Lightening hits the farm

I love a good summer shower as much as the next fella (how else would my yard be producing these marvelous flowers?) , but what in the world?! Lovely evening showers have turned freakishly ferocious. This week's storm managed to strike our house just right to kill our modem, cable wiring, Netbook, cordless phones, and wireless router. Seriously?! (Please note - I had NO qualms with the storm that required my insurance company to buy me a new roof and gutters but definitely take offense to the storm that wreaked havoc but without meeting our deductible)

Any how... the lightening didn't just leave it's mark on our electronics. It also left it's mark on our pecan tree. So will this years pecans come out of the shell tasting toasted...?

Thankfully, we had some marvelous mid-week visitors to take our minds off everything else. I can't think of a Wednesday evening that I have enjoyed more in ages. Dinner fresh from the garden, red wine, pseudo behaved kids, and a refreshed sense of how nice adult conversation can be. And Australian accents as the cherry on top.And for all those out there wondering... "how could my child get some awesome tie dye like that?", it's quite simple actually... http://www.etsy.com/shop/AuthenticBonesTieDye?ref=pr_shop Enjoy!

Our computer is still gone. Prayers are being said, but no word on if it will make it or not yet. The picture-less posts continue. I can only imagine how full my camera's memory card is getting with each passing day... Yes, even though I'm slack about posting pictures, I do actually take a decent number of them. Of course most of the pictures are of questionable quality or only to be used for the later-in-life embarassment of my children.

In other news - we've got SQUASH! And CUCUMBERS! And TOMATOES! Summer has arrived. We really enjoyed a nice cool week. You know, temps only in the 80's. Unfortunately, for Father's Day Allen will be receiving temps in the upper 90's again.

And the washing machine buzzer beckons. Time to hang out towels and diapers!

Another crash

I blame it on Allen. I, obviously, am way too computer savvy to crash our desktop... again. The first time, we were not being good computer-parents and left our CPU undefended (aka - we did not have any virus protection). So, last spring a new hard drive went in and new anti-virus software went one. Fast forward to this week. Allen was browsing the web (what else is a farmer to do in the oh-so-hot afternoons while stuck home with three little girls?!) when.... (is the anticipation building?) it died. Just black. No warning, no nothing. And when turned back on, it will not reboot. We are sure. We both tried turning it off and on approximately 12 times. Same result each time. I guess it's the denial stage of the grieving process that made us think if we just try it one more time, maybe it will load and show us our happy little desktop. Nope.

Allen unplugged and unhooked the CPU and sent it off to a man who can hopefully make it all better. Or at least (please) save my pictures. Yes, we computer-crashing people (2 laptops, and now second time on this desktop) still haven't learned to properly back up our computer. I did get an external hard drive (read: on top of things) and then used it once (read: not so on top of things) approximately 4 months ago. That would be directly prior to months 6 - 10 of my baby's life. My oldest's 4th birthday. Little things like that.

So, is there a point to this story? Yes. No pictures. We are surviving on the Netbook (as close as I ever want to get to "roughing it"). And now, we wait.

Carrots

My bit girls are of the opinion that one of the greatest things in life is pulling a carrot out of the ground, letting Dad wipe it on his shirt, and then eating it. We still aren't quite to the summer produce yet, but we definitely have carrots!Olivia still settles for a little grass. Much easier to grow, but not quite as tasty.

And on a side note, I do believe this makes post 100. I am quite proud of this and would spend longer making this one a "special post" except my "special baby" is currently exploring the dirt portion of one of the house plants.