Sunny day

My cousin Joshua came to visit so I decided I wanted to show him High Falls in downtown Rochester, but then I saw a picture of Lower Falls and decided I wanted him to see that (or at least I wanted to see it). We went yesterday at dusk with a camera sans batteries, so I dragged Doug there today. It was a nice day to go. A faint double rainbow is above the clearer rainbow.

The Deer Gang comes to visit

Six (one not pictured) deer came to visit this afternoon, but not the buck. If you look carefully at the picture you can see a cat also made its way into the photo.

Vindication with Vulpes vulpes

This morning as we were getting ready for church and watching some deer, this little guy (or girl) came traipsing through the backyard. This picture was taken from the bathroom window after I went running through the house to get the camera and binoculars, scaring the cat with my excitement. I think this is a red fox, Vulpes vulpes.

Charles on Fire

 

I realized when I looked at this picture that it appears that Charles has flames shooting out from his sides-oops! A good photographer would have composed this photo better.

Charles came to see us last weekend since we had not seen him in over a year. He had originally suggested that we go skiing, but I was not sure there was much good snow and it was bitter cold, so we opted to go shopping instead. I asked Charles where he wanted to go- like what was high on his list of things to get since shopping is better now in the US (for Canadians) due to the exchange rate and lower sales tax. His first request was to go to the dollar store. Yes, the dollar store as in everything is $1. I was puzzled as to why he wanted to go there; like don't they have dollar stores in Canada? Charles informs me that they are not the same there and he really wanted to go there to get spray starch for his shirts. Again, I suggested that they might sell this in Canada as well, but he informed me that it was much cheaper in the US. Okay, we'll go to the dollar store! Then I asked where else he wanted to go so we could pick the right shopping area in Rochester area. Charles told me that next he needed to go to Wal-Mart. Again, I inquired about what he needed at Wal-Mart, thinking it must be something unusual that Wal-Marts in Canada don't sell. It was conditioner, as in for hair. Apparently, this also is much more expensive in Canada? Other exploits included a little girl's dress for a cousin's birthday party, gift bags, scented candles, a wall clock, hot pepper relish and a new winter coat. We (Doug was working) spent 8 hours shopping including a trip to Moe's (WELCOME TO MOES) and the Christmas Tree Shop, my 2 favorite places in Henrietta. I made some progress on next Christmas.

So if you are looking for spray starch, conditioner, or other shopping assistance, I can hook you up! Thanks for the shopping adventure Charles!

3 words

 

Charles was here.

Under the bridge

 

Doug took this picture of the 104 bridge from underneath on our kayaking adventure; not that Adam cares...

On the Bay

 

We live less than 5 minutes from Irondequoit Bay, which is a great place to kayak. On our 2 60 degree days, we paddled around to explore. We made it to the 104 bridge on Tuesday- about 2 miles each way! Today's weather was completely different- 60+ mph winds for several hours. 75K people have no power in western NY and some may not get it back until Sunday. Ours only flickered once. Weird weather here!

What a difference a week makes!

We have been experiencing record highs for the past two days- in the 60s in early January is not typical for Rochester for sure! We took advantage of the nice weather plus Doug actually having some time off to go kayaking. This will probably be one of our only opportunities until spring....

The "Fox"

A few days ago, Daru started barking at something down in the ravine. When we investigated, we finally saw a little fox trotting around in the woods. Since it is winter, we could watch it for awhile before it disappeared. This AM, I was looking something up online for my sister since her power is out in CA, and Daru started barking again and I looked outside and saw the "fox." I didn't have my glasses on or contacts in; all I could see was something moving that was kind of the color of a fox though I didn't see any black on the tail. Now, I see clearly that it was not the fox, but an ordinary, probably cold, Felix domisticus. I wonder if the fox the other day was the same cat.....

Voluntary Labor

When my family came to visit, they volunteered to do some work around the house. This included draining the hot tub we inherited from the previous owners. Here my dad is vacuuming the last of the water out of the pipes with a Shop Vac that, to quote my b-i-l or at least paraphrase him, "could explode any minute." It did not, thankfully, and no one was injured-- at least in that venture.

