Chat July 28, 2014

In a weak moment, I agreed to go see a movie my DH is all excited about. I don't remember the name but it's one of those Marvel movies.  The only up side is that the theatre is near a BJ's. I see some excellent mac-n-cheese in my future. The movie opens on Friday but we're going Saturday.  Please don't let there be people wearing costumes.

Tina, your DS thought you missed him and decided to stop by to remind you why you don't.  At least he left you some of the leftovers.

Karen, sorry your weather is crummy.  

Jackie, I have a sneaking suspicion that you might see a costume or two, but maybe that's just for the die-hard crowd that's at the first showing on opening day.  I don't rush out to see all those super-hero type movies, but when I do see one, they're generally good for some mindless entertainment, which is what we need sometimes.  My favorite of that genre is the Iron Man series with Robert Downey Jr. (yum!).  The Avengers was good because it had him AND Mark Ruffalo in it (double yum!).

I'm meeting a couple friends at the movies tonight.  We're going to see "Life Itself," the documentary about Roger Ebert, based on his memoir.  I know it'll have parts that are difficult to watch, but it's getting great reviews from his peers.  For some reason, I was so sad when he passed.  I really loved his blog -- not just his movie reviews -- he was an excellent writer.

@JackieG

Tina, your DS thought you missed him and decided to stop by to remind you why you don't.

  Too funny!  And maybe a bit true, right Tina?  

Just remembered I was going to post a couple pics from our neighbor's garden.  No honeysuckle there after all, but lots of other fragrant, colorful things.  Here's a shot of some dahlias:

Here's a peaceful corner in the garden where their sweet mini-Schnauzer was hanging out:

Huge, fragrant lilies:

Hostas, hardy fuschia and phlox (I think):

Along with being a master gardener, he's also a gourmet cook who believes presentation is key.  This is what he prepared just because I brought my SIL and BIL over for a "tour" through the yard the other day:

We are so grateful they are our neighbors.  DH told them if they ever put their house on the market, we will immediately do the same!

Nice pictures, Tracy. I'm jealous you have such friendly and talented neighbors.

My favorite neighbors put their house on the market. Personally I think it is overpriced by about $30,000, esp. since I know what a  great DIY job they did on the roof.

Tracy, every time you post about that neighbor I get so jealous. What a beautiful garden and how sweet to make that treat tray up for you guys. Wine too?  :)  My neighbors on one side are nice but the other side is the neighbor from hell.  His wife left him again. This happens three or four times a year. She always comes back though. :( Every time she leaves I hope to myself that she stays gone. If not for her sake, for her two daughters.  

We are very lucky in the neighbor department, which is a good thing because we live in one of those "ant farm" subdivisions where the houses are about 6 feet apart.  If you have bad neighbors, it can be awful.  Our neighbors on the other side are very nice (their two kids are the ones who feed Ruby raspberries thru the fence), but Fred tops them all with his garden and gourmet talents!  

Our old neighborhood was the same tight layout, and we had awesome neighbors on one side, but nightmare ones on the other.  A neglected dog we were always trying to help, an ugly divorce and custody battle with drama all the time.  Oh, and another house 3 doors down had a teenage boy who turned into a major criminal -- one day the SWAT team had the house surrounded!  

Those Oregon beaches are really beautiful.  We spent a few days at Seaside when we visited our friends in Corvallis, and really missed the mosquitos found at all MN beaches.

Skylor ( I wasn't given a vote) is growing, and has a field dogs natural love of rough ground.  When the grass thins a bit, he gets out front and explores everything.  I will get him into the woods next week and then will visit the local trap range to expose him to gun fire-from a distance at first.  He is bird aware,  but rabbits worry him a bit.  Too close in size, I think.

He is not as bold as Lugnut was.  Where Lugnut would eagerly jump across a distance, Skylor measures, looks, whines, then jumps short.  I watched him jump from a sofa to a coffee table.  He arced in under the table.  But when I come home from work, he comes trotting down the hallway to greet me.  One of life true joys.  Right now, he is at my feet under the desk, sleeping innocently.  Ya, sure.

He is a retriever, and loves to chase the dummy, sticks, apples, anything you can throw, and will bring it back and give it.  Give still needs some work, but he is young.

He still seems destined to work in national security, shredding secret documents, newspapers, slippers, etc.  Wife finds it amusing. and even lets the rat run in the veggie garden to graze on the beans and peas.  As the garden is rabbit proof, it will contain him for a few more months.

We have no grapes.  None! Catherine, Alexander, and Oz totally failed.  To counter that, we will have about a million Honey Crisp apples.  We may need to brace up some of the branches.  The crab apple tree is already bent to the ground.  Wife makes a relish from the crabs that goes great with pork chops, and we will probably have a few gallons of apple butter.  We even have cucumbers this year-maybe enough for pickles.  The tomatoes are coming, but slowly.  Birds got all the cherries.  All!   May have been several cups worth,

Wedding tonight in beautiful Stillwater , MN.  A really pretty town on the river.  Once it was a logging capitol, and had lots of really rich people building stately homes.  We managed to get the last available motel room.  I think the young couple would have been better off if we sent them the check we are using for the motel room.  Father of the groom has an open bar all night.  He was warned.  We party hard.

