summer camp at mompom and poppy's

July brought three of our grandchildren from St. Pete to stay with us for Summer Camp!  We named it Pompy's Camp, weird, I know, but it worked for the kids.  Lauren had just turned 11, Graham will be 8 in October and Henry will be 4 in October.

Hours of preparation went into planning and purchasing.  The Dollar Store has opened a commercial account for us!  Bug jars, water guns, noodles, toothpicks.  Michael's loves us, too.  Socks, jewels, Easter eggs (yep, got 'em on sale from Easter!).  Lest us not forget WALMART:  marshmallows, pudding, all meals, a HUGE FOUR FOOT POOL... the list goes on.

Drive to St. Pete to pick up kids and help the family move in to their renovated (and I mean TOTALLY renovated home - a year and a bit) and a three hour drive to Lake City.  Kids good as gold.  Showed them their rooms - ugh, oh, forgot Henry's overnight diapers.  Well, it's time he was out of them anyway.  He promised he would hold it till morning.  And he DID!  Proud Henry!

First we need to catch some critters around here.  There are some strange ones, but Graham found a green grasshopper and Lauren caught a anole (alias gecko).  Henry's ants got out of the airvent.  Oh, well...

After we filled the pool to warm up a bit, we played pinata water balloons.  Henry did very well eventually, and even Poppy got in on the act.  He took longer than Henry even with the blindfold off!

I wanted a memento of this occasion (as if I'd forget) so we mixed up some cement and made stepping stones with the jewels.  They dried the next week, and now they are by the driveway.  Sweet.

Dollar store hit.

An unusually sweet moment....

Lauren is very artistic and made this sock puppet and lightning bug using those Easter eggs.  She decorated the outside and put a battery votive light inside so he lights up at night.  We had a dozen eggs, and each one was different.

Graham's favorite activity was driving Ariel with the siblings in the hay behind him.  He could reach the pedals, but Henry couldn't so Poppy helped him out.

Marshmallow sculptures and Bullseyes on coffee filters (for gun practice, water that is..)

Poppy enjoyed making a tire swing and Lauren and sister, Ellie pose.  Ellie came with Mom and Dad to pick up Lauren, Graham and Henry.  Lance and Charlie were still at camp.  Yep, we can still remember all their names.

It was a great success, and will no doubt be repeated.  Thank you, Pinterest, for all the ideas.
Boy it was quiet when everyone left.

Our non-human animals ventured out again in the peace.  Our little fox on top of the sand that she had dug out of her den.  We never saw her pups, though.  She has since left, thank goodness,  because chickens will be coming in the fall.  Chickens and foxes do not mix.

This 'sweet' thing stayed with us (under the house) for a little while, but has since left, too.

And turtle raced me back to the house from the mailbox.  Then he headed to the horse pasture next door.

We continue to make progress on the property.  I have totally washed the exterior of the house with a squirt bottle of Clorox Cleanup and a brush and a ladder.  It sparkles!  I painted the shutters and now they are up and beautiful. Gary built me a potting bench, and himself a work bench in the garage.  We will do some landscaping when it gets a little cooler.  Our coop plans are chosen and hopefully my son and brother will come down for Thanksgiving and help build it.  I also need to convince my brother to clear some of the back forty so we can get fencing for our goaties.

Speaking of goaties, I received an email from Cindy and Mike who have 11 goats that they need to rehome.  We went over to see them and glean some info about how to take care of goaties.  We are more interested in dwarf Nigerian goats, and these were a mix of Boer and Nubian.  The young ones were cute, but Cindy and Mike did not do much care.  The previous owner disbudded the young ones, trimmed hooves and they were not milked.  Three important things I wanted to know a bit more about.  So we admired their huge barn and beautiful home, had some ice water (it wast 102 outside), and departed. 

More importantly, Gary is spot free once again!  His last PUVA treatment was on July 7, and even though his Dr. wanted him to continue once a week, he said no, he was going to take a break until his checkup in December.  

And more exciting news:  His sweeeeet eye doctor here in Lake City really wanted to help Gary with his continuing eye problem: scratchy corneas, dry eye and ingrown eyelashes due to the intense radiation a year ago.  So she said she would talk to other Doctors at a conference she was attending the end of July.  True to her word, the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville called and set up an appointment for him last week.  We drove to Jax for the first time (an hour) the day before as his appointment was for 7:40 am and treated ourselves to an overnight hotel!  [Special Mayo rate at the Holiday Inn Express and free breakfast!]  I ordered some fabric at Calico Corners for curtains spending a good couple hours, and a few bucks, and then we drove around the city and to the beach having lunch at the Pita Pit - delicious.  Had an early night. 

Next am, we finally saw a doctor at 9:30, Katherine Gold, an Opthamologist, who told him two options: surgery to remove the mucus membrane on the lower lid and upper lid that had turned into skin, thus the scratching, replacing with skin grafts from inside his mouth; and a kind of electrolosis for his eyelashes.  Neither was appealing to me.  Most of all because even a biopsy can send this cancer into overdrive and begin lesions again, and second of all because she said it may be multiple surgeries and may not work even then.

So then we saw Bridgett Keener, a contact specialist, and after checking Gary for all kinds of stuff, he tried on a special lens that is larger and has a hard center with soft edges.  Although she did not have the prescription strength he needed, as soon as he put on a temporary lens, it was instant relief.  So she will call with delivery of the ones he needs, and we'll see if our insurance will cover the cost of those...

Other than that news, we are headed up to Raleigh on Wednesday and then on up to see my brothers and Tristan (son) and girlfriend, Tracy, and then a longer visit in Raleigh on the way back for our grandaughter's 7th birthday and Gary's mom's 91st birthday!  

That will be the last trip we plan to take for a while.  My garden must get planted.  I am planning a strawbale garden, so stay tuned for that adventure..  All family and friends will have to come to us (and you are all welcome!) so that we can get our rears in gear, and get our 'livestock'.  Lots of things to do till then, so thanks for visiting, and please make it a physical visit anytime!

Life is still so GOOD!