Author: becandkyle

I hear diversification is important. I am working on expanding my skill set. This week I took up sewing

and watercolor painting.

Mom had another one of her ‘great’ ideas. Make Mother’s Day cards with celery. I played along.

Dad went wild and crazy this week and made waffles, whipped cream, and strawberries for dessert.

Getting dressed to deal with COVID 19:

The Bigs bought rocks. 1700 pounds of rocks…

and told me to go do some landscaping.

Not too shabby.

Another thing I have been working on. Taking pictures. I took some of my landscaping job. Phlox:

Amazon mist grass:

Creeping phlox:

Autumn joy sedum:

Ice plant:

Moon glow juniper (and a soon-to-be-planted Colorado weeping blue spruce):

I got the hops strung this weekend too.

And I planted eight tomato plants (sun gold cherry tomatoes). Pop tells me if these plants survive, I will have enough tomatoes for a small army. Pop has not seen what I eat on a daily basis lately.

Plant tomatoes? But it’s too soon, you say? Not when you have walls o’ water.

I’m not sure the whole urban farmer thing is going to work out, so I maybe I should continue to add to my skill set. Some chalk art:

We had a yummy new dinner this week. Indian vermicelli with peas and cilantro.

We made an Earth Day dessert. Worms (gummy variety) in mud (chocolate pudding) and dirt (crushed chocolate cookies).

Earth Day is serious business, but sometimes you have to have a little fun.

Yum!

You must read The Lorax on Earth Day.

“Only if someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss

I had a sick patient to take care of this week.

I gave her a very thorough exam.

And decided a shot to the neck was needed. What is elder abuse?

I am working very hard at learning how to tie these boots.

I really get things done. Just a few of the things I did this week.

I emptied the truck of berm builder:

Helped Dad move an irrigation line that was right where we want to put a new tree

Unloaded the tree

And made chocolate chip, cinnamon beer bread.

Some other food we had:

Senegalese mango and coconut rice pudding

Roasted brussels with black garlic sauce

My teachers at the Branch Room love Smokey as much as I do.

We all wear our Smokey shirts on Fridays.

Getting ready to eat my chocolate duck (The Bigs went hollow this year. Cheapos).

Happy face:

Sad face:

Angry face:

Surprised face:

Silly face:

Messy (smoothie) face:

Embracing the latest pandemic fashion:

Working on some cards for my Grandparents:

Applying a coat of stain to our newly-constructed cornhole boards:

Getting the hang of my new baseball glove. Thanks, Pop!

Yet another delicious recipe from Cheryl’s cookbook, banana bread:

Palak dal:

More wheat sourdough bread:

I have been doing a lot of engineering lately. Here is my latest power plant design:

It’s an adaptation of a design from Richard Scary:

It’s weather month in the Branch room. Here, I’m creating a cumulonimbus cloud and a rain storm with shaving cream:

Last weekend, we cut down a tree. This weekend, we planted one:

The tree. A 22′ Bowhall Maple:

Easter basket:

Keepin’ the peace and huntin’ eggs:

I started refinishing the Adirondack chairs this weekend:

I let Mom help:

Later, I traded in my stain brush for something smaller:

Easter dinner was Meyer lemon spring grain salad with asparagus, almonds, and goat cheese:

Two pounds of shrimp. The Bigs each got four shrimp:

And, a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting (from Cheryl’s cookbook):

Memory. I cheat.

Painting a cloud with glitter glue and shaving cream. The end result = puffy, shimmery cloud.

Look at me painting with BINGO markers, Grandma Marie.

I like to help. I’ll help Mom if I have to. Here I am building a second composter for her.

But I prefer to help Dad. Here I am helping him solder lab kits to mail to his students. They will use these to do their electronics class remotely.

And, this weekend I helped him take down a dead tree.

The Bigs were very happy to not hit any fruit trees, houses, or cars.

Dad finished my bike ramp this weekend. If you look closely at my front wheel, you’ll guess how this ended.

I got back on the saddle again though.

We ate well this week. We have, so far, made 37 recipes from the cookbook Aunt Cheryl sent, and they have all been delicious! Crispy orange seitan:

Dolsot Bibimbap, Korean rice bowl:

Shiitake pizza with cashew ricotta:

Drop biscuits:

Blueberry muffins:

Wheat sourdough bread:

We match:

Going to school with Puppy 1:

A bit of immersion blendering

to make our Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup:

Doing some maths at my desk with newly-installed tall legs:

Springtime tree pruning:

Heading out for a 6.5 mile bike ride, while the Bigs run. Check out my cool, mismatched space socks:

Making some brownies:

Fighting fires is no laughing matter:

Cleaning my room:

We started one of several planned construction projects this weekend. Mostly, I just supervise:

but occasionally, I get my hands dirty:

One half of my new ramp is complete:

Chili:

Brown Rice Burrito Bowl:

Brown Sushi Rice Bowl:

Liam the Leprechaun visited the Branch room this week. He came to our house too!

We celebrated with green smoothies for breakfast:

I was a busy guy this week. Landscaper:

chef:

artist:

and construction worker:

Even so, I still found time for some skiing:

I also found time for some eating. Udon noodles with spinach and shiitake ginger sauce:

Thai red curry with cauliflower:

Spicy basil noodles with crispy tofu, bok choy, and bell peppers:

This month in the Branch room, we are learning about rainbows and rhymes. Sometimes, I like to eat the rainbow:

Costumes continue. Smokey Bear:

Obi-wan Kenobi:

Conquering the warped wall at ninja training:

Check out my new poles:

Barley bowl with roasted carrots, snow peas, and tahini sauce:

Farro bowl with tofu, mushrooms, and miso-ginger sauce:

And, for Pi Day, French apple tart:

Skiing at Meissner on my ‘pine skis:

Lately I demand The Bigs provide me with a science experiment in the evening. One night we made volcanoes.

Another night, I learned about the law of the lever. I can’t move Dad…

until I adjust the lever arm ratio.

I like to spend most days in character. Here I am as Rocket Man:

Army man:

Teacher man:

Hadley came over to play. We are total imps.

The Bigs made more great new dishes. Red lentil soup with North African spices:

and a basmati rice bowl with spiced cauliflower and pomegranate.

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk…

A new session of ninja training started this week. I’m an old pro.

The warp wall is still giving me some trouble, though.

Check out this awesome shirt Uncle Chris sent. Best part? It will fit until I am 35.

I treated The Bigs to gelato this week. Just threw my gift card on the counter and told them to get whatever they wanted.

Friday night we decided to go ice skating. A 60+ degree day made the ice a little watery. We had to wait for it to freeze back up, so we decided to have dinner in the pub next to the skating rink. The chairs were old lift chairs. That was cool. The food was, eh.

Ice skating under a disco ball!

We stopped at a coffee shop this weekend. They had a lift chair too. Awesome!

The Bigs made lots of recipes from their new cookbook. Spicy peanut rice noodle bowl:

Pad thai:

Mac and cheese:

Breakfasts this weekend were smoothies and coffee cake, also from the new cookbook. Mixed-berry smoothie:

Sunday’s green smoothie had kale, banana, pineapple, and avocado:

Ready you are. Ride my chairlift you will.

Heading down Little Pine: