Taking a blogging break

Since this is the last full week of summer vacation for the girls, I'm taking the week off from blogging. I'm hoping to get out of the house with them for some wandering out in one of the many canyons, and then come the end of the week, start of the weekend it will be time to finish off the last of the back to school stuff shopping.

I hope that everyone has a great week, and see you probably come Sunday. Everyone enjoy time spent with family this week.

Sleepy Time

Sleepy Time, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm running behind with my Feline & Furball Friday with Feathers post here this week. However it worked out that I was finally able to get a picture of Eclipse here again. I know she is sleeping, but she is only sleeping because I have been so busy around here this week. She is my designated sleeper this week. Plus she is just so darn cute curled up into her just about perfect little kitty ball.

Don't forget to head over to visit Steve and Pickle and all of the other wonderful felines, and furballs.

Seem to be having some issue getting link to work right so just copy and paste to make trip over to visit Steve.
http://sometimesphotoblog.com/2008/07/25/feline-and-furball-with-feathers-friday-3/

Mommy Happy Dance Time

Oh thank goodness the 2008-2009 school registration is done! I lost six plus hours of my life at the high school between three days out there, but it is done. Middle school took me a whole 20 minutes to get done, which then allowed me time to finally get a couple of other errands run today. I'm going to bake a "Thank You" buttermilk pie for Army Guy's supervisor for allowing him to take this morning to go with me and help get our Sweetpea done. If nothing else Army Guy kept me from wanting to take a heavy book and beat someone for their new "streamlined" process.

What is wrong with the new process? Well for the last three years they have had stations set up through out the school which made for a very nice natural flow from place to place. There was also the option of picking your plan for registration, not a set plan. This year they crammed everything into the same space with no markings, and you had to follow their card which just really lead to some major back ups. When you have to guess which line you are standing in because there is nothing that tells you it tends to get irritating really quick. Add to this the fact that instead of having staff working the tables they had students working the tables that didn't really know just what or how things worked, the lines slow to less than a crawl. Then you have the fee line which added a whole different level of frustration for parents and students. No more writing of one check for all of the fees, it is one check for EACH of the different fees. So class fee's are a check, yearbook is a check, parking passes, sports fees, clubs, books, the list can go on and on and I think you get the point. That is a lot of separate checks to write out, which also slowed the fee line down to less than a crawl. The book line which has always been the worst line of registration anyway, was made even worse by being packed into a space that was less than a third of the size it should be. Add on to that the fact that the counseling department is working with only two people in at any given time, you are spending a very long time at the high school standing around waiting.

Now I know that this week has got to be a logistical nightmare for the school. I mean getting over 3000 students registered, there isn't really any good way for this to work quickly. However, the last three years of going there just barely add up to what I did in three days. The good news, or maybe bad news for the administration, was that there was a table set up during all of this just for parents to give their thoughts on the new process. I'm not really sure but I think after spending a good two to three hours standing in line waiting, there might not be a lot of very nice things to be read. My hope is that everyone managed to maintain their adult status while filling on the paper, but even I have to admit that it was a very difficult thing to do.

Once again I will say it is done, and the start of the new school year is now steam rolling up on us here in Arizona. Next step of this process is the last of the shopping. You know shoes, supplies, hair cuts for the two that didn't go the route of major make over already. Oh yeah, and my fight to get Little Bug her immunizations that she needs. That should be another very interesting journey for me here. I'm not sure how I got so lucky to have the child that the immunization clinic doesn't want to give shots to. Wait it is due to the Epilepsy and the fact that they want a doctor to sign permission for them to do it and the doctors think signing is just not needed and they should just do it! Little Bug isn't upset about not being able to get those shots, but since this year there actually are a couple that she should have done I would like for someone to do something!

Alright this bit to long rant about life is over here for the day. I hope that everyone is having a good week and that when your back to school registration time rolls around that is is a smooth process.

Let the Junior year begin!

, originally uploaded by torri_g.

