The Bunch Are Back Home and Summer is in Full Swing

The weather since coming back home to Texas has been like it was through much of the mid-west on our vacation: wet, humid, and stormy. Our first week back, we had two pretty intensive storms. I believe one had an EF0 or maybe EF1 tornado, but no one cares about the people who live out in the country. I guess it is hard to see a lot damage when everything is so open. The kids and I were trying to find news coverage about the weather while it was going on, but there was no information on the news channel at all. In fact, their coverage was on golf. The weather system we have measured sustained winds at 56 and gusts were probably about 80. It rained 4.5 inches in about an hour and EVERYTHING was flooding. Water was just pouring in the back door and it was just so loud outside. We lost power so we couldn't even see the golf channel anymore! We faired better than most. We have no trees so no worries there, but the trampoline with four 16" anchors not only was uprooted, but the mat was ripped in half and the poles completely disassembled and strewn across the neighbor's yard. I am grateful all the poles missed our windows. Several people had their well houses destroyed and our neighbor across the street lost their 6 month old carport they had just bought for their 5th wheel. It had 7 mobile home anchors in it and was suppose to withstand 100mph winds. It sits in a heap in their pasture now. This is the first storm I have ever went with the kids to our safe area and was actually afraid. We have sought shelter as precautionary measures before, but I have never really felt nervous about it, but this was different. We could hear the roar of the wind and things banging into the house. The worst part was not knowing what was going on and what to expect because the news never gave any warning as to what was going on, except that Tiger Woods made par. The kids and I were terrified and fortunately when it was all over we went out and saw that everything wasn't too bad. The neighbors helped each other clean up. It took awhile for us to calm down and every storm we have now the kids and I are skittish.

After the storm...we have about 4ft high ditches so the water is crazy deep.

Yard turned into a lake.

Poor chickens.....the rushing water pushed the coop boards back about 6 inches!

We are cuddling in our safe spot....the interior hall.

All the kids are in sports this summer. It was technically T's turn to play a sport, but this is A's last chance to play sports. Denton, along with most cities, only have sports teams for 14U. How is my almost 16 year old daughter able to play 14U you ask? The cut off date to play is Sept, 1st. Her birthday is just right after that so technically on Sept. 1st last year she was 14. She just immediately turned 15 and now is almost 16. She was able to beat the system for an extra year, but now her run is over and she is upset she will not be able to play anymore. She might coach L's team next season.
L is on her team again and has shown a lot of improvement. They are both very solid players. I am glad they enjoy playing so much. T is playing basket ball and once again I am so happy that all my children are playing indoor sports and that I don't have to melt and burn outside to watch. However, everyone's practices and games are keeping us VERY busy!

Girls warming up before their game.

We finally have our horse and donkey. The kids are really excited. So far it has been good, but is definitely a learning experience. I always feel like we're not doing something right even though I know we are doing just fine. Since I am the only one who knows anything about horse care, I am basically who everyone asks how to do stuff and if something is normal, which makes me nervous about giving answers because it has been 30 years since I got my first horse and 25 since I really was in charge of day to day care. I think things are going well, but we will give it some time before I really decide how we are handling this. Right now we are excited for the fourth and our upcoming trip to the lake.

I finally took a day and repainted my lime green bathroom. It has bothered me since we moved in almost 3 years ago!

We start construction on the lean to.

The kids left pretty much as soon as they weren't needed.

It took D and I two FULL days to completely build it.

So close

Finally finished...too bad the horses don't appreciate all the hard work to provide some shade. They have yet to go in it to get out of the sun.

My little apple tree is trying!

My crazy neighbor came and got this snake for me out of my front yard. I ran over it so it probably died, but it was HUGE. I let the smaller bull snakes live on my front porch, but this one was intimidating. I think my neighbor was upset I tried to kill it.