Unexpected Snow Day

We went to bed last night with snow falling but the prediction things would warm up through the night. It turned out to be a night of many falling branches and an extended power outage.

The Hobbit Wife did her usual magic and created "Branches Down Cafe." 

Boookie cleared a path to the shop for the Mayor in a (successful) attempt to get the Mayor to print up handouts for a class that moved online today.

Here's one of the advertised branches. No major losses at Michael Delving, other than a small section of damaged fence and a loosened gutter. Lots of cleanup awaits, though.

Sadly, the Sons of Thunder are under the weather and have to enjoy the snow day listening to an audiobook of Harry Potter.

Harry the Raccoon looking out the window at the snow.

Remember, Remember

For the fifth of November, we enjoyed drinking 5th of November gunpowder tea. The lads set Pop-Its on fire, along with the school calendar from last year.

Unclear what triggered this, but here is Eejee being a city councilmember, listening to public complaints from Seimi.

End of October

The Mayor and Boookie went down to Oregon last weekend to go to a conference and they worked in a hike before-hand.

Stopping for a cup of tea in the snowy woods up near Mount Hood.

Halloween was a very low-key event this year. With busy school schedules and some illnesses, pumkin decorating didn't happen until the day before Halloween. 

Eejee was the lone trick-or-treater this year. Here he is, ready to head out to the wilderness dressed as Lewis (of Lewis & Clark).

Mid-November update: There was a  little mandarin orange with a split that we decorated at Halloween. This weird little gremlin has become a valued member of the fruit bowl and we are all wanting to see how long he can last.

Indoor Tent

The Mayor and Hobbit Wife worked together to create an indoor tent for Sukkot, and Ela helped with the decorating.

We enjoyed having people over to celebrate with us.

Ela wanted a picture to capture the phrase "Now is the Winter of Our Disco-Tent"

A bonus picture of a monstrosity the Mayor discovered downstairs.

Things Spotted

Here is a picture from 30 years ago showing Uncle Matty and Uncle Andrew with Super Soaker squirt guns.

What better way to celebrate a warm October day than a squirt gun fight, featuring re-released versions of the Super Soakers.

Boookie sipping an Americano at a cafe.

Seimi and Eejee warming up for the Feast of Trumpets

The Feast of Trumpets was a low-key affair for us this year, coming at the end of a busy day of homeschool, but we pulled out Chrismas Corn Chowder and the Hobbit Wife made challah, served with honey and fresh rosemary from Grampz's farm.

Spotted in the driveway doing some fall cleaning.

Spotted downstairs was this LEGO creation.

Spotted in the backyard was a family of raccoons.

Spotted, but not captured in the photo, was a coyote. A pack recently moved into the park downhill from our house and they make themselves known every evening. We are a sometimes noisy pack ourselves and sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between raucus Eejee and Seimi laughter downstairs and coyotes down in the park.

Desk Work

The Mayor and Ela have been talking for a long time about a secretary desk and as the end of summer approached, the Mayor set out to build the design per Ela's specifications. 

We decided to build the desk out of pine and then stain it, so the Mayor started with boards of various widths and joined them up as needed to create the pieces.

The Mayor and Ela working on the glue-up of the case for the desk.

Progress on the desk.

The Mayor gluing up the main desk door panel. The weights were in place to maintain the stability of the panel during gluing.

Desk pieces set out and ready for staining.

Completed desk in Ela's room. 

The classic books on top of the desk were gifts from GranDma Ane.

Off to School

As the end of summer approaches, everyone has been looking forward to the start of school. Here is Harry the raccoon looking out the window early one morning, wishing he could go to raccoon school.

Harry settled for sneaking into the Mayor's backpack for a trip to downtown Seattle.

This year, between all the hobbitlings, they are taking nine classes through Homeschool Connections. Here they are all lined up for the first day of Monday school.

Seimi and Eejee in the designated meet-up spot after class, next to the raccoons.

Boookie diligently at work on his caligraphy.