Wow! It's July! and Fair time is HERE!

I guess It's been since March that I last blogged (I'm not the best blogger, obviously).  A lot has happened and now Fair time has caught up to us (This week, in fact!)  Don't ask if we're ready.  Thank Heaven, Hannah is much more on top of it all than the rest of us and she's the one that has to be ready!
A little catch up--March and April must not have been too interesting--can't remember much about them.  In May we made a little 3 day trip to Dubuque/Galena with my brother and sis-in-law.  That was a lot of fun and a great break.

In June we had to make the decision to send our beloved Lily over the Rainbow bridge.








There is nothing harder!  We had Lily a little over 5-1/2 years.  She appeared in our yard on Easter morning back then, apparently dumped, obviously with a very shady , possibly abused past.  She was scared and had obvious back leg problems--probably from being kicked a lot.  But she was the kindest soul you'd ever want to meet.  We took her in and could not have asked for a better dog.  She hardly left my side.  In her final weeks, she fell more, couldn't hear much, couldn't see much.  But she never waivered from the gentle animal she was.  It was a hard decision--the hardest --but her quality of life was not there anymore and she was failing more daily.  RIP  "Easter"  Lily Anna--we sure do miss you!

 On a lighter side, back to fair things.  The cows and calves were trimmed up this morning.  Ava, our big momma looks so good!  Her big 350 pound calf, Dusty,  is a frisky sort. He did very well with the clipping, however.  He has a lot of red in him from his Grandma (Freckles) who is red.  Kind of fun to see how the traits come down through the family.  His Dad is Black.
and Frosty, Hannah's breeding heifer also cleaned up nicely.

 I have been teaching a lot of classes.  One coming up in August is a bag in a box class--a little bag with matching cards in it--Had a "Flip-Flop themed one in June.  Aug will be bright and summery with citrus fruit and summer beverages.

This is the little bag they all go in.

Also have made some "staff Studio" cards.  These are my most recent.

 and there were several Grandkid Birthday cards along the way.  Paige turned 21 in June and Aden turned 8.  There is a story behind the little girl on Paige's--it reminds me of her Fair days--way back then!

Enough for this time.  Dakota had to stop by and say "Hi".  He spends a lot of time outside these days, when I have time to watch him.

Here's hoping everyone has a fun, crafty summer.  We're off to the Fair for the week!