I try not to limit my madness to March. ~Maxine

March 1

Watch out, crabgrass. He’s coming for you.

March 3

Ella art

March 4

Light at the end of the tunnel

Good times at Dogwood Park

March 6

Knox zooming by on his Hoverboard

Ella just learned how to ride a bike and got the hang of it pretty quickly

March 8

A tiny almost-Spring bouquet

from Ella

March 10

Time for some backyard T-ball

March 11 ...

…. we were wondering if it would snow on the buttercups …

… March 12

Of course it did

"Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer." - Anita Krizzan.

And here, once again using the deck furniture standard of measuring snowfall,

I’d say that’s a good four inches. Or five.

Snow day is a good day for pizza at Mamma Rosa’s with family and friends

Sunshine made for some truly epic icicles

We couldn’t get enough pictures of them knowing they’d be gone by tomorrow

And they were

Donut run

We don’t discriminate when it comes to local tasty pastries

But first, comfort food on a cold snowy evening

March 17

Rock Island State Park is about an hour’s drive from our house

Ready for hiking a trail on this beautiful Spring Break Day

Moi, Holly, Elijah, Neil, and Knox

This was our first visit to Rock Island

I could’ve stood there watching the waterfalls and rapids all day

Let the trek begin

The only difficult part of the hike was being on constant alert

for trip hazards — roots, rocks, and hidden holes on the trail

Neil was in no hurry and brought up the rear. When he and Knox hike, they like to stop

and take in their surroundings. I was too busy trying not to face plant. I did look up now and then.

Holly and Elijah enjoyed time away from work and school

Knox wore an actual St. Patrick’s Day T shirt

I was clueless about the date. My T just happened to be green

It did protect me from unwanted pinches, though

Taking a break down by the river

We all enjoyed our three mile hike but, tired and footsore, were glad to reach the end of the trail

Great Falls Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Caney Fork, straddling the county line between White County and Warren County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the only dam outside the Tennessee River watershed owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Wikipedia

Don’t say I never taught ya nothin'

March 24

First time in more than two years we’ve had the opportunity to target practice

Had to show off my bullseye

I’m consistently inconsistent 

Neil consistently hits the center

March 25

Must be Friday

Micky D’s with Kelly, Knox, and Ella plus special guests Elsa and Anna

Elsa is here for the McFlurry

March 26

We travelled to Greenbrier to meet our 4 month old great nephew and cousin for the first time

He’s a cutie. Ella treated him like a real live baby doll which he seemed okay with

From there we went to visit Shelby at her college and got to see where she lives while she

studies for her degree in marine biology

Enjoyed a yummy meal together at Cheddar's

Holly and Shelby

Mom and daughter don’t get to see each other much these day

Hooray for Face Time though

March 28

March 30

Crabapple blooms

Hope these ferocious winds don’t strip them off the tree

before we’ve had a chance to enjoy them

March 31

Ella had the best time painting characters from the movie Frozen this afternoon

Neil found the paint with water book at Sam’s, and it was a winner.

We had to convince her to leave the book here and save some pages for later

It was a hard sell, but we hit on a compromise to leave the book but take a couple

of pages home to paint.

It’s all good, right?

“Every cold and dark phase ends and hence begins a beautiful phase of warmth and vibrance. Don't believe? Just notice March” 
― Anamika Mishra

“Only those with tenacity can march forward in March” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

March 4 ~ this is grandson Elijah's 'do-you-have-to-take-my-picture-again' look

Yes! Of course! Especially since he got a new much shorter haircut.

You'd think he'd know by now after 11+ years that Granny is not going to stop taking his picture.

March 4 ~ Revenge! 

Our son-in-law Jerry's birthday was last Sunday, and we ate lunch after church at El Tapatio, where Neil informed the server that it was Jerry's birthday. So of course they put the birthday sombrero on Jerry's head and all the servers sang a happy birthday song in Spanish.

So. 

