Point your browsers, everyone, we're changing locations!

After nearly a month of being unable to get this site to load images (and finding only a dead link when I searched to find out if the issue was that I'd reached capacity) I decided to go with a host that is a bit more advanced. 

For now I'm leaving this Mcfamily page as is, but from here on out I'll be posting over at the new and improved McCfamily page! (hey, even a new spelling!) If you're curious just come on over and check it out. And please bookmark the site for future reference, because that's where all the new action will be. 

The pace is picking up

Still no luck posting pictures, so I'll just say it in a thousand words. I'm seriously miffed about the no-picture thing. 

I've been germinating seeds like crazy these days and if everything goes well we'll have plenty of stuff to set out in the garden. Our last freeze date is April 15th, but some of the cool weather stuff can tolerate being out even before then, so we're getting ready. The lettuce we originally planted got really lanky and floppy, so we've got a new batch of seeds germinating. Apparently lettuce seeds don't keep from year to year, so we'll just go crazy planting lettuce. Robbie made a really cool light stand yesterday, so we now have two places to germinate seeds. 

Another thing that Robbie's building this weekend is a work bench for Riley to use out in the wood shop. He's getting to the point where he can actually do stuff in the shop, like use a crank drill, sand, saw, hammer etc, so it's time for him to have something his size to work on so he doesn't have to stand on a chair at the big bench. Robbie just called me out to see it in it's raw stage and it's COOL! :-) Ri's going to flip out. 

I've been trying to squeeze in a little bit of time to work on some button-themed stuff the last couple of days. I've been checking out some of the ideas and tutorials on this site and have made one necklace so far, but there are lots of ideas waiting that I look forward to getting to. 

One thing that's been a nice by-product of the button interest is that I've had an opportunity to go through my buttons and get a idea what I actually have. Most of them are old I'm not even sure where they came from (probably acquired by my mom and I at our respective thrift stores/yard sales etc) but they're beautiful and amazing to look at in bulk. I spent a little bit of time last week sorting them by color into canning jars and it's quite a sight to see. 

Riley's watching Wall-E for the five millionth time, so I'd better get some things taken care of before he's on the move again. 

 

Wow, this is annoying

I've been trying to post for the last several days and can not for the life of me get any of my images to load. It seems to be related to how many other people are also using the blogger server because at low-use times they load in seconds. Normal use times it takes many minutes or they don't load at all. (I tried during the recent big sporting event--I think it was the super

bowl--and the pictures flew up in seconds!) 

We have been so busy here getting our little garden going and I have a huge pile-up of pictures waiting to be loaded, but we're still undecided how to get them up. We were talking tonight about maybe moving the blog to see if that'd help. 

Anyway, if you check back and see I haven't updated, it's not because I haven't tried. 

Spring, just like that!

Spring in the south always takes me by surprise, despite the fact that I've lived in this region for 16 years. (which in itself is a surprise) This year it has come on especially dramatically, given that we had four inches of snow last weekend and within days it was in the mid 70's, but so it is here. Riley and I were out back putting down mulch today (that is, I was putting down mulch, he was cavorting as only a four year old boy can) and I noticed that our dogwoods are blooming! Just like that! 

Our seedlings are doing really well, though they're lanky and would clearly prefer real sun to the florescent grow light, despite the fact that it is a mere fraction of a inch above the leaves. I brought them out to receive some diffused light both yesterday and today, but today one of the broccoli plants suffered a pretty significant injury today at Riley's hand. I didn't see it happen, but heard him say that he'd given the plants 'a little drink' and when I came to check things out the plant's stem was broken. I guess it's all part of the learning curve for all of us. 

Two weeks old

The sprouts are just shy of two weeks old and they're still changing by the day. The broccoli and lettuces have moved past seed leaves and are now producing the leaves that they'll sport as adults. They all got their first 'food' today in the form of a diluted fish emulsion fertilizer, which is truly foul smelling stuff, but is apparently just what these babies need. 

The broccoli and lettuces as of yesterday.

The pepper plant in it's jaunty hat!

Sprouts!

It is flat out amazing to see what these seeds have done. Or at least it is to us, who are new to this seed germination thing. We put them in the soil last week, set them in our little make-shift germination box, and within two days (two days!) most had sprouted. The basil only sent up it's first leaves a couple of days ago and the pepper seeds are just beginning to open up and show hints of green, but everything seems to be moving in the right direction.

If all goes well between now and April 15th, our last frost date, we'll be able to transfer many of these tiny sprouts out to the garden. 

The broccoli and lettuces are now about an inch and a half tall.

Wee sprouts! 

