Evalieutions

I’m home, at least for a while.  Evan is all graduated…Rhys is still working on it.  I had a wonderful time at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee, in June.  I learned new techniques, honed some previously learned techniques, met up with old friends, made some new ones, and did some shopping…what’s not to love about a week like that?  After the Show, I was off to Colorado to see my Grandma, Aunt Pete, Uncle Ben and Aunt Judy, and Adam.  What a wonderful visit.  I love spending time with my Grandma.  It seems we never run out of things to talk about.  It’s like having a week long slumber party…except we don’t stay up all night.  It is interesting to talk to one’s grandmother about life, love, relationships, good times and hard times.  I have spent a lot of time with my grandmother over the course of my life, but I have learned more about her and her life during the two weeks I have spent with her the last two summers than in all the time before that. I wish I had been able to record everything she told me, because I can’t remember all of the stories.  And there are a lot!  She has an amazing memory.   I heard about her growing up and little tidbits about Granddad.  I listened to stories about some of the struggles she went through as a young wife and mother.  I got to hear about the snake that ate my mom’s little red sandals…at least that was Mom’s story.  I learned what it takes to make a marriage last 75 years.  I listened to stories about some of the great trips they went on.  I relived the camping trips in the National forests and some of the wild, off-road gallivanting of my youth.  What great fun!   I know there are a ton more stories for her to tell, and I can’t wait until next year, when I will get to hear them. 

It was also wonderful to see my aunts and uncle.  I have a great family!  Aunt Pete just keeps hupomeno-ing (keeps on keeping on).  She amazes me with her drive.  Aunt Judy made some of the most amazing crackers!  I don’t think there is anything she makes that isn’t good.  I made some of them for Eric’s dad.  He said, “I’ve been getting into them when you aren’t looking.”  When I went to get some, I found that he had been getting into them…to the “all gone” stage.  I made him some more before I left.  Adam looked great.  I enjoyed spending some time with him.  It is neat to see the changes a year makes in attitudes and maturity of a young man.

Over the last year, I have gotten spend a lot of time one-on –one with Rhys.  It has been great.  I am thankful that I have gotten to know him as a person, in a way, separate from him as my son.  I have a month now with Evan, and I hope to be able to know him in the same way. 

Thankfully, it is an un-occupied house

A storm hit Abqaiq Sunday night, and did a lot of damage in a very short period of time.  We lost over 200 trees!  Golf ball size hail and torrential rain added to the mix.  I don’t know what the wind speed was, but it was a lot!  Thankfully, no one was injured.  Eric’s grill blew across the patio…it was kind of amusing to watch…in a “did that really just happen” sort of way.  We lost our big shade tree in the back yard.  The dogs and my night blooming jasmine will miss it especially.  It lowered the temperature in the backyard a good 10 degrees, which is a good deal on those 125 degree days. 

I have been busy making jewelry for a bride, her attendants, and the mother.  I am just about finished, which is good, considering I started it in September.  The wedding is in July, so I wanted to give myself enough time and not do my normal procrastinate forever thing.  The bride is here for a holiday this week, saw everything I have gotten done so far, and is very pleased!  I am so relieved.  It makes the rest of the job much easier knowing that I am working in the right direction. 

Evan just left after spring break.  He got stuck in Amsterdam because our travel agent told us he had changed Evan’s ticket, but hadn’t.  So we told him that the agency needed to put Evan up at a hotel since he was going to be there for 24 hours.  He said the hotel room was paid for…but it wasn’t…I guess we will be getting a new travel agent.

I have cut back on my hours at work, and am much happier with life.  I had so much missed being at the bench, cleaning my house, being caught up with my laundry, and cooking real meals! 

Eric is finished with his remote project, so he is home.  That has made my life much happier also!  It is nice to have him home all of the time, although we have had to make some adjustments…when he was home before, I wasn’t working, so we didn’t have to have a morning routine which included two people sharing the bathroom at the same time.  We are working those details out.

