Journal

A great time in Austin for two days playing with water guns with Jonathan (the really big water fight was between Dale and Jonathan) as well as playing Yahtzee and reading with Jonathan and being charmed by Kayleigh who has such a cute personality. She chatters all the time and is very social. She has just started walking and is so much fun to watch. A special treat was to help out in babysitting Magda while her parents were at the opera. She is a cutie.

The Morton Building is going up where the granary used to be - they should finish today. It will be a great place to have all of the gardening stuff and the lawn tractor and Gator. The potato tops got nipped by the frost but should be okay. The asparagus has been very tasty - even Kitty Lou had some.

Margaret and Jerry came and picked up Kitty Lou last weekend. Jerry apparently whopped Pat at Bocce - I need to take lessons. It was a real pleasure having Kitty Lou here - hope she enjoyed it as much as we did. Her eyesight can be surprising - Pat said she saw the first hummingbird of the season.

The "library" built-in bookcases are complete!! (Here's a closer view of the shelf and the new moldings.) And they are beautiful. It may have taken awhile, but it really looks nice - a very pleasant room.

The guys finished the shell of the garden building yesterday. Next Wednesday they pour the cement floor and Thursday, they put in the overhead door. It will be fun to move the yard/gardening things in there and have a place where the animals don't get into everything.

I have been at our home office in Redwood City for the past week helping to man the office while everyone else in my group is in Florida. It's been pretty quiet at the office. This weekend on Saturday I drove to Yosemite National Park. It was about a 3 hour drive both ways but interesting and beautiful - through the San Joaquin valley (I even saw migrant workers in the fields) and then along the Merced River into the Sierra Nevadas - climbing from sea level to 6000 feet elevation. It was kind of fun driving the curvy mountain roads which Pat usually does, but I did miss being able to "ooooh and ahhhh" at the scenery. The dogwoods were blooming as well as the lupine and California yellow poppies. The park itself was too crowded but I did get to see El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls and Yosemite Falls. The scenery is truly spectacular.
Sunday I drove over the hills to Half Moon Bay, a little town on the Pacific side. Tomorrow on to Minnesota.

For about a week now there have been purple martins soaring gracefully through the air and landing on the purple martin house. Yersterday and today we have seen nesting activity. This is so exciting, especially since last year we didn't get any purple martins even though Pat dutifully played the music every morning. We are also enjoying the Baltimore Orioles, American Goldfinches, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, Barn Swallows and an Indigo Bunting.