A week later, and a few days after Neil's birthday, we ended up eating lunch after church at El Tapatio, where Jerry wasted no time getting his revenge on his father-in-law.

That's what you call Karma.

March 6 ~ shadow time ....

.... and the days are getting longer

March 7 ~ Grackles tend to congregate in large groups, popularly referred to as a plague or annoyance, according to Wikipedia. Totally true. Lately, they've discovered our bird feeders where there are sometimes ten or fifteen of them gathered around on the ground, pecking and posturing and fighting each other over the seed. 

They seem hateful and greedy and mean. Plague and annoyance are spot on descriptions of their gatherings. 

March 8 ~ A group of squirrels is called a 'scurry', although they don't run in packs. They should be called a plague and annoying. Greedy little buggers. But I think the Grackles got them beat.

When Neil and I started dating way back in 1972, one of our first dates was at Gondola Pizza House. That's when it was located just down the street from TTU. When it came time to order our shared pizza, he told me to choose the topping. How generous! What a guy!
Many years later, he finally told me that he about gagged that night when I chose MUSHROOMS for the topping. He hated mushrooms, those gag-worthy slimy things.
Whenever he tells that story about that date, I always point out to him that we could have ordered a half-and-half pizza--mushrooms for me and something else besides mushrooms for his half.
Like I said, what a guy!
Flash forward 46 years (!?!) and look who's sharing a mushroom pizza at Gondola Pizza House. I feel obligated, even now,  to point out to him we don't have to get mushroom, that we can do a half-and -half. But he's come to enjoy those Gondola mushroom pizzas.
I knew he was a keeper.

How can anybody eat a pizza and use only one napkin. Not me, apparently.

March 9 ~ For her cosmetology business project, granddaughter Shelby had to pull together and organize a beauty salon business, detailing how much it would cost from start up to opening day. Plus, she had to build a mock-up of her salon. She made everything from scratch, even painting the street in front of the salon. She handcrafted a tiny realistic-looking blowdryer and a hair straightener. 

She made a 94 on her business profile (the highest grade was a 97), and she made a 100 on her salon mock-up. After the hours and hours she poured into all of it, she was thrilled with her awesome grades. Way to go, Shelby! So proud of all your hard work!

The Grandpeeps

Grandson Knox discovered the joys of the typewriter when I showed him the typewriter app on my computer. It's the Hanx Writer app created by none other than Tom Hanks, who I've heard loves and collects typewriters. Knox had a great time typing messages on the different models of typewriters. They even make the key click sounds and the ding of the bell on the carriage return. Coolest thing ever. But not as cool as the real thing.

Knox's typewritten message to his mom

March 10 ~ Winter and Spring are duking it out here in Tennessee. 

Unexpected unscheduled baseball games today for Elijah who plays on his middle school's JV team. Elijah had to be there before 11:00 this morning, not knowing when he'd be playing in one of three games his team was going to play. Of course, he ended up playing in the third game at 2:30, so that's when Neil and I showed up. But Holly (E's mom) had been there the whole time, leaving during the second game to bring in some lunch.
The sun was clouded and the wind blew cold during E's game. We huddled under a blanket. Thus the frowny faces. Plus E's team was totally outplayed by their opponents.

Three up, three down every time E's team was up to bat. They were having a really bad game. He finally got to bat in the 4th inning ....

.... and, unfortunately, struck out. It was the only time in the whole game he got to bat. Major bummer. More frowny faces (see previous frowny face picture)

After the game, Elijah told us his team was one point short of the ref calling the mercy rule. He had to explain to me what that meant since I had no clue.
15 to 0 in the 4th inning. Game over.
If you've never heard of the mercy rule, here's a little info. Don't say I never taught ya nothin'.

The mercy rule is a provision in the rules that terminates a game early if one of the two teams has taken a substantial lead, considered to be insurmountable, after a minimum number of innings have been played. ... The mercy rule is often called the skunk rule in slang, particularly in youth baseball.