Rhys and Evan are both on track to graduate from high school in May.  They have each been accepted to the university of their choice:  Rhys—West Virginia University; and Evan—University of Colorado, Boulder.  We will fly to the US in May for graduation, and for me to attend classes at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee.  Our repat will be in July/August...if it is approved.

July!  Really, July?!  If I had been asked, I would have said October.  I really can’t believe it has been that long since I added to my blog.  That is so depressing.  I am trying to figure out where to fit in time to regularly post in it.  The problem is that I just don’t know how to steal time.    Maybe the real problem is that I am the most inefficient person on the face of the earth.  Most days it seems that way.  I am only working 10-12 hours/day.  Many women work many more hours than that, and still manage to put time in at the bench, take care of home and hearth, and carve out time to write updates.  Maybe they don’t sleep. 

Once again, my part-time job has turned into a full-time plus job.  This time, I really love it.  I don’t love figuring out what to wear every day.  And although I do miss my workbench time terribly, I believe that things will calm down in March, and I will be able to start spending more time working at making jewelry.  I have two jobs.  The first is re-vamping the operation of the Customer Care Center.  Included in this is research into, and implementation of, company policy for the first time in at least eight years. In addition to that, we are being asked to be the control center for all maintenance, gardening, pest control and sanitation calls; facilities reservations; housing requests; and customer complaints for the entire community.  I am adapting /writing an Operations Manual so that any employee can come in and know exactly what to do with minimal training.  All of the ladies working in the Office are short term hires, so this manual is a critical need.  The start-up of the Call Desk is March 1^st, so I have been very busy getting the manual done, and my staff trained.  I have had many staffing issues, because although I have been able to fill the multiple spoken languages requirement, the need for excellent written English has been more difficult to come by.  On top of all of that, the office is being renovated while we work…chaos would be an understatement.  We have successfully produced two monthly eight page newsletters in the midst of all of this.  That is why I don’t write in my blog. 

My other job is evaluating the contracts of the contractors to ensure that they are adhering to the terms.  The second part of that job is to write curriculum which will be used to train the contract employees to know exactly what the company standards are, as well as what the contract terms are.  We found with our first training session, that the contractors were unaware of the terms of the contract…some to their benefit, and sometimes to their detriment.  As a corollary of the training, we are doing spot inspections of the contractors, contract employees, and the contract employee’s dwellings.  It is encouraging to see contract employees wearing safety glasses and properly fitted safety shoes for the first time since I have been here. 

I have spent a bit of time in the garden…I just couldn’t help spending a couple of sunny weekend afternoons mucking about in the dirt!  My peas are nearly 6’ tall, and the tomatoes are 5’ tall.  I have been eating peas for about month.  They have been scrumptious!  It is still too cool for the tomatoes to ripen, but now that it is starting to warm up, it won’t be long.  The dogs have already eaten the tops off of all of my carrots…they are such odd dogs…so I won’t be getting any carrots!!!  I am going to plant some more lettuce this weekend, and hope it doesn’t get too hot too soon. 