What's amazing about the sweet basil is that these are from a packet of seeds that Robbie and I grew when we first started dating. I found the packet when I was cleaning in the basement and thought 'what the heck, throw them in and see what happens'. Voila! Basil. 

It's all wide open from here

Well, we've decided it was too much of a nuisance to too many people to keep the McFamily site invite only, so here it is, log-in free. 

Initially it felt a little weird to think of our family details out there for the world to see, but in light of the endless blather on the web it became a little ridiculous to think that 'the world' would seek out irrelevant minutia about our gardening perils and various ailments, so we're not freaking any longer. 

Our annual snow!

Wow! The forecast said to expect some snow today, and they were right! We woke this morning to the sound of Riley sprinting through the house exclaiming "It's SNOWING!!". The flakes fell thick and huge and in no time everything was covered. Before it stopped we got something like three inches and it was hugely fun for everyone! :-)

Riley, outside, even before it was fully light. 

After breakfast we all got bundled up and went outside to frolic and play! 

Riley was the snowball master. Look out, Dada!

Wow, it's really snowing!

Lets make a snowman! 

Rrrrrrrrrrraaahhhhh!

Hi there! Welcome to Birmingham, Alabama, AKA Winter Wonderland!

It's gardening time again!

First, a photo of our own style master: 

Hello, you can call me Cool Breeze

And now on to the recent garden related work we've been doing:

Robbie made a cold frame to protect our wee green shoots when we set them out. The fabric will remain in place until the plants either outgrow it or have begun flowering, so we can hopefully avoid some of the plague of parasitic vermin.

Peppers, broccoli and lettuces!

The seeds, all cozied up in our little insulated germination box downstairs. 

B-ham snaps

I was out and about the other day running some errands downtown and happened to have the point-and-shoot in my bag. I saw a lot of stuff I want to take pictures of with my good camera, but decided to go ahead and shoot some snapshots some of the things that caught my eye. 

Mmmm, maudlin.

Hey, it's the Go-Go Capital of the South! As you can clearly see! 

I believe this speaks for itself.

Our little cowpoke

Riley decided that he'd like to spend his Christmas money, so today we went to a little toy store in Homewood and he found his treasure: a cowboy set! As soon as he laid eyes on it he exclaimed "YES!". So, that it was. It has two guns with realistic sounds (oh, joy) and holsters, a kerchief for his neck, a badge and a canteen. He loves it. 

Galloping through the yard in full regalia.

Ohmygosh! The bad guys! They're just around the corner! 

Airplane and garden

We got a fabulous toy from my brother, a remote control airplane, and we had a lot of fun playing with it yesterday evening. 

Ready? Here goes! 

Wow, it really flies! 

Look at it go!

My turn! Zoom!

Zoom!

Zooom!

I'm gonna fly you, airplane!

Cutting the pvc pipe to make a cold frame for the raised bed. 

Ri has a good, steady hand.

Hm! Looks pretty even!

Reviewing the array of seed catalogs and making choices.

Related? Probably.

First, I actually slept last night. 10.5 hours! It's amazing what getting sufficient rest will do for my state of mind. Yesterday I was a total crab, just barely hanging on by the tiniest thread. Today I feel pretty good; I can hold a train of thought and I have a decent amount of energy. Whew. 

But about the sleep issue. I've been thinking about it a lot and Robbie and I have been talking about it off and on for the last couple of weeks. We've been wondering what kind of stress might be working under the radar and contributing to my sleeplessness. 

I told him that the only thing I can think of that's been kind of stressful recently is a growing awareness of getting older. Many (nearly all, actually) of my mom friends are adding second and third babies to their families, and recently I have felt moments of actual grief as I consider the fact that we very likely will never have a sibling for Riley. Our late start meant that I had my first child at age 39, and now, at age 43, I am seeing indications of perimenopause. I've seen clear signs that my body is changing, and we have not had any success in conceiving, so I'm thinking that moving out of the reproductive phase of my life has really been on my mind these days, given all the pregnancies around me. 

What will this mean for me to move into this next phase of my life? I think that's the thing that's been simmering on the back burner. I've been trying to draw it out so I can give it more conscious thought these last several days, and I think once I give it the attention that it deserves and go ahead and make some headway on processing these changes it'll be fine, but it kind of snuck up on me. I'd been looking back, towards Riley's babyhood, and mentally considering a second child, when what was happening was ahead of me. 

Today I'm boxing up all the things I'd held onto for a future baby. It's hard, but I think in the long run it'll help me move forward. 

The not-sleeping thing

I think I've mentioned this here before, but Robbie and I have both been diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse/dysautonomia, which is usually not that big a deal and requires nothing more than sensible lifestyle choices to manage. However, I've recently been dealing with an extended bout of insomnia, which I believe may be related to the condition, and it's been really bothering me. 

