Ma and Pa's Blog

Ben & Steph were there, too — but they evaded the camera.   Sorry, Ben, no pics of the brake job.

Mike and Jen held Owen’s birthday party at Wingfoot Lake (now a state park). The rains ended just in time (1 day before), and, although it was cool, everyone seem to enjoy being outside and watching Owen, Caleb, and cousins Kate and Anna romp in the park and at the playgrounds.

I like it!  Unity desktop is a little different, but everything is running quickly and looking great.

Ma’s out to lunch with her friend, so I made a salad for lunch. The salad was a success — both attractive and tasty. Contents: chicken, celery, scallion, jalapeno, red sweet pepper, tomato, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin. I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.

Gained 4 pounds in two days! Thanks, Paska. Thanks, Kielbasa. Thanks, Ham. Thanks, Bunny Cake. Argh! Who started these traditions, and can he/she be sued? Great weekend, though. Enjoyed every minute.

Since re-installing Windows Vista on my laptop a few weeks ago, I’ve begun to think that Microsoft might have turned the corner.   I see that among the numerous updates since the installation, “Microsoft Security Essentials” is now included.   It is handling “Realtime Protection” (whatever that is) and virus detection.   It’s about time that Microsoft took this vital function back in house.   I suspect that 3rd party solutions were a big part of the stability and performance problems I’ve encountered when using Windows.  As of this writing, I’m satisfied with Vista’s performance — sometimes surprised to find that I’m using it.   I plan to investigate whether MSE can be installed on my WinXP desktop.   That’s about it for now.

Today we celebrated Owen’s birthday (a few days early).    It was a rainy day (on and off all day; from sprinkles to downpours), but we had a good time.  Kate, Anna, Caleb and Owen had fun playing, setting off bottle poppers, and opening presents.  Owen and Anna licked the cake before we sang “Happy Birthday” . . . this is why Owen’s face looks a little blue in some of the photos.  We finished with Owen defending Caleb from Nate — Owen returned from the bedroom wearing boxing gloves and proceeded to deliver a major whooping to his much older (by 20  years) cousin Nathan.

Today would have been a good day for the grandsons to visit. Here is what they would have seen.

Tree Trimming Crane from Pa on Vimeo.