Critters at the beach

 This photo is a teaser as well. There will be a separate post as we did a wild horse tour in Corolla for the first time this summer. But she counts as a critter, too:

Lots of lovely, large dragonflies visit the beach house. Muggin had a friendly one land right in her open book while she was reading.

I love the calm efficiency of the pelicans as they float by...

Say hello to my little friend. I can't get enough of the little sand crabbies. They are so cute scuttling out of the way. They make me laugh every single time!

Okay, this isn't a real critter, but he's a lost toy we found on the sidewalk so we tucked him into the rocky bank and then looked for him every time we went on our walks. Maybe someone in a stroller will find him and be delighted like we were.

I don't know what kind of lizard this cutie is, but he consented to stay put and say cheese for the camera during another of our walks. I wonder how many more were amongst the bushes that I never saw!

This is Lexie, one of the beach house dogs. We firmly maintain that she is at least part fruit bat. She looks a bit sinister here, but truly just wants back scratches and could also be part bear due to the way she wedges under chairs and rocks them while scratching an itchy spot. Apparently I didn't get any pictures of Hacker this year, who is looking as noble as ever with his beautiful brindle coat, as well as more distinguished with his white eyebrows and graying muzzle. Such sweet friends. 

Sunset and Booty Treats

We went over to the Sound side to watch the sun set. We thought it was going to be a bust as it lowered and lowered and then dove into a cloud bank. 

To our delight, it popped out again and we got to watch it sink. "Going, going, gone."

Thing 3 said he'd never been on a seesaw before. Not sure how someone makes it to 11 years old without having had a cousin rattle one's entire spine by diving off the opposite side, but Hinrew obliged with good grace.

 Then we had to have Booty Treats, because it just isn't a beach trip without stopping there. They've changed locations, again, but we tracked them down and were happy campers- just look at those faces!

The ocean is calling and I must go

 

Another teaser

This kid's team won their championship game on Monday night. I'll blog more about it once I rediscover how to get my phone (where all the pictures are) to talk to my laptop (where I want the photos to go) and put them all where I need them. I'm out of practice!

 

Oh dear

All I can hear in my head is the caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, sneering, "we aaaaare in trouble now, aren't we?" Clearly I am a member of The Weeding Inept Tribe, or TWIT. 

Look at this disaster zone!

If the saying is true about "one year's seeds is seven years' weeds" then we are going to have tomatoes for the next century. Eeeeeeek. I did start in on the wedding yesterday after over a week of vacation and apparently tons of rain while we were gone. I just about bathed in OFF and still got half a dozen mosquito bites, but the super annoying part was how they'd sing in my ears as they bounced off my skin. It was 88 degrees and I was dripping everything- bug spray, sweat, dirt, haha. It's going to take a lot more work, but the upside is that we won't have to buy tomatoes any time soon! Yeeesh.

 

Summer snippet

*This post began in June and camped out in the Drafts folder*

 Nothing earthshaking has been going on. Thankfully we aren’t dealing with wildfires or extreme heat (please be careful, those of you who are), or even flooding which is surprising because we were starting to feel like guests of Noah’s ark for a while there. It’s about the time camp would be starting up and that’s such a part of my DNA at this point that I find reminders everywhere. Including a cookie recipe made from cake mix, which is how several of our camp cookies were baked, so in remembrance:

Damon joined his besties for a week of Beulah on the Road (think high energy VBS) right before one of the besties moved out of state. I'm so glad they had that last week of fun together! I do have more pictures but it might be October before I sift through everything. =/

He also escorted me on a trip to see Grandmama and PaPa and kept them out of trouble while I attended the memorial service of the mom of one of my besties. Bittersweet for sure.

PaPa took Damon to a local animal park and showed him around town, including the home they were living in when I was born, someplace I couldn't tell you how to get to or even when I last saw it, haha! Damon was inordinately pleased to have been to my first home. 

Dada doing one of his favorite things, hehe.

Dada and Damon doing another of their favorite things!

Ack, talk about random!

This post lodged in my Drafts folder because it was such a hodgepodge of unrelated photos. I'm sure I had something in mind to caption each with, but now so much time has passed that the moment has passed, haha. 

I do remember that this one is Dada doing his Dawson-before-coffee impersonation, and it was pretty funny: 

This was some of what was left of Damon's birthday cake. As ever, the kid must have sprinkles.

I don't remember specifically what I did on the last day of June, but it sure looks like a lot of walking!

Beach teaser

 More coming soon!

First fruits of the garden

I was surprised to find this guy in the garden this morning, not because I didn’t plant him but because none of them looked like they were doing much of anything. Lo and behold, the first cucumber of 2021, haha!