We have hit a bit of a hiccup getting Sweetpea registered for her junior year of high school. A two and a half hour wait to see a counselor to get her schedule fixed and we missed being able to get the rest of registration done because they shut that down at 2:00 this afternoon. Oh do I ever have some major complaints about the high school and their registration this year, but I will just save that for another day. Today was about Sweetpea, her new look, and the compliments that were given to her today. Until we hit our major snag with the day, I can not remember a school year that Sweetpea was looking forward to as much as this one. My new little Miss Chatty was bubbling all the way to the school and right up to the time that we realized that there was an issue we had to deal with. She got hugs from friends that at first didn't even recognize her at first, and enjoyed telling everyone about her make over that she did for herself. Sweetpea was the shinning star today, and for that there really are no words that can come close to describing just how happy she was.

Tomorrow we will make yet another trip out to the school and see if we can get her actual registration done. If I should happen to end up spending yet another 2 plus hours there this week though it may not be such a nice entry that I make. Note to school administrators if the system isn't broken, don't bother trying to fix it by doing some "streamlining" because there is nothing streamlined about your new system. Another idea...how about getting a full staff of counselors in to work on the scheduling issues that seem to be the standard for this year?

Alright that is enough of a rant for one day. I hope that everyone is having a good week and not stuck standing in a line that never moves at your local high school.

Ready or not she is a Senior!!

Proof 22, originally uploaded by torri_g.

In just a couple of hours Binky Sue and I will be out at the high school doing her registration for the 2008-2009 school year. I know in May on the last day of school when she came home and yelled "I'm a SENIOR!" there was a bit of reality that started to set in for both of us. Today however it will be time to deal with that reality as we get her registered for her last year of high school. The last summer vacation of her childhood is drawing to a close and finding neither one of us ready for this. Alright so she might be a little more ready than her Mom for this one but not by much. Binky Sue is ready for a very lite class load this year though. For the first three years she has taken such a full load of classes that I'm surprised the little girls didn't crack under the stress of it all. This year will be her two final major credit classes, two easy electives and school day that will end around noon or so. I know that Binky Sue plans on looking for a job as the school year gets started because she wanted this last summer vacation of just being a kid to enjoy. The plans of taking SAT's and ACT's is already in motion, and the looking at schools for after high school has begun.

I know she hasn't been a little girl for good while now, but she is my baby girl and I'm not so sure that I'm ready for this. I think because she is the one that is going to start the chain reaction of big changes. Binky Sue graduates May of 2009, Army Guy plans on retiring come October of 2009, and then Sweetpea graduates May of 2010. I'm finding it a little difficult to believe that so many years have passed so quickly. I will get a little bit of a breather for Little Bug which will be a good thing.

I really do know that it is time for all of this to start happening, and there is a very tiny piece of me that is ready and can not wait to see paths that my first baby girl chooses to take with her life, but there is an even bigger part of Mommy that is screaming "NO! It can't be time yet!" It should be interesting to see if I can get that Mommy part of me silenced because ready or not her senior year gets started today.

Sibling Sunday

100_8855, originally uploaded by torri_g.

We are nearing the end of another Sunday here, and there are children that are not all that happy about what this week brings. Tomorrow starts the back to school registration, and leaves only 15 more days of summer vacation. It is amazing how very quickly this summer has flown by and none of the girls are really ready for it to come to an end just yet. Heck I'm not sure I'm ready for this summer to end yet.

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend and that there is a good week waiting for all of us. Hopefully one that doesn't leave me standing in the book line for to very long on Monday and then again on Tuesday.

Simple Saturday

P7064098, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Oh how I wish the skies would clear up here this weekend. Of course on the days that we had clear skies and no rain I had a several other errands that had to done instead of being able to grab the camera and get out to the canyon areas. Just how it seems to work during monsoon time here. I need to remember to stop trying to plan the trip out and just last minute grab stuff, kids, and go!

