Poop.

We went to the Garden of the Gods this morning and walked along the horse trails. This is so we could see the horses. Ray can talk now; her conversation went like this.

"Wook, mamma! Poop! Lotsa poop! Horse poop!"

We did see two groups of horses. The second group stopped so the guide could point out a tree that had been hit by lightning three times last summer (it looked like it had melted). The horse behind his pooped.

"Wook, mamma! Dat horse poop!"

We took a picture.

--

The last horse in the second group had a Knippling brand on the butt, a plain hat with no tilt to it. I think it's my uncle Johnny's.

Poop.

We went to the Garden of the Gods this morning and walked along the horse trails. This is so we could see the horses. Ray can talk now; her conversation went like this.

"Wook, mamma! Poop! Lotsa poop! Horse poop!"

We did see two groups of horses. The second group stopped so the guide could point out a tree that had been hit by lightning three times last summer (it looked like it had melted). The horse behind his pooped.

"Wook, mamma! Dat horse poop!"

We took a picture.

--

The last horse in the second group had a Knippling brand on the butt, a plain hat with no tilt to it. I think it's my uncle Johnny's.

New thing. There was an orgy of coloring at our house yesterday. Ray will now color stuff instead of just making color waves on the page. I taped it all to the walls at her eye level.

The search term is "printables."

More outside.

@#$& pool.

"Looks like the worlds biggest diaphragm," Lee said.

I got another one. It, too, has a leak in the wall somewhere.

@#$& pools.

I went through the closet with all the camping stuff, said to myself, hey, when are we going to go camping again? and pitched the tent in the back yard. We all slept in it Friday night.

Vroom! Vroom!

One obvious reason people go out in the middle of nowhere to camp is that it's noisy in town, especially when you don't have walls around you. And bright. The top of the tent glowed orange all night.

@#$& town.

Ray was thrilled out of her mind, though. So it was worth it.

Outside.

I've been blogging a little over two years now. (This is not a "going to put the blog on hold" message. By the time I got my lazy butt worked up to do it, I'd have chaned my mind.) Over the last two years, I've learned that my ability to be distracted with bright, shiny objects is greater than my ability to stay focused on the blog.

Eeek!

In this case one of the bright, shiny objects of the last couple of weeks is the outdoors. I've mowed the lawn as much as I'm going to (there's an area out back where I just trimmed around the stepping stones--the grass and wildflowers are just too pretty, especially when Ray chases the cat through them). I've been on walks.

Today, though. Today was the big day.

I dug out the inflatable pool and inflated it.

After it was all done, I sat outside and read cooking magazines for a couple of hours (like you wouldn't), decided I needed to learn how to grill, and ate dried banana chips with my shivering, wet daughter. She'd sit on my lap long enough to soak through my pants, then run back to the pool and start dancing around in it.

As for going back in the house, the cat had deposited a nearly headless lizard on he kitchen floor, so you can see that I have no excuse to go back inside.

Tonight I'm going to grill hotdogs and what I've come to think of as Jackie corn: corn on the cob, covered in butter, dabbed with spices, wrapped in foil. Which reminds me. I've been looking for the next thing to cook for my folks when they come out here next (Mom and I sit around and cook, and the kids and my Dad eat something new, which can be an accomplishment). I made dim sum last time...