I'll be exhausted (exhausted!) during the day and wishing for nothing more in the world than a good night of rest, but at night, as I reach the point of nearly drifting off, I'll suddenly be hit by a burst of something akin to a jolt and BLAM! I'll be wide awake. Repeat ad nauseum. Finally, somewhere in the wee hours, I'll finally fall into a restless drowse, only to be woken pre-dawn by our little early riser. 

I have a check-up scheduled with our doctor, who is has is very familiar with the MVP condition, but it's not till March. I told the office that I want the next appointment available, should anyone cancel, but till then I'm essentially in a holding pattern. Not sleeping and never fully awake in the day. Really dreadful. 

Gardening season again!

Well, we've gone directly from winter coats to t-shirts. Typical Alabama weather for early spring, but it always takes me by surprise. 

Today I've been doing some clean-up and weeding in the garden and the yard and it's felt really great to be outside. Robbie's stained the raised-bed garden and it looks excellent! It always did look neat and tidy, but with the addition of the stain it even looks fancy. 

Last week I had to take some things down to my favorite bookstore downtown and stopped to take some pictures. 

Strolling along....

This picture doesn't begin to to this place justice. I need to go back at dusk or on a cloudy day so the inside will show more. It is from another time altogether. 

And how about that shoe?! I don't know when mens shoes stopped being ankle high, but apparently this sign dates from then. 

Caw! A detail from the old Protective Life building.

Stain! 

The stainer

Weekend Photos

We've had a really great weekend here! Given that Robbie was away for most of last week and has to go out of town again this coming week we knew that we'd need to get in some good family time this weekend. Saturday we went to the Mcwane Center  in the morning, went for lunch and then went to Homewood Park to let Buster do some 'scootering'. We were a little bit disappointed to learn that the park had dismantled their skateboard ramps, which Riley was very keen to try out, but the huge, smooth pad that remains is still really fun for the little folks and there were plenty of kids around his age there. In typical age four fashion, he was all bravado and sass, telling the other kids things like "you can't catch up with ME kid!". Hilarious. 

We watched some amazing youtube videos of kids doing tricks on scooters yesterday morning and were all blown away by how much you can do on them. The youngsters have elevated it to an art form, that's for sure. Check this little fella out. Eleven years old. 

Dang! That's amazing. 

Now on to the pictures. 

Geez, the ravages of time just sneak up on you overnight!

Having fun with the physics exhibits

Ooooh, fishies!

Robbie striking an Adonis pose. 

It's Stunt Boy! 

And Stunt Dad!

And Stunt Momma!

Our shadows and our little zipperfoot boy

Two dudes going for a ride in the truck.

Seems self evident, but...

Any 'sport' that relies on bashing your head over and over again can cause brain damage. Who'd have guessed? 

This just cracks me up

We're still here

Robbie's out of town for the greater part of this week, so I'm solo with little Buster Brown and left with even fewer computer breaks than usual. We've had a welcome respite from winter recently, which has been fabulous. It got downright warm both Monday and Tuesday and we took full advantage of our opportunity for some outside play and headed out to the park. Both days I let him basically run himself out, so that by the time we needed to head to the car there was little objection on his part. (a welcome change in itself) 

I can sure tell that Ri's missing Robbie though, as he asks each morning "Where's dad?" and was borrowing some dad time from the fathers of his friends yesterday. He's still all about momma in many ways, but as he gets older we can see that he also craves the interaction and activities that only dad can provide. I think I remember that they made plans for a trip to the Mcwane center (the kids science museum) for Friday afternoon and I know Riley will be eager for some dad and lad time by then. (and as an aside, they've got this cool thing set up at Mcwane where you can build your own slot car using slot car motors and K'nex and then you can race them on a huge track! Very super cool!)

Space Man

The other night Riley decided to make a space man helmet out of a colander and some pipe cleaners and boy, did he put a lot of effort into that project! Once it was done he was exceedingly proud of it, as you can see:

Hello, I am a space man.

Two dudes

Macro fun

My new camera has a cool lens that will do macro, which I have always thought was really fun. I gave this bead to Riley the other day and it surfaced on the table this morning. Add a baby spoon and a water glass and Voila! a still-life: 

The frank stare

What?!

;-)

A warm winter day calls for getting outside!

Little R was under the weather early this week and we've been verging on cabin fever at times, so when it got up in the 60's this afternoon we got out to do a bit of 'scootering' on the tennis courts at our neighborhood park.  It was great to be out! 

 

You can't catch up with me!

Oh, to be four!

Everything is a wonder

He is really getting around on the scooter these days.