The 4th of July fireworks really did a number on Sally. After she got so spooked on the 3rd in the evening when someone three doors down lit some professional-grade firecrackers, and only getting worse on the 4th, she spent much of last week under our bed. I'm talking all day, all night. And getting her to go outside to go potty was a real challenge. We took to carrying her in our arms out to the garage - that is if we could coax her out from under the bed - to get her to go! We think she may be getting back to her normal Sally-self a week later. And, you can be sure we will be contacting our vet for doggie Valium for next year's 4th of July! This is her hiding under my sewing chair.
Grandparent Day Camp on Thursday didn't help matters, either. She is not UN-friendly with the grandkids but I think she just prefers a more quiet household. With the grandkids, we did watercolor with each child reproducing a picture of their choice. Noah picked a winter landscape, Lucy an ocean sunset, Quinn a trio of parakeets, and Larkin chose a cat (of course) Here are their masterpieces:
We bought a slip 'n' slide specifically for them to use but I have to admit it was kind of a dud. But, at least they got wet. Steve and I had a chance to get wet, too, only in our neighbor Fred's little backyard pool. He has been on vacation all week and we were tasked with helping take care of his dog, Stacy, and of turning on and off the pool filter each day. Tuesday was a hot one so the water felt especially delicious.
We didn't have a chance to take a dip the rest of the week because we were entertaining various guests. Elizabeth Crippen came from Columbia Tuesday evening and stayed through Thursday morning. Her birthday was Wednesday and she didn't want to spend it alone. She and I took Linus down to the Open Door Animal Rescue Wednesday morning for his six-month heartworm check and the great news is that he is now heartworm free!!! There is a scrapbook store in that neck of the woods so we shopped on the way back home and Elizabeth was delighted. Steve grilled pork steaks for Elizabeth's birthday dinner. Sally was still in her under-the-bed mode so Linus got to soak up all the attention.
Then, Friday was Elise's birthday and she arrived Thursday morning and spent time with us until Friday evening. Because Beckie had to work on Friday, we had a family birthday dinner Thursday evening. About that time, our over twenty five year-old air conditioner was struggling to keep up with the heat so our house was not very comfortable. Therefore, we moved the birthday celebration to our deck where the shade and the breeze actually made things quite nice.
Elise actually made her own birthday cake - well, it was lemon ice box pie - but I fixed the BBQ chicken wings and the corn on the cob that she requested. If you have tried to buy chicken wings lately, you will know how difficult they are to find and how pricey they have become.
Friday morning, I had a string quartet rehearsal but that afternoon, the three of us went to the temple. Then, Elise bid us farewell to head off to the Southerlands to go swimming with them at the local pool. It was so great to have her with us for a few days.
Aside from our struggling air conditioner (we have a HVAC person coming tomorrow and happily, weather has been cooler this weekend), we have had some major upgrades on the house this past week.
First, we had the cement front porch doubled in size. Sergio, our neighbor, had his brother-in-law visiting who also just happens to do cement work and he did the job. We had been planning to have it done by someone else Sergio knows who was also going to add cement to their back yard (for their dog area) and I am not sure why that never came to happen. Whatever the case, we now have a place to put two chairs. (once I get them painted)
Speaking of painting, Neal, our fix-it man, has progressed to the point on our downstairs area that painting was the next step (before installing the molding and the door) so Steve and I primed and painted two coats on the walls yesterday. The outside walls are in the same shade of "modern gray" as the rest of the house but the inside walls are a lovely butter yellow per the suggestion of Lucy. I confess I was not thrilled to be donning painting clothes again but happily, the job was small and easily done.
Finally, we had Forever Clean install gutter guards on the west roof of our house. The east is way far away from any trees but the west side was just always getting clogged to the point that a small trickle of water would leak through in our basement any time it rained really hard. It was not cheap, especially considering how short our house is, but it works like a dream now. We had some gully washers after it was installed so we know.
I picked my first zuccini last week. I know it is just the beginning of many more. And, the tomatoes are just coming into full production, too.
I weeded around my little "Christmas tree farm" all last week and spread mulch and I know you can't see them very well but this is now they look now.
In addition to painting yesterday, Steve and I attended a new bishopric potluck dinner. Happily, we didn't have to host it! Being the newest ones to the ward out of that group, it was nice to get to know everyone. And, being the oldest people in that group, we probably wouldn't have had opportunities to get to know them otherwise. Because we were entertaining so much throughout the week, we didn't get time to watch many movies or television but we did catch a pottery throw down last night and we watched some episodes of Star Trek Next Generation on a recommendation from Elise. The one where Data creates an android child was particularly touching. And, I was able to catch the most recent Loki. Whoee, what a fun show
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