Dry Summer

This hasn't been a long hot summer, just a long dry one. We sprayed our pasture for weeds in May and I asked the guy to make a pass over the yard if there was any weed-killer left when he got finished. We never thought that it wouldn't rain all summer long. The weeds died along time ago, but with no rain the grass hasn't filled in. We're left with brown patches and big brown spots of dirt in some places.

This spring we also planted some bushes and trees. We "were" watering everyday with the intent that they would get off to a good start, now we're watering so they won't die!

The good things in all this...the horses aren't getting overly fat this summer and other than the drought this has been a beautiful summer. It's cool in the mornings and evenings, warms up nicely in the afternoon. It's like we are in a constant state of "September". Really weird......

This is a picture of our garden (in May, before the rain stopped). Jeff built the trellis for the Raspberry Bushes and made my garden boxes higher (they used to be only one board high, now they are three boards high). There are blueberry bushes near the telephone pole with a family of bluebirds in the birdhouse on the pole. We've had lots of squash, tomatoes, basil, beans etc.


Sadie likes to sit in her chair and wait for her daddy to get home from work everyday. We added the lawn furniture this year and love it. We sit out there a lot and watch the sun go down. We framed the "mound" with rocks and planted an ornamental blue spruce (Jeff calls it the "afro-tree") and a lavender plant. We'll slowly add to it, until it is filled in with flowers and bushes.


I can't even believe it...... I just let Sadie in the house and it's raining!!

Brown Envelope Arrived

We got the "brown envelope" in the mail! When the American Consulate in Guangzhou, China receives the adoption paper work from the Department of Homeland Security the Consulate sends the family a notification letter and a lot of forms that are partially filled out. We have to take all of it with us to China. All this paper work comes in a nondescript brown envelope. I've heard of people who threw it out with the junk mail because it looks like junk mail.

We were keeping a watch out for it but weren't going to worry if we never got it. That's the other thing, sometimes families never get the "brown envelope". The agencies say "don't worry about it if you don't get it. We'll make sure all your documents made it to the Consulate's office before you fly to China." This never gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, but it's one of those things that Jeff says, "You just gotta let this one blow by you." I guess things get lost and if you don't have the pre-filled paperwork for the VISA and baby's medical exam they just do it again when you get there.

Here's the really ironic thing... The letter in the "brown envelope" is date March 5th 2007 and the letter has Jeff's name spelled correctly. We didn't get the new I-171 from the Department of Homeland Security with the correct spelling until March 9th. I don't know what's up with that, I guess the Consulate spelled his name wrong off the original I-171, but in making that error actually spelled it right!