More grandkid pictures

It is hot in San Diego today, so we all went to the beach. This is actually Judah's second trip to the beach. Tim and Laura took the kids to the beach on Thursday. Click on the photo for a couple of random shots.

Below is a video of Josiah playing in the water with a big yellow dog named Jackie.

Judah's second week

Click the photo for more pictures of Judah


It sure is busy with a baby in the house. As I have written before, my job has been to keep Josiah busy. This is no small task, and I do go to bed tired each evening. The kid is non stop motion from dawn 'til bed time.

The pictures I have included above include Judah's first bath and a rare shot of Judah with his eyes open in Grampa's arms. The rest are pretty self explanatory. Hope you enjoy them.

And here's a picture just for Josiah!

Trying to keep up...

Click on the picture of Josiah for a slide show.

Baby Judah is 1 week old today. It is hard to believe that much time has passed. Laura is recovering slowly from her drive-by birthing (she arrived at the birthing center about 20 minutes before Judah was born!).

My job has been to keep Josiah occupied, while Mom and Dad get settled in with the new baby brother. Of course, Jill has been right there with me all the way. She works like a Trojan from dawn 'til bed time, cooking, doing house work, laundry, tending Laura and caring for Josiah. Right now, she and Josiah are napping.

We took Josiah to Spanish Landing park on the waterfront in San Diego this morning. He had a great time playing school and apartment on the play structure. Grandma and Grandpa played along and even went down some of the slides! It is pretty warm here today, for San Diego, so even though we were by the water, Josiah got pretty hot and his face was flushed.

We decided to take him to McDonald's for a little lunch and some play time on the indoor Playland. This, of course, followed yesterday's movie (Ponyo - very cute!) and lunch. Josiah wanted clam chowder, so we went to King's Fish House and had some very yummy chowder.

On Monday it was a trip to Burger King play land, which was not as well suited to Josiah as the one at McDonald's. He had a personal victory, though, when he went up the second rope ladder to the "orange" box (a plastic cube with orange, plexiglass bubble style windows).

And so it goes. One adventure follows another. How he keeps up the pace he does is beyond me. If I could keep up and did so for a couple of weeks, I think I would be ready for the NFL season.

Don't know when we will be headed home, yet. It will be nice to have life back to normal, but there is something pretty wonderful about being a grandpa!

It's best to be prepared for miracles...

I got the call at 6:30 AM on Wednesday, "Be ready," said Jill. "This is it." I leapt out of bed and began working on all the tasks I had somehow not completed, although my intentions had been good. First was to pack my bag. Next I had to run to WalMart and get a new battery for the car. I had known this needed to be done, but somehow, I hadn't got around to it. Next was a stop at the pharmacy for a new tube of high fluoride content toothpaste, which I had ordered several days before, but had failed to pick up.

Then it was home again, turn on the garden hose to refill the fish pond, and go back to the garage to install the new battery in the Ford. That task was successful, so I turned off the hose and got the lawnmower fired up to trim the front lawn. Next was to gather Pogo's belongings and put her in the car. Then I remembered to put out the garbage cans for pickup on Thursday. I ran next door to the neighbor and asked her if she would bring our garbage cans back up to the house after they were emptied the next day.

At 10:03 AM, I left the house. The car also was not filled with gas, so I stopped at the filling station. I noticed that the car was very dirty, so I headed for the car wash. Just as I arrived there, I realized I had forgotten to throw in the bag that I HAD remembered to pack, the one with all the special request items that were needed in San Diego by various family members. So, I had to go home and start over again. Finally, at 10:36, I was on the road, heading for San Diego to see my new grandson.

Jill had called in the midst of my preparations to tell me that he was born at 9:14 AM, just 20 minutes after Laura arrived at the birthing center. I didn't even find out how much he weighed or how long he was. Anyway, I was on my way. I drove until about 9:00PM, when I finally found a pet friendly motel in Stockton. I called Jill and got the update. Judah Robert Sagawa was born at 9:14 AM, Wednesday, August 19th, 2009. He weighed 8 pounds even and measured 20" long. Mother and son were home by 3:00 PM and doing fine.

It was a long drive on Thursday from Stockton to San Diego. I hit the road at 6:00 AM and arrived at 3:00 PM. When you look at the pictures, you will agree, I am sure, that Judah was well worth the drive. Oh, and did I mention that it was absolutely wonderful to be reunited with my wife after three weeks?

Of homes and family...

So, although I haven't posted in a while, I haven't been idle. Today I finished the project in the yard where the pine tree died. Since my last post, I spaded the ground there, roto-tilled it, added three bales of peat moss and four sacks of composted steer manure. While I was about it, I capped off three of the four sprinkler heads and added a drip watering converter to the fourth one.


After I competed all of that, I decided that instead of using the whole area for a flower bed, I would plant grass and just make a flower bed along the base of the rock wall. Below are some photos of the finished project. The white flowers are a perennial version of salvia, of which I had never heard until I got to the nursery. The crimson flowers, of course, are chrysanthemums. I love them, although I have never had great success with growing them.

