I didn’t realize until this year that Rick’s habit is go with me to pick out the flowers for the year.  He gets to make the final decision on color.  This year, they had Patriot Dream petunias, which gave me a nice array of blue, red, and white.  This along with the white alyssums were the choice for planting.

I picked up some yellow, peach and red snapdragons and petunias for my side pots.  I added in some Choleas for added color.

Returning home, I put in to beginning arranging flowers and getting them into the dirt that will be their home for the season.  My deck looks very nice.  The smell is heavenly from the alyssums.

Welcome, spring.  Now I need to move on some of my permanents flower beds to add in and get them updated.

A little gardening in the dirt is good for stress.

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

See how nice my deck looks with flowers.

Petunias and more petunias on the deck.

More geranium and petunias with a splash of alyssum.

Geraniums and petunias.

Adding a little color to the small pots on the patio.

My Mother’s Day flowers on the deck.

He wants to trim out around the windows and doors.  I need to paint the man door.  I’ve picked out a lovely shade of dark green called Evergreen to paint it.  It’s also the color I plan to paint all of the outside facing doors on the huse as well.

A little painting action.

Blue gray on the bottom and white on top.

Rick hanging out between painting sessions.

Rich has been thinking there are lessons to be learned from Sascha.

• When it is time to go to bed, just let out all the air and let it all go.
• Don’t hold a grudge for more than a minute and a half.
• Always been excited to see your loved ones to the point of dancing.
• Looking forward to the next thing is good.  Whether it’s a hug, a treat, or going for a walk.
• Play with great enthusiasm

Sascha continues to try and rule the household.  She believes she is a lap puppy and should be indulged whenever she sees fit.  This means that we all have our experiences with heaviness of the chest, stabbing pains in the side, and a feeling of something hovering over us. It’s usually Sascha.

Rich has decided that the twist trick went really well.  It is time to move on to a new trick.  Sascha is now learning High Five.  This is a stepped process to learn.  So far, she has learned to put her paw on Rich’s closed fist to get the treat.  We’ll have video when she gets to a step that is recognizable.

But Daddy, Sascha says.

Sascha is ever the baby.

Rick is experiencing a heavy weight on his chest.

There’s no moving Sascha when she doesn’t feel like it.

Rolling in the floor with her favorite human toy.

Sascha hanging around enjoying a good day.

Sascha enjoys TV time with Dad.

Since she has gotten so good at it, I thought she needed an outfit to make her look professional.  So I made her a tutu for her debut.

Good girl, Sascha.  Nice trick, Rich.  No tutu for Rich though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHxYt4kv1sU&feature=youtu.be

First off, Rich and I took off from work on Friday.  I took advantage of the time off to sleep in a  little extra.  We had a lot of running around to do in preparation for the party on Saturday.  Someone had to lug that huge piece of brisket home.  Then Rick was heading to the Prom that evening.  His friend, Rachel, didn’t want to go with just the girls.  She asked Rick to go with her.  He dressed up in his Prince Charlie jacket and dress pants.  Rachel was beautiful her red dress.

On Saturday, the day started gray and just got better and better.  It was a whole different matter down in Louisville.  I turned on the TV and watched the rain pour down.  Sad to see, but the Derby will thunder on no matter what the weather.

Rich struggled to get out of bed at 4:00 AM to start the smoker and get the brisket started.  It was estimated to take about 12 hours for the 13 lbs of meat to cook.  Of course, that depended upon a steady fire and the weather is cooperative.  Sascha had to go out with Rich to lend support.  However, she didn’t want to come back in.  There are some days when she is true wolf and wants to be in the elements.

Our party got started when Alex and Joe arrived around noon.  It’s always good to have some Zureks around.  Others started to arrive around 3:00.  By 4:00, we seemed to be in full swing with guests, food out and the nibbling had started.  We started with lots of appetizers.

By 4:30, the brisket, chicken, and ribs were done and ready to move to the kitchen counter.  That meant it was time for the baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, Cajun rice, ramen noodle salad, and rolls.  We were ready.  Grab a plate and join us.  By the time it was over, I had a few pieces of chicken left along with a single rib, and less than a pound of brisket.

As usual, we did pots to enhance the Derby watching experience.  I printed out the list of horses.  I then cut up the list into strips and put the strips into a cut.  I made up 5 cups that each contained the 19 horses that would be running in the Derby.  For a single dollar, you had the privilege of pulling out one single strip of paper with a horse on it.  We went through the group so that everyone had a chance to buy out of one cup.  When it was gone, we started on the next cup.  We went through 4 cups.

