Oops, I Haven't Been A Very Good Blogger Lately

I am always a little sporadic about doing blog posts, but lately I've been downright negligent. I was called out on it by a couple of blog friends e-mailing me this weekend asking  if everything is okay. Everything is fine. I have been a little busy, but mostly I have just been lazy. This is a little of what has been keeping me busy.

Sunday we had a family barbecue at Big Pappy and GT's (Keith and Terry). They are my son-in-law, Brandon's,  dad and step-mom. They have recently moved from New Mexico to Colorado and it is great to have them here. The kids had a great time with water balloons and a Slip and Slide and I had a great time eating Big Pappy's barbecue.

Beck and Big Pappy

Speaking of Big Pappy, he is not only a great host and a wonderful cook, he is a very brave man. Today is the first day of  the 3rd annual Big Pappy's Boot Camp. It should be called Big Pappy's Fun Camp. For this week he will have his 2 boys (he is a full time stay at home dad) along with my granddaughter, Hope, and another grandson, all 8-10 years old, for a week of fun. They will go to an amusement park, a Rockies Game, a water park and other activities that they will vote on. I haven't been invited but I may have to crash a day or two.

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The kid's Granddad and Gammy from Oklahoma were here this week and I got to get in on some of the fun of that visit. On Tuesday night we went to White Fence Farm, a fun family style restaurant with lots of activities for the kids on the grounds. Except for a few minutes of panic when EJ was lost briefly it was a very fun time.

EJ got lost when she stayed behind to close all the doors on these animal faces after this picture. She is a very tidy girl.

All's well that ends well, especially if you get cool glasses from the treasure chest.

EJ and Anna

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My son, Rob, has a fairly complex job. He is working on Maven, a project to build a satellite that will orbit Mars. This very short infographic explains what he does at a level I can understand....sort of.

What Does It Feel Like?

Image from Google Images

I love seeing how excited the weather reporters on TV get about any kind of weather extreme. The excessive  heat some parts of the U.S. have had this summer has them almost giddy. They have so much to work with these days that they not only tell us what the temperature is, they go even further and tell us what that temperature "feels like". I know it is some kind of calculation of wind and humidity and so forth, but just tell me what the temperature is and I can walk outside to see what it "feels like".

I can't get too excited about a "feels like" temperature, but it does make me think that there are some other things for which it would be great to have a "feels like" measurement.

Like maybe:

I lost 5 lbs, but it "feels like" 15.

I have a $10 bill in my pocket, but it "feels like" a $20.

I just turned 64, but it "feels like" 40.

I'm eating a rice cake, but it "feels like" a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

At the least I'd like to hear the weather reporter, someday, say that it is 90 degrees out, but it feels like 72.

What kind of "feels like" would be good for you?

Friday Fragments/Freewheeling Friday

Another busy week has brought me to a Freewheeling Friday catch-up post, so I am linking to Mrs. 4444's Friday Fragments where lots of folks go to empty their heads at the end of the week.

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My grandson, Justin,  turned 8 this week, celebrating with a family party on Sunday and a Rockies game on Monday.

Kids of all ages had fun with water balloons at the family party. I loved watching the older kids help the younger ones learn the art of tossing a water balloon. 

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I probably won't win the grandmom-of the-year award for these pictures, but Beck loved this Starbucks cup and played with it for a very long time. I promise it was empty.

And it made him very happy.

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Here's something I won't be giving to my grandchildren......a breast feeding baby doll.....designed to teach little girls to breast feed. The little girl wears a halter top that has a sensor in it that causes the doll to suck when she puts it up to her chest. I think not.

Image from Google Images

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Our weather has been so changeable and crazy lately that even Dodger has had to put a toe out to check if he is going to be hit with stifling heat or heavy rain before he goes outside. 

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My 9 year old granddaughter, Hope,  had opening night of her summer play Hans Christen Anderson last night. She has worked very hard to perfect a wicked laugh for the Sea Witch character that she plays in one scene. 

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If you made it this far thanks for sticking with me through this long, mostly family, catch-up post. 

A Minor Dilemma

This is not an earth shattering problem, but one I would like to figure out. I want to change hairdressers. The problem is I have known the woman who does my hair for over 25 years and I don't want to cause any bad feelings. 

The short history is that that I started going to her shortly after I moved here and stayed with her for several years. When I started a job that was out of town I switched to someone who was near where I worked because I needed to be able to go at lunch or right after work and that seemed fine with her. When I started working back in town I went to several different hairdressers and ended up going to a girl one of my daughters had gone to high school with and stayed with her for many years.  She eventually moved to a salon that was too far away to be convenient for me so I went back to the woman I started with here years ago.

