Micro Macaw?

Well as much as I want a green-wing macaw, reality is that we really just don't have the room. After some careful thought I modified my want list by about a foot and a half and did some research on green cheek conures. This is a species that I've noted before as being compatible with my desires and small spaces. The title is linked to an introductory page that tells about them.

So meet the as yet unnamed bird, working title is "Weeble" I think, although other names have been tossed around. (S)He is a yellow-sided green cheek conure, the yellow sided bit being a color mutation.

These little guys are known to be pretty quiet, playful and inquisitive, and often have some talking ability. They love to play and cuddle and take baths or showers.

We bought a rather large cage with plenty of room for an addition maybe later on. The shop includes DNA sexing in their price, so we look forward to getting the results back from that before we settle on a name.

Weeble is being pretty sedate this evening. By the time we got home with him, it was almost the normal time when the shop closes so I expect he was ready for sleepy-time. Plus there was certainly a lot of excitement in his life today, and he's lived in a habitat (like an aquarium, but with air circulation and lighting) so the move to the cage is a change for him. We look forward to getting to know him better as the days go on.

The gull is just a teaser. I finally got around to posting some of the pictures for our Florida trip, which can be found by going to the site map and selecting the "Pictures - News" link. I have the photos all archived in full resolution, so if you aren't a pervert looking for pictures of my daughter, let me know and I'll get them for you. The archiving thing is new, I bought some CDs just for this purpose so from now on if you see it here, I will be able to get you the original file good enough to print.

On the technical side of things I have made a change in the way Blogger converts HTML to be able to make the tables work. This helps in posting multiple pictures, but it also means that you have to manually insert line breaks to break up paragraphs. Some of the older posts will now be all jammed up together, something I'll work on correcting but I have to edit posts individually to fix it. Time.

More up to date, Terri had a doctor's appointment at Bethesda yesterday, and I talked her into going by a bird shop in Rockville. Which is closed on Tuesdays. So we headed back toward home, hungry. I got off at the first exit that put me in familiar territory, and there happened to be another bird shop on Rt. 29 that I didn't know was there. Honest! We visited for a bit and I got to feed a baby green wing macaw and an amazon, both still hand feeding formula. Walking out without birds was a challenge to say the least.

After we got home we grabbed the kids and took them to bowl. It was an experiment really, we wanted to see how Terri would do, since there is an opening on my Tuesday night team. She did fine with manageable pain and she decided to join us. She actually did quite well and set an average about 20 pins higher than I expected. I dropped my first practice ball behind me, and I hadn't even had a beer yet. I managed to get it together though and set my average within a couple of pins of what I finished last season at. It'll be fun to have Terri bowling on the team!

Since the kids are slow to get their rooms in acceptable condition I spent the day today catching up on some of my chores. I should be in good shape when school starts, which will allow me to get to work on patterns and writing rather than spending the first week catching up on chores. Cool!

Jason has orientation tomorrow and Friday I am escorting my grandmother from the assisted living facility to a nursing home, so the next couple of days will be busy.

Couple pics, nothing big.

After dropping Sam off at the church to head out on her mission trip, Terri and I headed up to Mike & Annie's Friday evening to get Jason. We took the bikes with us so we could get in a ride on the way home, which worked out well. The three of us rode the "Lovettesville Loop" which Terri and I had ridden several times a couple of years ago, but she hadn't ridden it on a recumbent and neither of the kids had ridden it.

The route wasn't quite as brutal as I remembered, but it's still not easy. It's only 35 miles but has 2500+ of total climbing. Some of the hills are long, some are quite steep. Both Terri and Jason did well, especially considering the heat.

So the first picture there is Terri on her new bike, after the ride. The third picture is Jason looking a little beat up after the ride. The middle picture is a spider that was camped out in the bush outside the front door for a few days. This picture is better than the picture of the same kind of spider I took in San Antonio. The web caught my attention both times. He or she appears to be a yellow garden spider.

Anyway, off to fetch Sam, she should be at the church shortly!

Mild update.

Well things are starting to wind down from a very busy summer. Last week on Thursday Terri left work early and we headed down to Williamsburg for a couple of days. Thursday night we had dinner at Captain George's, where we all stuffed ourselves on good seafood. Except the crabs...they were awfully small.

We got up Friday and went to Busch Gardens, our favorite theme park. Anheuser Busch has been very gracious in allowing active duty military folks to take their family to one of their parks for the last several years through their Hero Salute program. I hate to pay for the trip when Terri retires, but I will anyway, and I'll always appreciate what they've done for us.

