Happy Halloween!

Fog machine? Check! Thunder storm sound maker? Check! Graveyard? Check!
Jacqi, Shannon and Hayden visited us over Halloween which was a lot of fun. Hayden was a big help setting up the graveyard.

Hayden made a very cute pirate. It was fun to see all the adults react to his costume and especially the ones that would give him a big "AARRGGGHH!"

Here's the Norton family before heading out to trick or treat. Hayden came back with a ton of candy, and he's good at sharing, which made it pretty darn cool!

Muchas Gracias!

A big shout out to my sweet hubby for framing my run of the mill bathroom builder's mirror! One down, one to go!

2010 Dog Show

Darin was nice enough to join me at the dog show a couple weekends ago. It's fun to see all the different pooches. We paired it with lunch at LeMolos which made for a fun afternoon date!

Hounds are Goofy!

Ben enjoys watching the neighbors - he'll watch them forever. Why is this goofy? Well, he really only likes to watch them through the garden gate. Maybe he thinks they can't see him, since he's behind a fence.

It ends up being a pretty convenient spot, because he can rest his head on the fence when he starts getting tired from doing so much sitting and watching. Tough work. I think he would make a good police dog; he could be on the surviellance team.

This is what happens after a whole pack of quail goes through the garden - Jake can't stay out. He smelled absolutely fantastic for the rest of the day, because in this shot he's rumaging through oregano, basil and mint. Yum!

Konrad Cabin Trip

We recently spent a long weekend at the Konrad Family Cabin with the Konrad family - what a novel idea! Here are the four sons, their lovely wives, and Mom and Dad Konrad. This year marks Jerry and Carolyn's 50th wedding anniversary.

Here are the grandkids minus Michael. He and his wife, Trena, are newly hired school teachers and were busy at work. Hopefully they can make it next year.

Jason had a great football game the night before he made it to the cabin. He had a touchdown and a 2-point coversion. The family is very proud of this young man.

Danny and Stacey made it up on Saturday afternoon. They were a bit late arriving. They decided to drive the Viper, and Danny was the lucky recipient of not just one, but two tickets (driving awards as Stacey calls them) on the way to the cabin. Their Viper is a gorgeous car, but unfortunately, Vipers don't come with cruise control.

Mom and Dad with the four sons - Don, Darin, Danny and Dennis. Darin is the youngest son, and Don is the oldest.

I think Kelcey and Kaitlyn had a good time. We spent a few hours on Sunday hunting bugs for Kelcey's bug collection. We sucessfully bagged all the bugs she needed, and it was a whole lot of fun. (I know...I killed bugs...can you believe it? Shows what I'll do for those adorable nieces!)

The trip marked the 1st annual Konrad Golf Scramble. Don and Jerry were the winning team, and the whole group had fun playing Scotch Ball.

Kaitlyn was so full of energy, and a complete chatterbox at the same time, that Bonnie attached her to the back of a cart with a bag holder.

Darin and Mom made a good team. I had a good time watching them throughout the day; it's fun to see how similar their personalities are.

Holly and Sean (Don's wife and second son) were another team. Their personalities are similar too; they're both complete goofballs, witty and very funny. These two will keep you in stitches. Hard to believe from this shot, huh! Look at those cheesy grins - those two are up to mischief. See you next year!

Ben LOVES Green Beans

A couple weekends ago, Darin and I spent a couple days pickling and canning green beans. I didn't want to just toss all the green bean ends, so I decided to see if Ben would eat them. Ben will eat pretty much anything, so I don't know why I was surprised that he loves green beans, too. Since he liked them so much, and they're low fat (and Ben's watching his weight), I decided to boil a bunch and give them to him with his regular food for dinner. Seemed like a pretty good idea to me...what could go wrong?

Bad, bad, bad idea. Wow - as it turns out, green beans do not like Ben - at all. He must have farted 1,000 times that night. I think Darin and I escaped death by asphyxiation by only the thinnest of margins. It was so ridiculous that it ended up being really hilarious, too. Guess what, I can hold my breath for 30 seconds without passing out! I'm thinking that a real compost bin, other than Ben, is in our future.

Does Jake like green beans? Well, of course he doesn't! So while Ben farted us of of the house, Jake was busy as usual with perimeter control in the backyard.

You just never know when a group of those pesky quail, a snake, stink bug, or who knows what else will have the nerve to sneak into the backyard. Luckily, Jake's always on the job!

NCW Fair

Here is my quilt being judged at the NCW Fair. I was so anxious watching them judge my quilt, that I snuck up real close and pretended that I was looking at another quilt, but I really just wanted to hear what they had to say. After hearing that I was missing a single stitch on each of my corners, I decided that I should stop listening!

After what seemed like an eternity, they pinned a blue ribbon on my quilt. Here are the comments from my entry card: "Nice design. Corners are bulky. Need to have corners trimmed. Good job." As it turns out, quilting judges are quite fussy about the quilt binding. (The tiny little edge of green fabric in the picture below.) Well, poop. After all that work, it's that tiny little edge that's subjected to the most critique. So - it looks like I'm going to have to learn to love binding. Hmmm...I love to bind; I love to bind...

When I picked up the quilt at the end of the fair, a judge was nice enough to give me some binding tips and show me how to fix my corners. At first I thought - there's no way I'm tearing out the four corners and re-stiching them - that's ridiculous! But, of course, I did end up tearing out the four corners and restitching them. And what do you know - they do look much better! I love to bind... I love to bind.

Here's the well deserved purple ribbon winner. I call this quilt Purple Haze - after my favorite Jimmy Hendrix tune. I have a feeling that the quilt more than likely isn't named after very purpley dope - but I think it's a good fit.

Spencer's theory that the quilt with the most purple wins the purple ribbon still holds true - which unfortunately means it's going to be a LONG time before Nicke or I win a purple ribbon. I don't see either of us making a very purpley quilt for another 20 years or so (30 for Nicke).

After checking out the quilts, Darin and I walked through all the animal barns. This funky chicken reminds me of David Bowie. I couldn't get China Girl out of my head for the rest of the day after seeing Mr. Bowie. I think I need one of these chickens. I think he would have fun with Ben.

The horse barn was the funnest. I think this horse looks like a fabulous super hero. Wonder what her special skill is? I think maybe she lifts her feet and shoots horse shoes. Darin, if you're reading this, I have a blue ribbon quilt that I will trade you for a chicken and horse, and yes, one of those mini goats, too. :)