Doug, it sounds like you and your wife are enjoying Skylor.

Not much to report here.

TGIF!

Doug, glad to hear that things are going well with Skylor (despite his apparent skills as a professional shredder).  

I love Honey Crisp apples!  A relish for pork sounds delicious.  Hey, there's a retirement income idea for you:  make enough relish and apple butter to bottle it and sell it. People are into buying locally grown products these days, especially gourmet food stuffs. 

Enjoy the wedding tonight -- hopefully you'll get enough to eat and drink to more than make up for the expense of the motel room!  

Went to see "Life Itself," the documentary about Roger Ebert last night.  Really good.  A little difficult to watch a couple scenes (he wanted to be fully open about his health struggles and what they entailed).  But lots of touching and funny parts with comments from his wife and family, other critics, movie directors, and even Gene Siskel's wife.  The clips from their Siskel & Ebert show tapings were great -- at times they seemed like they truly hated each other, but other times you could tell they had developed a unique relationship -- they fought like brothers who deep down cared about each other, despite nasty arguments.  Anyway, his courage facing his medical issues is inspiring, and boy could he write beautifully!

Crazy, rare thunderstorm last night.  Woke up at midnight to low rumbles, so I closed the windows.  Then about 3 hours of constant thunder and lightening -- some booms shook the house.  Ruby was surprisingly calm.  Lifted her head a few times, but went back to sleep when I petted her.  I was awake the whole time.  Yawn!

What a beautiful garden! I wish I had the patience and energy to have a garden like that. Maybe someday!

I saw some marvel costumes at the Warrior dash last weekend lol. I don't get people sometimes. I don't think I would make it through that movie without making my movie going partner want to kill me from all the comments I would be making lol

Beautiful day here today. I got up at 5 a. M.  (!!!)  to go meet my sil and friend for a bike ride. Now I am spending the rest of the day chilling with the dogs. Debating on getting some Mackinac Island fudge ice cream! Must. Resist.

The movie was 121 minutes long.  I had my mouth taped shut before entering the theatre.  DH loved it.  I liked the music in parts of the movie. The best part was eating at BJs Brewhouse afterward.  lol

Beautiful gardens . The Dahlia's remind me of when I was a kid (many, many moons ago) and lived in British Columbia. As we returned home from vacation every summer, we were always anticipating seeing the lovely red dahlias in full bloom.

My niece, a beautiful young woman (like all the young women in my family), and her husband had a beautiful wedding on the river bank, watching expensive boats and the occasional  stern wheeler glide past.  Gentle breeze, no clouds, no mosquitoes, lots of family and friends to witness.  We got there early and had a little dinner at one of the pubs overlooking the river.  Very civilized.  

My bro, the father of the bride and check signer extraordinaire, had a great time, and should recover from the hangover in about a week.  He got his speech out, after several pauses and a few hankies.  The band was loud and wore flannel  plaid shirts-never a good sign.  Their soprano liked to over ride every body to the point where it hurt the ears (I used to work in a foundry when I was a kid, and still have hearing loss from that) but the kids all had a good time dancing and seemed to get more energetic as the evening wore on (open bar).  It was a good time.  Apparently after the party broke up, some continued on in the bar located conveniently right across the street.  It may have gotten a little drunk out for some.

We left Sky with friends. who actually seem to be starting a little dog sitting service unintentionally.  They have other friends who ask, and it seems only fair to leave some money to pay for the poo removal program.  They have a great rabbit and dog proof back yard, that Sky liked checking out.  They brought in an Aussie pup for Sky to play with, and gave hi m several nice walks.  Dog slept like a log when we got him home.

Costumes: Comicon was going on in New Orleans when we visited, at our hotel.  The first few we saw looked like exotic hookers-not complaining- but we figured out what was going on when Wonder Woman and Batman walked by.  In New Orleans, you just don't know if it's normal everyday behavior of something special going on.

Fresh veggies for dinner, salads fresh from the garden.  It doesn't get much better, although 10oz of beef hot of the BBQ would help.  Maybe if we refinance the house, we can invest in steak.

Not much going on here. We had rain most of the day yesterday, and it was supposed to rain today, but it's been gray instead. I was inspired by the pictures from earlier in the week, so I went out to try to practice taking photos and got this shot of some wild lilies:

And, I tried a closer shot of one flower (I'm still figuring out how to get close-ups that are fully in focus):

Doug, the wedding sounds lovely.

Ronnie chewed up his clicker today.  Good thing I have another!

Kate, beautiful pictures!  What a gorgeous flower. Ronnie, you're a silly boy. Don't eat the clicker. lol