Hot days

I've been doing a lot of yard work, but haven't visited my garden lately as it is in the westernmost corner of the yard and the yard work has been up against the house. I slipped over for a quick look at how the mulch was doing and did it need replacing and so I noticed that someone has been in the yard taking rhubarb. I can see through the plant! So that means someone from church has come in and taken a good amount. I like that since I hate to see it go to waste and Julie had already taken some. Thing is now that the sun can reach the soil, I'll probably get bumper crop #2. It's a shame we can't make ethanol from rhubarb, I guess. A little still in the backyard to mix it with gasoline, pour it into the gas tank...maybe I've got something there.

What I have is a world-class headache. I went for a long walk last night and managed to walk for 2 hours. I haven't walked that long in years. I usually stop at 90 minutes. Then today I did yard work for 3 hours and THEN went to Julie's house for a 75 minute walk. I feel completely drained! It isn't the exercise, it's doing it in 80 degree weather. I need to get used to this. Jack, Bryan has made a CD for you of 3 or 4 songs that he sang and thinks you'll like. He went up to church and recorded all of them just for the CD so it isn't a bad mix from the house during a Sunday morning service.

My peonies have not yet bloomed, but they are getting ready. One of the bushes is so big it is pushing out a flower plant that I planted last year and I have forgotten what I planted (boy that's a really bad sentence). But they didn't bloom at all this year and this year they want to bloom, but they are underneath this obnoxiously huge bush. I need to get some twine and wrap that thing up. I keep forgetting to do it. I know I should go out and do it now. OK, here goes.

Yard work

We've been doing a lot of yard work lately. The garden is coming in like gangbusters, but the peonies haven't begun to riot. Memorial Day weekend was nice and long. We went to the cemetery with Bev, Michelle and Aubree. That was nice. Aubree had a grip on the whole thing, too. Like all of this part of the country, we have nice 80 degree days followed by 50 degree days. If that would stop, these tornados wouldn't be hanging around so much.

Pardon my language

We are having really crapalicious weather here. It is 54 degrees outside and I wore a coat in to work. I have on a long-sleeved cashmere sweater for crying out loud. I know it isn't as bad as the past winter was, but as my mother commented a couple months ago - I've been complaining more than usual about it. On the plus side I did wake up this morning to a good old-fashioned thunderstorm. Have a safe weekend!

The incomprehensible list of cities

Best Life Magazine ranked the top 100 cities to raise a family. Clarksville and Dayton are both in the bottom 10. What I find interesting is the ranking of some of the cities not making lots of sense. San Francisco and Cedar Rapids are on the list right next to each other. That's mind-boggling. And I am probably in the minority when I say that I wouldn't raise a family in Honolulu. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! LOL

1 Honolulu, Hawaii Schools spend almost $9,000 per pupil, unemployment ranks less than half the national average, and you can play on the island of O'ahu's 125 beaches.
2 Virginia Beach, Virginia
3 Billings, Montana
4 Columbus, Georgia
5 San Diego, California
6 Des Moines, Iowa
7 Minneapolis, Minnesota

A full evening

Last night was busy with yard work and seeing the grandkids, but it was a tough day all around for me and I couldn't wait to go to sleep. I raked dead grass out of patches in the front yard that were killed with RoundUp because someone couldn't get rid of the crabgrass. He decided to kill it all. So I raked and he put down dirt and grass seed. Our house is 30 years old and I have four peony bushes that I think must be just about as old as the house. They are the biggest ones I have seen in the neighborhood. Last year I bought rings and I couldn't get rings large enough to go around one of them. I have been looking at other peonies and I haven't seen any with as many buds as mine. Julie and I picked off some of the really small ones and got our fingers completely stuck together with peony goo. I paid attention last year and I remember that these four bushes didn't bloom until the others in the nearby yards were already well on their way. These four bushes positively riot. I'll post photos when they let loose. Also, if you need rhubarb, come on over. There are a couple people who have a standing invitation to raid the rhubarb plant. It's lovely to look at, but it could feed dessert to a family of eight for a year. One year we had baby rabbits living under the leaves. Last year I planted penstemon and it is coming in with a vengence this year. I've included a photo of what it should look like. We'll see how it goes as the weather warms up.

