Busy days!

I've been reading through a manuscript for my writer friend Jill Eileen--feeling very privileged to be its first reader.

Plus I'm critiquing 2nd-draft chapters of Annieliz's sequel.

And today, Dean, Pete, and I went to Little Creek Coffee Shop to listen to Jim perform on his keyboard. Fun to hear all the people compliment his playing. Pastor Steve dropped by to listen, too, so afterwards we all sat and chatted.

Fun stuff!

I'm looking forward SO much to Annie's visit home in just two weeks. It has been far too long since we last saw our girl! Everyone is going to want a piece of her, but I get to take her away to Mpls for a day in the Big City with Marlene and Megan, then to a writers' conference, plus Annie will be meeting with her editorial and marketing teams at Bethany House Publishers, and after all that we will drive to IA for my nephew Jesse's wedding reception and get to meet his (by then) new wife. Haven't been to my sister Paula's house in seven years, which is far too long. I'm really looking forward to all of this excitement and fun, to say the least!

And it is a beautiful summer, at last. Got to enjoy the beauty of lake and trees and birds and flowers!

Also gotta get some sleep. . .G'night!

Happy 26th Anniversary to us!

We went on a romantic clothes-shopping trip to Kohl's, then out to lunch at this atmospheric little place we know of called Culver's.  But hey, it was fun to do together, just the two of us!

This afternoon, Dean and Pete and I went to Hoggie Doggies for ice cream. It was a gorgeous summer day, and fun to eat ice cream at a table in the shade. But they filled my sundae too full, and it was a mess before I even took it into my hot little hands. . .and more of a mess by the time I finished. Couldn't eat much more than half of the thing--too sweet even for me, and that's saying something. I used up all our napkins and still had sticky hands.

But my husband held hands with me anyway as we returned to the car, brave man that he is. I told him he would be stuck with me permanently, but he said I was sweet so he didn't care. Peter rolls his eyes, but he's pretty much used to us. Thinks we're weirdly well matched.

And this evening we went for a walk. Just a walk around our neighborhood, but that's fun enough. We walked past a deer who was standing still in vain hope that we didn't see her. She stood and stared back at us from about ten or twelve feet away, then wandered back into the woods. Too bad she didn't have her fawn along. She was kind of obviously a mother. The whitetails are so pretty this time of year--very red and sleek-looking.

We had talked about taking a boatride, but the lake was really busy this evening. And besides, there is a large dead fish draped over a rock right next to our dock that is pretty much stinking up the world, and neither of us really wanted to work around it. An eagle or something has been leisurely dining on it recently, but whoever it was did not clean their plate, and we wish they would. Bleah!

A walk was nice.

Dean says we renegotiated our contract last year for another twenty-five years, so we're one year into our new contract now. It's going rather well.

Currently The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5) By Rick Riordan see related

Yay! Raynell sent me photos Mark took during their visit with us, so I have more to share. Hope you enjoy.

Back to Wildwood Zoo. . .

Jill, Mark, Pete, and Dean. You can see, here, how tall Peter is getting. . .though he has a ways to go before he'll catch Uncle Mark.

Raynell and Jill pet the white raccoon.

Mark's wingspan. I'm thinking he was between the bald eagle and the condor.

More of me and Pete admiring the baby goats

Dean feeds the bear its juice.

And Jill feeds rye crisp to the sheep.

And that's all the zoo!

Here is a family photo with Jim

And a silly self-portrait of me and my big brother!

Mark and Raynell visited our sister Paula in Iowa before coming here--I like this photo of Mark and his "big" sister:

And one last picture of the moon on our lake, taken from our deck. Yes, I really do enjoy living here in the summers!

G'night, all!

Yay! The packing is over. I'm really happy for my in-laws, who are so pleased with their new home. That makes it all worthwhile. It's a beautiful condo with a lake view, and it will be so much easier for them to manage.

Peter managed to turn 13 in the midst of our moving chaos. He is growing like a weed.

Pete and his best friend, Aaron

They get along great. . .

Myles provides distraction

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians," the full set of books from Tom

"The Last Olympian"

As you can see, Myles and Monte are ever-so-much help. I didn't get a pic of Pete opening Annie's gift--a really nice hardbound copy of "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," but at least she got to talk with him on the phone while he opened it.

Guess what most of his requested gifts were. . .Yup, books. He is a true Stengl.

Okay, so "soon" is a relative term.

It's been nearly a week since Mark & Raynell were here, and at last I post some photos from their visit!

The night they arrived, we took a pontoon boat ride. It was very cold!

I did bring along blankets, but we still shivered.

Except Dean--you can tell who is the native Wisconsonian. . .

The next morning, we went to Wildwood Zoo. We had never taken them there before! It's always a fun place, and at this time of year there are a bazillion babies. Especially goats and fawns.

This little kid took a liking to Pete

and practiced its mountain-climbing skills. Those tiny pygmy goats are so cute! Several of them were just hours old.

And there were plenty of fawns:

Totally hidden, of course.

Raynell and Mark enjoyed feeding the deer.

The weather stayed nice for the morning. Yay!

And that's all the photos I have from their trip. Mark took more and promised to send them to me, so maybe I'll post more when I get them. He is a better photographer than I am!

Oh, and it would not be a proper xanga post from me if it contained no kitty photos, right? I walked into our room one day and saw this little scene, so had to document it for posterity.

His and Hers Spotted Cats

Mimi picked Dean's pillow, and Monte slept in front of mine. Actually, neither of them belongs to us, but it made a good caption, right? They're easy to tell apart, btw, because Mimi has a black nose and Monte has a pink nose, and he is way larger than she is. But the spots do camouflage them nicely, don't you think?

We've been packing for my in-laws all this past week, and more to come! It's a good thing I'm an experienced packer/mover. Dean, Peter, and Jim have all been working hard, too. The folks have to be completely out of their house and into the condo by Friday, so we'll be working like crazy this coming week too. All of us will be so relieved and happy when this move is complete. We're so thankful that their house sold in this slow market, and they are as excited as two kids about living in their beautiful condo.

Bye!