Cows, NJ and the Backyard

So we now own 1/20th of a cow. She lives at a nearby farm. The farmer milks her and we pick up a gallon of her milk once a week. This photo may be her, but we're not sure since there are six other cows on the farm too:



I've been working on a project for a company in New Jersey, and my boss and I recently spent a day near Newark scoping out the pipeline route.



The backyard is exploding with new life - the fruits of the previous owner's labors. They loved uncommon flora, so the plant beds are full of flowers, shrubberies and trees I've never heard of before. It's a lot of work, but it sure is nice to look at.

Playing the (insert your word of choice here) Card

I'm pretty sick of cards. Can't the politicians and the media do something else for a while? If I spent all day accusing other people of playing cards I think I would get fired.

It's time for a new metaphor.

Dance!

Exam Update

Well Brian felt confident about how he did on the exam and he even finished 30 minutes early! We had a quick dinner, friends over for some laughs and now he's out smoking his pipe with da boys. (He hardly ever gets a chance :) )

The Exam

Brian is gone and has begun his Professional Engineering Exam by now! Please pray for him. He's been studying every week night for 2-3hrs for the past 3 1/2months. I'm sure that he will do great. That is he better pass! ;)

Neither of us have gotten much sleep the last few nights. Alex has been waking up randomly during the last week and then 2 nights ago he woke up barking (coughing) and couldn't breathe. I never seen so much green stuff come out of a little nose. Since then he's been doing ok during the days but up for 2hrs each night trying to get back to sleep with us by his side. Poor Brian, these things always happen when he needs sleep most.

Yesterday the weather was crazy and the sky was exciting. It looked like a line split directly down the center of the road separating sunny sky and dark clouds. It went from sunny to rain to sunny to hail to sun in about 15minutes. I guess there was a tornado about 1hr from here.

Well better attend to the little man.

Spring is Here!

It's official: I've shaved my head and there a flowers all over our yard and the trees and shrubberies are beginning to bud. And it's sixty degrees Fahrenheit outside.

We spent all of Saturday removing the fountain in our backyard, clearing all the dead foliage from our plant plots and pruning as necessary. Then I helped my friend set up some composting boxes. It feels so good to be outside again. Let me repeat that: It feels so good to be outside again. So good.

Once my 8 hour engineering exam next Saturday is over the next projects up are the bike repairs and then the bookshelves. I'm gonna enjoy this summer for all its worth. Which is a lot. A very, very lot.

The 'Hawk

This was the real thing. None of that fauxhawk business. I really wanted to keep it. It was like the stray dog you bring home as a kid. "Mommy can we keep it?"

"Sarah can I keep it? Just for one day?" "NO!"