Grace was thrilled when dinner was over and the time had come for the opening of gifts. Obadiah was just as excited and spent the time availing himself of Grace's gifts when he wasn't being a bugler.

Although it was not Taps he was blowing on the bugle the fun evening soon came to an end. Joel and Christine gathered children, widjiwats, snake skin, and food items going back to North Chittenden with them. They left me with an abundance of wonderful memories, some outdoor chores done, a wonderful indoor chore done. Thank you so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACIE!

We were aware as we were celebrating this East Coast birthday which was actually yesterday, the 27th, that today, the 28th is West Coast, Lucy Gates' 3rd birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY GATES aka Spoon. How well I remember Lucy's birthday as the call announcing her arrival a mere 5 minutes before came during BJT's Bible Study at Big Lake CampMeeting. The entire Bible study group applauded when I reported the news after hustling out of the tabernacle to take the cell phone call.

Good Night and God Bless.

And the Rains Came Down!

Our favorite Navy guy came out yesterday and did for our lawn in about a half hour what usually takes BJT a much longer time, done in stages with much muttering! It is a horrible lawn to mow with lots of uneven terrain and too hard on Barry's feet so we really appreciated Job's gift! He also restrung our flagpole rope with new flag holding hardware. So today we have a very wet flag hanging limply but it is up there! Thank you, Job!

An Ageless Tradition

Ah, the cherished Sunday afternoon nap! This has been a rainy day, all day long. Benson, yellow lab, Janssen has come to spend a few days here by the lake with us. I hadn't really gotten all of Lucy, yellow lab, Wojtkowski's hair cleaned up so will just wait until Ben leaves and do a good job! Job was going to come out for overnight and to mow in the morning but all this rain may have changed his game plan. Time will tell. At least the temperature is cooler and for that we are thankful.

Miss Scarlett Joins the Tate Fleet

She is just a baby. 2005 Dodge Stratus. Only 41,000 miles. Looked even shinier before she traveled the dirt roads of Benson.

Just Another Day at Work

Today was a delightful day in the ER. Just a steady stream of patients to keep us busy. Thought you would enjoy seeing me in my working garb. I was getting ready to do an EKG on a patient with MRSA which is an antibiotic resistent form of the staph germ. Cheerio! (This picture was taken with my cell phone. . .I am such a techie!)

Taps for the Lumina

The Lumina went for its inspection and the mechanics said "No, no, no, na no no no!" So we have had the emptying out ceremony and said our goodbyes to this bright blue Tate icon. Now Joel will no longer have shuddering visions of his dad driving down the highway clutching only the steering wheel and perched atop the remnants of the driver's seat while the rest of the car fell to rust and dust all around him. I am posting this picture so the rest of the Tate family can say their "goodbyes" as well. We did sign the donor card so parts of "bright blue" may live on!

I love visiting the Pecks!

I stopped at the Pecks to pick up my paltry coop order after work today. Visited with Kevin and Carla briefly. Caught up on news from Nathanael and Rachel. Chatted with Sarah and Elisabeth while Hannah rode her shiny bike. As I was getting ready to leave Hannah presented me with the lovely flowers you see arranged in these photos. Thank you, Hannah. Thanks also to Rachel if any of these are ones you planted.

Meet Jacob Sieber

Such a handsome baby. We are admiring from afar and wishing we could get him in our arms. Father and son enjoying a brief rest.

Miss Wojtkowski comes to camp!

I love it when my friend Julie goes on vacation. . .for sometimes that means her yellow lab, Lucy, comes to stay with us. Lucy talked in her throat from the moment we turned onto our nearly mile long back woods road to our cottage and was even more excited with the hen turkeys with large brood of young and the yearling deer that stood in the roadway and stared at us for a long time before bounding off. Lucy was nonplussed by the staring but the bounding nearly did her in!

Once in the house we quickly established where her bed would be and where the food and water bowl could be found. Lucy is a 4 star guest! Thank you, Julie!

