All kinds of stuff

Dear Mom,

There has been so much activity here that I haven't been able to sit down and compose myself long enough to put a blog post together. Since realizing that Patsy and doggie daycare are not a good combination, I have been focusing on staying ahead of her energy. Regular visits to the dog park and long walks seem to be working, proving that a tired dog is a good dog. I am getting my exercise, and Bumper's endurance has certainly improved. This time last year, a one mile walk was his limit. And sometimes finishing that left him with a slight limp the next day. Now we take 1 1/2 to 2 mile walks a couple of times a day. We also try to visit the dog park several times a week.

The best part of the dog park is the small pond. I don't mind a wet dog, and I've stocked up on blankets from the Goodwill to protect my car seats. One evening last week, during one of our visits, a duck flew in and landed on the pond. Bumper was on immediate high alert and headed straight into the pond, determined to get that duck. I wish I had my camera with me! Patsy, who is not afraid of the water but will only get in as deep as she is able to keep her paws in the muck, decided that running laps around the perimeter of the pond might help Bumper in his quest. 

Even with Bumper's   ahen    natural buoyancy, I was surprised at how well he swam. The Young Lady, who was with me, pointed out that BumperJosephMichaelPhelps was smiling. The duck managed to keep himself at a consistent distance away from Bumper, but in the center of the pond and away from Perimeter Patsy. Bumper turned back, reevaluated, and went for it, swimming all the way across the pond, "chasing" the duck. The duck probably decided it wasn't worth  all the maneuvers required to avoid the dog on perimeter patrol and the one in the water, and flew away. I wish I could hire that duck for regular visits.

The commotion of replacing the siding on the house is now behind us. We have a minor checklist of things to take care of and then we can officially say we are done.(And write that last check.) We spent part of our Memorial Day replacing our outdoor light fixtures. With fresh paint and siding, the old fixtures looked....old. I still need to put the inside back together. I took everything off the exterior walls before it fell off.

The only casualty of the exterior work was the postponement of the Annual Last Day of School Snow Cone Party. The painters were not finished and I wasn't willing to risk having me, the kids, the neighbors and our snowcones/frozen adult beverages covered in a mist of Sherwin Williams SW3004 "Summerhouse Beige".  But I think the painters would have enjoyed the party.

I got terribly little knitting done over the long weekend. Small price to pay for all that we did accomplish, though. All the dog walking is wearing ME out and when I sit down to knit at the end of the day, I find myself dozing off waaaay too soon. I am about 2/3 of the way done with a little baby jacket. It is Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomten, one of my favorite baby things to knit, and one of my favorite baby/kid things I made for my kids. I'll show you when it is all done.

I can also proudly show off this project, which was finished on Sunday:

My Hero is reconstructing our Adirondack chairs using his broken hockey sticks. Both foot stools and one chair are complete - he just needs to collect more sticks to finish the second chair. They are Sturdy and Comfy (just like us) and hopefully we will be able to spend many hours relaxing time in them this summer with frosty summer beverages nearby ( and my knitting, too!)

Love,

Kim