On TV, we watched as the jockeys got a leg up and the horses headed out to the track.  It takes a while to get down the track and get them all into the gate.  At 5:30 Central Time, the race began.  We had our strips of paper and shouting for the horses in our hands.  This year’s winner did an impossible feat and came out of a second gate to thunder down the track.  Orb was in post 16.  It was great to watch.

Back in our house, we had winners too.  We paid out to first, second, and third.  So we had four first, second, and third place winners.  We never did find one of the third place winners.  Rich managed to get one of the Orb strips of paper.  I bought a couple of strips for Rick’s friend, Tyler, and he won!  I must be good luck.

We also had some international guests this year.  Marcin and Aneta are engineers for Krakow who are in Schaumburg working for a few months.  I’ve been working with them from Krakow for a few years.  We ran into them at an event a couple of weeks ago.  Rich invited them to the party and I dropped off invitations to make sure they had the info.  They showed up!  Rich made sure they tried the mint juleps and Zurekbrau.  I think they had a good time.  Aneta even won one of the pots.

Everything began to wind down and the guests were leaving.  That meant it was just Rich, Rick, Joe, Alex, and I.  I worked on cleaning up as Alex and Rich were catching up.  Rick and Joe were hanging out downstairs and playing video games.

On Sunday, it’s my usual habit to make coffee, read the paper, and have Sascha in my lap.  I think it is Sascha’s habit too.  She wants to come in on most mornings just to sit in the big red chair or my lap.  Alex got up and Sascha’s allegiance quickly changed to join Alex in the big red chair.  As typical, Sascha moved from the back of the chair down onto Alex’s chest.  I had to explain about the heavy weight on the chest phenomenon that happens when Sascha sits with you in the big red chair.

We all went out for breakfast at Windhill.  This restaurant is a quirky little place with great food and the best decorations.  After omlettes for most and cinnamon roll pancakes for Joe, we walked down to the riverwalk.  It’s not the kind of walk like San Antonio has, but it has a river, a walkway, and a bridge.

Alex and Joe took off after we got back.  That left us with the rest of the day.  I finished mowing the strips of grass that required the push mower.  Rick went out to paint the blue gray color on the bottom of the walls on the garage.  So now the garage walls have paint on them.  After it all dried, it was general opinion that the white requires another coat.  Why is it that white always seems to take more coats.

This week is Rick last week of class.  He survived his freshman year.  That is if he passes all of his classes.  We’ll see after finals.  Now it’s time to get a job.  I did my part and got him to sign up with Manpower.  This is where the staging bay at work pulls workers from.  I sent an email to the guy I know who hires those people.  Now I have my fingers crossed that Tito needs people soon.

Well, enough prattle for one day.  More to come, as always.

Rick all decked out for the Prom.

Where is Rich? Sascha is ready to light this fire.

Sascha paying close attention to what it takes to set up the grill.

On Friday, Sascha was checking out the grill as Rich was preparing it was Saturday morning.

Sascha just waiting for the party to begin.

The smoker is ready to go.

We had a well dressed horse guest at the party.

This guy has a head for horseracing.

Weather was great and people were out on the deck to enjoy it.

Rich and JIm were hanging out by the grill on the new porch.

We had food, food, and more food.

This is the D table for desserts and dips.

Diane had the best hat this year.

Sascha in her favorite place on the big red chair with Alex.

Alex was experiencing a heavy weight on his chest for some unknown reason.

Clean up of the grill seems to take two bodies.

On Saturday, the 20^th, we went to Michigan to help Jon celebrate his upcoming 50^th birthday.  With a cookout at the 40, we celebrated with BBQ and the fixins.  The best part was all of the family who gathered.  It is always good to see Busia.  Irene and her family came up from Fort Wayne and Ohio.  Donna and Norm came in from Chicago.  They all have such a good time.  They are fun to be around.

On Sunday, we returned to find the water a little deep over the roads.  There are barricades to warn people to stay out of the area.  River Road through the state park is closed, cutting us off from McHenry. It seems a little strange driving around it every day to get into the neighborhood.  The best signs are in the neighborhood though.  Basically, it said if you weren’t a resident, you would be arrested.

We were high and dry though.  The basement sprung a leak for a day or so which meant that we were vacuuming up water.  Rich got up early on Thursday to find the basement filling with water.  There was a considerable puddle in front of the bar.  He quickly moved furniture and got the area cleared.  With a little Yankee ingenuity, he built a jig to dam up water and suck it out through a hose to the sump pump.  Luckily, it went from sucking water out every 15 minutes down to an hour at a time.

