It still feels like winter here on some days and yet I've been so busy doing summer things.  I guess 54 to 65 degrees isn't exactly winter but it sure isn't my idea of summer either!  The garden is finally in.  Except I just realized last night that I forgot to plant peas.  Sigh.  Maybe we won't have peas this year.  We ended up with tomatoes, green beans, yellow beans, summer squash, acorn squash, butternut squash, zucchini, green peppers, hot pepper, various herbs, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, pumpkins, pickles, cucumbers, various lettuces, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and artichokes.  Artichokes are new.  I wonder if they'll grow?  I also put in raspberries and the strawberry patch is already full of little green strawberries.  Then the flowers.  I put borders of sunflowers all over the yard, columbines, petunias, marigolds, pansy's & then we have the mystery plants that I bought half-dead last fall.  They are coming on really well.  Whatever they are.  I should start writing this stuff down.  Oh, & lavendar.




 What a gorgeous place.  We stayed at his buddy's house, a log house on a lake surrounded by mountains.  We saw white tail deer, mule deer, elk, antelope, coyotes, a fox, a badger, and a million pesky ground squirrels.  It was so amazing to sit on the deck with my morning coffee and watch deer drinking from the lake.  Of course, I tried to coax them to me and they ran away, but hey, it was worth a try.





Someone mentioned morel mushrooms and we went straight to the woods to try to find some but came up empty handed.  Those darn morel mushroom hunters won't give their spots away for anything ~ we apparently were led on a wild goose-chase!





Even though it was entirely too cold to go swimming, Ryan and Amanda had to go down to the lake and at least dip their feet in.  Ryan split the front of his shorts open climbing around on a dock and this is the resulting goofy picture!  (a picture really can paint a thousand words, can't it?)




Now we're home and today was tagged for moving the mountain of compost we had dropped off yesterday onto the yard and then re-seeding but it's raining so I may get a day's reprieve.  My blisters have turned into callouses so I'm toughening up.  Ahhh, summer . . . now for some warm weather? 

No grandbaby yet.  Can you believe this?  I'll let you in on a cold-stone fact ~ I hate driving long distances.  And if I hated it before driving from Idaho to Phoenix, AZ, I despise it now.  What a horrible drive on US-93.  There is nothing.  Just nothing.  The scenery stays exactly the same until you hit Las Vegas (and then it doesn't change much except that there are people).  Hundreds and hundreds of miles of desert & brown mountains.  No people.  Sometimes an hour might pass without seeing even another car.  That kind of wide open space freaks me out.  I'm from Michigan and then lived in Florida for 20 years.  I'm used to trees and green and lots of people.  I like trees and green and although I am maybe not so fond of crowds of people,  I still like to feel that I'm living in a populated universe.  Especially when there isn't any phone service and the temperature is rising above 100 degrees and I'm in the middle of nowheresville.

Okay, enough said about how much I loved the scenery and the drive.  Zachary called me on Saturday to say that they thought Jessica had had her bloody show.  She was having increasingly steady contractions.  She wanted me to be there with her in the delivery room.  Amanda and I packed and headed for Phoenix.  By the time we arrived everything had stopped.  It was 107 degrees. 

So we hung out.  Swam a lot.  On Thursday Jessica had a Dr.'s appointment.  She was dilated 2 to 3 centimeters and 75% effaced.  The doctor said he would see her next week if she made it that far and that she probably would.  Brad has to go back to work today and Ryan was at home with him . . . also the dogs, the garden, the new seed & sod we just put in.  So I left on Friday morning.  It took 17 hours to get here (one detour when I missed my exit in Las Vegas and ended up on the Strip ...eeks, don't drive on the strip on a Friday afternoon in June).  By the time I got home I literally couldn't see properly and was listing and losing my balance like a drunk.  It was 3 a.m.

Zachary called last-night and Jessica is in labor.  Her water broke without her knowing it (huh?) and so she is in the hospital and on antibiotics.  Her labor is not progressing so they started giving her pitocin this morning.  And here I am in Idaho. 

Expletive.

