Cold, oh so cold

On Wednesday, 26 December, I took the day off work so that we could have a leisurely drive home and not have to rush home on Christmas day. Toby wanted to see the snow that day, so we decided to take a detour up to Frazier Park / Mt. Pinos. We had a good time driving up to Frazier Park. Lucy talked about the snow every couple of minutes on the drive. The guy at the Frazier Park visitor center gave us a map and said that there was snow about 15 minutes up the mountain. We drove up the mountain and started seeing snow. We found a turn off and parked the car to walk around. It was cold. It was very cold. At the visitor center, it was chilly, but we were 3000 ft higher in elevation and there was no ‘chilly’ at 8000 ft. It was cold. We piled out of the car to get to the warm clothes we packed. Lucy immediately started whining that she was ready to go home. But we had driven all this way and Lucy was going to have fun. The dogs jumped out of the van and quickly got their ‘snow legs’ as they splayed around. The snow was old and fairly packed, so there was no fear of sinking. I don’t think Petey had a good time, although Ginger seemed happy to sniff around for food. We found a cracked plastic sled that someone had abandoned and Max had a great time riding in it until he tipped over and slid down the hill on his belly, with his shirt riding up on his chest. Toby had to pee, of course, but they didn’t have public restrooms in the wilderness, so she dropped trow amongst the trees. No flash photography was allowed during this show. Max and I had a mini snowball fight, mostly ice-balls. We were all glad to get back into the van and down to the town again where we got hot coco from the local diner.

That is my fake smile you are seeing

That is my fake smile you are seeing

More fake smiles

More fake smiles

Scaffolding for sale

5 sections of 8′ tall commercial grade steel scaffolding for pickup in Santa Clarita or Carpinteria. They are well used, very sturdy and very functional. Includes the scaffolding grade 12′ planks. $500 or best offer. contact matt @ mattsolutions . com Click on picture below for full sized image

$500 or best offer. contact matt @ mattsolutions . com

House Progress – December 2007

There hasn’t been much progress to show in pictures. Our neighbor is a painter, and is doing a very good job on the exterior paint. He is getting all the caulking done and coating any exposed nail heads so they don’t rust and streak. He has finished the back 3/4 of the house and is working on the front of the house, so I thought I would post a view from the finished back side of the house.

South view from the roof of the garage

South view from the roof of the garage

Southeast view from the alley

Southeast view from the alley

Did you notice the top of the tallest gable is a darker color than the main body of the house? The siding up there is a ‘fishscale’ or ‘scalloped’ siding. Toby highlighted it with the darker shade of paint. Click on the small picture and the fullsized picture will open up in a new browser window. Zoom in on that picture to see the details of the siding. It looks *really* good in real life. We are mostly done with the scaffolding that you see in the picture. If you know anyone who is interested in commercial grade scaffolding, please have them contact me.

Thanksgiving pictures from KY!

We had a blast there at my sister Diane’s house – all 30 or so of us!

Cousin Sam and Max

Sweet cousin Calvin

Our super hosts – Di, Rob and Sam

Gran and Toby

Let’s save time and wash ’em all!

Our beloved Bud and Cena

Anyone for football?

Love gettin these smooches

Don and Sam like the Chinese food, but I guess Max doesn’t!

Laura and Jesse

Sisters!

Laura and Auntie Bonnie

Our fab 4 – before anyone got sick. 🙂

Lucy’s Christmas musings

She made a craft at church last Sunday, a picture of baby Jesus with dried spaghetti noodles around it. I said – “what’s that?” She said, “A manger!” I asked her what a manger was, she said, “A hay!” (not some hay, or the hay, but A hay.) She got to see Santa around the corner, doing pictures before the town parade. She laughed out loud with such glee when she saw him! And then he said, “Merry Christmas!” She looked at me with amazement, “Mom, he TALKS!” (I guess the plastic one at Rite Aid doesn’t say much.)