White Petal Snowflakes

As I walked Bear and Chloe last weekend, I looked ahead and it looked like snowflakes on the ground, but it was pear tree blossoms.  It was very breathtaking.  One patch of “snow” was pink!  The dogs seemed to notice too.  They pushed their noses through the flakes.  At that time of the morning, we were the only ones enjoying the beauty. 

I’m feeling much better, but still waking up in the night with a cough.  It is annoying!

Scott’s guitar is doing much better.  I’m thinking that he is almost done.  He is spraying varnish (or whatever the end step is).  The fumes are coming out of our garage again.  Fortunately, it isn’t too smelly.

The kids are all doing well.  Rachel got her hair cut, it’s still long, but it looks very sharp!  Julia went out to UNC Greensboro yesterday.  She was pretty impressed with the campus.  It’s about 90 minutes away.  I’m not sure I’m too happy about her leaving home, but we will see what happens.  Joel will not be taking summer classes this year.  He needs to save up money to pay for his classes in the fall. 

I’ve been babysitting this week.  Aaron and Susannah are on track out for three weeks.  Jen is having to work full time for the next four months, so I have to watch the kids every morning.  She has found other alternatives for their afternoons.  I only have Susannah this morning.  We are going to make cards, so I’d better quit writing.  I realized that I forgot to eat breakfast, so I’d better eat first and then have fun!

governmentium

NEW ELEMENT DISCOVERED; ADDED TO THE PERIODIC TABLE

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.
The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to
complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause
more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.
When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

oh no!

I got a flu and it is turning into bronchitis, so no blogs, calls, etc.  I’ve been in bed.  I’m hoping to be back up soon.

Wanna be sick?

You know I told you that Scott’s latest guitar was about done?  Well, yesterday while I was shopping at the local health food store, he dropped it!  The dogs were asking to come in, so he left in on the worktable.  As he let the dogs in, he heard the terrible crash! 

He’s going to have to take the top off and redo it!  This is a beautiful guitar but it sure has been trouble.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/elmcneill/Guitar#

 

 

 

skype

Hey, everyone!

I’m now on skype. My id is elaine.l.mcneill I have a web-cam so if you have one, we will be able to see each other when we talk. My Dad got me interested in this and we are having a great time with it. I’ve been chatting with him almost every day. It sure does make it easier to keep in touch. It is free when you talk computer to computer.

My sister-in-law just returned from El Salvador. We had her with us for a few days. Now she is at a friend’s house for the remainder of her time in the States.

Julia and Joel are busy with school and work. They come and go. Sometimes, it feels like I’m running a boarding house!

Scott is almost done with his latest guitar. When it is all the way done, I will post a picture of it for you. It is a beauty!!!

It was 24 degrees this morning for my walk. Of course, the dogs were unaffected by the cold. I got this new ski cap thing that covers most of my face so I found the weather much more bearable. I was actually a little too warm, so I pulled the face thing down around my chin. I didn’t have to wear gloves because I was so warm.

I just finished four weeks of babysitting. The kids are back in school for seven weeks. We had hours of fun doing crafts and things, but I am glad to be back on my own.

Buttons

On March 7, 1999 Buttons Salgado was born.  She came to live with my step-dad Ray and his first wife Shirley.  I met Buttons right after I met my new step-dad.  She took me into her heart right away.  Mom and Ray just celebrated their second anniversary so I’ve known her a little longer than that.  When I would come to visit, she was so excited to see me again.  I will miss her so much.  I loved to hear her “snuffle” looking for food snacks on the floor.  When she wasn’t snuffling, you could hear her softly snoring.  I can still see her eyes glistening as she would look at me with love.  One time that I was visiting there were a lot of thunder storms and Buttons would not be happy unless she was sitting on my lap.  I think that was the same visit that she growled at a workman that came to the house because he wanted to shake my hand as I was introduced to him.  She was such a loving little soul.  She brought joy to my life and I miss her greatly!

Buttons Salgado March 7, 1999 – January 3, 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/elmcneill/Buttons1#

November went by!

I was in Florida with my Mother and Ray for the last week of October.  I had a very special visit.  Ray and I had a date and went to a neat old hotel,  you can see the pictures in the file contained here.  I got so that whenever we went out, I took my camera because I would miss unique pictures without it. 

 

The first few pictures are of Cookie and I can’t remember what breed she is.  She was hysterically funny.  Ray and I were supposed to let her out because my new sister and her husband were gone for the day.  Ray took me over for the second visit so that I could see her.  She was excited to see me, but didn’t want to cooperate to go outside.  Ray asked me to grab her leash, which meant to her that we were going on the golf cart!  We weren’t going on the golf cart and she wasn’t going anywhere except for the golf cart!  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!  She isn’t very tall, but you can’t make her do what you want her to do. 

 

I got home in time for Halloween.  I enjoyed giving out candy to the neighborhood kids.

 

Then came my birthday.  It was very weird.  Some birthdays are like that.  We had my sister in law with us for the week, as she was moving to El Salvador to do medical missions.  The next week I babysat my extra kids and came down with a cold from that.  It was a miserable cold.  I was in bed for nine days.  Then, it was Thanksgiving and we went to PA for a few days.  We had a good visit with Scott’s mom and dad.  We got home from that and November was over!  It was a weird month.  I’m glad most months are not like that one was.

 

I have missed writing on here, so hopefully December will go better!

http://picasaweb.google.com/elmcneill/December14?authkey=SiehAW4K6L4#