*May* I Catch You Up?

I wasn't going to try it . . . but the title just won't let me go. And wait until you see the one I've got cooking for June ;)

In summary, in May . . . Brennen left for Washington. It was a cross-country adventure with his buddy, C. They slept in the car, golfed across Montana, and made it to their destination three days later. Unfortunately that was the most fun part of the adventure. Brennen did not like the job at all, for personal reasons for moral compass reasons for Spirit-prompted reasons. Many were the texts and calls that connected us across the miles. I think it was 10 days after arrival, he had a one-way plane ticket back (thanks to the kindness of his bro-in-law who said, "Just come home.") A few days later, his buddy packed up the rest of their belongings and drove back home, too. The abrupt return meant Brennen arrived back the same day our schoolyweds did, but they didn't know, so it was a surprise! Well, almost. Buck sort of gave it away :) B got to join us on our trek to WY . . . but that's a tale for another time.

Chase also helped B get hooked up with a job right away. Pretty cool that they are working together! Still part-time for Brennen, but he's applied at several places hoping to get a second job to help reset his finances. It's fun seeing their pics together at the "office." :)

Speaking of road trips, my lil bro and I took one, too! Not quite as far as Washington, just back to the homeland to celebrate our lil cousin's high school graduation. I liked that her decor was book and library card themed! I liked the breakfast muffins that her Aunt L made, and we all got to eat. And I liked getting to chat with my bro for like five hours. Good times!

This update is far from chronological, but did all take place for the most part (I think) in the month of May . . . I continue catching you up? :)

I recall, in the distant past, a project post that accumulated several of the spring sprucing things we've been working on about the Manor. We've painted outdoor projects, run out of paint, bought new paint hoping that we could continue to do so locally, but it is the WRONG color paint, but we put it on anyway as a basecoat, then Buck went on the journey to buy the right color of paint, but then it got hot outside and we got busy, so the paint remains a non-matchy, but very cheerful shade of bright blue. Oh, and Buck put a new roof over the watering part of the chicken coop, hoping to give the girls some shade. We were gifted an extra set of shingles from our neighbors' recent roof repair--and were only slightly concerned when the roofing company stopped by to pick them up again . . . they didn't make us peel them off our run roof :) Buck added a water feature to the middle, but I don't know that the chickens like the swinging vine action--despite the ridiculous expense of buying the replacement bucket, the chickens don't seem to use it much anymore. Idk, they've got to be getting liquid from somewhere! And now . . . photo dump of this (bulky) paragraph:

Oh yeah! Buck slipped with the chainsaw and had to go to the ER for stitches, well, walk-in clinic. I started the wound clean-up process and quickly recognized we were beyond my "almost a doctor" skill level. He was nearly totally healed up before the WY trip, which was his goal, but that trip is another story for another time.

Those last two photos were out of order, but I'm on a roll, so I'm not going back to fix them--speaking of rolls, we found ourselves with lots of rolls of wallpaper to put up in the former classroom, current fitness room, office, and sometimes guest room! After my attempt to mix my own touch-up paint samples . . . ahem . . . didn't exactly match up (you can hardly tell, right? :) Caelan started the papering process for me with Noah's assistance. A few weeks later, we finished it up . . . after the WY trip, but that's a story for, well, you know.

Okay, the last picture is from July--Buck put up the posters I framed from the mystery boxes we used to order. Our classroom theme stalled out on national parks, and I'm still a fan! Don't they look cute? And isn't the name of my adorable plant (that keeps growing!!! and matches the new wallpaper perfectly) NOT cute. Spiders, worts, cobwebs? Triple ew! But it sure is pretty :) Oh--more pretty flowers from May . . . lilacs bush exploded with blooms! Pink peonies even drew a Daisy in for a sniff. Purple irises caught a puff of cottonwood.

Hmmm, I have people pictures and tidbits to add, but this is already pretty lengthy. Oh, I just thought of a good title for July!