That rat picked the wrong garden to steal tomatoes from - Ralph caught one in his trap yesterday.  Never mess with Ralph's tomatoes!!!  (Now I get to try to pick the garden around rat traps - I bet I only forget they are there once!)

We woke up to a nice gentle rain this morning.  We had rain the night before, but it wasn't gentle - it was pouring!  This is the nice soft rain we usually get in the Spring - not June.  It is supposed to be back to 104 by Saturday, so I'm enjoying it while I can.

Alli had her dentist appointment yesterday.  We tried it last month and she was completely uncooperative.  Completely!  This time, Dr. Allen saw her personally.  She's had more experience with her, and had seen what happened last time.  Things went much better this time - no cavities that Dr. Allen could see (we wont even think about getting x-rays!) and she let her poke around in her mouth quite a bit.  My fault for letting her go so long between visits, but I'm glad this one went better.  Dr. Allen has also scheduled her for the hygienist that she had seen before - maybe that will work out better too!

Woohoo!  AJ and I moved the rest of the dirt yesterday!  The only dirt left in the driveway now is the dirt that got tramped on around the edge of the pile when we were working with it.  We can probably move some of that out too, but the big pile is gone!  (Okay - the big pile in front of the house is gone - there is now a big pile of dirt in the garden - the dirt didn't go away, it just changed locations!)  I'm very happy that the neighbors are no longer looking at the big pile, wondering if we were ever going to do anything with it - now they just have the piles of dead tree limbs to wonder at.  Somehow, we never get everything cleaned up at one time.  Good thing our neighbors are not the type to turn us in to the HOA over the state of our yard!

They are expecting a high today of 97, and then rain tomorrow.  Really?   This is gong to be an odd summer.  I'm not complaining of the cooler weather, but it is odd to be getting rain in June in Redding.

So what is eating my tomatoes?  So far, it has eaten two almost completely - just leaving the top, and several like this one where it has eaten a hole in the side.  Suggestions??

Other than missing the tomatoes, the garden is doing great!  We had beef and green beans in black bean and garlic sauce for dinner last night, and used green beans and eggplant from the garden in the dish. The zucchinis are doing well, but not so the yellow squash.  They aren't growing well, but - it has been cool here lately.  I think they like the heat.  We are supposed to hit the high 90's this weekend, but then are back to the low 70's on Monday - no wonder the garden is confused!  We went from 60 to 110 and then back to the 70's and then back up to 97 and then back down to 72 - all highs in the last month!

Dallas is home!!  We had an impromptu BBQ last night - starting with me sending AJ a text at 6:00 - "r u here for dinner?"  His response?  "What are we having?"  (He knows I hate that!  If you are hungry for dinner, it doesn't matter what I'm cooking!) "BBQ Pork, rice and veggies"  "Yeah we'll eat at our house"  me: "Margene too?" "Yeh".  The BBQ was on!  Pork chops, rice, corn on the cob, melon salad, marinated cucumbers (fresh from the garden) zucchini and bean stir fry medley (also fresh from the garden!).  Yumm!  Not much was left over either, so everyone else must have liked it too.  It was nice to visit with Margene, as well as talking with the boys.

Ralph has decided to camp out over night by the garden.....something is eating his tomatoes as they come ripe.  They ate two of them - one yellow and one red - from the bottom up, leaving the outer shell at the top.  Odd!  I told him to eat the ripe tomatoes while I was gone last weekend, but he waited too late, and has taken it as a personal attack.  I did get one ripe yellow tomato whole for him, but he is trying to figure out when he can stay up all night with a flashlight and watch the garden.

It's the first day of summer school (actually called Extended School Year - they don't 'do' summer school any more because of budget cuts) for Alli today - a new routine - again.  Her bus is coming at 6:40 this morning, compared to 6:05 - 6:10 before.  She is on the bus the same amount of time, since school starts later, but it is a whole new timing issue for me.  What time do I need to get up, when do I get Alli up, when do I need to make sure breakfast is started, etc.  Sometimes I feel more tied to a routine than Alli is!

Since Alli's daycare is in Redding and her school is in Anderson, she is the last person off the bus in the afternoon.  That means that she will have 2 hour bus ride after summer school - not a good thing.  This year, her daycare has offered to go pick her up after school.  That way she is saved the long bus ride, and she will get to do the activities they have planned for the kids.  Yesterday, she went to the movies with the other kids.  Since they saw "Planet of the Apes", I don't think she was too impressed, but she was well behaved, at least.  I will have to get her the first two days of school - the couple that watch her are off to a ballgame in the Bay area.  That will give me the chance to talk with the teacher a little bit, too - nice!

Daycare took Alli swimming at the Redding Aquatic Center yesterday.  It sure looks like she was having fun!

She only played in the kiddie pool - Sandy couldn't get her to swim under the rope in the big pool, and didn't know if she would jump in by herself.  Sandye told me that all the kids just loved her - everyone wanted to come over and play with her.  She said that she was just waiting for someone to tell her that Alli was too big for the kiddie pool.  She was going to tear into them like the mama bear she is.  "Alli deserves to have fun like everyone else!"  I sure lucked out finding them to watch Alli for me!

