have a Zoom meeting!"

Co-worker

I do miss my human co-workers but having such a friendly four-legged companion is nice.

Spätzle!

So, after a productive morning fixing a car problem that had persisted for almost a year, what does an enterprising mom do on Mother's Day during a coronavirus lockdown? That's right! Cook 11.5 kg of Spätzle! Yes you read that right. It took about two hours, 5 dozen eggs, 5 kg of flour, copious quantities of salt, and lots and lots of boiling water. We ate the first batch with our Mother's Day supper. Finally got everything weighed and bagged and washed up... and then had to rearrange the chest freezer to fit it all. Phew... time for a beer and the bed. Looking forward to a nice relaxing (?!?) day at my computer tomorrow. Night night!

Log book entry

This is today's log book entry for our Honda Fit. Neal suggested I should say something about who did the fixing so I added the last sentence. He had the pleasure of hovering over me and making sarcastic comments as he fetched tools. But he'd been avoiding this one for about a year and I decided it was time to get 'er done.

They're Here!

Fawn season has officially started! This morning, we discovered a very itty bitty little one bedded down in the grass in our neighbor's front yard. In case you are wondering, this little ball of cuteness is only about 30 cm long and maybe 20 cm wide! It is typical for mothers to drop their newborn fawns during the day to go forage for food and return at the end of the day to feed their little ones. As of a couple of minutes ago, this baby was still exactly where its mama left it. We all kept our distance to not disturb the little girl or guy - this was taken with the telephoto lens on our SLR from about 10m away .

Success!

The house is all set up and Portia has been playing with it all day!

A house for all the homeless fairies

Portia has been playing with some hand-me-down fairy dolls for forever. They have lived in a box and since Portia moved into the blue bedroom with Wiley, they have not really had a place to call home - they've just been perpetually strewn across the floor. But soon they will have a home, with some mini doll friends, in their new "doll cottage" as the box proclaims. It's also another opportunity for Daddy and Portia to "project" together. (If "project" wasn't already a verb in this context, it is now!)

Virtual Birthday!

Portia had "happy birthday" sung to her by all of us here, Nana and Gramps, Großmama and Granddad, and Aunt Gaby all at the same time! What fun!

Yes. We did. A unicorn cake.

She loved it! And we all feel slightly ill from the sheer quantity of frosting we just ate.

Yay for big brothers!

They went out for a walk and Graydon stayed behind.

She’s Five!

Happy Birthday to Portia!

Grass planting

We left a broken sprinkler head capped for too long and all the grass died in a nearly perfect half circle, so now we get to try and re-plant. Graydon has been tasked with taking care of the new plugs until they are established.

Off to burn some cedar!

So today's posts are in reverse chronological order... this was part of the crew headed to the burn pile this morning.

Did I mention...

... that there was a mud puddle? Of course Kiwi made a beeline for it when we first got there. She even lay down in it for a while! Mmmm, mud. Must say, though, by the end of the day she was spic n span... she's certainly a fastidious groomer.

The fire monster rears its head and arms!

We all watched from a safe distance after a particularly large cedar bough went on the fire!

Coronavirus? Incognito?

No... heat shield!

Since it rained this week and there was still a small muddy puddle in the big tank, we burned a tremendous amount of cedar and other downfall today in Dripping Springs. At times the flames shot 15-odd feet into the air. Those were short-lived flare-ups due to cedar branches full of dry needles. This was in the last phase: we'd accumulated a pile of coals 10-feet across and two feet deep in the middle. It was HOT!! In order to have it burn down safely before the end of the day, that pile needed to be spread out and stirred up every once in a while. You can see it over my shoulder after it had already shrunk considerably. It's the white patch...

I’m going to miss some things

It's awfully nice to work from the chairs on the front porch with low car traffic and the deer wandering by...