HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Well after a long 9 months wait..my niece's baby finally arrived today. He was really "ready" according to the doctor to arrive. I guess they had the due date pretty much correct when they tried to figure it all out. THEODORE was born at 11:15 AM and is 19 inches long.. 8 lbs and 5 oz. Mom and baby are doing well. The family are  hovering as usual, and spending many hours ooohing and ahhhhing over him. We've taken about 300 pictures between us all and at least 3 hours total of video. This kid will have a video picture diary of his whole first day of life, well doesn't every newborn nowdays with all this new technology?? So..that's about it from our little neck of the woods. Tomorrow the new Grandma and I will head home and take all the photos with us to tide us over until the next little visit. 
HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

SUMMER DAYS!!!

Imagine my surprise when I went to take out the trash. I came around the corner and saw this "creature" hanging out of the top of the bin. YIKES.. I was glad it was not dark out or I think I would have yelled! I ran back inside to get the camera as the shot was just so funny.  Now why in the world would someone throw out a perfectly good pool toy that still held air?? Well upon lifting the lid I saw that  the other end of said "creature" was missing it's tail. Seems "creature" got into a fight with a mean little dog and well, the rest is history!!

                                                                               It's been quite hot around here and yesterday the local swimming park was sure full of eager kids ready to get cooled off.It used to be an ice skating rink but now it was re-made into and pond or swimming hole for the enjoyment of the community. They even added a beach area. There are plenty of trees for shade too. Locals are wondering why this wasn't done years before? Winters have not been near cold enough here, long enough, to use it as a skating rink. The ice never got thick enough. Kids sure are happy it is here now, because this summer sure has been a scorcher so far.  

I hear the rumble of thunder again..storms are not far behind. Hope you all have a great day today!!! STAY COOL!!

WHAT IS IT???

I certainly have learned a few things from all my years of blogging. If I cannot find the answer on google because I really have no idea what to look up..then I can ask the family of bloggers I know to help me out. Recently on one of my walks I found this huge tree with huge leaves. I thought it was a castor bean tree, but when I googled it the pictures just did not match. So I am kind of stumped. I really think this tree is amazing. I can see it from my apt window and when a storm comes it stands its ground wonderfully.    The leaves are huge, the size of my hand. Some fall off but they remain green when they do.

It appears to have some kind of pods or something on the branches too.  So if anyone out there knows what it is..let me know..the suspense i killing me. I don't see that kind of tree very often around these parts. Most of our trees are elm,oak,maple,chestnut or birch. Will be interested in what you have to say about it.

My feeble attempt to take pictures over the holiday with a camera WITH a setting for fireworks ( yes it does), went horribly wrong.. I think I just could not hold the camera still enough. All the excitement you know.. Oh well at least it was colorful. Hope your holiday was a good one at least the week will be a lot shorter! 

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!  

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

It's a bittersweet holiday here,we had hoped that Mom would be with us to await the birth of her third great grandchild. My niece is due any time now with her first child, so we are playing the waiting game. Mom was just so adamant that my niece would have twins, a boy and a girl. She may have been talking out of her head, but she said it in such a way, that we just believed her. She even made us promise not to tell her because it was a big secret. Well after 6 sonograms, it is definitely NOT twins! Only one baby in there and I will leave the gender as a surprise later on. I know my niece is more than ready for this to be over. Summertime is  hard time, but I think winter is worse. Traveling in the snow is not my favorite thing at all. We will be traveling when the time comes. I just hope it is not in the middle of the night.

No real plans for the holiday here. The town has a fireworks celebration that is awesome to view from inside your vehicle. Near and over looking the local river, one has to be really ready to fight off those large mosquitos that could practically take you away. Think I will view from afar. We might have rain but we certainly will have heat..90's and more. It truly is summertime now!
Well...I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A SAFE AND

ODDS AND ENDS

Thought I would post some odd and ends pics that are in the camera. Some are new some aren't.  These are of the old church. Most of the stained glass was removed, but these remain. Reminds me some of a castle. The lights still work and all that is wrought iron work.  Very old church but haven't found the age yet.  Next few are photos before the whopper storm we had.

He sat there a long time before the storm, but didn't catch a thing. The kids were having a great time. After the storm the banks were up to the top..hard rain at least three inches. Lots of tree damage too. Leave you with two more...