My friends Gayle and Christine and I went in to Khobar last night for a girl’s night out.  We took the bus from Abqaiq and had a taxi take us to Saad Hospital so we could all have pedicures.  I have now had a sum total of three pedicures in my entire life.  We finished just as Maghrib prayer started (6:30), so had to waste some time until we could get into the restaurant to eat dinner.  We ate at a wonderful Italian restaurant…scrumptious fettuccini Alfredo and minestrone.  After dinner, we were off to shop.  Christine needed to pick up her glasses, Gayle needed to pick up an anklet which had been repaired, and I needed a new wastebasket for the living room.  We started through the mall, window shopping as we strolled, talking and…you know…being girls.  As we walked along, I noticed a couple of Mutawas and their escorts walking towards us.  As they came even with us, they began shouting, “Abaya!  Abaya!  Abaya!”  If I have learned anything in this country, it is how to look through people.  It is one of the most basic survival skills for a Western woman.  So that is what we did.  We looked through them, and acted as though they could not possibly be speaking “at” us.  Because they shouldn’t have been…we were dressed conservatively and appropriately…and not a one of us is Muslim…so none of is “required” to wear an abaya.   Christine and I had on pants and loose blouses that went to our knees.  Gayle had on an ankle length skirt and a loose blouse that went to mid-thigh.  In any case, we went on with our shopping, and there they were again!  “Abaya!  Abaya!  Abaya!”  We repeated our looking through them tactic, and ducked into the nearest “women only” shop.  We were able to complete our shopping while keeping a close eye out for our “admirers”, but decided to get a water bottle for the taxi ride home.  As we waited in line, I jokingly said I would keep watch.  I had no sooner said it, when I spotted them coming down the corridor.  Gayle hurriedly paid for the water, as Christine walked toward the exit, and I kept track.  As soon as we got the water, we scurried out of the mall and to our taxi.  I have lived here for 8 years.  I have been hassled by young Saudi men on numerous occasions, but I have never had an experience like last evening’s.  It was more annoying than the young men, because the Mutawas are acting in an official capacity.  It is irritating for young men to be rude and crude, but not completely unexpected.  I don’t know that the Mutawas were specifically going out of their way to target us, but to see them that many times in a mall as large as the one we were in, sure does make one wonder.  Christine, who has only been here a year, was quite un-nerved by the whole thing.  As I was thinking about it this morning, I realized that the fact that she is unmarried, removes a layer of protection from her that Gayle and I may take for granted.  This morning, I checked my wallet to make sure I still had the letter from Eric giving me permission to travel into Khobar by myself.  Christine has no one to give her such a letter.  When we first moved to Saudi, women were not allowed to sit in the front seat of a taxi…even if there were four passengers.  That has relaxed to a certain extent, but as much as things change, they remain the same.

Grandma

Aunt Pete

Aunt Judy

Grandma

Uncle Ben

Mel 12 days old and 2 days after we got him

I got home from the States a month ago, and thought I would have tons of time to write in my blog and update everyone on everything that I did while I was gone.  Umm Hmmm…not so much! 

While I was gone, our house filled with methane gas due to a clogged drain vent.  That resulted in three of our four inside birds dying.  This included Gizmo, our white-cheeked bulbul, who I had raised from a featherless hatchling.  We had had him for 8 years.  I was heartbroken.  If I had been home, I would have recognized what was going on, but our temporary housekeeper and the person who was taking care of the animals didn’t, so they didn’t know that anything was wrong…other than that a really horrible smell permeated the house.   

I met AbdulWahab when he came to inspect the new counter tops when they were installed last year.  He saw Gizmo, and was so excited to meet another bulbul fancier.  He has hand raised several bulbul babies also, and talked about the exploits of his birds as much as he talked about his children.  He was kind enough to bring me some proper bulbul food (we had been giving Gizmo Cheerios, because we didn’t know there was such a thing as bulbul food!) the very next week after he met Gizmo.  When he heard of Gizmo’s death, he was as upset as I was.  He went to the market in Al Hasa, and found a baby bulbul…older than Gizmo had been when we got him, but still a baby…and brought it to the house.  And so, we have Melvin.  Actually, we don’t know if we have a Melvin or a Melvina, but we are going for Melvin for now…boys are so much easier to deal with.  Baby bulbuls, have to be fed every 15 minutes during the daylight hours.  That is just about ALL I have been doing since I got home!  Seriously!  This little guy eats nonstop!  AbdulWahab brought another baby about 10 days later, but it was not well from the beginning, and died on the second day.  We have decided to keep it to one bird.  Mel, as the boys like to call him, is almost fully feathered.  He still is getting his black adult head feathers.  He sits on my hand and preens my cuticles (at least someone does!).  He loves bananas and dates, but is not as adventurous as Gizmo was in terms of food. 

The boys and I gave Winston a haircut a couple of weeks ago.  While we were at it, Rhys suggested we trim the floppy off of Winston’s floppy ears.  So we did.  I think he looks adorable.  The boys still make disparaging comments about his intelligence.  Not that ear length has anything to do with intelligence…but still!

