Dwarf Privets Gone

3952-Waite-Yard
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

The reunion of the descendants of John and JoLean Waite was held from 28 June to 3 July 2009 at Bear Lake on the Utah/Idaho border, and at the family home in Layton, UT.

Dad is now 87 years old, dementia weighs heavily on him, and prostate cancer is steadily bringing him to the end of this life.

Mom is in her early 80's, is very healthy, and is applying most of her efforts to caring for dad in the end of his life. She has wonderful help from my sister Susann, my brother Kelly, and my brother Paul, all within easy driving distance of the family home.

One of the challenges faced by Mom and Dad is decreasing time and strength available for lawn care. In an attempt to reduce their lawn care load, we removed 6 dwarf privets from the front of the house and replaced them with mulch, a rock border, and low maintenance plantings.

Melissa Warwood, one of their granddaughters, did the landscape design work. Her bachelors degree in Horticulture from Utah State University, and her professional experience in horticulture at the Lagoon theme park were great assets.

The kids pitched in to remove the bushes, install compost, mulch, and rock, and plant the new bushes and the replacement grass.

Braydon Waite climbed the English Walnut and cleared branches from the roof of the house, and Jeff reinstalled the gutter shields in hopes of reducing the maintenance load on Mom and Dad.

They are great parents, wonderful mentors, and marvelous examples of a lifetime together. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Clean Clothes - Again

wonder-washer
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

The new washer has arrived and run its first loads of laundry. It certainly looks more "techno" than the old washer did.

We'll see if the overall electricity bill decreases or increases as a result.

Simple, Elegant Design and 15+ Years of Useful LIfe

Waite-Family-Washer-15-years-worn
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

We purchased a Maytag washer over 15 years ago. We had been surprised by the complexity of other washers, and were impressed with the salesperson's description of the simplicity of the Maytag design. The pump, the motor, the drum, and the timer all seemed easy to understand, well designed, and serviceable.

It was a great purchase. The washer moved to our current house when we made that move over 13 years ago. It has done laundry for all eight of the kids, for Coleen's mom, and for Coleen and me. It has been through 3 teenage girls, 3 teenage boys, and twins.

Thanks Maytag, for design simplicity, years of reliable service, and an excellent investment for our family. We'll hope the new General Electric high efficiency model does as well.

Google Profile

Google has created a "profile" service that they will use in their search engine to help people find the "right" you. My name is not too uncommon (I am not the Mark Waite who writes for a paper in the Las Vegas area, and I am not the Mark Waite who makes knives in Colorado), so their profile service may help. The information in my profile seemed to generally already be available from other publicly visible sources (like my obsolete Yahoo 360 blog).

Eric at the end of 200 yard medley

Eric at the end of 200 yard medley
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

The 200 yard individual medley requires four different strokes, each for 50 yards, the butterfly, breast, back, and free style. Eric beat his personal best time, and dragged out of the pool exhausted.

This is him resting on the deck...

Eric at the meet

Eric at the meet
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Eric and Alan joined their swimming team in the Front Range League conference finals at Dick Hewson Acquatic Center, attached to Thompson Valley High School in Loveland.

Eric qualified for finals in two events, the 500 yard freestyle and the 200 yard individual medley. He performed great in both of them, achieving personal best times in the preliminary heats, and then beating those times in the finals.

Good job Eric!

Mark Waite as a boy

Mark Waite as a boy
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

This picture is photographic evidence that I was once a child, contrary to the opinions of certain teenage male members of the family.

The First Egg...

The shed has one face with panels painted to match the house, and the interior has been reworked and revised by Andrew Lundmark to host chickens without giving them the entire shed. The chickens moved from the Lundmark's to our house during the week, and Heather and Heidi are now feeding and watering the bird brains. Oh, and they are settled well enough that the first egg has been gathered from the chickens, and the first fight has occurred between the territorial little Dachshund and the territorial rooster. The Dachshund seems to have come off the better of it, and is now living a more restricted lifestyle in the house, with less free wandering of the outdoors.

Gondola - Mark and Coleen

Gondola - Mark and Coleen
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

The kids splurged on their parents and bought us air fare and lodging for 3 nights of "Virtual Venice". We flew from Fort Collins / Loveland airport (about 15 minutes from home) to Las Vegas, and spent 3 nights at the Venetian Hotel.

The food was excellent, it was a great time walking through the various Las Vegas displays, and the 4 kids still at home seemed to do just fine without us watching their every move...

More pictures are posted on my flickr account, with even more pictures to come. Indoors, outdoors, walking, and talking were all great.

The Shed Is In Place

Shed Door
Originally uploaded by Mark Waite

Andrew Lundmark has successfully persuaded the girls that they want chickens. That meant we needed a shed. Andrew then found a fully constructed, nicely painted shed at a local seller in Loveland.

The seller was even willing to haul it to the house, and put it in place. The paint job is a little painful (Bronco Orange and Blue), but it is so well constructed that we can forgive the paint.

Or, more likely, we'll have the kids paint it so it looks more like the house.

Good luck chickens, hope you enjoy your new home...