Bad Rudy!

The mean dog that I live with and I are officially no longer friends. I always thought I was a dog person, until I lived with this one!

My garden - after months of nurturing, I finally had 1 cantaloupe and 1 pumpkin. It had become a race with time to see if they would mature before the first frost. Or so I thought.

I got home from Chicago late last night, so I didn't go check them as I usually do when I get home. But when I got home from work today I went outside, excited to see how much my pumpkin had grown since I last saw it on Friday. I know it's silly, but I've really enjoyed my garden this year. Even though it hasn't been particularly prolific, there has been a lot of satisfaction in seeing things grow, and I'm determined to do better next year. If I'm not living in a condo in Chicago...

So, last week when I checked on the pumpkin the dumb dog had taken a small chunk out of it. Now, understand that this is after he thinned my pumpkins for me a few months ago, and sat on my tomatoe plants earlier that week. He's been pretty good, with the garden at least, until the last week. So I moved the fence that used to be around my zucchinni for reinforcements, and thought it would be fine. When I went out today, I was devastated! The fence was knocked down on two out of three sides, the cantaloupe had been knocked to the ground, and looks like it's dieing (maybe not the dog's fault) the not only did the pumpkin have many more bites out of it, but the vine had been snapped at the base.
boo hoo :(

I'll post a picture later.

I'm pretending Judy, the dog's owner, just doesn't know, and not that she just didn't tell me. Dumb dog.

New Toy

This is my new toy! I bought it on Ebay for what I'm certain was a steal:) It arrived on Friday, but as I was in Chicago all weekend, I just got it today. Unortunately, it came in about 100 little pieces. While I may have been able to figure out the wheels and handlebars, there were multiple small springs and other miscellaneous parts that I may as well turn into art as attach to the bike. So off to the bike shop tomorrow for "professional" assembly...

At least the helmet came in one piece!

cucumber beetles

I've been duped!
In the absence of bees, I thought these little bugs would pollinate my pumpkins and cantaloupe for me. Turns out, they're much more interested in eating them and spreading around the dreaded Erwinia tracheiphila, which kills them. It still doesn't seem like I should be getting no fruit. Maybe it goes back to the bees!

Run Through Hell

So, I'm deciding that my body was not made for running! We went to Hell, MI last weekend to run a race. I drove up with Nikki, a friend from work, and Mike flew in to Detroit and met us there. As I've had a serious motivation problem lately, I did about as well as I expected, but the problem is that my knees have been in serious pain ever since! I tried to run today, and after about a quarter mile I turned around because the hurt :( I'm hoping it's just temporary...
pparently, the race was in jeapordy of being discontinued, but we got in just in time to get our "I Ran Through Hell" t-shirt. And congrats to Nikki! She came home with the first place trophy for her age group.

Lebanon

Can you believe that just over a year ago we were in Lebanon? This picture was taken at an old fortress in Baal Beck, which is one of the cities that was recently bombed. I guess Lebanon isn't that big of a country - it may soon be all the cities. It breaks my heart what is going on now. And our professor who hosted us on our trip is there now. He owns a home in a village in the mountains near Beirut, and we hope for his safe return.
The Lebanese government has no control over Hezbollah. It is similar to blaming the US for actions taken by the Mafia, and blowing us up until we right the problem.

Commercial Schedule

For anyone in the South Bend market area keeping an eye out for my commercial, here's a list of when it should be showing:

WSJV: (abc) in the morning and on the 5pm Fox 28 news.
WBND: All my Children, and Entertainment Tonight
WNDU: News at 6:30am, Today show, Regis and Kelly, Ellen, Tonigh, and
News Center 16 @11
WSBT: First Thing AM, Dr. Phil, Oprah, CBS Eve news, and News22@11
TCIS: Lifetime and HGTV

They'll be showing for about the next two weeks.

Why I don't have pets.

So, I went on a solo camping/hiking expedition this weekend. I went up to Nichols Lake in Michigan, and hiked on the North Country Trail. It was beautiful, and a much needed retreat. What does that have to do with the title of this entry, you ask.
Mike downloaded an electronic chia pet for my dashboard. Unfortunately, you have to water the thing every two days, or he lands on his head with a message "your pet died because you didn't water him." (trust me. I've done this multiple times.) I'm caught up in the curiosity of how big he will get, but so far have been unable to get one to last past about two weeks. The weekend always gets me! So, I'm leaving for my hike, but I'm going to be gone for more than 48 hours. What am I to do? I cannot ask my roommate to water my electronic pet! So I took my computer with me. Not on the hike, but to the trailhead so I could water it right before I left. Can you imagine how much more trouble a real pet would be??

Could this turtle be dangerous?

So, I was hiking this weekend, and ran across once of these guys. It's called a Blandings Turtle. He was fairly large - about 10 inches long - and sitting in the middle of the road. He didn't move, or care at all that I was there, and it intimidated me! The fact that he wasn't scared made me think, "Does he know something I don't?" I think the best defense against me for any wildlife I run across is to feign indiifference. . .

I looked him up when I got back, and you'll be happy to know that I was not in any danger. "It is very gentle and rarely attempts to bite." Let alone attack!

lightening bugs

When I was a kid we used to catch these and put them in a jar "to read by" when we camped out. As long as we remembered to poke holes in the lid they would still be alive in the morning!

Apparently there is a hole in my window because the last two nights I have seen two lightening bugs in my room. Last night I released them into the great outdoors, but tonight I didn't realize they were here until I was all snuggled in my bed. I'm paying the price, though, as one of them keeps buzzing my computer screen!

They're such innocent and incredible bugs - did you know that in the larva state, they're actually predatory?

4th of July

We split our 4th of July festivities into two parts this year. We first went to Lake Ridinger, where my grandpa has a cottage. We watched the fireworks from Yogi Bear campground from a boat on the lake, caught turtles, rode in the canoe, and watched our own fireworks on Sunday night. The favorites were the parachutes, which we shot out over the water and the kids tried to catch them before they sank. That, of course, was after the first one got stuck in a tree and we had to make another trip to the fireworks stand to get some more!
On Monday we drove up to Chicago and tried, for the second year in a row, to watch the fireworks there. Last year we got stuck in traffic and never made it. This year we decided to watch them from the shoreline to the north. Mike and I were cuddled up on a rock by the water with people all around us, but when the first firework went off, we quickly realized there were some large trees in the way. so we moved up a bit, but didn't think we'd have a chance of getting around the two building that were still 3 miles away. We got to see the tallest ones anyway...