Fall?

No way. We had a wet cold spring and warm weather didn't start until June. We were still burning fires in the wood stove in June this year. Usually we quit in April. So here it is the end of August and I see my neighbor has a fire in his wood stove. Wow. He must be cold. It is cool this morning, but enough for a fire???

Mishka got her second haircut of the year. She was getting pretty shaggy. Now naturally she is cold because our heat went away.

Ricky from work gave me a bag of coffee beans. They are pretty dark beans, but when I made a pot of coffee with them they weren't overly strong or bitter. They had a nice smooth flavor to them. His only concern was he couldn't grind them for me because he couldn't find the grinder. I reassured him that I had two grinders and could grind my own. That got me quite a look. Everyone who hears I have two seem amazed. I bought one to grind beans. The other one my brother won as a door prize somewhere and I asked if I could have it. He doesn't drink coffee at all.

Garden Fare

We had stir-fry tonight made with zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, green onions and garlic out of our garden. I added cabbage and celery and it was delicious. Last night we also had the first corn out of the garden. It was very nice.
We've been eating garden candy and it looks like ground cherries will be ready soon. Got to love fresh veggies from the garden.

Zach's Birthday

I totally forgot to take my camera with. I was going to take a picture of Zach on his seventh birthday. Time is flying. Zach is the younger brother of one of the kids who hung out at our house a lot as he was growing up. We consider Josh to be one of ours and then by association his little brother and mother also.
Anyway Zach called me on Friday to let me know he was having a birthday party on Saturday. He wanted me to come and that is why he called. I gave him school clothes as always. He is a kid who likes clothes....takes after Josh in that respect.

Bits and Pieces

I was wrong. We have had our new supervisor in the warehouse with us all week thus far. He is learning all our fun jobs....like shrinkwrapping. He has quite a sense of humor and is going to be fine to work with. Fits in well.

Tanya has been getting all her ducks in a row. She has taken care of a lot of her bills so she starts with a clean slate. She got her social security death benefits started and got more than anticipated. She is going to be fine as long as she doesn't go hogwild. We are still going to have our budgeting session and learn more about credit.

Doug and Heather are getting settled in Georgia. The dogs love their big fenced backyard. And I am sure that Heather is happy to be back in her house that has a dishwasher. Doug should be back to work now.

Myk is Myk.

Dragonflies

Several years ago I must have made a statement about liking dragonflies. I do. I like them. The person who heard my statement took it to mean that I would collect all things dragonfly. And so now I do because people give them to me. Heather, on the other hand, really loves dragonflies. She got this tattoo this week. And it is lovely. She did say it really hurt. Ouch.

My Supervisor

So we had a little bbq at work today. Everyone brought in delicious food. We got to meet the new supervisor of our dept. at the bookstore. We haven't had a supervisor for several months...we have had Jacob who was the interim supervisor, but he is one of us. The meeting was fine, but I have no real feel for who this guy is or how he will be. He starts on Monday, but I don't expect to interact much with him the first week while he is training. Time will tell.

Dave's Supervisor

The neighbor's cow was supervising Dave while he dug the hole and placed the pole for the new gate.

No More Stuck Butts

We now have a gate so Aunt Betty won't get stuck on the fence trying to climb over it.

Jason's Trees

Jason's Trees

Today we planted Jason's trees. Aunt Betty decided that we needed a sequoia because Jason was big and strong. So we have it also. Myk, Elizabeth and Dave dug the holes early in the afternoon. Then Aunt Betty, Uncle Les, Uncle Norman, Gayle and Bill, and my mom came over and helped supervise the planting of the the trees. Then we bbqed hot dogs and visited. It was a good day. And I'm sure Aunt Betty is happy that I didn't post the picture of her stuck on the fence as she was climbing over it.

Funeral

Well the funeral was fine. Since it was in a church with a pastor it was somewhat religious. Not too bad though. You could tell that it was his parents' church. The pastor never did pronounce Tanya's name right. There were quite a few people there. After the service there was a little lunch. Then they proceeded to the cemetery. I opted to go home and take a nap instead. Elizabeth wrote a nice letter to her daddy and it went in the casket with him.
We bought a new Japanese Maple in honor of Jason. Tanya and the girls are going to come over this weekend and help us plant it. We just liked that idea better than flowers that would die.

Lily

It finally blooms. This lily has been in my yard for three summers now. The first year we planted it it grew to about two feet and put out a nice top with several buds. Dave was absolutely sure that the dogs (meaning Minnie) was going to hurt it and take off the buds. Well Dave did it with a tennis ball. So that ended the first year. The next year it grew about the same and this time Minnie did get it. Ah...the life of having dogs. Then this year Dave put up chicken wire around it to help protect it. Well it grew and grew and grew. It now stands over six feet tall and has 11 buds on it. The first one opened this week. And it is beautiful.

Garden :)

Yum. I just got done eating part of the first cucumber out of the garden. This was a different variety and grows up poles. I think they are a little milder in flavor. I noticed the very first ripe garden candy, which is sun gold cherry tomatoes that are orange, and I left it for Dave. I have been grazing on peas. We had a couple meals of those before Dave left. Zucchini is producing nicely and the yellow crooked neck squash decided it was time also. I noticed silk in the corn, so that means that even though we only have one beautiful row of corn...we will have some corn. Looks like raspberries are done, especially with this heat this week. Ah, but it was nice grazing on them.

The Rest of the Weekend

So Mom and I went to a wine tasting that benefited the National Brain Tumor Foundation. It was held at a very local winery called the Rusty Grape Vineyard. I can't tell you if they make good wine or not. I didn't like either of the kinds I tried, but then I am an Arbor Mist/Wild Vines kind of gal. I was trying to picture how they grew enough grapes to produce all the wine they went through just that day. The vineyard is on five acres and not all of it was grapes. It never worked for me. We did see a wonderful band called the Clark County Benign Band. They had such a good time playing. And mostly they ignored the dog who wanted so badly to play ball with them. See picture.

Then on Sunday we went to the county fair. Saw the animals and drank peach milkshakes. This year the shakes were good. We got to meet some of the K-9 dogs. That was cool. Love those dogs. The other big highlight was the reptiles from Brad's Reptile World. We saw a beautiful green rattler. I was right next to her when one of the caretakers put her back in her cage. Turns out she had been de-venomized so no worries.

Loss

Yesterday evening Heather called. She wanted to know how Tanya and Elizabeth were doing. That seemed a tad odd. Then she asked when had I talked to them last. Obviously not yesterday. So Heather got to tell me about the head on collision that killed Tanya's husband yesterday morning. Heather didn't have any details. So Mom and I went over to Tanya's house and got a few details. Jason had been driving up to some trails that he rides quads on. He came around a corner as someone was coming from the other direction. The other guy cut the corner or took it wide...anyway he crossed the line and hit Jason head on.

I am pretty much over the OMG aspect. I know that Tanya has a long road ahead of her with lots of decisions to make. I know she can be all right, if she lets herself. I find myself making lists for her, but I keep them in my head. She has to go down that road and find her way. I know she is a lot stronger than she feels right now, but then I have been telling her that for awhile. And maybe there was a reason for that.

Myk's Business

Well Myk has finally taken care of part of his business. His plan is to go to Georgia to spend some time with Doug and Heather. Before that can happen he has to wrap up his legal issues in the state of Washington. So today he opted out of Recovery Court. That means the MIP that he got prior to entering the recovery court program is now on his record. He got credit for his time served while in the program. Some of the days he ended up serving counted against his community service time. He is left with a small fine and a suspension of his drivers license.
He is making progress on it anyway after much procrastination. He still has to learn it the hard way....