Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Life's funny little coincidences

I pull up to the post office just as Dennis Prager is saying, "Save time and gas. DON'T drive to the post office; use stamps.com!"

Walking the dog, I round the corner, facing directly into the late afternoon sun, and a neighbor's stereo is playing "Blinded By the Light".

Friday, October 3, 2008

My new friend...?


Miriam is so much more brave than I am!! Here's the creepy spider that took up residence in my garage. It's the size of a hermit crab, and I've built it a little house, and take it on walks daily.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Arachnophobia




The other night, as I approached my car after song practice, I saw a fantastic, large economy-sized spider rising in the air (climbing its silk). I thought it would be great for Thomas to take to his entomology class. Didn't have a container of any kind in the car, so I went back in the church building, hoping to find a plastic cup or two, which I did. Still didn't know how I was going to reach the darn thing, but on my way out I came across three of Thomas' friends—all Boy Scouts—who were eager to lend a hand.

The spider was still there, but pretty high up, so two of the boys interlaced their fingers while the third stood on their hands and clapped the cups together, capturing the spider.

Now, of course the cups weren't stuck together, so I had to HOLD them together all the way home! Drove one-handed, turned the radio up so I couldn't hear the skritch-skritch noises coming from oh-so-near my hand and tried not to think about the extra passenger I'd taken on. (The creepy-crawlies are fascinating—from a distance!)

Unfortunately, in my excitement and haste, I was almost home when I realized I'd FORGOTTEN to PICK UP ALYX!! Don't know that she'd have wanted to be in the car, anyway. (I went back and got her after delivering the spider to Thomas. For some reason, she wasn't even surprised I'd forgotten her—sorry, Baby!)

I hoped Thomas would be as excited as I was, and he was. He identified the creature as an Orb Weaver—entirely harmless, but impressive nonetheless.

Now the challenge is keeping the sucker ALIVE for a week, until Thomas' next class. So it's in our fridge (to slow its metabolism). Just don't look in that paper bag...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

See our new look!

Thought we could try something different, for a while, at least...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Another Musician?


Ashley has decided to give the Viola a try. She decided on it without knowing I used to attempt
to play it. The other picture shows some local wildlife (baby rabbit).

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Big Day



Michael started kindergarten on Monday. He finally got a "big boy" haircut, and he looks so grown up!

Ralph Johnston

Al's brother Ralph passed away on Thursday, Sept. 4. He was 78 years old, and he died of cancer. Ralph worked for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for many years, and he was well thought of among his colleagues. He was one of the first smoke jumpers in Southern California and he and others pioneered the use of helicopters in fighting forest fires. A memorial service will be held on October 18, at which time the heliport at Chilao in the Angeles National Forest will be renamed the Ralph Johnston Heliport.

Al was able to spend some time with Ralph a couple of weeks ago.