Another Before And After

First pic was about 3 weeks ago




This wisteria looks and smells terrific. I was thinking of building a trellis on the side of the garage to get it to grow over the pond area. If I did that it would be over there by the end of the summer it grows so fast.

More updates, work continues on the pond. As soon as the mortar sets on the repairs I did then I can put the new liner in and cap it with the pavers I got.

We had to reset the posts, the fence was falling over. While we were doing it the neighbor came out and remarked "It only took them(previous owners) about 4 hours to put the fence up"
Yeah no kidding.


Here's Dimples after her bath. Its funny that as much as she loves to go swimming she hates getting bathed.

What a difference a week makes!

Here is the weeping cherry tree in front of our home, first pic was one week ago and the other was this morning. Spring is here!




Periwinkle I planted last summer so I dont have to mow the hill. I plan on finishing the rest this summer.


Also some work on the pond is due. I drained it 2 weeks ago and cleaned it out, and repotted the plants. Its about 5 feet deep in the middle.



Water Lilies


Goldfish

NRA Basic Pistol Course

Dorinda and I took the NRA Basic Pistol Course this past weekend. Its a 2 day class at Target World taught by local PA Game Commission officer Bryan O'Pella. First day was classroom only with basics on pistol safety, nomenclature, storage, cleaning, and shooting fundamentals. I'm not ashamed to admit I learned a few things even with many years of shooting. Dorinda even scored better on the test than I did LOL (98 vs 96)- however I did shoot better.

Monday nite was range time for 2 hours. I shot both my Ruger Speed Six .357 (using .38 SPL) and my S&W 9mm semiauto. We rented a S&W .22 revolver for Dorinda. They started us out at 5 yds and we put 10 rounds into a target, then progressively moved to 10-15-20, then back to 5. The object was that as we shoot farther we get steadier, so when we move back to 5yds the target seems really close and our aim improves.

2 things I learned- #1 if you have a round that doesnt fire when you pull the trigger, you may have a hangfire and should keep the gun pointed at the target for 20 seconds in case the round goes off. #2 that even though I am right handed, I am left eye dominant. Focus on a small object about 20 feet away, make a circle with your index finger and thumb of both hands and move your hands close to your face while still focusing on the object. Whichever eye your circle ends up at is your dominant eye. When aiming a pistol you should have both eyes open focusing on the barrel sight and your target.

Bluetooth GPS in vehicle

I finally got my Ipaq working with Street Atlas for handhelds and all mounted in my Pathfinder. The mount clips into the vent and sits in nice position on the dash. The bluetooth receiver sits on the dash near the windshield. I took a few pics with and without flash. It works great once you learn how to use it. You can create routes on desktop and import them to the ipaq or do it right on the fly. If you start to get off track, it calculates a new route to get you back on. Biggest downside is you have to decide which area you want available and move it to the ipaq. I have about 2 counties and its 12 MB file so if you dont have much room it can be an issue...

G-visit

Cool new tool for showing visitors to your website on a map. Here is the page to view visits to this site http://www.gvisit.com/map.php?sid=dc0841b6657a86b309f98f615258890a

Looks like I already have some visitors from Singapore and KL, Malaysia- hi !!!

This is a neat free app, you just sign up, download some code and paste it in your site and track it.

Lake Placid 2nd post

Well evidently one is only able to post 6 photos per entry, so here is the rest of the story on LP


We had a leg of lamb on Sat night- yuummmmmmmmmmmy

Played some parcheesi- here's a sweet block that Andy had going, although Dorinda ultimately won!

We went for a snowshoe hike on Sunday

Winter retreat

We spent the extended weekend at our friend's (Blair & Marjorie) house in Jay NY near LP (Lake Placid for the flatlanders)

We left around 5pm Thurs and arrived at 12:30 Fri. I figured we would have a few drinks to unwind but ended up drinking until about 4:30. Blair woke up around 3 and promptly joined us for some cognac. What a refreshing effect being in the mountains has!

Here's the liquor stock:

We did get out despite the cold, about 3 F at night and high of about 22 during the day. We visited John Browns grave and farmsite near the ski jumps.

Dorinda's new rabbit fur vest ! Thanks to the rabbits who gave up their fur.

We also rode the bobsled at Mt Von Hoevenberg, its the the lower half of the 1980 course. You ride with a steerman and brakeman and reach speeds of above 50 mph and pull at least 2 g's on the curves. What an experience!

Thoughts and prayers request

Dorinda's grandfather Bob Elliott is in the hospital and scheduled for triple bypass and valve repair tomorrow. He is in the cardiac care unit at Doylestown Hospital which is a really nice facility and his room is on par with a 4 star hotel!

He has been there a few days and they are making sure he is 110% before the procedure. His spirits are high and he has so much company that after a while he wants everyone to leave! (to know him is to love him)

Please include him in your prayers and thoughts to get through this quickly and have lots more years to enjoy with the family.

Satellite radio installed

After much trial n error, I found a good resting place for my Sirius reciever in the Pathfinder. Since neither of us smoke, the ashtray was a good spot. I still need to finesse the wires but its the best spot in this truck.


Instead of using the FM modulator I have a cassette adapter, much clearer sound.

New Track Lights

We finally got our new track lighting up. Dorinda's brother Justin was on the tv show 'Moving Up' and they got a double order of this stuff and didnt have to return it so we got the benefit, we only had to buy the rail. Good thing because its expensive!















You can bend the pendants any way you like, you can also bend the rail but we left that straight.















Many pendants are available, some really nice handblown glass ones.














Its on a dimmer switch and looks really great at night, couldn't get a good picture of that though.

2nd Annual Holiday Open House

We had the 2nd annual Holiday open house last Friday night, a good time was had by all including Dimples! Then we took down all the Christmas decorations and trees.

Christmas 2005 went too fast !!

So we had company for the past week- Melissa, Rob, Luke, and Jon. Even though Jon wasn't feeling well we had a great time!

One day we went to Northlandz to see the biggest model train display in the country. All Luke had to say was "WOW"

It was cold in there !

After we went to church on Christmas Eve we had alot of family over- Mom, Chris & family, Dan Brech & family. Fun was had by all !

Had to do some major red-eye reduction on this one LOL !

On Christmas morning we drove up to Connecticut and stayed at Elmcroft. Dad was there, and we also got to spend time with Uncle George, and Karen & Doug Odell and family.

Monday we drove up a little farther and visited with Grandmom Burton, and then stopped to see Uncle Ken & Aunt Kathy. here's a pic of us kids with Grandmom in her room at Camelot Nursing home.

Here's a nice photo from November after we helped George cut down the spruce trees in front of the carriage house at Elmcroft.

Greetings !

This is where Dorinda & Andrew will keep info on whats going on along with photos of our adventures !