Grumpy Cat Killer

Our 4th of July was not very exciting this year. After last years trip to the emergency room when Toby rode his bike into the chicken coop, I guess "not exciting" is okay.  This year Toby had to work a bit - our vacation really put him behind at work. The price you pay! When he got home, it was still rather pleasant outside.  We decided to do some work around the ranch - like fence stuff. By the time we got gathered up and out to the fence, it was hotter than the dickens. We painted the entry way posts until I turned into a puddle of butter.  It was a good thing I wore my cheap sunglasses, because I had to take them off over and over to wipe the sweat out of my eyes so that I could see to paint.  My sunglasses were a whole new color by the time I finished - getting paint all over them. At one point, water poured out of my latex work gloves and ran down my arm - it was sweat!

We  finished painting the entry way and came home to recover. We drank about a gallon of water each, took a nap, ate some watermelon, and ate some salty chips. Toward the late afternoon, we went back out and Toby welded some thingies on select posts to hold the barbed wire - if we ever get to the wire part. I helped him, although my job was not so hard. Later I cooked him a steak and grilled some squash from our garden. We read a bit and then went to bed.  That was our big 4th of July.

This morning looking at FB and Instagram, it seems everyone else celebrated with parades, fireworks and cookouts. Somehow I feel old and left out. We didn't get any invites to any celebrations. Maybe it was because our kids are grown and had other plans this year. Maybe it is because we seem busy with the moms and do not accept many invites, therefore we don't get many invites. Maybe it is because we are grumpy.

Yep, grumpy! The GGs came out on Saturday and spent the night. They weren't her ten minutes before I was getting on to GBN2, which is the norm. That kid will argue with a fence post. I don't know where she gets it, but we butt heads often. I used my teacher voice to make sure she knew I was serious (sometimes for some reason they don't take me very seriously :) Anyway, when I finished using my teacher voice to get on to GBN2, GBN1 said to her sister, "It's okay, Soph, sometimes Booboo is grumpy."

One of the reasons I had the GGs come out was because I had two new kittens for them to play with. I had gone to Fletcher on Friday to get the kittens from a friend. I really only wanted one cat - a very handsome male - but I took a second cat to keep Handsome happy. Friday night we had some friends over to eat. A big storm came up and our friends went home early. I didn't think about it at the time, but I am afraid one of the kittens may have taken a ride up in the motor of our friend's car. The kitten was gone the next day. But I still had Handsome Cat and that was who I wanted in the first place. The GGs were thrilled with him. They brought him in the house and played with him before losing interest and finding a movie to watch. I had to put Handsome out when he started to pee in Toby's chair. Later that evening, we went to eat at the Chuckwagon in Velma. We did not see Handsome anywhere, so we banged on the truck and called his name. As we drove off, Toby hit the brakes several times to make sure Handsome was not up in the truck. But then as we drove down the drive, we heard the kerplunk, and looked back to see that we had run over Handsome. It was a bit traumatic. That must be a new record for me - killing two cats in one day.

I am trying to do a painting a day this July for World Watercolor Month and post them to FB. Here are my paintings so far:
 July 1 Strong and Free
July 2 In the Shade
July 3 Poppies
July 4 Red, White, and Blue