Eli is four days old now and is continuing to do well. He is regaining the weight he lost right after the birth. He is getting some quality time with his maternal grandparents, Rikki and Jerry from California this weekend. Wallace says he is a sweet, calm baby and he enjoys eating a lot at night. That’s good for Eli, but not so good for his mom and dad, who prefer sleeping at night. Many of us know that sleep at night is not usually one of those things that new parents get, even if they want it. They have been able to compensate by taking naps during the day and alternating who gets to sleep and who gets to watch over Eli. He is a little jaundiced, but within the expected norm for his number of hours old, as Wallace said the doctor described it. I will be heading to Austin later this week by car and Jay and Ted will fly into Austin for Mother’s Day weekend. Julia will drive down from Fort Worth and we’ll have the whole family together for Mother’s Day. Then we’ll all head back to our various homes and let Jen, Wallace and Eli settle into their own routine. Matt shared some tips on the lens he gave Wallace for his camera, and Wallace promises more pictures.

Notice the last picture with Rikki, isn’t that an armful of beautiful baby?

Eli went to see the pediatrician today, since he wasn’t born in a hospital. The doctor gave him her seal of approval, everything looked good. He has lost a little weight, but since he is nursing well and had a good birth weight, it is considered  normal. Wallace said Eli tracks his voice well with his eyes, which are currently bluish-grey. He is a strong guy, pulling his arms out of the swaddling, even though Daddy has him snugged in pretty tightly. Wallace says he has found his fists and they are frequently found in his mouth. Matt took the attached photos yesterday, Eli was approximately 18 hours old. Wallace and Jen report that things are going smoothly, everyone gets a time to take showers and the house is holding together.

We are proud to introduce the newest Printz, Elijah Daniel,  “Eli”.

He was born at 12:55 am on April 20th, weighing in at 9 pounds even, beating his dad by by 11 ounces and tying his Aunt Jewls, and a light weight compared to Uncle Matt at 10# 2 oz.  He is 21 inches long and has a lot of dark hair. And I do believe I see a Printz chin in those pictures. All reports are that he is settling in at home nicely and hasn’t developed any bad habits yet. A beautiful baby! Way to go Wallace and Jen.

Eli was born at the Austin Area Birthing Center in the Santa Fe room, my guess, but of course I have no way to prove that. The family arrived home mid morning and Mom and baby promptly took a nap. Dad stayed up to graciously send the photos above to the anxious grandparents. Hi Rikki and Jerry! But I’m sure Wallace had been up for at least 30+ hours, no sleep for them last night. Thanks Wallace for making the extra effort. Reports are that nursing is going well, Eli enjoyed sleeping on his Daddy’s chest, and that Jen looks great, but Wallace looks tired. Matt and Molly took dinner over tonight (hence the insight we don’t get over the phone) and Matt took some more pictures, of Eli and the family. I’ll send those on as soon as I get them, so we can see the whole family group.

We are all so relieved that Eli and Jen are doing well. When we will get to meet Eli is still to be determined, but he is a cutie and a keeper. Thank you, Jen and Wallace.

Molly has a food blog, that I’d like to share with you. The current top entry is called New Baby Muffins in honor of Eli. Matt was very sad that he didn’t get any, they all went to Wallace and Jen. And because they are vegan, we don’t have to worry about pesky food allergies upsetting Eli. I am just beginning to explore Molly’s food blog, but I can already tell that I’m going to learn a lot there. Thanks for sharing Molly!

We have had a very wet April, that is, wet with snow. We have had as much snow in April it seems as we had all winter. The good news is that the snow usually melts quickly, because it is spring after all. It is also good for the ground, grass and water tables. All in all, I get to sing, “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” a lot. It seems to have snowed every weekend in April.

