Happy Birthday PJ

PJ's First Birthday

Today is my grandson's 4th birthday!
He's already taken the physical for pre-school.
Time is definitely flying...

His parents were already living in this area when his mama called to let me know they were going to induce labor. The timing was just perfect for this grandma as we'd already scheduled a vacation week, and were heading up here on that very day!
While packing up a load, mama calls and asks when we're leaving, because the labor was underway. I assured her this labor would take quite a while and even though the trip would take almost 3 hours, I'd be there for the birth.
Wrong!
By the time I got to the hospital, the receptionist was so excited she blurted out "You've got a grandson!" (It's a small, two-story hospital, which obviuosly doesn't see much action.)
By the time I got upstairs, my grandson was watching basketball with his dad!
So much for the typical (meaning long) first-time delivery.
If my daughter ever has another baby, I'm thinking about buying dad a catcher's mitt and letting him handle the delivery...

It's A Dog's Life!

Tasha on the deck-

A week and a half ago I celebrated the anniversary of 4 years of retirement!


Squirl commented today, wishing me a happy Memorial Day weekend, but wondering whether it's that big of a deal now that I'm retired...

Yes, it still is something I look forward to!

During my working years, I was scheduled more than my fair share of holidays. One year, I recall working Mother's Day, Easter, Memorial Day and The Fourth of July. I held my breath when the Christmas schedule went up, but wasn't too surprised to see my name.

I got even during the final 5 months of employment. By that time I had 5 full weeks vacation and 6 compensating days available. As my husband and I were in the process of getting our S.F. Bay Area home ready for sale and moving up here to the foothills, I decided to schedule a full vacation week each month until I was gone for good. This meant I'd work about three weeks and then go on vacation again... effectively dropping me from any weekend duty as well as Easter and Mother's Day.

Now the summertime holidays are spent with the scanner running, keeping abreast of any local fires usually set by campers, partiers or people attempting to clear their properties.

Today we're not even bothering with listening. It's extremely overcast, and the warmest it's been is 60 degrees. There's a possibility of thunderstorms too.

There's something to be said for a nice quiet holiday!

Hope everyone is having a fun, but safe weekend.

Ode To My Oaks

my springtime hell

They're big
They're 'purty'
But their falling pollen
Makes my car real dirty.


I could park in the garage, except there is too much stuff in the way.