June Birthdays 2021

In the past, our traditional June birthday/Father's day celebration for the family has always involved attending a baseball game at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock.  The Round Rock Express is the farm team for the Texas Rangers.  From time to time, we would get lucky and have pleasant weather. Usually... not. After all, June in Texas is HOT!

 Once the new stadium for the Rangers was built in Arlington, any thought of sitting and sweating through a game at Dell Diamond was quickly replaced with the excitement of possibly watching baseball in an air conditioned environment. Therefore, Scott started the long process of emailing family members to get a head count for ticket purchases. Unfortunately, since the past 18 months have been unexpectedly insane, this year our June birthday celebration just didn't quite work out as planned

For various reasons, getting everyone together to celebrate at one time just didn't work out. So, the twins and Jamie celebrated at the end of May with a trip to I-Flight and a small party at Dairy Queen. Ron and Scott celebrated with lunch and cake at Leslie's house, followed by a Ranger's game. And, Sophie celebrated her birthday with friends at a trampoline park and a family get together the weekend afterwards.  Family members attended the celebrations they could. 

Samantha and Sophia's Dairy Queen birthday celebration:

Leslie and her girls drove down from Ft. Worth and stayed the night at our place. She took her girls to the I-Flight facility and spent a few hours watching some of the girls in the wind tunnel. A couple of them chickened out and they shall remain nameless. Ron and I opted to just meet up with the birthday girls at Dairy Queen. 

Sophia and Sophie enjoying DQ treats and eats.

Jamie and Sophia

The twins, Ryan and Ron, along with Leslie and Gwen

Maggie, far left, with Samantha, Sophia,
a friends and Sophie

Ron and Scott's celebration at Globe Life Field for a Ranger's game:

Okay; I'll be honest. I think I was more excited about the Rangers game than anyone else! Everyone but the Searls-Glenn branch made it. We met at Leslie and G's house for lunch, cake and ice cream, then headed to the ball park. I was so excited when I saw my best friend from college, Madonna, taking tickets at the gate! I had to run down and get a picture with her. The game was so much fun and the ball park is amazing. The Rangers didn't win; but, everyone had a really good time.

G doing an imitation of Stevie Wonder with
Rebecca and Maggie.

Sophie and Leslie

Molly and Scott

Gwen with her college friend, Madonna

The family, with Ron behind the camera.

Sophie's birthday celebration with the family after her trampoline party with friends:

Sophie sort of hemmed and hawed when asked what she wanted to do for her birthday. She is a much more social person than Maggie; and, I could tell she really didn't want to do the typical family thing. After submitting her to intensive interrogation, we finally figured out that she just wanted to eat McDonalds for lunch, and have a few friends over for a sleep over. With COVID the way it is; that wasn't going to happen. She finally settled on inviting some friends to meet her at the local trampoline park. Then, as a family, we got together for cake and ice cream at their house in Ft. Worth. That stupid game that Uncle Scott bought her was SUCH a big hit! I wish the twins could have been there. They love playing games and would have gotten a kick out of seeing Aunt Molly and Uncle Scott playing Mall Madness.

G and Ron watching TV instead
of playing games... typical.

Rebecca and Maggie

Scott, Molly, and Sophie

Leslie

Sophie

Uncle Scott broke tradition! Instead of
his usually bag-o-money, he got
Sophie a Mall Madness game. I
think it is mostly because he 
enjoyed playing when the girls got 
an original one, years ago!

Leslie with one of the original Mall Madness games.

I have always been so appreciative of having our adult kids live fairly close to us; all are within a 2 1/2 hour drive. We have been able to spend most holidays and birthday celebrations together. Sadly, as the grandchildren grow older and become much busier, we don't seem to get together as often. Of course, the pandemic has made things even more difficult. That makes the moments we do share even more precious. 

Temple Fire Department October Promotion Celebration: Really late post!!!

Scott is getting promoted!  I never knew there was a specific promotion process in the fire department. I just assumed everyone was a fire fighter and the most experienced fire fighter was the captain.  Nope. It is a little more involved than that.  (And, I probably won't explain it correctly.)

When hired by the fire department, all new hires complete initial training in the fire academy. Some also take a paramedic course that is in addition to the basic medic training received in the academy. After 2 years as a fire fighter, you have the option to test for driver. The test results generate a promotion list that has to be exhausted during the fiscal year. If you make the list but are not promoted, you start all over again with a new test the following year.

Turn over in personnel in the fire department does not occur often. If it does, it is due to new hires either moving to another city or deciding fire fighting isn't what they thought it would be. Or, senior department members will retire. However, even that doesn't happen often because Temple isn't a huge city. 

Scott had taken the driver's exam a couple of times, but this year he finally got promoted. 

Scott; everyone's favorite.

Family and friends were invited to central station for the promotion ceremony and celebration. The fire chief and other department heads were all there. The promotion ceremony recognized new hires, paramedic course graduates, as well as those promoted to driver and captain.

The fire chief.

The fire department leadership.

During the ceremony, a family member is invited to pin those being recognized with the badge associated with the new rank. Scott asked me to put his pin on his shirt. 

I am still having a hard time getting used to that mustache.

Yay! I didn't stick him with the pin.

After the pinning ceremony, those newly hired were sworn in by the fire chief. 

Some of them are sooo young!

It was a very nice ceremony and the weather was perfect for being held in Central Station's open bays.  After the ceremony, the department provided visitors with refreshments and an opportunity to look around the station, take pictures, and visit with one another. 

Me with the two Ronalds.

Becca and Seth came out to support Scott.