April 4th & 5th was the date of the women’s sanctioned tournament here in Westcliffe. I was in charge as the local Women’s Bowling Association director. I had a lot of help from Jay and the other directors. We were concerned about snow creating problems with bowlers coming from Pueblo and Walsenburg, the other two cities in our local association. But while we had some snow, it didn’t prevent anyone from attending. The good news is that I am currently the leader in 3 of the events, pending verification by the Association Manager, Don. My team. Gorgeous Grammies (Joy, Nancy, Yvonne and Babs), is in first place for the Team event, I am in first place for Singles (my score only – 733 with handicap), and for All Events Handicapped (my score in team, doubles, & singles plus my handicap). I am fourth in line for All Events Scratch… my score as above without the handicap. It was pretty exciting and I bowled a 214 in singles, hence my good scores over all. Not to get too excited, I then went to my Monday league and bowled a 117 average for 3 games. It is a fickle game, some days I bowl well, some days not well. These are the only pictures of me from the tournament, perhaps my more flattering side? The Gorgeous Grammies  all wore purple “red hat” shirts as we are also members of Custer Cuties Red Hats, as well as league bowlers on Monday mornings. I stretched the truth a little, as I am still a Grammie-in-waiting… although I’m not sure I want to be known as Grammie.

Bowling is almost over for the season. Jay and I bowl on two leagues that still have a few more games left. This past Wed, on the third game of the series, Jay had an exciting experience. He and Steve were the final bowlers on each team, both great bowlers. They had the exact same scores going into the tenth frame and they each had 5 strikes in a row. Steve hit a strike on the first ball, Jay then did also for six. Steve hit a strike for seven on the second ball, Jay had 9 pins on his next ball, and then picked up the spare. Steve hit nine on his last ball. Our team won the game by 2 pins. It was very exciting to watch them take turns hitting strike after strike. I think Jay ended with a 246 and Steve a 256. Very impressive.

Last weekend was exciting as well. On Friday, I went to the Springs to an auction and came back with a car full of stuff. I was on my own, as Jay watched the store. I was afraid I wouldn’t bid, but I guess I was wrong. Then on Saturday, he headed to the Springs for his own auction duty and I headed to town in the snow to watch the store. I even did a pawn, with Jay on the phone giving approval. Then Sunday, April 12th, we got over a foot of snow. Jay used the snow plow on the atv to clear some of the snow mid morning and it was working well until a spring came loose on the plow. The snow stopped falling about 3 pm, but we ended up just staying in until Monday morning. The snow had mostly refilled the path he’d plowed on Sunday, but we were able to drive out. There was a lot of snow on my car in the morning. When we got onto the county roads and into town, there was very little snow and by the time we got home Monday evening, all of our driveway that had access to sun was mostly dry and without snow.

Tuesday was quilting day with Olde Schoolhouse Quilters and I presented the program. We used liquid dishwasher detergent with bleach to stamp designs onto fabric. The detergent bleaches the color from the fabric and it was very interesting to see how the color faded on various fabrics and colors. Batik fabrics had the most dramatic and interesting color changes. Some fabrics had very little change at all. Everyone who did it had a good time and it was easy. It would be suitable for creating designs on center blocks in quilts or to applique onto something else. If anyone is interested, I can email the directions. Stamps with big bold designs with minimal detail worked best.

Yesterday was another Friday auction in the Springs, and I would have liked to go, but I wasn’t challenging the snow. I stayed in and ironed the shirts that have been waiting for 4 weeks. I ironed and watched episodes of “Bones” on my DVR. PS I still have more for today. Jay did drive into to work, but had only a few visitors. It snowed off and on all day, was projected to continue through today. We even heard thunder 3 times Friday morning and Jay said he saw lightning one time. I didn’t know you could have thunder and lightning in a snow storm. Our metal roof is slanted, as are the overhead windows in the atrium. The snow would fall off the roof/windows with a big swoosh, neat to see and hear a mini avalanche. The power went off for a few minutes Friday morning and our backup propane generator switched on just like it was supposed to. That was good to know, since it has been coming on once a week as part of its self test cycle, but this was the first time we have had a need for it. Although it was off for such a short time, it wasn’t a true “need”. The pictures are from midday, after Jay left, you can’t see his tracks in the snow, but the Tahoe is gone. Visibility was poor, by the time he was at the corner of our driveway, I couldn’t see taillights anymore.

