July 12

Diary:

• Morning: Collected logs for firewood, watersealed BWS-1
• Went swimming
• Mary prepared dinner
• Jonathan mowed

I've never understood tattoos.

Mary suggested and prepared stuffed tomatoes.

Jonathan has mowed the yard since he was 7 years old. His Chinese grandfather accused me of child abuse.

July 10

Diary:

• I forget, except watching the sun set with the kids.

girl exercising her horse across the way

Friday Night at the Feed & Seed

We checked out an upscale feed'n'seed.

I don't think "bucket" means buckets.

It's farmer jargon for something else.

Dog bones?

Paper bags for self-service.

Those are grease splotches... it stinks to high heaven... what are they thinking?


Green tanks in back hold koi (to stock ponds).

We buy bird seed and a salt block.

On the way home, a new post on the neighborhood bulletin board.

Jonathan's Birthday

THE BIG ONE-THREE!

He's already as tall as I am. And he has a deeper voice. So it's kinda anti-climactic.

At the last minute Jonathan decides he would like a swimming party. With a car-full of kids we head to the pool.

Bathing Beauties

Mary brought her friend Emma for company.

Birthday Boy

Marco Polo!

Just like when I was a kid.

Disturbing Man

The appearance of a street person was a fly in the ointment.
The fellow rattled at the fence like it was a jail cell, insisting we were "old friends"...

Of course the kids were frightened.

You scream

I scream

We all scream

For ice cream

The kids are exhausted. Three hours in the water without a break.

Random:

• Emma: "I'm going to be an aunt next month."  Girls giggle in the back seat.  "I put my hand on her tummy and felt a kick.  You forget that it's alive before it's born."  Long silence, then girl giggles again.
• Me: "Emma, is your father re-roofing your house?"  Emma: "We all work up on the roof."
• All the lifeguards are perfectly flat-chested 16 year old girls, serious and professional
• Helium balloons flew past high in the sky.  15 minutes later, another batch drift by.
• A homely young mother splashing with her children was beautiful
• Jonathan: "How does anyone ever win at Marco Polo?"  Me: "You have to cheat.  Everyone cheats."
• Looking at Jonathan, I'm looking at 13 year old me, hanging at the pool
• An old man, swimming laps, rests long and listens to the boys' banter
• I'm gonna swim every day;  it felt so good

The 7th of July

Kids and I take our morning walk. It's about 3 miles, a leisurely hour and a half.
This morning we spot an oriole in a far tree.

I experiment taking voice notes (wav file).   In my old age memory is failing... maybe reminders will help.

I

If you listen to the voice notes, this is "Gallic, Hephestus, turkeys" -- I wanted to remind myself of:

• Jonathan, out of the blue, asks if anyone still speaks Welsh; we get off on the phenomena of Europeans trying to revive dead languages as a politically correct gesture.
• someone says "Lame-footed" which suggests the god of the forge, which reminds us that Jonathan once thought Mercury was "flat of foot"
• finally, we see a couple of male turkeys across the road

Late afternoon, after it cools off, the kids and I head for the woods to chop wood.

Now sweaty and dirty, Mary and I head for BWS-1 to relax

There must have been a million bushtits in the oaks.  The trees shivered and hummed.  It was quite magical.

To top it off, across the field on the far side of the road, we saw something bouncing in the tall grass.  It would spring into sight and then disappear, like it was on a trampoline.

It was a COYOTE, hunting.

July 6

For the last week this guy has parked on the side of the road.

"Deep Fried Hot Dogs"

On a lark the kids and I decided to try it out.

Dean was friendly as could be.

Were we his first customers?
Ever?

He apologized for having to step out of the truck and crank up the generator (to crush ice).

3 deep fried hot dogs
2 burritoes
1 snow cone

Afternoon, stocking up on books from the library.

A familiar scene.

A bunch of crazy old women are coming to the house, so the kids & I hit the road.

Holy Moley. I almost have a wreck. The guy in the sky is having a blast, strafing the cars on the highway.

I think it means new baby buffalo were born.

Since I can't take pictures driving I encourage the kids to use the camera.

Big Fun. Carwash.

We dally until dark, eat at a restaurant, drive around...

...but when we get back home the biddies are still hanging around...

..so Jonathan and I toss a frisbee outside 'till they finally take the hint and leave.