Chapter 302

Since we've had so many nice (Read: Really hot in the house) evenings, we have been spending a lot of time in the patio. Nitro puts on his silly cat vest and comes out with us. He drags his retractable leash around so I can hear him and he's isn't as prone to hop the fence. Nitro likes to catch and release birds and plucks the unsuspecting birds from the fountain as they get drinks. He doesn't hurt them but I figure if the birds are dumb enough to let a cat in a red vest dragging a noisy piece of plastic catch them, maybe the bird's gene pool needs a smidge of chlorine, huh?

I hope everyone loves cucumbers. At this rate the menu will be featuring all things cucumber for the rest of the summer. I do love myself some cucumber and onion salad though. 

I went to H Mart Asian market to get some tapioca pearls for bubble tea. I love to tour through H-Mart and look at all the cool stuff.  This poor halibut kept following me around with his sad buggy eyes begging me to stick him in my purse and take him to Des Moines Marina and let him swim free. Sorry Buddy, you are destined for someone's chopsticks!

One of the cool things about H Mart is that they sell everything. Everything. 

For whatever reason, an entire rack of things I can't read and don't know what the contents are is extremely fascinating. I only spent an hour looking at stuff, but I could spend an entire day in there if it wouldn't look kind of creepy.

When I go to ethnic stores I always buy something I have no idea of what it is.

Turns out this is grass jelly.

The ingredients list was not much help since it was "grass jelly". Are there grass jelly plants out there waiting to be harvested, or is grass jelly a tree crop?

When I looked up mesona procumbens hemsl this is what I found. Apparently it's quite high in anti-oxidants and is a promising anti-cancer drug. It looks like the ajuga I have in my yard.

Other items of note were breadfruit... 

Indian bitter melon...

and another rack of stuff I didn't understand. At least this packaging had pictures.

I forgot to include this picture a couple of weeks ago. As I was going to MaryLou's I could see Lake Tapps was empty. Not low. Empty. I stopped to take a picture of their "water front" property. Thankfully Scott and JoAnn's cabin is not on a water shed and will be able to enjoy their summer water activities as usual.

This week I met my former student and friend, Amber, for breakfast. She's here from Montana for her brother's wedding and brought their two working cattle dogs with her. They have been cooped up since she arrived and they needed exercise. They aren't licensed in Auburn, and she didn't want to get a ticket at a bark park so we brought them up to our backyard so they could get some exercise. They were amazing to watch since they followed commands and did exactly as they were told. If they lost the ball, Amber verbally directed them to find it. I love to watch working dogs!

Really? REALLY??? On your nice Mercedes? On any car?

Carissa and Reagan came over today for Chris' drill day. The first thing Reagan wanted to do was go play in the fountain. The rocks were hot so I put a rug out for Carissa's delicate feet.

Tradition calls for a Little Tikes turtle sandbox. One of Carissa's fondest memories was playing in the turtle sandbox Grama and Grampa Book got for the girls so it was imperative we carry on the tradition. Unfortunately I had an Amazon misfire and it landed on my doorstep instead of theirs. Now they have to pack it home somehow. Reagan didn't mind and enjoyed eating her lunch in it.

Then after lunch Reagan and all her sticky toys were transported outside and Turtle was filled with water to get everyone and everything clean and cool.

Reagan picked a carrot from our container garden to eat. (I can't say "pot garden" any longer). I'm reasonably sure none of my plants will be safe any longer. It was hard to get a picture of her harvesting carrots since she was not wearing any clothing post-watermelon eating.

Bear and Reagan enjoy playing in the yard together. The dry grass doesn't look very comfy to sit on bare-donkey naked, but it doesn't seem to bother either Bear or Reagan.

All this activity makes a girl hungry!

Since the Walkers are going to visit friends for a couple of days, we decided at the last minute that Bear would stay here rather than at Big Valley Pet Resort where he usually stays. I say Big Valley Resort doesn't look like too bad a deal if you were a dog in need of a place to stay.

• Suite, Mini-Suite and Studio rooms available
• Large outdoor play area for all socialized dogs to enjoy
• Grooming available upon request
• Play yards and farm walks 
• Extra guest in same room $12
• Daycare is available from 8:00 AM till 6:00 PM
• Stay 14 nights and get the 15th night free!

	Suite	Mini-Suite	Studios
Indoor	Covered; 8'x8'	Covered; 4'x6'	Covered; 3'x6'
Patio	8'x6'	4'x8'	3'x8'
Bed	King size raised bed	Queen size raised bed	Single size floor bed
Misc	Raised food and water Bedtime Treats	Bedtime Treats	Bedtime Treats

So as the troops rolled out this morning, Bear remained behind. Um. Hello? Did you forget somebody? Anybody listening???