Photo Days

Before our July Picnic at our house it rained.  

Christian took these photos on my phone. 

These are just pleasing photos

Lilies

Water Hyacinths

Miss Paislee

Tractor Days

Jim really enjoys this tractor.  It is a very neat thing that it belonged to his father, and that Jim has restored it to a state of usability and enjoyment.  

One thing about having grandsons is that they all like to ride things with wheels.  It also seems to be "the thing" with anyone that belongs to our family.  All the men and boys wanted to drive it, and a few of the girls.  

I wasn't one of them.  

Family Days are Good Days

July 1, that's when the story starts.  

Today however is the 14th.  A lot of things happened between then and now and while 

they included finishing a knitting project they also included a visit to my folks,

catching up and some doctor appointments.

July seems rather late to get your pool up and running, but that's the way it worked out for Lorene this year. Jim goes and uses his vacuum excavator to slurp all the sludge out of the pool and after a long filling time and some fighting with the inevitable bloom of something before the water is clear, the pool is ready for swimming for the rest of the summer.

(With regular maintenance of course. I'm glad we're done with it.)

I showed Christian again how to make hollyhock dolls.  This one is rather elegant.

Mine

Christian's

For my photo of the week, they have a whole bunch of gorgeous hollyhocks.

On the way home -- the local convenience store provides a little humor. 

Baseball is over now, Zane's team made the semifinals after having a winning season.

Spiderwort, the non-hybrid kind.  We dug this up out of a road ditch about 30 years ago. 

These lilies were given to me by Zane and Barry before Christian was born.  

They're about the only things they've given me that I've managed to keep alive.

Also between the aforementioned two dates, we had a 4th of July celebration, 

on the 4th.

The boys have permission to light a few things, snakes, sparklers and smoke bombs all by themselves. There are a few more exciting fireworks they can light under strict supervision.

After the 4th comes the 5th.  

Lynette and Anthony planned to come up for the weekend and we were expecting them late on the 4th so they wouldn't be able to take part of our celebration at Lorene's.  Lynette texted me at 2 showing two little cars on the way and we assumed all was going as planned and they were on their way.  Just before supper a car with a Texas license plate shows up an here they are!! Hours earlier than expected and Lorene was in on the surprise.  They sure fooled us.  It was nice to have those few extra hours with them. 

On the 5th then we all met at our house for a cookout. 

I'm not really sure what was going on here.  Pailsee wanted this to happen and Christian made it work.  Then Paislee alighted from her chariot and all was well. 

????

Looks like she's going to get into big equipment. 

 

I made Texas Sheet Cake for dessert and Zane is pretty proud of his. 

Paislee spent quite of bit of time getting this blanket just so.  

I don't know what these are called.  A strap between two trees gave some quite a bit of entertainment.  

Cousins and Friends

Paislee spend quite a bit of time dropping this tiny toad and someone picking it back up.

This quick snap doesn't show the toad very well. 

Paislee knows Auntie Net now. 

I always have a good time when the family gets together. 

 The weather was perfect even after the rain we had earlier in the day.  

There are more photos I would like to put on the blog, but that will have to wait for another day, or week.  Tomorrow it's back in the trenches.  The garden is starting to produce and Thursday's office work still isn't finished.