1st day of summer and Father's Day

Yesterday was the 1st day of summer but it didn't seem like it. It was cloudy, windy and ended up with a cloud burst of rain, thunder and lightening.

This morning it is windy and cloudy, but not to cold so I am going out in awhile to start pruning the lilacs and maybe moving some flowers to a new bed.

Each of the boys did something nice for their dad yesterday. One cooked dinner for him on Saturday night. One gave him a gift certificate and one gave him mixed nuts and socks! Another called long distance to tell him what a great dad he is. I took him for taco's and gave him an antique bi-plane to look at, not fly!!

He always has been a great father to his boys. He was there for every sporting event, play, trouble and sorrow, or exciting fun event. He was there to hear problems, offer advice (or keep his mouth shut) when needed. He took us camping, went on road (adventure) trips, karate-baseball-football tournaments no matter where they were.

He was always patient, understanding and never ever violent. Maybe a tiny bit threatening sometimes( scare the heck out of them kind), but always ended up loving and kind.

Yes, maybe summer is finally on its way and yes Gary is a good dad and now he is a terrific grandpa too!

Pets

I always find it amazing how attached we as humans get attached to animals. We have a german shorthair pointer dog who is almost 9 years old and we call him our million dollar dog because it seems like we have spent that much on him for all the fences we have built, vet bills we have paid, and time we have spent on him.

Sometimes I get annoyed with him because he brings in dead mice, mud and grass into the house. He swims in the nearby creek and comes in soaking wet and shakes off on my freshly vacuumed carpet. He never eats over his bowl, but takes a mouthful of food into the living room and then chews leaving crumbs all over the place.

And yet, when he is missing for awhile, I get worried that he is sick or dead someplace. When he is sick, I'm the 1st one to suggest we take him to the vet and I'm the one who gives him his pills stuffed in bites of hot dogs. I buy him countless tennis balls that he never brings back, but instead chews to pieces leaving the bits all over the place. I'm the one to rub his back with my bare feet when he comes and sits in front of my recliner at night.

My sister sent a really cool quote about our love of our pets. "We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would have it no other way."

I have had several pets over the course of my life and each one has touched my heart and soul in ways that has given me comfort when no one else has been able too. Their unconditional love allows them to keep coming back when others might turn away, even if we are cruel to them.

Be it dog, cat, bird or fish we humans need to make contact with animals in some small way. I think it reminds us of how we should be, how we should at least try to be to each other.

Still Raining

We have had intermittent rain and sun the last few days, but when it rains it really pours and is accompanied by thunder and lightening.
This afternoon the lightening was in our field and the thunder right on top of our house!! Odie and I both jumped like crazy.
But I am keeping busy and trying hard not to go crazy from the soggy weather.

Soggy!

We have had rain, rain, rain forever! I'm beginning to think we live in Seattle!
It rained all night long last night and I know because I was awake until after 2 a.m. and then woke up several times after that.
Everything is soaked! The lawn grows about a foot a day and the mosquitos are rammant!
I NEED SOME SUNSHINE!!!

Saving a Life!

Yesterday was a pretty normal day, cleaned house, did the dishes, returned books, did my little church clerk job, made lunch and saved a life!

We have a small wading pool that we filled with water for the grandkids and have left out in the front driveway forgotten for the last week or so. Today I was walking past it to go check the mail and spotted this moth about an inch under water in the pool.

There was also a big stick in the water and the moth was so pretty I thought I would dry it out for the kids to see. So I used the stick and carefully pulled the moth out of the water and took it to the little table on the porch. I continued on to get the mail and took that in the house and got a piece of paper to put the moth on.

He is BIG, about 3-4 inches across wing tip to wing tip and beautiful reddish brown with painted on markings only a master artist could achieve.

I showed him to Gary and then left him to dry.

Next time I walked past him, now on the kitchen counter I turned him over and then back again so he wouldn't stick to the paper.

Next time I walked past ( 1/2 hour later) I noticed the wings weren't flat anymore but curving up off the paper. I flipped him over and back again and lo and behold his little tummy looked like it was moving! No Way, he was under water!!

I wait awhile and go look again and he is moving his wings!! Slow and it looks hard for him. I move him out into the mudroom just in case he is really going to live.

I look him up on the internet and he is a Cecropia or Robin Silkmoth. One of the largest types of moth.

I checked again and his wings are fully lifted, but his legs are still pretty curled up under him.

This morning I looked and he is gone!! I looked everywhere in the mudroom and no Robin moth. When it warms up alittle I will open the back door and hope he flies away, alive, free again.