Jay left the store early, but not early enough. I had called the store and got the answering machine, and was watching for him. I was very surprised to find the dogs at the front door, Jay covered in snow, and no car. He said the Tahoe was at the foot of our driveway, by our name sign, almost half a mile from the house. The snow was just too deep and was up to the bumpers and the car wouldn’t go forward or back. So he left it there and walked up the driveway in the falling snow. He looked like he had a white fur hat on his head, but it was snow and his mustache was coated. The snow was mid calf to knee high and he said the hardest thing was lifting his feet up high enough to clear the snow to take the next step. He thawed out quickly though and we had an early dinner of jambalaya. These pictures are of a ground cloud moving our direction across the valley in early evening. Visibility of the driveway is much better though

When Jay came in, the dogs went out. They were out in the snow looking for tennis balls. They were in snow up to their necks at some points, but darn if they each didn’t come back with a ball! They must be able to smell them, because they surely couldn’t see them.

Jay tried to use the snowplow this morning to get to the Tahoe and see if we could pull it out. However, the snow plow on the atv got stuck down by the Tahoe and he had to disengage it, leave it there and return home on the atv. Jay said with the drifts and all the snow was three feet deep. We were able to contact someone to come plow the driveway, and together, he and Jay were able to get the Tahoe back home and the driveway professionally plowed. There is a big difference between what a plow on an atv can do, and a truck with a plow.

On Sunday, the local bowling associations are holding a meeting to vote on merging, (men, women, and youth) and electing new officers for the new association. I am running for a director position from Westcliffe. I had thought the weather will be nice on Sunday so we wouldn’t have a problem getting to Pueblo. However with the snow on our driveway, I was concerned about getting out, but no longer thanks to the big snow plow.

Julia is not having this problem, she wore shorts to school on Friday! She is in Austin to talk to the colleges there about transferring for the fall semester and to start looking for an apartment. She will be staying with Matt and Molly. She found out this week that her best friend from Arlington, Rebecca, just got a full time job in Austin and is looking forward to Julia’s move. Ted is enjoying(?) snow in Denver this weekend too, but is excited that he has finished the Bartender school he went to and is now a “certified mixologist”. He is looking for a job as a bartender. Wish him luck. He was in town last weekend with his housemates, who were here to record music at a local studio. We got to visit with him last Monday, when we finally made it into town.

Matt and Molly are making progress with their wedding plans. A save the date card will be coming and a wedding blog is in the works. It will be a morning outdoor wedding, with a back up venue in case of inclement weather, an indoor brunch reception following.. perfect for Austin in August… 9th that is. Jay and I will get to consider options for the rehearsal dinner when we are in Austin meeting our new grandson.

Wallace & Jen are still doing well. Getting closer to their due date, enjoying getting to know the midwives at the Austin Area Birthing Center.  Report from Wallace today says that Jen has been having Braxton Hicks contractions this past week and true labor can start any time now. His due date is Thursday. We will let you know as soon as we get news of the baby’s arrival and his name and pertinent information. You can see pictures of the various birthing rooms at the AABC, I wonder which one they will be in?

Jay has finally seen his latest idea and venture become reality. He was thinking of a pawn shop last year, well before he took a 5 month detour through the academy. We began planning and acting purposefully in January ‘09. After diligent research we found a very nice spot right on Main Street, next door to Sunflower Health Foods. The space is a little small, but we didn’t want a huge space that we couldn’t fill or support and didn’t really know if the concept would work. The landlords, Elton and Jane, have been great. Elton built the rustic store counter and has been very helpful. Our lease started March 1, and Loan A Ranger, LLC opened the doors on March 30th. We spent the month of March getting fixtures, inventory, signs, neon, lighting, etc. Jay started newspaper advertising in February without an address, letting the community know the store was coming. So there was already interest when the signs went up. Matt, Molly and Julia were able to see the work in progress while we were setting up and helped with the answering machine message. A nice article was written in the paper about the opening of the store, with our pictures in it.

