Home Again... Sort Of...

So our two oldest girls are turning into quite the world travelers. Lindsay called this morning to say she had just landed in DC after a couple of "hard work weeks" in Hawaii. Must be rough. In related news, she and the Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps were recently at the Virginia International Tattoo in April. Here's a photo from the Old Guard web site.

More photos and great video of the new show. Be sure to check out the photo at the bottom of the main page!

Although the video is available on the website, here is the very cool show they did. The new drum solo starts at 2:45, btw...


Meanwhile, Jen rolled in this morning at about 4:30am. She has been out west (New Mexico) for over a week visiting friends. Judging from the photos I've seen of the trip, it looks like she had a great time. Here are a few shots that I thieved from her myspace.


"Just one more step back Jen"


Looks like NM has a bit more topography than Michigan.


Pretty cool colors in them hills.


Beautiful...

Our Memorial Day Cemetery Visit

We stopped by the cemetery where a lot of my family is buried on the way home from the parade yesterday. We had not been back to mom's grave since we buried her last summer. We still need to get a headstone, but left flowers at her grave. I could not remember where Grandma and Grandpa Natiw were located, but we got very lucky and found the needle in the haystack. Here are some shots from a really nice day.


My Grandpa Savageau, who I never met.


My Grandma Savageau who I was very close to.


Grandma Savageau's mother (my great-grandma).


Mom's grave.


Grandma Natiw's grave. If I remember right, she got a college degree when she was like... 60 something. She was also not happy that my dad was cremated, so she had his name put on her headstone.


Clean up.


Grandpa Natiw's grave. Never met him.


Another shot of Mom's grave. It's in a really nice spot, right next to her parents under the trees.

Nice day.
J

Phat the Hamster (2005-2007)

A few of our phavorite Phat moments from the past two years...












Phat's final resting place... under a star in the garden.

Can I Get You An Energy Bar?

Empty Nest...

Got home around 2pm and went up to look at the babies. Wish I had checked on them this morning. They've flown the coop. Glad I took lots of photos yesterday. Good luck little buggers...

As of 2pm.

View from the front porch. Great nest location.

Btw, I was looking through the videos that I took yesterday and found some interesting stuff. This first one is the babies getting restless in the nest. [no sound]


Turns out I did get the family photo I was trying to get! In one of the videos you'll see both adults on the nest. The one on the right flies away pretty quick. Then the other. It's the only time I got all four of them together. [no sound]

Not Much Room to Stretch!

The nest is getting quite crowded these days. I've noticed one of the newbies actually sitting on the side of the nest from time to time. Today I thought I'd take a few more shots in case they start flying the coop soon. Was fortunate to catch momma coming in to feed them. The first photo with her is not quite framed right, but I was only trying to get the babies and she swooped in. The second one is pretty good.

The babies seem pretty impatient lately. We'll see...

[Don't forget to click on the photos to see 'em bigger]

What Are YOU On?

If This Don't Make Your Booty Move...

Won't Be Long Now

The little buggers are almost to fledgling status. I figure a few more days and the nest will be empty. Thought I'd take a few photos before they're gone. The ones with digital zoom are a tad blurry, but well worth posting. Be sure to click the photo to see the larger version.

One Year Ago

Mom's been gone a year. She died the day after Mother's Day last year around 2pm. It was a Monday. I was trying to get a job done for my new business and a friend was sitting with her. She called to say it didn't look good. She died within hours. Her best friends from her school days stopped to visit. She was gone within 15 minutes of their leaving. It all happened so fast.

I miss her.

(November 3, 1933 - May 15, 2006)

It's a..... Bird!

A little hard to see, but there are two little baby robins in there that I can see. At least one of the eggs has not hatched yet. The little buggers can barely flop their heads around at this point. Kinda funny...

Momma's Home

Been hard to get a photo of momma in the nest. When I open the screen to get a clear shot, she goes across the street to watch her eggs from afar. She doesn't stay away long. I've noticed other birds coming to the nest when she's gone. They don't loook like they want to do the eggs harm, but I scare them away just the same.

Today she let me get a few shots of her. She wasn't happy about it, but tolerated it for a few minutes. Rough day to sit a nest today (or so I'd imagine). Lots of hard rain and thunderstorms came through.
J

The Pitter Patter of Little....

Looks like it's about to get a bit noisy out our bedroom window soon...
J