You'll never believe this

I am typing this on my cell phone. I am at the stinky gym for Aaron's last class. 90 minutes of sitting around with Prince, who has attended his brother's class faithfully. But I love hanging out with them. Apparently Aaron has a bit of an attitude b/c his mom asked me to advise him about it. I thought that was what she said but I looked at Feta to be sure I was clear. So I told him to let it go. Then I lectured him about picking on kids at school b/c I heard from another mother , who has been a friend of mine for ten years, that he has been. He is very athletic, cute, sassy, he sings well and he's sort of funny. He's some poor father's nightmare in training. He also kept saying everythings 'sucks' so I wouldn't let him go to class until I told him to stand properly and hear me out. Little monster.
This gym is where Olympic hopeful Shawn Johnson trains. Maybe you haven't heard of her yet but she gets lots of coverage here since she is from Urbandale.
I was asked at the last minute to watch Aubree and that would have been fun here tonight for a change. But I don't get home until 9 and Michelle said that was too late. Bummer. It isn't that hard to type all this on my cell phone keypad and since I have 90 minutes to kill...but let me say that it is a good thing I chopped off all my fingernails last week.
I stopped to see Louise this evening and she was short of breath and confused about her oxygen cannister. Her son called her back right then so I helped clear things up. We sat for a bit and she calmed down and began remembering what she couldn't remember when I got there.I'll call around 845 and remind her to take her pill and turn the machine off. now I will hit 'done' and if this doesn't save, I'll be a bit miffed. :)

I take it back

Adam and Natasha are back from Spain & Italy. They got back last night. Also, I got my birthday present: an 8 gb iPod Nano that is sitting on the desk next to me charging and syncing my playlist. Nice.

Nothing to report

Really, there is nothing to say about the weekend. I did absolutely nothing. It was nice.

Kansas Speedway

I gave up my ride along so Bryan could do it before he started to drive. They recommended that and it did seem like a good idea for him to be able to feel how fast he could go if he wanted to. The only thing I could remember from the last time I did it was how fast the trip started. It felt like we'd gone from zero to 160 mph in about 3 seconds. I had no idea where we were on the track after that! His official high speed was 145.15 mph, but he said on the last 10 laps he never let up on the accelerator even on the turns. We don't know at what point on the track the speed was calculated and the guy who passed out the speed sheets seemed to think inaccuracies were possible. Anyway, he had a great time and I took a lot of photos so he could see things like how far behind the instructor he stayed. They have to stay 3-5 car lengths behind the instructor and Bryan did a really good job of that. His laps were all less than 60 seconds long. So I won't do the math, but it is a 1.5 miles track (I think) and he did it in almost "no" time each lap. He is outside in the driveway washing the Trailblazer right now and the friend who got him half of the day for his birthday is now in the driveway visiting! (That is, Bryan bought the other half so he could move up from 18 laps to 30) They have a lot to talk about. Last time he did this driving experience, this friend/neighbor did it with him and they've been down there together for a race as well.

It is supposed to be 80 degrees today, so I'm thinking about a bike ride. There are a few new photos from the day at www.myspace.com/dsmcaron under "pics."

the Linden tree was planted

The Linden tree is the tiny stick in the foreground of the photo. The dark red tree was planted as a memorial to the father of the woman we bought the house from. My Weigela in the back was bought with money Sofia gave me to buy something for my dad. So there are three of these things in our yard. How nice!

75 degrees today

I have the camera (I'm in charge of it) and sunscreen and three books. This should last from 3 to 5 hours, I've learned. I've got to get out of MO and into KS. I decided that maybe the reason Kansas taxes are so phenomenally high is to keep the MO people in MO. Most of you will probably laugh at that and know what I mean.

Kansas speedway

I was wrong about tomorrow at the speedway. I thought he was going to drive 18 laps, but he drives 30 laps. He does 10 and then he gets a critique or advice (I'm a bit unclear) and then he does 10 and then he does another 10. That's pretty cool. I will write more and post some photos somewhere.

