TWO FOLD WONDER!

Our senior dance club needs a brochure, so we put together a quickie for them. I mailed it off to the club president (shown in the photo with Jack). We'll see what she thinks of our purely volunteer effort.

This is the inside with the photos. The dotted lines show where it would be folded in.


This is the outside with some customized art that Jack did to show a mature couple dancing. Would that some of those folks looked that good! Well, at least they are out there dancing (some old boys occasionally without their teeth or using A-1 Steak Sauce as aftershave....) OOOOh! Of course, many are very well turned out and are good dancers. My East Coast Swing dance partner is 87 and keeps me working the whole dance! He's a pistol!
As Susan would say, "Good Times!"

SAVE ME A DANCE, JACK!

Mr. A gives all the ladies a thrill at the dance club on Tuesday afternoons.
Yes, we get to dance during the day....that's what you can do when you grow up and retire!

Here Jack is dancing with Nancy Koch, our club president. I had them pose for a photo that I am using in the flyer we're doing for the club. Getting good photos of dancers in tricky...usually the lighting is low and of course folks are moving around. So a posed shot works the best, if you can get the dancers to look like they're dancing. This one worked out good.

RAISING IN RAISED BEDS

It's amazing how much you can cram into a raised bed! Just add enough mulch and fertilizer, and voila, you get some amazing results. I dug these beds down about 2 feet when we put in the garden area in 2002, and I've been filling them up ever since with mulch that I make (with the help of my the trusty worms).

Corn and cukes in this year's garden...they got off to a late start because of the cool spring here in the Rogue Valley, but the warmer weather makes them grow like crazy.

Beans, zukes and 3 tomatoes...all in one 4' x 8' bed...good thing plants like company!
The grapes above me are also in a raised bed. Looks like they got over their late frost bite (May 4,5,6) and hail (May 26) with a vengeance! What a year!

HAIRBALLED!

You're looking inside Jack's antediluvian computer guts. Seems like it was having a hard time running...it would lock up after awhile and then refuse to restart if he turned it off. What could it be?

Gee, maybe it's the 1" of cat hair supplied by Izzie, who sits right on the case where the vents are...she likes to warm her butt on it.

The culprit cat, Isabella in her office chair, which she uses when she isn't warming her butt on the computer.

See all that stuff on the little fan and stuck to the metal box. Mr. A said it looked like a miniature set for a scifi horror movie...all cobwebby and weird.
So he took it out to the shop and vacuumed it out very carefully. It works allot better now, he says! Now if we could only vacuum the cat...

NO OARS IN THE WATER!

Here we are at Baxter at ugly, early 7:30am on a summer morning, rowing our butts off.
For those of you who don't know, Carolyn is my best friend and she's the one who got me to Baxter by giving me a week's free pass and the enrollment fee in June for my birthday!
I'm into my second month of rowing and have really noticed a different in my stamina level and the way my pants fit, so hopefully in a few months, my pants won't fit at all. I'm up to 3,300 meters (about 20 minutes worth) and pointing towards 30 minutes by the end of my first 3-month stint. We'll see how I do!


It's good that there are no oars or water involved.
OOH! Trying to tone those upper arms is murder!


The only woman I know that can wear a necklace and workout!
Me? Not so much! We'll revisit this scene in a few more weeks and see how we're doing. Right now I'm working out on average 4X a week for about 35 minutes.

SUNDAY AT BARNES & NOBLE

Our treat is the occasional outing to the Medford Barnes & Noble. We had run out of all the second hand Robert B. Parker mysteries of Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall. We were looking for more recent ones!

Plus Mr. A had been gifted on Father's Day with a nice gift card. Thanks Chris & Susan!

Hitting the "stacks" in the History section on a nice Sunday morning.

I wanna "be ready" for zucchini season...this book has some ideas for using summer & winter squash, both of which are growing as we speak. Pretty soon I'll be zinging 'em into parked cars with their windows rolled down!

Late Sunday morning cafe & oatmeal cookie on the patio with the book that Jack found, "Hot Rod Garages." He can't get enough of other guy's garages, apparently. We miss the big Starbucks at the Chico Barnes & Noble where we can lounge, have coffee and read books & magazines to our heart's content. Here...not so much as it's much smaller and not part of the bookstore.

Me? I'm loving those zucchini recipes! Who knew what you could do with shredded zukes? Maybe put some in the next oatmeal cookies?