Fred the turtle has developed a serious romantic attraction to his fake air bubbling turtle.  He just does not get that it. is. not. a.  real. turtle!  And if that were not bad enough, last night, I caught him fluttering his log!  Fluttering is where a turtle stretches its arms out in front of its head and flutters it claws. This is something akin to a mating dance…or an act of aggression.  So he is either flirting with his log, or warning it away from his fake turtle girlfriend.  Either way, one has to shake one’s head at the weirdness of it.  And there are people who say that turtles are boring pets…pppptttth!

I put screen around Ruby’s cage a couple of weeks ago.  Now all of the sparrows are not constantly eating all of her food.  I was having to fill her food dish three times a day.  It is so nice to only have to fill the water bowl once a day, and the food bowls every couple of days.  Ruby seems so much happier.  She is cooing a lot more, and generally seems more restful.  The sparrows are not so happy. 

Alfred, our newest hedge hog, has learned how to open the dog door.  Every evening, he comes to the door, and pushes it open with his nose.  He doesn’t come in; he just pushes it open and sits there.  We think he likes the A/C.  He also climbs on top of the little house where we put the food bowl.  We don’t know why he does that. 

Rhys and Evan are eating me out of house and home.  They are both going to the gym and playing golf daily in addition to working every day.  Rhys is bench pressing 305 lbs.  I am not sure how his 160lb. body does that, but he has the video to prove it. 

The boys were both a little put out with me that I would not pay $10 for a package of Oreos the other day.  Really!  $10!  For a regular size package of Oreos!  The ‘Nilla Wafers were $11!  Celery has gone up to $15/kg. , and the chuck roast I bought the other day was $20/kg ($10/lb).   And that was Brazilian beef!  The US beef is double that. All of our grocery costs have gone up.  Dog food is $60/bag now…and it isn’t the good stuff!  I point these prices out, because I heard over and over while I was in the States about the cost of fuel.  I know it is high.  I know it is higher than it has ever been.  I know it is higher than I pay…a lot higher.  I bet people in the States aren’t paying $10 for a package of Oreos though.  Just some food for thought…so to speak.

One of the very first pieces of jewelry I ever made. I was in Junior High School. I sawed, filed, soldered and filled it with resin and MOP. The jump ring bail is nearly worn through.

Remember the odd number of prongs on my crown setting?  I was wrong…I can’t count.  There were 8, just like I planned.  I really don’t know where I got the odd number thing…I counted them wrong several times even!  The ring is finished, but not photographed.  It is not as well done as the first one, which is disappointing.    I finished another piece also, but it was for a challenge, so I have to wait to post photos until judging is finished.  I keep forgetting to stamp the silver content on my metal prior to forming things.  I also really need to get a stamp with my mark, but I can’t decide what that should be.  Decisions, decisions.

I have been in the hospital for the last 10 days.  I had spinal fusion surgery done, with two rods, four screws and a cage put in place.  It took ten hours, because he also had to remove scar tissue from the previous surgery and bone to make room for the nerve to my right leg.  For the first time in I think four years, I don’t have a permanent charley horse in my calf and butt.  It is an amazing feeling.  The surgery was successful, and now I just need to be patient and do what I am supposed to do to finish the healing process.  The hardest thing so far is finding a reclining position, with no recliner.  The appropriate propping of pillows has been a challenge.  I am really glad that I was working on strengthening my legs and core muscles prior to the surgery; because I can tell that I am better for it now.  I have lost a total of 62kg, with more to go.  My surgeon said he could tell I had been swimming because my back muscles were bigger…I don’t know why that made me feel good, but it did.  I can start swimming next week. and walking yesterday.  He started me on a medication to help regenerate nerve tissue, because of the leg nerve and due to some nerve damage/ pressure point damage incurred during surgery due to the length  of the surgery and position I had to be in.  He said it may take months for it to resolve.  Since one of the pressure points is across my forehead, I was kind of bummed to hear that…thank goodness for makeup!  The medication makes me pretty wobbly right now, so I feel uncomfortable walking without someone with me.  In a few days, my body will get used to it, and I will be fine to gallivant all over camp. 

