Monday, March 30, 2009

What Awaited Me At Home

It is always interesting to come home from class on Saturday and see what has happened during the 9 hours that Matt has been at home.

Once when I came home I had two new blueberry bushes there to greet me. Another time I came home to see our dining room table covered in beautiful rocks.

Saturday I came home to find our living room looking like this...
Now, we had been painting the living room.

And Matt agreed to do the trim work, but I did not expect to see this message or anything like it. It made me smile, but it also made it very hard to paint that wall (I did not want to paint over his wonderful message).
I like the living room painted the lighter color, it makes it feel bigger. But to finish the story the whole living room is painted now, I painted over the message...only after taking pictures of it in order to remember this wonderful welcome home.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Classes

Quick blog...
I just registered for my last two librarian classes!

I was a bit worried since there are few classes and many people trying to get into them. But at 6:02 am I registered and got into both of my last classes that I need.

So, by mid-July I will be done with my librarian degree!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

This One Is For You, Carol!

Carol,

You have a long awaited quilt waiting for you at Mom and Dad's house. It is ready to be picked up at anytime :)

A few years back Amy and I were each working on quilts. After getting tired of sewing alone and not getting much done, we decided that Saturday mornings were going to be sewing days for us. At that time we made sure that we sewed till each of us had at least two blocks of quilt sewn. Now that I am two hours away and not in Harrisonburg every Saturday our sewing days have not been happening as much.
But this winter we went through mom's scrap material and found an abundance of brown and beige material. So we began to put it together as a pinwheel quilt with no idea where it would go once it was completed. As we were working on it Carol began to comment on how she liked the pattern and also the colors. Then she noticed that we included scraps from a shirt that she wore on the first date with her husband. At that time we all decided that it needed to be hers.

We purchased a light blue backing for the quilt which complements the browns and pulls out the tiny bit of blue that is in a few of the triangles. The blue fabric, amazingly enough, was the only fabric that we bought for the whole quilt.

Amy worked very hard a stitching up the edging, and as of this afternoon it is finally done. Carol, I hope that this will bring you warmth and great memories.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Surprises at the house

One of the great things about a new house is to see what has been planted before and what will come up in spring.

Honestly I do not know what this flower is called, but it is beautiful and we have them all over the front of the house.

This tree by our garage is covered with the most lovely pink flowers...
And at the base of that same tree mini daffodils surround the base.

But these little green sprouts might be what I am the most excited about...the start of mums again!

I love the beautiful surprises that the house is providing. Spring is so wonderful!

This Past Weekend

I am sorry for such as span between posts. I hope to be posting more often now that I am not working every single day.

On Friday Matt and I both worked for only a half day so at about 12:30 we got on the road to head to Harrisonburg. We were heading there for an appointment but along the way we stopped off to get our rings polished (and have fun visiting with Andera while we waited). Then for our appointment which was the joy of having our taxes done. Actually it was not bad at all, we are currently just waiting for our paperwork to come back so that it can be e-filed. This year with a marrage, selling a house, buying a house, changing jobs, etc...I am glad that Joann is doing them and not me!

Next, to mom and dads to an amazing dinner with almost the whole family there. I think mom has fun making big special meals when we are up there (and I am not complaining)! Following that Mike (our brother-in-law) and Matt got a bit of play time while Amy and I sat and talked.

Saturday involved an amazing breakfast with pancakes, eggs, and ponhaus :) Followed by a wonderful trip to SharpShopper (I think that might be our favorite store at this moment). It is a shop that has discount groceries.

Lots of work, playing, lounging, and fun happened in between of the morning activities and an 8th birthday party for Shannon (our nephew). Then more play time for Matt and Mike.

I had to drag him away at about 8:00 pm so that we could go to Shawn and Sarah's and see them and their new addition to the family 3 week old Luke. We had a great time talking, holding Luke and playing Blockus.

It was a great weekend and so much more happened than what I just wrote. All I can say is that it was a wonderful time.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Red Plate

Matt got the red plate today!

Steve and Sue, thanks for the red plate set. It has been getting some use...I got it once for school work and Matt got it today :)

To explain...Matt grew up with a special red plate (that was provided by his grandmother) to celebrate special days or achievements that an individual does. So it is used toward anything from a birthday or good grades to not annoying the teacher for the day or finishing a project.
I really liked the idea of the red plate when it was told to me, and I am so glad to have a set now. I can not wait to use it with our children (I realize that will be quite far in the future, but still...)