Seeing a friend

I am looking forward to this trip to KC so I can see Anne. I have another really good friend from college who lives in KC. I will let her know I will be there in case she can make it to visit a bit. Anne is going to meet us for dinner and since I haven't seen her in years, I'm getting excited to have the chance to visit in person. I love getting to see and talk to old friends and the way the connection seems to continue over time even when you don't talk to each other. Especially high school friends. I don't ever seem to have any trouble picking up as if no time has passed at all. Except for Sally, who lived next door to me in Germany. That visit was a bit awkward, but it was still really good to see her. And of course Natalie could email me a bit more frequently and I need to ask Mike for Christine's email address soI can stay in touch a bit better...LOL. Our company is having a party tonight and it is usually an extended work day with lots of snacks and alcohol. I don't drink very much. I always limit myself to one beer and then I switch to mineral water or tonic water. But the food is always yummy. But it is like a gigantic cocktail party every three months and I know it sounds like fun, but it isn't really that fun. It's still work and I have to schmooze. I am taking a break at 11:30 and meeting a vendor for negotiations. That should be interesting. I sort of, in a very small sort of way, run my own business. Basically, every dollar I "give" him, I lose. I get zero commission on every dollar he gets. On the other hand, although my overall commission is reduced, if he can fill a job order for me then I am still getting the credit (and $). Like instead of making $10, I will only make $4. But if I don't fill the job I get $0. Make sense? Anyway, I need to do this without being incredibly stingy about it. That should be simple.

Going for a walk

I went for a walk again last night and in 67 minutes I did what it took 90 minutes to do on Sunday. It was much later in the day and the sun was going down, so the photo here is sort of crappy. This is a beautiful time to be outside in Iowa. Everything is blooming out of control. So as I walked by all the flowering trees and the lilac bushes the scent surrounded me. Every now and then I paused to breathe deeply. If you'll go here: http://www.viewsofafarmboy.com/subpage1.html you can see photos of what I am talking about. This page belongs to a man who goes to our church. My friend who is in Europe is going into the Sistine Chapel right now. Her husband is using a program called Twitter to post short ongoing updates throughout their trip. I've been able to keep track and I love that!

We are heading to the Kansas Speedway so Bryan can do his best to break his neck during 18 laps around the track in a NASCAR race car. I will be doing about 4 laps in a ride-along. I won't be driving! I'm only joking about breaking his neck, of course. I just worry about these things, you know.

Posting comments

Mom, I just made it easier for anyone to post comments. Give it a try. Click on the link below this paragraph. The link says "0 comments" and then type in the box. Then you have to verify using the word verification box. Just type in the characters you see. Then go down the page a little bit and choose "Name/URL" and type in "Mom." Finally, hit Publish Your Comment in the orange box. It should be slick as whale snot.

By the way, the Linden tree got planted in the front yard. And as for photos, there are a few new ones on myspace. I had forgotten about Picasa, which is easy to use with Blogger, so I may fiddle around, but no promises as to the timing of that. I joke about being lazy, but most of you know that I have very little free time lately. I really try to not be busy. I got to see Louise for a whole 10 minutes on Monday evening, for crying out loud. I want to rent a movie and go over with popcorn and I want to sit and play gin rummy with her. But this week tonight is the only night I have free and I need to get ready to go to KC on Friday (we'll be right back on Friday evening), so we'll have to see what Saturday brings. As of right now I have NO plans for Saturday! And the forecasted rain is no longer in the forecast. You know how I feel about that. Makes me smile.

Attached to this post is a photo no one has seen for years and years.

Music

I have been listening to a lot of music lately because I’m getting an iPod for my birthday, which isn’t until August of course, but whatever. I think I will get it today or tomorrow. I have created a preliminary playlist of 234 songs. I put them in alpha order and yesterday I got about halfway through. Amazing how long it takes. So far I mostly have songs from the 70s, Michael Buble and Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy Buffett songs make me want to get on a plane or an smallish ice-reinforced ship.

When I got back to the States after four weeks on board and then one week in Patagonia, I listened to Jimmy Buffett almost exclusively. I was in my car a lot for my job and I had six CDs lined up and I just kept them going for months. Oh, yes and Ava Maria by Harry Connick, Jr. I listened to that over and over on the ship. Anyway, it’s sort of an odd assortment of memories in the playlist so far. I need to decide whether to get The Babys Anthology on CD or just go into iTunes and buy the songs I want. I have the LP still and I listen to it at home, but that isn’t going to cut it. I got in the car this morning and the radio station actually played a song from that album. I figured that meant I HAD to get it one way or another!

