Well Campers, it was a great week. Unfortunately, I'm writing this post Saturday afternoon as I have a necessary but unpleasant task to perform Sunday PM. Much as I, and Mrs. J and LJW and Miss B, would wish otherwise, Little J has to return to Honk Honk and I drew the short straw to deliver him to the airport.
Man, was it a GREAT week though. I knew it would be from the first time he saw LJW and her surprised reaction to seeing him unexpectedly. However, the part that really warmed my heart was when he looked down at Miss B in her carriage and she looked back at him for a second then her eyes got wide and a great big smile came across her face. She recognized him! 8 months old and hadn't seen him since she was 5 months and she recognized him.
Ain't Kids Great?
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| Yeah, I know, picture was in last weeks post also. Sorry! |
One of the benefits of the O2 weaning process, is we, Mrs. J and I, get to babysit her in our house now rather than the cabin she and her Mom have been staying in. We're a bit more comfortable here, just sayin'. So Little J and LJW had a couple of evening dinners out on the town, and Mrs. J and I got to play with Miss B.
No, Beans, the maturity level of an old fighter pilot and an 8 month old girl are not that far apart. If anything, the latter is the "adult" in the group. I did win at the "Tap the lit button" game on her crib entertainment system, but it was close!
Having another male around also allowed for the final completion of a project that I'd "finished" a few months ago. Unfortunately, it was a little too heavy for one person to carry and I didn't want to risk bumping it against anything hard. But, Mrs. J's desk is in its new home now.
Now, I'm off to a new project. It's springtime in Texas. OT, how do I know? Last Wednesday it was Clear, Blue and 92 with a very gentle breeze. Thursday & Friday were in the low 40's, hard gusty winds causing a wind chill in the 30's and rain. Weather swings like that are a sure harbinger of Spring. While we were grateful for the rain, it's easier to take when it's raining in the 90's.
But, I digress.
Anyhow, because it's springtime, Mrs. J is into planting things. No, Beans, while she has threatened to plant ME in the ground from time to time, she has yet to carry through. No, she's planting flowers. So...The juvat wood shop has been converted to a planter construction assembly line. I got the idea/plans from this site (just so I don't step on any copyright fingers). It's going together pretty well and easy. The latter is a big selling point.
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| First two corner panels installed. Just got the bottom two and the rim left before completion of the first planter. |
On the Other Visitors we had this week. MBD and MG came over on Monday and stayed through Thursday. The Rev had some Easter Service prepping to do (which shouldn't be hard to understand) so couldn't make it. But...MG is 16 months now and smarter than a whip. (I would have said smarter than I, but Low Bars...) In any case, having the two of them here was a blast.
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| Uncle Little J and |
MBD is about 3 months along with Grandchild #3 and has been having quite a bit of morning sickness. Her doctor allowed as that might be a sign of twins and ordered up an ultrasound. No twins have occurred in any of the 4 parental families, but that doesn't make it an impossibility.
She breathed a sigh of relief when it was revealed to be a healthy singleton.
No, Beans, if she knows the gender, she's playing it VERY close to the vest.
We thoroughly enjoyed MBD and MG's visit. It included a visit to the City Park which has a pretty good equipment area. ("Equipment" used to mean a swing set, but is OH so much more nowadays.)
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| See below to understand why I'm jealous of her hairstyle |
We also had an opportunity to visit a "newish" winery in the area. It is Untamed Wine Estates. The owners are from South Africa and are trying their hand at making wine in Texas. I thought their wines were PDG although a bit young. (They've only been in business for a couple of years, so...come on!)
But, as I said, all good things must pass and leave is not unlimited, so...
Unfortunately, I had to drive Little J to the airport yesterday afternoon and see him off. I pray that Miss B gets well enough soon so that the powers that be will allow her and her Mom to travel and the three of them will be together as a family as soon as possible.
Damn, I hate bureaucrats!
Little J's coming up for assignment next year and he's interviewed for three locations, all of which meet with the juvat seal of approval. We'll see what happens.
As this post's title implies, all good things must pass...in order for better things to arrive. That having been said, I haven't laughed as hard and as often as I have this past week in quite some time. What a great visit with both branches of the family. Can't wait til the next time.
