Zooming with Piper on her 7th birthday (April 29, 2020)

Happy 7, Piper! We'll see you in person soon and give you a real birthday hug.  Donna (New Orleans); Papa Tom and me (Austin); Craig and Martha (Shreveport); Ryder, Piper, and Brandy (Asheville); and Ramzi (Los Angeles). Celebrating from coast to coast, including the Third Coast.

Smoothie via Zoom (April 28, 2020)

LaWanda Zoomed with us to show us how to make Otis's smoothie: ice, milk, frozen banana, peanut butter, spinach, and chocolate syrup, lots of chocolate syrup.

Get thee in the Vitamix, ye chocolate syrup!

So smooth and creamy!  Yummy!

NBA 2K20 (daily during Otis's visit)

Otis plays for the Blazers!

In about 7 years, Otis

After the school work is done: NBA 2K20 and pizza

The neighborhood at night (April 25, 2020)

Otis and I took what we thought would be a quiet nighttime walk in the neighborhood.  Under a Cheshire cat moon, the frogs, katydids, and even a hooting owl were with us.

Texas thunderstorm (April 22, 2020)

Otis, Zephyr, and Einar wait for the thunderstorm to roll in.

Papa and Otis count the seconds between lightning flashes and thunderclaps.

Otis in the rain

Time for a haircut (April 21, 2020)

Tom is ready for a haircut and trusts me with sharp scissors.  Yikes!

Getting ready

Hmm.  Pretty good. Beginner's luck....

Beekeeping (Monday, April 20, 2020)

Otis mixes the sugar syrup for the bees.  Into at least mid-May, we'll need to feed them sugar syrup weekly.  The recipe?  10-12 pounds of sugar per gallon of water.  

Nine days after our pick up of the hive, the bees are doing well.  They are making plenty of wax and honey.  The brood frames are filled, indicating the queen has been laying eggs.  Papa Tom is holding up one of eight frames in the box.

Cousins touching base (April 19, 2020)

Fox was with her Mom when Otis arrived on Thursday, April 16.  The cousins touched base via phone on Saturday.

The conversation went well until Fox tried to give Otis a "bye-bye" kiss over the phone.

COVID-19 days (April 16, 2020)

Homeschooling with Mia means relaxing during the Thursday Zoom meeting with your class.

The blue corn tortilla chips/walnuts exchange with Greg.  Sprouts was out of our favorite chips when we were there, so Greg snagged some for us on another day.  He didn't want to go to Costco for walnuts, so we picked a bag up for him.  COVID-19 version of a spy drop.  Oh, the tomatoes are covered because it was too chilly for them.

Prescription drug pick up at People's Pharmacy

$1.29/gallon for regular at Costco

Getting ready for Otis's visit (Wednesday, April 15, 2020)

With Otis set to arrive from Portland on Thursday, April 16, we hustled to put up a basketball goal.  The city and school basketball courts are closed due to COVID-19.

Amon and Fox check out the basketball goal while Papa Tom takes a closer look at Mama Hawk in the neighbor's tree. She's back!

Papa clips the Carolina jasmine to make more room for the last-minute basketball court.  Amon shows us how it's done.

Happy 12, Otis! (coming up on May 8th)

Otis out in a Texas thunderstorm shortly after his arrival on April 16th. Enjoying having him here so much!  And I'm re-learning about Ancient China and geometric formulae.  

Happy 12, Mya, our Cinco de Mayo girl!

Happy 12, Mya!  Here's to a fun, fun birthday, coronavirus lockdown or not.

Beekeeping (Monday, April 13, 2020)

After being given from Saturday until Monday to acclimate to Cornerstone, it was time to feed the bees a gallon of sugar water.  Fox used Papa's drill to blend 10 pounds of sugar into a gallon of water.

The hive is supposed to face east or southeast.  We had it facing southwest!  Good catch, Amon.  After we gently turned the hive, the bees kept trying to enter on the southwest side.  First one, then more and more, caught on that the entrance had moved.

Mickey Mouse with a guitar?

Bluebonnet seed pods for 2021

Amon's fire pit is blessed by heavenly light?  Papa holding the deer leg he found (ugh!).  Fox holding the quartz she found.

Into the woods. Yucky deer leg in one hand, snake sticks in the other.

Panda-demic cow, maintaining six feet of distance

Easter surprise (April 12, 2020)

When Tom left for work before 7 a.m., he discovered this beautiful bouquet next to the front door.  No idea who left it.  The Easter Bunny?  I posted the photo on the neighborhood list serve, in case the bouquet was misdelivered.  Nobody claimed it.