An official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time...

My present, wrapped in ace bandages and hospital draping.

July is birthday month here at Jost homestead. Mine's first, and this year it was a doozy. I knew Patrick must have gotten me something pretty fantastic when he started dropping hints that maybe I'd like to open my present just a teensy bit early. All week leading up to the big day he was giddy with delight, asking me if I'd like to open my present at twelve-oh-one when he came home. So I did. And it is pretty marvelous. It's a new camera that's, for you lay people out there, the photographic equivalent of Red Ryder BB Gun. That is to say, I've been writing letters to Santa Claus all year asking for this baby. Here are some samples taken with my new beaut:

Evidently this is her "picture face" as every time I whip out the camera, her face suddenly contorts this way.