Day 494

At 0-dark-30 Jamie took Matt to the airport for a trip to Phoenix. Fortunately, Jamie got back to the house in time for a little birthday breakfast action - always a big hit! The project to resurface the garage floor began today. Fina got her herp homes going. AJ and Lucy (California friend) had a bake-off online today. It was pretty fun. Lucy won. By a long shot. But AJ (and Papa) had a good time, and it did taste pretty good. No worries, there were Bundtinis everywhere.

One of Fina's new herps from yesterday.

Still not up to snuff.

"Go outside and do whatevere you want!"

These two did a little better.

Insert herp A into terrarium B.
See instructions to assemble terrarium B.

When time was called.

Day 493

Sickness is working its way through the Compound. Jamie was the only one to make it to church today. Finally found a cool toy for cast-boy. He can finger paint! Sort of. Nana and Papa made a mid-afternoon lunch/dinner stop at La Casa Fiesta in Monument. They were hoppin' at 3pm! Tracy and Matt are trying to pick colors to repaint the house. We seem to be narrowing in on some combination of near black and near white. Fina went herping (as in herpetologist), and came back with herps: a salamander and a frog.

Sampling paints.

This is a favorite look down the street. "Greek Villa" white.

Jamie's reading buddy.

Day 492

David joined in on the morning reading routine. Fina had no sooner finished flushing the youngest's feeding tube than he threw up. Not from the feeding but from a cold messing up his sinuses and on down the throat. But the arm casts were saved! Today we prepped for a new garage floor coating coming on Monday. We had to get everything off the floor, which included a delivery of some furniture to a friend, a delivery to Goodwill, and the rest will sit in the U-Haul till the floor is ready to put it back. Matt and Nana whipped up a salmon and salad dinner. To finish the day, Matt and Jamie finished listening to Project Hail Mary. Best sci-fi book ever! And you will definitely learn some actual real science.

Love rain! And we got two bursts of it today.

Day 491

In addition to the plant checking and reading activities this morning, Nana and Papa went out to Eagle Lake Camp to collect AJ. What a week he had. Wore him out, and that takes some doing. Everyone will be taking it as easy as possible today. Nana and Papa made it over to the Club for lunch. It's been a while since Jamie's had their near-perfect Hendricks martini. It was also horse day at the Foundation. We happened by some young bulls, see below.

Only a fraction...

Coffee tree in Woodland Park.

New friend at the Club.

We went by these young bulls while horsing around today.

Day 490

The last day of the week was packed with various appointments. In between, there are all kinds of activities. And a new tree showed up! A bristlecone pine to replace the weeping spruce. Very cool! Jamie sat out with it a little while. Matt actually did get home today from St. Louis.

It's a matching game...

Day 489

Another day of appointments, meetings, etc. for Tracy and the kids. Lexi and Nana continue their morning routines of checking plants and reading. Nana and Papa went to Padrino's for lunch. Matteo continued his cookie baking. Matt was supposed to get back this afternoon, but Denver airport had a power failure. What?! Now he's due back tomorrow afternoon. The backyard is looking great, and the weather is quite cool. A red finch visited Jamie while he was listening to Project Hail Mary on the back deck.

Day 488

Matteo got the baking bug today. He made two different kinds of cookies, chocolate chip, and sprinkles. Fina had a couple cohorts over for a while. Nana and Papa lunched at Colorado Mountain Brewery for a slight change of pace (it had been a while). Bison Meatloaf Wellington! After lunch, Nana and Papa picked up Nana's "COVID Quilt" from the quilter, tada! She put in a lot of hours on this quilt through the course of the shutdown. During a trip to the grocery store and coffee shop, Lynn spotted some very fresh-looking corn on the cob so she got 10 ears; was among the best meals we've had, just corn!