The Dog-R.I.P.

Am I really going to write a blog about my dog? Yeah, I am. Only because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Plus, there's a story to tell and I feel like telling it. So here it goes.

Our dog died last Sunday.

We'd had him for around 6 years. His name was Daxter (or Dax, or Daxie-poo, or the unflattering nickname my mom gave him the last time she visited. *snicker*)
He'd been with us through the best of times and the worst of times. The highs and lows. The lefts and rights. (you see what I'm trying to say here.)

He was much beloved by Matthew and a loyal companion and running buddy to Matt.

Although we'd had him awhile, he was still very much young at heart. Extremely hyper-active and very playful. And although he had all of those qualities, I feel that I must share...I couldn't stand him.

We obtained Dax the same way we obtained a few of the pets we've had over the years.

Matt: "Hey babe, I was wondering, would you like to have a (insert animal)?

Me: "No." (Mentally preparing to stand my ground)

Matt: "Oh....well I thought you'd say yes. I already got the (insert animal) . It's really cool! "

Me: *sigh* (mentally giving in) *rolls eyes* "whatever, as long as I don't have to feed it, or take care of it in any way."

I have to hand it to him, I mostly never did have to take care of Dax or any of the other random pets we've had. I say mostly because there's always that rare time that I have to do it. But it's slim to none.

Now I will also say that I have also brought home a couple of cats. But I came to realize that it's enough work for me to take care of the kids and the house and feed the monsters that live in it. So I swore off bringing any pets home until I feel I can manage it. (it probably won't be any time soon.)

So, that's how we got Dax.

Here's the story on how he died.

Sunday night, Matt decided to go for a run. He never goes at night, only in the mornings, but he has to pass his PT (National Guard Physical Test) and he's been trying to run as much as physically possible.

He then took Dax with him. He loved to go running with Matt.

Just the week before I went walking while Matt went running and we were outside stretching and talking. Suddenly we became aware of a whining sound. It was Dax, standing outside his doghouse shaking and whining at us. He knew Matt was getting ready to go run, and he wanted to go.

When Matt came bursting through the door he told me this is what had happened:

They were over by the bridge (about a mile away from the house). Matt was running on the left and Dax was over on the right. *Dax never could stay by Matt when he ran, he was always ahead or behind, sniffing or checking something out* Matt saw the car coming and figured the dog would get out of the way.

He did...mostly.

But the car got him right in the head and he died instantly.

Poor Matt was pretty shaken up, he started carrying him home, but the dead weight was just too much for him. Plus he realized he was a mile away from home, and he really didn't want to carry his beloved dead dog all the way home. So he came back and got the car and we buried him that night.

Matthew was pretty upset the rest of the night. He just sat in my lap and cried. And I cried right along with him.

Now Matthew knew good and well that I didn't like that dog and I wasn't about to start pretending I did. I didn't think that was fair.

But I explained to him that I would miss the look on his (Matthew's) face when he came inside to tell me something Dax did. Or the joy and companionship Matt got out of his running buddy.

Plus I have to admit, that dog was loyal.

He would get off his chain and go running around town. But 10 minutes later he'd be back on our front porch. He always knew where home was. No matter what...or where.

So, farewell Dax. We are glad you got to go on one last run.

A Boy And His Rain Boots

This was the scene at our house this morning. David running around in a t-shirt, diaper and his beloved rain boots. He put them on and refused to take them off.

I suppose it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

First day of school

Today was Matthew's first day of 3rd grade. To say he was excited is putting it mildly.

Last night he set his alarm for 7am, but when my alarm went off at 6:30 I could hear him rummaging around. Come to find out he had gotten up as soon as he saw the sun and gotten dressed. He had even brushed his teeth!!

Needless to say I was super impressed.

The only downside to him getting dressed early was that he had a whole hour before he could leave for school.

So he put on cartoons and squirmed on the couch and asked every 5 minutes if was time to go until it was actually time to go.

He and Matt then walked up to the school where Matt said he gave him a hug and a kiss and ran off to meet up with his friends.

I just hope he'll be just as excited every day of the school year as he was today. But that's probably just wishful thinking. I'm sure I'll be dragging him out of bed and rushing him out the door in no time.

Cucumber Update

The following pictures were taken by Matthew.

