Tony and Paige.com

It took a few years, but it finally happened.

Now to see if any survive the birds and squirrels. Hopefully we’ll actually get to taste one someday.

Totality from our back yard

This is straight out of Wyatt’s iPhone. The picture doesn’t do it justice.

A few weeks ago we celebrated Matthew’s birthday with a sushi class for the family.

We started off by practicing our knife skills. No fingers were harmed:

Next we added the ingredients and rolled everything up:

Not bad for our first try:

My rolls weren’t much to look at, but they were still delicious.

We spent a few hours rolling and eating and all had a great time:

I’m looking forward to taking more classes like this, but I think next time I want sushi I’ll let an expert make it for me.

We finished the outside lights today.

It always feels a little strange decorating for Christmas when it’s 70 outside, but I’m used to it.

We put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Now I just need to wrap all the gifts I’ve bought.

Things look a little different outside the hotel window in Albany.

Nice sunset from our hotel room in Rockwall.

Our fresh produce from a local co-op yesterday included Roma tomatoes, basil, and a couple heads of garlic. So obviously I thought pizza.

I got out the pizza stones and peels and mixed up a batch of dough. While the dough rose I got the rest of the ingredients ready.

Not everything was from scratch. The sauce came out of a jar.

The kids’ meat pizza, ready to go in the oven.

The finished product with pepperoni and Italian sausage.

We also made Paige’s favorite margarita.

And my favorite, prosciutto with roasted garlic and arugula.

Today was a “wellness” day at work so I got a four day weekend for Labor Day. A perfect time to smoke some meat.

It was still dark when we got the charcoal lit. I added some mesquite to the fire and put 15 pounds of pork shoulder in the smoker.

After ten hours at 250 degrees, we had two chunks of meat like this.

After a few minutes of shredding and chopping we had a feast.

How are you?

What a crazy time to be alive. I’m not even sure where to start.

In case you haven’t heard (ha!), there’s a new strain of the Coronavirus going around called COVID-19. Many people are sick, some are dying. We’ve all been told to stay inside our homes for the foreseeable future. Everyone should work from home if possible. Schools are closed. Restaurants are take-out or delivery only.

If you must leave the house, stay at least 6 feet away from everyone else – “social distancing”. People are stockpiling things like hand soap, disinfectants, and toilet paper. People are really going crazy for toilet paper, buying as much as they can get their hands on.

But like I said, we’re doing fine. None of us are sick. We have plenty of food (and toilet paper). The kids are on their third week of spring break, but they start online classes next. As for me, I’ve been working from home full time for the last year and a half so everything seems pretty normal to me.

We do get a little stir crazy sometimes, but for the most part we’re introverts so this hasn’t been too bad. It is a shame we won’t be taking a vacation this year. Now that it’s starting to warm up outside we’ve been taking advantage of the pool. A staycation won’t be so bad.

Stay healthy, keep to yourself, cover your cough, and wash your hands.

I love living next to the Brushy Creek Trail. I get to see some interesting wildlife on my daily jog, mainly squirrels and a few rabbits.

There are a couple big hawks that like to perch on street lights and fences. I’ve never been able to get a good picture of one, until today.

I saw him on the fence as I was walking up the sidewalk and just started snapping pictures. It was pure luck that I got one just as he took off.