Baby Jimmy finally decided to arrive.  He made his arrival @ 8:15 lastnight (June 16, 2008), weighing in at 6pds 10oz.  I still have no idea how long he is or any pictures except on my cell phone and I don't know how to email them to myself although I do know it's possible (a lot of good that does me, huh?).  Anyway, everything went fine, mother and son are well, and Dad Zachary (my son) is too in love with the little guy to make much sense or give me the details that I keep asking for!  ;0)

It's so surreal to have my baby having a baby.  I think this might mean that I'm officially old, but that's fine with me.

Good news first - the garden is finally growing.  I was getting a little worried.  We had such weird weather that it was really off to a slow start.  We're eating strawberries, lettuce, & radishes (well, I don't eat radishes but the boys do). We have broccoli & cheddar cauliflower really taking off and growing fast as well (it's yellow, like cheddar, wonder if it will taste different?)  No zuccinni yet and that tells you it's a weird year.  Usually have way too much of that yummy stuff by now! 



More good news, my grandson is doing very well.  I will get to see him July 17th.  Come on July 17th!!!!  I ask Zachary to tell me about him and this is what I get "well, he eats, poops, pees, sleeps, eats, poops, pees . . . "  Geeze!  As if that's all he does!







Now for the "she's baaaaackkkkk" part.  Yeah.  That would be good old Robin (Brad's ex for those of you lucky enough to forget who Robin is, or who may not have read any of my older blogs about this, this, this ....woman.)

So, it's been 13 months since she has seen her children.  6 months since she tried, that one time, and they freaked out and wouldn't go with her.  No Christmas cards or presents, no birthday cards or presents or telephone calls.  Nothing.  Then out of the blue I get a call from her.  She starts out in her nasty voice, telling me that I'm not taking care of their PKU blood draws or diet properly.  I had a migraine and was half asleep so I just kind of stared at the phone.  I finally managed a "What do you care?"  ooooh, that set her off.  So I hung up.  She called again and screamed some more and by now I am starting to wake up a bit.  She just said some really nasty things!  When I tried to answer her she hung up on me.  Well, now I'm pissed.  So I try to call her back.  She picks up and promptly hangs up before I can talk.  Three times.  Okay, so now my blood pressure is boiling.  I can get around this.  I text message her what I have to say.  By now she's called Brad (who is in Alaska at work) and left a nasty message for him.  He's mad that I reacted, I'm mad that I reacted,  Later he gets another message from her and she's saying she's at the court house filling out papers to file a no contact order against me.  Huh?  Can she do that when she contacted me first?  Why did I act like a crazy person trying to get a word in?  I acted as bad as her.  Sigh.  She didn't get it.  

My question is why I always react?  Yes, I have plenty of reason to dislike the woman.  Yes, she infuriates me.  But it has never done any good to be reactive.  In fact, it doesn't do any good to be non-reactive either.  Nothing works with this, this, this . . . woman.  But if only I could stay non-reactive for my own peace of mind and sanity.  You know, so I won't be ashamed of myself for being angry and unloving.  And not just once or twice, but every time she tries to push my buttons, I want to stay calm.  Be civil or just quietly hang up the phone.   The fact that she is telling Brad to get ahold of his lawyer again just freaks me out, I guess.  I'm so tired of giving so much money to lawyers and I'm so tired of the endless bullshit of Family Court.  Her litigation with her ex-husband (two years worth) is almost over, so I should have known she would feel the need to start something up with us.  She's addicted to that court room.




Big deep breath.  I feel better know.  Thanx for listening.

This was an assignment from Diving Deeper.  The assignment was to write whatever came up, using the word "Popular".

POPULAR/Dog Days

It's ridiculous.  I abhor being in last place when it comes to the affections of others.  Talk about being the lowest rank in the hierarchy. It is amazing to think back on the way I came into this house with such high expectations.  I was cuddled and kissed all the way home, and even though it was raining cats and dogs outside, it seemed like such a beautiful start to a beautiful day, a beautiful new life!  I was greeted at the door of my new home the minute I walked through the door, greeted by the others I would be sharing a home with.  The others consisted of a most disturbing group, a group that met me in a most derisory manner.  What a racket! I'm telling you, it was pure chaos!  It was enough to give me a hang-dog attitude.