We hope everyone had a Happy Easter. He is Risen...Indeed!
Peace out y'all!
Family Time is Best Time juvat, good to see. Desk looks well done and the planters are shaping up quite nicely. Your last photo, very nice, very nice.
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteThanks, Yeah, it was a great week.
Like Nylon12 said, family time is the best time of all.
ReplyDeleteLove the positioning of Mrs. J's desk. While it might seem counter-productive to be right by the window, I've had situations where I worked by a window. It was nice to have and no, I didn't spend all of my time looking out of it. I actually was more productive!
Great post. The juvat clan is growing, and that's a good thing!
Sarge,
DeleteYep.
I had the same question about where she wanted it. That having been said, as soon as it was in place and I sat down at it, I got nefarious and was evaluating methods to switch offices with her. Needless to say, I failed miserably...as usual.
Thanks, agreed!
That sounds like the best of all possible weeks Juvat! So glad that everyone is well.
ReplyDeleteThe planters look very sound - and easy (I, too, am into easy).
That last picture apparently aggravated whatever dust was in the room. Little misty and all...
THBB,
DeleteThanks, It really was. We went out to lunch and had all three generations present. Had the waitress take a picture, but didn't check it while there. Unfortunately, it is somewhere on the internet, but I can't find it. Blast! and Double Blast!
While there was a lot of laughter and excitement, there was a bit of mistyness also.
This was a good post!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rob, glad you liked it.
DeleteWhat are you planning to cover the shop walls with? I can heartily recommend avoiding peg board. The projects are great, and the family.... Man, family is where it's at. Nylon12 nailed it. Happy days, big smiles. Thanks for the encouragement.
ReplyDeleteAnon,
DeleteDon't know yet. I've got 1/4" nice plywood (it's not pine, but I forget what it's surfaced with) over the bottom 4'. Right now, I'm just hanging racks and stuff off the 2x4 uprights where needed. Haven't decided what I'm finally going to do there. I may put a section or two of pegboard up for brooms and the like, but it definitely won't be wall to wall pegboard. Open to suggestions.
My pleasure.
Juvat, a growing family is a joy to watch from a grandparent’s view. The young ones show up, and while they grow and learn, a sibling or cousin comes along, followed by another and another, etc. Unfortunately, from that view point, the time between them showing up and heading off to college/university is compressed to where it seems as only minutes passed between those events. Imagine time between future events in their lives and, hopefully repeating the cycle, will seem as seconds.
ReplyDeleteGood to see Miss B looking alert and hope the O2 weaning continues to go well. Appears she's grown some from the picture of Mrs. J holding her while Grandpa looks on.
You mentioned rain in the post…those of us north of the ‘Burg continue to wonder if that precious heavenly gift comes in amounts greater than tenths of an inch. Mrs. Valvecore was in town this past week during a heavy downpour that was reported to be over an inch.
Cletus
Cletus,
DeleteAgreed. It doesn't seem like 16 months since MG was born, nor 8 since Miss B, although the day to day has been longer for her. Lot of effort being expended by ALCON there. I suspect that's going to get better soon. Not wishing to jinx it, but she is making good progress.
We did get nearly an inch in that one downpour. The rest have been 1/4 to 1/2" for a total of about 3.5. The field is pretty green although we're overrun by yellow flowered weeds. Tony Hay Guy is going to come cut soon and probably won't be able to bail because of them. Dang it!
Thanks
Thanks for sharing your family’s love for each other with us, your digital friends. We both look forward to the next progress report.
ReplyDeleteI miss the grand projects I used to have in Santa Cruz . I had a quarter-acre JN Garden. Knew every stone by name. Lots of sawing for other things, too. Here, in the condo, my time is pretty much taken up with loading various magazines. I am licensed, BTW, but choose not to. Gotta love FL!
LtFuzz,
DeleteMy pleasure. I'm not into gardening, but obviously, Mrs. J is. I just do a lot of the heavy lifting and other manual labor roles therein. One can never have too many magazines whether print or other. Just sayin'.
Size 9 is a favorite. Have you ever been to Snow’s BBQ? There was a Netflix thing about it. Looked like a dream come true.
