A little boy named Baxter...

So we came home from Bible study last Thursday night to find that "someone" had torn through the flower bed. There were two or three flowers uprooted and three or four that looked like they had been stepped on. Based on the size of the paw prints, I concluded it was Baxter! I was furious. After I calmed down later, I admitted to Evan that it was kind of surprising to me how mad I actually was. I replanted the flowers and tended to the ones who were "hurt" the next day. It also gave me a chance to plant some of the extra plants out by the entrance to our gate. I had to remove (more like pry out) some rather large rocks from the dirt by the gate but I finally got the four remaining grass-like plants (I have already forgotten what they were called) planted. I still have a few pansies that I am trying my best to keep alive in their packages just in case I need a transplant for those who will end up not surviving Thursday night's ordeal.

I love our dogs and Evan and I often talk about them like they are our children. I told Evan that I think I was so angry about the flowerbed on Thursday night because I was really just frustrated that unlike a child, there was no real way of communicating to him that what he did was wrong and that he shouldn't do it again. While I know that this can sometimes be easier said that done with children, especially really young ones, I think would stand a better chance that with Baxter. Unless I stare out the window the entire time he is outside waiting for him to get in the flowerbed again so that at that very moment I can bang on the window or run outside and spank him, I may never be able to help him realize that he does not belong in the flowerbed. I did catch him the other day when I was outside sanding some of our interior doors stepping up to get a better sniff at the flowers and I yelled "NO" but who knows if he will put it all together.

So for now, we have chicken wire covering the flowerbed. We kind of quickly laid it over the planter in a effort to protect it when we went to dinner on Saturday. I can't blame the dogs that when they are by themselves outside for an extended period of time, they are going to explore and sometimes get into trouble. Thankfully, it has seemed to work since it was undisturbed when we got back Saturday night and on Sunday afternoon after church. It doesn't look very good, but it can be removed relatively quickly if needed. Here is a picture:

Plant flowers...check!

Since I really needed to mow on Monday, I decided to just spend the whole day outside and also plant all the cool plants Judy had gotten us for the new planter. It was a beautiful day outside so I didn't mind "having" to be outside all day. I also put some weed and feed on the lawn and got caught watering it all in in the dark because I had already forgotten that it got dark so much earlier. Evan was a sweetie and made dinner for us and it was waiting for me when I came inside from all the yard work. It was a very productive day!

Evan took this picture of me with my new gardening gloves. I think he was just jealous :)

The finished planter...all cleaned up and new plants! Thanks again John and Judy for all your help!

As you can kind of see in the picture, I ended up with a few extra plants and I think I am going to plant them right by the entrance to our gate. Hopefully, I can do that this week sometime.

Great weekend!

This past weekend we were blessed with a visit from Evan's parents to come help us with the work we have left to do on the house. The main objective was to finish a planter we had started building the last time they came to visit. Whatever else we were able to got done was going to be a bonus. We were very successful because not only did we finish the planter but we finished repairing our back fence (from Ike), repaired a gutter, repaired a piece of siding that was no longer holding up a different piece of gutter, filled in all the holes in the back yard that our dogs had dug over the last couple of years, bought plants for the planter, cleaned our a big part of the garage, and installed some baseboards in the bathroom. We got all of this accomplished on Saturday. I made dinner for everyone that evening as a way to attempt to say thank you for all they had helped us with and so we could stay home and watch the UT vs. Tech game. Well the dinner went great but as many of you know, the game was not so great. While I was the only UT fan (Evan and his parents are big Aggies), we all could agree to root against Tech. Oh well! At least we got a lot accomplished during the day :) Here are some pictures:

This is what the planter looked like when we started this weekend. As you can see, we go a good amount done on it the last time but it was not quite finished.

Judy and I pulled up all the weeds while Evan and John worked to add the last row of wood.

Evan and John putting in the drain pipe we connected to the gutter and then buried.

The finished planter! Well, almost....flowers to come soon.

The next day we had a picnic with our Sunday school class for lunch. It was a lot of fun and Evan and I were really glad that we got to go, especially since we were not able to go to the last one they had in the spring. We ate, played games, and just hung out. The new missions/outreach pastor, Greg Despres, at our church also came to the picnic with his wife and kids. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the kids and get to know both Greg and Allison a little better. Here are some pictures:

Claire, Jordan, and Carissa hanging out.

The boys playing a game of bean bag toss.

More bean bag toss.

The rest of us enjoying watching the bean bag toss.

Evan riding the mini bike. He was going too fast to get a good picture!

My new friend Sawyer. He is the son of our Missions/Outreach pastor. He and his sister Sophie shared Doritos and fruit snacks with me (since we brought too much food!) and we got to go feed the fish in the pond together. He is SO cute. All of the Despres kids were great fun!

After the picnic, we came home and both fell asleep. We had a great weekend but it was a little exhausting. I had originally thought that I would be able to plant the flowers we bought on Saturday when we got home from the picnic, but that didn't happen. By the time I woke up from our nap, it was dark outside...thank you daylight savings time :)