Our Volley Llamas Volleyball team is in 2nd place in the 10 team league. Tonight we lost 3 games to 1st place team and won three games.
Back Row: Jay, Ron, Rich and Jim.
Front Row: JoAnn, Billie Jo and Kathryn
Volley Llamas
Leave a reply
Category Archives: Personal
Excavating the Foundation and Siding Removal
Wednesday they dug out the east side of the foundation, replaced the drainage along the footing, put in stone, and pressure washed the concrete block in preparation for parging the blocks on Thursday.
They removed the aluminum siding and clapboard from the north and south sides of the house.
Deck and Siding Removal
Step 1 of the new construction is to remove the siding from the east side of the house – revealing very ugly yellow clapboard riddled with holes from the blown in insulation.
Step 2 begins tomorrow as the east side of the foundation is excavated. New drainage goes in along the wall, the concrete blocks will be parged and a basement will be dug for the mud/laundry/bathroom.
4th of July Weekend
We took Friday and Saturday and went camping overnight near Piseco Lake. We managed to pack light and single carry across the portage. We found 4 other fisherman staying on the lake with a considerable amount of gear: chainsaw, tents, a canoe and a small boat with an electric motor. For lunch we had sandwiches. Friday night we made 1 pot pasta. Saturday breakfast was instant oatmeal that was past it’s prime and Saturday’s lunch was bagel/cheese/pepperoni sandwiches. Eric convinced us to go swimming on both days. The water was “refreshing” to be kind. There was a lot of loon activity. The fishing was poor. We heard, but did not see, the Piseco Lake fireworks as we went to sleep Friday night. We took Scout with us and she definitely got more comfortable riding in the canoe the more we paddled.
We returned from camping on Saturday afternoon and put away our gear, got showered and went to Red Lobster for dinner.
Sunday morning we cut several ash trees along the far edge of the back meadow – adding about 1 face cord to our wood pile. It was hot, sweaty work and we cooled off with a quick dip in the pond afterwards.
In the afternoon we leveled an area for the swimming pool Kathryn bought the previous summer.
In the evening we met Jack, Chris and Jennifer in Boonville to watch the fireworks. Below Eric and Jennifer chilling before the show.
I used my new camera to try to capture some of the fireworks. I got a lot of pictures of black night skies, but also managed to luck into several nice firework explosions.
Monday we finished installation of the pool. All it needs now is 4,000 gallons of water, more than I plan to provide from our well. I replanted two new rows of peas, made another planting of yellow wax beans and tied up my tomatoes. The tomatoes are showing golf ball sized green fruit. I got my grape arbor wires put up. Finally!
Feeding Fish
Our pond is stocked with Large Mouth Bass and Catfish. I feed the fish every other day or two and the catfish have grown quite large (22-24″). They are voracious eaters. As I start to throw fish food onto the pond the swirls begin.
More fish show up and begin swimming along the surface to capture the fish food (Agway’s Rise)
Just beneath the surface is a large catfish with it’s whiskers extending to each side.
Camping at Soft Maple
The past couple of years (2010, 2009) we have celebrated the end of the school year by taking Eric and his pal, Trevor, camping at Soft Maple. This year, due to the weather, we delayed our departure by one day; leaving on Saturday AM and staying through Monday afternoon. We took two vehicles: the truck loaded with camping gear, games, fishing equipment, bicycles and coolers towing the pop-up camper and the Suburu Forester carrying Kathryn, Eric, Trevor and Scout (the dog).
Arriving at noon we set up the pop-up camper on our favorite site (#6) and a screen room over the picnic table. Eric and Trevor performed bicycle recon around the campground . Over the winter several trees in the campground suffered some wind damage and the caretaker had cut up firewood for each campsite; mainly cherry.
Initially, the mosquitoes were a concern but other than an hour or two as we were setting up, the bugs were not a problem.
The boys went swimming every day and played beach games: Your Mother/Your Majesty May I, Red Light/Green Light, and Sneak-Up.
Saturday and Sunday the weather alternated between warm/cloudy skies and a light mist. The boys rode their Neomouv bikes continually. We did a little fishing and Trevor caught a small bass and a sunfish.
Sunday we explored the scenic overlook and walked up along the rocks overlooking the stream. Monday we waded in the stream below the dam and the boys threw rocks and soaked in the stream.
Eric’s 1st Lacrosse Game
Eric decided he wanted to play lacrosse and with one whole practice under his belt, he played his 1st game on defense. They got soundly trounced by a team from New Hartford who had practiced throwing and catching. Eric got burned a few times by playing the ball more than his man and the physicality was new, but he improved over the course of the game. It was hot, there was a lot of running and he was tired at the end, but he had a good time.
Nothing like having friends and family come and watch your game. Chris had some approving words for Eric’s efforts.
Billie Jo’s Wedding
AYSO U8 Boys Soccer Finale
Our soccer finale was held Wednesday night. This was a mixed season for me. I lost three experienced players which were replaced by kids who were ‘graduated’ out of U6. It took our team a long time to learn spacing and to play offense by getting open ahead of the ball for a pass. That said, there was real joy in seeing them learn new skills and their play when they would get it right. I made a poster for each of them with this picture and listing the team roster.
Birthday Party at the Utica Zoo
The parents of Eric’s friend and school mate, Thomas, celebrated his 8th birthday with a party at the Utica Zoo. Thomas got to pick three animals for a close up show & tell: a hedgehog, chinchilla and a tortoise. Below Eric checks out the chinchilla. Then the kids toured the zoo. It was a pretty cool way to spend a birthday.
