Nandinas Planted!

Yesterday we got the Nandinas planted that Pat had received for Christmas. It was none too soon either with the rain we are getting today with more in store for tomorrow. You may be able to tell from the pics above that we were able to dig the holes fairly easily, with the exception of the middle hole, which had a little bit of concrete that we had to remove. And you may be able to see that the water went in the holes fine, but the two holes on either side wouldn't let the water drain naturally. The water just stayed in the hole. So on one of them, we tried planting in the wet hole. On the other, we took a can and tried to remove most of the water before continuing. We used something called Osmacote (one tablespoon sprinkled in across the bottom) and then put in the plant with some topsoil. We will see how well we have done as time goes by.

Skinny Santa

I don't know if any of you have ever seen such a skinny Santa, but this is one beside the Christmas tree in our front office. Maybe he is symbolic of the lean year we have had, or maybe he has trimmed a few pounds in an attempt to become healthier, as we are all told to eat less fat, less salt, less carbs, and less period. It could be that he has taken a job on the side as a model, and was told to trim the excess. Personally I think he went a bit too far in shedding the weight. Maybe he will have a good Christmas dinner and come to a happy middle ground.

Waggles

Here is a low-tech video of our dog Waggles. Look closely, and you will see my reflection in the TV screen. This dog sure was a lot of fun for our boys when they were growing up. David is the only one shown in the video. Our neighbor was just learning how to use his new video camera, so some of the fuzziness is due to lack of focus, and the rest of it we can blame it on the low-tech method of transerring the video to the computer.

Salem Creek

I have enjoyed "window-shopping" at Salem Creek in Winston-Salem for several years, but I knew I would never purchase a single nutcracker. This year I took my camera while milling through the store with Pat and Ben and Sarah. Its too bad they no longer carry the 6-foot plus sizes as they have done in the past. There is a reason for that. That company went out of business for health reasons. I am sorry to hear that. We sometimes think that these products will show up year after year, not really knowing what goes on behind the scenes. I did take many other pics in the store, (and I did get permission,) but I will have to post them at another time. Let me take the opportunity to wish everyone out there in blog-land a very Merry Christmas!!

Ben's 25th

We celebrated Ben's 25th birthday last night. It is the first time he has been home for it in some time. As you can tell from the pics, we opened presents, went to The Loop to eat, and then we were off for Tanglewood to see the lights. Then it was back home for carrot cake. Yum, yum!!

Christmas at Oaklawn (Baptist Church)

We had three very-well attended nights of Christmas at Oaklawn last week. Yours truly sang, "White Christmas" all three nights at the request of the director. One lady in the choir said that I should have had a Santa hat and a pipe. (I really didn't try to imitate Bing. That would be a tall order.) Everyone did well on the skits and the stories they read, as well as another soloist who sang, "Mary Did You Know?," and " Go Tell It on The Mountain." There were about 225 each night to be able to sit down to a very good meal, and enjoy the entertainment and the true message of Christmas.

Pearl Harbor

This pic was obtained from here:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/ph-oa.htm
Sorry that I am a day late in posting this, but you know we all get busy around this time of year, and having to go to work every day really puts a cramp on the posting. But we should remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, even those of us who are too young to have heard about it as it was happening. There is a very informative website which has an interactive map and timeline here:

National Geographic

Click on the map in the upper right, and then take the time to click on all of the stories. You will need to click on the timeline for each section.

Yeehaaah!!!

This is a borrowed shot (from another blog) and since I am only borrowing it, I didn't bother to give credit to the originator. Anyhow, this shot reminds me of times we spent at the lake when our children were young, and we would pull them on a ski biscuit, or a sea biscuit or something. I am sure there were times that the little ones fell out of the floatation device (which was actually a huge inflatable doughnut for those of you that don't know) and while it put fear into the eyes of some of the parents, for the most part I believe that the kids enjoyed the ride. Are there any comments to the contrary here?