Summer's gone...

Summer flew by for us! 

We went places and did things with family, had family come visit us, and generally were pretty busy throughout the last 3 months.

Richard did get another raised bed built, but we didn't get a lot of produce from either bed this year - the weather stayed rainy and cold through spring and early summer, and then blistering hot, which didn't do the plants any good.  We got about 20 tomatoes, 5 bell peppers, a handful of habeneros and jalepeno peppers, 3 baseball-sized watermelons, one watermelon slightly bigger than that, 6 squash, and about 10 blackberries, because the birds got the rest. Nothing got canned, either.  We simply ate it after it ripened, except the squash, some of which is frozen for future use. 

We plan to build at least 2 more raised beds next year.  He chopped down more trees and is still pulling more stumps to prepare the ground for the beds.

I'm back on the rotational schedule as worship leader at our church - one moved away, and 2 had medical issues, so a couple of us volunteered to pick up the slack.  I also do the children's sermon once a month, but I've been doing that, anyway. 

The dogs and cats are still doing great.  Echo had a relapse of  erlichea, and had to take a course of antibiotics, but she's fine, now.  Buddy was stung by something on his face, but he recovered without incident.  Buddy also tested positive for erlichea, but a round of antibiotics fixed that up pretty fast.  Apparnetly, this could become chronic in some dogs, so we'll have to keep an eye on them and if they relapse, they get meds to make it go back in remission. 

Richard only takes Buddy on the daily walk to the bridge, now.  Echo's arthritis is hampering her ability to walk that far. So Richard takes Buddy to the bridge, and then comes back and takes Echo for a shorter walk, which she enjoys very much.  Flint and I do not walk right now, due to his ACL leg issues.  I'm looking for a solution - I need a double jogging stroller so I can put either or both Flint and Echo in it when they get tired.  We shall see how it goes, however.  So far, I've had no luck finding one on the yardsale circuit. :)

The truck needed some repairs, the AC needed some repairs and my washing machine had an issue, but Richard was able to fix that. 

Other than that, life is peaceful as you can see in the picture of Buddy and his baby, and we're all doing well.  I'll post more pictures later.