Spearfish Canyon

We went for a short drive Saturday the 20th and saw some outdoors. This was down Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills.

More Flowers

Our Irises and Poppies have bloomed. Also another little purple one that I'm not sure what the name is.

Compost bin

Matthew and I built a compost bin last week (6/13/2009). Matthew likes to build, and helped with many aspects of the project. It is amazing how little the materials that I had gathered added up to in the bin. For now two of the three bins are empty and will be storage.

Kaitlyn in pink

Kaitlyn has been tasting different foods with the net. She got all pink while tasting watermelon.

It was cool and rainy for the last few weeks so when she came out to get some fresh air she put on her pink winter gear which she will likely grow out of next winter.

June 6th, Kaitlyn is six months old today!

Chopping up our tree

I received a loaner wood chipper from a friend. It took part of the morning to get it running right and the rest of the day to chip half of the branches. It will receive 3" limbs but will only chew them up a little at a time. I will use the shredder to chop up materials for compost later this month.

More early June pics

First food!

Why is this oryx pictured with Kaitlyn? She has been very, very interested in what we are eating lately. And a couple of days ago one of Adam's co-workers gave him some exotic meat. Kaitlyn was really wanting to join us for dinner, so it turned out to be her first taste of real food, June 2nd. She wouldn't let it go for the longest time and got quite upset when we tried exchanging it for a fresher piece.

June 2009

Matthew Loves riding his trike. Especially with the neighborhood kids. There's a sweet little girl down the alley named Katelyn. They get along especially good. She will come and knows right where to get his other trike. And they ride and ride, back and forth down the alley together. Really cute.

Kids and the nake

Down it Comes! May 30th

What a fun way to start the weekend! Adam has been looking this tree over for a couple months now. Trimming off the smaller, lower branches. Then studying the larger, higher ones. On Friday night he had stout ropes in three different branches and a very good idea where he'd like to see them fall. The yard is quite small with a number of obstacles so his engineering knowledge is coming into play quite nicely. I sometimes wonder if Adam doesn't use his math skills on a daily basis.



Four guys showed up from work at about 10 a.m. Adam offered to be the one with the chainsaw up in the tree. But quickly one of his co-workers volunteered. He has done several trees with his brother. And then told a story where they even took one down with a 'dozer. He climbed right up the ladder and into the branches and quickly went to work. Adam pulled on the rope and the branches came down great! They all went to cleaning up and then tossed the ropes into the next branches to come down. By 11:30 they were finished! Adam had planned it really well.

This last top of the tree kind of came down on the fence. One branch kind of hit the ladder. But just a few little dents. There are also some pretty big dents in the ground now, too. Kind of neat to see. Their main concern was the house, and they stayed well away from that. They did a great job!

May 29, 2009

As of May 15th we've been living in Gillette for one year! Adam has gotten to know Buckskin Mine for a year and vice versa. This summer he has 6 summer interns under him. When we came back from Amsterdam, three of them were there and he started finding odd jobs for them to do. They are relatives of Kiewit employees and have all kinds of different background experience. He's also had two employees under him and he enjoys that. They are getting the job done! His maintenance department has been in their new building since September - so about 9 months now. Having a brand new office and furniture is nice. They are apart from all of the other departments, but connected to the shop. Adam continues driving to and from work every day with Tom. They also have offices next door to each other, too. Tom has brought over some wood for Adam's garden structures and now, just this weekend, May 31, he lent him a wood chipper and shredder. We sure appreciate our good friends.

Kaitlyn still has her sweet, full, gummy smile. No teeth yet! Which we've been enjoying. Matthew had his growing at three months. So we can't really remember what all these little gums are like. Good to see them. Kaitlyn is also very good at taking off her hats. Whether they are to keep her in the shade or keep her warm, she likes them better n her mouth. Sometimes they flip off so quick we don't even see her do it!

One day we had an avocado as part of breakfast. Matthew loves to dig out the pit. The next thing I know he's golfing with it and his extra big long handled, wooden spoon from the kitchen. When we are in the car, he's also been very happy at telling us where we should go. "This way! No, that way!" He's really enjoying pointing, which he is learning what that is all about, and this is part of the fun.

May 28, 2009

Morgan came over every night this week. He loves to do anything with water. So each night he asks, "Can I water something for you?" Well tonight Adam had something fun for them to do instead. He's getting ready to cut our tree down. So tonight he's tossing up a rope with bottles filled with water tied on the end, up into the branches. These ropes are going to help guide the branches down to the ground as they get cut. In the process, one of the bottles got a leak. So Morgan and Dalton were very seriously 'fixing it' with electrical and masking tape. In the end it still leaked, and they were so cute about it. "Are you mad that we used up all of your tape?" they ask Adam. And he jokingly replies, "Oh! All that time you spent on it too!" And Morgan quickly says, "Yeah, it was 20 minutes!"

In the end, we had three boys taking turns swinging on the rope. Adam added two loops for them to use. One to hang on to and one to place a foot in. It was a lot of fun. The next day at home, Matthew was all about, 'taking turns.' "Mama's turn....now, Matthew's turn!" He learns fast.

Planting; May 27th

The soil is still a little cool, but we just have to start anyway, with a limited growing season! Last week Adam tested the soil pH, Nitrogen, Phosphorous, & Potassium; and it was pretty much as he expected. So everything is a go.

Today the seedlings go in. The tomato plants, peppers, cucumbers and Eggplant. The 28th, Adam planted some popcorn plant seeds. Regular corn doesn't do too well here, so he got a smaller variety of corn. For Mother's Day, he gave me some flower seeds and bulbs. So I am working at getting those in also around the house. All wonderful.

Along with Matthew, Adam is also becoming good friends with the neighborhood kids. Down the back alley there's a young boy really interested in a possible tree house Adam may build someday. He's been talking about all the possibilities with him and is going to draw up some plans and bring them over to Adam in the near future. Very cute. He has a younger brother and sister whom Matthew rides bikes and trikes up and down the alley with.

Down the other way are two other boys who like to play basketball. So Matthew is over with them when they are outside playing. He rides his tricycle over and usually sits on it watching them. He is so cute on that trike! You can really see how he enjoys the extra independence it brings. It's especially fun after a rain shower and he'll ride through the puddles with a big laugh.

On Memorial Day our next door neighbors two boy's came over with another neighborhood boy and played soccer in our backyard. Matthew just loved all the action. He usually plays with these three boys the most. A 7, 10 and 13 year old. It's a big age difference, so we are always impressed that they enjoy coming over. Matthew loves running around a little distance from what they are doing and mostly throws things around. They are good to watch out for him and let him join in when he tries. What a great neighborhood.