Yikes! It's been so long since I've posted. This summer has been a whirlwind of both happy and sad events. Nic spent nearly a month at her Grammy and Grandpa's ranch, riding Scooter and just plain living the farm life. A great trip for her at her home-away-from-home!
Meanwhile, we worked on some landscaping projects here...which certainly instigated that feeling of rapidly aging. Arrggh! It sure takes longer to get things done as we creep out of our 4th decade. The garden is producing, so we're canning something every few days. We have over 53 pints of beans and at least 2 more pickings before those are done...wow! Blackberry jam and applesauce are on the agenda, along with lots of ears of corn to process and Matt's famous dill pickles! Can't seem to get the tomato production flowing, so once again, we'll only have a few just to eat fresh.
As the days creeped into my birthday weekend, I found myself with a very sick dog at the emergency hospital. Lhasos can be known for kidney issues, and my little guy was stricken with more than his share now. A surgeon removed the stones that were posing the most threat to his life; however, he has a kidney that is starting to fail along with a stone that is blocked between the kidney and bladder...a very expensive and delicate surgery that only a handful of specialists in the state will perform. He is feeling better now, but it is only a matter of time before he has total kidney failure. Maybe we'll be lucky and have another year or two together, but for now, we are savoring every moment and learning a lot about accepting loss together.
September will bring the start of middle school for Nic, so we'll enjoy a bit more camping before she's back to the books and I'm back to sewing. Lots of shows lined up for this fall, and watch for my new pattern release at the beginning of the month!