It started pouring down rain shortly after we parked. I'm talking about buckets, and we were soaked though every piece of clothing we had on. We rode the Loch Ness Monster despite the rain, then sought cover until the rain subsided sometime shortly after noon. We were too wet to visit any of the shows, which are normally cool places to retreat, so we wandered around in took in a few rides. Jason rode the swings when Sam and I went to the "Scrambler" type ride. We rode a few other things and dried as we walked around riding favorite coasters and other rides.

We visited the lorikeet aviary which made us all miss having a bird I think, and took in the grey wolf show. Impressive animals! Somewhere in there we had lunch at Das Festhaus and in the early evening we let the kids go out on their own for a while. Terri and I took in the Irish dance/music show, which was very impressive, and met the kids when they arrived at our designated spot right on time. We left the park about a half-hour before closing to avoid traffic, and had dinner at Red Hot & Blue.

We putzed around Saturday morning and did a little shopping and browsing before leaving for home.

Saturday was also my Dad's birthday, but since we had already planned our trip, the family met at his house on Sunday to celebrate with some BBQ and dogs and stuff.

Monday morning Mike picked Jason up for a week with Nana and Happy like Sam had earlier in the summer. This had been planned for the end of July, but Annie had knee replacement surgery scheduled in there so we delayed Jason's week. Annie's recovery is going better than expected, so we got the visit in this week.

Sam and I headed up to Edinburg, VA for some fly fishing. The waders that I bought for Jason a couple of years ago fit her perfectly now. Anyway, we started the day with a visit to Murray's Fly Shop for some advice and a couple of flies. I own or have read a couple of his books and I believe that he's one of the most knowlegable fly fishermen on the east coast, certainly the most knowlegable in Northern and Western Virginia. He was very personable and pointed out a couple of spots on his map, both places that I was familiar with. He asked about Sammy wading and wanted to make sure that the places he suggested would be safe. I really prefer to catch fish on flies I've tied myself, but I think his advice was certainly worth the $20 worth of business. Should have just bought some materials, huh?

Anyway, we hit the water at Chapman's Landing in the early afternoon and I caught a couple of small smallmouth bass and couple of sunfish, and Sam caught one sunfish. Mostly it was getting Sam used to being in the current again and casting in the water, and she did fine. I was disappointed to find a carload of...non-English speaking people...in the water. This is a game department ramp and is clearly marked that use other than for fishing or hunting is prohibited. I was more disturbed to find three carloads when we returned. Not that we couldn't hear the Tejano music as we approached from 1/4 mile down the river, or smell the smoke from the grill...

Around 2:30 we left and drove the couple of miles to Woodstock, bought Sam some polarized sunglasses and got some lunch, and hit the second spot, where we found another car load of non-English speaking people in the river. They don't swim, they sort of plop down and lay or sit in the river. What's up with that? Anyway, we hung around for a bit to let the sun drop a little, then hit the water again a little before 5. We both need some work on our stealthy wading technique, but we managed a few more fish including the one that you'll find the picture of Sam holding. Before it started to get dark, we headed back to the car, both of us worn out from wading and wearing neoprene waders.

Got out of the waders and headed home, both too tired to eat!

And that's the last few days in a nutshell. Here's the pictures:

One of the Clydesdales watching the pouring rain. Which we were in for quite a while.	Jason enjoys one of the first few rides of the day, once the rain had stopped.	One of the injured bald eagles that Busch Gardens keeps.
Terri caught me and the kids on the Battering Ram.	Sam with a long-ear sunfish on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.	A little wider view of Sam with her fish, showing more of the river.

Well then...what's next?

Terri covered a lot of territory with her post, but I have one thing to add concerning the trip for now. As friends and family are aware, I am fond of pointing out the stupidity of stupid people. The ride home provided an excellent opportunity.

We stopped at a Burger Krud somewhere in South Carolina. After we ordered, the lady behind us was one of those ladies. She was probably nearing 70 and looked like she had a tragic collision with the Revlon counter. She was thin and nicely dressed, and exuded an "I'm richer than you" attitude. When she was asked what she would like to order, she asked what came in the fish sandwich combo. Without laughing, the girl at the counter explained that it came with the sandwich, choice of size of fries or onion rings, and a drink.

"Oh no, I don't want all that!"

Then she orders a fish sandwich, medium fries, and two drinks. Brilliant.

I do have some very good photos from the trip, my new camera is awesome, although I may have to bite the bullet on a good flash unit. My photography interests are mostly outdoors, but when you buy a nice camera people expect you to take good pictures of family activities, which often require a flash. I have one but apparently it doesn't synch with the new camera correctly, though it should. In any case, I will work on getting some pictures posted when we get back from Williamsburg.