Matt's reason for getting the red plate: He has been working on a project for Cairo, Egypt for quite awhile (since June 2007). At times it has been very frustrating for him with not knowing exactly what they want or why they are not happy with what he is giving them. After a lot of work, today they responded that they are perfectly happy with what he has provided them, so his part of this project is done. Congratulations Matt!

I hope that the red plate is going to be used many more times in the future.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Amateur Rock-Hounding

Hi All,
While Lana was off at school this past weekend, I was crawling in around the woods of Virginia looking for pretty rocks. This is the story of my weekend. And yes fellow readers, I have once again stolen control of my wife's Blog to bring you this tale of my exploits.

Now, for anyone who has seen my homemade wooden pirate chest of treasures, I like to collect rocks. Usually pretty ones - or at least - neat looking ones. I couldn't tell you where half of them came from, when I got them, or - in some cases - even what they are. But they look cool. But at any rate, I like finding new specimens for my collection. Always have.

Lana and I have recently been swapping ideas for ideal "weekend warrior" trips that we can take. One of mine has been to do those gem-mining things where you buy a bag of mud, and sift through it with a sluice-box looking for a quarter-sized amethyst or even gold. "Thar's gold in them thar bags!" uh-huh. shure. I've done it a few times in the past. The last one was at the North Carolina State Fair maybe a dozen years ago. I didn't find much. Some pretty quartz crystals and a few reddish bits of maybe-garnet. Some of them could have been part of a 1972 Ford pickup for all I knew.

Anyway. I did a little research on-line (All Hail Google!) and found the Roanoke Valley Mineral and Gem Society (or is it the Gem and Mineral Society?). And they were having a mineral specimen gathering trip! Membership required, of course. I could easily afford the $12.00 a year family membership fee. I read what little they had on their webpage, and contacted the trip organizer for more details. At the time, I didn't have Lana's class schedule memorized and was expecting that she might be able to come with me. But, Longwood University had conspired against me, and I would be going on this trip alone. Oh well.

I did LOTS of research online to see what people brought to these expeditions. Some of the trips I saw pictures from had people wading in creeks, and crawling through mud-filled mines. Those trips seemed to be a whole lot of trouble just for a bit of rare crystal, but I was interested. I made up a shopping wish-list of things that I would need to get, and started packing. Believe it or not, I wound up filling the Murano with shovels, picks, mattoxs, little brushes, and water. I was ready for a trip with Dr. Jones. No, I didn't have a bull-whip - don't have much use for them.

Well, the big day finally came. The vehicle was packed, and I was stoked. I kissed Lana goodbye, and headed off. I met the group in Lynchburg at the Jumbo Family Restaurant. There were all sorts of characters there. And one guy who I swore I recognized from GE. I met a bunch of people, shook most of their hands, and forgot most of their names. But names almost didn't matter. We were all there to find some pretty rocks. All told, there were probably thirty vehicles there. Several families, groups of friends, bunches of loners - like myself - and at least one dog.

We saddled up, and headed north. The weather was forecast to be rainy, cold, and maybe even sleet. The trip there was uneventful, although it was humorous watching this long convoy of pickup trucks - one of them a 1972 ford pickup with a missing piece from the tail-light - cut through these little po-dunk towns on the way to the quarry. We probably tripled the annual traffic through some of them. Half a soda later and Eighty miles from my garage door, we finally pulled onto Rutile Lane.

The quarry was last used to mine for Rutile (Some kind of Titanium crystal) about sixty years ago. Today, it is somebody's backyard. The trip organizer knew the family that owned the land it was on, and had gotten permission for us to explore the land, and hunt for blue quartz crystals. The quarry itself is now a muddy lake - and not easily worked. But there were dozens of discard piles dating from when the quarry was producing rutile. Those were our targets.

Some of the rock-hounds took their four wheel drive trucks down the muddy path - loaded down with empty 5-gallon buckets and shovels. I didn't trust my "all wheel drive" down that path, so I walked. Of course, I carried way too much junk with me. I didn't know what to expect, so I loaded down with water, snacks, shovels, a sledge-hammer and a bucket. I'd learn. I passed a few groups of people who had laid claim to this pile or that cliff-wall. They were friendly, but had a definite "this is my spot - move along" aura to them. I picked out a rock pile that had a cedar growing out of it. If this quarry was truly 60-years abandoned, a good sized cedar might be guarding some goodies. I poked around, and found a few very pretty specimins of white feldspar. Not a very interesting rock on its own, but when some of them were broken open, they revealed baby-blue smears of blue quartz within. I filled my bucket halfway with these samples. Before i knew it, the bucket was almost too heavy to move, and that wasn't counting all the tools I had brought with me. It was time to take it all back to the truck and re-equip myself. It took quite awhile to get back to the truck. I had to take many breaks.