DeleteLtFuzz,
DeleteNo, hadn't made it there...Yet. But it's only about 20 miles off the route we take to and from College Station to visit MBD and family. Might have to detour sometime.
I prefer a size 9 also.
How was the attendance at Mass? As opposed to the last few years, I noticed our parish was quite full this year, so even the Catholic Reserves are returning to church for their two days of active duty.
ReplyDeleteTuna,
DeleteWe went to the 0730 Mass. Generally the church at that service is about 40% occupied. It was Standing Room only yesterday. At the opening of Mass, our Priests ask visitors to stand for a blessing. There were quite a few, but not enough to fill the Church. So....Reserves seemed to be in force, but there were a bunch of whole families where I knew the parents and that their kids were off in school or living elsewhere and back home for the holidays. So...It was nice to have a full house for whatever reason.
Very nice indeed. We need more of the faithful to help fill the breach.
DeleteTuna,
DeleteYeah, it's take me awhile to get over the Air Force Brat to Air Force Officer Life Style where there's a complete change of faces every 3 years. People basically stay the same age in that interval, Kids are kids, Military may have one promotion max of two, so very little change. Having now lived here since '98, it nice to see families grow and kids go off and come back with kids of their own. Life is great!
Glad things are A-Otay at Casa de juvat.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, not much difference between a fighter pilot and a kid. Except size. Maybe.
I wonder how many South Africans will make it out of that country before the machetes descend for the final time? Glad some wine makers made it out, heard that SA had a pretty decent wine industry at one time.
Other than that, hope LJ is safe on his flight and his posting. Glad to see all the grandchildren proliferating like children should. My side has seemed to stop at the current nieces/nephews level and potentially be totally dying off, sadly.
Nice table and nice planter. And you can't call yourself a woodworker without announcing to the world what wood you used. Cedar?
Beans,
DeleteLast first, the planter is in fact cedar, although the legs are cut from a pine 2 x 4. The desk is Oak, the plank I used was live edge to get the river like effect. Oak is the reason it sat in the workshop til I had help moving it. Tis Heavy, yes it is.
Little J should be arriving about 12 hours from now. Fortunately, that's quitting time there, so that should help with his temporal acclimatization.
I don't have any info on South Africa or their emigration therefrom. I do think there's a lot of similar situations going on like that nowadays, some not far from here. Just sayin.
Yep, I got her on size for sure. Intellect? We'll see.
Thanks
I gotta admit I was thinking it would be kinda cool to have twins. I think MBD was being much more pragmatic than I with respect to what would be a 2 year old and 2 infants in the house. So, I think things are working out for the best.
As to ultrasounds, never understood the whole freaking out about gender. More concerned about right number of appendages and such. A kid's a kid.
ReplyDeleteBeans,
DeleteYeah, I don't think the radiologist called them right for either of our kids, but we did have names picked for each in either case.
Crusty Old TV Tech here. Congrats on the harmonics (commspeke for kids/granskids) visiting! Bet the Room QRM (more commspeke for noise level) was quite satisfactory.
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows, SE Texas DOES have 4 seasons! Last Summer, This Summer, Next Summer, and Hurricane! For Central TX, substitute Cedar Fever Season for Hurricane...
COTT,
DeleteAbsolutely no argument on the Central TX substitution. Mrs. J and I have been quite stuffy this season. Not sure I'm desperate enough to reinstate Hurricane Season, but close.
Thanks, it was a bit noisy at time, but it was a happy noise.
Cheers!
Time with family is always precious. We missed enough of that during our service time to really WANT to enjoy it now. Glad everyone is doing well!
ReplyDeleteOld NFO,
DeleteAgreed and thanks!
Tomorrow, I start building a workbench. It has been a quarter of a year since the fire, and I need to build something! I will build a simple workbench, to begin with, and then I shall start working on replacing the 1:6 scale Bobcat, that burned up in the fire.
ReplyDeleteWoodworking is very pleasureable.
StB,
DeleteSorry to hear about your fire, glad you're ok though.
Workbench is an excellent place to start rebuilding.
Woodworking keeps me sane...Barely!
GOOD! ABOUT TIME!
DeleteAnon,
DeleteA little harsh wouldn't you say?