Birthdays

It's been a weekend with 2 family birthtdays, a niece who's now 16 and a nephew who's 17. We headed out east to Blanchester yesterday afternoon to have some dinner with Margy, Phill and the gang, picking up Mom on the way. I love going to their house - they have several acres with no neighbors in sight and it's always very peaceful. We walked through the vegetable gardens and inspected the grapevines, finding nothing much but the left behind produce since it's the end of the season.

We wandered out to the pond which is full to the brim because of all the recent rain. Calypso the dog ambled along behind us, hoping to get a handful of the fish food that Phill throws into the pond - she thinks it's quite a tasty treat. Calypso (Phill calls her "Boo") is an old girl who's seen better days but she still loves to get into the water and fetch rocks. And does she ever look bad and smell bad after she's done that. There's nothing quite as awful as wet doggie odor, especially one with that much fur. When she shakes off the water, you don't want to be anywhere around! She can't understand why nobody want to be near her after she's gotten all wet - she just wants to be with her people and be loved!

The family cat is named Persephone (from Greek mythology?). She tiptoes quietly around the vegetable gardens, the barn and the field, keeping an eye on everybody and everything.

Then of course, there was food and cake and presents. Happy Birthday, Laura!

Festivals Galore

June marks the beginning of "festival season" in Cincinnati, with one Catholic church after another advertising their weekend-long events. I'm not sure if it's the same in every other big city across the country, but we have dozens we could attend in the course of the summer. And please note, any festival that takes place after August 31st is called "Oktoberfest" so now we're technically in "Oktoberfest" season.

I have found that a really good festival has four main ingredients: Food, beer, games and entertainment. Food choices are usually a combination of hamburgers/hot dogs/brats/metts; slices of LaRosa's pizza, funnel cakes, corn on the cob, nachos with cheese, soft pretzels. Mmmmm.

Games are in two categories: kids games - the easy bean bag toss kind of game, ring toss, duck pond and so on, with all the cheap little prizes - and adult games, like bingo, poker, split the pot and the instants. We actually won $50 on an instant at the OLR Oktoberfest last weekend! We went to the "Taste of Colerain" about a month ago, and they had some really good kids rides - not a church festival, but similar. They even had a mechanical bull -Yeehaw!

As for beer, well, it's consumed in massive quantities - no pictures of any beer guzzling, but trust me, Cincinnatians love their beer. This weekend the Mother of All Festivals is taking place downtown - our annual Oktoberfest Cincinnati. It's a beautiful weekend and I'm sure it's going to be packed.

If you happen to be reading this, let me know if all this sounds familiar. Does your town or city have lots of church festivals all summer long? Or is it just a "Cincinnati" thing? We have a lot of German-Americans in our area so perhaps it's just our heritage.

Kentucky Backroads

Several weeks ago we decided to have a Sunday afternoon adventure so we drove down into Kentucky towards Lexington, to visit Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill. Well, we never quite made it to Pleasant Hill because we didn't have a map. Now stop laughing - you know we usually plan our trips really well, taking the NavMan, the big Atlas of the US, and individual state maps, not to mention MapQuest directions of all sorts. Well, we were in the new car which has no maps in the glove box yet and the brochure of Shaker Hill had NO specific directions on it. We realized that we were doomed to drive around the rolling hills of the Bluegrass State for hours when the locals at a gas station couldn't even agree on directions. So we made the best of it and came across all sorts of interesting little spots. We grabbed some sandwiches in Paint Lick, Ky. which was barely a town at all. Sweet Pea's Diner was actually an old general store / eatery with a number of customers who all seemed to know one another. We were obviously the out-siders, especially me with my camera. An odd feeling.

We drove across a bridge that spanned a rain-swollen muddy creek - this, I guess, is the redneck version of a dam? We couldn't quite figure out why anyone thought this would be effective. At first we thought it was a foot bridge that had collapsed, but no, it really was meant to stop debris in the creek. Time to call in the Army Corps of Engineers for Dam Building 101. Seriously.

Now one thing they seem to build really well in that part of Kentucky is stone walls. Miles and miles of stone walls, everywhere we turned. Quite old, I guess, but they're holding up much better than that dam. I was quite impressed with the workmanship - no cement holding the stone together, just all fit together like a puzzle. It must have taken stone masons a looooong time to build all those miles of stone walls. Awesome. Where do you suppose all those rocks came from, anyway?

Then came the 4 little ponies that were trotting down the side of the road, carefree and happy because they had just escaped from a field near by. I don't know anything about horses, but they were miniature something-or-another and they were SO cute! A man and lady were walking down the side of the road in hopes of catching them - I bet it took a while! These guys were enjoying their freedom. They had no fear of the road or the traffic so I hope they made it home safely.

