Meet Lola

Lola came to live with us this month. She was a very deliberate addition to our family. Airedales are the "King of Terriers" and just what we need to keep the varmints out of our yard. 

Lola is my new friend. 

She gets bigger every day.

She sleeps in my house until I have the nerve to make her sleep outside. I will, I promise!

She eats my plants, sits on my flowers, and digs in my gardens.

She chews my shoes.

She's perfect.

Flying over Texas

Yesterday my dad took us to a local go-kart track. No ordinary go-kart track. These are the big dogs. The complex also includes a full size race car track. We were unaware of the "close toed shoe policy" and the kids and I had on flip-flops. Access denied. 

A friend of Dad's and pilot, Bruce Bohannon, lives only a few miles down from the track. We decided to stop in for a visit. While there Bruce offered the kids a ride in one of his planes. His son David was a well trained pilot he assured me. I was extremely nervous, but knew it was a fear I had to get over so that the kids could have this experience. 

And we even got to fly with our "open toed shoes". 

To-Do List

Yesterday Blake asked what the difference was between the little ticks we find on us and the big purple ones like on dogs. I told him the purple ones were full of blood.

(gross picture, I know.)

Silence and wide eyes. He was horrified to hear that ticks ate blood. "You mean they suck my blood?" he asked. "Yes." I also listed several other bugs that suck blood, it's not that uncommon.

He was quiet and contemplative for a while. Enough time for me to busy myself with whatever I had been doing. He then said, "We need to make a list."  Now this isn't the first time he has said this to me. I am a list maker. I have on-going grocery lists, to-do lists, summer project lists, etc. When I begin rattling off jobs or chores for the kids, Blake always wants to make a list. He loves to scratch them off as they are completed just like I do. I keep all my lists on a small clipboard on my counter. 
Here is Blake's list I found sitting near mine. 

Dipping in the Little Mulberry

We do this every day during the summer.

 And as best as I can remember, the kids never tire of our daily, sometimes twice daily dips. It just can’t get much better than a cool, clear swimming hole that requires no cleaning or chlorinating. 

Today we found a little friend sharing our swim.

He was stinky and after a few minutes starting snapping, true to his name. So we let him go. Someday maybe we'll see him again. Only next time he may look like the other snapping turtle we found on our way down to the creek.

Thankfully he wasn't snapping, but then again we weren't holding him.