July 2024

 

July had good weather and flowers.

We watched Soccer.

We got a few monarch caterpillars on the milkweed.

We went to David's company picnic and Megan looked gorgeous.

I started the process of getting a custom tattoo. It should cover the blue area indicated,

Kiernan made, on the indication of interest from his Grandma Mary, the most incredible cathedral build in our family Minecraft world.

We got lots of pollinators on the sedum and butterfly bushes.

The squirrls played havoc with the garden.

Kiernan took his interest in chess to a whole new level and entered a tournament.

We weren't allowed in the room but the environment was interesting. it was a two day tournament. We knew to bring chairs and snacks and books on the 2nd day. David and Megan went to a nearby museum and I hung out and checked out the chess books and listened to people do chess gossip in the hallways.

He did fairly well and wants to go again next year to check his progress.

David and I went to a Star Wars burlesque.

It was a ball!

I was worried about how comfortable I would be but it was fine.

The dances were very good and the special effects were fun and the over the top stuff was intentionally hilarious. 

A very fun night.

I worked on a few Star Wars related projects in July.

This baby Yoda for Kelsey was the hardest as the print supports refused to separate and I had to break out all sorts of tools to get it into halfway decent shape.

We got our first real fig harvest started up in July. Last year they came on very late but this year by mid July there were a few dozen ripening.

I was over the moon about this.

We did our traditional 4th of July Tie Dye.

I think this may be our last one. The kids had to be coaxed outside for it and everyone was hot.

We got some great designs as usual (look at Megan's trousers in the middle there.)

I think though that I am the only one left with much enthusiasm for the project.

We will see if anyone asks for it next year but if not this will probably be it.

15 years is pretty good.

I made my jello flag and this year it worked out. Last year it did not at all work out so I was relieved.

We are cookout food inside with the air conditioning.

We got a mega destructive and adorable set of twin fawns in July.

They moved into the front yard and stayed there.

They ate my hosta and pretty much anything new that they could find.

We went to fireworks and did our own as well.

We had our first garden tomato sandwiches.

I made some Atlantic beach pie

We got a cold plunge on the back deck. Really its just a watering trough but because our well is so deep the water is always super cold.

I'd like to have it down by the hot tube and then at some point get a small sauna too that way we can run from one to the other for various health and entertainment purposes.

Watch this one if you want to see what I'm thinking about cold exposure

I am also interested in the potential benefits for depression as well. I am more an anxiety girl myself but other people in the family struggle with depression from time to time and any help is help.

Also its fun if you can talk yourself into it...at least in July.

We got our tickets for Otakon. This is an anime convention that we used to go to back in college and now that the kids are into gaming and anime we are going as a family. We decided that this year we were going to try to cosplay in a more serious way.

My favorite Star Wars droid BD-1 took full shape in the month of July.

I've been working on him for over a year on and off but finally all his parts move and he can stand on his own.

I love him!