My apologies for this post. Even I’m bored. LOL

What I did instead

So I didn't actually do anything with photos yesterday. We ate like crazy: ham, potatoes, soda bread, peas and chocolate pie. So after everyone left and the dishwasher was loaded and running, I went for a walk for about 90 minutes. I really wanted to sleep as I have been so tired, but I knew a walk was better. I got home, grabbed a book and then fell asleep on the porch swing. What a great Sunday afternoon!

Bryan sang in church yesterday. He sang the same song he sang at his sister's funeral. Right when he started, Aubree appeared at the end of the row where I was sitting. She crawled up on my lap and sat there perfectly still while he sang and it is a longish sort of song. One of the services was recorded, so Pastor Gary and Galen are going to try to get me the clip so I can post it. I know Jack would love to hear it as he wasn't at Renee's funeral. I don't know how long it will take before I get my hands on it, though. The last note of the song is tricky and he wobbled it a bit, but no one cares about that! There were a lot of people crying - people cry with this song. The title is "I bowed on my knees and cried, Holy!"

I'm lost without Pippa to guide me, but some photos are up at www.myspace.com/dsmcaron click on "pics" under the photo of me in my new Camry hybrid. My 12 year old Camry still in the driveway looking jealous now lives with my mother in law. :)

prepare yerself for photos

I have made a myspace page for photographs.

I'll add some more photos today and by the time anyone reads this post, there will be another post telling you the URL for the myspace page. I'll work on that today after Mother's Day dinner at my house. I'm making a ham. Bryan volunteered us to babysit Chloe yesterday and he had her in stitches most of the time. Chloe is Michelle & Jeff's daughter. She'll be a year old next week.

I intend to scan and load photos from Antarctica on the myspace page. Not many, but a few. It's been a long time (I went in what, 1999 I think?) since I looked at them, but they're some really cool pics and many/most of you have never seen them. O and I could be devious and put up photos from high school...LOL. Just kidding.

One of those mornings?

I woke up at 4:00 this morning with Lily laying on me like she does when she doesn't feel good. The doctor thinks Lily has lung cancer, so we are giving her monthly steroid shots (they aren't really expensive, either) and they do her a lot of good. The rest of the morning was a little difficult for Miss Priss and so there was not much sleeping going on. I got up early, which I hate, got dressed and drove into Des Moines to have pancakes with the boys at their school. We took a photo, which looks not so great of me and they were grimacing like gangsters. They really wanted to put their hands around each others necks in a chokehold and by golly, we should have just let them do it. Boys!

Got back home and took Lily to the vet. Another indication that she didn't feel good is that she didn't try to disassemble the doctor. And she snuggled up to me and hid her head under my denim jacket. Got home, changed into slacks and finally got to work. I've had a really good week, a really busy week and I feel really tired. Bryan was at rehearsal last night at church and he locked his keys in the church. So he and Michelle drove to her house to get her church keys to get back inside, but she couldn't find them, so she drove him back to our house, he got his keys and they stopped at Tasty Taco where they ran into Andrew and Oren, which was nice for him to see his grandson.

I have a new cell phone

My new cell phone has the same number. The process took almost 90 minutes. My phone was doing a fine imitation of a ceramic tile. The tech at Sprint couldn't turn the phone on and so she stopped working on it. Oh, it is a long story...but finally the service rep got fed up with messing around with the old phone and the replacement (refurbished, but still junk) and so she gave me the newer version of the Motorola Q. Now I don't like to be rude, but the Q is junk. I wouldn't recommend it. I am addicted to getting my email in a constant stream every day and I love having my car pick up my phone when I get in, but the phone was actually falling apart. So I have a new one right out of the box. The poor girl even said she was done messing with it and she would just give me a new one.



The ball game was nice and it did warm up a fair bit. Iowa Cubs won, I ate deep-fried jalapeno rings and fried pickles. Yum.

Kickball and a P.E. teacher

Last night at church we played kickball. With a P.E. teacher. It was something else. I could tell right away that she is a P.E. teacher. I let a ball go because it was foul and she yelled at me! She said I should have caught it because it still would have been an out. I said, because I honestly didn't know, "Really?" And then she said, "That's all right! You're learning the game!" It was sort of funny because if I have ever played kickball I don't remember. I probably did, but the memory has slipped away sort of like the time I don't remember getting caught doing something I shouldn't have been doing, like skipping school.

