more pictures...

On Thursday we had a load of dirt delivered to our house. One corner of our yard floods badly when it rains, so we're trying to fix that. Mark, Caleb, Leah, Nat, and Sam came over to help move the dirt from the driveway to the backyard.


Here's a nice boring picture of the backyard... as you can see it needs a lot of work.

Yesterday we went over to Caleb and Leah's for a barbecue. We ate hotdogs and hamburgers and stuffed jalepenos (which were the best part, I think) along with salad and chips and dip. Mark came by, and Leah's Aunt Jeanne and family dropped in briefly. We had icecream and played a couple games.

Some of the guys looking at the car

Mark giving roofing advice ;)

Shannon looking forlorn in her kennel

In the evening we went over to the Smith's for dinner with lots of people.

This is how a photographer takes pictures!

James and Hayley

I was actually going to spread these pictures out over a few days so I'd have something to post about... but instead I'm posting them all at once so I won't have to update again for a little while. ;D

surfside

We went to the beach on Wednesday.
It wasn't quite as cold as it looks in the pictures.
(Edit: I just noticed I apparently can't hold my camera straight!)

...

Sharon came on Saturday and is staying for a week with Elijah and Noah. It has been really nice having them here again!

Mark, Matthew and Sam came over yesterday. (Sam spent the night.) While they were here, we heard one of our neighbor's dogs making awful sounds, and when we looked over the privacy fence we discovered one of his dogs was attacking a little puppy! Sam and Ben climbed over the fence and chased the dog off, and we rescued the puppy. He was bleeding and shaking badly, so I put him in a crate in our garage. At first we thought he was badly injured, but after a few hours he seemed ok. They are all pitbull type dogs that our neighbor breeds to go hog hunting with, so they are tough dogs! Our neighbor picked up the puppy when he came home from work.
Isn't he cute?! I thought he was adorable, but some of the others thought he was rather ugly. :D

Other news... My GED results and certificate came in the other day, and I was pleased with my scores.
This morning I left Neluska at the vet for her surgery, and will be picking her up later this afternoon. It feels strange not to have her here -- especially when I pulled into the driveway and she wasn't there to push aside the curtains in the dining room window and wait for me to get to the door.
Someone on the web has asked me to do a portrait for them. I've done several other things for them, but this is my first real commission.
The photo with Mercedes-Benz hasn't really gotten anywhere, which is my own fault for not getting back with them. I kind of forgot about it, actually, which tends to happen when I don't write things down. :P

Here's a few pictures from kind of recently:

I left my camera at the Smith's house by accident, so when I get it back I'll try to update soon with some more pictures. :)

of saturday, and etc

We went to Brazos Bend on Saturday afternoon. Neluska really wanted to go after all the birds in the water, but of course I couldn't let her swim out after them since there are lots of these out there:
That alligator was sunning peacefully beside the path with his eyes closed, but whenever Neluska came too close to him he would open his eyes, which was kind of perturbing. I know the alligators there are fairly used to people, but I don't know what they think of dogs!

Later that afternoon, Mark, Matthew, and I went out to Ben & Jerry's, and then to Carl and Stephanie's for dinner.

Today I'm taking Neluska to the vet to get her vaccinations and a heartworm test done, and they are going to check her out to make sure it'll be ok for her to go under anesthesia next week to get spayed. She isn't particularly fond of the vet, so let's hope she behaves herself. ;)