We are all very proud of the profession Scott has chosen.  In a couple of years he will be able to test for captain. But for now, we are really thankful his driving is a rewarding one. 

As an added bonus in this post, here is a funny story. Seth was borrowing Ron's BMW and had driven it in from Gatesville. When he got to Temple, he noticed that there was a police cruiser following him. Eventually, the driver turned on the lights and pulled Seth over. Before he got out of the cruiser, he used his loud speaker to tell Seth to place his hands out of the window. By this time, Seth was freaked out so he did exactly what he was told. The officer approached the car and asked Seth who the owner of the car was. Seth said, "It's my Poppy's car!" (Who on Earth would know that Seth calls his grandfather, Poppy?!) Luckily, Seth corrected himself and said it was his grandfather's car. The officer asked Seth who his grandfather was and he told him. The officer then said, "My bad! Wrong car. You can go on your way." By the time Seth got to central station, he was able to laugh about the whole thing. We all find it pretty funny that Poppy has a thug car. 

Chicken Coop Progress

 Scott has been a very busy guy. Here are updated pictures of the progress he has made on the chicken coop.  

The first picture is of the interior of the coop. On the right are the six nesting boxes.

 

This is the back of the coop with the nesting boxes closed. He made them with two doors; one that opens to collect eggs, and, the other one opens to clean out the soiled nesting materials.

The pictures below were taken the day Scott put the roof on. We opted for a metal roof and slanted it to keep the rain from running down into the run. There is an overhang to provide the chickens with some shade. The second picture is of the roost. Since we've never built a coop, I'm not sure if this is high enough. I only read that you need 10 to 12 inches per bird. We only plan on having 4-5 hens and maybe a rooster. Since the board is 8 feet long, it should be just fine.

This is the last set of pictures Scott sent. He took these yesterday to let me see how the sides of the coop look. We decided to only have one set of doors to open for cleaning. Originally, we thought about double doors on both ends but he thought a solid piece of wood would offer more stability to the coop.

 Now we just have to figure out how much of an incline to put on the ramp that goes into the doors. This is Scott's level at a 6 ft. length. He sent me pics of 5 and 4 feet lengths. This one looks the most reasonable.  I read through a few discussion boards and this seems to be a concern for all new chicken owners. I guess we will go with the 6 foot length because Leslie was worried that a steep incline would be hard on their little chicken knees.

I'm hoping to be able to get this painted during spring break.  All that is left construction wise is for Scott to build the run.  Then I'll have to start chicken shopping. I'm so excited!!

Chicken are Coming

A few months ago, I started thinking about ways to make the land where the yellow house is located more productive. We have about 3 acres around the house and have never really done anything on it except fight cactus, cedar, and rocks. Our boys, the fire fighter and the geologist, have lived in the house since the hubby and I moved to Temple. The yard has lost it's well cared for look; and, most of the cactus and cedar are starting to reclaim the property.  It makes me a little sad to walk around the place and think about the years we spent clearing the land and making it a nice place in the country. We keep trying to get the fire fighter to buy the property, but he says, "It's too much house for me." However, I don't think he will ever move out because "That's too much trouble." So, we are faced with a problem: try to sell it in the condition it is after having 2 bachelors live in it for 7 years. Or, use what we have to make a family compound capable of sustaining life.
Hence, the chickens are coming.  It is the first step in making the place more life sustaining.  (More about that in another post.)
Anyway, the fire fighter is also the family genius and can turn any of my sketches into a reality. I drew a rough sketch of a chicken coop and he turned it into plans.

For the last two days, he has been working on the frame for the coop.

I'm excited to see how it turns out. Knowing that the fire fighter's building ethic is taken from the movie, The Money Pit, it might be a while before it is finished. But, we are off to a great start.
Updates to follow as the "...two weeks" elapse.

Quilting My Break Away

Spring break usually means cleaning out closets, working on the yard, and maybe a family camping trip. This year our break didn't line up with my grandson's break and the granddaughters were going to Arizona on vacation. The hubby had just come back from an insane trip through Winter Storm Thor to Ohio with the boys to watch Ohio State host the Big 10 wrestling championship, so he had to work this week. That meant I could quilt all week long and not be disturbed. Whoop!!!! I finished 6 baby quilts; 3 are going to a co-worker who is having triplets!! (Better her than me!) The other 3 are going into the cedar chest in case another of my young and fertile co-workers decides to have a baby. Then, I finally finished Scott's quilt! I bought the main fabric for his quilt over a year ago. It is from the American Heroes line and it has firefighter and police badges on it. I started gathering the fabric for it over the next few months and got it cut apart during Christmas break. It is pieced, quilted, and trimmed now all I have to do is get it bound. That will probably take me forever because I HATE PUTTING ON BINDING!
Here are the pictures of the the finished products!

Fabric for Scott's quilt; American Heroes...

Scott's quilt finished except or the binding...

close up of the quilting...

back of Scott's quilt...

Three Yard Baby Quilt, number 1...

Three Yard Baby Quilt number 2

Three Yard Baby Quilt number 3

Three Yard Baby Quilt Number 1-B

Three Yard Baby Quilt number 2-B

Three Yard Baby Quilt number 3-B

This is the easiest baby quilt ever! You buy 1 yard each of 3 coordinating fabrics, cut them according to the directions, switch the fabrics around to come up with 3 different views. I have made so many baby quilts using this pattern!

This is the pattern I used for Scott's quilt. I added shashing and corner stones to give it a more finished look.

The pattern came from this book. It was one that belonged to my friend Barbara. Barbara passed away a few years ago from ovarian cancer. She used to tell me that if Scott was a little younger, she would definitely be interested in dating him!