Update for my scorpion post yesterday, the desert hairy scorpion seems to have moved someplace else. I did a search of the patio area yesterday and turned up nothing. Which is probably a really good thing since I probably would have started screaming like the girl I am. If we get enough of a break weather wise this weekend there are some chores to work on outside and very careful look out will be done for the critter. I would rather find it this weekend than have it show up again Monday, Tuesday time when Army Guy is going to be gone on a trip to Fort Bliss again. Then again, that will probably be exactly when the scary thing makes its return, because that is just how things tend to go when Army Guy is gone.

Anyway, I hope that everyone has a great weekend and if you have clear skies you can get out and enjoy some beauty the world has to offer.

I taut I taw a puddy tat

I taut I taw a puddy tat, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I did! I did! Look I finally have a return of a feline for Friday! I knew that Angel and Eclipse were still a part of this house. Alright so Eclipse isn't in the picture but one of the two is a pretty good thing. By the way don't worry about little bird Puff. Puff has made it very clear to all of the other animals in this house that if you get to close war will be declared. Puff maybe very young and very little, but there is a ton of attitude in that little birdie body. Angel seemed content to just sit close and watch Puff for a few minutes till Puff started moving closer the the bars.

It is time for Feline and Furball Friday over with Steve and Pickle so if you want to play along just post your own and leave a link in comments. I will post the link over to them as soon as they post for this week. I hope that everyone has a great weekend.

Link to Steve and Pickle: http://sometimesphotoblog.com/2008/07/18/feline-and-furball-with-feathers-friday-2/

Early Friday morning freak out

So far there are no pictures for this post, and if I can not find away to get past my early morning freak out there will never be pictures on this blog again! Last night while dogs were being taken outside, Sweetpea spotted a scorpion on the back patio. Of course being Mom I played all calm about it so I could calm girls down, and yes as I looked out the back windows I spotted it too. I was calm though, after all we live in Arizona and this is just yet another of the many creepy crawling things that live here. We identified which type it was with a quick search online and talked about remembering to pay attention when outside here during the summer. Girls calmed down, they talked about their hopes that I would be able to get a picture of it and then the discussion was over. To bad I woke up this morning dreaming about having a scorpion crawling on me! Now my fears have me not wanting to put my feet down on the floor and I keep looking all around me to make sure that the thing on the patio didn't make it's way into the house over night! Even better for adding to the fear here this morning is the fact that I am going to have to take the dogs out in just a little bit here. I don't want to go outside, I don't even want to look out the windows this morning to the outside. For as calm as I was with the girls last night, I'm more freaked out this morning than they were. My skin is crawling and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to ever move from where I'm sitting right now. I'm sure Army Guy will get a real laugh out of this one, and I'm thinking that walking around wearing a pair of his boots may be in order for my day.

Alright, now I'm going to try to find my happy place that doesn't allow creepy crawling things so I can get going with my day here. I mean I really can not sit here all day with my feet up off of the floor. Oh it is going to be such a very long day. Look out though if I can get past this freak out and back to a calm, brave place there may be pictures of this thing.

My confession...I have a list making addiction

List addiction, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm sitting here doing my morning routine of drinking coffee, reading news, switching to reading blogs because...well just because. I also am working on making lists. As I'm working on those many lists of mine the idea hits me to take a picture and post about my list making addiction. I know that I am not the only person with this addiction, but I would like to know just who else out there shares this problem with me. I'm afraid there isn't much hope for me with this one. Even if there was a 12 step program for it I just can not give up my list making. I have to have them or I think my life would come to a halt, or at the very least I wouldn't know what in the world I was doing on any given day. The real signs that you are addicted to list making is when you set up an excel spread sheet on your computer for you grocery shopping lists. Of course it is broken down into categories...baking good, canned goods, meats, etc. Another great sign of a bad addiction is when you monitor your post-it note levels, index card levels, and notebook paper levels, and have a panic attack about the fact that they are getting to low. Hello if you only have one pad of post-it notes left you could be facing a great list shortage! Go ahead and laugh at me this morning, but it is because of working on a school supply list this morning that I actually did look at my list making supplies and have a bit of a panic till I found the unopened package of post-it notes.

