More special visits! (Really Late)

This morning I was rereading my blog and realized I forgot to write about all the visitors I had this summer. Yikes! Hope I didn't hurt any feelings.

Really - the first visitors I had were Jessica, Chris and Parker. On their way back to Albuquerque from a visit to OKC they stopped off at a Ranger's game and then spent the night at my house before continuing onto ABQ. Yossi and I met them at the game - boy was it hot and sweaty in that stadium! I found out that Ranger stadium is the hottest stadium in the MLB.

Our visit was a short but sweet and I didn't get any pictures!!! Rats! Thanks for coming.

After the visit from Patty and crew, Becky and Brad came on down for the Dave Mathews Concert. My favorite part of this visit was swimming together and then having brunch out on the deck the next morning. While we had to watch Miss A very closely as she really feels she can swim and will just walk into the pool, this was a dream come true for me. I even got to make pancakes on the electric griddle I'd bought in anticipation of having people visit!

Another wonderful thing about these visits is my daughters and their families were able to meet Yossi and that seemed to go very successfully.

Pools, Pumps, Leaves and Trees

This is really another "Joys of Home Ownership" post but love the alliteration of the above title. For those who have seen my backyard it is a lovely and calm setting. It is very private, secluded and has a feeling of being a little out in nature. This is from all the trees surrounding the pool that jut out from the deck.

I love these trees and I am getting very well acquainted with all their many parts and cycles as they drop all kinds of things into my pool. Seeds, leaves, bark, twigs and stuff I don't really know what it is but it comes off the tree. Now I understand what the pool guy at my old apartment complex was complaining about when he said that he wished they would cut all the trees down.

Of course I love my trees and would never cut them down, but I do wonder when the leaf dropping stops. Some days the pool is FILLED with leaves, twigs and such. Other days there is hardly anything in the pool.

The other thing I have to do is clean the pool filter and pump. This is quite a project. First I had to dissemble the pump to be able to pull out the cylindrical filters. There are four of them. Picture an air filter on your car - except that it is about 2 feet tall and only 5 inches in diameter. I took a spray noozle and started washing out the filter. Lots of gunk came shooting off. I reassembled it all and then Yossi helped me secure the band around the pump housing.

When I first moved in I had to have someone come and do the above for me as I didn't know how. That cost me like $95. Now I can do it myself. Yeah me!

So ... next project? Cleaning and repainting the deck ... gotta wait for the leaves to stop dropping.

Better late than never...

During the summer (yes, I'm late blogging about this, oh well) I had some special visitors. This was one of the reasons I bought a home, so the very special people in my life would have a place to stay when they would visit.

We had a wonderful time just hanging out when Patty, Malan and Owen came to town. We tried to stay cool and had number of creative moments, We played at the Mall, painted pottery, went to a Kosher Market and Grill and swam every day. Here are some cute pictures that really tell it all.




Owen really loved painting the pottery. He noticed that Malan had multiple colors and so he let us know he wanted another color. So his dinosaur is green and purple. Swimming was also great. The first night he would not get in the pool ... by the last day he was standing by the back door asking to go swimming. Malan is going to be a great swimmer. She is growing up to be such a talented, fun girl. You can definitely see her mom in her - knows how to perform!

Thanks for visiting me! Can't wait until the next time!!

Close, but not Close Enough

The ups and down of network television. One week before a show even debuts it has the rapt attention of critics across the board. Then the ratings aren't great ... it is up against "The EVENT" and DWTS ... reviews are still good ... all hold their breath for the second week. Will enough people watch the show?

No ... drops to 3.7 million viewers from 4.2 million and it is gone from the small screen. Lone Star, poised to be a critical hit ... but not enough viewers.

What you don't think about is the 100+ folks who had been out of work over the past year - finally landed a job on a network TV show ... and now are unemployed again.

Awesome Albuquerque with the Splendid Shepherds

I got to spend Labor Day weekend with my oldest daughter, Jessica and her husband Chris and my oldest grandchild - Parker! It was a very relaxing, fun visit. No agenda - just hanging out. We spent one night at a hotel, went swimming, then onto Old Town and Explora.

Great times! Here are some pictures cuz isn't that really what you want to see!

Practical Parker!

Recently I watched my oldest grandson, Parker, show some incredible independence for 5 years old. While riding his bike up and down the street the chain fell off. I expected he would run over to his dad, upset and demand he fix it.

Well, that chain falling off did not faze him one bit. He carefully walked his bike over to the front yard. Flipped it over on the seat and handlebars, grabbed a screw driver, took the chain guard off, got the chain back on and reattached the chain guard... started riding again. I helped a tiny bit.

It was a proud moment. ... way to go Parker! Looks like we have another handy guy in the house.

First Party at Pandora Circle

Well, it was a success. Thanks to Jessica - one of my collegues at work - I finally had my first party. Why thank Jessica? The other day she said - when are you going to have us over to your house! So for a day before my 52nd birthday I had everyone over from work.

Here is who was there: Mark Pollack and his wife Maegan. Matt Tonne and his wife Crystal. Caytie and Shane Langford. Wade and Jean Stanlet, Steve Montagna, Lana Wickliffe, Jessica Shephard and her finance Brad and Yossi.

The menu: Strawberries and brown sugar, veggie pizza bites, spinach dip, cabbage slaw, mini lamp chops, beef kabobs with veggies, asparagus, potatoe salad, cream puff and mini eclairs.

It was great and everyone had a nice time. Yossi was wonderful and grilled all the chops and kabobs - so nice, what a treat for me! It was so great to have him there co hosting with me. Thank you for all you did.

Five of us even got into the pool at the end. So lovely. I love my house and will post some pictures of recent changes soon.