We are not close friends, but have always been friendly and often run into each other at activities in our sort of small town. I have not been very happy with my hair since I started going back to her and would like to find a good way to make a change. Like I said, this is sort of a minor dilemma, but one I would like to resolve with no hard feelings.

I would love to hear some advice or how someone solved a similar dilemma.

Who Is Dodger Calling?

Our dog, Dodger, doesn't spend too much time home alone. Doc takes him along pretty much everywhere he goes. Lately, because it has been so hot here, he has been left home a little more often. He usually doesn't get into any trouble when he is left alone, but lately every time we come home we find the phone in Doc's office  off the hook. We can't help but wonder who Dodger has been calling.

It might be his ex-girlfriend, Sammie, who lives in the neighborhood. He has been sort of making eyes at  her  again across the open space.

Maybe he is trying to find an exterminator to do something about that pesky squirrel who constantly teases him from a tree in the back yard.

He might be looking for an agent. Some people at the dog park have started calling him Hollywood and telling him he looks like he should be in the movies.I've been afraid that would go to his head.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was calling Dog Protective Services to report us for leaving him home alone. 

I hope he hasn't gotten hooked up with a pretty Poodle in Paris. That could get very expensive. 

Since Dodger won't admit to anything we'll just have to wait until we get the phone bill to find out what he has been up to.

In the meantime I guess we will have to quit hiding the remote and let him go back to watching Pay-Per-View when he is home alone. It is  probably cheaper than calling Paris.

Birthdays Aren't So Bad

I love celebrating birthdays, other peoples birthdays. When it comes to my own birthday I always want to let it just sort of slide by. Thanks to wonderful family and friends it doesn't happen that way. My birthday was this week and I had a great day. I woke up to cards and gifts from Doc and Dodger. I went to work and got more gifts and the afternoon off. After a phone call from my son and his family who are on a camping trip I went to lunch with my daughters and their kids, made extra special with hand made cards from the kids. EJ was especially proud of hers (bottom right) which was so thick with paint it is probably still not dry.

After lunch I went swimming and to the ice cream shop and candy store with a couple of my grandkids. When I got home there was a package on my porch from my friend Betty at A glimpse into midlife. Betty, who lives in Paraguay, is so good that she managed to send a package from over 5000 miles away and have it land on my doorstep exactly on my birthday.Way to go Betty and thank you very much. The package contained this beautiful wooden picture frame. The frame swivels on the stand so pictures can go on both sides. Betty, who also has a birthday this month, is a special person and a great blog friend to me. I hope someday that she can land on my doorstep.

Last night I went out for a birthday dinner and to our town's Street Fair with my friend, Claire, and today I am going to a birthday lunch with my brother and sister-in-law. We'll have a family get-together soon where I will get cake and hopefully (hint, hint) a new picture of all my grandkids together.

Thanks to everyone for showing me that Birthdays Aren't So Bad.

Old Fashioned 4th

Our holiday weekend was pretty quiet with Doc and Dodger going to the dog park and working in the yard a lot and me doing, well, not much. It ended with a 4th of July which felt kind of like an old fashioned day to me. I went with my daughter Jill and her family to their swim club, a club which has been around for over 50 years. 

The pool had the feel of the kind of pools I went to when I was a kid. It even still has a diving board which Jared and Justin made good use of.

The boys played some water football with their dad, who showed great skill in catching the ball mid-air as he jumped off the diving board. He showed even more skill with some fancy dives. 

There were pool games and "biggest splash" contests for the kids and lots of old-fashioned fun.

Later in the evening I went with my other daughter, Joanna, and her family to watch their town's fireworks.

Beck watched the fireworks wide-eyed, saying an occasional "oooh!"

EJ was all smiles and kept saying "I love celebrating the 4th of July."

I agree.....it was fun celebrating the 4th of July.

Panty Hose

You remember panty hose, those not-so-comfortable leg covering things many of us used to wear almost all the time. 

Thanks to Katie Couric and a few other high profile women, wearing panty hose has become sort of an old-fashioned thing to do. Sadly, panty hose became old-fashioned at about the same time that I looked down at my legs and noticed that little place just above my knees had started to look like it needed to be ironed. That was also about the same time that I realized that those creases around my ankles caused by wearing socks were starting to take at least a half day to go away after I took the socks off. And, sadly, a good sun tan on my legs is no longer allowed. It seems panty hose went out of style just when I really needed them.

I know, I know, it is very shallow to be swayed by the dictates of fashion. I guess I shouldn't worry too much anyway.....I'm probably old enough that a fashion faux pas would not be noticed at all or would just be considered quirky. I guess for now I'll just stick to pants and those, what are they called-oh yeah, trouser socks. I just wish those things came with control tops.