So the question of the day is are you a list maker? Do you find yourself writing down the things you need to buy, things you need to do, people you need to call? Do you have an area on your desk set aside for all your supplies for making those lists? Come on people I need to see some confessions here because I really need to know that I'm not the only one.

Changing

100_8666, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yes I'm doing another Sweetpea entry because this young lady shocked all of us yesterday. Yesterday was school clothes shopping part 2 for her, and it left her sister's and I just amazed. Sweetpea, my suffering artist/tomboy wanted to make some big changes with her look, and oh boy did she ever make some changes! We have color! We have form fitting! We have short hair with layers! WOW! We spent two hours looking, trying on, and picking out clothes without any complaints about wanting to be done!

Sweetpea has always been my child that does things her own way, and in her own time. She is not one to follow trend, or really even care about a look. She likes her two sizes to big clothes that are all so dark. She sets her own rules for her fashion and if you don't like well then don't look her is her response. Yesterday though, something changed. She is still setting her own, but she wanted a new look. To be honest it is going to take her Mom a little while to get used to this new look. Sweetpea picked out bright colors, patterns, layers, and all in her actual size. More incredible than the change of clothes though is the change in her. Sweetpea is my very quite middle child. She has always been a child of few words, and when she did speak she was quiet. Yesterday though as we spent time out shopping I noticed her voice got louder, her confidence grew and she made the other two be quiet for a change and listen to her. I know it doesn't have anything to do with the clothes, this is a change that is coming from deep inside her as she tries to define just who she is. But let me tell you something, you really should have seen this one yesterday. She has always had confidence, she has always had a voice, she just until yesterday really never cared to show it to anyone else. Well look out world because I think she is done with that now.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Wednesday, and that it is filled with great surprises for all of us.

The art of being bored

Sweetpea in the coulds, originally uploaded by torri_g.

When I run out of things to clean around here, I tend to get pretty bored. Scrubbing floors, vacuuming, dusting, some laundry just didn't take up as much of my day as I thought it would yesterday. So when you are all done and it is only noon on another rain filled day in Arizona what do you do? Well, I personally pick up my camera and torment my children. They try running and hiding, but with pouring down rain outside they really don't have that many places to hide. Sweetpea was my subject of choice yesterday. She usually hates when I choose her. I hear all kinds of reasons why she doesn't want to do it, all kinds of complaints about doing it, and then the gripping about will you just finish already. Yesterday though she didn't do to much of that because Mom had a prop that she was interested in trying out. Sweetpea was also happy that her sister made comments about the wings looking best on her. I still had to keep it short because that is just how my Sweetpea is, but as I started working on the pictures and playing with editing she voiced the thought of doing some other pictures. My artistic girl loved the cloud photo's I shot over the weekend and wanted to spread her wings and fly in the clouds. So here it is Sweetpea in the Clouds. I'm going to see about getting her to sit for me again because I have some other idea's that I would like to try out. If I promise to let her be a part of the editing, I'm thinking that she should be willing.

I hope that everyone has a great Tuesday.

Monday Morning Ramble

Fluffy Clouds, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I wish our sky looked this way this morning. Take away the blue, add lots of gray and make the clouds more of a menacing storm and that is what this morning already looks like. Yesterday though it looked as if someone had spilled a bag of cotton balls all over the sky, and the blue was just vibrant. Oh and having the sun out was a great thing too.

Since odds are slim that the girls and I are going to be able to get out today, I guessing it is time to get a few chores done around the house that I have been putting off. You know like scrubbing the floors that is going to be pointless because the dogs are still going to come back in with mud on their paws. However I just can not deal with it anymore and need clean floor. I also need a way to pass the time since we are going to be stuck in the house again. Tomorrow is back to school clothes shopping for Sweetpea. Seeing if we can finish this for her without to much pain for me or her. I'm thinking it would be more fun to dream of playing in these clouds instead. They look just right for jumping from one to the other.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend, and that there is a good week waiting for all of us.

