Fly Away

I finally got a good picture of the baby bird - thank goodness because they flew away the very next day!! Here he is poking his head out of the birdhouse waiting for Momma to bring him some food! Isn't he sooo cute??

This morning, our neighbor called to tell us that we had a baby deer sleeping in our backyard at 8:00 a.m. Obviously, we weren't awake to see it, but from now on, we are going to keep an eye out for it! That would be so exciting since we have never had deer here before!

Not much else going on around here. Back to work tomorrow, but at least it is a short, holiday week! It will go fast, too, since we have fireworks to attend Wednesday (Heath) and Thursday (Buckeye Lake) night. I love fireworks, but Kel isn't a big fan. She does enjoy the ones at Buckeye Lake, though. My brothers take us out on their boats so we can watch from the water. They break right above you, at least it seems like it. I absolutely LOVE them!

Everyone have a safe holiday and take care! Until next time....

--Deb

Sunday, June 22nd

Hello all. I've got some sad news to report today. On Friday, June 20th, I lost my step-brother Greg Ryan. He was only 31 years old and he unfortunately ended his own life. Please keep his mother (my step-mother Lorrie) and his siblings Kristin and Joe in your prayers. Although we'll miss him greatly; I hope he is at peace. On a bit of a brighter note, I've included some new pictures of the pets and a few of the wildlife in our backyard. There's no toads but a couple sparrows at a feeder. We currently have some baby birds in a birdhouse and I've been trying to close enough for a photo. I'll try to zoom in and if you look real close at the bottom hole, you may be able to see one of the babies with it's mouth open. We'll talk again soon! Kelly

GRADUATION WEEKEND

Well, this weekend is Newark graduation and my nephew, Joe, is graduating! Hard to believe, really. Of course, it is an outside graduation ceremony and the weather is calling for 90-95 degrees! Should be steamy!! I would post some pics, but my new camera is being repaired. Yep, I had it for less than a month and the LCD screen went out! Couldn't exchange it because I had thrown the box away so they have to repair it. Hopefully, I will get it back soon. I didn't even have the chance to download my pics from our Memorial Day picnic. When I get it back, I will try to do that!

Not much else going on here. We got our flowers planted and now just need to lay some mulch down. Haven't seen the toad since Kelly relocated it to the school a couple of weeks ago. I am hoping it doesn't make its way back (nor do any of its friends & family!)

We are only a little over a month away from NYC! Trying to find a dog sitter since ours moved to PA. I am sure it will all work out.

Stay cool out there! I am off to play some Poppit on Pogo!!

--Deb

Summer Vacation, Finally Booked!!

Well - we finally made a decision and we have booked our summer vacation to NYC! We gave up on All Star tickets because we know, with our luck, we never would have won the raffle to be eligible to purchase them at regular prices and scalpers were selling them for $550+ each!! (Now that we have booked our trip - we will probably win the raffle, but oh well - the way the Yanks are playing so far, they probably won't have any players in the All Star Game anyway!!) In any event, we are going in July so it will be HOT!! We are staying at a hotel called "The Algonquin" which is in the theater district/Times Square, so it is pretty centrally located to everything we want to do and if anything is longer than walking distance - we'll just hop on the Subway!! I can't wait!!! We had to go to Stubhub.com to get our tickets because everything was sold out otherwise. Last year in the stadium is apparently, quite a big draw!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tix to Jersey Boys at the TKTS booth! That is the one show I really want to see!

Ok, what else. I got a new camera yesterday so pics will be coming soon! Reba & Kelly announced new tour dates and they are coming to Columbus in November, so my 10x zoom will be at work that night!! Another thing to look forward to!

Now, just for fun, here is a video of our loveable Baxter during the weekly test of the tornado sirens last Wednesday! This is what I get to see every week when I am home for lunch by 12:15 pm. Isn't he cute!! We won't need to worry about hearing the sirens if we ever actually have a tornado! I am sure he will alert us!!

Until next time!!

--Deb

Mother's Day & More

It has been a busy week, so I am just now getting around to updating what we did last weekend. First, Saturday, we got up early and headed to the bike trail for the charity walk to benefit Stop the Suffering - a non-profit organization to stop cruelty against animals. Of course, that is a charity we feel strongly in so it was well worth the early rise on Saturday. Plus, the hour long walk did us, and Baxter, some good!! Saturday evening was spent at Julie & Kim's house for a bonfire where we enjoyed hotdogs and s'mores! It was too dark to get any good pics, but here is one of the fire!

Sunday was Mother's Day and since my parents are in Myrtle Beach, I was lucky enough to get to tag along with Kelly and her Mom & Sister. We treated her Mom to lunch at Schmidt's Wiener House in German Village. The food was delicious and of course, we couldn't pass up dessert!!

Well. tonight is Thursday, so it is a big TV night. I must go and help Kelly with dinner so we can be ready!! I have more things to post, but I will try to get to that this weekend!! Until then!

--Deb

Keith & Carrie Weekend

OK - so last weekend we went to Penn State to see Keith Urban & Carrie Underwood in concert. Our seats were high up, so I don't have any pics to share, but boy, do I have a story!! We went with Kelly's Mom and her friend, Camille. Here is a pic of the 4 of us from Dollywood last year.

The concert was great, although quite long at just under 4 hours. It would have been fine had our seats been a little more comfortable, but I tell you, those were the most uncomfortable seats I have ever been in!! In any event, the concert was terrific, especially when Keith went into the crowd and after finishing his song, autographed his guitar and gave it to one lucky fan! So cool! (Unfortunately, it wasn't any of us!)

Ok, moving on to the good part of the story. As we were leaving the concert, of course in a large crowd, we stopped so Kelly & Camille could go to the bathroom. I didn't have to go, but in retrospect, I should have!! I'll get to that in a minute. After the pit stop, we started moving again and when we got outside, into the 30 degree temps and high winds, Camille, somehow, tripped on the foot of one of the gates and lost her balance. I reached out to grab her, but she was already out of my reach as she stumbled forward, about 7-8 strides, bent over at the waist and straight to the ground, shoulder and forearm first, and slid into a poor girl sitting in a wheelchair who never saw her coming! I am glad she is ok, but it was one of the funniest things I think I have ever seen. I laughed so hard, I peed my pants (thus, the reference to making the bathroom stop above!) We must have laughed about it all the way back to our hotel, and most of the way home the next day! Again, I am really glad she wasn't hurt, or the story would have been entirely different, but I wish I would have caught it on video. We could have won big on Funniest Home Videos!!

Anyway, it was a fun weekend and we are glad we went. Now, we are off to plan our next excursion - hopefully, a trip to NYC and a final farewell to Yankee Stadium. Hopefully, they will start winning soon!

Until next time!

--Deb

It's been awhile!

Hello all. It has been a long time since we have updated - mainly cuz I have nothing interesting to say. Not much is going on. Baseball season has started and we have been watching the Yankees lose - a lot. We are going to Pennsylvania this weekend to see Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban in concert. I am sure it will be a fun time and the show will be good, but we aren't sure the drive is worth it - 5-1/2 hours! UGH! Kel's mom talked us into going, though, so we are going to be troopers and go. It will be good to get out of town - even if for just one night!

The weather is finally getting better - the sun is shining and it is warming up. Maybe, just maybe, Spring is finally here! I couldn't be more excited. As anyone who knows me knows that I HATE winter!!

Well, as I said, there isn't much to talk about. We will let you know how the concert is - we are going to be too far away from the stage to get any good pics or video.

-Deb