Hello.
This week wasn't as hot as last week, with last week getting up over 100 degrees on a couple of days. We did get a few things done this week that we've been procrastinating. Things like, draw up rough plans for a floating deck build, get homeschool papers in order and organize The Bean's material for the following year. We don't really take a summer vacation, but we do take some time to sort things out from time to time and the summer months gives us that time. We don't have stacks of papers, or even filing drawers full of workbooks, or worksheets-What we do have is work that was done throughout the year, we keep our favorites, and recycle the rest. In our efforts to go more minimal with our living we like to keep things with the homeschool classroom minimal, as well. Here is what the rest of our week looked like:
Saturday: We finished our permanent volleyball poles and went on a hunt for a net. We found a great one at a sporting goods store in Corvallis, Oregon, and we promptly put it up. We tried out the poles and net to see if they were good to go and once we were all in agreement that it was "job well done" we played several games clear into the evening. We are all pretty excited that we have our own volleyball court in our backyard. More on this later.
Sunday: The Mr. unfortunately had to work the weekend through. It's hard to plan anything on the work weekends, but on those days we make small plans and try to get them done before Monday. One of those plans this week was to buy the materials we needed for our rough drawing of a floating deck The Mr. has been wanting to build in our backyard. We weren't sure exactly what we were going for until we started looking through Home Depot for the goods. We ended up buying half the materials right now and setting them up just to make sure it is what we are going for. We hit the jackpot and picked up the right length, so we will finish purchasing the floating deck materials next weekend and finish the job. More on this later.
Monday: Monday is what we like to refer to as, "Monday Madness." The Bean and I use this phrase in our homeschooling just to be sure and get everything done in the classroom that we weren't able to complete the week before. We also use this time to get everything in the house done and ready for the rest of the week, too. It's a great way to start the week and get things done that we would ultimately put off and more than likely not get done. I like to use the "Monday Madness" time to get my blog organized for the week and it really helps me stay on track for the week, too. Speaking of blog, have you seen the
clip art section of my blog yet? Check out the calendar prints by scrolling down the page. They are custom-made and fit a three-ring binder. I use them to stay organized and write down everything each month to keep us all on the right track in our home. If you need a bit of help keeping things organized, try my printables for the calendar. I am currently working on a blog organizer sheet, so check back soon for that.
Tuesday: We ended up taking our 17-year-old Persian/Siamese kitty, Meia, to the veterinarian. She hasn't been acting herself for awhile and given her age, we just aren't sure what was going on. The veterinarian said her white blood cells are elevated and put her on some antibiotics and pain medicine. We hope this helps her get back to her old self again, but if not, we are prepared to face what comes next. She's been a great cat and The Mr. and I have had her since she was a kitten. She's starting to show a bit more action and looks as though she is feeling better, so we have our fingers crossed. Last September we lost our oldest dog,
Baz, so we really aren't emotionally ready to lose another one of our pet friends. We have high hopes that this medicine will help her and keep her with us for a few more years.
Wednesday: The Mr. took the day off from work to be home with us while we stayed alert with Meia. She seemed to be feeling a little better, but still shows signs of her age from time to time. We also went and picked up our new glasses. The Bean looks sharp in his new pair and The Mr. looks like Drew Carey with his new specs. We are all glad to have them though because a couple of us were starting to get eyestrain headaches. I'll share a picture of us with these new specs on soon.
Thursday: We spent the day "saving" our neighbor's dogs. As hot as it has been a lot of pet owners forget to refresh their outside pets water bowl and the animals get dehydrated, have a heat stroke, or worse. On Thursday our neighbor's dogs started acting strange about 9:00 a.m. They were drooling a lot, lethargic, wide-eyed, and twitching every few minutes as if they were dying. The Bean and I rushed over and told them something was wrong, with one dog, the puppy, in worse shape than the older dog. They agreed to let me take it to the veterinarian to get it some help, if I could. The Bean and I ended up taking the puppy to a local vet and they determined that the dog had some broken ribs, was extremely dehydrated, and could have internal bleeding. They sedated the puppy and gave it an IV of fluids and in turn I was to drive it to the Linn County Animal Control for further treatment. The Bean and I did just that and in turn our neighbors lost ownership of their dog. They informed me when I took the puppy to not let the veterinarian, or the animal control know that it was theirs. Linn County Animal Control now has the puppy and will hopefully be able to bring it back to health and adopt it out after it recovers. The Bean and I returned home and cleaned out the back of the car from where the dog had been and as soon as we finished our neighbor came back over and asked if we could give him a ride to take his other dog to the veterinarian because it was starting to act the same way as the puppy. I agreed and drove him to an emergency veterinarian in Albany, Oregon, after two local veterinarians had turned him down for treatment. After about an hour of sitting with him, helping him fill out the proper paperwork, and hearing him use a lot of profanity toward the staff, they informed him that his dog had eating either marijuana, or other narcotics. I was not surprised one bit by the information. Our neighbors are quite the potheads and when picking up the puppy earlier in the day a woman coming out of the garage told me that the dogs could have gotten her back pain medication that was sitting on the porch. Unbelievable, right? So needless to say, we gave him a ride home with his dog, gave him some money for dog food, told him to always have water for them no matter what, and were glad at the fact that we were able to get the puppy away from them and hopefully saved its life. I reported the entire incident to the local police department and informed them of everything that had transpired. I am not sure what can be done as of right now, but at least I feel we did the most we could do for those animals. Bad thing is, there are three other dogs on the property, too. The Mr., The Bean, and I will definitely have our eyes on them from time to time just to make sure they are being cared for properly.
Friday: Seeing as Thursday had us going with excitement from 9:00 a.m. until about 7:00 p.m. we are going to take today low and slow. The Bean and I have a few things to cover in the homeschool classroom and I plan on working on the
Forest School page on my blog. I am really happy with the way our homeschooling has progressed into what it has. I look forward to sharing all of our lessons under that page tab soon.
For the rest of the week, here are five simple things that made this week good.
1. This stack of hay...
The fields are being plowed, rowed, and baled around the Valley this week. This time of year is always hard on allergy sufferers, but the grass harvest seems to only last for a few weeks and the sneezing goes with it.
2. Lebanon turkeys...
Always fun to see them out and about. This time they came through our yard and had babies with them. They are neat birds and 100% wild.
3. The girls...
With the hot temperatures the girls have been spending a lot more time poolside and staying wet. We've enjoyed watching them just be ducks the last couple of weeks.
4. These silicone items...
On our journey to become plastic-free, more zero waste, and to be more minimal we are slowly finding items that can help keep us on track. These silicone jar lid covers can fit a wide mouth or regular mouth jar top and have a hole for a straw on the top. We have already been using them and they are great for taking drinks on the road. The other item on the right is a summertime must have! Nothing better than homemade popsicles! Both of these items can be found on
here and
here.
5. This sunset...
Living on the western end of the United States gives us a view of the setting sun that those in central, or eastern states will never see. Such a beautiful sight some evenings.
This Klean Kanteen came with a plastic lid, I ordered a stainless steel lid to use instead. The plastic lid will be sold in a future yard sale we have planned before summer ends. The Bean has been using this stainless steel water bottle for his water and I think it's been filled at least 100x this week alone. You can get the same one 
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