Luke at 5 weeks old

Orb Weaver at Our Window

Bill took this beautiful picture of the Orb Weaver Spider who has been living outside our bunkhouse window since we brought Luke home from the hospital almost 5 weeks ago. She wover this stunning web. Caught grasshoppers and other bugs (some tossed into the web by human hands, I must admit). Laid a sack of eggs in the upper corner of the disintigrating web. And now, like Charlotte, she will leave us. Any morning now we'll walk out and find her dead on the concrete outside our doorway. Such beauty. ... I must admit, I'm a leary of all those baby spiders yet to come.

Tilting our windmill

A couple of weeks ago now (time both flies and stands still when your nursing a new baby) Travis Creswell and his colleagues from Ozark Energy arrived to hoist our wind turbine into the air. That day's work in the 100 degree heat was the culmination of two years of design, planning, and preparation. Then last week the team from Ozark came back to connect turbine to house, and from that moment on our new house has been fully powered by the wind. We run around turning on lights just for the fun of it.

I wish I had time to write in more detail about what we're doing, but baby calls (often). So, if you want details, get in touch with me and I'll connect you to Bill or Pat who can tell you all about it.

You can also check out Travis's website at http://www.ozarkenergyservices.com/.







Photos by Bill McBride and (Grandpa) Jim Fabris.

Fun in the kansas sun

photo by Ted Wolff

luke's cousins visit the flint hills 2

photos by mindy schauer and dylan fabris

Luke's cousins come to visit

Photos by Mindy Schauer.

And more photos!

The house with sunflowers!

Julia & Luke.
Julia, Luke and Grandpa, on the way to the pediatrician for the first time.
Aunt Margaret, Luke (in sling), and Julia at Pioneer Bluffs.
Male harrier hawks, skydancing.

More photos of the new arrival

Above: being born can be exhausting for babies and dad's. Luke: four days old.
(left to right) Bill, Bug, Pepper and Luke.
Grandpa Jim arrived 1 week after Luke was born.

Luke Harrier McBride

Our son Luke was born on Sunday July 22, 2007. Here's a picture. More to come.