My cell phone turned into a hockey puck yesterday afternoon, so before I roll down to the stadium for a day of baseball and hot dogs, I need to run over to Sprint and get a new phone. My boss has been on me to get a new one since the first week I got the one that just died. I'm just too lazy to go to Sprint and stand in line for 45 minutes. Sunny and 65 here today. Is that baseball weather? I'm a little unclear on why this happens in Iowa all the time.

Babysitting and random thoughts

I babysat Aubree last night and we made cupcakes and played at the playground and she took a bath and we watched a show (that’s what she calls t.v.). She has to be the best five-year old in the world. Last night was the first time since her mom died that I had waves of grief hit me as we went through the evening. She saw a boy fall off a bed in one of those funny video shows – you know she only watches television in 3-minute bursts of interest – and she asked me why he fell out of bed. I said he was asleep close to the edge of the bed. She told me her mommy had an asthma attack and fell out of bed. What could I say? I told her that I remembered and that I was there that day. She said she knew I was at her house that morning. But she was at the neighbor’s house by the time I got there. Oh, golly, how did I get onto this topic? I do get asked a lot how she is doing and I would say she is really improving. -30-

Bryan was watching a movie downstairs last night and of course it was turned up loud and he had the surround sound on. Aubree wanted to be sure the noise was coming from the movie rather than from outside, so we invaded Poland, so to speak. He was watching the Transformers movie. I’m so awful at watching movies anymore. I don’t like to think of sitting around doing nothing for hours at a time. Usually when I watch a movie, I have a book or a crossword puzzle in my hand. This drives him NUTS, so that makes it fun, too.

We did actually go to the movies last Friday with friends. We went to see Expelled by Ben Stein. It was fabulous. It’s very well done and he lets both sides of the issue of scientific exploration and Darwinism speak for themselves. In my opinion, it is perhaps the best journalism since Edward R. Murrow allowed Joe McCarthy to hang himself on television. Um, not that I actually was around when it originally aired. Let's get that straight.

Tonight is the last night for kid’s night at church so my Wednesdays will be free the rest of the summer. I’ve spent the last four months in the 4th and 5th grade boys class. What an experience that has been. When I volunteered, they put me in there because the teacher, Steve, was alone. I can’t imagine being alone with that many boys. The majority of them are Liberian, so if you don’t understand what they’re saying things can get a little out of hand. I understand much of it now, but not always everything and they know it. When they deepen the accent, I know they're trying to hide something. Don’t suppose the Liberian boys are always the trouble makers, either. Heh.

Rain/storms never really materialized here in Des Moines and we aren’t supposed to see rain again until Saturday. Tomorrow our whole department is going to the Iowa Cubs game to eat, drink and be obnoxious.

I’m working on (this means “still thinking about doing”) putting photos up, maybe on Flickr or MySpace. We certainly have plenty to choose from! Today I will work on adding some links to web sites that make me laugh.

Simple-minded & ignorant

From Emma by Jane Austen. Chapter 17:

"It was rather too late in the day to set about being simple-minded and ignorant; but she left her with every previous resolution confirmed of being humble and discreet, and repressing imagination all the rest of her life."

I have had many moments like this in my life and so the first time I read that line, I guffawed. I didn't chuckle or giggle or laugh. I didn't cackle, chortle, snicker, snigger or titter. I didn't crow, whoop, grin, simper, smile or smirk. It reminded me so much of me I let out a loud or boisterous burst of laughter.

A burst of laughter and then it was over as I sobered up and realized that like me, our heroine Emma was not actually going to be able to reform or humble herself quite that easily. As I continued reading, I knew I was correct about her efforts. But Emma does sort of grow up a little by the end of the book and we can only assume that like most of us, she continued growing up on a daily basis. Oh it is so difficult to behave properly all the time!

However, I do like the idea that if I get an early start on the day, I can be simple-minded and ignorant. That will never not be funny.

Running around on a Monday evening

The rain didn't arrive last night. I must have had faulty information. It's warm here this morning and since my office faces east, I get a blast of hot air in my office for the next many months. My plants love it, especially when I remember to leave the blinds open overnight and on the weekends.

