Troy and Teo - One Fine Saturday Afternoon

 Here are Troy and Teo enjoying a Saturday afternoon at our house.

 Teo had just awaken from a nap - stretch!

 Troy had built this great structure for his trucks.

If you're wondering why there are more pics of Troy than Teo, it is because it is hard to get Teo to sit still long enough for a photo at this age!  I do have quite a bit of Teo on film - he doesn't have to be still for that.

Troy and Teo - Movies

New Phones - Samsung Galaxy S4

We bought new cell phones last week - Samsung Galaxy S4s.  I have to tell you that I usually don't get excited about a new phone, but I LOVE this one!  It is just the right size - much bigger than our old phone.  And it is light and very easy to use!  

I've had Motorolas, older Samsungs, HTCs, and even iPhones but have never really enjoyed using a phone until this one.  It just brings a smile to my face!   Sometimes I will pick it up just to play with it - which never happened with my previous phones.

Short Sighted Design: New Patio Furniture

 We bought new patio furniture from Sears a couple of weeks ago.  Very nice stuff, we like it a lot.  But....there is one part that is very poorly designed.  Flipping the table over, this is where the legs attach.  Notice how the legs don't touch the bottom of the table.  That means if someone sits on the table, all the pressure is put on the thin strip of metal leading to the two screws.

Bad, bad design.  But I came up with a solution.  I cut a few small pieces of wood and wedged them in to fill the void.  Problem solved.

Kaleidoscope - Anna Lunoe & Flume (I Met You)

Her Life

My Grandfather's House

The horrendous tornado in Moore, OK yesterday brought rushing back memories of 1999 when my grandfather's house was hit by the Bridge Creek F5 tornado.  His was one of only 3 houses on the street to survive.  This is the back yard.

Another view of the back yard.  Note the metal in the trees in the front and back yards.

There was a patio cover over that patio before the tornado.  Note the hole in the roof over the living room.

Right side of house - no windows!

Left side of house

Gas meter in the back yard.

Closer look at that gas meter.

This is the damage caused by the hole in the roof.

Damage caused in a guest room due to blown out window.

Front of the house after a little cleanup was done.

Looking directly across the street, his neighbor's house with him and my grandfather posing.  They were both widowers and did a lot together.

Another view of his neighbor's house.  It was torn down and rebuilt after this.

Turning the camera and looking down the street.

Looking some more.

Going to the entrance to his neighborhood, we find the Guard.

Entering the neighborhood.

Getting ready to turn left on Grandpa's street.

Looking up Grandpa's street.

Getting close to his house, just a few more houses down.

Once reconstruction started, most of the neighbors included safe rooms in their newly rebuilt homes.  Very smart.