Sweet, Sweet, Temptation...

Juno is pretty chill most of the time now, but Steve looks like he's about to lose his "stuff".  LOL!!!

A Happy Throwback...

Grandma and Grandpa with Caleb in his, I believe, Kindergarten year.

Houndage Love

Juno was subpar this morning but both found some salvation in the sun!

It took a LONG time for Steve to realize that Juno wasn't feeling good, but once he did, he took about 6 - 7 minutes to "carefully" get into this snuggling position with her!  So cute and unbelievable to watch.   They stayed this way for prolly 20 - 25 minutes!

The Calebber and All Of His Greatness

Grandma needed help to vacuum.  Who was overly happy to go help!?  Master C, Calebber McCheese!  He's a great boy with a heart of  gold!

And while I was slow on the uptake to assembling the new TraegerSmoker, this boy was out there, had the box all cut apart, pieces laid out and so on to get us going.  He did probably 95% of it himself.

Note that the instructions indicate which beer you should be on whilst assembling!!!  That's borderline genius!

The final poject/product!!   This boy LOVES to smoke meat!!!  He was/is my apprentice as I learn and grow through this process.  He will be a pit master some day!

Neil Smith Wildlife Refuge

We got to see the Elk, which are generally quite elusive out there!

Under A Strawberry Moon

What is a "Strawberry Moon"? As I write this, I am staring into the immediate future where I will be 50 years old and I can honestly say that I have not heard of a strawberry moon before.

Now, that's probably not due to some amazing occurrence like it only happens every 16,024 years but only if a dog stops to poop on the South side of the driveway WHILE chasing a butterfly and you have orange shoes on...   Nope, it's likely more due to the fact that I don't pay attention all that well and I'm generally not too interested in stuff that the media makes out to be a big deal.

That being said, I do enjoy star gazing and different phases of the moon, meteor showers and the like.  So what the heck is a strawberry moon?

Turns out it's the first full moon in June and it happens to coincide with the time that strawberries would be ready and ripe for the picken's!

Not too exciting, huh?  I suppose unless you are a strawberry fanatic in which case you're probably SOOOOOO consumed with the first full-Juney-Mooney that you're not even looking at your strawberry patch (of which the local chapter of rogue rabbits HAVE been watching the patch with no discernable care of such a silly heavenly body!)  

I happened to be outside trying to get one of the dogs to poop (on the South side of the driveway while chas...   you get the point.) and I noticed the moon coming up over the horizon.

My phone was in my pocket so what the heck, take a couple of pics.

Black and white version to make it so much more dramatic!

What's funny about this is it was about 9:30 when I took this pic and it appears like it's maybe 8 - 8:30 pm where the sun hasn't fully sank into the abyss of the horizon.  

Steve's Misuse of the Couch

Steve is enamored with the colored pool balls rolling around on the table, and he was watching Caleb and I from a vantage point to see them all!

As The Wrench Turns...

Caleb is my helper!  It pretty much doesn't matter what I'm going to be doing, how hot it is outside, or whatever else.  He might not hang with me the whole time, but he's in for at least a while.

Case in point, tonight was 92 degrees and a bit humid.  When I was done with work, he asked me what I "was going to do now?".  I told him I was going to go outside and work on the walk-behind weed wacker and remove the carburator if I had too, but we need to get this thing running!

His reply,  "OOOH!!!  Can I help??  I will help!".

We had to remove the wheel to get to the carb.  He was working on that when he caught me taking a pic...

...and he was not impressed with Dear ol' Dad.  LOL!!! 

We got the silly thing running and did all of the trimming of grass that was 2ft tall in places!  Now just in time for a full day of rain from the tropical storm that's supposed to be moving up thru the heart of the midwest tomorrow.

The Great Hound Heist!

So, what happens when both boys are gone for the night?  The dogs "get to" sleep with mom and dad.  We were getting things ready for bed and the following morning only to come back to this!  The hounds had hi-jacked our bed!

*sigh* A Boy And His Vehicle

Caleb likes Jeeps. He especially likes White jeeps.

Today while looking for a new family van for use on extended vacations, the showroom we visited featured only one vehicle...  A white Jeep.

A Boy & His Hound

Caleb with Steve at Canine Craze in Urbandale.  It was supposed to be a large class but due to the covid, we're the only ones in it, so we get one on one instruction.  Caleb does all of the work since he's the dog whisperer at home anyway.