Before planting, I spaded some sand into the soil in the flower bed, and the soil is nice and fluffy and wonderful to work with. I have no doubt that it will become compacted over the winter, but some judicious mulching should help.

I have to give credit where credit is due. Over the weekend, I had a visit from Patrick and Katie. They helped me fetch the sod for this project, and Patrick helped me lay it in place. Being a math teacher, he was able to make several suggestions about how to get the most coverage out of the sod with the least waste. I only wish he had been with me when I was figuring how much I needed. I made an error in calculation and ended up with a two roll excess of sod.

While Pat and Katie were here, we had some fun, too. We spent Friday running errands, including a stop at the mortgage broker who is helping the kids arrange financing for the purchase of their first home. That was followed by lunch with Patrick's sister, Kat. From there, it was on to a post-operative visit regarding Pat's recent eye surgery. Finally, we picked up Gramma Jane and went out to dinner to celebrate Patrick and Katie's first anniversary, which is actually tomorrow.

After the sod project, Pat and Katie and I spent a lazy Saturday chatting, playing games and nibbling. All in all, it was a wonderful time for me. I hope they enjoyed it as much. They went home last evening to prepare for tomorrow's outing to look at some more houses. I think they are on the brink of choosing a house, and it wouldn't surprise me if it happens this week.

In the meantime, Jill is still in San Diego tending Laura, who has been on complete bed rest until yesterday. Her baby is due in three weeks, but whenever the little bundle arrives, I will hit the road to join the family for the excitement of a new baby. I have missed Jill, terribly, but I am so proud of her for taking on the job of tending Laura and Josiah, who celebrated his fourth birthday yesterday.

When it is all over, Jill and I are going to hop in the motor home and have a getaway for about a week.

The first day in a loooonnnnggg time...

Today I was able to work in the yard for the first time since we got home from San Diego on the 24th of July. The weather has been too hot, until now. We had 10 straight days above 90 degrees, many of them above 100. Today we got to 72, and it has been like heaven. I have had the patio door open, which was made possible by the installation of a new screen of the roll-up, window shade variety. It works well, and for the first time we have adequate ventilation in the dining room.

But I digress. This morning I worked in the front yard. My favorite little pine tree died and turned the most awful shade of brown. Finally convinced that the neighbors would notice the change, I got my trusty bow saw...well, not mine, actually...the saw belonged to Jill before we were married...in fact, I married her for this saw...and I cut down the tree, which stood about 7 feet tall. Next, I got out the power shears for which I married Jill and trimmed off the branches. Finally, I cut the trunk in two and stuffed it all in the yard debris bin.

I was able to dig out the root, along with the root of a blue star juniper that died in the same bed. So, now the bed is pretty much bare. The problem with these plants is that the bed is primarily a patch of clay that turns into a swamp, when it gets wet. In my surpassing wisdom, I put four (count 'em) four sprinkler heads in this bed when I installed the irrigation system. I could turn them off, except that the same circuit waters several other flower beds that don't suffer from clayitis.

The plan is to overhaul the irrigation system and then put about three million yards of organic material, sand, compost, and gypsum into the bed before replanting. Now, all I have to do is locate some plants that like poorly drained soil, and I will be set.

Tomorrow...Home Depot for supplies and then back to work...Well, that will be after the 6:00 AM tee time and before the 3:00 PM meeting with my protege. Stay tuned for pictures of the progress.

These are the times that try men's souls...

Lots has been happening since my last post. Jill did, in fact, fly out for San Diego on Thursday. Fortunately, the flight was at a reasonable time and didn't require arising at zero dark thirty to get to the airport. She got to SD around 1:00 PM, and Tim met her at the airport and took her home.

Laura had been talking like the proverbial Dutch uncle to get the doctor to send her home. She prevailed and was home by Thursday evening. She is on complete bed rest and is not even to be vertical at any time except to use the bathroom. So, Jill has become nurse to Laura and nanny to Josiah, who will be four in just under two weeks.

In the meantime, I have been at home. After I took Jill to the airport on Thursday morning, I took our dear friends the Davises to the airport Thursday evening for a flight to Riverside, CA. Friday I spent with my Mom. We went shopping and she got her hair done. I did a few little projects around her house and we had a fine lunch together.

Saturday, it was back to the airport, this time at zero dark thirty, to deliver our dear friends the McLaughlins for a flight to California. So, by now, the car knows its way to the airport, and I figure the next time someone needs a ride, I will just send the car and stay in bed.

Of course, with Jill in San Diego and Laura in a precarious position with her pregnancy, I canceled the reservation at the RV park in Potlatch on Hood Canal. That was sad for me, not only because I love the Canal, but also because, for the first time, we had actually arranged to meet two other couples at the park and spend some time camping with other people. Oh, well. Perhaps, another time.

So, now it is Sunday afternoon. I had a great time at church (well, as great as I could have without my honey by my side). I mowed the lawn, and in a little while I will go back to Mom's house for our traditional Sunday dinner. I am not sure when the call will come, but when Jill tells me that Laura has gone to the hospital in labor, I will pack up the car and head for San Diego. That could be this week or next or who knows when...