Alice loves slides.  Last year someone at church gave us just the plastic slide part to put one in our yard, but we didn't have anything to attach it to.  I finally tracked down a couple pallets, and used one to make a platform for part of it.  I have two other pallets that we'll use to keep stuff off the floor in the part of the basement that occasionally gets wet.

We went to my cousin Kara's graduation party today.  She is co-valedictorian of her class, which is very impressive.  I got to see a lot of family I hadn't seen in a while, and a one family member I had never seen before at all--  another cousin's new baby that was only about 2 weeks old:

Alice had a lot of fun at VBS this week.  Mommy and Daddy had a nice vacation, too, but we're glad Alice is home.  We went to Elkhorn on Friday for the last day to see the closing program.  Here's a picture I took of Alice and Grandpa:

To do this weekened:

• Pay bills
• Clean up nursery
• Mount box for outlet in nursery
  
• Mow lawn

It's not much, but we have things going on both Saturday and Sunday that will limit my free time.

We now have a new floor in the bathroom, and it looks great! Thank you, Dad, for the hard work to make it happen. 

Also, I have a new ring-tone.  I ripped the drum-line sequence from Veggie-Tales: Gideon- Tuba Warrior.

Finally, I have a new (used) video card coming.  ATi Radeon HD 2650 Pro 512MB, with a big heat-sink instead of a fan, so it should run very quiet.  One day when it's no longer sufficient for gaming this will make a great card for a Home Theater PC.

Here are a couple pictures I took with my phone this week:

I had to zoom in close to get a good shot for the first one, so it's not very big:

Melody's Dress Rehearsal

Since starting at SVA they added a Programming Manager.  Essentially, they added a layer of management and my boss is now my boss's boss.  This is actually a good thing, as my original boss was overworked, and wasn't able to manage us properly.  On the one hand it was nice because we had a relatively open schedule, but on the other hand the programming environment was suffering.  Things like our clout with the IT department and the state of our workstations weren't they would be with a more focused manager, so in spite of the extra layer I really think we're better off now. 

I bring this up because over the weekend my original boss' wife had a baby girl.  Also, another member of the system's team is due any time in the next couple of weeks.  So with both of them gone for a little and the team playing short-handed it could be a fun few weeks.

It's normally my job to put Alice to bed, and we have a pretty good routine set up.  Alice gets in bed and I read her a poem from "A Light in the Attic", then sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Night Night, Alice."  Finally, I sing "God is Listening" before saying a good night prayer.  It's almost always the same prayer, though I will occasionally add something.

Last night after finishing "God is Listening" I paused for a moment to take a breath, and Alice took over.  She's said the prayer with me on occasion, but this time she went solo.  Not only that, but she didn't stick to the script: she was actually praying.  She took nearly a full minute, and was talking in her pseudo-gibberish that's hard to make out.  I caught snippets of "thank you for" and other references to things that she did that day.  She was talking to God, and that's as good a prayer and as a father can hope for.

Melody spent some money she got for Mother's Day on a couple rose bushes and a hydrangea, so I helped her plant those this evening.  We actually got some good use out of one of Alice' toy garden tools, as it was just the right size to help dig out the bottom of the hole for the roses.

I also looked up some information on compost piles, and discovered I have a problem.  Supposedly, one key to a successful compost file is a good mix of 'greens' and 'browns', which means nitrogen-rich items like grass clippings and table scraps vs carbon-rich items like dead leaves or even cardboard.  The web site I found recommended mixing 25 to 1 in favor of browns.  The pile I put together is almost entirely greens. 

I do think the compost pile will work out okay.  I have some dead leaves left over from last fall that I bagged before I knew the city would take them, some cardboard boxes left over from when we moved in, and some tree branches I pruned off the large bush behind the ground.  All that needs to broken down to small pieces manually before I can include it in the pile, but I'll get it in there in time (this is going to be one big pile pretty soon!).  I also get the feeling that green/brown mix just determines whether the compost is more manure-like or more mulch-like, and maybe how much it smells (enough brown items and it won't smell at all).

After more than two weeks, the water has finally receded a little and no longer covers Hwy 14.  It's still dangerously close,though, and they had to bring a pump out to make it happen.  So the water here has been high for nearly 2 continuous months.  Also, the trip to take Pepper to get spayed involved driving on some pretty out of the way back roads, and one of those is flooded pretty bad as well.  At what point does it cease to be 'high' water, and just become the new standard level?  Atlanta: if you're wondering where your water went, I think we've found it.