Congratulations Nathan

Fred's nephew, Nathan, graduated from Marine bootcamp and the family had a dinner for him tonight.

Nathan with his cake. Nathan told me he is in the Marines now and can't smile, ugh!!

A few of the family, not everyone was in the photo and not everyone was there...

I love this photo I took of Michael. He was playing hide and seek and he was supposed to be counting, instead he was sitting there watching the other kids hide...He is tired and looks so sad and forlorn!

This is Michael with all his younger cousins. (Zeke, Xavier, and Zack)

Michael is still there and is spending the night, YEA!! He is having a GREAT time and I am so tickled that he decided to stay the night. Now if I could only get Fred away from the TV for a bit, HA!! NOT going to happen....so off to bed with a book!!

~ Misc. photos from Today ~

Misc. photos that I took today in between rain showers...

Turkey Vulture

Fred playing with his tractor...he calls it work but since nothing is accomplished I call it PLAYING!!!

Property looking at the dry creek bed drive and beyond....

Michael checking out the rocks!

Huisache ~ Sweet Acacia

This one of our native bushes/trees. It is considered a nuisance but after reading about it I also see the benefits...The techinal stuff is for you Mom, lol...you can go to class and tell them your daughter is teaching you about native Texas species.

Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd.

Family : Fabaceae

Longevity : Perennial

Origin : Native

Season : Cool

Huisache is a tree or shrub which respouts readily when disturbed. The branches have paired thorns at the base of each leaf. This plant can be ten to thirty feet in height. Huisache grows in the South Texas Plains and Edwards Plateau. It flowers from February to March with numerous small yellow flowers. It is quite similar to twisted acacia but can be distinguished by the position of the glands on the leaf stem. Huisache has glands that are below the first pair of leaflets while twisted acacia has glands above the first pair of leaflets. White-tailed deer and javelina eat its fruit and quail eat the seeds. Quail, doves and other birds use this plant to nest, loaf, and as cover and small mammals sometimes forage Huisache. The flowers provide nectar for insects. It tolerates drought conditions and is used as landscape plant in xeriscapes. Wood uses include: firewood, posts, tanning, dying, ink, glue, and perfume.

A few scrapbook layouts ~

I managed to do 3 scrapbook layouts today, YEA!!

1 digital and 2 paper...Enjoy!!

~Digital Layout~

Photo Journal ~ July 16, 2007

I was playing with the color accent on my camera and took this photo of Julie. I'm not sure what it is about this photo but it is one of my favorites of Julie. She is 20 yrs old in this photo and enjoying retirement.

It doesn't get better than this > Big Toys for Big Boys

July 4, 2007

Momma started shooting photos not really paying attention to what Michael was wearing while playing with sparklers, Oops! He is in everyday normal attire (rubber boots and underwear) and enjoying his freedom!

God Bless the U.S.A.

And I just noticed a typo on one layout in the journaling, Ekkk....

Book Tag

I saw this tag at Helens It looked like fun. So here is mine.

Here's what you do. . .

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see what you're reading. (I am not going to specifically tag anyone....but if you feel like doing it go for it!)

My book: Eldest by Christopher Paolini

It took a few chapters for me to get into this book. Eragon was much better. But after I got past about the fifth chapter it was pretty good and I was lost...I love getting lost in a book...

"At the gate to each tier, a guard waved them through without comment. They soon left the buildings and found themselves crossing the barren fields at Tarnag's base. Beyond those, they reached the stone quay that edged the still, gray water."

Believe

If you work hard enough and BELIEVE in yourself, you can accomplish any great endeavor.

Another 2007 layout bites the dust....

Sore and Tired...

We worked and worked today....and finally finished the easement for the Electric Company, YEA!! I'm sore and tired...A tree branch that I was cutting came down and slammed into me, ugh!! Thank goodness I had my barn coat on and I was able to use my arm to sheild my face and shove it away...Fred had bigger problems...just as we were on our last tree he broke a valve stem on one of the front tractor tires...I heard it snap and then the air whisking out....UH OH!! Thank goodness it was a front tire and only a valve stem...we used the bucket to hoist the front end off the ground and took the tire off...off to the repair shop tomorrow...We have all the trees cut down and just that last one to shove into the burn pile...what a good feeling...

I took photos of the biggest one we cut down today...we have few large trees on our property and then we have to cut one down, neither one of us were to happy...but what are you going to do when you need electricity and it's in the way of the lines coming in....bye bye tree...I did make Fred move the trunk over to an area where we work on equipment so when we are down there Michael has a tree trunk to climb on, lol....The tree didn't die in vain!

Michael playing on the tree before we cut the top out of it and moved the trunk.

A balance beam.

Jake checking things out. He was down there with us all day and did a great job of staying with Michael. Jake is exhausted and asleep for the night, lol...

Fred taking a break, Jake watching everything as always...and if you click on the photo and look closely you can see Michael hiding over behind the bucket on the tractor...he had had enough of me taking photos of him, lol....

But little did he know Momma was going to get one more, lol...He kept peeking over the bucket arms of the tractor and I laid in wait until I got his photo....