Next we came upon a town where there was an old building facade that was being held up by support beams lest it come crashing down into the main street. What you can't really see is that the entire backside of the building has been demolished - you can see straight through the windows of the building into ... nothing! OK, dare I say it ... redneck architecture? Only in Kentucky. Evidently someone had the crazy idea to save the facade and build a new structure in behind it. Must be some cost-savings in the equation somewhere!

Somewhere along the way we came across this abandoned tunnel. The road used to go through it, but the pavement is almost overgrown now, and the interior is cool, creepy and dank. The newer portion of the road goes alongside it so it would be easy to miss as you fly by on the crazy curved road. When Chris put on the brakes to turn around and go back, I had no idea what I had missed.

Eventually we found our way back to I-75, and on the way we passed ... the entrance to Shaker Village. One of these days we'll go back, if I can convince Chris that we can really find it again.

Been Busy - School Started

The past couple of weeks have flown by - but don't they all, any more? - and I'm getting more and more behind in posting family news. I'm going to post just a little something every day, no matter how short or how mundane. It'll be the "5 Minute Blog" from now on! I started this about 10 days ago, as you can see, in an attempt to describe Kelly's back-to-school activities.

We got a new uniform skirt the week before school started and she promptly requested that many inches be cut off, keeping it just barely in compliance with school guidelines: "The plaid uniform skirt, not shorter than 5 inches above the knee, is optional and may be worn at any time. They may not be rolled at the waist. Shorts are not to show from under the skirt. " I guess it doesn't really matter in the end how short it is, because she does wear black shorts as well. (Though she tells me that there are some girls who don't ... What?!?! Climbing upstairs and down all day long, skirts flapping in the breeze? With boys right behind you on the steps??) Anyhoo.... besides the new skirt she got a pair of brown Pumas that look tres comfortable, several pairs of tan and black pants, and 2 new school sweatshirts. (Get this - all the hooded school sweatshirts that we've bought over the past 2 years are now forbidden - they've switched to pullover sweatshirts, NO HOODS allowed any more. What a racket.)

She likes all her classes and teachers - her schedule includes AP US History, AP English, Spanish 4, Honors Algebra, AP Biology, Religion and Art. She actually had a study hall in her original schedule but traded it so she could take Art - she's sitting in on a class doing an Independent Study that she worked out with the teacher. So we're off to a good start - haven't missed the bus so far, homework has been bearable, and she's still working 2 evenings and the weekends at Riley's. You go, girl!

Oh, and as you might have noticed, an IMac has entered our household, and Kelly's the lucky recipient. She now has the best system in the house! We're re-working our network and since her system was the oldest and least reliable (the "weak link") she scored the spiffy new system. It's incredible - the darn thing even talks and tells "knock knock" jokes. Chris loves it - he's next in line to upgrade - gee, I wonder what he might get?!

Painful

Painful for me to look at, and absolutely painful for Tandie, without a doubt. She's laying very still, staring into space, but every so often she shifts around to get more comfortable. (Not possible, from what I can see.) Dr. Jeff was quite descriptive in his narrative of her surgery today. Let's just say he had to dig deep to get the cysts out, and we hope this doesn't have to happen to Tandie again very soon.



Oh, Tandie, I'm so sorry you have to endure this pain. Let's pray tomorrow is a better doggie day.

Heaven On Earth

All I need to satisfy my sweet tooth: Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream and A&W Root Beer to make a Root Beer Float. (Must be Breyer's, must be A&W, no substitutions, please.)

All Chris needs to satisfy his sweet tooth: a huge bowl of Breyer's Vanilla covered with Hershey's chocolate syrup. (Must be Breyer's, must be Hershey's, nothing else is the same.)

Don't tell the dentist. We'll deny everything.

Tandie's Turn

It's was the old girl's turn at the vet this morning, time for her annual check-up and more importantly, time for Dr. Jeff to take a look at her most recent lumps. She's had surgery twice before to remove fatty cysts from her side and neck, thankfully nothing to be worried about. This time though Dr. Jeff is concerned about the lump by her throat since it feels hard, unlike the usual fatty cysts that are softer. He didn't hesitate to say she needs to come in ASAP for surgery - the sooner the better, so we've got an appointment for early Tuesday morning.

Fortunately Tandie is an easy-going friendly dog - she tolerates the poking, prodding and needle sticking of an annual visit without a fuss. She loved the vet tech and could hardly stop licking his face while to talked to her. Oh, to be happy and carefree like a spoiled dog ... no worries at all.