Sibling Sunday...with huge rock

Rock sitting, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm a little surprised here this morning, there is this bright shinny thing in the sky...oh my gosh wait, it is the sun! Wow, I had almost forgotten what it looked like. I'm sure it will not be around for long today since there is still a forecast of more rain.

Anyway, Sunday is for the siblings of this house, and Sweetpea and Little Bug planned the picture for it earlier in the week while we were out in the canyon. What is it about a huge rock that makes a child want to climb it? My guess is it is because it is there type thing. The siblings countdown to the start of school is on now. There are nine days till registration gets started, and 22 days till the first day of school is here. Which means the next couple of weeks will be expensive ones for me. There is one and a half worth of new school clothes to be bought, school supplies, and registration fees. I really don't want to think about it to much but keep thinking about it anyway, that my Binky Sue is a senior this year. Heck my Sweetpea is a junior! Where in the world did the time go? It just doesn't seem like it should be time for this already. Binky Sue has been gearing up for a battle with me about doing a 504 plan this year. I do understand why she doesn't want one done up, but I also know there is great benefit with keeping something there just in case it is needed. There is part of me that says let her make the choice, but the Mom in me screams NO! So very shortly after the school years gets started there will be either a great debate or heated battle over this one. Mother and Daughter with both of our stubborn sides clashing, maybe hubby dear should sell tickets for this one.

This is also the school year that Binky Sue has been waiting for since she was in about first grade. Not just because of it being her final year, but because of something that her Mom told her a very long time ago. Family knows about the learning disabilities that this young lady has worked to over come, and back in the days when we had to push so very hard and work with her so much there was a lot of frustration for that little girl. From the time that she was diagnosed with the sever speech, language, and learning disability, we did a lot of extra work with flash cards. Everything had a flash card in our house for quiet some time. The IEP's that were set up cut back her amount of work, but wanting to keep pushing and working I would ask or find more to work with her on. I just wanted to do everything that I could to help her, and it lead to many tear filled days. There was one day though that was just horrible and heart breaking where she screamed at me she hated me. I'm sure that she did but I also knew how important it was to work this anyway, so I told her that day something that neither she nor I have forgotten;
"Little girl I'm going to keep working with you like this, and I'm going to keep pushing the bar higher and help you archive all the things that I know you are capable of. I promise you this though, on the day that you graduate from high school 11 years from now, I will sit down and let you tell me exactly what you think of me for having done this. I won't interrupt you, I will let you have your say, and when you are done I can tell you exactly what my response to you will be...That is why I did it." All these years later it is something that she remembers, and this is the year that I will sit and let her have her say with me about it all. I already know that Binky Sue understand the "That is why" response. She has come further than anyone we originally dealt with thought she would be capable of doing. She learned quicker than a lot of kids her age how to push that bar higher and how to work harder to get over it. She has gone from a child that was almost two plus years behind the rest to a young lady that other look to for help.

I know it isn't here yet, but since the school countdown seems to be on, it is what I'm already thinking about. If anything else it should be an interesting thing for family who are coming out this year to watch. Just remember if you are out here come May, I promised her this and I am ready to face whatever may come my way with it.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Sunday and that the coming week doesn't pass to quickly.

Simple Saturday

Western Tiger Swallowtail, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Having a very simple Saturday here in Arizona. The rain that rolled in earlier in the week is still hanging around and now the ravine area has rushing water running through it. We also are having temperatures in the mid 70's to low 80's. Now our temps usually drop during the monsoon time, but four years of living here and I haven't seen temps like this in the month of July. I'm hoping for a couple day break from the rain this week so the girls and I can get back out to the canyon areas and get some pictures of creeks which I'm sure are now running full of water, and another Western Tiger Swallowtail to get a better picture of. I would also like a break in the rain so that I can scrub the floors in this house. Dogs that love going out while it is raining is leaving a mess and it is kind of driving me nuts now. I just can not seem to teach them how to wipe their paws when they are coming back in the house.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend, and getting done all the things that may be on lists.

