Gettin' Caught Up

Tuesday night already, and we have had a lot going on.  

Keith has been sneezing non-stop.  He IS, for the first time I can remember, 

taking Flonase and it's helping. 

This is American Bittersweet growing in the front fence line at the old house. 

I meant to cut some today, and forgot it.  I'll get some tomorrow. 

I wish I could get it started here. 

We've had a couple of really hot days lately. 

It's hard on the dogs. 

And you can see that my drives are becoming more and more fall-like. 

Someone's face lit up when Grandpa got to the game on Sunday. 

Eagle scouts worked on the gazebo at the Ag Hall.  They and their parents were quite the great group of people.  Yours truly was able to get the little train out of the tunnel by herself for the first time! 

My nemesis. 

I admit I had to call Ray from the tunnel (where we keep the train when not in use) to remind me how to start the darn thing again.  My problem is that I don't drive it often enough to always remember the sequence, and it's DARK IN THE TUNNEL! 

Ray himself actually came along a short while later, because he is volunteering still as our beekeeper.  He was giving a lesson to a new volunteer. 

They were checking out the hive whose queen died.  In it were hive beetles (very tiny) and brown waterbugs, UGH. 

Shortly after this, they gowned up and smoked the good hive. 

Ray took the top super home to extract the honey from it.  

The cars parked behind Ray and Sherie were there for the Renaissance Festival, 

which is ongoing now for another 4 weekends.  They share our parking. 

Judy came along to lock up, and I told her that the scouts really wanted a train ride. 

She obliged and.... 

Recruited several to train as train drivers! 

This is the second time I've seen this big group of batchellors.  There are six here, but there are about ten in the group. 

This little guy was in the yard at the old house when I got there yesterday... I gave him time to 

get away before I let Lilly loose. 

More about our weekend projects tomorrow! 

A Soggy Week

I'm afraid to say 

"When will it ever end?" for fear of 

having the kind of weather our Texas and Oklahoma friends are 

having.  A good friend, Lorie, sent me pictures of her street 

underwater today!  So far, none of my immediate friends has suffered 

hardships, but it is all around them and their lives are affected. 

Still praying! 

Can you see the hawklet flapping his now large wings

in the tree above the nest?  Both of them are up and moving 

around in the tree... they may have flown today. 

They won't go far, as mom and dad will keep feeding them. 

Here's a mature hawk taking off last night.  I had to fiddle with 

the picture bedause the light was so bad. 

And we go from the big birds to two tiny visitors !

Today was spent at my "job"... at the National Agricultural Center... 

and even though it rained rather steadily all day, our General Factotum, 

Ray, (also the beekeeper) obliged these adults and kids (in the back) with two 

spins around the track. 

Toot! Toot! 

There they go!  

That's an original depot building that was donated to the Ag Hall.... and is going to be re-painted this summer by members of a model train club who will be moving their displays into it's basement. 

They will also have a large model train that runs in and out of the back of the building (non-rideable). 

The baby geese are getting so big!  

Don't they look like delicate, tiny little dancers? 

I saw this beautiful alligator turtle on the way home.  If I had had a shovel, I would have helped it across the gravel road.  I pray it made it.  Last week, I saw a dead female in the same spot, and she had been full of eggs.  I tried to nudge it on it's way, but I frankly did not want to get bitten. 

I'm hoping that no one deliberately hit it. 

Tomorrow I am helping again at the Ag Hall, as they were 

short of volunteers.  I have met the nicest people there!