Mustard

(A Companion Post to "Ketchup")

More catching up:
Lizzie's 7th Birthday!  What a cheerful girl she is.  She got special pads and a new helmet for her crazy bike riding (and skating, once I found her some great roller skates at the thrift store).  Then, of course, she got a jewelry box and plush puppy with carrier also from us at her friend party.  She actually ASKED for frozen Salisbury steaks and frozen corn for her special birthday dinner.  Good thing, since I was kinda sick on her birthday and our A/C hasn't worked well at all this summer.  I wasn't up to fancy cooking so frozen Salisbury steaks was just about perfect for everyone.

Around this same time we discovered a barn swallow that liked to hang out on the loop of the cord for the ice melter thingies above the walkway.  First he (we called him a "he", but I don't technically know) hung out for a day or so, then started building a fancy little mud nest.  Kate and I sat on the bottom stair inside with the door open and took lots of pictures.   You can kinda see how close he let us come.  See Sabrina standing right below him?  Wow.  "He" never finished the nest, but we still see him every now and then.  I assume it's where he hangs out when he's in the "dog house".  Fun to watch!

This was during one of the worst stretches of heat inside the house.  Those pictures are taken at the same time as proof.  At 8:44 pm it was 90 degrees in the house.  It was next to impossible to sleep.  We spent a fair amount of time outside because at least there was a cool breeze in the evening.  So we'd start up a fire (burned up the branches left from chopping the dead tree up) and sit outside to watch a movie.

Independence Day Fun, part 1:
Lizzie was sick on Independence Day.  She had already run a fever for several days and the 4th was on a Monday so it was another day until normal office hours and she didn't seem sick enough to worry about emergency care.  She stayed home with Daddy while I went with the other girls to the Jarbh family brunch.  It was a momentous day: Sabrina can finally climb up into grandma's walnut tree by herself!  The rule is that you can climb in the tree as long as you can get in there without help (no using stools or chairs for a boost).  Sabrina is finally tall enough that her acrobatics can get her onto the branch.  Yay!  My sister, her husband, and their teenage daughter ran a race that morning and were in their racing shirts.  None of them came in last :)  (they all did very well).  Joe broke out the alp horn and he and my brother Pete played it for us.  Then, of course, they had to all measure it so they can make one out of PVC pipe.  This is normal procedure at a family gathering.
We spent a while that afternoon at Daddy's office (where it was air conditioned) and noticed that Sabrina had an infected bug bite.  So we had to mark it and watch.  We dosed it with essential oils and miracle of miracles... it resolved itself.  Phew!

Independence Day, pt. 2:
Top row: The food at the brunch was delicious.  There were such specialties as Quik chocolate milk, tater tot hashbrowns, fruit, pancakes, crepes, whipped cream....  it was good stuff.  Sabrina was trying to pop her box of snaps and discovered it was easier to sprinkle them on the concrete and jump up and down on them to make them pop :).  We made a fun sprinkler toy that was a great way to cool off in the afternoon.
2nd row: Sick Lizzie cuddled up with Daddy watching something on tv.  A view of our pond through flames from another fire in our firebowl in the evening.  The joy of sparklers.  Daddy making the sprinkler toy.
4rd row:  Roasting hot dogs and sparkler "candles" on a festive cake.  My girls in their festive shirts.  Kate.  The rain drops that made us worry about having to run for shelter.  The solution: I put the sprinkler toy to an alternate use.  One tarp flat on the deck above us to keep our heads dry, then another bungee corded over the sprinkler toy to keep the tv dry.  The party continued!
Bottom row: Sabrina and Kate watching tv too.  Watching Treasure Planet in the rain.  Our very own daisies and pink roses -- that combination makes me smile.  Lizzie.  And finally: another view of our beautiful evening.  Independence indeed!