Update round-up

First of all, we opted to stay home instead of going out in the pouring down, thundery weather to attend the Jimmy Sturr concert, so no polkatastic good time for us. I mean, had Noah floated his ark by us (or alternatively, Steve Carell - boy was that not a good movie, and Hubby and I both love Steve Carell) we might've hopped on board, but only if the ark had a lightning rod on top. Honestly, we figured there was no way the concert was still happening, Hubby's golf outing was cancelled, after all... I learned today, however, that the concert did happen and was extremely well attended (from the pictures I saw online, by a rather large bunch of quite hardy oldsters) so shoot, no rain date and we missed the fun. Maybe there'll be a repeat performance next summer...

The AC on my beloved Sienna is still not fixed. This last time (#5) that we brought it in, they ultimately determined that it is something to do with the evaporator, which is yet another crazy expensive part that requires ordering. To be fair, our dealership is going above and beyond at this point in terms of the neverending problems with the AC, and we very much appreciate all they've done. With any luck, the new part will be in tomorrow and then Hubby can drop the van off either Wednesday or Thursday, whereupon they'll have to take apart the entire dashboard area to replace this one bit. Hopefully they can dig out those fossilized Goldfish crackers, Cheerios and raisins that the kiddo hurled up into the air vents about three years back while they're in there. To be rid of that occasional rattling wouldn't be a bad thing! (No, I don't think her thrown-for-distance from the back seat snacks are the cause of all the problems. That's definitely a coincidence, right?)

The finches have long departed the petunia basket nest, and for that matter, the petunia baskets themselves are now departed. The heat and wind did them in faster than I could keep them watered, alas, and so I replaced them with some hot pink begonias for the remainder of the summer. All the perennials have been going crazy, especially my Russian sage and English daisies, both of which are almost as tall as the top of my head! The butterfly bushes are blooming and beginning to attract quite a few butterflies, which ties in to my later summer obsession of getting a cool and arty photo of them, something that's hard to do with my point-and-shoot camera.

Oh, and while we don't have the finches in the nest, they're still hanging about the house, either chilling out in our lilac bushes in front or perching on the deck and fence in back. Hubby is starting to grumble ominously about not restocking the feeders, as the amount of bird poop on the deck, fence and porch is getting a bit out of control. I've promised not to buy another bag of birdseed when the current bag (that I just bought) runs out, and I'm only refilling the feeders every second or third day now (they empty in about 12 hours). I am still keeping the hummingbird feeder full and fresh - love those hummingbirds!

The finches aren't the only birds chilling in our lilac bushes. This summer, we've had a mama duck and her five ducklings hanging out there, too! They bathe in the downspout runoff when it rains, eat the birdseed scattered off the edge of the porch by the finches, and sleep underneath the largest lilac. Then they march on down to the pond for a swim (and/or to bother the kiddo when she's fishing back there - they loooove to go after her bobber!) and we'll see them heading back up to our yard again when they're done at the pond. There's no nest under there and the ducklings are now almost as big as Mama, but they're still cute and I will confess to giving the kiddo the heels of the bread loaves to feed them. The ducklings come within mere inches of her feet, whereas Mama Duck is a bit more dubious and hangs back a bit further, though she will gobble up any bread bits that get close enough to her.

We've been reaping the fruits of our labors in the food garden and berry patch. Hubby actually ate some of the strawberries and proclaimed them tasty, but I've been leaving them for the birds in exchange for leaving the other berry plants alone. We've picked maybe a half pint of raspberries and almost a pint of blueberries so far, all delicious! The blackberry bush didn't take to the transplanting and doesn't look like it will bear fruit this summer, but there's a lot of new growth so I'm hopeful for next year. We've also had sugar snap peas coming out our ears, which is awesome because we all love them and last year's crop stunk. Speaking of ears, after being cautiously optimistic about the 6 corn seedlings we put in as they grew to about 2 feet high, our hopes were dashed as 2 feet seems to be the maximum and they've not gotten any taller. Not sure if the stalks are tall enough to actually produce any ears, but you never know!

What else? Oh, a splintery badness update - true to the doctor's word, the kiddo's hand has completely healed, without infection or further medical intervention necessary. So, WHEW for that!!

In other medically related news, I've pretty much been wearing my glasses exclusively, as my eyes have been crazy itchy and I definitely do NOT want a recurrence of the Eye Ick from Hell! Even in the pool, I rock my Jackie O-ish, crazy Magoo thick, prescription sunglasses. At least this way, I'll have more pairs of contacts to use up on our vacay to Disney World next month! (Hubby and the kiddo made a paper chain to count down the days, and while it seems really long, I know we're just over a month now which is bad news for my "amazing weight loss and getting fit and toned" plan. Oh well, I can still tone in the next monthish, anyhow...)

I think that catches me up on everything, except for the ongoing Hair Follies. I'm utterly depressed at how long it is taking my hair to grow out, but happy that most days now, it doesn't get too Wolverine, Farrah or Carol Brady-esque even when I only do a minimum of hair fussing. So I guess that is something!

Anyhow, that's what's been going on in my neck of the woods, how are you doing? Having a good summer so far? Hot enough for ya? Doing anything exciting, going anywhere exotic or enjoying a "staycation" instead? Do tell!