Last night I took Aaron to gymnastics. Aaron is in advanced gymnastics and his brothers Prince and Ernest are in the beginning class. Classes end the week before Memorial Day, so I should have Mondays free soon. They'll probably re-enroll for the fall session. This summer Aaron wants to play soccer. Not sure about the other boys since Prince didn't say anything about it last night. We got to the gym early and so Aaron and I sat on the curb and I helped him do his homework. It was math and I conquered third grade math a few years back. Third grade was about the time I decided math was the most difficult subject ever invented to torture small children in school. As I got older, I decided PE was invented by the devil, but math didn't get any easier until I was a sophomore in college. Go figure. For those who do not know, Prince, 12; Aaron, 10; and Ernest, 6 are my boys. Feta, 13, is their older sister. There are three older siblings at home, but I hardly ever meet with them. I do a fair bit with these kids, so prepare yourself to hear about them.

Before I picked up the boys, I stopped by to see Louise. I got her out of bed, which was shocking to me. She is about 33 years older than I am and she is a widow. She has one son and three grandchildren. I've known her for about 10 years and I have never gotten her out of bed before. She says she has the flu. Well she is on oxygen and so of course the flu sounds like a bad idea. Since I couldn't visit with her, I parked my car on 37th street in Des Moines and walked up and down the block three times. Walking South of Grand was my entertainment when I lived in that neighborhood and I miss it like a reformed smoker misses cigarettes. Holy moley. How do I explain that? I actually feel different walking there compared to anywhere else. I think that is mysterious.

Bryan got a Linden tree from a memorial service for his sister, who passed away last fall. It hasn't been planted yet, but it is beginning to bud. We need to do some landscaping, but we continually drag our feet on the decisions. I planted a garden last year and a couple years ago I transplanted/moved all the hostas from the front to the back. That's about it unless you count Bryan chopping down almost everything with leaves rather than needles! And so now we have a Linden tree, which throws great shade. I proposed three places for it, so we'll see what happens. I can't fault him for not moving ahead. Planting a tree is a big commitment for people who can't make up their minds about shrubbery.

Got a call from a dear friend this morning. She is having a baby girl! Congratulations!

I have news for you

This weekend we took my mother-in-law to Sioux Center, Iowa. There she has some cousins who aren't able to travel to Des Moines to visit her. We had a nice time visiting, eating lunch and a snack and then going to a Southern Gospel concert at Dordt College. We came back the same day and that meant getting home about 2:15 in the morning. We got up to go to church and then spent the afternoon celebrating my stepson's 30th birthday. When we got home, we focused on relaxing, which really means sleeping.

I started this blog because I have a couple people who like to know what is going on. If you've landed on this blog from a search engine, you're welcome to read what you like. But this is news for friends and family and you may not always find it interesting. That's OK by me.

I had to pick a name for my blog and since many, many people have made blogs, finding a name isn't really all that simple. "I have a piece of news for you" comes from Jane Austen's book, Emma. In Chapter 21, Mr. Knightley arrives to tell Emma and her father that Mr. Elton is engaged to be married. However, a neighbor arrives and blurts out the news first:

"Emma," said Mr. Knightley presently, "I have a piece of news for you. You like news -- and I heard an article in my way hither that I think will interest you."
"News! Oh! yes, I always like news. What is it? why do you smile so? where did you hear it? at Randalls?"
He had time only to say,
"No, not at Randalls; I have not been near Randalls," when the door was thrown open, and Miss Bates and Miss Fairfax walked into the room. Full of thanks, and full of news, Miss Bates knew not which to give quickest. Mr. Knightley soon saw that he had lost his moment, and that not another syllable of communication could rest with him.
"Oh! my dear sir, how are you this morning? My dear Miss Woodhouse -- I come quite overpowered. Such a beautiful hind-quarter of pork! You are too bountiful! Have you heard the news? Mr. Elton is going to be married."

So I am here to write about things we're doing in our family for family members and friends who are interested in such things as our goings on.

It is Monday, the first Monday of May. April showers in Iowa really bring only May showers and flooded rivers. Today is one of the kinds of day that makes me think of all the things I could be doing since it is 76 degrees outside already (before noon). I have checked into things like the hours for the Salisbury House, the Des Moines Art Center, the Des Moines swimming pools and so on. Of course, all the desire to be outside and active will end when the rain begins later this evening. I love it when the weather man is wrong...quite wrong. That makes me happy if the forecast is for rain or snow!

I'll work on keeping this updated as well as posting some photos. I'll have to learn to use Blogger all over again. Hope you like it.