We’ve talked about fixing the cracks in the basement a couple times, but the leaks were never that bad.  I got motivated and found a company.  I called them and set up an appointment for them to come out and give us an estimate.  They didn’t sound too busy on the phone.  On Friday, Glen came out and took a look.  Rich heard what he wanted to hear.  We set up an appointment to get the work done.  It was time.

The weather improved, so Rick started painting the garage.  We borrowed scaffolding from Dave.  This would make reaching the 10 foot ceilings easier.  The primer went up and he started the white paint on the ceiling and halfway down the wall.  The other half of the walls will be blue gray.  It should look like a real nice workspace and home for Sally when it is done.  We have our fingers crossed that he can complete it by next Saturday.

So plans continue for the annual Derby party here.  The flood waters should be gone.  Rich is still planning to BBQ up brisket, ribs, and chicken.  I have stocked up on food and people are planning to bring things to help out.  Oh yeah, the Zurekbrau is brewed and kegged.  All we need are a few good people to drink it.  We’ll see who shows up.

On Thursday evening, our department was treated to drinks and foods at a local establishment.  We went over to enjoy some time with our co-workers.  While we were talking to people, we came across a couple of new people.  Turns out, a couple of engineers from Krakow are in Schaumburg working in the bay and acting as liaison for products from Krakow.  I found out I actually know them.  We have worked together by phone for a few years.  I guess I’m well known in Krakow as well.  The question everyone there asks is if I speak Polish!  They see the Polish name and hope that I do.  Unfortunately, I only married Polish.  We’ve invited Marcin and Aneta to the Derby party.  Thought it might be fun for them and good me to reinforce my connections to Krakow.

Rich is organizing a reunion of people who served with the same group he was with in Germany.  Someone had started a Facebook page for the related groups.  They have been exchanging photos and memories.  Someone suggested that they meet up for dinner somewhere.  San Antonio came up in the conversation.  That’s as far as it got.  Rich decided to take on the task of really organizing dinner.  Since Rose lives in San Antonio, he went with the suggestion to do it there.  A web site went up on Zurekbrau with an email list.  One of the guy who is in San Antonio is checking out German restaurants in the area.  It looks like we are on for July 6.  Hang on, Rose, we are coming down for the 4^th!

Vacations are planned and we are adding these as we go.  I might have brought this up before, but I am excited for it all to start.  I’m working on adding more.

We start out in June for Chicago Bluesfest.  We are staying downtown.  It’ll be the Bluesfest during the day and trying to hit some of the places we’ve wanted to go in the evening.  We are identifying all the brewpubs, bars, and joints that we’ve wondered about.  Should be a busy few days.

The following week, we head out to Kansas City.  My favorite blues band, Trampled Under Foot, is holding a release party for their next album.  Rich put in enough to their Kickstarter account to get invited to the party.  They sent out the date and place.  Now we just have to show up and listen to the music.  I love the name of the bar where we are headed.  It’s called The Trouser Mouse.  More to come on this one.

July will find us in San Antonio for the 4^th of July.  We will be attending the first reunion for Rich’s group from the Air Force.  Should be fun as well.  It’ll be nice to Rose and hang out with her for a while.

In August, B. B. King and Peter Frampton are coming Aurora for a concert.  I’ve wanted to see B.B. for a while.  Peter is an extra.  I purchased my tickets and ready to go.  I’m hoping for good weather as this is an outdoor concert.  More to come on this, too.

In September, we head down to the Great Smoky Mountains for a little hiking and some mountain views.  It’s been a while since I’ve been down there.  Rich hasn’t been.  Once again, we are hoping for good weather since we plan to be outside a lot.  Big question is: bears or no bears.  There’s a good bet of seeing at least one.

Well, it’s time to start another week.  I have deliveries this week.  But I don’t think that will mean my workload will get easier.  Might be time to think about expanding the team again.  We’ve definitely got more than enough work to go around, and then some.

Cars made their way slowly through the water on Tower Rd.

Looking down Holiday Rd back to the river.

This was Tower Rd coming in to our part of the neighborhood.

The sign says it all.

This is the playground at Hickory and Tower.

Water coming over the road at Moraine State Park.

There is a road under there called Lakeview.

Looking down Holiday back up to Sunset.

Standing at Tower and Hickory looking toward the lake.

We had hail really bad during one of the storms.

There is a Goose Island in McHenry now.