When I got back to the murano, I proceeded to re-evaluate my expedition. I stripped down the equipment to a chisel, my trusty rock-cracking sledgehammer, a mattox, the bucket, some safety glasses, my awesome kneepads, and some G.O.R.P. as a snack. (All hail G.O.R.P.!) "Ahh, much better. I could carry four or five of these now!" Oh, and my hat. Can't go wandering through the wilderness without one.

Thus re-equipped, I trudged back down the hill to find me some rocks. I picked a new spot in the quarry and got down to business. I must have cracked three dozen rocks open looking for good specimins before I realized that I missed lunch by an hour. Instead of going back to the truck (again) and eating the lunch I brough, I munched on G.O.R.P. instead and kept going. I had adjusted my strategy a little too. I had enough Big White Interesting Rocks, and was mostly focusing on smaller specimens - so even after hours of rock-hounding, I hadn't filled the bottom of the bucket yet.

At one point, I looked up to see one of my fellow rock-hounds telling me that they had found the mother-lode of blue quartz farther up the hill, and that they needed help getting it out. Well, I was there for blue quartz, so I packed up things and headed up. When I got there, I found a guy working a steep cliff with a tiny chisel and a hammer. "Mother-lode" indeed. It couldn't have been bigger than my shoe. But, it was much bluer than the rocks I had been finding, so I stayed and helped them expose more of the vein. After awhile the guy with the toothpick gave up, and offered to let someone else work the lode. A big-armed guy with a pick-axe went down next, and proceeded to remove quite a bit of rotten rock. It was crumbling before him, and rolled down the cliff-face. He was grinning when he pulled the first chunks of blue out of the mud. They were the size of a good sandwich - and just as wonderful looking. (Well, I did miss lunch...) We worked in shifts clearing the debrii, and fished out enough blue quartz to fill four five-gallon paint buckets. I even got a chance to dig in there. I was pulling out chunks of crystal the size of my fist - and the vein kept on going.

We finally had to give up when the cliff face started showing signs of being unstable. I'd pound on it with the mattox to dig away at the rock, and the vibrations would cause stuff higher up to shake. We took it as a sign. Besides, we had run out of buckets.

We started packing up to leave. One of the guys had managed to back his truck all the way to where we were and offered everyone a ride out of there. Some of the bigger specimens they found took three people to load onto the truck. We got everything loaded, and headed out. It had been a long, dirty, cold sucessful trip with lots to show for our efforts. I can't wait for next month's trip!
When I got home, I cleaned the dirt off of all the rocks. The big ones went out into the gardens, and the smaller ones are currently living on an old towel in the kitchen. One of these days I'll have to build a better rock display. But not this weekend.

Until next time,
-M

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Weekend

Lots of good news:

1. IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!

2. One more day of class is done for my library degree. I have to drive to Farmville (2 hours away) 3 times during this class. Saturday I drove there for my second class and did two presentations. So it is good news that I have one less drive to that location, and two fewer presentations to have to think about!

3. Matt and I have found a contra dance location in Roanoke! :) We attended the dance last night, which was only about 5 miles from our house. The dance was held in a school gym. There were a nice amount of people in it - not too packed, but also not so sparse to make it not fun. The Mayor of Roanoke even stopped by. He confessed that he is a contra dancer (although, he didn't stay and dance) and gave a small speech about how he was happy to see contra dancing back in Roanoke again. Aside from the mayor, there was a wonderful mix of people - ranging from those who knew what they were doing and those who had never danced before. And everyone there seemed to just want to have fun and did not take the dance too seriously. The last dance of the night that we did was supposed to be a silly dance. We had four couples in a square and one extra person. The extra person chose one partner of each couple to go into the center, then they joined in the center. Then it was like musical chairs to see who could grab a partner (any partner) and get out of the center when the music stopped. I believe that Matt danced with two other women and about 5 other men during that time, and I too danced with everyone that he danced with. But this was the first time he had experienced this kind of dance and it was so much fun. We left the dance laughing so hard!

It has been a good weekend, and Matt is planning on posting about what he did while I was in class....