Which brings up the schedule for the next few days. Tomorrow I'm going to take the kids to the lake and let them fish and swim. I may let them go out by themselves for a bit while I cut some more acrylic to fill light kit orders. Jason handles the boat pretty well and Sam is still intimidated by it so it doesn't create an "I wanna" situation. Thursday afternoon we're on our way Williamsburg to visit Busch Gardens on Friday. Hopefully I'll add to my pictures needing to be posted. We're going to visit Captain George's Thursday night, which is sort of a twice a year treat for us. Then it's back home so we can celebrate my dad's 60th birthday on Sunday (it's actually Saturday) and then I think I'm taking Jason up to Mike & Annie's to spend a week. I'm planning to take Sam fly fishing while Jason is gone, since she's more into it, and then we're hoping to see Alice and family at Uncle Bill's (Terri's great uncle, Alice is a cousin) the following weekend, when Jason will be back in my clutches. That leaves one week before school starts, and I'm planning for an overnight trip with the kids to fish the Rappahannock River southeast of Fredericksburg.

This morning Terri and Jason and I visited his new high school to attend the AF JROTC orientation. The program is new to the school this year, and is being run by Lt. Col. Harvey and MSgt. Lewis. Col. Harvey has been running JROTC programs for some time, and retired from launch control. Sgt. Lewis has a background in security. I was impressed with both and have high hopes that the program will work out well for Jason. he has a couple of friends that are going in this year as well. Terri was in uniform because she had to go to work after, so Jason has been identified as a military brat. We also got into my background, and it sounds like Col. Harvey may tap me for color guard, drill, and if they can pull it off, marksmanship help. We'll see. They also have a model rocketry program; I didn't even get into my background there.

It's going to be a busy nect couple of weeks, as the entire summer has been, and then we'll settle back into our routines. mine will be a little more energized with the writing goals at the top of my list.

We'll keep you posted, and I'll get some pictures posted soon, promise!

4 Wahls in Florida

Here we are in Sunny Florida. Well, that’s Sunny Hills, Florida, which is north of Panama City. The trip to Nanny’s on Monday was pretty smooth. We bought a two-screen portable DVD player to help keep the kids happy, and it’s already paid for itself as far as I’m concerned. I kept a pain relief gel on my legs over the day and that kept my knees happy.

We got in late Monday night and Nanny was happy to see us. George was in Chipley, so we went up to fetch him so he didn’t have to drive the truck down and we all got to bed around midnight. After I broke the key off in the back door.

Tuesday was a catch-up day. I failed to fix the door, but I’m still working on it. Took care of a couple of small things and we got George his prescriptions and picked up a cake that Nanny ordered for her birthday. In the evening we went and visited with Beth and Allen, Nanny’s real estate agent and her husband. They are a great couple, and they have done a lot to help Nanny out. They were gracious hosts with a great artichoke dip recipe. There was good conversation and good clean entertainment as the lady next door tried to talk a cat out tree with a pressure washer.

Kitties don’t like water, so Kitty did what came naturally and went up, away from the source of water. Well, after she gave up and put away the Power Washer of Doom, The kids and I went to survey the situation. Kitty talked to us and although none of us speak kitty we were pretty sure that she was trying to tell us that she wasn’t happy being up in the tree. Well, I had a couple of drinks in me but was pretty sure I could get up the tree and down with Kitty. Up the tree I went and when I got up there, at 25-30 feet, I understood why Kitty was nervous. She was cooperative though, and after we got acquainted I got her by the scruff of the neck and she was pretty cooperative in attaching herself to whichever branch I set her on, including my thigh for the last few feet. Considering where the front claws were, I requested that Mom allow me to detach her from my leg. Mom thought I was a hero and I was invited to the luau and all that, but when I walked back into Beth’s, they told me that I couldn’t have another margarita. I reasoned that having arrived back on the ground without any more harm than a flesh wound to myself, I was fine, but I was polite and didn’t insist on another.

Today is going to be filled with some running around and more visiting and hopefully we can get in some recreational time. My dial-up access isn’t great, but I’ll try to keep you posted.

Gone Fishin'!

I took the kids out on the lake today. Sam kicked our asses. She had caught 5 fish before Jason or I had caught a single fish. I was laughing with each fish she caught. Her casting was dead on target and she didn't miss any fish. I was very proud of her.

