Some random pics

 Jared and Savannah were cute drawing on the white board together one evening.  Here are a few of their drawings of Nathan, Weston, Alex and Jared.  

We had some pretty hot days this fall.  In fact, a few of Jared's cross country meets got moved to the morning (or late evening once) due to the heat.  That actually allowed me to go see those though, since I would have missed the late afternoon meets.  One of those days, we got back around 12:30 or so.  A little while after being home, I thought about the dog outside in the heat.  I went to check on her and called her in.  She didn't come right away, but eventually came really slowly walking in.  She didn't look well and was panting really hard.  We were able to get her to drink some water and get her cooled off in front of a fan.  I think she almost over-heated outside... she was better after a bit.  (Jared fell asleep reading his scriptures after he came home from his meet).  The heat made everyone tired.  

Alex found what's been eating our garden...

We had another pest which was a huge problem this fall.  Ants kept finding their way in the kitchen and into the dog bowl.  I tried some eggs mixed with Borax to poison them - they'd be gone for a few days and then another round would show up through another crack in the wall / kitchen window.  I finally found the source - a huge colony under our outdoor storage bucket.  I also used some Ortho Home Defense around all the edges and walls and to kill off the colony.  That seemed to work for now, but for several mornings, we woke up to a new trail of ants.  Such a pain! 

I wasn't going to post this, but then I decided it's part of my experience and history, so I guess I'll document it.  I had 2 more basal cell cancer spots removed in September.  I think this is the 3rd spot on my face cut off and the maybe the 11th spot overall.  I had 3 spots biopsied this round, with 2 of them cancerous.  I really hate skin cancer and hate having to go through these procedures to remove them.  For this one on my forehead, I was referred to a plastic surgeon this time.  It does look a lot better after it has healed, but I also had some nerve damage with the procedure.  The area up there around it lost a little bit of feeling - don't know if that's permanent or will eventually regain the feeling.  I guess it's good that I go in somewhat regularly to have spots checked out.  This spot on my head was a tiny red spot that just didn't ever quite go away - occasionally it bled, which I knew wasn't a good sign.  The nurse I talked to on the phone was trying to make it sound like that was a normal thing, but good thing I knew otherwise and didn't get talked out of having it checked out.  I had tried to get an appointment in September of 2021 and didn't get seen until July of 2022!  I got the biopsy in July and then removal in September.  Luckily it wasn't a fast growing cancer.  Crazy that they don't give more urgency and priority for patients with a history of skin cancer.