Cleo on the Outside

(Posted by Kyle)

We've been letting Cleo wander around the back yard a bit. She has gotten really insistent on going outside. She tries to slip out every time we come in from outside, and if we are inside, she sits at a door and yowls loudly. So we've been taking her on heavily supervised walks around the yard.

We have to be careful about where she goes. She got under the deck once and had to be coaxed out with a can of wet food. Otherwise, she likes to roll around on warm cement and eat grass.

I was hoping these little outings might cut down on the yowling and maybe even lighten up her surly disposition. Wrong on both counts.

Hot garden!

Can you see the tiny patty pan squash pushing its way into the world? Some plants, needless to say, have been doing better than others this summer. The current heat is making for some saggy, saggy leaves, but the corn is loving it!

Yeah yeah yeah. It may not look like much compared to Iowa, but by the end of September, we may actually have corn! I started them from seed, and I think next year I will use plant starts instead. Our scarlet runner beans are winding all over and producing really dramatic blossoms, but no beans yet.

Our many tomato plants are just turning now- we have been eating some yellow Golden Perfection tomatoes, but have many heirloom varieties and grape tomatoes to come! It's turning into a jungle.

Thebroccoli died, but we have eaten several zucchini- squash may be my personal forte! Which is alright, since I'm obsessed with them. Our peas have been producing a lot, but they do not like the heat at all. Prima donnas. And that, folks, is the end of July garden report. Hold your breath for the next one!

More Vacation Pics

(Posted by Kyle)

Here are some pictures from Twin Falls, Idaho. Specifically, the Snake River Canyon. We stopped here our last night on the road, then spent the morning walking the trail along the rim of the canyon.

That's the canyon behind Stephanie.

Here I am, with my poor man's Big Game Hunter look going on.

The bridge going to Twin Falls. The first time I was in Twin Falls, I stopped during a snow storm and drove into town without even noticing the canyon. I drove over it the next morning and couldn't figure out how I had not seen it.

Those of you my age or older may recall watching Evel Knievel's failed jump over the canyon on the Wide World of Sports in 1974. The dirt ramp he used is still there, just a couple miles down from the bridge. New fact I learned this trip: Evel Knievel is from Butte, Montana, and we missed their annual Evel Knievel Days by a week.

Some pretty rapids and a waterfall a little farther down the canyon.

We're Havin' A Heat Wave

(Posted by Kyle)

Sort of a heat wave. Couple of days in the triple digits. House is cool in the morning, stuffy in the afternoon. I keep coming across scenes like this:

The pets just collapse all over the house. This is only slightly more random than their moderate weather behavior. Here is my only idea to cool the house down: Frozen bottles of water in front of a fan. I got this idea from a comic book about the assassination of President Garfield. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. Steph had a much better idea for keeping the house cool:

Salad bar for dinner!

Karaoke, American IOWA style (ouch)

While visiting Iowa we were fortunate enough to be invited to a highly competitive American Idol Wii Karaoke Party. The players were fierce and passionate, even when the singing was weak and hard to hear. Whether standing stock still, squinting at the tiny lyrics on the screen, or gesticulating wildly, each singer offered a special twist to an old favorite (or completely unknown pop song by Beyonce, but I'm not bitter). A field of fourteen was slowly, painfully whittled to four, and then the final two, one of whom was my multi-talented sibling. Below, the pictures speak for themselves- at least, I'm not speaking for them. (Do captions count?) As you peruse, turn your brain station to "Maneater" by Hall & Oates or "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, and it will be like you're there! Sorry.

Gearing up for our Ozzy Osbourne-Lita Ford duet, "Close Your Eyes".

Wendy and Ben watching the little words fly across the screen....

My favorite boy band- Kevin and Jeremy.

My sister accepts her first place award, a Hannah Montana headset microphone with NO working parts, as though she has waited for it her entire life. Megan seems equally excited by her runner up award, which is the exact same thing?

The Cat of 1,000 Faces

(Posted by Kyle)

Cleo has a bit of a hair eating problem, and we often find her with a half swallowed clump of hair dangling down her chin like a fake beard. For instance, here she is sporting a classic Van Dyke:

In the past, we usually just yelled "Hey Fu Manchu!" and pulled the hair out of her mouth, but lately I have started to name the beards based on who I think she looks like. And now I will be able to photograph and catalogue them. I call this one the "Charles Dickens":

And here's the "Kyle Jennings":

That's all I have photographed so far, but with the weather heating up, I expect more in the series.