Happy Father's Day!

It's nice when you go into a store and ask how much is on your gift card and what's the price of the item in your hand - and the answer to both questions is the same!  That was the case for the mister system putting out the spray in the pictures above. And it really improves the environment - even in the deck gazebo.

A few weeks ago we were eating under the covered walkway at Brewbaker's Restaurant in Winnsboro and enjoying the atmosphere.  A wish changed into a plan within a few days when we decided to build a small pergola for ourselves.  We've wanted a better way to use the deck space beside the covered area where we have the table and we want a "living room" sorta space.  So I was making plans when the Fathers Day gift cards came in.  I've given myself a little challenge to use any gift cards I get for improvements that the family can also enjoy when they are here and this fits that plan.

The pictures are at an early stage of construction which will take a few more days to complete, mainly because of the heat (although the mister will help there too).  Then we'll move the lounge and love seat into the area, add a ceiling fan, and train the trumpet vine to cover it and make it shady and cooler.  We're also going to reduce the height of the railing on that part of the deck so we can see out without railing in the way (like the lower deck). Looks like a good plan!  

Thanks for those Father's Day gift cards!!

2011 East Texas Pond Tour

Glynda and I spent Saturday morning touring garden ponds in the Tyler/Lindale area.  It was one of those self-guided tours and we just drove from site to site selecting the ones we wanted to see.  There were some wonderful back yards and it was an enjoyable time.  We got to visit with a number of the owners and hear about their experiences with ponds and saw more than one pond where we'd like to go back and spend some time just enjoying it.  Got this Monet-like picture of Glynda at one of them.

More from the bunny -

Beverly said I should try this. Thanks goodness for the tape that's holding me on!

This game ended with an 11th inning walk-off homer by Moreland!  
GO RANGERS!

No new emails in the last fifteen minutes:(

A little reading before turning off the lights for the night.

Some morning bird watching. We call the one on the feeder "BJ"!

Whee! - Whee!, Whee! Whee!
(If you haven't seen the Geico commercial - just go on to the next one.)

Death - taxes - and mowing!

Time for a rest in the shade.

Vicki saw the first bunny post this weekend and then I got an email from Beverly who'd just seen it too.  Both got some laughs out of it and Beverly asked for more.  So it's her fault.  A couple of these were her suggestions!

A Zip Line Thank You card

One of my Master Gardener friends, Nancy Weaver, brought her husband and their three grandkids over for a Zip Line ride last week (just the two boys zipped AND NANCY).  Today we received four "Thank You" cards.  One from Nancy and an original one from each of the three kids. I liked them all but have posted Reed's card here (the guy in red).  He's got the funky stairs about right, the green Tree House, the crow's nest, the table and chairs, Shadow, the zip line itself, and someone on the zip line using the gold colored pulley.  You've got it right Reed!

We learned a little bit about American Goldfinches today

We should have realized this sooner but we consider American Goldfinches to be migratory around here.  They look like the photograph just above, they show up in the fall and hang around until March or April.  So when we saw a bright yellow bird this morning we weren't sure what it was.  It was like the illustration at the top of the post - so it's an American Goldfinch!  The deal is that they have a summer plumage and a winter plumage!  They're also considered to be non-migratory but, around here, they are - at least the population we see decreases dramatically in the spring and summer. They are very striking in their summer plumage - and that's the answer to the question "Why do our goldfinches look different from the pictures in the books?". 

This is how he does it!

I've gone to great lengths to get a bird feeder that the squirrels can't get to and the most recent is a trolley of sorts.  I've got a wire stretched with the bird feeder hanging on it and I move the feeder in and out by some small ropes and pulleys.  I've trimmed back some tree branches but he's still been getting in it. I've been told that they can jump eight feet so it's clear at least that far. Then I saw him actually doing it today.  He ran away when I came out but, greedy little creature that he is, he ignored me when I came back out with the camera and executed a command performance.

(Next day addendum - Glynda saw him doing a hanging walk today.)

Quitman welcomed home a fallen son today

Army Sgt. Joshua D. Powell

Died June 4, 2011

Laghman province, Afghanistan

Some more pictures

Do you know what this is?

I just occurred to me to check this out this morning.  It's "The Spread"!  And it's a little different.  It looks like the barn we built for the horses is gone. I think the "museum" is still there but not sure.  There's a swimming pool and I think that's probably an in-ground job.  It appears that the house has a new roof and that there's a new structure or two between the house and the barn. (click to make it bigger)

Street View doesn't go down Fenoglio Road.  This is the turn-off from Highway 59 coming from Montague.

If you haven't seen this you need to:

Showing what a great and inspiring organization they are, the Rangers drafted Jonathan Taylor in the 33rd round. This player is from the University of Georgia and is partially paralyzed from an accident in a game when he and a team mate collided. He's not expected to play ball again. Check the link above!

Glynda's First Gig

She's third from the left

This is at the First Baptist Church in Quitman last Sunday.  It's a group that Glynda has been practicing with for quite some time now and they meet every Tuesday at the church.  There were eight dulcimers (I cut one off in the picture), a guitar, and a stand-up bass.  She got a DVD of the performance and this is a picture of the TV screen as we were watching it. 

Old papers from mom

I was looking for something today that led to digging out an old box I'd never gone through before.  There were lots of old papers from stuff mom had kept.  There are a number of report cards from my grandfather (Flanders) showing that he attended both Columbian and Colonial Hill schools in Dallas in the 1900's and that he made B's and C's, seldom tardy but absent a couple days each semester, and was basically a good boy.  But the oldest document is the one here.  It's his mother's (my great grandmother's) report card from North-Western College in Naperville, Illinois, dated December 14t 1878.  That's a rare find!!  There are a number of things I'll need to scan and get into the genealogy software.

OK - this is pretty funny.  After posting the above I started looking at my grandfathers cards.  On this one the last two grades in "deportment" are 4.s - that means bad.  At the bottom of the card there's a note.  It says "If Charles does not stop playing and put his mind to his work, I fear he will fail in June".  If you look at the parents signatures on the card, the last one is different and looks very much like it was written by a child and is in pencil!
 

I'm not sure what the teachers problem was.  He was making mostly B's and even got his first A's in Arithmetic. He did drop down to C's in Reading and Writing.  I think this is the third grade.  Note that the report card is from the Columbian school.  That was a James E. Flanders building.  Check the link for a picture of it in my JEF online book.