BLUEBERRY SEASON IN OREGON

OOOH! A blueberry/huckleberry crostada right out of the oven. I had to do it. The baskets of blueberries from the Rogue Valley Growers Market just begged me to bake 'em into a treat.



Wild Oregon huckleberries on the left and Oregon blueberries on the right. I like to combine them because the huckleberries have a much stronger taste with a bit of tartness.

I use the Barefoot Contessa's recipe. I make the crust in the food processor. The secret is to use FROZEN butter, as it is a very rich crust. After you refrigerate the dough for a few hours, you can roll it out very quickly on a sheet of floured parchment paper...makes moving it to the pie pan allot easier!


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I use less sugar and Orange Marmalade for added flavor.

Here it is, served up with Umpqua vanilla ice cream. A true Oregon treat!

YOU SAY TOMOTTO, I SAY TOMAYTO!

Sunny Goliath is the name, low acid is the game! Our first tomatoes are ready and they're my low acid pick this year. In past I've grown orange or yellow tomatoes with names like Amana, Persimmon, Yellow Boy... so this year's pick is a hybrid of Goliath and an unidentified yellow.

Jack's big hand makes them look small but they're about 3" across and slice up for good eating.

RUB-A-DUB-CHASE

The first of many baths for the wee Chase...he fits into the laundry tray, all 12 pounds of him!

When pooches start to smell, it's usually doggie dermatitus, so we use the special Bio Groom Oatmeal shampoo to "cool down" his itches and make him smell lovely again!

Evidently it tastes good too....a plus!
Chase doing his imitation of "The Little Match Girl. "

POOCHORAMA

The pooch is doing better today...the antibiotics have kicked in and reached his tail...it is wagging again. His medicine is a liquid, chicken flavour so he takes it well. He is still sleeping more than usual but he has a cold nose, doesn't feel hot all over and is barking again!

A SICK PUP IS NOT A HAPPY PUP!

Chase has come down with something. We took him to the vet yesterday. The vet thought it was probably a parasite (coccocina...something) that has been going around at the Humane Society, but he couldn't be sure until we had a poop sample. $128 later, with antibiotics in hand and a $65 shot of "Convenia 7-day Antibiotic" in Chase, we headed home. (Chase had a temp of 104degrees, so the vet was quite concerned). We were able to oblige with the poop sample a few minutes after we got home so I took it right over...all fresh, hot and steamy. Then I stopped at the store and got some pedialite water, since Chase was dehydrated.

Today Chase is starting to move around and doesn't feel as hot. He even has a cold nose. And he is eating again. But he is sleeping allot. Turns out he doesn't have a parasite problem...but what the heck does he have? Maybe stress from the groomers and the 4th of July? guessed the vet. If he doesn't perk up tomorrow, we'll have to take him in for blood tests. Luckily, we have pet insurance...sounds like we're gonna need it!

Izzie is hanging around, mothering Chase as needed. It's interesting how animals know when one of them isn't himself!

WACK ATTACK!

Every year we have to wack back the wisteria before it gets to the roof! This year, due to all the other chores we had to do, we neglected the vines. So on the July 4th weekend, we attacked!



Some vines grew into the patio umbrella and down the pole!

Mr. A, my "undergardener", dressed in his finest shop coat,wacking back the last of it for awhile.

This photo reminds me of WHY I planted all those vines! August, 2001. The west facing backyard before the fencing & trellis were built.

CHASE'S BIG DAY

The big day had finally arrived when we could take Chase to see Rita at Complete Pet. She has been our dog groomer for many years (she quit teaching school to open her own business).

"Little Stinky" gets signed in. She says she'll do what she can, depending on how he takes to the hair buzzer. She is going to use special hypoallergenic shampoo. That will help to ease the itching and odor.

Two hours later and he's done and has bonded nicely with Rita. Oooh, how much better he looks and smells! Don't they make a matching pair! I wonder if Rita uses the same shampoo on her hair?
Now we can go to the Harris' for a 3rd of July BBQ and Meet Chase party!

Chase gives Jim a big larp!


Oooh, a treat from Carolyn


Chase on Carolyn's lap...a bit distracted by his encounter with Miss Tweetie, the cat. After all the activity of the day, Chase sleeps soundly through the night! (no photo because we were all glad to finally sleep through the night, after having many 2am wakeups for doggie outs!)