Puff...the new bird on the block

Puff, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Once again I'm having to go with feather's for my Friday entry. I spent the weekend and the first part of this week worrying about Trinity who injured both of her front paws while out playing last week. Mia added to the worry because she is a bit of a high stress puppy who got very upset about Trinity, and then ended up sick because of it. They are both much better now and back to their daily routine of chase, wrestle, run, fight over toys. Angel and Eclipse were fine but seem to not want me to point the camera in their direction this week. Every attempt was met with them running away and hiding. Which is fine because it gives Puff a chance to make an appearance here. Please don't make me go through the confession of having such a horrible weakness for sad, pitiful looking fur and feather babies. Puff is the result of me having such a weakness, and the feed store not having the bird food that I wanted for Mango and Honey. Puff was found shoved in between two very large cages filled with other smaller birds in a cage the size of a travel carrier. Dirty water, dirty food, filthy cage, no toys, and just a sad and lonely look. As soon as I stopped and started talking to Puff in the tiny little cage, Puff started talking and chatting up a storm with me. Based on the size, and the less than great ability for flight, Puff is a very young little one. Unlike Mango and Honey though, Puff loves to be held and played with by humans. Since Puff is a bit of a crash lander when it comes to flying right now, you can usually find Puff sitting on a shoulder or walking fearlessly around on pieces of furniture. The fact that Puff is usually hanging out on Mom or Dad seems to keep the cats, and dogs from really wanting to get to close to the new little one. The best thing for me though was finding out that Puff is a great poser. I got quiet a few pictures yesterday of Puff posing while out doing a walk.

I'm going to work very hard this week to see about getting an actual feline picture to post for next week. Wish me much luck with that. If not my Feline & Furball Friday may turn to nothing but Feathers here.
Don't forget to head over to visit Steve and Pickle, and if you want to play along just post your own and leave a link in comments. I will update later with the link over to them. I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Link to Feline, Furball and Feather Friday:

http://sometimesphotoblog.com/2008/07/11/feline-furball-friday-time/

Rain, rain go away!

California sister, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I know that we need rain, and I know that it is time for the monsoon, but couldn't it go away for just like a day? The rain that started Tuesday night is continuing, which means another day of not being able to head out to Huachuca Canyon. I'm glad that I shot so many pictures earlier in the week, but it doesn't change the fact that we want to get out.

Anyway, this is a California Sister butterfly which made up the largest part of the group that we found on the trail sunning. Our best guess was that there had to be a good 40 of these laying out in the sun that morning. Pretty cool to look up a trail and see that many butterflies laying out sunning, which is a huge reason why we all want to get back up there.

I still haven't been able to identify the blue butterfly that I posted the other day. Thank you Steve for the links and I'm going to continue my search through the site to see if I can figure that one out. I hope that everyone is having a good week, and if you have sun today get out of the house and enjoy.

Home bound Wednesday

, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I should really know better than to make plans in advance for just about anything. I told the girls yesterday that we would head back out to Huachuca Canyon this morning, and the monsoon rain that had been building since Sunday finally broke lose last night. It is a good thing that it did finally because I'm not sure just how much more pain my head could stand due to pressure build up, but it has left us with very dark, cloudy skies for today. Without the sunlight I doubt that we would be able to find a cluster of butterflies sunning themselves again today. I think I will just stick with the surprise the girls tactics that seem to work so much better for me. So now our alternate plan is to get some chores done around the here (that would be mostly me getting things done) and go with the old stand by of summer vacation...chilling on the couch watching movies or something good on television. Of course with that choice comes the eating of junk food that was bought over the weekend, because what else goes so well with the whole chill out version of a day? Since a good share of our junk food is chocolate in nature because Daddy isn't around to complain about the smell of it, I think it will be a great day of just chilling out at home.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Wednesday, and finds some time to sit and just chill.

