Other than it being my mom’s birthday, not a whole lot going on today. After a week off, Rennie and Mags resumed swimming; the light exercise helped to loosed up Mag’s joints. I think maybe we overdid the confinement by a day or two. Post-swim, we hung out in the bedroom while Shane vacuumed. Next best thing to leaving the house entirely. That sucker is loud, yo!

 
— MONDAY —

Rise and shine, lazybones!

Experimenting with the special effects on my cell phone camera, which I have only just now discovered after three months or so. These are cartoon-mood-cartoon, I believe.

An evening walk in the park, where we made a beeline to Rennie’s watering hole.

 
— TUESDAY —

“Go ahead, lady, turn your back. I ONLY NEED ONE SECOND OKAY.”

 
— WEDNESDAY —

So this might seem a wee bit silly, but what you’re looking at right here is a milestone kinda moment for me. The last time I made them was in May, about a week after we found out about Peedee’s relapse. I let him lick all the dishes on account of I didn’t think he’d be around to see me make another batch. And I was wrong! To be fair, I think this says more about my underestimating how often I have to make peanut butter, but still.

I still gave most of the dishes to him, but I did set aside one each for Rennie and Mags – in the spirit of hope: “Hey, maybe this isn’t his last batch either!” I mean probably it is, but positive thinking. Also: pot. We are bombarding him with CBD oil at this point.

That afternoon we reunited the Terrible Trio gang for a trip to Smithville Lake. Mags was super-psyched to be coming along after a week in the pokey.

The water receded enough that we were able to reclaim our little not-a-swimming-beach beach. Much to Mags’s worriment.

During our walk, we stumbled upon this ramshackle little historic cemetery tucked away in the woods. I’d noticed the white picket fencing in passing, but always assumed it had something to do with the golf course (or frisbee golf course. I scoff, but only because I secretly suspect it’s pretty damn fun.)

I got the idea for this photo from Learning to See Creatively. Review coming soon!

 
— THURSDAY —

Movie night! The combos were less than optimal – all of the new movies were paired with ones we’d already seen and weren’t especially psyched about watching again – so we caught Straight Outta Compton and then bailed. And we actually got home at a reasonable hour, exclaims the elderly lady living in my skin.

We arrived three minutes early, but they were fifteen minutes late in opening the gate. AND SO WE IDLED. No fewer than three cars came, left, and then returned while we waited. But it’s not like we had anywhere to go. I think you can imagine the excited frenzy this unexpected turn of events whipped the dogs into. FUN.

 
— FRIDAY —

Oh yay! Mags’s non-slip socks arrived in the mail today. You can really get a sense of how excited she is by the “you’ve got to be kidding me” expression plastered across her face. (She and Finnick both hate having their paws handled.)

YOU WILL NOT TAKE ME ALIVE!

Admit it, Mags. These slippers give you boss moves.

 
— SATURDAY —

Pictures with mom! Just look at how crazy excited they are.
(Spoiler alert: it’s all about the treats the camera guy is holding.)

Usually our neighbor cuts and bales our hay in early June, but this year it’s been so wet that he didn’t get to it ’til August. Super-psyched we got these pics in before he carted it all off.

Next Sunday is Peedee’s birthday, and I have Big Plans involving a tent, a birthday cake, and puzzle toys galore. It’s been years since we used the tent, so we did a test run just to make sure everything is present an accounted for. I wanted to leave it up for afternoon lounging, but we had to disassemble it that night in preparation for a storm (that never materialized, natch).

These might just be the three best photographs of Finnick ever taken, by me or anyone else.