and a Happy New Year!

Ok.  I couldn't resist "Elfing" me and the fam.  Enjoy...

Tis the Season

Tis the season to wish you all a

Very Merry Christmas!

Why I bought a Nook.

Last spring, my school district finalized plans for Wifi in all the buildings, paving the way for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) at school.  One of the other teachers and I were discussing it, and she said, "I guess I am going to have to get myself an iPad so I know what I am doing when the kids ask me to show them stuff on their iPads."

Hmmmmm.  I had never thought of that.  I mean, I like my iMac and all things Apple, but my found-in-a-trash-can 40GB iPod is 10 years old and I don't even own a smartphone, let alone an iPad.  What to do, what to do...?

I started by talking to a friend who owned an iPad.  She said she liked it but hardly used it.  She used her laptop much more than her iPad.  Good to know.  I also borrowed an iPad and tried to access all the math websites I would want for my students.  At the time, the Apple OS and Flash Player were not playing nicely together so I couldn't play the math games on sites like hoodamath or mathplayground.  That was troublesome because I sometimes assign internet homework to my students and I wanted them to have access to everything.

I then researched all the tablets that were available at the time and came to the conclusion that I just couldn't spend the money on an iPad.  (Knowing me, if I got one, I would want the highest speed, most memory, all the bells and whistles.  Cha-Ching!)  Also, if it couldn't run Flash sites, then it was not worth it.

My next two options were the Kindle and the Nook.  These both might be known primarily as e-readers, but they have grown up to be so much more.  Besides, I like reading and I figured it might be nice to have many books at my fingertips instead of the stacks on my nightstand that sometimes tip over and land on the floor or the dog or my foot.

In researching the two e-reader/tablet options, I finally settled on the Nook Tablet*.  Here's why:

1) Support.  I can walk into any Barnes & Noble store and there are real live people there who can help me with questions about my Nook.
2) Design.  I like the look of the Nook and the fact that there is a volume button on the case.  You can quickly turn the volume up or down during any Nook activity without having to exit an app to find the volume control.  Not so with the Kindle.  (This comes in handy if you have your Bible on your tablet and an email alert comes in the middle of church when you have forgotten to turn down your volume.  Not that that has ever happened to me.)
3) Security.  The Nook has a small corner cut-out on the lower left corner.  There is room to thread a cable lock through the cut-out for times when you want to cable your device to your bag, your desk, your body...   I have not had to use it yet, but I can see that there may be times when people would find it a practical feature- especially in a dorm setting.
4) Compatibility.  Kiddo has the Nook Simple Touch e-reader and we can now loan books to each other.

After using the Nook for 6 months, I still like it as both an e-reader and a tablet computer. Sometimes it gets finicky and won't load a website, but overall I think I made a good purchase. I don't feel like I have to rush out and get the latest and greatest HD version because this one meets my needs.  I can recommend it to my students who want a device for school, and for those kids who have no internet at home, I can recommend it as an inexpensive way to get connected.  They can go to any Starbucks, McDonalds or Barnes & Noble and get free WiFi so they don't even need a connection at home.  They can even sit outside our building during Christmas Break and access the district's Wifi if they are so inclined.  They can do that with any tablet,  laptop computer, or smartphone.  Very cool.



*Barnes & Noble didn't pay me to write this.  They don't even know I have a blog.

Never get a poodle.

Our vet told us that poodles are known for having bad teeth.  Apparently, that applies to poodle-mixes as well because our schnoodle has awful teeth.  I wish the humane society would have clued us in to that little fact when we got him because he spent the day at the vet's - having multiple extraction$$$.

They have to put a dog under anesthesia in order to pull teeth.  Poor guy.  He's still groggy and resentful.  He wouldn't look at me when I picked him up from the vet.  All the way home he sat on my lap and whined softly and looked away.  I gave him some soft food with his medications buried in the mix.  He wasn't interested.  All he wanted to do was sit on the rug and glare balefully at me.  After about an hour, he licked up some of the food and then snuggled into his bed.  He didn't want to sit with me on the couch.

