... And New Days

Here is the new Senior Citizens place Great Grandad is planning to move to.

This is the main entrance lobby.This is the hallway outside the room.
This is inside, looking out into the hallway.This is the kitchenette area.
Looking into the apartment from the entry door.
The window looks out onto the courtyard.
There is a closet next to the courtyard door.
It has a bathroom.
The view from the courtyard.
The main lobby area viewed from the courtyard.
The other end of the courtyard.
This is a sitting area in one of the hallways.
This is a medieval torture machine in the dungeon. (No, actually, it is a step-in bath tub.)
The main dining area.
The Ice Cream parlor.
The screened porch next to the Ice Cream parlor.
This is the visitors area next to the main lobby. There are computers to occupy teenagers during visits.
This is the lobby of the Memory Care Unit.

Old Days...

When we were out this morning, this truck caught our eye.












Great Grandmother Huber (Dorothy) worked for Pollock Paper in Houston, for about 30 years.

Helicopter

Love Note

I discovered this in my "Odds and Ends" folder from work. It makes my heart go pitter-pat.

I was in Ft. Lauderdale for a two week training session on SEL computer operating system support. Jenny was 7 when she made this card for me.

The figures are saying "DeeDee" (the girl who lived next door) and "DeeDee went home". I suspect the tall person is either Mom, or Merleen (DeeDee's mom).

I gather DeeDee had to go home before they got to play in the water.

Jenny still likes to hand-make cards!

First Visit of the New Year

We enjoyed a nice visit with Jenny, Naomi and Danielle.
As usual, Mimi and Danielle were enthralled with each other.Danielle was feeling very perky.
And Naomi showed her loyalty to Aunt Jessica and Uncle Mark by collecting coins in the Royal Purse.
Fun!

Fort Phoenix Lives Again

Remember John's Fort from last September?

And October?
Finally, the time came to raise it from the ashes - so to speak.

It began with choosing the location and orientation in the back yard.

Next came site preparation - with great help from John Michael.

Then the base platform.

John took care of testing the ladder.

After a long day, the basic tower was up.

After skipping a day for rain the slide, ladder and picnic bench and roof were in place. (The ladder had to be extended because of the slope.)

Finished, at last!

Huge thanks to Tony for his patience, persistence and expertise! And to Julie, for having the idea in the first place!

John Spends the Night

John came to spend the afternoon with us at the condo, and he decided he'd like to stay for the night. On the way out, we stopped in at the Duke Energy "World of Energy" museum to see if James happened to be there (according to rumors we'd heard earlier). Sure enough:We toured the museum with James and his cousins. John was being uniquely John, as usual!
Mimi asked that we not take any photos of the nuclear generation facility so we wouldn't be seized and carted off to some CIA prison. So instead we just took photos of Mimi and John.
When we got to the condo, we had supper.
Then we made an igloo with the papa-san chairs up in the loft.
John enjoyed rolling things down the stairs, so Mimi suggested rigging up a hoist to bring them back up for another roll.
Aunt Jessica called to wish us Happy New Year because it was, in England. Here she is telling John.
Mimi and John played kick-balloon and some other things, then it was bath time. Afterwards, we watched some Maisy videos.
Now it's bedtime.
Good night, Maisy. Happy New Year!

The Amazing John Michael and His Wonderful Coat-Putting-On Trick

John has the best method in the world for putting his jacket on.

First, he lays the jacket on the floor a certain way.
Then he just flips it up over his head....
... and Presto! - just like that, it's on!
AMAZING!! John is so smart.

Christopher Smiles!!

Mimi Holds Danielle and Christopher

Saturday Activity

We built the car models John got for Christmas from Aunt Jenny and Uncle Jeff.
Christopher put on a puppet show in his sleep.

Mimi did some high-speed web surfing - safety conscious, as always.

It's All About the Baby

Leaf Pile

Naomi came over for a before Christmas visit. We enjoyed a little wagon ride.Then we played in the pile of leaves and acorns on the patio.
Danielle was there, too, but she missed most of the fun.
Merry Christmas Naomi!! Merry Christmas Danielle!!

Yes, Virginia - Another Blog for Christmas.

The world needed another blog - so I created one.

Azure Engineering blog

This time, it's a place to put boring engineering project kinds of stuff.

There was a post on TomTomForums.com where someone asked how to disassemble an XL330S. Well, we have one of those, and I've been thinking about taking it apart in order to attach some sort of clip to the case, so I can tether it to the motorcycle. The standard mount is not very secure.

So I decided to take photos and describe the procedure. And I did. But where to put the description? Certainly not in this blog - it's not about engineering. Thus the new blog.

Azure Engineering was the name of my short-lived computer engineering company back in the 70's. It was actually a Texas corporation for about a year.

Azure... sky-blue. Blue sky engineering. Get it?

Holiday Visit

We had a very fun pre-Christmas visit with Jenny, Naomi and Danielle this week. As usual, Danielle was most charming.


Naomi installed some holiday window decorations.
We did some stamping.
Naomi gave her Mom a brief physical exam. Her ear was ok.
We had a good time!

Sisters