Lori has a New Formula

We noticed hummingbirds whizzing by frequently, and occasionally hovering in front of the windows looking in. Lori set out a feeder, but they didn't seem to like the strawberry flavored ready mix. Yesterday she changed the formula, and these guys have started making regular stops.
The rainy weather has been a boon for the flowers. Last year I scattered some seed over the front hill, and nothing came of it. The seeds must have stayed viable, with a large variety of flowers now blooming. Bad light today though. Sunflowers have been prolifigate, however, and the driveway is lined by them. More to come.

Somejuan's Got Some Splaining to Do

Two days ago Beth, a long time friend of ours from back in high school, left a message after having looked at the blog. I heard that and felt a bit guilty about not keeping up to date. (Beth, we haven't changed our phone number. Lori is waiting to get for the best time to call. Thanks for the nice message). Today Mom and Dad called and wanted pictures. Yes, I have been busy and haven't taken the camera around as much as I want to.
We've had a wet and cool spring and early summer so far. June was the 2nd wettest on record, and pretty cool temperatures were the norm as well. That darned global warming is sure tricky to understand. Good thing we have the government around to keep us on track and really fix things.
Anyways, yesterday was very rainy and we decided it would rain out the firework shows. We got that wrong. We did stay home, and the surprising thing is we had 4 different pretty good shows viewable from a distance. Close enough to hear the booms, like medium distance thunder.





Max and Teddy have been having a blast. The horses are out back most mornings, so the dogs figure we're interested and they bark just to let us know and wake us up to see. With the rain, the mud has been prevalent in hte mornings (landscaping guys are next), and the dogwash is coming in handy in getting their feet rinsed off and clean.











Is it just me or does Max have a smug look of pride at his brave barking at the horses?


It's been raining a lot, with clouds forming and rolling in in the early afternoons. By sunset, the clouds pass, and there is some spectacular lighting of the clouding looking to the east.




With all the green, the scenery has been wonderful.








We had a delivery of the furniture for the great room with stools for the island and the pass through bar. The colors and style go great with the feel for the house. We got 2 paws up from the dogs. Works for us too.






A new coffee table is on the agenda. We still like this one, but there are about 7 remotes lying around for all the various things that need controlled, and we decided we want drawers.

Today, after talking to Mom and Dad, I decided I better get some pictures whenever I could. I took the dogs for a stroll down the driveway, and got some nice shots of the wildflower and grasses. Even the cacti are blooming. Here's a slideshow.