A week in the life . . .

I should preface this blog by saying it was brought to you all by the little beauty in the upper right. That's right, the pink one. As a late Mother's day gift Joe got me a new camera and it takes video so Jarom, expect something good. Any who, thanks Joe and here are some of the shots we've taken so far that help document what has been quite a week.

It began with a frantic effort to get all of Gunner's Wolf requirements done before pack meeting on the 28th. To kill two birds with one stone we went on a family picnic/fishing trip to Clark Lake. It's a really small lake and apparently unadvertised Dog Park. So after baiting and setting Gunner's pole on the dock we went to enjoy our sandwiches and get repeatedly attacked by unleashed dogs who wanted our Doritos. At one point a massive Great Dane, fresh out of the lake, decided he wanted Betsy's food and totally traumatized her. He was at least four times her size.

When the root beer started to run low Tess decided to go "check" on Gunner's pole. Next thing I know Joe had jumped in to recover the totally invisible Tess. Looks like the Ellsworth's got the last laugh. I bet the dog's cochlea were shattered by Tess's piercing shrieks and screams. After the abrupt finish to the family outing we were walking back to the car and I heard Tess say quietly to Joe, "Thanks for rescuing me dad."The great thing about Joe's size versus Clark Lake is that he could probably stand in the middle of the lake and still have his head above water.

The next day we decided to play it safe and stick to baseball and yard work and the sun obliged. While mowing under the slide we discovered this tiny nest. The kids were thrilled and showed it to all the neighbors who would stop and listen. It put a bit of a damper on using the play set in the back for the rest of the day.
After all the hard work and once the yard was looking fabulous the kids and I goaded Joe into eating out. We went to a local Mexican restaurant and managed to spill six count 'em six! glasses of liquid including a tall lemonade. They never want to see us again and were happy to shove some mints our way and see us leave.

I'm not sure what the significance of Gunner's four is. Perhaps that's how many glasses Scottie and I managed to spill between us. Another delight of the week was catching a squirrel in our Have-A-Hart trap. These jerks have annihilated our peas and lettuce and the strawberries are next. So we managed to trap one and for Family Night had a catch and release party emphasizing our tolerance for all our Heavenly Father's creatures complete with Icees from Target which . . . got spilled. To top off the week Betsy did a Swan dive from the top of the slide in our back yard to the bottom. I'm not convinced it was unaided. At any rate, her front three teeth were pushed up and back and were very wobbly. As I attempted to quell the bleeding I also tried to persuade them back into place. One went to place really well, but the others the dentist had to do. Being the terrific child she is she cried a little and then was easily consoled. We are now watching and hoping she gets to keep all three. She was really swollen when she woke up today and they are not even close to straight but she is in good spirits and looking foxy as usual.

Fat lip or no this baby's still got it.