This garter snake was trying to stay safe and dry.

One of the houses on river has their deck elevated over the edge of the river. That’s about all you see.

Standing at Tower and Hickory looking toward the lake.

At Catalpa, you can see this house that sits on the river and around the bend from Squirrel Alley.

This is the view across the channel.

Wow, it’s the beginning of April!  Where the first half of the year go?  Too bad the weather doesn’t know that it is Spring.  We finally saw 60s on Saturday, but it has been a little chilly.  At least my flowers are trying to come up.  They don’t care about the weather.  I have lots of green sprouting up through the dirty around the house.  Come on, summer!

On Monday, Rich stayed home to get the electrical contractor started on the garage.  We got a quote for service out to the garage and then to add the lights and outlets.  Since the quote was a good price, Rich decided to have them do all of the work.  Rich marked out where the trench would go.  On Monday, they trenched, put down the conduit, installed the service, and ran most of the outlets.  They even had the lights on the outside put up.  The green barn light over the man door looks great.

Work ended there until the Building Inspector could stop by and check it, which he did on Tuesday.  Rich stayed home on Tuesday to help with the inspection and write the big check.  Once Ray came by and gave his blessing, the work continued.  Rich’s hand didn’t even shake that much when he wrote the check.

I normally work at home on Tuesdays.  So I was there for the fun and games that day.  Sascha wanted outside after the contractors arrived that morning.  I didn’t think about her or that she might get in their way.  Apparently, she didn’t like the noises from the garage so she didn’t wander in.  I went to check on her and the guys had come out to say hello.  They were petting her.  Later, they took a cigarette break and she was hanging out with them.  I have one very social Siberian Collie.

Tuesday evening, Rich and I went to dinner with some friends.  Unfortunately for Rich, only the girls showed up.  He didn’t have to listen to much girl talk, so I think he managed to survive.  It was great to meet up with several people I don’t see often.  We had a few laughs and enjoyed a little bit of social hour in a busy week.

I had a long list of deliveries that I need to do this week.  I decided to keep my head down and work through everything and stay out of the office.  For some reason, I get distracted a lot more when I’m in the office.  I just needed to put in the time and get the work done.  Of course, that means working a lot of hours too.  The guys don’t feel too neglected though.  I just have to make it over the next couple of weeks.

Rich sent me an email with bad news on Thursday.  Mr. Johnnie Billington died down in Clarksdale, MS.  This really saddened me.  Back in January of 2012, Rich and I went to Memphis for a week  At the end of the week, we went down to check out the Crossroads in Clarksdale.  While we were there, we visited Ground Zero Blues Club.  We went in to eat and listen to the jam night.  We had met Stan Street earlier in the day.  Stan, his band, and other locals were playing that night.

As we listened to the great music, an older gentleman came and stood at the railing by our table.  He was smiling and trying to start a conversation with Rich, who wasn’t feeling well with a sinus headache.  I went over and decided to talk to the gentleman.  He said his name was John B.  As he and I talked, I got some wonderful stories about how he had been playing the blues since he was 13.  He was now teaching young kids to be showman.  One of his protégés was playing that night.

I told John that we were visting from outside of Chicago.  He laughs really big and says to me, “Everywhere is outside of Chicago.”  He thought my comment was very funny and kept laughing over it all night.  Turns out, he had lived in Chicago for several years playing blues with some of the names at that time.  He returned to Mississippi after his mother became ill.  He had lots of stories about his adventures.

His student, Omar Gordon, came on stage and played.  Poor boy was so nervous, but he was wonderful and quite talented.  John gave his full attention to Omar during his turn on stage.  You could see the pride on his face that Omar was doing a great job.  John applauded and went right back to telling me stories.

Stan came by to tell me that I was in trouble.  Once John has you in his sights, he apparently doesn’t stop talking.  That was fine with me. I was being totally entertained with all of his stories.  Stan just laughed and patted John on the back.  I talked to John until Rich needed to go.  I shook John’s hand and thanked him for a wonderful evening.  Thanks for all the Blues, John.

Now to plan for Rich’s birthday.  He is asking to go to Hofbrau Haus for his dinner.  So on Saturday, we venture down to Rosemont to eat some German food, drink some beer and listen to a little Humpha band music.  I think a couple of people are planning on meeting us there.  We’ll be in no hurry to leave.

Electrical box and conduit for all those outlets. Wired for power now.

Lights overhead now. No more working in the dark.

Outlet all around the place.

Dual lights over the big doors.

The new barn light over the man door is so nice.

