Khaki

The new puppy finally has a name. We figured since we were taking her to the vet for her first shots that she needed a name other than Baby girl. So, her name is Khaki. Hmm. I guess it was unavoidable considering family connections to the army and all. As you can see in the pictures, she is growing up pretty nicely. I think she will end up being a full sized Dachshund by the time she stops growing. She is only 6 weeks old and already weighs in at 4 pounds or nearly half her mother's weight. She is doing really well with house breaking. We are unsure if she has accidents that her mother cleans up in the room they share, but she goes to the bathroom every time we take her out so we are happy with her progress. She will be completely on solid food and water in another week or so.

The other picture at the top of the page is one of our butterflies. We pulled this particular Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, out of the pool skimmer the other day. He looked quite dead actually. Anyway, When I came back later to take pictures, he was miraculously alive but sluggish. We took pictures while he climbed all over Rusty and then placed him on the butterfly bush. We were hoping that this would at least give him something to eat while he recovered. The next morning I saw him still on the bush, but by afternoon he had flown away. YEAH!! We are so excited to see so many butterflies at the new house. This house really has a lot of nature going on. Apparently one of our neighbors routinely feeds deer in their front yard. Everyday, several times a day, you can see a doe feeding in their front yard. Then, yesterday while Chris and I were out for an evening walk around the block, we saw a doe with really young still spotted twins. Right behind her and the babies a very young buck came running through the brush. It is the first buck we have seen around here. Of course all Chris can do is talk about fattening them up so he can get some good meat this winter. Add the deer to the fox and the groundhogs etc. . . and everyday is a nature adventure around here. It is pretty fun.

Last weekend we had 2 days of Football draft. We really think we are going to like the football league here. There were at least 4 teams of the 6 talking to Rusty about wanting him on their team and trying to get him in the draft. They looked at Zeke too but with an older brother you go to the club he goes so it isn't as big a deal. Rusty wants to be on a "good" team this year. but we really don't care. He has never really been on a winning team and has never been too bothered by it as long as he gets play time. I am kinda hoping he is not on the best team but that he is also not on the expansion team ( 1 new team to the league this year ). The expansion team coaches are new etc. . . and they are liable to have a very rough learning season. Of course the expansion team gets the first 3 picks and with Rusty being such a sought after player I am afraid that is where he will end up. We will know which team on Friday.

There is still a lot of moving in to do, but I think this weekend we are going to try and do some family things. We only have 2 weekends until Chris Deploys, and I can always finish moving in while he is gone. One of the things we are definitely going to do this weekend is go see Harry Potter. Caden is not cooperative at movies at this age so we can't take him, and unfortunately we don't have a babysitter so we have devised a plan to go separately to see the movie. Chris is taking Rusty while I watch Caden and then I am taking Zeke while he watches Caden. It should be interesting. Of course we are in the mad dash to finish reading the book before we go see the movie. I have had a long standing rule that you can't see the movie unless you have read the book first. The book is getting really interesting and I can't read it fast enough. It is hard every night to not read ahead after the boys have gone to bed. In addition to the movies, I would like to go into D.C. or maybe hike at on of the nearby battlefields this weekend. Anything to get out of the house. I think I am going a little stir crazy.

Oh yeah, the realtor in Florida called, and they are showing the house today. Pray that this showing has a positive outcome. It would really be a relief to have the house sold and one less thing to worry about.