Pekin Times Article 9-23-06

Fun! Today on the front page of the "Lifestyles" section of the Pekin Times ... a giant pic of Abby and her buddy Jenna, and a wonderful story about how China adoption brings strangers together with similarities we never knew we had ...

http://www.pekintimes.com/articles/2006/09/23/lifestyles/lifestyles1.txt

There is no photo with the article, so my little model, Abby, is holding the paper up for you to see! :-)


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Basketball Buddies

TJ and Abby are 5.5 years apart ... they know how to push each other's buttons sometimes for sure, but they do enjoy a good game together!


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An Incredible Sunset

(click picture for a larger view)

Two posts in one day here, but I had to share this picture. Last night we were at the boat and heading to dinner ... and I looked up and saw the most incredible sunset I think I have ever seen. We see lots of beautiful orange and pink and purple skies out there ... but this sunset was a clear blue sky with orange "rays" of light beaming up. The rays went over our heads in a light yellow color, and then curved back down toward earth in the East and they were white. I didn't have my camera with me, but took this pic on my camera phone, so it's a little blurry. Quite a sight!

Great Day for a Picnic!

Abby and I went to the family picnic for "Our Children from China" in Pekin on Sat, and it was a fun day! She got to hang out with her buddy Jenna, who is also from Hunan and is in her daycare class. We were interviewed by a reporter from the Pekin Times and he took lots of pics of Abby and Jenna playing and eating lunch together, so we'll see if they make the paper tomorrow!

Here's a slide show from the picnic ...


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A Gorgeous Day!

Abby and I got home from work and school tonight and it was SO beautiful outside! We soaked a little bit of it up before daddy came home ... and I took advantage of the beautiful day to take some pics of Abby near the flowers and fish pond. Hate to think in a month the frost will take away our pretty summer flowers, but I guess that is part of the deal with the changing seasons!

Enjoy the slide show ...


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Butterfly Girl

(click picture for bigger view) I went outside on Sat and found Abby playing with this monarch butterfly that must have been caught up in the grill of my car. She was studying it carefully and ran to show it to me. Made me laugh ... is this the same little girl who used to totally freak out over anything with wings or legs that moved within 10 feet of her? ;-)

A beautiful weekend here. There is a touch of Fall in the air, for sure.

A fun holiday weekend!

We had a great Labor Day weekend, relaxing at the river. Beautiful weather, almost cool and fall-like. I have created a musical Photo Show with some pics that I took over the weekend ... just out on the water and misc sights from the boat, plus we had a gorgeous sunset on Sat night and so there are lots of pics of that as well. The Photo Show can be viewed here, under 2006 Labor Day Boating ...

www.photoshow.net/tremontscotts

Not much else on that site yet, but I hope to add more. All of the previous shows that I had created were lost in the great laptop crash of May 2006 :-(

Gilbert Update: It appears that this time, he may really have flown the coop. Hopefully, he's headed for home or already there. We released him on Saturday about Noon, and he sat on the roof for about 2.5 hours ... then flew back to the cage to eat. HA He was around through Sunday and then when we came home from the boat on Monday night, he was nowhere to be found. No Gilbert sightings today, so we think he has moved on. We're gonna miss the little guy, we liked him!

Friday Night Football Time!

September already? One sure sign is Friday Night Football around here! Drew plays in the THS band (alto sax) and so it's that time again. The good thing about being part of a smaller district is that they need ALL of the kids who want to be part of band to be there ... so you will look out across the band and see kids in football, cheerleading and dance team uniforms. No one has to choose sports or band at Tremont. Our band is set up to have lots of fun, and they don't do competitions or detailed marching. They are truly set up as a concert band, but get to have a little fun in the Fall with some marching.

Gilbert Update: He's a caged man again, and seems to be calm and happy. Not sure about releasing him today as originally planned since all the dove hunters are out in the fields around our subdivision. There are several sportsmen's groups who plant fields of sunflowers to attract wildlife for hunting purposes, and I'd hate to think of him landing there. I think he's going to remain behind bars for a bit longer :-)

Enjoy this slide show of the Tremont High School Marching Band!


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The Pigeon Chronicles

Wed night we did a lot of Google research on homing pigeons and racing pigeons ... and found a way to track Gilbert's owner. I wished that we had caged him Wed night when we had the chance, thinking that would be easier to call the owner and tell him we had the bird ... not just that we saw the bird.

Thurs morning about 6:30am I was heading downstairs to the kitchen, and as I walked by the front door I heard a noise that was loud enough to stop me in my tracks ... a scratching and fluttering noise, coming from around the front door. I thought "no way" and opened the door ... and sure enough, there was Gilbert fluttering at the front glass storm door as if he wanted to come in! So we grabbed him and put him in an old cage we had, knowing he was safe and sound for the day.

I did track down the owner on Thurs morning, and he lives in Downers Grove, IL. He had taken 20 of his birds to DeWitt, IA on Sun for a 150 mile race. There was a strong head wind that pushed the birds to the South, and only 6 of his 20 birds made it home. He said he'd very much like to have the bird back, and asked how far away we were. When he realized it would be a 5 hour round trip to pick him up ... he asked if I would mind feeding him for a couple more days to build his strength, and then release him on Sat so he would fly home on his own. I said we'd give it a try, and he was very appreciative to know someone was caring for the bird.

Last night Drew was putting in some new food/water ... and Gilbert grabbed the chance to fly the coop when the door was open! He flew up to the roof and sat there for a couple of hours, and then flew off about 7pm. We hoped he was strong enough to make it home!

So this morning (Fri) there was no Gilbert at the front door. We thought he must be trying to make his way home. And then about 7am our dog started barking and I couldn't figure out why ... and there was Gilbert sitting on the table on our deck! We left the cage with food/water out on it overnight in case he came back, and he was having a little breakfast. HA He won't let us get close enough to him to put him back in the cage (smart guy) but is now roosting on the trellis above the hot tub. So the saga continues!

Home Sweet ... HOMING PIGEON??

Oh dear, my kids have fallen in love with a homing pigeon, also called racing pigeons I hear, that has taken up residence in our back yard!

Yesterday TJ called me at work, and excitedly told me that there was a "huge" bird with "orange and green tags" in our back yard that must be someone's pet! I was picturing more of a parrot until Drew got on the phone and said our neighbor had confirmed it was a homing pigeon. They watched it, took pictures of it, Googled for info about it, named it "Gilbert" and just had a blast. I got home and it was nowhere to be seen.

Fast forward to about the same time of day today ... and Gilbert reappeared! More pictures, tonight it let us pick it up, and we were able to get the numbers off the band to try and figure out where it came from. The band ID ties to a pigeon association club in Decatur ... so I have emailed the contact and we shall see what happens. Hopefully Gilbert will make another appearance tomorrow if we find the owner and they are anxious to get their bird back! Stay tuned ...