This past Thursday was Butler's 11th birthday being a McFall. Ok it probably wasn't the exact date he became a McFall but the Thursday of Tulip Time was when Mike and I adopted him from the Animal Rescue League (ARL). Mike knew I was interested in getting a greyhound after we had to put Lucy down and Mike found a greyhound at the ARL....Butler. We went to the ARL, saw him, adopted him and decided to head to Pella to see my folks to show him their new grandpuppy. And it was Thursday of Tulip Time so we could eat some nummy Dutch goodies. As we drove down Highway 163 I mentioned to Mike that my folk had been in Des Moines that day for some reason and wouldn't it be funny if we passed them on their way home to Pella? About ten miles later we did. We pull up next to their car, Mike is honking like a maniac and I'm waving like crazy and my folks don't even look over at the crazy car next to them. We pull ahead and get in front of them so they realize it's us. We pull off on a side country road before Prairie City with my folks following us - with everyone getting out to meet Butler.
Birthday boy on my bed :)
My best friend since 7th grade and I headed to Tulip Time on Thursday to check out the festivities and visit my dad. I couldn't believe it was my third Tulip Time without Mike. Lori and I went through the vendor booths at West Market Park like a tornado - then uptown to see some other things. Sometimes with Tulip Time you have perfect tulips, sometimes they bloom too early, sometimes they bloom too late. This year the tulips bloomed too early and there were bed after bed after bed of tulips without blooms - it was kind of sad. The three of us watched the afternoon parade with mainly me making comments about the bands - evidently they don't care if their lines are straight among other things. One gentleman stopped by to talk to Dad and Lori says to me, "that's Mr. Baker." I'm like no way that's our middle school principal - but it was! It was nice to visit with him a little.Next door is Arrow, a black dog of some kind, can't remember what she is. When she was smaller one time she actually got under my fence to visit Butler and me - it was the day I was spray painting my plastic Adirondack chair. She was tied out in her yard but the line was really long. I unclipped her and carried her back next door. Well, Arrow has gotten bigger and sometimes she tries to get her head under the fence to visit. I was able to get a picture of her "visiting" when I took pictures of my hibiscus plants. When we first got Butler, his face was as black as Arrow's.
Arrow saying "hi".
I decided it was time to clean the bedroom carpet since Butler tends to have accidents on it, so I headed to the guy up the street that sells sweepers and rented a carpet cleaner. Now...Mike used to clean carpet for a living when we were first married so I wonder what he would think of me attempting to do this :) It wasn't hard and the machine wasn't heavy to get upstairs - but making sure I "heard" everything the guy told me to do was the key. I fill the container with water and some shampoo and head upstairs - and forget to pour the water/shampoo into the holding tank. So I turn the cleaner on and pull it back a few times and don't think it's doing much - the water was a little dirty - then it hit me - put the water in the holding tank. Duh. Ok, water was in the holding tank. Turned the machine on again and pulled it back a couple of times and still didn't think it was doing much because the carpet wasn't that wet. I'm looking at the machine and the little diagram on the machine and finally see a trigger next to my right thumb. Hmmmmm....maybe I'm suppose to click that on....maybe that will make a difference. So I turn the machine on for the third time, pull the trigger and viola the machine roars to life and starts sucking up blick and the carpet starts to get wet - success! Wow.
Stick - my hardy hibiscus that Dad bought me last year survived the winter and has three sprouts - I can't wait to see the blooms! But of course I had to head to Earl May to see if they had "regular" hibiscus at a decent price. I bought a red, a yellow and a pink plant - pictures are below. I only hope that my red plant stays a "true redhead" this year instead of having both solid red and solid yellow blooms on the same plant :)
