EKjourney Backup

Baked Oatmeal is in the oven, the children need to be woken up for the day, but I thought I would quickly download pictures and give a February's end update. Wacky late winter weather with cold temperatures and snow.  It looks like it might even out now with chilly rain and sun breaks.  There must be something about the location of this farm because rainbows literally end (or begin) here either in the North Field, or above the trees at the creek bottom.  Below, the rainbow is touching my concrete pillars. The saucy robins, nice and plump, are everywhere.  They are filling the walnut trees and even perching on the little Weeping Katsura whose branches are barely big enough to hold them.  It is so enjoyable to watch the birds.  The herons fly low over the fields.  The Chickadees and the Robins are always about.  I saw a Bluebird.  Occasionally, I see Flickers. While I don't see Redwing Blackbirds, I hear them singing especially in the morning....

A beautiful evening with the setting sun illuminating the Eastern sky and highlighting the snow on the distant hills. In anticipation of the cold, I picked the daffodils in my parent's yard and they all opened by morning. Thursday morning, we woke up to a dusting of snow.  It was so peaceful to sit on the couch with my cup of coffee and watch the morning light up the countryside. Eastern View Western View Northern View On the way to art lessons, I pulled over and took this picture of Southwestern Willamette Valley. Painting the buildings they have been working on in art class.  After art class, we took a walk around the block in the sunshine..the sky was so blue but it was windy and cold! 

Phil confessed that these were the two hardest weeks he has had with his job.  He had a number of deadlines and being new to the job, hadn't anticipated the time involved in all the teacher observations and write ups that he had to have in by Friday.  He spent a packed couple of weeks with his normal meetings and fast pace but then had to add in the completion of the observations.  He was so exhausted on Friday that he came through the door, was asleep within 10 minutes, took a 3 hour nap, and then turned around for a social gathering with the admins at 9:30 at night. A flock of starlings in the front yard. Saturday was so wonderful for me!  Phil's job and this remodel have and are taking a toll on me as I have shared and Phil signed me up for an art class taught by the children's art teacher.  It is 4 weeks, for 2 hours Saturday morning.  So, I got out of the house alone (which I never do) and sat and painted (which I haven't done in...in 2 years?) with gu...

 Although, I have never run a marathon, I sometimes wonder if it feels a bit like this... We are coming down the homestretch of our remodel when it comes to the refinancing.  Time is nearly out (our year long contracts ends in March) and we are madly trying to finish the things that have to be done in order to be approved for the refinance.  Gobs of paperwork, receipts, and "proof" have been sent in (this has been quite a task).  And the things that are mostly left to do are finishing items - finishing the deck, finishing the trim, finishing getting the outlets all covered, finishing getting the toilet and sinks hooked up, etc..  There will still be a lot to do even after the initial inspection is done but once the refinance has gone through, we won't be under the time crunch.  We can do the paint touch ups, the kitchen backsplash, the transition pieces, the repainting of the cabinets that were so poorly done, and get the outside painted.  And try to j...