Pretty Zinnias!

I took some pictures that I thought were pretty. These are zinnias I planted in our yard. They are so bright and cheery! Happy Summer!

Trip to Olathe

Gus and I made a trip to Olathe last weekend to see my Aunt Julie, Uncle Chris, and cousins Trevor and Kelsi that were in town from Texas!! They were busy while in KC, but I finally got to see them on Saturday afternoon right before I left. It was good to see them because I don't get to very often.

The reason I took Gus with me was because I thought he needed to be watched closely since his leg was still healing. After a bath, brushing lots of his fur off, time inside at my parent's house, and a torn up screen door, I can now say that I won't be taking him to the city again anytime soon. At least I've determined that his leg is now strong enough and I don't have to hover over him anymore!

Here are pictures of Gus in the car after he finally settled down.

Stormy weather

Last night we had storms! They seemed to never stop. Limbs went down, patio furniture went flying, and the sweet corn was almost flattened. We hope the sweet corn recovers. :(
So today we cleaned up limbs!

Limbs, limbs everywhere! One of these slid down the roof of our lodge and bent the heater exhaust pipe. Great, something new to get fixed. :)

Gus decided to help too.



The kittens had fun playing in the debris.

Oh, and by the way, Gus's second cast fell off last week, so now he is with no cast, but has to wear his cone around his head to keep from licking! Gotta love the cone head. I'll be glad when he is good to go and back to normal. His leg is a little crooked, but he walks on it fine. We just have to keep him quiet for another week or so while his leg heals more.

Kittens

Just thought I'd share some cute kitten pictures!

Aren't they so cute?!

These two are about a month old.

Correction:

It was brought to my attention that I wrote MONTHS instead of WEEKS for how long Gus has to wear his cast. It is only 5-6 WEEKS, not MONTHS!! Thank goodness, because I don't think he nor I would last that long. Actually, we are already on cast #2! Can you believe it? Last Friday, his cast fell off because his leg had become so small without any muscle, and the cast is heavy! So back to the vet we went for yet another cast. I'm just praying this one lasts another 2-3 weeks. He has already been chewing on it so I had to duct tape it up. Why do we have such a spunky dog?! :)

House projects

I wanted to add something to make our front porch stand out a little more, so here is the before picture (taken over the winter, obviously):

After we put the railings on and made the pillars a little bigger:

Closer up:

And after with the railings, floor freshly painted, and new landscaping with rocks on either side of sidewalk. Now you can see the tree with leaves on it that shades the house nicely!

Closer up view. I want to put a new light fixture in by the front door.

Thanks to my mom and brother for help with the construction and brainstorming, and to my lovely husband for helping me get the rocks and dirt. You all are awesome! Now to think of the next project. Hmmm... Any ideas? :)

And here's a picture of Gus, who LOVED to climb up on the porch while I was painting. See the white paint he got all over his ear?? Luckily he didn't mess it up too badly. Crazy dog!

Snake bite

Oh yes, you read that correctly. I was walking leisurely through the yard in the grass (short grass, I might add) and I feel what felt like a small pinprick on my left ankle. I look down behind me and the snake is coiled and looking at me. So, of course, I scream at the top of my lungs and run away. The snake doesn't seem too terrified since it slowly starts slithering away. Derek and Kara yell over to see what was going on. I yell back, "A snake just bit me!" Oh yes, the scream was warranted, although I'll be the first to admit that most of the time I scream at silly little things. This was not something silly though. So Grant kills the snake, Kara runs to get her book so we can try to identify it. We think it was a Western Rat Snake, which are not dangerous to humans. The snake must have been in the middle of the yard, saw me coming and coiled up, then lunged at me when I was right on top of him. I NEVER saw him!

I guess I'll be watching where I'm going more closely from now on. I called the doctor, went in to his office, and came out with a tetanus shot. Not too bad. No swelling or anything. The shot hurt worse than the bite. So here are some pictures of the "wound". I have pictures of the snake but I'm not sure if people will want to see those. If you do, email me and I'll send you the picture.

See the little red dots on my ankle?

Here's a closeup.

Outdoor fun

It seems we have been spending a lot of time outside lately. Last weekend we had a campfire cookout and went camping with some family/friends. It's always interesting camping in a pasture where you have cattle...they get very curious about you and your tents. That's what we woke up to, the cattle mooing and sniffing around our tents.

Softball season is also underway! Last summer, we started having softball games in part of a field by Vernon and Carol's house and season two has begun. We mostly play with people from church, but anyone is welcome! So, if anyone reading this feels like playing some softball, we usually play on Sundays.

making breakfast

curious cattle

Makayla is a true camping girl.

Softball!!