The Cone of Shame

Digby was spayed earlier in the week and so i've been keeping my eyes on her whenever i'm home so she doesn't have to wear the lampshade. i remember when i was little mom would rent a movie and get popsicles for me if i was really sick. it made me feel relaxed and like there was at least something fun to do even though i felt yucky. i was trying to imagine what the dog equivalent would be and all i came up with was a new toy and treats. hopefully they sufficed:)

I Heart Sylvia!

earlier in the summer we were helping some friends try to find homes for their animals. they were living in a not so good situation at the time and in order to get out of the miserable conditions they needed to take this step. the animals had suffered because of the conditions and it was a heart wrenching couple of months searching for homes. craigslist and posting photos on our facebook turned out to be the most successful ways of getting the word out. we found homes for all of the animals (there were 9 altogether) and she has been able to keep one of her dogs at the house they are now renting.

the happiest story is the one about bear. bear is a collie and a gorgeous dog. when we met him he was covered in fleas so much so that he had a bald spot from the irritation. he was full of mats and a little stir crazy from being pinned up inside (this is obviously the not to happy back story:)). after we posted bear on craigslist we got an email from Sylvia (owner of Sylvia's Pets). she's a member of a collie rescue and wanted to take in bear. she lives in a beautiful farm house on a ton of land where she has an agility training area, several fenced in open spaces and... sheep! what environment could be better for a collie who's instincts are for hearding! she took bear in and even gave us flea and worm medicine to treat him with before hand. meeting her was wonderful and she was very kind, gentle and patient with bear and his previous family. sylvia has been emailing me and letting me know about bears progress. i think he knew immediately that he was in a loving situation and quickly warmed up to everyone there on the farm- humans and dogs alike:) he's made a great transition and is on his was to a new home in virginia beach! the resque even does home visits to check and see if the family seems like a good match! here's a picture of bear after Sylvia gave him his makeover...
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Bug Off!

Tomato Hornworm, you're not welcome in my garden.

this morning as i was watering and inspecting my garden if found this frighteningly disguising caterpillar on one of my burpee beefsteak tomato plants(so the caterpillar has good tastes...). maybe he doesn't look so frightening in the picture, but that's b/c you can't see the fear inducing horn on it's backside! eek! i knew he was trouble as soon as i saw him b/c my friend linz had trouble with these same caterpillars earlier in the season and they tore apart her tomato plants. these things are beasts! they feast in the plant before you even realize they're there. here's the conversation i had with linz about them...


linz: Yes - that's what I had! It's a tomato (formerly, tobacco) hornworm. It has what is called a "red anal horn". Ewww! :) Smash them b/c they can do quite a bit of damage in just a day. That looks like a pretty small one, though. Mine were big and fat like the caterpillar on Alice and Wonderland.

me: ugh, this one was big to me, i can't imagine bigger ones. puke! i totally understand now! they're gross. i had found several of the cocoon type things in my garden while planting and always smooshed them and felt bad b/c i didn't know what they were but someone had recommended smooshing them... now i now why!

our friend renee: I just have to say, I appreciate the delicate way you guys used these interesting words.

check out this site if you want to learn more about these despicable buggers.

Peach Recipes...

we had our parents over for supper the other night and mom brought this beautiful trifle with fresh strawberries! mmm they were just right. she marbled a little bit of homemade strawberry jam on the top. i wish i could share a bit with you through the computer!i bought some peaches and blackberries at the farmers market on saturday. i was thinking about making a jam or butter but i'm to partial to fresh fruit to use it all up on such a project:) i've been searching for different recipes for peaches and here are a few promising ones that i might try out...

peach lavender pie: http://herbsspices.about.com/od/cakes/r/PeachLavender.htm

peach pie smoothie: http://americanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/peach-pie-smth.htm

peach salsa: http://southernfood.about.com/od/peaches/r/bl50920b.htm

peach butter (like apple butter): http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/fruits/r/peachbutter.htm

LET ME KNOW if you have any peach recipes! i'd love to try them out.

make a wish...

Tripp's Mom's Birthday was around the end of July and she had to work that day. so we took her lunch. i had a bunch of flowers at the time and made my first little bouquet!


the peppermint stick zinnias are my favorite!

Hangin' Out in Bar

Volkor & his wife who are the leaders of the OM team we stayed with. they've been in Bar, Montenegro for 3 years. their team is doing all sorts of outreaches there including programs with Roma kids and families, Islamic children, a handicap home and english and german language cafes. they all meet together on sundays in "the living room" cafe and have a simple church gathering. this is a view of the living room after the church meeting on sunday.

Daniel is a missionary from Serbia who has been in Montenegro for over 10 years. we spent most of our time at his house in Bar. when we arrived he was overwhelmingly friendly, showing us our sleeping space and pulling all sorts of things out of the fridge for us to eat. he definitely has the girt of hospitality!
Shin Gu & Rudolf were the other 2 guys staying in the house. Shin Gu is from Korea and Rudolf is from Germany. it was encouraging to see them all living together and working together with differences of opinion and different cultural backgrounds. they talked a lot about the importance of discussion which was refreshing because lots of times we as christians aren't willing to discuss differences.
this is a view from the porch of the house. beautiful!


here is the Promenade. on the left side of the palm trees is the sea. it was nice a breeze through here and during the hot parts of the day people would lay under the trees for shade. we had a few good naps under one of the flowering trees:)

Montenegro!

we made a trek to Montenegro around mid july and just git back last night. our trip turned out to be very different than we expected- and we evne went over with little expectations! it was a great trip though and it was fun to meet people from different places in the world and make new connections. a majority of out time we stayed with an OM team (they remind me of eauopean ywam) in a place on the coast called Bar. we stayed in the boys house and they were super hospitable and friendly. we stayed up late many nights talking with them on the porch. there is a serbian, a korean and a german living there. it was really neat to see them living communally and working together in ministry. it was refreshing to have conversations about the Lord and the Bible and not have it bee filled with american nationalism or republican agenda. it was so neat to meet believers from all over the world and feel that connection that the Spirit brings. we were also able to stay in Podgorica (which is where we originally were going to stay the whole time) with a missionary from serbia named Vladimir. he was super friendly and hospitable. his brother and his family were visiting at the time which was exciting because they had kids! a boy named marco and a cute little girl named martina. she's very artistic and creative and we had a blast playing together. i'm working on touching up my photos so i should have some up soon!