I like to say that I’m Tonto, the sidekick. Younger people don’t seem to understand what that means. We bought some western dvds and in the collection we found a dvd that tells the story of how the Lone Ranger got his name, hooked up with Tonto, etc. A local resident came in and while we were chatting and talking about my being Tonto, he said that tonto means dumb in Spanish for men, and tonta would be feminine for dumb, but he thought most people who came in the store wouldn’t know that, and suggested that I might want to find a different nickname. I’ll think about it, I haven’t made the nametag yet. On another interesting side note, one of my friends and our neighbor, a quilter, grew up in California, and Jay Silverheels, the real Tonto, was her neighbor and used to give her and her sister piggy back rides when they were little.

This is our third week and Jay is encouraged. We have had good foot traffic, with our friends as well as locals and visitors coming in to check us out. If you know us, you might expect that we have an eclectic collection of items for sale: antiques, art, signs, lamps, jewelry, dvds, as well as the requisite tools, electronics, and appliances. We also take consignments if the items fit the style of the store. The space is now more crowded than these pictures, but still cozy. Jay has had some interest in pawns and loans, so there must be a need locally.

The sheriff’s deputies came in last week and introduced themselves. Westcliffe now has a pawn shop detail, a first for this county. We give them a report each week on all pawns and loans made and items purchased from individuals. They help us to be sure items are not stolen. Our sheriff gets reports from all pawn shops in the greater area if a resident from Custer County makes a pawn, but this is the first time to have a local store to patrol.

I would say the average man who walks in is looking for guns. Everyone wants to be the first to be notified when a gun is available for sale. So therefore, no one gets special privileges. Jay did get his Federal Firearms License, so he can buy and sell guns. But as any gun fan may know, due to unconfirmed and, I personally think, irrational fears, there has been a run on gun and ammunition sales all over the country. Inventory is limited at the wholesale companies. But I am sure over time, he will be carrying guns for sale as they come available.There are still some things to work through, our ability to take credit cards is not functional, there are still some issues with the software, and I’m still working on getting our bookkeeping exactly right, but things overall are working well.

Jay is looking for a few individuals to cover the store when we go to TX to see our new grandson, for times when we both want to be at an auction, rather than trading off, and for vacations and fun times, like fishing and skiing, etc. Jay is really enjoying being in the store, talking to people, arranging inventory, and helping people with short term loans. It is too early to know if this store will be a success, but Jay is having a good time and I’m happy that he’s happy.

I can’t believe it’s been over a month since my last post. We have been busy with Jay’s new business, Loan A Ranger, and family visits, and bowling, and more bowling, etc. My next post will have more about Loan A Ranger, but we have spent many Saturdays in March attending auctions in Colorado Springs, looking for either display equipment or items for sale. We have found two auctions that we really enjoy and a third that we just found out about, but haven’t attended. Our cars have really added up the miles and the gas driving to “the Springs” to attend an auction, pick up items purchased at auctions we couldn’t fit in the car, buying fixtures at the big box stores, Costco or Sams, etc. It has been fun, but more later.

Julia, Matt and Molly came to visit in March. Julia’s spring break at UNT was March 14th – 22nd. She came by herself on the “Greyhound” bus and stayed for 6 days. This was our first experience with Greyhound and over all it was ok, but not great. She left FW around 7 pm on Saturday night and arrived in Pueblo around 8 am. We had breakfast and then home for a nap. Ted had gotten a ride down from Denver, so he and Julia got to visit for a bit. They went fishing at Lake DeWeese, yes that is ice on the lake’s far shore. Julia got to watch me bowl on Monday morning, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, poor child! I can tell the picture of me was taken at Wed bowling, by my uniform. I think I need to have my glasses adjusted. But she was a good sport about it. After all, she got to go skiing on Tuesday and Thursday, went down blue runs (more advanced) and looked darn cute doing it. She also got to spend some time with Matt and Molly who arrived on Thursday, while she was skiing.

