Summer Recap, already?

This summer has went by so fast. I cannot believe that Jude will start first grade and Elise is entering pre-school and I start up classes again in one week. Where did the summer go?

This summer we spent a lot of time outside. We went to Lake Erie to the beach, the zoo, a little geocaching, a lot of garden work, the wading pool, WV, & TN.

We were attempting to go the summer with out turning the a/c on. We caved in yesterday when the temp inside the house reached 86. It is now a cool 78 in the house. I'm hoping that we can turn it back off on Wednesday when the temp is suppose to cool down a little bit. Not to bad making it till August 16 with the air not being on.

Well that's it in a nutshell. I will try to post some pics of summer fun when I get a chance.

Speechless

I have been pretty much speechless the last two days. On Thursday I lost my voice and I am still very hoarse today. It has been an interesting week for me. Between having my emotional up and downs regarding employment and fighting off this sickness that is trying to get at me it has me well, pretty much speechless. What else can I say.......

Often times I get frustrated at situations around me and feel that I am letting my family down. I so much desire to be able to provide for my family financially. We have been able to keep our heads above the water the last 11 months but it wouldn't take much to change. I guess I am tired of just barely making it. I realize that things could be much worse for us. Am I growing inpatient waiting on God? I think I might be. I realize that God has a plan and he has brought us through this far. I am often reminded of this from Delilah. Specially during my times of frustration.

We have been blessed with a great church. They have been supportive of us during this time. I have also been able to be more involved with our church. I have been involved with a men's group that is called MENtality that meets at our house twice a month and I have also been leading a small group that is studying "Experiencing God". I have recently decided (with a little nudge) to do some work with the youth on Sunday mornings.

I was speaking with a guy from church the other week about Great Danes. They have one and are looking at getting a second. I have never paid much attention to Great Danes. I've always been partial to Chocolate Labs. Well, I started researching Great Danes, they are very good dogs. The kids and I were watching You Tube videos of Great Danes the other night. They are HUGE. I think I have convinced Delilah that we should eventually buy a Great Dane (we are in no hurry to buy another pet). Now only if I can convince Jude, he wants a Chihuahua or a Poodle. What is wrong with that kid?

I guess I really wasn't very speechless after all.

The Chase

You know in the movies the will sometimes show a scene of a dog running after a vehicle? Well, that was Lady. Since we didn't have her fenced in she had free reign. When we left (usually to go to Wooster) she would take off down the road after the van. I'm not really how far she went, I can't imagine any further than the square. She would be barking and running after the van. It was quite a sight to see. I'm suprised she never got hit by a car doing that.

Porcupine

My family took a vacation to Colorado during the summer one year. I can't recall if it was before or after my 4th grade year. I do recall that we left after Steph's volleyball camp, and everyone was tired. Some where in Indiana our van some how ended up driving on two wheels. But this is another story for another time for another person to write about. (Hint, hint) We eventually made it to Colorado and Lady did really well. We all decided to go on a hike one day and we took Lady with us. At one point during the hike she wandered off from us while we were eating our lunch. When she came back she had porcupine quills in her snout. Dad pulled them all out when we got back to camp spot. Poor girl, it was not a fun experience for her.

Equal Education for All

Hmm, where to begin. It's been a while since I last mentioned anything about good ole Lady.

During late summer of my 6th grade at Fredericksburg Elementary, Lady decided she wanted to go to school. Now she never followed me to school or anything like that. So, I'm not sure how she decided to come into the school building. Anyways, it was in the afternoon probably 1-2 hours before school let out. Lady had decided to come into the school building, the second grade classroom actually to cool off. Someone came up to my class to inform me that my dog was in the building. How they knew it was my dog is beyond me. I guess she was a very popular dog. Anyways, I walked down to the second grade classroom to get her back outside. She did not want to go back outside, she was enjoying her attention from all the students and the fresh water she had received to try and cool down.

She eventually went outside and everyone returned to what they were suppose to be doing while taking care of Lady.

-What a smart dog-

She wants to be a mail courier

Now Lady wasn't just any ordinary dog. She was very smart....
One time during a hot summer day, Lady decided she was going to head down to the post office and lay inside to stay cool.
I'm not sure how she got in, I can only imagine she snuck in after some one else walked through the door. I guess she didn't want to come out either. So they just let her be.

A Great Dog

Lady was the best dog a person could have. My earliest memories about Lady come from when I was in third grade although we had her long before I was in the third grade. She was a little black and white dog, and a mix of something or other, basically a mutt. Lady was one of those dogs that was an indoor/outside dog. Since she had free reign of the house and the yard she had many routines which she did most everyday. In the house she had a favorite place where she would lay and take her naps. We lived in a two story house the stairs were in the front of the house and there was a small landing after two steps before turning right to go up the rest of the stairs. There is a window at the landing and Lady would always take her naps with her head on the window sill looking out the window. I would be able to go up and down the stairs and she would just lift her head up to see who it was and then put her head down to continue her nap.
In the summer time there would be this worn path around the house. We didn't really know what it was from. One day we saw Lady doing "laps" around the house. She had other various trails going from here to there and there to here.

Lady

Delilah's various topic series have been a real hit. Soooo, I have decided to follow suit and do a series. This series will be a short lived series and the posts won't be very long because my stories come from about 20 years ago. They will be about my beloved dog I had named Lady. Tomorrow will be my first post on Lady and I will post stories about Lady every Tuesday there-after. I hope you enjoy them.

The Time is Coming........

The time is coming when Monet, my dog, will begin a new life at a new house. It hasn't really hit me until tonight when Delilah started asking if I wanted to take him to his new house or have his new owner pick him up. Monet has been a good dog but he also has been a lot of work. I knew he would be a lot of work. But since we are moving and at this point Delilah and I will be working opposite shifts it will become even more work. But it will be better off for him at his new house.... besides Jude beats up on him everyday.

Being a custodian can be a very interesting job to have. Tonight I worked at the high school and everyone I worked with was great. It's always interesting to hear stories that people share about students doing this or that. Apparently some students were crawling in the duct work in the field house. Why they were doing this, I'm not sure. They must have been trying to act like James Bond or something. It seems that students today on live for the moment. I'm sure I was the same way. But how marriage and having two children can change you. I'm still adjusting I think. Making the move to our new house has brought on some extra stress for me and unfortunately I have taken a lot of out on Delilah, I am sorry.