Here is Judah's 4 year old birthday cake. It's my first attempt at fondant. It took me a little bit to figure it out, but I think I did ok. It probably would have been better if I had colored the fondant, but I just spread regular colored icing on the fondant and cut out the pieces.
I'll put pictures of the party tonight or tomorrow. 
Hey everyone... Here is the first Cala Lilly(the first flower of any of them) of the season. You can see my cosmos and lupines in the long containers in the background. I think the apartment kids have been messing with them. That's why they aren't growing how they should.
John says that the drywall is supposed to start being installed tomorrow. I'll keep everyone updated with pictures as soon as there is progress. Good God, I hope I can update soon. It's like pulling teeth.
I just bought some window planters and put some lupines and cosmos in them. It should be about a week or two before they come up. Caleb really enjoyed helping me plant them.
The plants I've already put in are looking great. My cala lilies are doing better than they have ever done. This is about the 4th year for the one variety and the 3rd year I've had the other. Really early this spring we got a tomato from the store and left it on the counter for about three days. When I sliced it, it was full of seedlings. So I put it out in one of my pots. All of the seedlings died off in the last frosts, but some of the seeds sprouted after that. Now some of the seedlings have really taken off. I hope they will do really well so I can have some fresh tomatoes.
My volunteer tomatoes
Calas, waiting for some blooms
My standard herb garden: cilantro, basil, and parsley
Can't travel just yet, but we're almost there. Some rails and stairs and paint- Hey, we'll have a deck.
The painters are through until interior, and then they are supposed to do exterior touch-up at the very end.
The can lights are wired inside the house- thanks to Yours Truly!
There is still some electrical that needs to be done: outlets inside, outlets outside, phone lines, cable lines. There is still a little plumbing that is left.
But it is coming along! And that's saying something!
Looking more like a house every two months!
Sorry for the delay in updates.
Currently, the plumbing is still nearly done. The electrical is still nearly done. The HVAC is done. The exterior paint was coming along, but the painters haven't been there in a few days. I don't know what's up with that. The mason built the piers for the deck on Friday, and the carpenters are supposed to start working on the porches and decks on Monday.
Exterior paint
The deck goes here
Sorry for the length between posts. Not much has happened since I last posted. This week, however, The rough electric in the house has been underway. Since it is spring break for me, I have been at the job site doing what I can to see this project through to completion. The electric is nearly done thanks to Carl and his guys. The HVAC is nearly done as well. That crew plans on being finished with the duct work and interior unit installation by Friday. The paint crew is supposed to start tomorrow as well. They should have the exterior of the house painted in a couple of days.
I don't have any pictures to post now, but I'll take some in the near future and let you see the wonderful work that has been done.
The Second Amendment has nothing to do with the National Guard.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
I keep hearing the anti-gun people saying that the folks who wrote the constitution meant for the Second Amendment to ensure that the National Guard were able to keep and bear their arms. I've been wondering about this for a while, so I did a little research. Here is what I discovered.
In 1792, the second Congress of the United States passed a law called the Militia Act of 1792. This law clarifies the definition of “Militia”. Since it was passed in the day and age of the writers of the Constitution (it was probably written by a few of them), we can determine what the writers of the constitution had in mind when they used the word “Militia” in the Second Amendment. According to this law, the Militia consisted of “each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years.” Thus, the Militia was all the menfolk. Thus, the Second Amendment was intended to protect the menfolk's right to keep and bear arms.
The National Guard was not created until 1903, when Congress passed the Militia Act of 1903. Although the National Guard, according to their website, claims to be the “the oldest component of the Armed Forces of the United States and one of the nation's longest-enduring institutions,” celebrating “its 370th birthday on December 13, 2006”, the truth is, that it is just shy of 100 years old.
In fact, the current law says the exact opposite of what the National Guard claims. U.S. Code : Title 10 : Section 311 says “(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. (b) The classes of the militia are - (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.” So the militia is still essentially the same as it was in 1792, and in fact, the National Guard is, by law, a part of the Militia. The National Guard is not the Militia, it is merely a part of it.
So my conclusion is this: The Second Amendment originally gave individual people the right to keep and bear arms, and since the National Guard is now a part of the Militia, they have the right to keep and bear arms as well. So I guess, the Second Amendment really does have to do with the National Guard, but not in the way that the anti-gun folks would have you believe.
Now for my second rant... keep AND bear... AND! Why is open carry against the law in so many places? I'll leave it at that.
