Memorial Day Bocce Ball

We learned how to play bocce ball at Camp Michigania. Or at least the version they taught us! My sisterinlaw got a very nice bocce ball set and brought it over and my hubby "made" a court....this involved buying PVC pipes and mowing the lawn an inch and 1-2 shorter than the rest of the yard. The court is 60 feet by 12 feet. Here is a picture.......


and then we proceeded to spend the afternoon playing.
When we played in the morning to try out the court....it was hard to play with Clancy(black lab 7 month old puppy) retrieving all the balls.
He did not understand that these balls were not for him. When the real Bocce ball set arrived, the balls were so heavy he could not get them in his mouth....that was a good thing.
Hope your Memorial Day was as fun as ours!


Hubby,Kathleen behind hubby, son#2, Tessie(chocolate lab) Clancy (black lab) Bailey (golden retriever) enjoying the beautiful afternoon.

Perennial Garden

You would think that after the corneal abrasion I would stop weeding ....
but I decided to weed where I could see the results....
I am only sorry that I did not take a before picture.
Here is a picture of our perennial garden that I spent 8 hours weeding!

Outside work

Over the years we have defined different jobs as inside or outside.
You'd think this would be an obvious decision...Inside stuff..mine outside stuff...his
....but there are many jobs inside that fall to husband as well(things like painting the walls, fixing the toilet, sinks, faucet drips, you know...husband jobs)
and there are many jobs outside that I like to do even though they are husband jobs (mowing the lawn, planting flowers, weeding, blowing the leaves).

Well, after my experience yesterday with weeding, he can have that job back.

It had rained and the ground was perfect for weeding...a job that is very gratifying...if there wasn't so much to do!!!!While pulling weeds under the Austrian pines.....a branch went into my eye..I now have a corneal abrasion....not a big deal..I hope...but it does not feel so grand.
Yes, I had glasses on.
Yes, I was being careful or so I thought.
Yes, I went to the doctor ASAP.
and yes I will weed again...
but I am checking that marriage contract and making sure that is says it is an outside HUSBAND job and get the compensation I deserve!!!

Puppies

Don't get me wrong....I love my dogs...but my girlfriend-that I work with- and I, have decided that this is the last puppy either one of us will have.

We have lots in common, my friend and I.....we have a secrets we will take to the grave with us...we are joined at the hip....
we cover each others backs....
we proof read each others in house emails (in case one of us is being just a little bit b**** uh,,,I mean unprofessional(there is a typical example!!) She is a wonderful person, articulate, intelligent and so many adjectives I can't write them all down.
Considering how different we are on one hand....we are very alike on another.

We have a few things we wish we didn't have in common. One of them is the untimely passing of our 7 year old dogs. My 7 year old lab died in Oct and her 7 year old St. Bernard needed to go 6 months later. She has an 11 year old golden retriever and I have an 11 year old chocolate lab. We are also the proud of owners of puppies.

To be fair.....I did warn her that they are a lot more work than I remembered since I got Clancy first....
but......she is now the proud owner of Charlie ,
(no ..it has NOTHING to do with my husband!!) the labradoodle
isn't he cute??


She also is taking him to puppy kindergarten class...ok...her HUSBAND is taking him...

and we are both just waiting until they aren't puppies any more.

It can't happen fast enough.....
so be warned....
puppies are a LOT more work than us over 50 crowd remember.......11 years ago it didn't seem like soooo much work.

Babies and puppies....truly for the younger crowd.

Dwarf Korean Lilacs

.....if these are DWARF what do the regular ones look like cause these are AWESOME!!!
The smell is incredible....

and they are in my front yard!

Clancy's friend Bailey

It turns out that the dog that lives next door LOVES Clancy. The feeling is mutual. They play and play and play and they wear each other out....or that is the hope.


Tessie, on the other hand....is quite happy to lay on the couch and be a couch potato.

Happy 26th Birthday, Gregory!

For you , I found the superman picture!!

Hope your birthday was wonderful.

Love, Mom

Motocross ----who knew????

I am embarrassed to tell you that I went and looked this up as I could not believe my husband was correct on this. So here you are.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motocross

who knew this was for real????? I had no idea....ok, honey, you are/were right.

Does that make you happy!!??

So for all of you contemplating taking this up as an amateur sport in W. Va. ....be assured that ALL the medical staff will be available to you...no exceptions made!!