He has now taken up residence at my feet. Still moaning softly.  He keeps looking at the bandage on his leg where they put the IV.  Like it's my fault or something.  Poor sad schnoodle.

After about 10 days he can try crunchy food again.  Hard food is good for dogs because it sort of acts like a tooth brush.  I still find it a bit weird that we have to brush his teeth.  I mean, wolves do just fine and no one brushes their teeth.  I know, I know... wolves crunch bones and that is what cleans off their teeth.  It would be great if that method worked for Friday, but I just can't see him hunting down his prey and crunching the bones.  He can't even keep the moles out of the back yard.  I think we'll stick with crunchy foods and an occasional brushing.

I hope he is back to his old snuggly self tomorrow.

We met Eric Metaxas!

Here he is signing a book for Abby.

This summer, my book club read Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas.  It chronicles the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party and one pastor's response to the growing threat.  It was a great read and I highly recommend it.

Of course, when the author came to town to speak at a fundraiser, I HAD to go meet him.  He signed my paperback copy (Because I didn't really want him to sign my Nook...) and also signed one of his children's books for Abby.

He was gracious and warm and his speaking style was just as engaging as his writing style.  I think my next book will be the one he wrote about abolishing the British slave trade- Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. 

On another note, I finally figured out how to delete photos in Picasa (you have to create an account which I thought I already had.  grrrrr.)  So I have freed up some space and can post a few more pics here and there.  I just don't like the idea that Google forces me to have more of a presence on the internet than I really wanted.  

Mother and son

She purchased guns and kept them in the house.

According to the reports, he had a personality disorder.

Did she buy those guns to protect herself from him?  Too late now.  We might never know.

Some days, it's tough to be a teacher.  I don't dwell on school shootings and I am not afraid for my life, but I wonder...  what would I do for my students if the unthinkable happened?  How would I go about trying to keep them from harm?  I study the building and plan the escape routes and then... then...?

I pray.  Not just for me or my students, but for all teachers and students everywhere.  It's the only thing you really can do.  God is sovereign. He was not surprised or shocked by what happened yesterday.  Saddened, yes.  But not shocked.  He knows this world is fallen.  He knows we have free will and can make choices for good or for evil.  He cares for those families in Connecticut and is big enough to carry their grief if they let him.

I pray they let him.

Peace.

I need a nerd.

Every time I try to post pictures, I get this message:

Whoops! You're out of space. You are currently using 100% of your 1 GB quota for photos. 

And then it says something about Picasa and photo storage.

A confession:  I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT PICASA IS!!!  Did I sign up for it?  Did I ask for it?  Did I WANT it?  I have no idea.  It's probably something that comes along with the whole Google family of "helpful" web things, but if I never asked to store my pictures on the web, then why does it?  I want to store my pictures on my computer.  I don't want to store them on the web.  I don't want yet another website where I can direct people to look at my pictures.  No one likes to click on links anyway.  If I want to share a photo or two, I will put it on my blog.  My blog that used to be free and now is asking me to pay to store my pictures on Picasa!

I don't even do Facebook.  Is it too much to ask to just be able to put up pictures for free on my blog?

There has to be some way around this.  Will they let me delete some photos from Picasa so I can free up space to post more?  Can I somehow circumvent this "storage quota"?  Do I really have to pay a monthly fee?

Is there anybody out there who can answer my questions in plain English?  My kingdom for a computer nerd that can help me with this!!!  Ok, I have no kingdom.  I have a $5 Starbucks card.  That's it.  First helpful nerd gets it.

Gobble gobble.

I have to upgrade my storage before posting photos, so I will just send you here so you can see what we did last weekend.  (Ours didn't turn out as nice as theirs, but they are still cute.)

From 1863

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America's national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders similar to this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.

Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the "day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival." She explained, "You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution."

Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. President Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale's request immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, who ignored her petitions altogether. In her letter to Lincoln she mentioned that she had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey's Lady's Book.

The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln's secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. 

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. 

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

---

Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler.




Wishing you and yours a very happy day of thankfulness!

Field trips, part 4, etc.

This was the first picture I took in the Chihuly Garden & Glass exhibit at the Seattle Center.  The darn display haunted me throughout the rest of the tour.  I could not stop thinking about how these shapes were formed- the idea just kept hammering at my brain and I had a hard time focusing on anything else!

How did they do that?  Chihuly stands on a ladder and blows molten white glass onto the concrete floor below while an assistant lets it puddle and helps it branch.  As they work with it, it cools pretty quickly and thus you have pools of glass with "stems" as it were, reaching to the sky even as they direct your eye to the ground.  Like trees with exposed gnarled roots and wonderful branches... feels organic and unplanned and natural and...  weird.

WHO THINKS OF THIS????  Never in my wildest imagination could I come up with this sort of thing.  I get pouring glass into molds.  I get blowing glass into useful shapes.  But this blowing glass with the help of gravity?... wow.  Brilliant.

And then they displayed them on a polished black plexiglass floor with a polished black plexiglass corner background so now all the "trees" have mirror images in three directions and the neon in the tubes lights up and it is just very very cool.

Field Trips, part 4

Here are our scrapbook pages from the day we spent in Seattle.  

The Space Needle turned 50 this year- same as me, so I thought it would be cool to visit. Interestingly enough, my folks, who were living in Winnipeg at the time, were planning to take a trip to the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle but the mom was pregnant with me and the doctor said she couldn't go.

The Chihuly glass exhibit was amazing.  I took so many pictures- it was hard to choose just a few to scrapbook!  

Yeah- that middle shape is like an upside-down Christmas tree.

The outside displays were equally stunning.
I just hope it doesn't hail in Seattle- I can't imagine the glass would hold up under that...

The view from above- downtown Seattle, the roof of the Experience Music Project Museum, the buildings of  the Seattle Center, and kiddo appreciating it all.

Mostly looking west over Puget Sound and parts of the Seattle Center.
That plastic Space Needle came full of Sprite.
Now it's being used as a coin bank at home.

Such good memories!

Field Trips, part 3

It's an old riddle in our family...   Which  is farther- to Seattle, or by bus?

The answer is always a resounding   BY BUS!!!!  because to travel by Greyhound always took longer than driving by yourself, riding your bike, or walking the distance to Seattle or Bellingham or wherever it was you were trying to go.

Seriously.  The thing stopped at every little town on I-5.  And in the days I was going back and forth to college, it was probably cheaper just to put gas in the car and go!

Except I didn't always have a car at WWU.  So, I rode the bus.  Had to make sure I had a Walkman with good headphones, a book, and a blanket so I could stay warm and not have to talk to any of the other passengers.   (Don't judge- you wouldn't want to talk to them either.)

But- it's a new era.  A time of innovation and interesting ideas.  A time where gas prices might keep us from going to Seattle for the day.  A time of...

The BOLT BUS!!!!

The Bolt Bus doesn't stop at every little town along the way.  It goes from Portland to Seattle with NO STOPS at all, it has leather seats that recline, free WiFi, electrical outlets, and... drum roll please...  cost us $36 to get there and back.  That's right ladies and gentlemen, $36.  To go north my ticket was $16 and hers was $1, and to come back home mine was $18 and hers $1.  

To drive would have cost us over $60 in gas and more for parking.  It was the most relaxing trip I have ever taken!  I really hate driving, especially in cities, so this was perfect.  We took our Nooks, and we read and chatted and napped all the way up.   When we got there, we walked a few blocks to the monorail, zipped over to the Space Needle, and had a great day exploring Seattle Center.  

The ride home was equally relaxing.  I highly recommend the Bolt Bus. 

More pics of Seattle Center in the next post.

Shoeboxes!

