wet gloomy Saturday (but the sun must be shining somewhere)

We had 3 beautiful days of travel. North Dakota has some really pretty areas. We made a run to Ransom State Park, located in a river valley. We drove about 17 miles of dirt road to get there, but really a beautiful spot. Not much traffic in the park. Would be a great place to camp for a few days. Formally known as Fort Ransom, a fort built during the Sioux War, the lumber from the fort can be found in some of the local farm buildings now. A lot of these old forts got recycled as soon as the army closed them. Fort Ridgely, a few miles from us, was built out of quarried granite blocks. One building remains. The rest just disappeared, but some of the buildings in the area have really nice foundation stones.

My inlaws have two dogs, both rescues. Glady, their little white puppy mill reject is 14 and has some real problems, but still seems to enjoy life. About 5#, and likes to be the dominant dog. Beaver, the blue tick cross, is really beautiful. Friendly, cheerful. After a few growls and a little display of teeth, the dogs agreed to ignore each other. Glady actually sat with her back to Piper for a while.

Interesting weather here. Both my kids live in the Minneapolis area and are under flash flood alerts. They are on high ground, but are looking at about 2" rains in the next few hours. Our rain right now is slow and gentle, just enough to keep the mower quiet and under cover, so life is good.

It's hot and sunny here.  Wish I could trade with you, Karen.  I've got lots to do and some will have to be done later in the day when it's going to be broiling hot.  I have gotten some chores done and hope to find some time for a nap at some point.  I didn't sleep well either and had weird disturbing dreams all night.  DH is feeling sickly but went out to run some of his errands. 

Dogs are all resting after their early morning romp. 

Wow, it is quiet here today! 

Doug, I saw the thread you started this morning, so I'll reply here since I'm assuming they'll be merged at some point.  I bet your drive was beautiful.  The first time we drove across country, we did some detour scenic driving through the Dakotas, and it was gorgeous.  I hope your kids do okay with the flash flooding.  We've got friends who live outside Minneapolis, so I'll have to check in with them.

Karen, I can just picture you and Bugsy squishing along.  It was sweet of your husband to come by to collect you, but I wouldn't have wanted a soaking wet dog in the car either!  Ruby hates walking in rain if it's anything beyond a mist, and I'm the same way.  The big difference is that if it's raining here, it's cold.  It's not like when we were kids and we would walk in the pouring rain this time of year because it would be warm.  Rain and 70+ degrees is a lot different than rain and 40-50 degrees.  No fun.

Got the guest room and bath all set, did some dusting and other tidying up.  I had plans to go to Portland with a friend today, so I'm heading out soon.  SIL and BIL are due about dinner time.  It's a spectacular day -- sunny, dry, and 63 degrees right now.  It'll get quite a bit warmer by late afternoon.

I used the convection oven for the 1st time today and realize there's nothing really mysterious about it. Not sure why I was nervous but it made me think about how people probably felt about microwaves when they first came out.

I had a very bad, detailed dream last night that had me awake for a long time. In it my ex was telling me he'd met someone and wanted a divorce but everything else was current time. So, I laid there thinking - omg - we just bought this house and he seemed so happy..and on and on for way too long. It was yucky :(. I woke up at 5 and thought I might as well get up but didn't and the next thing I knew it was 7. That is really sleeping in for me and it felt great!

sorry Doug I just got around to joining the threads

Prepare I am about to vent:

I took B with me to the store I get his food - its a huge locally owned place. Unfortunately it was populated today by small dogs and their owners who were clueless. The small dogs were on flexi leads and about 15-20 ft from their owner. B was sniffing anything and everything he could and the freaking owners were all "oh my that's a big dog" "I don't know how my dog will be"

Well why is your dog 15 ft away from you (B was on a 4ft leash and completely involved with determining the ingredients of each item (yawn) and in position to snarl and be aggressive towards my non-aggressive, completely uninterested dog? And why do you have them in public and not have them under control.

Color me peeved