Tuesday, April 24, 2012

And Then There Were Three...

A very odd thing happened the other day.

I am in a postal ring (and, no, I know you are thinking it, that is not the very odd thing) with a mermaid theme.  It has 20 people in it, with 27 stamps moving around.  It is actually, for the size of it going very well.

The other day I got three of the postals and two of the three had the same stamp image.  These are hand carved stamps.  And further, they match one that I had gotten earlier in the ring.

It is amazing that with all of the mermaid images out there that three different people would chose the same image to carve for this ring.  I really don't mind though, as each had carved it with subtle  differences that make the stamp unique.








SPOILER BELOW!  If you are in that ring, you may not wish to read further.  But then again, maybe you would :-D








Mystical Merrow
Fish Tamer
Siren Beauty













Now, if you are wondering why I am doing postals, that is a tale for another blog posting.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Becky's Style of the Day

One of my coworkers was commenting about how she really doesn't have any dresses in her wardrobe.  She is young and cute, in her late twenties, but wears the same style to work everyday, black pants and a ribbed sweater.

I replied that Becky must have at least a dozen sundresses and that she has it pretty much figured out what works for her and what she looks cute in.  And she really does, I'm not saying that just because she is my wife and she will probably read this.

She usually dresses nice for church on Sunday, or maybe for other occasions, as she did a few weeks ago on a nice afternoon drive to Philadelphia with the top down on the convertible.  So I figure I will start to post some of these just because :-D

On the drive up to Philadelphia
Easter Sunday


Sunday, April 15

Today, Sunday, April 22

Thursday, April 5, 2012

A Little Yard Work

Last weekend I finally started to do a little bit of yard work around the house.  It was the perfect weather for it, sunny but cool.

I got the grass cut and trimmed and then went to the real work, clearing out some of the brush that has taken over the back yard.  The yard is covered in English Ivy, along with a smattering of honeysuckle and who knows what else.  It has all enveloped the rusty old chain link fence in the back.  Half of the trees are dead because of it, the other half just look terrible.

I would like to change all of that. 

The first thing I did was clear the bushes out where Becky would like to plant her tomatoes this year, three ugly little pine bushes.  Everything came out, roots and all.  This coming Saturday I am going to replace this portion of the screening on the porch as well, along with the wood holding it.  While up there the roof of the porch is going to get power washed as much as I can.  I think that will actually solve some of the leaking problems.

On Sunday I started with the ivy and bushes along the side fence.  I got most of it cut down in an afternoon, but it is not gone yet, the trash men will only take so much at once.

Once I get all of the bushes out of the entire yard, the trees are next.  Many of them I can cut down myself, but I think we are going to have to call in a service to get about six of them that are just too big or too close to the house for me to handle.  I would rather get a pro to do it.

Finally, and it may not happen until next year, I would like to get a Bobcat and level the back yard, removing as much ivy as I can and the entire fence.  That should be fun.  This could be a multi-year project, doing it as time and money allows, but it will be nice to finally have a yard that is no longer a jungle.