Dec 31, 2007

The Invasion



First they hung around in peaceful groups above the roof line misleading us with their brilliant colors. In truth they were actually spying on us, maybe even taunting us, and simply waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack.

A few probing forces jumped early, ahead of the attack, and they were easy to drive out of the homeland with a few hand tools. I'm sure they poured over the intel they got from these early skirmishes because they changed tactics. After a short lull they charged in a coordinated massive attack.

Their ambush was perfectly planned. We weren't ready. There were too many of them, and we were too few. We fell back to a protective position in the pub while they streamed in under their colorful parachutes.

They thought they had us trapped, and they laid siege to both the front and back yards. But we were well stocked with provisions and patience and outlasted their feeble siege attempt.

We broke through the siege lines just after sunrise a few days later and made it to the smokehouse in the back of the garden and uncovered some old, mothballed heavy artillery. Their bodies were weak and colorless from the prolonged siege. They couldn't stand the 100+ mph wind assault of the mighty Toro 51586 leaf blower. They were no match. The Spartans would have been proud of our delaying tactics and our final triumph.

There were so many casualties mopping up operations took quite some time. We tried mulching their little lifeless forms with the lawnmower, but there were too many of them for the summertime machine. We retired the lawnmower and took up manual tools to assist in the cleanup. We finally collected their carcasses and gathered them up in bags. The local government will come around in a few days to take the bags to a mass burial site.

It turns out that there have been several battles like ours all over the neighborhood and there is a rumor that even though we clearly won this round, they will plot all summer long and attack again about the same time next year.

We'll have to invest in better equipment and think about a new defense plan this summer. As seasoned veterans, we'll be better prepared for next year!

see more pre-battle photos at http://gallery.mac.com/rude#100113

End of 2007

It's a nice sunny day on the last day of 2007. F has gone for a run in Yorktown National Battlefield. My outdoor work will be limited to putting all our leaves out for collection. (Hey, that is no small job as evidenced by the photo I'll attach here later) After that...maybe cozy day in the office doing taxes...yeah...

Anyways, here are a couple of photos from early this year in the hopes that the upcoming cold weather will have some snow in it.
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Dec 28, 2007

Christmas photos online

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the season's events online at http://gallery.mac.com/rude#100101

Dec 25, 2007

Room for dessert?

Dec 22, 2007

Proof!




Here's the proof how crazy my wife is. I won't say exactly what it is proof of, but she and I both know what is going on here and this is the proof that it really happened!

Merry Christmas



Here is a mobile phone photo of our tree. I'll post some others later (sure, sure). This is our first "real" tree. For our first Christmas many years ago, we had bought a nice artificial tree that was small and easy to manage. It is still a very nice tree, but now sits in our pub.



This year we went all out and bought a big Fraser Fir from a lot on the side of the road near the house. We had grand plans of going to a tree farm and picking out one or better yet, finding a live tree to plant in the DeerCamp tradition, but settled on this very nice tree instead. The photo below shows the arrival of our first tree, delicately balance on top of the car. Yes, I was more concerned about the car finish than getting the tree home, but everyone survived.


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Dec 21, 2007

Did I mention the pub (phase 1) is done?

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It was a good learning experience and a lot of fun. Many thanks to Señor Leño for his pub building expertise!

Mac + Rankin/Bass claymation = nirvana