Borrowed Picture from Joel and Christine's blog

I really like this picture. I don't think they are watching for waves. Just maybe not sure they really want to get wet. The last time I went in with the girls a couple of weeks ago they told me the water was warm. . .but it definitely was not! We celebrate the birth of Jacob Slade Sieber today. He weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces. We pray God's blessing on Jacob and his mom and dad. Congratulations, Aunt Roxanna!

West Haven Baptist Church

Visiting in the foyer after church at West Haven.
Nick and Katy came to church and then came home with us for a wonderful dinner which they brought! I did make the cherry pie dessert with cherries we had picked.

Hen turkeys with their young.

This did not come out very clearly as it was taken through my front windshield as I was coming up the hill at the beginning of our roadway. On the way out to church I came upon about 6 hens with a large group of babies, some big and some pretty little. They were in the road on the north side of the sugar house. The hens quickly left the road and ducked into the tall grass but the babies kept hustling down the road and some took flight to avoid that fearsome predator, the ford taurus.

Sunday Dinner at the Lake House

Nick was anxious to keep up with the Wimbledon Match. He enjoyed the DSL with wireless connection and was able to keep tabs on what turned out to be one of the longest Wimbledons in history. Notice the binoculars around his neck. . .they made his seat in the stands much more enjoyable. There were rain delays during the tennis game and so that gave the guys time to talk and us time to eat, eventually. Barry cooked the chicken, Katy made the salad and a I threw the potatoes into the microwave while we waited for Lydia to arrive. Lydia had been to church in North Chittenden. A great Sunday there as Andrew was home for the holiday weekend and Kelly and Dan and Micaiah were home from New Mexico for a visit.
Hard to believe that Lydia will be a senior at Houghton this year!

Visiting on the front porch

Quite a relaxed crew.

Wonderful visit!

Joel discovered a pair of small snakes sunning themselves on the side deck by the stone chimney. The young Tates were all keeping a nice distance except for Obie who was all about touching them and so was in Joel's arms. There are two snakes in this picture but only the one in the sunshine shows up.
Slithering away. (Christine, don't look at the next picture!)
Before the Chittenden Tates left for the Brandon Parade Joel made sure my mousetraps were all reloaded and set. This was our Sunday morning surprise. That makes two. Thanks Joel.

Tates Celebrate America's Birthday

Joel and Christine and family came out on the 4th for a cookout and overnight stay. The weather cooperated and Joel busied himself with the weed whacker and Christine took the kids down for a swim and some sliding off Rock Dundar. . .fun but hard on bathing suits! Later in the afternoon they all went raspberrying. This was all while I was at work at the hospital. Barry arrived home from Camp Bethel mid afternoon with his bulging pillowcase of dirty clothes. Now those clothes are clean and flapping on the clothesline.

One down. . .

A little string cheese. . .a little peanut butter. . .and some deli turkey for good measure. More than the little mouse could resist. I am hopeful this was the only culprit so the traps are washed and put away until I see more evidence. Your poem was a big help Josh! Happy 4th of July everyone. . .I am off to the ER.

I knew I had mousetraps!

I have been unsuccessful at catching a mouse that has been freely romping over my counters during the night. I have baited a trap that has no ability to do the job and so today after work I was determined to find my traps that I knew were somewhere under the sink. Here they are in all their gory glory. You will be amazed to see all the things I had in this little under the sink space. I was dumbfounded! I think we had been using the front two or three inches of cupboard space as the rest of the cupboard was just too scary!
Defjes logic! I should have the cleanest house in the county if the number of cleaning supplies is the measure.
More!

Stuff, stuff and more stuff came out from under the sink. There were enough rags under there to make several ugly rugs. Ah, if only cleaning it out would insure it would stay that way. I think there is a spiritual principle at work here. Here is the ineffective mouse trap that will have been replaced by the two big berthas when I go to bed tonight. Stay tuned for if I am successful I will post my results. Not for the faint of heart. Also stay tuned to see if I ever get my kitchen put back together.
It was Skippy crunchy peanut butter, too! Should have been way too tempting.