Time Flies...

Wow... all of November and half of December has flown by. Doesn't seem like we have been extra busy but the time just flies on by anyway. So starting with now and working backwards... We are getting our first snow storm of the year. We're loving it- David likes to get out there and find animal tracks in the snow and I just like how pretty everything is with a coating of snow and well ya gotta have it for that Christmas spirit.

We are just a bit bummed too... he was hoping to get a roofing job done this weekend. The storm will delay the finish but it seems every weekend has had some weather problems. He's been working his way around the neighborhood for the last 4-5 months. We laugh at what he calls his truck...

Yup, he loads it up every morning with his tools and shingles and off he goes. (During turtle egg laying season this is his turtle ambulance... that's a story for another time).

So currently he is roofing for our neighbors across the street. He hasn't stayed still long enough up there for me to get a picture but he is up there somewhere. As you know he does really nice work and it seems as he finishes one job another one comes along. After years of working for some real lunatics he really likes doing these smaller jobs himself.

I work in a medical practice of 14 cardiologists. It is also close to home... a 20 minute walk... but I don't walk -- it would make sense to walk... but I don't. I took the job with hopes of being involved with some software implementation projects but these have been delayed and delayed and delayed again. There is plenty to do in the meantime but I would really rather be doing software support.

Thanksgiving
So we had a good Thanksgiving... all my brothers and sisters and their families and my mother got together. It was actually a combination Thanksgiving and November birthdays. Like you guys my family has a bunch of November birthdays- my mother, a sister-in-law, a nephew, and twin nieces.


My brother's boys count David among their best of friends. Garrett (blond) is 4 and Ryley (red head) is 2. When they arrive they run in to check out the turtles...
Both of them keep trying to pick them up but as soon as the turtle starts moving his legs they get scared and drop them.



They are a lot of fun. Garrett takes a quick scan and knows all that is going on. Ryley studies everything. David and Ryley played with a bunch of rocks for about an hour.


Ryley discovered pockets and found that if he put too many rocks in his pockets he couldn't keep his pants up!!! Every step he took caused his pants to slip lower and lower.

They finally hit the ground and he had to take some of the rocks out to get the pants back up!!!


Turtles

These boys helped Grampa David with the turtle hatchling release in October. He decided to keep only two painters this winter. So he released the rest of the 24 that he hatched. They need to go back to the same spot that the eggs came from. Its just the way turtles are.

Last spring, David's nephew Robby assisted. Robby took 3 baby snapping turtles home for the winter. David kept 16 baby mud turtles, 9 baby painters and then we had to go up to Boston and take back the snappers cuz Robby's dad had gotten tired of taking care of them. The whole pile got released in the springtime... just in time for Grampa David to start bringing home new eggs!!!!