I have had some great ideas while I was in the hospital, and can’t wait to be able to put them to metal.  I need to hurry and get them sketched so I don’t forget. 

Last night I dreamed an entire whodunit crime show…I was just at the point where the cops were going to arrest the bad lady when Evan called and woke me up.  It was a weird dream!

Evan in March 2008

Yesterday was Evan’s 17^th birthday.  It’s hard to believe really.  All parents say that though don’t they?  On the 25^th, he was supposed to be on his way to Denver to spend a long weekend with Adam.  His flight was cancelled due to mechanical/crew issues.  They put him up in a hotel, but because United hadn’t paid their hotel bill, the hotel wouldn’t honor the voucher.  Thankfully, Evan is a pretty frugal kid, so he had all of his allowance saved in his account plus his travel money that I had given him.  United gave him an address from which he is to get a refund…but still…how many 17 year olds have the odd $100 sitting around in their accounts, or even a debit card for that matter?  He did get to Adam’s eventually, and sounded like the rest of his day would be good.  He is going to try to get his driver’s license on Monday.  That should be interesting. 

I have been working on another crown setting.  I don’t know how I got the first one right, and so totally messed this one up…maybe it’s the pain meds?  In any case, I have an odd number of prongs!  I only figured this out after I had the stone set, and realized I had broken the culet, so needed to remove the stone and replace it.  There is no way that I can see to get rid of the extra prong, so I guess this ring is mine…or for someone who doesn’t care, or can’t count.  It’s especially aggravating, because I purposely made it too small for me.  But…as is always the case in these situations, it was a great learning experience in what NOT to do when making a crown setting.  I just wish I had been paying better attention to what I did right the first time!  I have a PMC project on the bench that I am working on.  I have to make a photopolymer plate for it, and hope that my photopolymer film is not too old.  It has been in the fridge since I bought it.  I am very nervous about doing this, and I don’t know why.  The worst thing that can happen is that I mess up some film.  The best is that it works.  Neither is life threatening in any way, and yet I keep putting it off as if doom awaits. 

 My mint is finally growing well.  I love the odor of mint leaves!  My gardener got 15 basil plants for me.  I don’t really need 15, but was glad to get some, as Fred loves basil.  Basil grows really well here, and is commonly used as a small shrub.  My sage and rosemary have gone wild, but the thyme is struggling.  I don’t know if there is too much sun where I put it or what.  I had two plants, so moved one to a tower planter.  That one seems to be doing a bit better.  We’ll see.  I had Garlic and Rosemary Lemon Chicken last night and a salad with rosemary, onions and tomatoes from my garden.  I know that isn’t much, but it seems huge with the difficulties faced with vegetable gardening here.  I was out piddling in the garden on Thursday, and noticed that all of the leaves on one of the carrot plants were chewed off.  I started looking for pests, and asked my gardener if he had noticed any.  He started laughing, and pointed at Sarge.  It seems Sarge likes carrot tops.  Like I said, we have the weirdest pets!  I guess I need to take my bitter lime spray out and spray the carrots. 

When we were in Thailand, Evan got me three little wind chimes for Christmas.  They are just little ceramic bells with ceramic clappers, but they have a lovely, cheerful sound.  I love having the patio door open listening to them and the other chimes I have collected over the years.

What is this taking of pictures? Can you not see the bowl it is empty?