Christmas '07

We do not have a lot of pictures from this Christmas, so not everyone is represented here even. We spent the 22nd and 23rd in Beaver Falls with my parents and extended family (25 people and 2 dogs). Doug worked 11-11 all week, so we had a few hours Christmas morning at our house with the Graham Fam. Doug missed Christmas Eve church and dinner and Christmas dinner, so his mom and sisters delivered some food to him in the ER. We are going to his parents' this weekend to see Dawn and Nate a little more since DOug only saw them for 2 hours of their week on the East coast.

Daru prefers staples

After a traumatic encounter with something in the woods (an inanimate object), Daru made her first trip to her new vet this morning. She probably should have gone yesterday when it happened, but I couldn't tell how bad the laceration on her metacarpal pad was until Doug came home from work at 11 to help. It was pretty bad. It took the vet 6 staples to close it. She hobbles around pretty pathetically and is still groggy from the drugs they gave her. Here she is looking outside and thinking about how good life was before her injury.

The Big 3-0!

In the midst of our move and not having the internet for awhile, I failed to make a big deal on the blog about Doug's birthday! I couldn't find our camera the day after we moved, which was the big day, so I don't even have any pictures of Doug on that day so you could see all his gray hair =)! I think some family members got some pictures, so maybe in the future, I will have a picture of the actual day. This is from our old house....

Oh Deer!

Outside our new house, we frequently see several of these critters- up to 6 at a time. They are cute, but I think they can be a nuisance; we just haven't dealt with that aspect yet. They walk in the middle of the road, down the sidewalks, and run up and down the ravines around the house. Daru loves them even more than squirrels I think. Today when we all went walking in the woods she got to chase one...not even close to catching it but she had fun.

Tree Cutting

Doug had the privilege of cutting the tree down- I helped a little. Of course we found the right tree a zillion feet away from any path and across a creek, so we got to carry it long distance. They did have carts at Wilbert's, but we abandoned ours too early to go off the beaten path and decided it wasn't worth going to go get another one.

Our first Christmas tree

After 6 years of marriage, we finally are going to be in the same state where we live for Christmas so we got our own Charistmas tree! I was very excited to go and cut it; Doug kept telling me it was too big, but it was not. I was amazed by how many ornaments we had- we almost filled the tree even though it is a 9 foot tree!

New House

Tomorrow, we anticipate signing the papers for our new house where we hope to stay for a LONG time, unlike the last one. This is the front (obviously). All the other pictures we have have the previous owners' stuff in them, so we'll have to wait to post pictures of what it looks like when we live in it- empty most likely! We have very little to put in the basement where 2 of the bedrooms are.

Cookie Surgery

If burning cookies is genetic, I got the gene. If burning cookies is environmental, well, talk to my mom. Here Steve performs surgery to try to save the burnt cookes from the garbage disposal. He was moderately successful, and people were polite and said they didn't taste burnt.

Nothing to blog

We need to download some more pictures. This is Daru in the kitchen.

Woodpecker

I have seen a few of these guys lately- I am not sure if it is a hairy or downy woodpecker.....any ornithologists want to guess?

Go Sox!

Doug's cousin was the ring bearer for the wedding and I was a bit worried since Nicholas is one of the shyest kids I have ever met. In the rehearsal, his mom had to walk him all the way down the aisle, but on the wedding day he was brave! Or at least the bribe worked and he made it down by himself, and then he didn't even want to go sit with his family during the service =).

Blast from the past

Doug was in his cousin Jon's wedding (I have no good pictures of the bride and groom- sorry Jon and Caroline), and as he was getting ready, this guy walked by and I was like,"Is that Jared?" Yes it was Jared Becker, class of 2000 Houghton College. He did the sound for the wedding- I guess Western NY is a small world....

Seven Swans a-swimming

Okay, I think there was only one swan a-swimming....but it looked like a swan in the ocean which was a little weird. It is actually just a swan in Lake Ontario.

Alexis Bledel Look-Alike Contest

Doug and I saw some pictures of Dawn recently and thought she looked like Alexis Bledel. When I told Dawn this, she said she thought that our cousin Cindy looked like her more. Obviously my pictures are not ideal, but feel free to vote....

Aunt Dee Visits

Deanna flew in from Russia for a few days last week and enjoyed time in American stores and seeing Matthew. They shared some tickle times- Aunt Dee loves to tickle!- just like Deanna used to with Doug. As an older sister, she once tickled Doug until he got hives, so she is an expert!