Testing the E-Mail method of Posting Into Our Blog

This is just a test to see if I can successfully e-mail into my blog - will the picture be included and where will it get placed in the post. What will be used, if anything, as the headline. Here goes nothing... The photo is one of many books in our future daughter's book collection - "Zen Shorts" which is a Caldecott Honor Book. It teaches Zen principles in a kid-friendly way that is easily understandable and relatable to them. Children are asked to view things from other points of view - a great lesson to be learned! The illustrations are wonderful watercolors that are just too sweet.

Note to others: It worked great!! Great way to circumvent the blogging problem when we eventually make it to China. I love it!!

How-To Directions:

1. Sign into your blog and then click on "Customize"
2. then, click on "Settings"
3. then, click on "e-mail"
4. you will see an address to the right of "Mail-to-blogger address". Use that e-mail address as your e-mail address to post messages onto your blog with. I think I filled in part of the e-mail address in the blank box?? Can't remember, though...
5. Your title of the blog post comes from the subject line in your e-mail address.
6. photos get placed at the top of the post and your e-mail message gets posted below them.
7. make sure that "publish e-mails immediately" is checked, otherwise your e-mails get saved as drafts, not posts.

Rhythm & Booms fireworks

Tonight was the Rhythm & Booms fireworks display in Madison. Robert and I went to the Memorial Union terrace to watch the fireworks go off and have a pitcher of beer. It was lots of fun - especially when all the drunk students were singing along to all the lyrics of the music as the fireworks were going off. Just added to the ambiance. It was really a great show. I think it's one of the largest in the Midwest. We also got lucky - NO RAIN!! We could see it raining in the distance, but we got lucky as it went north of us. Yeah!

Visiting Taliesin

Today I had a lovely day with Sabina. I cooked her a lovely gourmet lunch and then we took off for a 2-hour tour of Taliesin (Frank Lloyd Wright's studio and home in Spring Green, WI) and just plain hanging out together. As Sabina lives in Portland, I don't get to see her too much. Taliesin was really interesting to see, but is in some need of renovation. I LOVE the Prairie Style architecture, but could never live in a Frank Lloyd Wright home-too many oddities. Our tour guide was really amazing and had lots of great stories about the very eccentric "Mr. Wright".

After visiting Taliesin, I took Sabina to Mazomanie, a cute little small town on the way back to Madison. We stopped at this cute little cafe that I had been to before. We were quite surprised when out of the blue this cute little family circus took over the main drag (note: the main drag consists of about 6 buildings) - it was so cute seeing these little kids walking around on stilts. See a picture for yourself. The kids looked like they were having so much fun showing off.

A Sad Day

Well, some sad news to report... When I went out onto our back deck at lunch time, I noticed there were no longer any babies in the nest. I can assume that probably one of our neighborhood hawks got them overnight. Nature can certainly be cruel.

The Baby Robins Are Now 4 Days Old

Around noon today I found the parents (Bruce and Dori) taking in some quality time with their babies. It was just so sweet. They spend so much of their time finding worms, of which there seem to be many, and feeding them to their 3 babies.


The baby robins (Sasongle, Flower, and Fluffy) are now 4 days old and they have grown and changed so much already, as you can see by this photo.

All Three Baby Robins Are Born!

Well, this morning Robert noticed that the 3rd baby (Fluffy) had started to peck at her eggshell and was trying to enter this world. If you look closely at the eggshell you can see the cracks starting...


By late afternoon, she was hatched! Here is the whole brood! (their names were compliments of our nieces). It will be fun to watch them grow.

2 of 3 Baby Robins Are Born!!

Robert had a flying lesson today and I went along for the ride. He had lots of take-offs and landing practice along with LOTS of wind. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day outside. We're sitting outside in this airport community where all of the homes have hangars for their airplanes in their backyards. Definitely something different!


When we got home, we had a lovely surprise, 2 of the 3 baby robins had been born. They are so tiny and vulnerable. The last egg should hatch in the next 24 hours if it is going to be born at all.

Here is the brood:
Mom's name is Dori (she's the one sitting on the fence post)


Dad's name is Bruce (he's the one in the nest in the photos above and below)


Baby #1: Sasongle (named by our niece Caroline)
Baby #2: Flower (named by our niece Emily)
Baby #3: Fluffy (as soon as it's born)

Happy Father's Day!

"Happy Father's Day" means more than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things we never get to say.
It means we love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to us,
And that we honor you.
But most of all, I guess it means that we are thinking of…
Your happiness on this, your day,
with pleasure and with love.

Happy Father’s Day to all Fathers and Fathers-to-be!
Dad, I love you!!

Rain, Rain, please go away!

Well, it's another day of rain, flooding, tornado sirens, and 45 mile an hour wind gusts. This evening, I spent a bit of time in the basement listening to the tornado sirens going off. Not my idea of a good time. We had lovely flash floods and Robert and I watched the floodplain behind our house literally fill up within an hour. Today, we got lucky - the worst of one storm hit just a few miles south and east of us where there were "rotations" in the clouds. So close, but thankfully so far away. Another storm hit going from Richland Center to the Wisconsin Dells area - which is one of the hardest hit areas. In the Lake Delton/Wisconsin Dells area, the rivers are flooded over and houses were even washed away. I feel so terrible for the families affected. Our "area" has just been devastated by all of this rain. I can't even tell you how many roads are closed due to the flooding. It's absolutely unbelievable! Towns have been told to evacuate, the Red Cross is in full-swing with shelters. So sad.

But, thankfully, we are both safe and our basement is still DRY! Well, time to let the thunder and lightning lull me to sleep.

Well the cut-off date is official now

The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with dates of January 13 - 20, 2006. It was an 8-day referral batch.