The ants are winning.  Slowly but surely, they are invading the place.  Never a lot at once, never a lot in one place, but they are moving in.  First, they were around the sink.  No problem, I thought, they are just after water.  They will go back outside when we start watering outside.  They appeared sporadically after that - every few days I'd have a bunch somewhere around the sink.  Then, they came in the front door toward the birdcage.  (at least they were polite enough to use the front door!) Then, they started showing up on the kitchen counter.  Then, Sunday, they moved in a little more aggressively - I had a serious ant problem in the kitchen.  Mom and I were hunting them down and spraying their trails outside on the patio to hopefully keep them out of the house.  Monday morning, when I got up early to make chicken enchiladas, strawberry ice cream and cut up strawberries for angel food cake (birthday party/pot luck at the bank), they were in the cat food and on the refrigerator (and that was not a day I had a lot of time to be killing ants!).  This morning, they were on the couch, and the odd one is running around somewhere in the kitchen - once again, not in mass, just a stray ant here or there.  They are winning!  I think it is time for Terminex (or someone with more killing power then me!)  They are taunting me - every once in a while, one runs across my computer!!

It was a fun but busy weekend.  Saturday, Mom, Allison and I ran down to Citrus Heights to visit with some of Dad's cousins before they move to New Jersey (I think I had said South Carolina before).  It was a very nice visit - I got to hear family stories that I hadn't heard before.  Fun!  Alli was a perfect angel while we were there.  After that, we ran down to Fairfield to visit with Kris and my nephews - again, fun!  Lots of stories there too, talking about the kids when they were little!  Alli watched Pokemon movies the whole time there - she was pretty 'done' at that point,and was good with just sitting for a while.  The only problem we ran into was a yellow jacket sting on my foot right before we left - bummer!  (That, and hoards of bugs on the way home - I had to stop and wash my windshield off with bottled water on the way home - I could hardly see!)

We got in about 10:30 from Sac, and then Sunday morning, I was at the track at Shasta College for Relay for Life.  Dawn and I walked for a full three hours (plus a little more!)  I didn't count the laps, but I figured we did close to 10 miles.  (20 minute mile for 3 hours, plus a few more minutes)  About lap three, I decided that I should have worn my ankle brace, but....it was a little late by then.  I gimped around quite a bit the rest of the day, but not too bad by Monday.  When I got in from the walk, Mom and I ran in to town for some shopping.  She was able to kind what she was looking for even!  Sunday afternoon, Dawn and family came in for a BBQ.  A very full (but fun) day!

I'm stealing a few minutes - I should be in the shower - or Alli should be in the shower, or something.  I haven't posted all week.  I have been good though - I've been getting on the treadmill after Alli gets on the bus and walking for a half hour.  Today isn't a day that I want to sit out on the patio and enjoy the morning with my cup of coffee anyway.  It was 84 degrees here at 5:30 this morning, and the wind is blowing.  It is supposed to reach 111 - 113 today - depending on who you ask.  I asked Ralph to switch from the swamp cooler yesterday to the AC when I got home and started cooking.  It was 109 - the swamp cooler and ceiling fans just don't cut it anymore!

Mom and I are heading off to Sacramento today to visit relatives.  When Mom called to invite some of Dad's cousins to her birthday party, she found out that they were moving to South Carolina (at least I think that is where they are going!)  They weren't gong to be able to come up to visit before they left, so Mom and I are going down.  We are also going to stop by and see my ex-sister-in-law and my nephew(s) while we are down there.  What a scorcher day for a drive!!!  

The first true harvest from the garden - Thursday night I picked a mess of beans, zucchini a squash and an eggplant.  Half the harvest went down to the neighbors.  I can't believe it is the first harvest and I'm already trying to get rid of zucchini.  It's going to be a long summer!!!

Redding's Relay for Life is the weekend.  I asked for the 5:00 a.m. walking slot, thank goodness!  Dawn and I are walking from 5:00 - 6:00, and then from 7:00 to 8:00.  Our group - Support Bankers Raising Awareness - raised $3,695.00.  Pretty good for us.  It helped that the bank offered the chance for a day off for anyone who donated.  the put your name in the game once for every $5.00 you donated, with one winner at each office.  Since the last I heard, our amount was around $2,700, we got quite a few donations from our co-workers!  Our team shirts:

I finished up my quilt - at least what I have fabric for - yesterday.  I get more fabric this next weekend for the last of it, and then I will need get fabric for the backing.  I'm not thrilled with it, but....I am getting better.  (I don't think I would have been thrilled with it even it I had done a better job - not my favorite pattern and color choices.)

See my edging pieces?  Much better!  Most of them actually fit together correctly this time!

The next set of fabric is very similar to the last rows - strips of color and one strip of flying geese.  This one will be bigger than any of the other quilts that I've done, I think.  I spent most of yesterday putting the edgings on and making the flying geese.  That, and the laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc.  Not much else was going on here yesterday.  Since the heat has arrived, we threw Alli in the pool for a while.  The water is still a bit cool, but it felt good since it was 98 here yesterday.  We are supposed to hit 102 for the rest of the week, and we have a wind blowing already today.  It's going to be a hot one!!!!

I did get a nice picture of the scouts washing my RAV though!  It's all nice and shiny now!!

One slight sunburn, one sore ankle (from a misstep in the grass) and almost $400 later, the car wash is done.  Not too bad!  Especially considering it was 100 here yesterday!  (Okay - the highest I saw was 99, but that was here at the house, not on the pavement in the parking lot - it had to be at least 100 there!)  We had 8 scouts there, and keeping them busy was the biggest challenge.  They are so easy to distract, and....most of them have never washed cars before.  Becky spent most of her time washing behind them, and I spent most of my time showing them where they missed, how to wash, the most effective way to dry, deciding who's turn it was to do what, etc. After it was all done, one of the dads said "we need to do this every week!"  Really?  Okay - how about "you guys" do it every week!  Since this was to raise money for summer camp, the boys did pretty good - close to $50 each.  We already have ideas on how to make it better next time!  (one of them being - I'm not going! - they can wash my car for me though!!!)