Simple Christmas

We didn't have a white Christmas...but it was very heavily frosted at 27 degrees.












I'd call this a pretty simple Christmas.
Mom got some harp strings, a clay castle from a friend and a stocking cap with large braided tassles. "It covers my ears nicely!"

Dad now has a very special hat- handmade by mom! If you click the picture you will see it up close. Two ties- one a bowtie and another regular tie: both with piano livery. Now I can be dressed appropriately when I tune pianos.
(go here to see why the logo: keysintune.com)
Merry Christmas!

Dispelling the myth about snowflakes.

Yes, they really do have 6 sides.

These are snippets from MACRO pictures taken at Christmas 2003 at my daughter's place when they live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had the best camera for taking MACRO shots like this- it would focus up to 10cm.

We were listening to the radio today and in a scientific journal was an artist's rendition of an octagonal snowflake in the article. If you look around during Christmas, chances are you will see snowflakes being displayed with 5 sides and 8 sides. This misconception about snowflakes is just laughable!!!

Well here is proof! After all H2O is three molecules and when you start putting them together (3+3=6...last time I counted) they make six sides and that's how they are going to stackup!

'Nuf said. Any questions from the Pentagon?
Click the picture to enlarge it.

Never Retire from the Rail Road

Dad's Train Yard
There is one thing that has stayed in the family for a very long time- and it still is: Dad's love for model railroading!
However, Dad needed some other train mechanics to get ALL the cars hooked up and running again. So this year the next most senior engineer managed to repair several more couplers so the senior engineer (Dad) could pull 18 cars around his train yard.
Here is a glimpse.


Speed and trains don't mix!
(You can blame this one on the next most senior engineer- and he builds airplanes?)

A good way to make grown men feel like kids again!
Since my camera was small enough, we decided to put it ON the train.
You are now ALL witnesses of this train wreck!
It was so much fun to imagine- plus, even more fun to put this together.
Hope you laughed as much as I did.

(The sound effects came from Vancouver Washington- After visiting Mom & Dad, I took the train home. What better place to get the sounds of trains then at a train yard.)

Remember Extreme Temperatures

This will give you some idea of the extremes we have been through recently:
Dec 10th the time I was leaving for work: .........Last July, 29 mid afternoon:

Our inside temperature is on the bottom LEFT.
Curious- how the different halves of the moon was up at that time! (Just a coincidence...ha ha)

Today (12/12) it warmed up to 36 degrees at 3pm.

We Wish You - Silver Bells...(in lights)

I found out how the big boys do it!


We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Silver Bells

Jingle Bells

Time?

Now why would anyone go around taking pictures of clocks? Well...to show you what time it is?

No, If you keep looking down these clocks...

This one is the ------>

L A R G E S T

clock I have ever made!

You can see the difference in size from the clock on the left to the clock that's on the right.

New things popping up all over!

Well, here is the logo on my new website: http://www.keysintune.com/
Just like an engineer- things keep changing...drop in more and more- and...

PASS IT AROUND

I came home from being out at a recent piano tuning- and this is the note Joyce left me just inside the front door. (I don't think she really meant it this way...)

(click the picture to read the fine print) P>))

Patience, Patience, Patience...

Another birthday has passed (no- didn't tell anyone) and Joyce got me my favorite: RED Tulips!

First of all: Do you know how difficult it is to wait to receive a gift?
So guess how absolutely murderous it is going to be to wait 4-5 months for these RED Tulips and multicolor Irises to bloom?


MAN-O-MAN...I'll be celebrating my next half-birthday before I get to see these come up in March-April...

My Sister gave me some of her most gorgeous Iris bulbs- and she even tied yarn the same color as the flowers so I knew which was which.

BUT...you can't see any of what I did today because it's ALL under ground! In view I couldn't wait, here are some reasonable facsimiles of what's coming this spring:
(courtesy of my sister at: www.bonanzle.com/booths/pickmyflowers)

Don't worry, I'll be posting pictures of these when they do bloom!

HURRY UP SPRING!

I'm tired of the rain! (...but that's what makes the flowers grow)

'Tis the Season...

Just couldn't resist posting the creation Joyce made. That little guy has such a grimace of doom!

*** HAPPY HALLOWEEN ***
A week late...P>))

Northwest Fall in Action.

This is what a little more than 2" of rain over night looks like in our new Rain Garden.

I managed to catch some of our beautiful Northwest highlights in action. At the end of the clip- catch the red leaves near the curb on the left- later I tried catching those but it was like gathering feathers in a breeze...ha ha ha.

I guess Oct "is" 1/2 over - so it should be raining!

I put on my boots and ran out to see what all the noise was about...and the rain garden is almost going to spill over into the sump pit.

Dinner in the Storm

I think they are finally done producing- but this is what I had for dinner tonight:
Nah...only the little one...

Leftovers from a wind storm...lots of trees bring lots of debris.

Not a Crime scene

I just had to put this up here 'cause my grandson hasn't seen it.

This was just a pose...when he got up the look on his face was pretty unforgettable...

Perfect End to a Perfect Day

I didn't snap any pics of what I was doing- I was pretty busy all day - and now it's getting dark so a pic wouldn't have been any good. But, I did take this one:

It's the view I have from my front door- (my neighbors house across the street - so this isn't my house you see)
Believe it or not- these are actually common this time of year because we are entering the time of year when the 'greyline' of the transition from daylight to night takes the longest mount of time moving across the earth where we live in the north. This is why we get these long drawn out firey red sunsets. As we get further into the shorter days the transition from day to night becomes quite rapid. This is also why all the leaves look their best in the evening time- they are being viewed with the red glow of these fantastic sunsets. I'd say it's my favorite time of year, but then I'd be fibbing...I have so many favorite times of the year. Seeing the plants pop out of the ground after planting, eating the early spring harvest or the late fall harvest or watching the 'bushtit' bird come around for a wintery morsel.
So, I don't have a favorite time- they all are!

Dry, Dry, Dry...

Ever tasted Tomato Chips?

We had about 20lbs of grapes- and that is what is left of the grapes we dried as raisins.

Surpirsingly, the tomato chips are pretty tasty!

Summer is over- the harvest is in!

I would guess about 6 pounds of grapes from our vine this year! Peppers to make anyone cry!
It put up a good effort- and we actually ate it- it was real tasty!

We had so many tomatos- we made tomato chips:

This guy weighed in at ~5lbs

Who would have thought all of this would come from such a tiny garden!

Now that the rain garden is finished, we had some visitors while it was raining:

Let it Rain

The latest addition to our front yard. The dirt that was taken from here will be growing my strawberries next year. This is the view from where the water comes out of the down spout that the neighbor has complained was flooding her yard. This will hold 30 cubic ft of water before it reaches the top of the bricks on the side. Oh...if it gets this high- everyone will have a flooding problem.

Strange Veggies

We even get the mutants: