My tallest Christmas tree ever!

 

Ever since we moved into this house, I got smaller trees. Probably because we had regular 8' ceilings at the old house -- you get into the habit of getting smaller trees! This year, I got a great deal on this tree..and it was 8' tall! It's funny though because it barely had enough room for my ornaments! My girl here is 8 yrs old and a tiny little thing.

Merry Christmas to all and don't forget the reason for this blessed season!

neighbors up the road

The neighbors up the road asked me to take photos of their bull that they wanted to sell. Well...this isn't the bull, but it's a sweet cow that was in their barn. (did you know that technically cows are female...males are bulls or steers?)...anyway they refer to their 4 hoofed hamburger as "cattle". Hamburger on the hoof we say as we drive past their place. Their hamburger is yummy though!

marriage license

We have very little left from our paternal Grandparents. A friend in the Czech Republic is trying to help us find out more about them. This document is in church latin? Oh how I wish my Mom were alive...she took Latin in High School!

The paper is longer than my scanner bed. Ah well...it's a try.

Random Acts of Kindness

A very nice person from Texas RAK'ed my 8 yr old Olivia :)
This is a photo of the stuff she sent. Livi was SO THRILLED! She is quite the trooper knitting at 8 years old!

John Gavlas

This is a very bad scan of a photo of my grandfather. I'm placing it here so that some Gavlas' in Europe can see it. I'll take this post down soon probably.

Can you find the morel?

We went mushroom hunting...my first time ever...at the neighbor's. I was also introduced to tics...yeuch! But nothing bad happened with the tics...I just got to see one.

There is a morel mushroom in the photo...they are sneaky little buggars that like to hide out in the wildflowers!

I think I'm done with the mushroom hunting for a little while!

HAPPY EASTER!

My poor darling...youngest is more like an only child than the youngest when it comes to things like dyeing Easter eggs. She doesn't seem to mind though.

ducklings

the ducklings arrived today. one little guy didn't make it. hopefully that'll be the only one. their little bills are so adorable and their huge webbed feet! precocious little buggars!

Philly cat escaping from the Aubster

Aubrey the dog attacks Phil the cat as often as he can. Phil the cat can climb trees though. Phil the cat has had a rough winter. He got clawed by something which resulted in a trip to the vet & antibiotics, then he was limping around with a swollen paw paw. He seems to be on the mend. Tom cats have it rough in the country. His sister, Lil, alias fattie, is not a tom cat by any means. She scoots into the heated garage as fast as she can to get out of the weather and to her food. That fattie cat is FAT! Photos of fattie to follow. Hopefully I can catch her low hung belly.

New great nephew

My niece, Jennifer, had a bouncing baby boy on March 1st. He was the same weight as my oldest; 9# 6 oz. I made him this baby sweater..the 5 hour baby sweater..even though it took a little longer than 5 hours :)

I have to mail it out quickly before he grows out of it!

uh oh...

We got a new member in our family. Yes you could say that I'm certifiable, but the kids love him. He's not got a name for sure yet. Aubrey and Ralph are currently in the running.

Baskets

basket-resized, originally uploaded by Paula G.

My family (adult brothers and sisters and their kids) are going to South Haven, Michigan where we're renting a house. I told them i'd teach them all how to make this basket. It's fun...time consuming...and a little irritating to do if you're not in the right frame of mind.

I wouldn't want to do it for a living, but it's fun to make a basket here and there.

This one is really simple. It's not sprayed yet with the stain...I just finished it this morning! It's my sample basket!

mallards

mallards, originally uploaded by Paula G.

These goofball ducks are almost 2 wks old in this photo. The remaining ones are quite resilient. PEEP PEEP PEEP!

Look what arrived at our house yesterday

baby mallard, originally uploaded by Paula G.

The post office called at 6:30 am to tell us we had a package. Well, they said we had chicks. They didn't know they were baby mallards. We got 10 total, but 2 have died already. The pic is red because of the warming light. I have to tell you these things are so fun! I'll get a better pic, but they were born with webbed feet and these huge bills. So fun to watch! So different from chickens to be sure! Just hope no more die!

DC Photographer

DC Photographer, originally uploaded by Paula G.

This is the guy that took all the photos on the Huntington Catholic Field trip to Washington DC in March 2008. He was a camera tote'in fool...took over 500 pictures!

You can see these photos at giddykids.com!

You can view the slideshow and order prints on flickr here

PIG

PIG, originally uploaded by Paula G.

Last spring M came home with 2 little piglets. This was one of them. They're so cute when they're little, but as time goes by...they're pathetic. I never thought I'd be able to raise pigs (well I don't raise them...I stay afar away!). But they were cute!

blackie

blackie, originally uploaded by Paula G.

This is our littlest chicken. We call him Blackie...creative, huh?

He's a laid back little rooster dude. This day it was after the huge snow dump and it was a little chilly out. He was sitting outside the hen house shivering. I felt so bad for him. I gave him some bread...he almost let me hand feed him. He was obviously out of sorts as he usually doesn't let me get this close to him. He's an exotic chicken...when you order chickens in groups of 25, they'll send you a couple exotics for fun. He's a fun one. ...sweet little bird.

The fishing hole.

DSC_0304 copy, originally uploaded by Paula G.

Umm...we got skunked today. I wasn't actually fishing, but M was and I hated to point out to him that he was fishing a cold front. That's fishing terms for sucky fishing. Skunked means he didn't catch any fish. He got a ton on the weekend with his friend, but not today. IT still was good to get out in the fresh air.

Indiana Ice...lake wawasee

Indiana Ice...lake wabasee , originally uploaded by Paula G.

How can I go a day without including a picture of the ice. It was about 9" thick. Don't let the cracks fool you. It was safe. We have a little spud we take along just to be sure but we didn't need the spud today because the guy in the 3 wheeler was out on the ice. There was no open water anywhere...well...except where M drilled the holes...and those froze up fairly quickly...

All in all...it was good to get out of the house...cabin fever be darned!

fav-day

fav-day, originally uploaded by Paula G.

Today I went ice fishing with my husband. He asked me to email him my favorite photo that I took today. I have to say it's his mini heater. Remember I said ICE fishing as in we were standing and sitting and walking on ICE...of the frozen variety? Yes it was a mite bit chilly and it's much toastier if the heater is on in the shanty.

I said to M that all the people around here are saying how they can't wait for spring and how I was thinking...winter's just begun! I'm a northern girl at heart ...not a southern girl! I like my winters with lots of snow and cold clear days...AS LONG AS M BRINGS THE HEATER!