Great morning out

??, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Sweetpea, Little bug and I had a great morning out wandering around in Reservoir Canyon area. It is a great area for finding lots of different birds, but we got a huge surprise when we wandered onto a trail that had tons of butterflies and moths. They were all sunning themselves this morning and walking on the trail had all three of us laughing as we ended up being surrounded by fluttering things. I have managed to identify two of the three different types of butterflies that I photographed except for the one in the picture here. I also have not yet been able to identify the moths that I got pictures of. So if anyone knows what this butterfly is please leave me a comment to tell me. If need be I can also post a picture of it with the wings up so you can see the markings on the other side. The girls and I are going back out again tomorrow morning to the butterfly trail to see about getting a better picture of the Western Tiger Swallowtail. That one did torment me so very much today, I just have to head back out to see about getting a better picture.

I hope that everyone is having a good week, and that there is lots of laughter shared with family.

Arizona Striped Whiptail

P7064087, originally uploaded by torri_g.

One of the other good things about getting out of the house with the camera yesterday is that I have some pictures to be able to post. The girls and I saw about two dozen of these Arizona Striped Whiptails out running around in the canyon yesterday. They are fun to watch, but even more fun to try and photograph. Their color is perfect for blending in with...well with everything in the canyon. The added fun of having all three of the girls with made getting pictures that much more of a challenge. I don't blame the little guys for running, I had two out with me yesterday that just didn't seem to know the meaning of needing to be quiet, and when we wandered into an area where there were a bunch of them sunning themselves...well I'm not sure who was more scared. There was a flurry of running, and some scared screams that broke the quiet of the canyon. Which was kind of sad for me actually because I had just gotten a picture with about six of these guys framed up. After the screams it was nothing more than blurs across the ground. Ah the joys of the missed shot.

I hope that everyone is having a great start to their week, and hopefully we will get back out again today and add to the pictures that can be posted.

Sibling Sunday...only for the brave

P7064118, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Since hubby dear left TDY this morning, I figured that a trip out to Garden Canyon with the girls was in order. It is a good way to kill a couple of hours as we wander around keeping a close eye out for all of the quick crawling things of Arizona and even quicker running things. It also gets the girls minds off of the fact that Daddy is off again for a quick trip this week. The one that enjoys these trips the most...Sweetpea!! My Sweetpea loves getting out into the canyon area. She loves the challenge of figuring out just what is what out there. Spiders, lizards, snakes, birds, and today we think that we may have spotted a mountain lion further up the hill from us. Oh my what perfect fun it all is for my Sweetpea! The added bonus is it gets her mind off of her Daddy leaving, which even at 16 she still is the one that is the most upset about it.

Sweetpea was the true show off today while we were out, giving Binky Sue a hard time about being such a girl and not being willing to climb a tree just because it might mean that her clothes get a little dirty. Giving Little bug a hard time because of her great fear of everything that crawls. Also taking time to give Mom a bit of a hard time about the fact that I can take pictures of all of those creepy things but I won't let her get a lizzard to live in the house. My one and only response is those are things that are supposed to be outside and not in my house! We killed off a couple of the day and had more than our share of laughs while out. Tomorrow we are thinking about heading out to another canyon area on the base to see what else we can find.

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend spent with family, and that there is a good week waiting for all us.

Some times no matter what

flagfireworks-1, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Some times no matter what you do with the camera you just end up with some blur. I had tripod and remote control out for the camera last night and still just couldn't get a non blurred photo. Which is alright really because I still like the main flag picture even with the blur.

We didn't leave the house for the fireworks again this year. Instead we stood out in the front and watched them. Not the super close oh and ah's of being there but enough to get the fireworks fix that we all wanted. It also meant not having to fight with all of the traffic, and worry about how sober is the person in the car next to, in front of, or behind me. After watching the fireworks the girls finished their night off with slices of fruit pizza which I heard was very yummy, and another holiday of 2008 was over.