It's that time of year again!  Shoebox packing time! If you don't know what Christmas Shoeboxes are,  go to the Samaritan's Purse website and find out!

This is the first year that Abby helped me pack our dozen boxes.  Sometimes it helps to do it a bit like an assembly line- same thing in the same place in each box.  

This year the boxes were for the 10-14 boys group.  Here's what we try to fit into each box:

T-shirt, string backpack, soap, washcloth, toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, comb, band-aids, pencils, pencil sharpener,  eraser, pens, pencil pouch, calculator, scissors, ruler, composition book, rubber bands, flashlight, batteries, duct tape (what boy doesn't like duct tape?), rubik's cube, kazoo, candy, play-doh, crayons, super ball, roll of string, and a Beanie Baby.  

Good thing they ask us to use two rubber bands to secure the lids because these were sure full! 

Abs likes to play Santa.  And why not?  It is more blessed to give than to receive!

I can't leave without telling you about a remarkable young lady at our church.  I didn't ask permission to tell her story, so I won't use her name.  She is 13 years old and has packed shoeboxes for several years.

This year, however, she really took on this project and claimed it as her mission.

She saved her allowance and birthday money in a special fund she calls HOPE. The acronym stands for Helping Other People Everywhere. To purchase items for the shoeboxes, all year long she shopped the clearance aisles and going-out-of-business sales, paying for the items out of her HOPE funds. She also asked local businesses for donations. She collected freebie giveaways from the local county fair and home shows. 

In the end, she has been able to pack SIXTY shoeboxes all by herself.

60.  By herself.  WOW!    Someday, she hopes to go with some shoeboxes and deliver them in person.

I bet she will.

Before, and during the party.

The sofa is ready.

The fireplace is ready.

The table is ready.

The dessert is ready.

The fry bread is ready.

The fixins are ready.

The whole spread is ready.

The people are happy.

So happy.

So, I made Navajo Tacos for dinner.  Navajo Tacos are pretty much like regular tacos except you put the fixins on fry bread instead of on chips or in taco shells.  I made the fry bread using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  I am not very good at making fry bread.  I should have made them flatter and bigger.  They are supposed to fold into a pseudo-taco shell shape that you can hold in your hand, but these were too small so we used knife and fork. 

And, I didn't use ground beef, I used ground bison.  Bison (American Buffalo) is a bit sweeter than beef, much leaner than beef, and better for you.  Since I was using bison, I thought maybe I should go with a combination I saw on the food channel- bison ribs with huckleberry bbq sauce.   I bought some huckleberry chutney and some huckleberry bbq sauce and mixed them to make my own huckleberry salsa.  It was pretty stinkin' good if I do say so myself.

While I was making all those changes to regular tacos, I decided on shredded cabbage instead of shredded lettuce.  I like the crunchiness of cabbage.  Lettuce just gets all wilty on hot taco meat.  Besides, sometimes people serve pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw on the sandwich instead of on the side. Why not on tacos?  Cabbage rules!

For dessert I made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting.  So. Very. Easy.

1 box spice cake mix (don't add anything they say on the box, just use the dry mix).  1 15 oz. can of pumpkin.  1 cup semi-sweet choc chips.  Mix.  Bake according to the directions on the box.

1 can cream cheese frosting (I think it was Pillsbury.)  Put a few choc chips on the top.  Done.  

We were going to sit out by the fire pit and talk over old times, but it started raining and we voted to stay in.  It was a great evening.

After the party

 I enjoy cleaning up after a party or get-together.  I know, some people groan and moan and hate dealing with the mess, but I like it.  To me, it's relaxing.  Sorting leftovers, rinsing dishes...  I use that time to wind down, collect my thoughts, reminisce about the good time we just had, and thank God for my friends who made the mess(es). 

I had some folks over tonight for dinner.  These are the people (outside my family) that I have known the longest.  We don't see each other on a daily basis, but we have had some fun times the past 25 or so years and tonight was no exception.

