Payback time....

When Jason started work last year, I thought it'd be really cute to take pictures of him as he left for his first day of work (sort of like the first day of school pictures I endured as a kid). Well, one year later, look who's having to plaster on a cheesy smile and pose for the camera! I started working on Monday and Jason was ever-so-quick to remember the photo shoot incident from last year. He must really have been scarred for life! Anyhow, here I am walking out the door.....

The obligatory pose with my bag on the front steps.
And here I am in the car, getting ready to head to Durham. Ah, to never have to do this again....

Timber!

Last Thursday the two large pine trees in our front yard lost the battle between them and some very determined men with chainsaws. We had grown increasingly concerned with the possibility of them crashing into our house or otherwise causing massive destruction. Besides the fact that I despised the pine cones, pine needles, horrible pollen and the fact the roots caused our water line to burst, the trees were also beginning to drop large limbs dangerously close to our cars. Here is the first picture of Roberto up in the tree.

Roberto "walked" up the tree with spikes on his feet and held himself up with a "belt." He used a chainsaw to cut the limbs off as he scaled the tree.
Then he cut the tree off in sections and pushed the sections to the ground. You can see the top part is tipping in this picture. Can you tell I was fascinated by this process?

Here's some evidence of the destruction on our front lawn last week. One of the trees was dying while the other was healthy (for the time being). But best they came out together so neither one got lonely, right?

I was surprised by the amount of equipment required to do the job. Dump trucks, trucks with trailers, backhoes, stump grinders, etc.

I was kindly asked to park the Explorer out of harm's way

(up the street). Here is more of the debris littering our yard. I was so glad they cleaned it all up before they left! This was the last shot I got before dashing out for a car appointment (ah, the joys of last minute errands before starting work). I do have to say, our house feels so exposed and close to the street now. Jason and I are going to study trees a little bit and hopefully pick a good, sturdy hardwood to plant in the front yard to give us a little more of a visual barrier. We're open to suggestions!

Sometimes the old carpet just has to go....

After 22+ years, it was finally time to bid farewell to the pink (beige?) carpet from the lake condo. I journeyed up to Virginia to wish it well as it was loaded into the back of a van destined for a trash heap. Here's a pile that's ready to make its final voyage....

This is a view of the floor looking back towards the bedrooms downstairs. The toe kick guard hadn't been installed yet, but you can get an idea of what the linoleum looks like. It's lighter than most hardwood floors, but the coloring was hard to capture in these pictures. We're doing a little painting, too, as you can see by the new mint green color in the back bedroom.

The guys had to rip up the carpet and then prepare the area for the new flooring. There was a lot of power-sawing and hammering going on over the two day project. Good thing it was the middle of the week and not many neighbors were around!

Here's another shot of the work-in-progress (at the end of the first day). I had quite a time trying to navigate the "obstacle course" of furniture when I put the final coat of light blue paint on the wall that night.

And here is one final shot of the condo while they were still working on the kitchen. My camera battery died at this point, so you'll just have to come visit to see the final product!

Jason's amazing kayak

Jason got his very own kayak last week. It's not quite as cute as my pink one, but it is a little longer, steadier, and has storage compartments and fishing pole holders. Of course, Jason immediately started thinking about how to modify the kayak so he could stand and fly-cast for his beloved carp (fish). All he needed was a few days and some diagrams from the Internet.....and here is the finished product! He built it all in our sunroom area. It has pontoon-like stabilizers (I call them his "floaties") and works perfectly. He even landed his first carp from the kayak on Labor Day!

Here we are "in" Jason's kayak while it was being modified in the sun room.

Jason used floaters for boats as pontoons. Here he is attaching one side. He can attach/detach the entire apparatus while seated in the kayak, and everything fits inside the back storage area of the kayak when not in use.

Jason first tried his kayak out on the lake behind our house.

On Labor Day, we headed to a bigger lake nearby so Jason could harass some carp. I brought a book along and read until I heard his shouts to come quickly with the camera! The kayak was so stable that he was able to fight and land a 10-12 pound carp while standing the whole time. Here he is tiring the carp out and trying to avoid having the line cut by the tree stumps.

Jason was able to land the carp without any help--while still standing in the kayak!
Here's a shot of the fish and fisherman.
Closer view of the fish.
Evidently the carp didn't like having its picture taken. It jumped out of Jason's hands but didn't get very far since it still had the hook in its mouth! What a fun way to spend Labor Day!

Explaining the lack of posts (May-August)

I (Cary) graduated from law school in May and then spent the next two months with my nose to the grindstone, studying for the North Carolina bar exam. Well, the mailman delivered a much-anticipated letter to our house on Saturday--I PASSED! Praise God! It is such a relief that I will NEVER have to go through that experience again (at least not as long as we stay in North Carolina). My job starts in two weeks and I'm going to try and make up for lost time before then by posting many of the pictures we took this summer. Thanks for sticking with us!

Weekend in Nashville

Jason and I got to go back to Nashville last weekend for our friends' wedding (John and Janelle). We had SO MUCH FUN and, happily for Jason, it also coincided with the Vanderbilt club soccer tournament.

A bunch of (relatively) recent graduates put together an alumni team and made it all the way to the semi-finals. Jason scored a goal in their final game but Virginia Tech beat them in overtime. Here's a picture of all the guys (Jason is in the back row, second from left).

We also had a chance to catch up with several old (and new!) friends. Here we are at Fido with Han and Jill.

Justin and Megan were able to join us after they caught a musical in town. Here are the Vandy kids: Justin, Megan, Jill, me and Jason. I'd forgotten how fun reunions can be!

Skiing with Charlie

My dad and I went skiing in Utah over my (last!) spring break. We met the neatest guy on the bus ride to Snowbird. It was a pretty yucky day--by Utah standards--and he was kind enough to show us around the mountain. Here are some pictures of us with Charlie, our guardian ski angel.

My dad and Charlie.
Charlie and me. Snowbird was pretty challenging, especially with the fog. But here the clouds seem to be lifting and you can see some blue in the sky.