Month of July in Numbers

I'm joining in with Julie Kirk again this month (last official MinN was April's! Argh!) for Month in Numbers. This month was looong (31 days!) and HOT and full of plenty of activities and happenings.

# of IPhone photos taken and added to Collect calendar = 59. Some of the days there were as many as five to record and only two days with zero.

We celebrated Independence Day, the 4th, quietly with a picnicky sort of meal and watching the fireworks at the high school football field (four blocks east of us here on Vine) from our backyard. Didn't go to the parade in the morning - this would've been a great opportunity to fulfill #14 on the 2014 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt - because it was already 95 degrees at 9:00 a.m. when it started and we were just plain too lazy!

This is not a terribly good picture of the fireworks but you kind of get the idea . . .

# of books read in July = 3 plus reading Marmee and Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother. This is on my IPad Kindle and so I pick it up only occasionally. An aside here - I really don't like reading from the screen but when I can't find a book I really want to read at the city library, I resort to Kindle books. About this book: I don't like Louisa's father, Bronson Alcott, very much but that dislike surely comes from a 21st century prejudice.

# of photos found for the 2014 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt = 14 of 21. (Today, the 1st of August, I added another!) See posts here, here, and here. 

# of postcards sent for Sian's Pile of Postcards Swap = 6 - 4 to the UK, one to Canada, and one to New York State. 

# of postcards received for said Swap = 8; 5 from the UK (Helena sent a return card - thank you so much!), one from France, and 2 from Tennessee (an extra one from Barbara!). Absolutely loved doing this and now have new (and very talented!) friends from all over.

This is the postcard I received from Alexa just yesterday, the 31st.

Doing this swap reminds me of when I was young and had "penpals" that I found through comic books, particularly Katy Keene. . . and that's a story for another day :).

# of family birthdays celebrated = 5. Granddaughter-in-law DaviJo's 27th on the 13th; Daughter-in-law Crystal's 42nd on the 18th; Great-granddaughter Aubrey's 8th on the 21st; Granddaughter Jessica's 21st on the 22nd; and, my sister Delta's 61st on the 24th! Girls ruled this month! I called my sister in Silverado, California on her birthday and we had a lovely 45+ minute chat. Just don't get to gab like that often enough!

# of days triple digit temperatures = 5 according to the weather service but it sure seems like more! 

# of miles driven to Panguitch (Utah) for the Panguitch Invitational Rodeo at the Triple C Arena = 228 in 4 hours.

This is a picture of our truck and three-horse trailer driven by our two grandsons (one driving, one entertaining no doubt!) on the road south to Panguitch. My husband and I and our dog are behind them in the motor home. . . well, until we got to the turnoff after losing sight of them on Interstate 15! Grampa got a tad irritated and had me text them that "even though the speed limit was 80 mph on the freeway, doesn't mean you go that fast . . . you are hauling horses, not hauling ass!" Oh dear! 

We arrived safely Tuesday, the 15th, and spent the next three full days rodeoing. Actually, me and Grampa [is that right? or should it be "Grampa and I?"] provided food and bed and the grandboys did the rodeoing!

# of performances/slack attended at said rodeo = 5. Grandson Ty did 3 events (tie-down, steer wrestling, and team roping) and Grandson Tee did 2 events (steer wrestling and team roping). They are team roping partners - Ty heads and Tee heels. In order to qualify for Friday's "short go" or top 10 in each event, each had to catch/get a time in two of the previous two days rodeos. I won't bore you with the details but will cut to the chase and tell you that Tee placed 2nd in the short go steer wrestling and earned a nice, shiny buckle and Ty ended up 3rd in the short go tie down and All-Around Cowboy for the whole rodeo! Woohoo! Here he is with his 3rd place buckle and very large All-Around buckle:

And here are my favorite three cowboys after all was said and done:

On that note, I just wanted to add # of times I've weeded the flower beds = INFINITE! With recent summer rainstorms I've got more of a Garden of Weed'n than flower garden! Wish I could let the 11 steers loose and instruct them in what to eat and what not to eat. But of course, there's the problem of . . . well, you know! And, they might wander down the street and get into traffic . . . 

'Nuf said.