More ducks

I know I have put in a lot of posts and pics about the ducks, but they are just so darn cute! All the babies were adorable and now they are growing up.

Yesterday morning I was out walking, Paige called and said I have a doc appoint at 9, you need to leave right now to get here. I hurried home, threw a few things in a bag and drove there. Paige had left a few min before to make it to her appoint.

The ggrrls and I did some morning chores, I showered and got dressed for my hair appoint at 11. Paige called and said she wouldn't make it back in time so I took the ggrrls over to Kara's for the few min before Paige returned.

Kirby fixed my crooked hair (I like it so much better) and I went to Redmond's Heritage Farm for some kombucha. Bought 4, one for everyone except Stella who doesn't like it.
Met them at Chic-fil-a for lunch (I didn't eat), then drove back to South Jordan around 2. Scott and I had stuff to do, then took Mya for a walk.

I leave on Sat, my time is running out, I'm trying to get in everything I wanted to do. I guess I won't get to walk at Cascade Springs (road was still closed when I called last week).

BBQ with fam on Memorial Day

Paige and fam came over for a BBQ today. We grilled out, then went to the park with the zip line and the creek for a couple of hours, back to the townhouse to play games while the ggrrls watched a video.

Good times, but I missed my hubby.

Dog sitting

Scott is dog sitting Treena's dog Mya for the week she is gone to West Virginia with fam. Mya is a big short haired female. Quite a nice dog - doesn't bark, jump, or otherwise disturb people. When Scott takes her for a walk, he lets her off the leash and she just trots ahead of him, sniffs, does her duties, and comes back immediately when he calls. And she doesn't go very far ahead of him.

If I wanted a big dog, she is definitely the type I would want. Scott loves her.

Walking

I get up every morning and walk around the lake, exploring it. Lots of fun little nooks and crannies. I walk between 2-3 miles. Feels good, I enjoy walking.

I was going to look at some houses on Monday, the realtor reminded Rick that is Memorial Day and perhaps can't get the showings. Just as well, I'm losing my desire to see anything right now.

Paige is taking the ggrrls to Ikea for lunch and playing in the "houses" today; Scott and I will meet them there.

Gymnastics Exhibition

I was lucky enough to be here for the ggrrls gymnastic exhibition. It was last Saturday: this is how the day went:

Fri - Rick and I stayed over on Friday night (actually we were banished by Scott, who was having his woman? over for dinner).

Saturday

9am       Stella and Macy soccer games. It was nice weather, unlike Thurs when we almost froze.

10am     The promised donuts for the ggrrls from the gas station, a Papaw tradition.

11am     Paige and I rushed off to a Scholastic book fair in Draper. We spent one hour there and could have easily done 2 hours.

12pm      Rick got an Uber to make it to the airport for 3pm flight.

1pm       Hurried back to Eagle Mt for the gym exhibition. Kincade got Stella and Macy ready and took them there, Paige and I got Hattie (playing with a friend) and made it to the gym. So much fun to watch them preform.

2:30        Had lunch at Café Rio

3:30        Went to Walmart to get dirt and plants for the front beds of the house. Plants die/Paige doesn't like something and wants change.

4:30        Kincade spread out the dirt and Paige and I planted.

6:00        I left for the townhouse

7:00        Scott had a fun walk that led to a grove of trees, tables for picnics, sitting and contemplation; there was a circular path leading up a man made rock formation with a bridge to cross the lake towards the trees and sitting/picnic area. He discovered it out walking with Treena. Very pretty and in nature that I love.

Fun but busy day.

 

Ggrrls

One of my fav things to do in Utah is spend time with my ggrrls. They are super busy with all their activities and I enjoy going to their practices. Stella had dance on Wed, which is their most busy evening. I quite like this placard on the wall of the dance studio.

Moms and their kids

I was out walking and came across a mother duck and her ducklings that were wandering across the walking path toward the lake. Babies are always so cute, doesn't matter the species. Well, maybe spiders, etc aren't too cute.

Downtown Austin

I took Anya to the art show and then we decided to do some downtown Austin sights that Anya wanted to see. This is her at the Texas campus clock tower. It was quite hottish that day, low 90s.

