Excuses, excuses...

So it's been awhile and we wanted to share some of the latest events before it starts to look like we've given up on this blog thing completely.

First, our excuse for not posting lately. Last week our house was apparently struck by lighting. Initially, I thought it must have been nearby and knocked out our power but, Olivia informed me that it actually seemed like it hit right above our bathroom window. As I walked through the darkened kitchen, I smelled burning and soon rushed brilliantly into the raging storm to see if the roof was on fire (sing the approprate song about the roof being on fire if you must). The roof was not on fire but man was it really wet out! I found a couple of tripped breakers and flipped them back thinking, alright, crisis avoided. Not so fast, my friends. Long story made a little shorter, no more desktop computer in the office, no more power supply on the laptop that I'm currently wasting my life on, no more DVD player in our bedroom, no more Nintendo Wii (poor Madi), and NO MORE FLAT SCREEN LCD TV!!!! That hurts my heart. The strike also knocked out our internet and satellite tv, as well. Fortunately, there was no damage to the house as the lighting seems to have hit the satellite dish rather than the actual roof. So, it was really quiet around here for a few days. We were not able to get a picture of the lightning hitting the house to post here but, that would probably have resulted in at least one of our deaths and then we really wouldn't have posted again for a while.

Garden Update: Last week we found that our Cubumber plants had been invaded by squash vine borers. Olivia did get a few pictures, horribly and shockingly gross pictures of these bloated sacks of protoplasm (Ren and Stimpy). *By the way, for those of you keeping track at home, all future quotes will be referenced for future generations. Cause, I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way (Whitney Houston, before Bobby and crack).

We'll just share one of these pictures, which I'm sure is enough to gross you out!

Squash Vine Borers (SVBs) are an especially devastating pest that feed internally on well, squash vines. They also apparently really like our zucchini and are known to infest other vining melons, gourds, and vegetables in general. They start out with black and red beetles (adult form) laying small reddish rust-colored eggs near the base of the plants. These eggs hatch and the new larvae drop down into the soil. At this point, if you haven't already halted this process somehow, you are in trouble. The larvae burrow into the stems and vine of the plant (which are hollow) and remain there, devouring it from the inside until it dies and/or gets enough to eat and turns into an adult. I think this is where they pupate, but I'm not sure about the whole life cycle anymore. Maybe Madi will learn about that next year and I can blog smarter. So that's where we are. Now you're asking, what can they do? Apparently, bubkiss. We should've planted radish seeds with our squash and zucchini to repel the SVBs. Nasturtiums also may have helped. Dusting the soil with Diatomeceous Earth or D.E. may have kept the larvae from re-emerging from the ground and burrowing into the plants. Dusting the plants with D.E. or spraying with Orange Oil or Neem Oil may have repelled the adults, as well. But now, we have to make the best of what we have left which happens to still be way more zucchini than we are eating. Live and learn, faithful readers, live and learn.

So, we wrapped this fantastically busy week with a frantic trip to the lake with the Johnston family and packed Madi up for her first summer camp experience. She is, as we speak (see its like I'm talking to you), attending an "Ice Cream Social" at the Texas A&M Summer Swim Camp 2009. She was super-excited about going but, Olivia and I had a tough time letting her go. Madison made it abundantly clear that we were needed only to carry her stuff to her dorm room and then should leave so that she could begin being an independent and really cool swim camper. Olivia and I spent an hour and a half weeping uncontrollably on our drive back to Belton. The camp seems like it will be a good time and we hope very much that she will have fun and be safe. We may be driving to College Station nightly for the remainder of the week...just in case.

The lake was fun and we had a really nice time with my family. I have some really nice girls and they gave me a great Father's Day.

Olivia spent as much time as possible huddled over small objects with a large camera. The results of this huddling are the following:

Well, I've been ridiculously busy at work lately but, maybe I can still get in a few minutes of watching our replacement tv. Hey, it's almost the same size as this laptop screen. For now, You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we're not back by dawn... call the president (Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China).