Lots of photo editing done to this picture. I wish the fireworks would have been going off in the same area as the neighbors flag, but not that difficult of an effect to create with editing. I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July, and that there is a wonderful rest of the weekend for all.

Happy 4th of July!!

4th July, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Happy Birthday America! I wish everyone a great and safe holiday.

Poor Trinity

Binky Sue and Trinity, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Trinity suffered an injury to her front paws this week. Not 100% sure just what happened the thought is possibly pulled and bruised stuff in her paws, and she is doing much better today than yesterday, but there has been a lot of pampering of the poor puppy going on. I have pretty spoiled animals in this house on good days, but when they are feeling less than alright, oh man does it go to a whole different level. I think the picture of Binky Sue sharing the pillow while laying on the couch says it all. I did notice last night that Trinity got far more kisses and hugs good night than anyone else in this house. Nothing wrong with that, everyone including my fur babies need kisses and hugs good night.

This morning puppy Mia is not feeling so great and after having her for almost a year now, I'm sure it is her reaction to stress of her sister Trinity not feeling so good, and therefore not being able to do the things that they do on a daily basis. My question for everyone today is can you think of anything worse than sad puppy dog not feeling good eyes looking at you?

Anyway, it is Friday which means time for Feline and Furball entries. I will post link to Steve and Pickle later in the day when it is up. Until then I hope that everyone has a great and safe 4th of July.

Link over to Steve and Pickle:

http://sometimesphotoblog.com/2008/07/04/feline-and-furball-with-feathers-friday/

Busy day...busy next couple of days

Fluffy Clouds, originally uploaded by torri_g.

We had a beautiful start to the day, and just in general a terrific day here. Crowds for shopping were very small, and errand running went quick and smoothly. My only problem with errand shopping was having to head to the pet store because the feed store just didn't have the food I needed for the birds. Pet store with all three girls with me...yeah not such a great thing. Oh well, we got what we were in need of and yes there was one that we didn't need but we got it anyway. You know...because I just can not deal with sad looking eyes from an animal even if they are bird eyes.
Sweetpea got a pretty good start done to her back to school shopping, 1 pair of pants and 2 shirts that are the exact same except for color. Don't laugh...for Sweetpea that is a huge start, and the fact that she picked them all out on the same day, wow there just aren't really words to describe how HUGE that really is. Sweetpea is not the kind of girl that really cares about clothes, and what she does care about is that they are no where close to fitting tight anywhere on her body, and that there is barely any skin being shown. Have you tried shopping in the juniors department with those limits? If you haven't let me tell you there is nothing fun about it. Colors area huge thing for my Sweetpea too, not really into prints of any kind they should be solid. The shirts should...get ready for this one Grandma...they should breath. Feel of clothes is another huge factor that gets the nose turned up, if it is scratchy in the least bit it will get the look of "OH YUCK!" Common phrases to hear while shopping with her are I need bigger because that will be to tight, I need this color because that one is just to bright, I don't want that one because the material is to rough for my skin, oh I could go on for hours but I won't. We got it started, and will go out again come the middle of the month and try for some more. Sweetpea told me that we need to set the date now so she can get herself ready for it. What a silly baby girl.

We skipped doing lunch out today so that we could go out for dinner, or at least that was the plan earlier in the day. I'm not sure just how out for dinner Burger King counts for, but all of the girls were thrilled with it so that is what matters most. Tomorrow is shopping for food for humans of the house, and several other shopping errands. Thursday is Binky Sue's senior yearbook photo shot day and probably chopping and preparing things for our usual July 4th celebration at home. After today I'm thinking that the week is going to fly by, but tonight I'm just happy that there has been little to no bickering in this house. Alright not total quiet but I have not had to say the words " Can we please stop!"
I hope that everyone had a wonderful day and that tomorrow is yet another good day.