Sascha waits patiently for most things. Otherwise, she is just a speed bump in the kitchen.

Another Sunday morning and time for Sascha to be in Rick’s lap.

Sascha just not quite feeling it for playtime.

Rick and Sascha fighting over the fox.

Rich’s birthday cake. Chocolate with raspberry filling.

Sascha knew there was cake in the house. She was just waiting for Rich to cut it for her.

Rich had been wanting bear claws to tear up the pork shoulder when he does BBQ.

New Hop Head t-shirt to show off the hobby.

I made this tutu especially for Sascha’s trick.

Sascha was not happy about the tutu. I thought the glitter would help.

Sascha doing her Twist trick in her tutu.

The weather finally warmed up enough for the drywall to go up. The contractor called to say he expected to be out on Wednesday to start work. It’s amazing what one guy can do if he is an expert. Funny, his name was Rich also. Too many around this week for me to keep them straight. The first day saw the ceiling go up. On the second day, the walls were up. Friday saw the taping and mudding. Looks great in there. This is going to be one nice garage.

Rich was planning on the mud to be dry on Saturday so we could start getting the primer up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. He and Rick went out and got paint anyway so we would be ready when the weather is warmer. They got white paint for the top and blue gray for the bottom of the wall.

On Friday, we all to bowling. Rick took his ball along in case they needed someone and he could take the opportunity to bowl with a real team. The fourth on Rich’s team didn’t come in, so Rick got to bowl with his Dad. I think he enjoyed it. Rick did bowl pretty well for not being a full time player. However, Rich’s last game was awesome. He did 209 without his handicap. There were 5 or 6 strikes in there.

That gave us a good reason to head over to The Sports Page for wings and nachos. From there, we could finish up the Louisville game and watch the remainder of the Kansas game. I wore my Louisville shirt to bowling. The guy who owns the alley came down to tell me that he was turning on the Louisville game down by me just so I could watch. How cool was that.

Speaking of March Madness, Alex ran the Z Family Pool again this year. The same cast of characters applied along with a few new ones. For $20, we can put in our bracket and hope for the best. This year’s list of unlikely winners hurt most of us. It would have been a good year to pick the underdogs. I picked Louisville, but I’m not top dog on the list. That would be James (JimiZ).

Rich and Rick picked Kansas. Now they wished they had Louisville, but they are cheering right alongside me. I was watching Louisville earlier this year and was highly impressed with how the team was setting up to get shots. Peyton Siva is directing traffic and the team was responding. Now I see them taking that all the way to the finals.

I called and got a quote for the electrical work on the garage. The guy came by one night and walked through the work with Rich. On Thursday, he sent his quote by email. Rich thought it was a good price for the entire scope of work and not just for getting the service out to the garage. On Friday, the contractor left a phone message wanting to start on Monday. Rich figured he’d call on Monday and try to set it up as soon as possible. Then an email came in on Saturday still wanting to start on Monday. So I guess the electric out to the garage starts on Monday. Now we’ll have lights while we paint.

We’ve started planning for the Derby Party. Rich brewed beer on Thursday. So there will be wheat and cherry wheat available on party day. The weather got warm enough to turn on the water spicket and for standing around the garage.

The weather had better get warmer is all I can say. Where is spring? I know the winter has been terrible. But I am so ready for warm weather and lots of sunshine. I keep thinking it’ll be better soon, but the cold keeps hanging on. By May 4, it’ll be warm, right?

I’m hoping for a better week coming up. At least, Easter was nice.

Snuggling on a Sunday morning.

Such a sweet face.

Sascha enjoying big red chair time.

Sascha catching up on the rays.

Community Easter basket of goodies.

Annual biting of the bunnies.

Bunnies missing ears.

Easter eggs for Zurek soup.

Rich brewing beer for Derby.

Drywall going up out in the garage.

Real walls up now to hide the insulation.

New walls all ready for paint.

Yeah, someone else had to reach up high for the ceiling.

Is this is?

Rick was happy with his handiwork.

Rich admiring it.

All those paint samples.

During the week, I feel like I can’t think about anything but work.  I do a lot of planning in my head.  So I’m not doing it, I’m thinking about how it get done.  We have lots of things that need to get done between now and May.  I know who is doing the work now.  I just need to make sure that things get done and work the way I expect them to.  Luckily, I just don’t have to do it myself.

I don’t have to track either.  Beth, my PM, has her schedules and plans for getting things done.  I plan and she executes.  It’s a pretty good thing.  Without her, I wouldn’t be hanging in there.  I tell everyone we have to make Beth happy.  Thanks, Beth.

