I Need a Respite From the Weekend!

Because, boy, am I tired! LOL

Jessica's field trip came off without a hitch. There is always the possibility that they'll get sent out on a call, but it worked out great. The girls were there partially to give the firefighters boxes of cookies that were donated to our "hometown heroes."

I've never actually toured a firehouse before and found it quite fascinating. My batteries in my camera died as the guy was suiting up to show the girls what they look like with all their gear on. Usually I take spare batteries, but completely spaced it off. Darn. I still got some neat (to me) shots.

This was something I never even thought about. The girls were led up these stairs to the top of the tower (the parents didn't go up, not sure why, except maybe because it was a small space. Do you see that pole that is going up, up, up? The guys hang the hose from that so it can dry out. It makes perfect sense, now that I see it, but it never occurred to me that they would have to dry out the hose. 

I asked if they had a GPS device in the trucks to help them find the locations they are going to. Wanna see their GPS system?

I guess only the police have units in their cars. The firefighters have to do it the old fashioned way. I thought that was pretty funny.

Here the lieutenant is telling the girls how they use purified air, not oxygen (like I assumed) in their tanks. 

They also showed all the tools they keep in the firetrucks. Lots of hoses and adapters for sure, and all kinds of devices to lift heavy items/cars, etc. One was a rubberized balloon that is a flat square when deflated. Very interesting! I didn't get too many shots as my camera batteries were dying at this point. Jessica had a great time.

After this field trip we (Jess, Amy and I) headed out to a pirate themed birthday party given by my friend Susi. It was a lot of fun. She sure knows how to throw a great party! (no pictures, though)

Today the was shining and it was a perfect opportunity to tackle the weeds in the back yard. This is what I was facing. Arghhhhh...all the rain we've been having allowed these to have a real growth spurt!

All of those are what I call "runners" from the tree right behind the fence there. The dead woody stuff is the grape vine.

This is what it looks like now:

Buster loves it when I work outside...he enjoys the grass (which has since been mowed).

I also worked on removing all the dead stuff from my honeysuckles and clematis along the fence. I pulled up more smaller runners, too. But really, it's too big a job to get it all done in one afternoon. I finished the afternoon by planting a new Shasta Daisy plant (perennial) and an interesting looking Dahlia, which is an annual. I will have to take a picture of it tomorrow (if the one bloom is still good). Steve picked up the veggies he's going to plant at the nursery and that's where I found these two plants (it's a family event to get the veggies). I've been looking for a common purple lilac, the kind that I see every where I go around here, but no one seems to have it. They have a bunch of fancy named ones, but not the one I'm looking for (of course).

And just to let you know, it wasn't a totally craft-less weekend. I did find some time to crochet these:

Aren't they neat? I used DMC embroidery floss in a variegated color. I made them to give to Jessica's teacher (she looks really good in these types of colors). I'm going to stick them on the bear's ears. Tonight I'll work on the pair I will make for Amy's teacher to go on the frog. I thought it would be a neat surprise. I'd have Amy's done, except I needed to get another pair of hoops.

Anyway, that's probably way more than you wanted to know, but it is what I was up to this busy weekend! 

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great start to your week!