Garden Pictures

Our garden has exploded over the past few weeks. We've started getting zucchini and yellow squash, and the tomatoes are starting to think about getting red. We're excited!

Here's a general picture.

The zucchini is HUGE. I have never seen such huge leaves. This picture was taken last week- it is even bigger now.

Here's Kirk's hand so you can get an idea of how big a single leaf is.

The tomatoes are doing well. Here's our patio tomatoes- we're going to get a lot out of this one little bush.

We're going to have to figure out lots of creative ways to use zucchini. We tried this soup last night and it was really good.

Our first really big one- we decided not to pick it and then left town for two days. It got big, but it was delicious in the soup we used it in.

Suspicious Eyes

Sarah the Wonder Dog gets very suspicious when the suitcases are brought upstairs. She did not believe me when I told her that only Kirk was going to Boston.

Tornado Party!

The rumors are true- we had our first tornado close call! Nothing actually touched down, but the weather was horrible enough that the tornado sirens went off and the local weatherman told us to get into our shelters now!

Our emergency shelter- the downstairs walk in closet.

We moved the rabbit and guinea pigs downstairs, grabbed our dinner (which we were eating at the time) and headed to the basement, where we kept an eye on the weather station on Jeremy's TV.

Sarah was not happy at all about the storm.

It looked pretty bad out. The weatherman even sent his staff to the station basement and said he'd stay on the air as long as was possible-very dramatic!

Our little portable wind up lamp came in handy when the power went out briefly.

Luckily, nothing ever touched down and the storm moved on. But it was a very tense 15 minutes. We thought that we might actually have to camp out in our emergency shelter for part of it, but it never turned quite that bad.

The worst of it is past, but we're expecting thunderstorms all night long.

Our New Tenants

We have a bird nest in our potted fern plant. Yesterday I watered it and a bird flew at me. Today I saw the bird fly out again, so I took a peek. Here's what I saw:

See the eggs? They're in the left centerish part of the picture.
Here's a blurry picture, but you can see the eggs a bit better.

Wichita Weekend

We had a pretty productive weekend this week.

Cathy planted some jalapeños at Kirk's request. His coworker has an awesome recipe that features cream cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped jalapeños cooked on the grill. We'll let you know how that works out!

Our dishwasher is making a funny noise. Kirk, using tools from his favorite brother in law and the wonders of the internet, is trying to figure it out and fix it.

Meanwhile, in the garden, Cathy spots some green tomatoes.

Sarah sits wherever she wants. Nappers beware!

Cathy and Kirk had time to hit up a yard sale, where they got this adorable bunny picture for ten cents.

Sarah The Wonder Dog (Body Piercing Edition)

On Sunday, Sarah managed to get her upper canine tooth through her upper lip. We're not really sure how this is even possible, but she did it.

We were on a walk with her and another dog started barking at her from the other side of a fence. She usually does not care much when things like this happen, but this time she got really agitated and took off towards the fence, barking up a storm. She was on a leash, so she did not get very far, but she was really pulling at it. It took about thirty seconds to pull her away from the fence and get her to stop barking madly.

As we continued walking, we noticed that she kept bending her head down and pawing at it. Then we noticed that she was bleeding! We stopped to take a good look and noticed her top tooth poking through her top lip. It looked really creepy and painful! Jeremy and Kirk held her down and got the tooth out of the lip. Once we got home Kirk shaved the area as best he could and cleaned it out. She was pretty good through both these procedures and did not try to bite or struggle away.

On Monday Cathy made a vet appointment for her, just in case. The vet said that it was a pretty nice puncture wound and that it was good we brought her in- mouth infections are not a good thing, and puncture wounds in that area can get infected very quickly. She's now on doggie antibiotics, and very pleased with herself, because doggie pills=peanut butter.

We're still unsure how she managed to do this by barking. Even the vet was impressed.

The Rose Bush is Blooming

I like to pick them to bring inside. They are very fragrent and the bushes produce a ton! Unfortunately, they do not last more than a day or two once I pick them, but the bush produces for quite awhile.