Matt and Molly were safely delivered to CO by AA on Thursday morning. I dragged them around Colorado Springs, running more errands to Costo, Office Depot, and a stop at Whole Foods to stock up on vegan supplies. We had a nice lunch at a downtown cafe/bookstore/toy store/coffe house, Poor Richards. It was so eclectic, it should have been in Austin! I gave them a riding tour of Garden of the Gods in the springs, and we stopped by the Royal Gorge to look at the bridge and the Arkansas river so far, far down. We met up with Jay and Julia in town at the new store, before heading home. They had come from the west and Monarch Mountain, we’d come from the east and Canon City. I’d prepared a vegetarian chili in the crockpot, which had cooked all day. But some of the beans were still almost crunchy, so we cranked the crock up to high for another two hours. By the time we were ready to eat, the offending beans were still firm, but edible. We had a little excitement when the crockpot lid came apart as I was getting ready to serve and a small metal post fell into the chili. We all carefully observed each bite, and then Matt, Julia and Jay dug around in the chili trying to find the elusive bit of metal. Some didn’t believe it was in there, then someone would glimpse it, only to lose it again in the mix. But finally patience and diligent stirring was rewarded and the miscreant was found and removed from the chili. I don’t know if it was the age of the beans or the altitude, but a lot more soaking is needed for edible dried beans here. After dinner we played our first game of Trivial Pursuit. Jay and I had a head start, but Molly, Matt and Julia won in the end. We went on and had two more re-matches later in the weekend, and I can’t remember who won, but it was fun.

Matt had strained his back trying to conquer weeds in his backyard before they left Austin. He was stiff and not so mobile, so on Friday, Julia got to ride the big wheel with Jay on our property, and then play tour guide at Bishop’s Castle for Molly. They went all the way to the top of the towers, brave girls. After a visit to the store and recording the phone message on our answering machine, you’ll have to hear it to believe it. Julia was a great help getting the background music for us, we headed to Florence for chinese food for dinner, before taking Julia to meet her bus. There was a little excitement at that point, because we didn’t understand that if you bought a ticket for a specific bus on a specific day, that you were not guaranteed a seat. We thought the bus was going to be full coming from Denver and Julia would have to take a later bus on Saturday. But fortunately, she was able to get on the bus and got to sit in the front row.. the driver was taking care of her, and all was well. But it was touch and go for a while when we thought she wasn’t going to be able to leave. I tried to take a picture of her on the bus, but the windows were tinted, but she was able to get a shot of us waiting for the bus to leave.

Thanks to Julia for the pictures! On Saturday, Matt fixed some computer problems for us and we took a ride into the Springs to check out one of our auctions. Didn’t buy anything, but got to show the kids how it works. We then tried to find a hard drive for our server back up and visited several computer stores. When Matt approved the hard drive and the price, we made our purchase and headed back to Westcliffe to cook dinner. Matt and Molly and I made chickpea cutlets, mashed potatoes, and salad. I thought dinner was a success. Sunday was an at home day, but we went out to a nice restaurant for dinner, the Alpine Lodge. We were the only diners, and had great service, a great view of the Wet Mountains and a nice fireplace for atmosphere.

Monday, Matt and Molly had breakfast at the bowling center while I bowled, and we left immediately after bowling to get them to the airport to check in. They were afraid the flight was oversold and wanted to be sure they had seats. All went well and after a quick lunch, they were returned to the airport for their flight home. It was a good visit and we hope they’ll come back again soon.

The weather while the kids were here was very temperate, by our standards. But three days later, we had two days of snow, you may have seen the blizzards on the news in CO and OK, and even North Texas got some snow. And we have had light snow off and on every other day or so since they left. But the water table and the ground needs the water so we aren’t complaining.

Jen is continuing to stretch and grow their baby. The time goes by so quickly when it’s not your body. They have decided to have the birth at a Birthing Center, rather than a hospital, and have enjoyed getting to know the midwives. Wallace has filled out all the forms needed for the FMLA, Family Medical Leave Act, so he can be home full time after the baby comes for at least two weeks. We’re about three weeks from his due date, and getting excited. Here are some pictures of Jen, the most recent is at 35 weeks. I like to give you the previous one for comparison. Thanks Wallace for the photo updates.

More later about our new business and the bowling tournament this weekend in Westcliffe. It is a women’s tournament and I am bowling in the tournament and will be helping to run it, since it is at my “home” bowling center. On to April! Happy Spring!