Sweep-i-head :-)

Camping!

There was apparently a camping trip this weekend that my son attended (this is according to my sister-in-law, Martha....I did not hear this from my son!).  These are some pictures from said camping trip that were taken by a friend of his, Matthew.  I asked him if I could borrow some of his great pics for my blog and he graciously said that'd be fine :-)

Adam with his cousin, Matt, and his family, Karlyn, Tate, Lydia and Gabe :)

 Who knew!?!?

Matt and Karlyn :-)

Not sure, but I'm thinking this is a bit on the heavy side ;-)

And, I think, it just got a bit heavier ;-)

Success!!

LOL!

Sheesh!

Camping group:

Check out Adam on the right!  Too funny!!

Snapple-isms

1.  Manhattan is the only borough in NYC that doesn't have a Main Street.

2.  The only bird that can swim but not fly is the penguin.

3.  The Statue of Liberty features 7 points in her crown-one for each of the continents.

Samson Pics :)

Welcome Samson!

This little guy came to live with us today. We named him Samson. He'll never replace our Frodo, but he'll come to hold another special place in our hearts ;-)

The ride home was just exhausting:

Alyssa's been playing with him all night!

I don't remember our others ever being this small!  This little guy has been investigating every little nook and cranny of the house since we put him down.  He's gonna have his own little room for a few days til he gets acclimated to the joint ;-)  He's got his own litter box, food/water, bed and toys to keep him company while we are at work.  

We weren't sure what Macy's reaction was going to be, but no one hissed at anyone.   If anything, Macy may feel a bit left out at the moment....someone's Mommy is spending a whole lotta' time with the new little one ;-)

Outdoor Worship

Although a bit hot, it was wonderful worshiping outside this morning :-)

RIP My Dear Frodi :-(

 Rest in peace, Frodo Dodo, Frodi, ' My Handsome Man', 'Mr. Handsome Pants', Screwy Rabbit, Crazy Cot, Silly Billy, Fro-Dough.....

You brought joy to us for almost 17 years...we shall miss you terribly.

8/4/96-7/2/13

Hidden Valley Ranch Pretzels

Thanks to our niece Karlyn for this recipe!  I've had the recipe for years, but never made them.  I was reminded of this yumminess last month when we spent some time with family in Delaware and Karlyn had made them.  We're off to a graduation picnic this afternoon and thought I'd make some to take along.

I actually doubled the recipe, since Alyssa's going to a party later on, this way she has some to take with her, too.

Hidden Valley Ranch Pretzels

18 oz. broken pretzels (Wege actually sells broken pretzels!)

1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch original salad dressing mix

1 tsp. lemon pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dill weed

3/4 cup salad oil

Combine the HV mix and oil; add the rest of the ingredients, mixing well.  Pour over pretzels, coating them well.  Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes, stirring often.

(I chose to use disposable aluminum cookie sheets for easy clean up.  I stirred the pretzels every 4 minutes, leaving them in the oven for a total of 12 minutes.)

DELICIOUS!!  THANKS, KARLYN!!

Buh-bye!

These:

Are now these:

Kurt spoke to the neighbor this evening.  He said he wondered where the guinea hens were today.  Kurt told him he could tell him where they had been :-)  General consensus is that the foxes got 'em!

The Kits

Our Frodi :-)  He's doing OK.  I give him one Lasix a day; once I had to give him a second one as his breathing seemed more labored.  He's funny, he's figured out that opening the refrigerator door is often associated with him getting some ham (with a pill hidden inside).  Now when he's downstairs and the  fridge gets opened, he's there Johnny-on-the-Spot, yelling at the top of his lungs!!  I took him for repeat labs about a week ago and his kidney function had worsened a bit (but part of that is to be expected with him being on a water pill).  Seems kinda' ironic that I'd end up having a cat with chronic kidney disease :-)

He's definitely not near as active as he used to be; he spends much of the day sleeping, but still loves laying with me on the sofa and still begs at the supper table.  And he's still quite gaunt looking :-(

 And then, there's this little character, those clothes used to be clean:

Happy Father's Day!

Just a portion of the Dad's Day gifts from me and Alyssa.  She picked on up his comment when we were visiting in Delaware last month that he liked the coffee Troy and Kim were serving.  She picked some up at Starbucks for him.  In addition, she got him a tape measure.  That may seem like a boring gift, but there's a story attached to that :-)  For years, she got him a tape measure each year for Christmas.  It got to the point, it was getting old, so she stopped.  And he noticed.  So she picked one up for him today.  He was happy :-)

Many years ago, Kurt and I ate at the Cascade Lodge below Easton.  We had a bottle of wine from Sand Castle Winery.  We loved it.  At the time, we didn't realize it was a local winery.  For quite a while, we searched for the wine at many of our local liquor stores.  Last month when Alyssa and I went to visit Erika, we went to a shopping center very similar to the Promenade Shoppes in Center Valley.  Didn't they have a Sand Castle wine tasting store!!!!  I nearly died!!!  I mean, it was probably close to 20 years ago that we had been at the Cascade Lodge and tasted that wine!!!  I bought three bottles of wine, two wine glasses and one bottle of strawberry balsamic vinegar :-)

Marinated flank steak, rice pilaf, tossed salad for lunch today.  Kurt loves marinated flank steak!

It's a Man Cave!

Adam and his buddy Nate moved in to their new apartment recently and Adam is doing his best to make their apartment a manly man's apartment!!

Here are a few shots of the engine he turned in to a coffee table!  It's an engine from my old VW Beetle that he cleaned up!

Guess that little guy is their pet:

And here's the chair he made today!  Kurt says he can't imagine it'd be comfortable with that straight back.  Adam says it's just fine.

And then, here's the bed frame he made:

It's about 4 feet tall.  He says he wants to be able to store stuff under it (like refrigerators...LOL!!).  Note the end table levitating off the ground...LOL!!