Thanks to all of you for your caring thoughts and wishes. It was like getting a caring cyberhug in return. I am feeling a bit better and not as strung out. I have to get a handle on my emotions and not allow the actions of other people to contort my life so. Really, should I be making myself miserable over events that I cannot change and that are beyond my control? Wasting precious moments of life being depressed? I think not, but it’s so hard not to fall into the same pit time after time. Maybe I can blame it on my cayenne temper from the Italian side of the family. Then again, maybe not ...  I am going to try and do a better job of keeping emotions in check.

The stress brought on another scary incident of sleepwalking on the night we learned about the cancelled contract on our Colorado house. I haven’t had one in a few years, and they are creepy. I found myself opening doors in the hallway outside our bedroom, looking for the bathroom which of course is not in that direction. I even picked up the gate we lean against our bedroom door opening to keep the dogs in with us at night and placed it across the stairs instead. Of course, I didn’t realize it until morning dawned and it was time to go downstairs that I had even done it. I don’t remember going through the gate the first time, but I do remember fussing with it on my “return” trip. I don’t like sleepwalking!

In the meantime, our weather has been delicious—cool, sunny and non-humid. I think that’s about to change this week with temps in the 90s and the return of humidity. Pool time! The day lilies that surround the pool are now blooming (see above), the phoebes are adding to their nest in anticipation of a new crop of babies, we now have a red fox prowling the neighborhood, and I have a wonderful supportive husband who understands my dark, stormy moods. All in all, life is pretty good. So what if we go broke?

Yes, that’s right. For now I won’t be posting for awhile. I need time to think and contemplate on recent happenings in my life. After the second failed contract on our house that we just learned about tonight, I am totally and utterly discouraged and depressed. I have nothing to add to anyone’s else’s life at this time. I need all my resources for myself or I might go a bit crazy.

I don’t know what people want anymore. I can’t figure out the total greed that consumes people these days. A buyer’s market must translate into let’s see how much we can wring out these sellers. Well folks, I can tell you that this particular dish rag is bone dry. Please, wring it out of someone else. I am completely dry.

If you read my blog and can wait until I return with my sanity, please hang in there. If not, I’ll understand. Since I only have a handful of people that comment on an on-going basis anyway, maybe my blog entries won’t be missed too much. I just don’t have the energy or creativity to continue right now. So sorry… To my loyal readers—thanks and I love you all! Cyberhugs! Check back in a week or so ...

No filters, no adjusting in Photoshop; just the way this photo came out! These small, white butterflies are everywhere in our flower beds. Everything about them is white, even their legs and antennae.

This past weekend Rick brought home one of the new cameras that his company designs and manufactures, the Miro 2, to have some fun with. Just a $20,000 toy! After chasing bees and butterflies around and waiting for the goldfinches to land on the feeder, he was running out of interesting things to film in slow motion, so I came up with the idea of having the dogs catch food.

We used to teach this trick to our dogs that we showed because it keeps them focused and up in the show ring. Now that we don’t show any of our current dogs, the catching skills vary. I chose Cheez Doodles™,  a delicious and delectable snack we all love (sorry, folks, Wise Foods only distributes in the East—one of the perks of living here!). I throw as fast as I can and it all happens in only a second.

Here is Alex’s attempt. Watch him track the doodle with his eye! Watch for Daisy’s nose on the right tracking it as well. Where will it land?

Now it’s Hailey’s turn, and she misses. You can see the shadow of the doodle as it approaches her mouth on the deck below. She trys a frantic last grab at it.

Success for Hailey! Watch Daisy and Alex track it too!

Yesterday when I stepped outside to walk to the mailbox, I heard a funny noise—a bird noise but different. Looking around to locate the source I saw a baby robin sitting on the driveway. Oh, no was my first thought. First of all the sun was blazing hot and so was the pavement it was sitting on. I was afraid he was going to cook himself sitting there, so I gently made him hop to the cooler grass.

He obviously didn’t have enough of his feathers in to fly. His wings were too short and he had no tail to speak of.  The parents were flying from tree to tree and hopping around on the ground anxiously waiting for me to leave so they could care for their baby. This parent has a green worm in its mouth, can you see it?

At this point there wasn’t really anything I could do except leave the baby resting in the grass and let the parents do what they could. I’ve tried to raise baby birds before and it never worked. I can only hope for a happy ending for this little guy. I just love the tufts of feathers above his eyes. He’s so sweet!