We ate, we talked, we laughed, we played games, and we shared some struggles.  We prayed together, we ate some more, we shared pictures, and we told stories.  It was good.

I'll post the food pics tomorrow.  Right now I have to go set all my clocks back an hour.  :->

Happy "Fall Back" Day!   

(the end of Daylight Saving Time is my favorite day of the year.)

Tis the season!

To do some math!  Here's a nice video of a college professor explaining some math to his students:

I hope the math didn't scare you too much!
Have a nice day!

Baseball should not be played in October

My morning wake-up radio station people keep talking about the World Series.  What?  Is baseball still being played?  Now?  It's football season.  It's cold out.  Baseball players don't move around enough to stay warm.  They have to wear so many layers of shirts that they can't pitch well.  It's raining.  Baseball players are delicate.  They don't play when it rains- they have "rain delays".  They're probably afraid they're going to melt. They're so dainty.

Whose idea was it to have such a long season?  Who can keep track of their team from April to now?  They should be done in September.  And the World Series (which really doesn't involve the whole world) should be 5 games in September.  Done.

I've decided I have too short of an attention span to be a real baseball fan.

Thought you should know.

A little home improvement.

Our laundry room was begging for help.  When I bought the house 11 years ago, I was thrilled to have an inside laundry room instead of one in the garage.  I put in a set of shelves I had, put the vacuum attachments on the wall, hung a broom organizer, and then started using the back wall to mark kiddo's growth chart.

Through the years, the room has become a collection hall of stuff- kitchen stuff, linen closet stuff, garage stuff, outside stuff, cleaning stuff, dog stuff... you get the idea.

Then there was a leak.  I think it was something to do with the washer connection to the water.  It was awful.  I was dropping towels all over and bemoaning my new laminate floor and muttering about mold and mildew, mold and mildew!

My neighbor came over and helped me move the washer and dry out the floor.  A few years later, the washer overflowed.  Most likely it was not quite balanced and I put too much in it.  Water nightmares all over again.  I mopped up and moved the washer away from the back wall where I pulled out the soggy baseboards and placed a space heater and dehumidifier for awhile.  We kept using the washer in that position which was really hard to work around, but I was scared to push it back to the wall in case of more leaks that I couldn't reach.  I also removed the door because it was taking up space in the room. 

After making do for about a year, I used this summer at home to finally fix the problem.  I called my insurance company and they sent ProServ out to diagnose and/or fix the dampness.  They detected a tiny bit of mold that they cleaned out for free (YAY!), so I didn't file a claim.

Then I moved everything out of the room and started from scratch.  That's what you are supposed to do when you re-do a room.  (Everything landed in the dining room or living room and some of it is still there- yikes!)

I started with new paint.  Almost Heavenly Blue from WalMart.  Love it.  Then my neighbor installed new baseboards and I put up another wire shelf.  I know, some people hate the wire shelves but they were the cheapest quickest thing and I think they work well for what I want.  They are visually light and airy which is important for a small room.  I also decided that the room would only be about laundry and a few kitchen supplies- not random stuff.  I labeled all my white baskets with the planned contents, and corralled the cleaning supplies.  Before I painted over kiddo's growth chart, I made a giant "ruler" out of a 6 foot 1 x 4 and then copied all the data onto it.  Lastly, I re-hung the door and put the brooms on the back of it with a simple over-the-door clothes hook.

Now it is a bright, welcoming, efficient place to deal with our laundry.  I can hang clothes out of the way, the hamper rolls nicely, and I know exactly where everything is.  I had no idea that labels would make such a difference!  I might still put some decor on the walls, but for now it is exactly what we need.

Total cost?  About $20 for paint and $40 for shelves.  I used baskets I already had and made labels with my scrapbooking supplies.  Oh, I bought a metal pail from Goodwill for $.99.  It's my new lint bucket.

Here's a look at the befores:

The washer is pulled out from the wall- about 15 inches.

ServPro cleaned it up and I was able to replace the original laminate floor with my neighbor's help.

