Farm

Every year, in late September, members of my grandpa's family host a picnic. Everyone gathers at Roger and Linda's farm. They have a bunch of animals and love to let all the kids interact with them.

There were some baby goats, perfect for cuddling.

This turkey was not afraid of me or my camera.
What is a trip to the farm without a picture of a red barn?
I even found an old-school Radio Flyer wagon.
Another very brave animal - this time a deer. I think he wanted a snack.

In other news, Lola is feeling much better. She is back to chewing up Mike's shoes, sitting guard by the window and being her usual puppy self. She thanks all of you who expressed concern for her health and sends you lots of puppy kisses.

Sick puppy

Miss Lola is sick. Basically, she has a puppy cold which is surprisingly similar to a human cold. She sneezes and coughs a lot. No fever though. She has some drugs to take now. Hopefully that will help get rid of the very disturbing cough she has had.

Charlie

On Friday, I got to spend some time with Charlie. He is three months old and such a happy little guy. Even though we disturbed him from his nap, he was happy and smiley for us - especially when he heard his mama's voice. Becky and Gary...hope you enjoy the pictures.

Nieces

So, my nieces are pretty much the cutest little girls...ever. You may disagree with me, but you'd be wrong.

Inspired

Last night, I attended a lecture by Jeannette Walls author of the memoir The Glass Castle. We had read the book in my book club before we knew the author was going to be speaking in Omaha. Several of us journeyed to the Joslyn Art Museum for the speaking engagement.

I was very inspired by Jeannette's lecture (I feel if we had talked, we would be on a first name basis because she's cool like that). It reminded me of some things I've forgotten this past year. I've always viewed myself as a very strong person and have never been angry or bitter about any of my past because it has shaped me into the woman I am today (and I pretty much rock). With all of the drama of the past year, I had lost that perspective. Jeannette helped me find it again.

She had several messages, but the one that touched me the most was that we all have a past and perceive that past in different ways. Whether rich or poor, there are hardships in life. The lucky few are, "able to pick ourselves up" from those hardships and if we are really lucky, we are "able to pick up others." That is when the light bulb went off for me. I can pick myself up. I've done it before and I will certainly have to do it again in the future. Only after I pick myself up can I pick up others.

Thanks, Jeannette. I needed to hear your message. Thanks for coming all the way to Omaha to find me.

Watchdog

Lola's new favorite activity is to look out the window by our front door. She puts her front legs up on the ledge to get a really good view of the neighborhood kids playing, the other Lola dog across the street and any other important events. Most often, she assumes this position when either one of us use the hall bathroom. Part of me thinks she is watching for us to appear outside to "go potty." After all, in her mind, that is where all potty business takes place.

Wilson

Over Labor Day weekend, Mike and I dog sat for two of our really good friends, Heidi and Brent (parents of Emma). It sounded simple enough. Stella is a very well-mannered, well-trained dog. She doesn't have accidents in the house, doesn't attempt to bite your face off and goes into her kennel with little to no urging. We were even hopeful that she would teach Lola a thing or two.

Lola decided that Stella must be a new toy and tortured Stella relentlessly. Wherever Stella went, Lola was almost literally up her butt. Even when Stella was taking care of her business, Lola had to be right there. Stella would look at us with what can only be described as utter and complete disdain. How dare we allow this vile little creature near her?

Sunday morning arrives and I head downstairs to let both dogs outside for their morning constitution. As I walk into the kitchen, I smell the rankest poo smell of all time. Poor Stella, whether out of stress or revenge, had thrown up and had multiple bouts of diarrhea in her kennel. So, Mike and I clean up the mess and Stella and she seems fine for the rest of the day.

I wake up Monday morning, head downstairs and am once again greeted by the same awful odor. This time, Stella was kind enough not to vomit, but instead she threw some blood into her diarrhea for good measure. I let her outside and she attempts to poo again and trots back up to me with her whole hiney covered in blood. Poor, poor Stella.

I take her to the emergency vet and they keep her overnight and run several hundred dollars worth of tests on her.

What was wrong? She was stressed. Lola had literally tortured Stella into such a state that the only way for her to express her outrage was to attempt to crap her entire digestional tract out of her butt.

This brings me to Wilson. Wilson is a two-month old basset hound puppy that we adopted for my uncle. We aren't taking him to my uncle's house until Saturday, so Wilson is staying at casa de Knecht.

Wilson is the same size as Lola and just as insanely rambunctious. They are at each other non-stop.

Dear Lola - you are learning a very valuable lesson that you should carry with you for years to come. We humans are very familiar with this little thing call payback. And guess what, Lola. Payback is a bitch. And at the moment, its name is Wilson.

Victory!

My husband is a superhero. He battled the dreaded hinges and won. That means we finished painting the kitchen cabinets this weekend. Because we are nice people (and believe in karma), we opted not to paint fourteen coats of shellac over the new hinges. After I make a few touch-ups (because I am freakishly anal), I will post some pictures of our pretty, shiny, white kitchen.

Since a post is not a post without a picture or two, here are two more of my afternoon with Avery and Spencer.

Mailboxes

These are two different shots of the same line of mailboxes. In the first, I tried to focus on sharpness. I think this is something I struggle with in portraits, so I thought I would start with an inanimate object first. For the second, I wanted to try and get some sun flare.

In other news, I finally got Lola to go on a walk with me! We walked for blocks and blocks. Until this point, she has made it to the end of our block and just sat down and stared into space. Tonight, she pranced all around the neighborhood like she owned the place. I am a very proud momma.

This past weekend we painted our kitchen cabinets - most of them anyway. Mike is still fighting with some of the hinges. Actually, the hinges aren't so much the problem as the 30+ years of grease and shellac that has settled peacefully into the hinges. We've tried multiple screwdrivers and drill bits, WD-40 and several explicit words all to no avail. These final hinges are stubborn. We will win. We will not be beaten by inanimate objects.