I have been concerned that we were going to repeat the drought we had last summer, but the showers we’ve had recently have allayed my fears.
The sweet corn has begun to come in. We are all enjoying it except Ben who has two loose teeth. He was very frustrated until we scraped the kernels off with a knife. Our peach and nectarine trees are also loaded to the point of breaking.
SPEAKING OF LOOSE TEETH. Ben lost one of his teeth the other day. He kept working with it until it finally came out which is so unlike his sister who lets them stay in until they fall out on their own. Both kids have struck pay dirt when it comes to lost teeth. Not only does the Tooth Fairy visit our house, but G’Anne gives them money as well. Nate, who is not old enough to lose any teeth yet is getting a little upset from being left out. I keep assuring him his payday will come, but I don’t think my assurances have gone too far. I finally told him to pray for inflation between now and then. Confused, he dropped the subject.
INDEPENDENCE DAY. We had a wonderful Fourth of July this year. Our day began with the annual Kilgore Remembrance Ceremony. Since this is an election year the program featured Presidential Trivial. The main resource for this information can be found here on the National Park Service’s Public Affairs web site in case you are interested.
What is new for this year is the fact that Kilgore Park is now open in Cross Plains and the new Cross Plains Chamber of Commerce is now operating. The City, the Chamber, and several local churches worked together to organize a church softball tournament (Vicki sure was sore), a concert, a hamburger supper, and a fireworks display (featuring $2500 worth of pyrotechnics from Sad Sam’s). The neat thing about the whole day was the sense of community. While Cross Plains is pretty tight nit, we have needed a day like this for a long time. I think our new park will be a real bonus for our town.
QUICK VISIT. Uncle Bob and Aunt Linda came in last weekend for a quick visit. This time Ann Beth came with them. Last Saturday we all went out to eat at True’s Barbecue and last Sunday we grilled out over at Pauline’s. Then they were gone, seemingly as quick as they got here.
LILY THE CAT. I think we’ve decided on a name for the cat. Lily seems to have won out, mostly because Jenna likes to call her Tiger Lily. Lily’s coloring looks nothing like a tiger, but it sounds cool anyway. Lily is actually starting to put a little weight on and look a little more healthy than she did.
I know many of you reading this will have a differing opinion on what I am about to write. We’ll just agree to disagree here and move on. You see, I grew up in a home where it was completely out of the question for an animal of any kind to be in the house. I had some goldfish once and that was seriously pushing the limit. (And when one fish somehow flipped out of the bowl and we found it dead in the floor my fish keeping career was washed up.) It really wasn’t too hard for me to accept this because as a kid I was allergic to almost everything with fur. Even today I am uncomfortable with the thought of a dog or cat in the house.
When Vicki and I first moved into this house in 1995 we got a kitten. Alley was a very personable cat and we’d let her in and out as she pleased. We kept her until she disappeared in 1999. Mom and Aunt Mar were never comfortable with Alley being in the house, and when Jenna came into the picture they even hinted their feeling that she should strictly be an outdoor cat. It wasn’t that they didn’t like Alley, just not when she was inside.
All this is to lead into what I want to write now. We are all in disbelief at how Aunt Mar has taken up with this cat! She is worse than Aunt Ruth ever thought about being! She now asks me about the cat in the same breath with asking about the kids. She has offered to pay the vet bill for the cat to get a check up. She SITS WITH THE CAT IN HER LAP when we eat at Pauline’s, and even SLIPS THE CAT FOOD UNDER THE TABLE when we are eating on the deck! Lily is even WELCOMED INTO AUNT MAR’S HOUSE (as long as she is sitting on Aunt Mar’s lap). It is such strange behavior for Aunt Mar that Ann Beth got out her camera to document this. If I thought a cat wouldn’t trip her I’d suggest she get a kitten of her own.
WALL-E. A group of us from church went to Springfield to see the latest Pixar release last week. Going to the movies is fun and going with a large group of friends is even better. If you don’t catch this flick in the theater you should put it on your movie rental list or Netflix queue.
SLEEP-OVER. Benton had his first sleep-over Friday night. He’s been begging to have one since we got out of school and the calendar finally cleared enough for it to happen. He wanted to invite his friends Ethan and Wil. Ethan was able to come and stay the whole night. Part of the fun included swimming over at Kenny and Lori’s so Wil came out to swim with us. After swimming was over Wil came home with us. I took him back home at bedtime (Lori had been out of town all week so Wil wanted to get back). They have run, jumped, whooped, hollered, terrorized the cat, and played on the GameCube--exactly what a bunch of little boys needed. Going to bed Friday night Ethan told us he was an early riser, getting up before 6:00 am. He must have been worn out because he really overslept.
SLICK TICK REMOVAL. This home remedy was passed along to us by email from Alice Keith. Mom noticed the other day that she had picked up a little seed tick. The boys and I happened to be over there when she discovered it. It was already attached to her arm. I called home to get Vicki to look up the email and refresh my memory. What you do is take a cotton ball and soak it with liquid soap and rub it over the area where the tick is. This causes the tick to release itself and stick to the cotton ball. Worked like a charm!
GOOD-BYE OLD FRIEND. Well, I sold my old truck last weekend. A fellow we go to church with bought it to fix up for his son who has just turned 16. This guy lives near my office in Springfield. A lot of times I take a walk on my lunch break, and the other day I happened to walk by his house. It was sort of hard to see my old truck in someone else’s driveway.
On the flip side, I am really enjoying the new truck. I am still getting used to driving a bigger vehicle. I had to run to Tractor Supply one day for a few things. Pulling into the parking lot I felt like I fit in more than I ever had before.
Joe