The day after the cucumber discovery Matthew decided to extract it from the brick. He armed himself with a hammer and loads of patience. Surprisingly it only took him about 5 minutes to completely free the cucumber.

The brick that the cucumber was encased in.

He proudly brought in the square cucumber where we discovered it was not 2 cucumbers, but actually1 that had folded into itself. He then ran outside to track down his friends and brag about his awesome discovery.

But before he did that he snapped a few pictures of his beloved square cucumber. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed with the pictures I saw when I downloaded them onto the computer.

A day later the poor cucumber met its end when it was dissected to see what it looked like on the inside. For the record, it looked just like any old cucumber...only it was perfectly square.

The Tale of the Square Cucumber

As told by Matthew W. Shoemaker (filled in by Amber)

Last night, as I was finishing up some chores outside I walked by the garden. I saw something pretty AMAZING!!!

At first I didn't know what it was. Then I took a closer look and realized it was a cucumber stuck in a brick!! I came inside and told my Mom what I had found but she didn't think much of it. She though there was a cucumber stuck in the fence around the plant so she just told me to pick it and come inside.

So I decided to bring the whole thing up on the porch for her to see.

Mom said that it probably started off like any other cucumber, only it had found a brick to grow in

Mom tried all of 3 seconds to free the cucumber (which we later realized there are 2 cucumbers stuck in there!) But it was almost bed time and she didn't want to mess with it. So I asked to get the camera and took these pictures and a video. I was a little hesitant to let my mom put these pictures on her blog. I was afraid we would get too much attention from our "Awesome Square Cucumber." I am certain that once people see this they will be coming from all over to see our "amazingness." I just don't want alot of people I don't know at our house.

Maybe we can just keep this between people we know?

And here's the video of my awesome discovery!!

Hello little birdie! No, you may not eat my sunflower seeds.

One morning we all went outside with intentions to spend the day in the garden. We did, mostly until it got too insanely hot to be out there. Before we got to work I was called over to the sunflowers to observe something. Matt and Matthew had spotted a couple yellow finches snacking on our sunflowers. So I ran inside, grabbed my camera and proceeded to stalk them so that I could get as close as possible to get a shot. I actually got a couple until my little rhino (aka: David) decided to stomp and sing his way over to them. They promptly flew off. But it was still pretty cool to see what had been munching on our sunflowers. I had noticed a few days before that something had been eating them. Now I know, and I don't mind, they are very pretty birds.
Along with the birds we also had a hummingbird and some really pretty butterflies. But those were way too fast for me to capture with my camera. It was really serene sitting there watching the birds and butterflies that morning. At least until the afore-mentioned rhino showed up. Oh well, he's a cute little rhino.

And here he is, my little rhino. He climbed into the strawberry patch and just as I was getting ready to get onto him he throws his arms out and proclaims "TA-DA!" There was nothing I could do at that point besides take a picture. Sometimes he's just too cute for his own good.

After I was done taking pictures of the birds I discovered my next subject. It was an opportune time to get pictures of the boys. They were both dressed and in pretty good spirits.

Matthew was a good sport posing with the flowers even though he thought they were "kinda girly"

Farmer Matthew ready to go, grass in his mouth and all.



Of course David couldnt' have cared less about all of this. He was just happy being outside and stomping through the grass. I picked a flower for him to hold and he did just that, allowing me to take pictures of him. I kept trying to get a picture of him smelling the flower, but he was too quick for me. Then of course because he saw his brother doing it, he was pretending to eat his flower as well.

Of course no photoshoot is complete without a few goofy picutures.

David watches his brother like a hawk! He is consistently mimicking any and everything Matthew does. It's pretty darn adorable.

This is what I get when I try to get my boys to pose with flowers for too long.


After taking pictures of the boys I went around our property to take pictures of this years garden. I always like to look back at the year before and see what we did that yeaer. This year we decided to extend our garden and have 2. One in the front where the old house used to be, and one in the back where we had it last year. We made the one in the back slightly larger.

The front garden, these are our tomato plants.

front garden still, our corn stalks and zucchini plants.

here's a shot of our back yard looking down from the front. These are our sunflowers and zinnias that line the back fence.

Our first harvest of the season. This is not all of it, just what was ready at the time. We have red and yellow potatoes, carrots, and red, white and yellow onions.

My sweaty farmer man. Thank goodness I'm the one that likes to take the pictures cause I'm pretty sure I looked just as sweaty.