Sable the Fabled bared her teeth at me.  Max was right behind her, barreling right over the top of me. Stuck his nose right up my ass, too.  Talk about rude.  Then there was theyapper , yapping away at a decibel high enough to melt my eardrums.  I cried for my Mother, I'll tell you, and I cried hard.  I didn't have a dog's chance.

Dinner time around here is another trial, believe you me.  I have to wait last in line, even if I'm half-starved.  I foolishly tried to push my way in front of Sable once and she actually bit me with those yellow-canines of hers.  The old bitch. Next in line is theyapper , and then Max.  That's the hierarchy around here, and I just don't see it ever changing.  Doggone it.  Anyway, I get the left-overs and they are pretty unappetizing after Max is finished mauling them.  He drools and coats every crunchy morsel so thoroughly that I'm left with mush. Another thing about Max, he has a humping problem.  Well, they all do to tell the truth, but Max is the worst and most persistent with it.  One minute I'm minding my own business and the next the galoot has climbed on me and just starts pumping away.  The kids in this house seem to get a huge kick out of it.  They laugh and giggle and call out "Ooooh, look, Max is humping the puppy!"    The alpha-people tell the kids that it's just a dominance thing, as if that makes it all okay.  The humiliation!

Speaking of dominance, there is one animal in this house that doesn't have a dog's chance against me.  Boots, the cat, oozes fear when I'm around.  I sniffed that out right away.  Of course, that led to more trouble.  Those kids started right in shouting and laughing, "Oooooh, look, the puppy is humping the cat!"  The alpha-lady started scolding me right away.  I hate being scolded and feel so ashamed, but that wasn't enough for these people.  No, the alpha-male took it upon himself to make a big fat joke out of it. The alpha-lady scolded him for what he said but the kids just screamed with laughter, at my expense. I would share his joke with you but that guy can be pretty crass.  Take, for instance, the time the alpha-lady caught me licking my balls.  She started right up scolding me again, as if I had done something wrong, and even made all kinds of faces as if I was the most disgusting creature on earth.  The alpha-guy, though, he patted me on the head and told me not to mind her, that he'd do the same thing if he could.  Said something about it saving him lots of money in child support, whatever that is.  This made the alpha-lady giggle, so that wasn't so bad, although I did wonder if the joke was on me again.

I just can't seem to please anyone, dog or human.  I'm doing my best to figure it all out because I really like it when the people scratch my belly and say things like,  "You're so cute. Oooooh , I love your sweet face!"  I love that shit. I tend to get all excited and when I get excited I do the natural thing and nip their faces, you know, just little love bites.  Unfortunately, I seem to be barking up the wrong tree most of the time as I try to endear myself and show my affection. Then there is this thing they have about bodily eliminations.  I mean, it happens to all of us, right?  But every time I start to go about my business I have someone yelling at me and throwing me out the door.  I've even had my nose rubbed in it, if you can  believe that.  I just can't figure it out. Another thing that has me stumped is the alpha-lady taking me outside all of the time. I would love it except that she always stands there staring at me, crooning, "Go potty, go potty, go potty."  I'm not sure just what this "go potty" stuff is all about. She kind of freaks me out and I get all nervous and jittery.  I once  found a pile that Max had left behind and I thought about taking a piss on it but there she was, watching every move I make and I know what's going to happen if I start pissing, I'm going to be in the dog house again.  She's going to start yelling at me and what if she rubs my nose in Max's crap?  I mean, I don't mind sniffing it or anything but I don't exactly want it rubbed all over my face.  So, for now, I just have to try to keep sneaking back behind the couch for myeliminations and hope that she doesn't find out. 

It's tough stuff not knowing what to do to please this new family of mine.  Tough stuff.  I leave you with some words from the wise ~

Life is like a dogsled team. If you ain't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
~ Lewis Grizzard