The Yellow Jackets have accepted us into their colony

Just moments after my last snowy posting, Joshua checks his email and finds an acceptance letter from Georgia Institute of Technology. He had checked his email before leaving work on Friday, about 5 o'clock, April 24th-the deadline for notice of acceptance. Come to find they emailed him at 7 o'clock that Friday evening. So, Saturday night, round about 11 o'clock, as his wife slaves in the next room searching desperately for NY apartments and doing climate research for the snowy north, a cacophonous whooping, shall we call it, come from the living room. Dogs begin to bark, the walls begin to shake, and the happy dancing commences. In the dirty south we stay.
We're bumble bees now!

A Syracuse Google...

SO I thought I would google syracuse to become informed a bit more, and this is what I learned...

Syracuse is known for its snowfall. Boasting (boasting they say, pah!) 115.6 inches (9.6ft)on average. The Syracuse metro area receives more snow on average than any other large city in the United States. Syracuse continually (continually, mind you!) wins the Golden Snowball Award, among Upstate cities. Its record so far is 192.1 inches (over 16ft). The high snowfall is a result of the fact that the city receives both lake effect from nearby Lake Ontario and nor'easter snow. Snow most often falls in small (about 1-3 inches), almost daily doses, over a period of several days. Larger snowfalls do occur occasionally, and even more so in the northern suburbs.

Low Carb Pasta Salad, YUM!

It's that time of year again for my very most favorite meal!

Pasta Salad

1lb elbow macaroni (Dreamfields for low-carbers)

1/2lb genoa salami

1/3 of a small pkg of sliced pepperoni

1/2 bag spinach leaves

1 block feta cheese crumbled

1 small can black or green or both olives

some basil, oregano, parsley

s&p

Olive oil and Balsamic Vineagar to taste.

Sugar or splenda to balance out the vinegar.

That's my technically broken down opinion of this recipe. Good luck! It's good for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.

Plumeria

I went to the Strawberry Festival with Tina Saturday and came upon these plumeria starter "sticks" for lack of a better term. I got them with the thought that they could be house plants after the move to NY. I don't know if that will work or not. But they came with a great website telling you what to do with them. I thought it was interesting.

Baby Harry is Back Home

Baby cub is safe and sound. Here's some pics I took of Baby Harry and Mom, Zassi while I was at work.

Baby jaguar escaped from the Jacksonville Zoo

Baby Harry decided the time had come for Man and Jaguar to come to a truce; see eye to eye, break down the barriers of communication. He took a stand on Friday afternoon showing his protests by gnawing away the wires that separate humans and jaguars with his own bare teeth. Will we ever be able to live in harmony with one another?

Kinley Lenea

Kinley Lenea

-the newest niece has arrived!

born: April 9th, 2009, 8:10 pm

7lbs 5oz

20 inches

Brandie arrived at the hospital after a couple days of pretty intense pains to finally be admitted around 11ish on Thursday, the 9th. Everything was easy peasy after the epidural, dilating about a cm/hour. Started pushing around 6:45 (right at the nurse shift change, or course) and was victorious a little over an hour later. Having taken full rein over the waiting room, the Kinley train got a quick glimpse before mom and baby were cleaned up and moved upstairs. Having gotten settled, all the new grandparents, and novice Uncle Josh took turns before the veteran Aunt Katelyn took things into her own hands :) As far as we can see she has her mommy's toes and her daddy's ears. The rest is still a little too poofy to tell.

Dog Coat Finale

So, many layers later, the dog coat is complete, mostly. I ended up tweeking the pattern by adding about 6-7" to the belly section for reason of Greta's excessively barrel-like chest, but otherwise an easy pattern. I used Kwik Sew Pattern 3260-dog coat B. I liked it because it covered the belly as well as the back. The actual pattern is designed for a single piece of non-fraying heavyweight fabric. I, in reality, used four separate pieces of non-fraying material to adapt it to a heavy, snow, waterproof coat. I was trying to mimic the design I found on a website for heavy dog coats. I haven't attached the relector trim yet; I will probably add it to the collar in the end. I also ended up attaching a fleece strip with velcro underneath her chest, because the chest flaps kept bowing out when she moved, probably because the vinal is stiffer than the pattern meant for it to be. It worked great though. I recommend the pattern, I will probably end up making it as it is supposed to be made with the one piece of fabric for future sweaters for her.

Pre-Dog Coat

So, as it looks like we are officially headed to Syracuse in the fall, I took it upon myself to research heavy dog coats for my nearly naked weimaraner so she doesn't turn into a weimacicle when it drops below...well we won't talk about how low it will drop. So I found a camel colored vinyl material for the waterproof shell, and extra fleece layers for the inside, lined with another layer of olive-brown fleece. THe two fabrics on top are going to be attachable turtleneck pieces. Probably going to attach with velcro. The other picture is reflector trim, that's why its glowing. I'm not sure where I'm going to put it, but I thought it was cool. I will post later once my pattern arrives in the mail and I get started.