After we had lunch they wanted to swim so I took them to the place we always called simply "the rocks" and dropped them off. The water is plenty deep and there are several places to jump from. I fished a little more, nearby, before I dragged them back into the boat to head home.

I've now converted the web site to an easier to navigate format, although there's bound to be some broken links. Please be patient while I work those things out. If you've bookmarked the blog site, you might want to bookmark the main site instead. It'll still bring the blog up first, just nested in a frameset.

Changes in progress.

If you came in through 4wahls.net, you are sitting here looking at the blog in the same format that's it's been in for a while now. If you click on the site map link over there on the left, you'll get a preview of the changes to the web site. The site map idea should make it easier to find things, and for me to add new pictures and other content. Following that will also allow you to find the pictures from the MCQ sew-in, or you can just click here. That's cheating though, and won't let you easily navigate away from it.

Took the kids to the pool today, and Sam made crab stuffed baked potatoes for dinner, which were rather good. I went and visited grandma today, and though it was a short visit it was one of the better visits recently.

I think I'm taking the kids fishing tomorrow. We're headed to Florida on Monday so I'm trying to get some things in while I can, although we will have about 2 weeks after that trip and our annual pilgrimage to Busch Gardens. I want to take them maybe on an overnight trip during that time.

Anyway...that's all for now. It's 1 AM and I need a little sleep!

A lot going on lately, and coming up.

First the latest, then in a little bit I'll post pictures from last weekend.

The MCQ Sew-in was a success! The goal was to finish 36 quilts, and they actually completed 50. I did a little here and there to help, and Terri worked her butt off with some of the other ladies. In particular Kim and Tracy were there pretty much all of the time. Some of the others had signed up for parts of the conference and would come and sew in between sessions that they were participating in. All worked hard, and their dedication is just amazing.

We met a couple there from Connecticut, Barbara and Tom, that I shared some interests with. They have a daughter in the Marines who is headed to Iraq, and both are woodworkers. Barbara is a scroll saw junkie, and Tom is a woodturner. They also have an interest in Civil War history and have visited Manassas in the past.

Anyway, Terri and I were up until about 1 Sunday morning, she tied three quilts to finish them off and I tied one. Tying isn't my gig, my hands don't do well with small objects. After a few hours of sleep, we took the finished quilts down to join the others and grabbed some breakfast before heading out.

The trip up was uneventful, although I got a good laugh out of the big RV trailer with the spinner hubcaps, and I-95 got ugly around Richmond so we detoured up Rt. 1 to Fredericksburg, then picked up 17 to Warrenton. 29 to 15 and up to Point of Rocks, MD. to meet Mike & Annie to fetch the kids.

The trip back home from there was filled with stories about camp, where they both had a great time, thanks to the generosity of their grandparents. We took them to our local favorite Chinese place, Wok 'n Roll. Then home, where I crashed while we attempted to watch the camp DVD.

Terri was back to work yesterday, so the kids and I fetched Casey from my Mom and Richard's. She got to spend the entire weekend with Richard, and I'm sure she was quite spoiled. I think she's gained a little weight.

Speaking of which, the weekend being pretty inactive (physically) and eating lots of good food put a hurting on my diet. Jason's going to be eating DQ once a week for a month...I can't make the average for this week without seriously hurting myself, and it was already a stretch.

Anyway, we fetched the dog and got some things done and I got Terri's bike ready to take to the dealer for trade-in. Bikes@Vienna deserves a big shout out for great service. Ter had test ridden the Bacchetta Café about a week ago, and found Al to be very helpful and knowledgeable. The bike is a good bit lighter than her EZ-Sport, which she's had for a little over a year, but the riding position is similar. We were looking for something that she could handle loading onto the rack by herself, and something that was a little stronger in performance, without giving up the comfort, and the Café filled the bill. So we went in yesterday evening and found that John, the owner, was resting after a week of riding RAGBRAI. I unloaded the EZ and Al fetched John so we could take trade-in. I feel that he treated us very well on the trade-in, and would not hesitate to send anyone looking for a recumbent or tandem to go see him. In fact, I often have, even when working at Performance, based on my previous experience with John. So off we went with an even more bizarre bike strapped to the back of the Kia.

I spent last night getting the Café ready with computer and water bottle cages and mirror and stuff, and got everyone up at 5:30 for a short ride. We did 8 miles, and my first impressions are that Terri is faster and quicker to accelerate, and that she climbs hills better. She says it gets twitchy going faster, but I'll let her give more thoughts on the new bike. My thoughts are that we got a good deal and her performance is going to improve greatly.

As I said, I'll work on getting pictures from last weekend posted.