Pruning, pruning, and more pruning.......

I went through the vineyard today and did a ton of pruning of all the vines. Too many leaves and vines surrounding the grapes are a bad thing, so we have to take out a lot of the extra foliage that isn't producing any grapes. The good thing was that the weather cooperated. 85 degrees and sunny isn't bad at all. I never have minded the heat too much as long as I'm busy doing something.

Beauty (Papa's horse) has been playing games with one of the workers who fills her water. She's been knocking over the water tank so he has to come into the pen and put it back up. I think he's going to bolt the tank to the wall to try to stop her. I'm thinking the Clydesdale may win.

Very perceptive.........

The other day, we we're packing up the family to head out to dinner. Mrs. Lime took Kali 3.4 and put her in the car. I came out a minute later with Giselle 0.6. As I was approaching the car, I realized that I was carrying Giselle and didn't have her car seat. I said 'whoops' and Mrs. Lime chuckled at me. When I went back in the house, Without anything being said by Mrs. Lime, Kali turned to Mrs. Lime and said, "Daddy forgot Giselle's car seat".

She's getting a bit TOO smart for her age.

Short on time and pounds.........

I'm getting the 'short timer' comments around work pretty often now. I'm being sent off to the non-IT world. I'll soon be managing a three year old and a six month old. Now THAT'S a challenge.

I've also been working on getting into better shape. I'm not sure it's even a diet. I've just cut my fat intake, eat mostly chicken and turkey, and exercise on the elliptical for 15 minutes a day. Really not a huge sacrifice, but it's paying big dividends. I'm down 17 lbs. in 3 1/2 weeks and only about 8 lbs. from a good weight for me. Not bad at all. I'll be doing more manual labor over the next couple of months, which should help build more muscle and lose a bit more weight.

Ma'am, your headlights are on......

You know, there are some days when you really want to tell that 75 year old woman in your office, "Did you know that 30 year old shirt that you are wearing clearly allows people to see your bra?"

I restrained myself from saying it, but it was difficult. Good thing I'm on my best behavior today.

It's not that difficult to follow the rules.......

At my current workplace, they have a pretty simple dress code. You can wear jeans and a button-up shirt if you're a guy. You can wear just about anything except halter tops and flip-flops if you're a lady.

So what do several of the ladies do? They wear flip-flops and halter tops. As a result, management is going to crack down and issue a much tougher dress code. It would have never changed had everyone stayed within the rules. Now, it's going to be dress code armaggedeon and the same people breaking the rules are now going to complain about the new rules. Mindless, I tell you.

Well that went surprisingly well......

My regional manager just contacted me and said that if things don't work out for me in my future job that I'd be welcomed back to work in the company. Always good to have options and avoid burning bridges.

So I just turned in my resignation.....

My manager is about to receive a pretty big shock. I just sent him my letter of resignation. He's already saddled with resource shortages and me leaving is only going to make it worse. Thankfully, I've helped him out quite a bit, so he won't have any ill will towards me. It should make for an exciting Friday!

Lights out!!!

Mrs. Lime and I went out with some friends last night. One of our friends at the party got a text from their babysitter saying that the power was out in our neighborhood. We had left the girls at home with a babysitter too. Mrs. Lime got on the phone to check on things. Kali, after the initial scare when the lights went out, was now painting by flashlight. Everything was well.

We got home to find the power still off. Kali ran right to us to tell us all about the lights going off. After all, it was her first big power outage! Giselle hardly noticed and decided to sleep through it. We got our power back about 20 minutes after we got home. The world was back to normal.

Dancing and making noises

Kali 3.3 heads over for her second dance class today. She was VERY excited to go. I'm sure that she'll get to meet more new friends and learn more dance stuff.

Giselle 0.6 is quickly becoming the talker in the family. She's yapping all the time and is pretty sure that you understand every word she's saying. She's also learning how to interact more. Mrs. Lime caught Giselle leaning over to blow with her mouth on Mrs. Lime's arm. She was trying to make noises, much like we do when we blow on her tummy. Smart girl.

She's a comedian and didn't know it........

A few days ago, I went out into the backyard to grill some steaks. Kali 3.3 went out with me. I turned on some music in the backyard, which is output through two speakers that look like rocks in our flowerbeds.

Kali: Daddy, what's that noise?

Me: I think it's music.

Kali: Where's it coming from?

Me: I don't know.

Kali: I think it's coming from that rock.

Me: Really?

Kali: Yes, it's coming from that rock, Daddy!

Me: Rocks can't play music.

Kali: Yes they can! It's a real rock music instrument!

**rimshot**

Kali 3.3's first bowling outing............

Kali went with me to bowling a week or two ago. Thought it would be fun to see how she liked it. We got there and even managed to get our own lane with bumpers already set up. For the uninitiated, the bumpers are rails that pop out of the gutters and keep the ball from going into the gutter. The ball just bounces off the bumpers until it reaches the pins.

Can you guess which color ball Kali picked?



Down the alley it goes......



Success!







Posing for the camera...........





You see that third frame next to Kali's name? That's a 'X'. Her first strike! Note the blazing speed of 4.2 MPH on her ball (Daddy was throwing around 16-17 MPH for comparison).



Kali's final score. Not bad at all.......

Flower planting!

Mrs. Lime and the girls did some flower planting about a week ago. Here's some pics of Kali 3.3 helping out.....





Giselle 0.6 decided all this work was for the birds and hopped in her car where she could supervise the process.......