Zoya likes water now

Anya and I took Zoya for a walk and it was 93* out. Quite hot. Zoya really wanted to get into the creek so I took her off the leash and she walked right in. She played around in the water for awhile. I guess when she gets quite hot she really like playing in creeks. Actually, I would also.

Map of Texas as seen in the Oasis

This is really how Texans see the state.

Mouthful

Yesterday I went to the occlusion guy and he gave me the mouth guard plus a lower retainer. I know it's not polite to talk with your mouth full, but I now have a mouthful. It took me all of yesterday and the night to adjust to it all. I woke up this morning and it feels ok this morning.

I guess that's it. The new me. Sans surgery or all the crowns and caps he wanted to put on.

I'm happy enough with it.

His aide commented on my small mouth. Everyone does. Dentists and hygienists don't like working in such a small space. The vagaries of the genetic pool=bad teeth, small mouth, extreme near sightedness, propensity for GERD. What else do I not like about my body? But I'm happy to have a functioning body, can move, run, my brain works. So overall gratefulness waaaay outweighs the parts I'm unhappy with. Plus can't forget all the good parts, healthy heart, good blood pressure and lots more.

What I Won't miss about Texas...

...the wildlife.

Yesterday I was standing on the driveway washing a brush with the outside facet. Soon I felt something hurting on my ankle. I looked down and saw a small brown spec, I immediately looked closer - ant! And the pain told me it must be a fire ant. Quickly smashed it and brushed it off. Started burning, feeling like that little dot on my ankle was on fire. Ahhh, bitten Again. They love me, I'm tasty.

A couple of weeks ago Rick and I were walking on the sidewalk around Grand Oaks Loop. About 10-15 feet ahead of us a snake slithered from a house's lawn, across the sidewalk and to the other side of the road into an empty weeded/grassed area. It wasn't terribly long, perhaps 3-4 feet (hard to tell because it slithered making the "s" shaped all along its body) but fat, circumference was 4-5 or more inches.

When I got home I looked up the distinctive diamond shapes on its body - must have been a diamond backed rattler. Yay.

With the warmer weather all the wild life is coming out from their holes and dens. Another Yay.

I love Texas wildlife. Not.

Anya

Luke does a lot of charity work in Ukraine as a neurosurgeon. He and Mariya met a Ukrainian woman, Anya, that needed surgery on her spine. They paid for her plane ticket here, had the hospital bill paid with another charity.

Alyona and Chris were having her stay with them in their spare bedroom until the day of the surgery. They took her around to typical Texas foods and sites. She had a wonderful experience.

The surgery was last Tuesday, went well and she is recovering well.

Chris and Aly left on Fri, Luke and Mariya will move into Chris' house to help care for Anya after she leaves the hospital and before she returns to Ukraine. On Fri of this week she might come to our house because Luke and Mariya are leaving for Ukraine on Fri.

Well done all around.

Bali vacay

Jason, Justin, Trent (Justin's best friend), Chris, and Aly were all going to Bali on Thurs. I was taking Chris and Aly to the airport at 4pm. Rick met us at their house to take Zoya.

I dropped them off and because it was then in the middle of rush hour I went south to pick up Tollway. As I came around the bend to enter the tollway I noticed that traffic was super backed up. I called Rick to tell him I had never seen traffic so backed up. We were inching along at 5 miles per hours. A few minutes later I determined something had happened to cause the jam. He looked online and told me it was showing clear after a few miles. It took me 30 min to get thro, then came upon 7 firetrucks and some police vehicles.

Meanwhile, a disaster was occurring at the airport. Aly needed a transit visa to even wait at the Sydney airport for 5 hours, and would take about 3 months to get it!! So they had to abandon that plane trip. When I was 5 min from home Aly called to ask me to come and get her. I drove home and Rick and I drove back to get them.

They were trying to decide if they should just cancel or buy new tickets thro Hong Kong that did not require this transit visa. They talked about it and went ahead and bought tickets to continue on Friday.
Friday we went to their house at 10, Chris and Rick went to a woodworking place, I went to some stores, we got Gyros for lunch and needed to be back at 5:30 to take them once again to the airport.

This time all went smoothly. Hope they all have a great time in Bali.