And here are the afters:

The growth chart just leans against the wall.  I can easily move it if we ever get a different house.

Back against the wall where it belongs!

Those baskets are labeled towels and candles.
The towels are old towels used for cleaning and for drying off the dog when he gets wet outside.
The gray dishtub is used to corral Windex, Spray 'n Wash, etc.

The door is back and helping hold the Swiffer,  floor squeegee, and window washing stuff.

I love Tide Pods.  They help kiddo do the laundry without having to measure or spill liquid.  
The powder is Oxy.  Can't live without Oxy...

No doubt as to what is in there.

I have four baskets labeled with the seasons.  These hold- are you ready for this?-  dishtowels for each season.  Yeah.  I found out I have about 4 dozen dishtowels.  That's 48, people.  48 dishtowels for a person who doesn't even like being in the kitchen that much.  48.  (About half of those are Christmasy.  You can't use up 24 Christmas towels in one month... hello?)  Apparently, that's pretty much how I decorate my kitchen- seasonal dishtowels that rotate with the calendar.  It's inexpensive, but I had no idea how many I had or how they pile up!
I have to start re-gifting these babies...

Our triple hamper helps kiddo sort the clothes.  I used paint chips to label the sections- lights, darks, and reds.  

It's a pleasure to do laundry now.  We can even shut the door now and block out the noise from the machines.  Next project?  Probably the garage...

Field trips, part 2

In July, we took my folks down the gorge to the Interpretive Center Museum.  These are the scrapbook layouts I made of our great day in the gorge.

And now for something completely different...

Kiddo and I have some weird inside jokes.  I'm not going to share them all with you, because then they wouldn't be inside jokes anymore, but I thought you might enjoy this.  Or, you might find it kinda disturbing.  Your choice.

Anyway, a few years ago, she noticed that there was a Barbie doll on the roof of a house that we pass a few times a week.  The house is two stories, so it would be almost impossible for a kid that lives there to throw the doll onto the roof, except that the house is located in a bit of a valley and a road and sidewalk are directly behind it.  We figured that someone who was walking along the sidewalk just tossed that Barbie over there and the homeowners have no idea it is there.

Summer 2010.    It looks like she is in a rather precarious position.

We started checking the roof every time we went past the house, and sure enough, it just stayed right there.  Somehow, we decided we would yell out "Nekkid Barbie" every time we went by.  (And yes, "nekkid" is a word.  In Texan it means "naked".  Our pastor in Texas used to use it from the pulpit, "The man and his wife were both nekkid and knew no shame."  It's in Genesis.  Look it up.)

After a few weeks of noticing, we started predicting.  We thought that maybe a good fall rain storm or wind storm might just whisk that baby right off that roof.  Nope, she was still there the next summer- although she had slid considerably lower and closer to the gutters.

Summer 2011.   Still precarious but about two feet lower than the year before.

Well, now this was getting interesting!  We thought maybe we should make some bets regarding the date of the ultimate demise of dear Barbie, but neither of us are good gamblers so we just make half-hearted suggestions without committing any money to the deal.  We also discussed driving down the road to the house and knocking on the door to inform the homeowners that there was a nekkid Barbie on their roof.  Still haven't done that.  I'm waiting till she hits the gutter because until then she is doing no harm and she is providing entertainment.

This summer, we rarely drove by the nekkid Barbie site, and when we did I was sans camera, so it was fall when we finally caught another picture of her.  She's turning gray and brown now, and has slid about a foot lower than last summer.  She's closer to the edge of the roof, so after a good rain storm, or a bit of wind, she might end up in the rain gutter.  Homeowners hate things clogging up their rain gutters, so I will keep an eye on it and go tell the owners pretty soon.

Fall 2012.   It's amazing what little it takes to entertain us.
I predict she might be sliding even more during this recent hit of rain.
Poor Barbie.  What a way to go.

I'll update with new pictures as soon as there is something to show.  For now, you can go about your lives as before.