August 5

Uncle Pat and Aunt Kellie held their annual August festivities this weekend. We spent Saturday afternoon and evening chatting it up with friends we don't often get to spend time with. I'm grateful for that time and also that Uncle Pat managed to find a bit more of it to take his niece and nephew to the swimming pool. He's the best!

August 4

I'm grateful for the end of the week and impromptu backyard cocktails with co-workers. Lilu was grateful as well, as it increased her ball-throwing cadre by three.

August 3

I'd never seen one of these fellas in the garden before. I was used to the nice little paper wasps that pretty much totally ignored me if I stuck my lens into their space. This guy was about twice their size (at least an inch and a half long) and had colors that positively screamed "Danger, Will Robinson!" He flew more like a fighter pilot (unlike those slow-moving helicopter-ish bumblebees) and he noticed my lens.

I'm grateful I figured out when to get out of his space without having to suffer the consequences of his backend.

August 2

Hart thought that he and the boys had killed his keg of homebrew last weekend. But when he opened it up tonight to clean it out, he found a bit of goodness left. I'm grateful that I was one of the lucky few to receive a glass of that last little bit o' stout.

August 1

I'm grateful for this wonderful gentle, but heavy rainstorm we woke up to this morning. It's cooled things off marvelously.

July 31

I'm grateful Hart has friends like Blaine, who helped him get the dead Ford truck (complete with flat tires) out from behind the house to the front curb to be picked up by a local fix-it shop.

July 30

I'm grateful that the aftermath of the weekend party resulted in a spic-and-span house (at least the upstairs) and a bright bouquet of flowers instead of a bunch of dishes in the sink and beer cans lying around the yard.