Stephanie Elms

I’m cat sitting Ulmus for my youngest while he’s working on a wildlife refuge. He got him while taking a dendrology class at UVM - Ulmus is the Latin name for the elm tree which felt appropriate given our last name. 🌳

Thanks! I named the 2 B&W guys after favorite YA book characters - Gansey from Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle books & Kelledry from Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series.

Kelledry, a cute B&W cat is curled up on an orange & white checked throw on my lap. He has a little white nose and feet.

Ulmus, a white cat with distinctive orange markings looks knowingly at me from the depths of a comfy quilt.

Gansey, a chunk of a B&W cat is curled up in a sunbeam on a pretty quilt.

How about these 3 cuties.

I’m game!

Though I will say that the scale/design fits into the neighborhood better than some. Definitely doesn’t look as big from the outside. Still a lot of space for one home. Sigh.

As someone who loves her 900sqft 1920s home, I can’t even fathom what I’d do with a house this big. Even if I still had kids who lived with me.

www.homes.com/property/14-...

Though I will say that the scale/design fits into the neighborhood better than some. Definitely doesn’t look as big from the outside. Still feels like a lot of space for one home…

Happy birthday!! 🧁

Utility box on a pole with a poster that says “ICE out of Alexandria”. There are piles of snowcrete all around the median and cars in the background.

Lampposts (and utility boxes on poles) are pretty smart around here.

My 26 year old & I have a running joke about how he’s a slacker & just needs to be more evil to be a success like other tech bro Gen Zers (he’s a wildlife biologist & makes peanuts). The fact that these guys are so young explains a lot about this industry.

And a truly scary loss for trans people (not to mention abortion rights).

Yeah. The older you get the more you come to understand how much one body part is connected to another. And not always in a good way.

Tim

Such a journey for Pepper!

Weren’t there frigates in Star Wars (which would put them closer to the normal to use category?)

Yes?

Oh good!

I’m about half way through this as we speak. Delightful writing is a good way to put it. Wasn’t sure about some of the characters at the beginning but the writing is so good.

What a sweet baby.

My grandmother in a cute sundress kneeling on the grass leaning back looking flirtatiously at the photographer (most likely my grandfather). Her feet are tucked up under her skirt & her head is tilted. Her hair is cut short in a very flapperesque style.

My grandfather in a white shirt & pants gestures at the camera while kneeling on his back knee.

My grandfather standing on a dock with a very Alaskan landscape of water, trees and mountains behind him. Can’t read the full inscription but it is signed “your Ditto”

Realizing I only know broad strokes & now I’m going to need to ask my mom for more details abt Alaska. In some ways it was romantic. But there was also a lot of dysfunction (grandfather was very narcissistic) which really messed up all of the kids. But very glamorous on the outside. So many stories.

Don’t think either fought in WWII. One supported war effort at Bell Labs. Other had a high school football injury & his knee was pinned so he couldn’t bend his leg (never stopped him from getting on the floor to play with me & my brother!)

Sent to work for Alaska Mining Company in hopes he’d lose interest in my G’ma (he didn’t) then a chemist at Bell Labs.

Worked in a factory in NJ (just now realizing I don’t know what kind!)

I love them

I remember after watching The Day After & being weirdly glad that we had just moved to Maryland. My 15 year old rationalization was that I’d be killed in the initial blast because Washington DC would definitely be a ground zero target & so I wouldn’t have to navigate a post nuclear war world…

IANAL but looks like a standard blog footer…claiming copyright for the content, not for the name.

I do find it interesting that there is no where on the website that identifies who is writing it.

Once again I have to send thanks to the previous owner of my house who installed amazing windows the year I moved in. Completely missed this.

Alexandria never disappoints!

Ah! So is that what you were doing when I bumped into you yesterday?

Sounds perfect for the next DRBC.

I just discovered yesterday that the fan for my heater seems to have died. Couldn’t understand why it was so cold until I realized nothing was blowing no matter how much I cranked it up.