Rick’s Nineteenth Birthday

It was Rick’s birthday on Saturday, the 9th.  Nineteen years ago, we started on an adventure that continues today.  Everyone who has kids has their birth story for the kids.  We aren’t any different.

On March 9^th, I woke Rich up at 6:00 in the morning to take me to the hospital.  I let him take a shower first.  It had been a tough winter and the roads were really rough. Rich says I complained about the bumps in the road like he was hitting them on purpose.  We arrived intact.  Rick was born about 4 weeks early and after about 5 hours of labor.  He arrived very fast and very small at 5 lbs. 6 oz.  You wouldn’t know that to look at him now.

It was a good thing that we had discussed the name that we wanted.  I was not really capable when the clerk came up to get the information for the birth certificate.  Rich could have named Rick anything he wanted, even Zigmund Zelfried.  The clerk did check with me before she filed the paperwork, just to be sure.  I was glad to see that Rich didn’t try to slip one by me.  Richard Andrew as the name we agreed upon.

Birthday Celebration

On Saturday, Rick and some of his friends got together to celebrate his big day.  They first went bowling.  It was back to the house for snacks and pizza.  They were hanging out downstairs laughing, playing board games, and enjoying themselves.  Sascha went down from time to time to join in.  She was lying under the table as the kids played games.  She was trying to beg for food, I’m sure.

Then, it came time for cake.  We sang, “Happy Birthday” to Rick.  Sascha got all excited.  She has quickly learned that singing means she gets cake.  She dances and can’t wait for the plate.  Guinness was trying to figure it out.  Everyone, including the dogs, got cake.  It was white and chocolate marble from Herb’s Bakery.  I think even Guinness enjoyed the cake.

Furry Houseguest

Oh yeah, who is Guinness?  She is the dog for a friend.  Jay had to go to Vegas for training and teaching opportunity.  I had offered to watch Guinness so she wouldn’t have to spend time in a kennel.  Guinness is 13 and definitely an aged citizen with her white face these days.  She is very small and dainty.  However, Guinness sure tells Sascha what to do when she doesn’t like something.

On her first day, she is very cautious of everything and everyone.  But the second day, she is a little more comfortable.  By the end of the week, she was feeling more at home.  Guinness and Sascha were lying across the room from each other at the beginning of the week.  By today, they are only a few inches apart.

Guinness has even learned a few new things.  Going out here means getting to the back door and waiting to be connected to the lead.  She has learned to wait to be disconnected before she can go into the house.  Rich has included Guinness for the twist training sessions.  Sascha has twist done and is working on refining her moves.  Guinness is learning to go around for a bit of cheese.  She is a smart dog.

My Entourage

I’ve got an entourage these days.  Guinness follows me around the house wherever I go.  On the days I work at home, Sascha and Guinness are lying around the office while I work.  They move around the floor, but stay pretty close.  Now it’s the girls against the guys.  I’m going to miss my girl, Guinness, when she goes home.

Planning for Derby

We’ve started planning for the Derby Party.  Rich has to still brew beer.  It’s just been too cold to be out there playing water.  Hopefully, it’ll warm up soon and Rich can turn the tap outside on to get water.  We had planned on Wheat and Cherry Wheat beer.  We do have some microbrews in the frig, but it just wouldn’t be the same.  We’ll keep you updated on the beer.

The weather had better get warmer is all I can say.  Where is spring?  I know the winter has been terrible.  But I am so ready for warm weather and lots of sunshine.  I keep thinking it’ll be better soon, but the cold keeps hanging on.  By May 4, it’ll be warm, right?

Well, maybe it hasn’t been that busy over the past couple of weeks.  It just feels like it.  I’m hoping for a better week coming up.  Alas, it will mean that one member of my entourage will be going home.

Dad has a heavy weight on his chest.

Mom has a heavy weight on her chest today.

Sascha and Rick hanging out together.

Sascha using her begging skills on Rick.

Sascha sunning out on the apron of her dog house.

The queen of the snow hill.

Queen Sascha of the north.

Hanging out in the snow.

Sascha hanging out in the snow and watching.

Guinness on her first day with us over her stay.

Guinness grabbing a short nap.

Guinness enjoying a lazy Sunday.

Me and my entourage hanging out on my day at home.

Let sleeping dogs lying, especially when I’m working.

Sascha and Guinness are finally inches apart.

Sure hope that hat makes him more cunning.

All that was left of the birthday cake.