Dr. Jeff volunteers his time at a number of local animal shelters helping with the care of their animals. He and his family have many pets in their home just like we do - he's got a big heart and wishes that every stray and abandonded pet had a good home. We've done our share of rescuing - we're up to 3 dogs and 4 cats and swear there will be no more - we're out of room! Those of you who read my silly little blog - do your part when you can, and adopt a pet from a shelter! They'll love you forever.

Tyson's New Look

Poor Tyson is cursed with bad hair - layer upon layer of silky gold and white dog hair. (His paperwork at the vet labels him a "blonde." That would explain a lot of his spastic behaviours!) During the summer he gets incredibly hot (so we humans assume, anyway) and though we've tried to trim him with our dog clippers, his hair is simply unmanageable. Too many layers, too much for the clippers to handle. His belly hair hangs down in wisps and he comes home from our walks in the park with all sorts of twigs and burrs sticking out from his fur. His back end is a tangle of fine white fur that resembles a shaggy petticoat - not very manly at all.



We gave him a good bath last weekend in hopes of taming his unruly fur, thinking we could comb out some of the excess - nope. He was a wet smelly mess for hours as he dried off. Pathetic. Doesn't he look like a poor little homeless doggie that needs to be rescued?? We concluded it was time for the professionals to intervene.

I made an appointment at the vet (for his annual check-up, and to get proof of his current rabies vaccine) and at the groomers at PetSmart. We headed off to Dr. Jeff's at 8:30 Saturday morning where he was declared healthy but overweight (weighs 43 lbs, should be closer to 35 lbs). Later in the day we went for a ride to PetSmart for his 4:00 appointment at the doggie spa. He was a little reluctant to go with the groomer, but by the time we picked him up at 8:30 he was one happy guy! We could hardly believe our eyes - his new look is stunning! Tyson looks like a young puppy again, and he seems .... slimmer!

I swear he was grinning from ear to ear all the way home, knowing how good he looks. I can only imagine that he must feel sort of "naked" when he plays outside and the breeze blows across his skin - there's certainly not much fur any more. Our conclusion: money well spent! Tyson's conclusion: I am so cool!

Attack of the Yellowjackets

"Yellowjackets account for about half of all human insect stings. Unlike honeybees, their stinger is not barbed, and they can sting many times in succession. They can be especially aggressive in defense of the nest. Stinging and injured yellowjackets release a chemical alarm pheromone that attracts other guard workers."

Well, I guess that would explain why they got really, really mad when I was pounding a nail in the deck, about 6 inches from their nest. I had no idea at the time that they even had a nest, and that my pounding would cause such a problem. I ended up being chased into the house by a couple of these guys, one of which burrowed into my hair and stung me on my scalp. OUCH (*#^!%*^) I was the only one at home at the time, so I ran down to a neighbor's house (gotta love having an EMT close by!) holding an ice cube to my head. Heather checked and found no stinger, just a bump ... I took my melted ice cube and went home, my scalp stinging like crazy for the rest of the evening.

This past weekend I asked the hubster to take a look out on the deck, because I had discovered to my horror, that a suspicious noise was coming from a support column on the deck, in the area where we had noticed the bees. The yellowjackets had been quite busy - most likely thousands of them - working their way into the cracks around the hollow column. When I put my ear up to the siding, I could hear the sound of yellowjackets "clicking" around and bumping into the sides of the column inside. Very creepy. Just picture a hollow rectangular column, about 10" X 12" in size, with the interior filled with angry yellowjackets. **shudder**

First thing Monday I called a pest control company and we set an appointment for Wednesday morning. Two female technicians showed up in a pick-up truck filled with pest-killing goodies. They came back to the deck and nodded knowingly as they sized up the situation, laughing (sympathetically) when I told them about pounding in the nail. They discussed their game plan and headed back to the truck to put on white Tyvek coveralls, gloves and hats. I watched from afar as they mixed up some chemical dust and filled a very loooong wand that would allow them to stay about 8 feet away while injecting the dust into the column.




I hovered by the back door and peeked out every few minutes to see what was happening. I could see dozens of angry yellowjackets buzzing around, and "poofs" of dust as they injected the column with the dust. (That blue glass ball is the item I was hanging up two weeks ago, when this whole saga began.) After about 15 minutes they declared the process finished, saying that most of the yellowjackets were probably dead, and over the next week those remaining would track through the dust and die off. Now that's good news! I can go out and water my flowers without fear of being stung again. Once a season is enough! I'd be really interested in seeing the inside of that column one day - if Chris every gets serious about tearing down the deck and building a new one, I guess we'll see what's left of the nest.

On a happier note, I did see a happy little goldfinch riding on top of my black-eyed susans while the yellowjackets were being "dusted."