Happy Mother's Day

To all the mothers in my family and circle of friends both near and far......Hope you have a great day!

and for those of you who thought the West Virginia story was a typical redneck tale, here is this tid bit of information!

The driving force behind Mother's Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. While the annual celebration spread around the country, Jarvis began lobbying politicians to set aside a day to honor mothers. She finally succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.


So put that in your pipe and smoke it!

A West Virginia story

My husband was at a medical meeting today. When he came home he told me 2 things I had never heard before about West Virginia that the presenter had told them since he had worked in W.Va. for a few years.

Apparently, there are 2 days in the year that ALL hospital staff report to duty...no exceptions period.

Husband: Any idea what they would be.
ME: New Year's Eve(we do like our liquor--some of it even homemade!).
Husband: Nope, that would not be one of them, he said. Care to take another guess?
Me: Uh not really.
Husband: Ok, here they are........West Virginia Rattlesnake CatchingDay.
Me: you're joking
Husband: no I am not and the next one? Amateur Moto Cross Day.
Me: What is that?
Husband: You know. where amateurs ride moto crosses.

I would like to think that he is pulling my leg...but I have a feeling that if I make a big deal about this-( I mean--really--I lived in the state for 22 years and never heard of either one of these)he will prove it to me via the Internet or something.

He said that the hospitals have to send for anti-venom from the east coast so they have enough....Ok this I believe but moto crosses..aww come on....pull the other leg.

Chin the chinchilla

One of the results of the daughter's bike accident is I am now in charge of her chinchilla......



To be fair, she is watching it for a friend who is out of the country for a semester abroad. She knows Chin from camp. He has been in her care for the past 2 summers.
I, on the other hand, am like a "girl" when it comes to rodents...which is what this is part of. It is pretty to look at but it does not like to be held and looks for ways to escape.

I spent some time reading about chinchillas. Here is what I learned.....

They are from the Andes Mountains....
They live in large colonies but can live alone......
Their life span is about 15 years.....
They need a lot of space to roam (hence the chinchilla castle/ 3 story condo that is set up in the bedroom)....
They pee in the same place but poo everywhere...they look like black pieces of rice...hard as a rock....
They can spray you(with urine) if they don't like your smell..
They test you with their teeth to see if they like your smell(translate that to bite---fortunately they don't bite hard)....
They need to have lava stones to bite on as their teeth continue to grow...
They don't take water baths, they take dust bath--special sand that is found in the mountains in lieu of water.....
They can be trained but don't like to be held....(this makes no sense to me)...
They need to have their cages cleaned once a week....
AND they don't do heat very well at all....hence the fan on 24 hrs a day.

My daughter's piece of advice before she left was that Chin likes to escape his cage, so be careful when you feed him.

Well,
how fast can someone come and take this little rodent back to Michigan so I don't have to try and make friends with it so it doesn't spray me and doesn't get lost in her bedroom after he escapes his cage?

NOT FAST ENOUGH!

Bike Accident

We have had a very stressful few days. The daughter wrecked her bike at college and ended up in the ER with a possible broken jaw*. I went down to school to get her to bring her home to consult with our doctors and felt I was handling the situation with perfect equanimity, under control, what will be will be and all that attitude, thankful it wasn't anything worse.
Before we left campus I needed gas so pulled into a gas station, pulled out the credit card and proceeded to try and fill up. After numerous attempts to slide the card in the proper slot and hearing "See attendant" I finally went inside--with the credit card-- and moseyed up to the counter with a few other items we thought we might need for the trip home.
Waited in line, finally handed her my card and other purchases.

The attendant was by this point pretty exasperated with me as she had been telling me to come see her so she grabbed my card, slid it through the machine and then looked at me, at the card and said:
"We don't take Mobile credit cards at this Marathon gas station."

Did I feel like a fool or what?

*final note, the jaw is not broken and the cracked tooth did not need a root canal and she has 10 stitches in her chin...for something that started out pretty scary, she was very lucky. She always wears her helmet, but her dad has now revoked her bike license.


And many thanks to Dennis for going to the ER to see how she really was until I could get there...You're the best nephew ever!!

Happy Birthday, Dennis!

If I had a picture of you and Greg and Eric and Dan in your camouflage outfits I would post it! Or, more embarrassing, your superman outfit!
I hope you have a wonderful birthday....
Love Aunt Neva