We've been busy this week. On Thursday, Dad had a pig roast for my extended family. Dad wanted to try out his huge smoker/cooker for a future pig roast, so he went to the amish and bought a small 75 lb piglet. Simba cut the pig into three tins and made three different sauces. I liked them all.
But Simba's baby, Abby, is still the main attraction. Abby had a steady audience all night. I enjoyed helping Uncle Norm in the kitchen. He did all the dish washing.
Ruthie and I came home early since she said she wasn't feeling well. When I saw this picture tonight, I realized she must have been miserable already. She had a fever (101.6) and said her chest hurt. Out came the nebulizer and steroids. We were up all night and finally fell into an exhausted sleep around 5:30 am. I was so sure that she'd end up in the hospital on Friday, but now she is on the mend. She still takes a nebulizer treatment every hour.

As we looked back over the week, we realized that Allen and Ruthie both felt miserable after stacking firewood. So we checked their allergy charts and sure enough, they are both very allergic to red oak. Allen recovered quickly, but Ruthie never recovers quickly. We won't forget that again!
This weekend we got lots of rain. We are now officially out of drought. Since we had just gotten a lot of roadwork done the day before the rains, we were anxious to see how the road held up. So we grabbed our cameras and hired Mike to be our chauffeur, and off we went.

This is going up hill #1.
And this is going up hill #2. Looks much better than yesterday. Today the workguys came back and laid pea gravel on top of the mud. That helped a lot.This area is usually pretty bad when it snows because the sun doesn't get through the trees long enough to melt the snow/ice. But it looks great today!
This past summer I drove down to my neighbor's home to give him something, and I saw his big, beautiful butterfly bush. I must have really raved about it because today I received a Butterfly Bush for my birthday!! Isn't it lovely? And it smells wonderful...like lilacs! Lizzie was determined to find one, and she said she had to look long and hard. She finally found it at Lowe's. Thank you, Lizzie!
Ruthie recovered enough to make me a marble birthday cake.
I thought she did really well making the icing.
And here's the finished cake. Yummy!
Of course, I always enjoy the homemade birthday cards. This is Lizzie's who did quilling.These are Ruthie's. She was too weak to write, so she dictated to Mike.
And this beauty is from Anna. I should've scanned it, but I'm not on speaking terms with my scanner right now.
Mike gave me two cards. One is for me to see, and this one is for show. On the inside Mike wrote, "This card is good for one Mexican dinner with Mariachi Band." What a guy! Our local mexican restaurant has a mariachi band from time to time, so it looks like we're going!

So we've been good busy and bad busy, but feeling blessed. Maggie and Allen are in Virginia with my Dad. Allen caught a flounder, so he's on top of the world. I sure miss them.

Enjoy your weekend. Many blessings ~ Kathie