Tumbleweed...one of the incessant runners

As I was sitting at my bench today, I looked down into three furry faces, and just had to laugh. It appeared as though each had set upon a "face" which he had decided would best convince me to get up and run into the kitchen to feed them.  Squintley was looking imperious.  Winston was looking cute, and Sarge was looking hopeful.  The problem was that it was only 4:00 p.m...  Although Squintley had been meowing at me for 15 minutes, they still had another two hours before feeding time.  Squintley however remained unconvinced.  The problem is that he bases his feeding time on light level.  If there is a certain amount of light outside, it must be feeding time.  He does not take into account anything as important as hunger!  So on a cloudy day, like today, he starts fussing at me two and a half hours early, and will not be dissuaded…as if by sheer force of will he can make time change, because he is after all...King Cat.  The other two, convinced, that he must be right because he is the boss of them all, sit beside him, screaming "Feed us!"  at me with their eyes.    Outside, the hedgehogs are running in circles…literally.  We have a tree in the middle of the yard.  It has a flower bed around it.  Every evening when the hedgehogs awaken, they all go to the perimeter of the flowerbed, and start doing laps around it.  Do they realize they aren't going anywhere?  Why not do laps around the perimeter of the entire yard?  It is very odd looking to see three little bodies running around and around and around.   What is even more odd looking is the permanent hedgehog track we have around the flower bed around the tree in the middle of the yard because of our incessantly exercising hedgehogs.  Fred likes to lie on the edge of his basking platform with his head under water, staring at people as they walk by.  People as in me…he likes to stare at me as I walk by.  It's just a tad disconcerting.  He has gone from hating all vegetables to loving romaine lettuce, coriander, basil, hibiscus flowers, carrots, red bell pepper and blueberries.  He still does not like zucchini though.  Sarge and Winston, however, love it.  We have the weirdest pets.

Before

After

Molasses sludge

Sophia's Charm Bracelet

  I  was able to make this charm bracelet for my friend Sophia.  She is leaving Saudi for good on Sunday.  She went through her jewelry box and got all of the bits and bobs that were important to her, but that she wouldn't or couldn't wear anymore and brought them to me.  She asked me to make the chain with round and square links, and to solder the pieces on to the bracelet.  I did that with everything I could.  There were some things, that I didn't feel comfortable having that close to the heat in my inexpert hands...like her amber!  Those things I wire wrapped on to the bracelet.  I added some lodolite, coral, Botswana Agate, red banded agate, apple green turquoise, fire agate, rainbow soocho jade, and a few glass beads in the color scheme she liked.  I got everything all soldered, and discovered that I had closed the clasp ring so well, that I couldn't tell it hadn't been soldered.  Oops!!  I filled my crucible with water, put the bracelet in it, with the offending ring in my soldering tweezers, and got it soldered in a jiffy.  I was nervous though...the amber was on one of the closest links.  Then I had to figure out how to pickle it without all of the non-pickle-able stuff dangling into the pickle.  I solved that little problem by putting the bracelet in a small Ziploc bag except for the clasp ring, and held it so the ring was in the pickle.  Just a few minutes, and it was pickled, rinsed, polished and finished.  Sophia loves it!  Now I am on the lookout for all of my bits and bobs so I can make one for me.

  I  got the bird netting up so that hopefully, the birds will not eat all of my tomatoes this year.  So far, it is working perfectly!    I think my neighbor thinks I am a little odd.  She mentioned the other day,”You have quite the set up over there with your misters and nets. “That’s okay.  I get to get out there and putter a bit.  I need a hoe like Granddad had, so I don't have to bend over to get the weeds out!  

Our female hedgehog has had a baby.  It looks like it is at least a week old.  We haven't gotten close enough to see, for sure and aren't positive there is only one, because we don't want to stress her.  The hard part is keeping the dogs from investigating too closely.  Winston sits about three feet away, and just sits and watches for as long as I let him.  We are very excited though, hedgehogs are so much fun! 

