Our Week (So Far)

This is the turkey vulture soaring above our our house on Monday. Up close it bears a "Stark" resemblance to some folks we know or once knew. Generally the vultures we've encountered in the past are much larger in person.

This is a view of our deck earlier this morning. The red object filled with snow is a special swing some dear friends of ours pitched in and bought for Ben a few years ago for his birthday. Ben loves his swing! Me and Joan could never have afforded this chair given our budget because it's price is around $250 It is the type of equipment we want to put on Ben's school playground. If you want to make a donation directly to The Washington Center then get in touch with me via e-mail and I will let you know how to do so.

These are some frozen buds on our huge Dogwood Tree that blooms in our front yard.

A closer at the buds. You can already see the pink shoots emerging from their bright green buds. The ice actually insulates them from damage so we're still looking forward to this very old tree's spring show in a few weeks.

This is Balloo, The World's Most Stubborn Dog, Ever. He had no problem dragging Ben and Jessie's unwashed underwear out into our snowy backyard. This is his "atonement" position.

Unfortunately we have no pictures of Ben in the snow. We've had freezing rain since about 9:00 this morning so it was not one of those winter storms that we could really enjoy. Jessie loved having no school and spent most of the day with Ben on the couch watching Sponge Bob. Yours truly cleaned my office from top to bottom. I received applause from the family once I was done. I'm now sneezing and wheezing from the dust that is just now settling. So overall it was a wonderful and productive day for us.