I have learned the coolest thing.  Everyone should know this, so I am going to share it with my small circle, and y'all need to share it with all and sundry.  Molasses mixed with water in 9 parts water: 1 part molasses works as a wonderful low cost, environmentally friendly rust remover.  Yup!  It does!  I read about it on Orchid, a jewelry forum I read.  I had an old camel lantern that had been left outside and was covered in heavy rust so I decided to give it a shot.  I got a hospital basin, put in the water and molasses, stirred it all about, and put in the lantern.  And waited.  And waited.  The third day, teeninsey little bubbles appeared on the surface in a pattern which matched the lantern shape.  The bubble pattern got thicker with each passing day.  On the fifth day, I took it out to look for progress.  Rust fell off in flakes, so I rubbed all of the loose stuff off, and put it back in.  And waited. ..some more.  Every couple of days, I checked for progress, and rubbed away any loose stuff.  By the two week mark, I was tired of having a basin of disgusting looking molasses rust on my kitchen counter, so I called the experiment a success.  The molasses had begun to smell very strongly of rust, but the process did not seem to be going any slower.  This is not a fast process by any stretch of the imagination, so if you have some time, molasses and something rusty, give it a try!  You can see in the photos, that rust still remains on the lantern, but it is a lot better than when I started.  Best of all, the hinge works, and the pin which keeps it closed, got unrusted enough to be removed.  All of the rivet connections for the gyro workings loosened up so that everything operates smoothly.  When I poured the molasses out, there were lots of rust particles in the bottom of the basin. 

A photo of a flower in Thailand

And another

I have been sneaking away to the bench here and there while the boys have been home.  I haven't been accomplishing much in terms of finished jewelry, but I am figuring out how to do some things...and how not to do them.  I made a bead out of copper by forming it on the punch rather than in the dapping block.  It was actually a lot of fun.  I learned how to hold the copper on the punch and hammer it without hitting my fingers.  That is always a good thing.  I was able to get the two halves soldered together, with a minimum of difficulty, which is also a good thing.  I am working on tube setting now.  Sort of.  I sliced my finger and thumb open with a piece of tubing I was trying to cut the seat on, so right now, I am waiting for it to heal a bit.  I tried working, but kept getting garbage in the cut.  That was most definitely NOT a good thing. 

 Last weekend, I took the boys to Bahrain for some shopping, and to get my hair cut.  I think it is the first time ever, that we didn't buy anything.  On the way, we passed a herd of camels walking along the side of the road in camel fashion...both ungainly and elegant at the same time.  About six camel lengths behind, was the camel herder with a wee black baby camel.  Man and baby kept pace easily with one another...lagging behind, but seeming to be comfortable with one another.

 We got the fine mist sprayers hooked up around the patio and the garden.  The boys did all of the work, with me acting as supervisor and getter of tools.  The mist really does lower the temperature quite a bit.  Hopefully, my tomatoes will not cook on the vine this year.   The dianthus and snapdragons are just about finished for the year, but the gazinnias are going wild.  My four o'clocks are doing really well, and I hope that they handle the heat throughout the rest of the summer.    Another plant that has been gorgeous this year are my geraniums.  I am hoping to be able to summer them over for next winter.  I may have to bring them inside to do it though.  There is a new gardening committee starting in Abqaiq this year.  I have asked to be on it, but haven't heard anything more about it.  I would love to start a community compost heap.  Fred the turtle figured out how to climb out of his tank.  He fell out and dented his shell.  It was bleeding a bit, but seems to be healing okay.  I blocked his means of egress, only for him to find another one the next week.  Now, his above tank basking area is a veritable fortress...impenetrable by turtles and rhinoceroses.  Winston has lost a pound and needs to only lose 1/4 pound to be where the vet wants him.  I found out that nobody but me was using the correct line on the cup in the dog food bin.  So he has been overfed for a year.  I couldn't figure out why he was getting so chunky!  The boys found another hedge hog out on the golf course, and brought it home.  I kind of think it is one of our escapees.  It is not afraid of the dogs at all, it knew exactly where the food was, and it keeps staring in the patio window  like Larry used to do.  I have named it Larry...it needed a name, and even if it isn't Larry, it reminds me of him.  I still need to catch him and give him a flea bath.  That is easier said than done though...I may have to wait until Thursday when Austin is here.

The boys are back at school.  I had a great time with them, but am enjoying the quiet and the clean living room.  They were a big help this break, doing a lot of chores around here that I can't do, and that Eric hasn't been home to do.  Rhys has grown an inch since Christmas, and Evan just a tiny bit.  Maybe Evan is finally finished.  They are both at the gym every day, trying to build muscle for football (Rhys) and Army ROTC (Evan).