It's Fran's Birthday Today

Before tucking into birthday cake, Fran and Dick pose with Chique for the traditional birthday photo. Notice Fran is sporting a fur collar - a new fashion accessory that's a "must have" item for this upcoming winter season.
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Fran catches Charlie unaware, and enjoys a fun moment. This January, Charlie will also be celebrating a birthday - his 18th! Peep and Creep are hunkered down outdoors. Can you spot Peep and Creep?
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Surrogate Mother

During her visit to Sanctuary Pond, Marilyn cheerfully stepped in to feed the resident ducks while Fran was convalescing at rehab.

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Maintaining a Healthy Mind and Body

As devotees to maintaining a healthy well being, Dick and Marilyn were exceedingly loyal to their exercise routine during their visit to Sanctuary Pond. Here, they’re taking in the Honey Locust tree while balancing the body and soul. .

Our Chief Bottle Washer

When Fran isn't busy with either laundry, tending to the resident felines, or feeding the wildlife you can always catch her busy in the kitchen tidying the dishes. She enjoys completing her daily chores.

Kelly Originals

When Kelly isn't busy snapping action shots of Mike's soccer team - The UC Strikers U18, she's crafting beautiful custom jewelry. Kelly has created a number of gorgeous pieces for her Grandma Price and Aunt Cynthia. The mother of pearl bracelets were custom made-to-order; Cynthia often receives complements on her bracelets.

It's All About the Early Girls

Dick's Early Girls hadn't yielded the scores and scores of tomatoes that he had hoped, so he asked Clifton's mom, Fini, to take a look at the plants and advise accordingly. She offered that Dick should consider pruning the plants more frequently; so he's been pruning away ever since.

And then voila..scores and scores...

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Merci beaucoup!

Summer Garden Snaps

It's been awhile since we updated the blog with the latest on Sanctuary Pond's summer garden. Well, we're pleased to report it has been thriving; the conditions have been ideal...lots of sun!!!
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Impatiens and Cat Mint Black-eyed Susans

Cynthia's award winning Fern

Assortment

Early Girls

Continuing with today's food theme... here's Dick picking his very first Early Girl tomato of the season.

OCB

Who wants to go to OCB with us? (Old Country Buffet - just in case you didn't know) Here we are standing in front of our neighborhood OCB. Today's special is pot roast.

Wagging the Cat

Sunday afternoon just wouldn't be complete without first attending to my tomato plants and then taking a stroll with man's best friend. Yes, that's Charlie on a leash! Our neighbors might think we're a half brick shy of a full load, but we're having fun!

A Day on Oasis

We sailed Oasis to Waukegan harbor this morning. Oasis will undergo some routine maintenance in preparation for a much anticipated journey to Mackinac Island in three weeks time.

Morphing Tina (this is just way too much fun)

The 12 Faces of Tina

Beginning in the early spring through the early summer, we took a series of photos of our Tina Crabapple tree undergoing its annual transformation. Checkout this time-lapsed slideshow of 12 slides that attempt to capture the beauty of this truly amazing tree as it welcomes the spring.

Indian Traffic Cam

How's your morning commute? Does it compare to this crazy driving in India? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM

ABC Tag - Part Deux

Fran has tagged Dick...

A: Attached or Single: Attached
B: Best Friend: Wife
C: Cake or Pie: Cake
D: Day: Thursday
E: Essential Item: Dental floss
F: Favorite Color: Blue
G: Gummie bears or worms: Gummie worms
H: Hometown: New Bedford, Mass.
I: Indulgences: Cashews
J: January or July: July...warm
K: Kids: Three 1 girl 2 boys
L: Life is incomplete without: A mate
M: Marriage Date: June 19th, 1943
N: Number of Siblings: Four
O: Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P: Phobias or fears: Loud noises
Q: Quote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident…"
R: Reason to Smile: For a smile in return.
S: Season: Fall…Harvesting tomatoes from the garden
T: Tag: Richard III
U: Unknown Fact about me: Sensitive
V: Very Favorite Store: Lowes
W: Worst Habit: Picking at fingernails
X: X-rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds
Y: Your Favorite Food: Sirloin steak cooked medium-rare
Z: Zodiac Sign: Taurus

ABC Tag

Julianne has tagged Fran...

A: Attached or Single: Attached
B: Best Friend: Husband
C: Cake or Pie: Cake
D: Day: Tuesday
E: Essential Item: Cheese
F: Favorite Color: Green
G: Gummie bears or worms: Gummie bears
H: Hometown: Chicago
I: Indulgences: Dark chocolate covered marshmallow cookies
J: January or July: July...lots if life
K: Kids: Three 1 girl 2 boys
L: Life is incomplete without: My family
M: Marriage Date: June 19th, 1943
N: Number of Siblings: One
O: Oranges or Apples: Apples
P: Phobias or fears: Forgetting birthdays
Q: Quote: "All’s well that ends well"
R: Reason to Smile: Anticipating a Turtle Sundae at Culver’s
S: Season: Fall…weather and fashion
T: Tag: Dick
U: Unknown Fact about me: I like to read British mysteries
V: Very Favorite Store: J.C. Penny’s
W: Worst Habit: Not speaking distinctly
X: X-rays or Ultrasounds: X-rays
Y: Your Favorite Food: Lasagna
Z: Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

A Lonely Canoe

Where is everyone? Does anyone want to go fishing with me, or maybe turtle hunting? I'm looking for some passengers. What is a lonely canoe to-do?

Operation "Myrtle"

Operation "Myrtle" came about from the escape of Myrtle (the original turtle that Cynthia caught for David Hayes). To remedy this, Cynthia commissioned Richard to catch a replacement turtle in time for the July 4th pool party. Richard was not only eager but he was also a good sport and embraced his commission cheerfully.

Hunting for pond turtles is not so straight forward; you can always catch a glimpse of the turtles who poke their knobbly heads above the pond's surface, but they react quickly when threatened and will retreat swiftly out of sight.

Here's Richard sporting a pair of hip waders as he gets an early start on his search for Myrtle's replacement.

Sean shot this video of Richard wading in the cat tails in search of turtles.

Finally...after days of combing the pond in a canoe while wearing waders and clutching a net...SUCCESS!David Hayes has selected "Shelly" as the name for his new turtle. Shelly has since been removed from his bucket and placed in a roomy aquarium that has lots of rocks and plenty of water. We believe Shelly is a male turtle, given the remarkable spectrum of colors on his head, claws, and plastron (underside).

Fun Family Fotos

The Price Family of Houston is shown here wearing their playful faces. We had a blast...and look forward to visiting with them again - sometime soon.Dick and Fran snuggle with their Great Grandson RIV.

Evelyn assembled these mystery pods in the shape of a snowman (these could be insect pods...eewww).

The porch swing is a popular hang-out. Here are Amelia, young Frances, Jennifer, and Fran "Gamma".

Amelia is pictured here with her dad, they just returned from a spin around the pond. How many spins did Richard take around Sanctuary Pond during his visit? Hundreds? Perhaps thousands... He was hands-down the "go to" guy if you wanted a canoe ride.
Even Dick "Gampa" took a spin around the pond. We later learned that Dick was wearing his "indoor" shoes during this canoe ride (note the grin) ...much to Cynthia's chagrin.

Sharing a Few Chuckles

Sean has quite a repertoire of video clips which kept us amused and howling with laughter. Here he is showing Dick and Fran one of his favorite clips entitled “Ahmed the Dead Terrorist"…it's hilarious…check it out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neTsQng-70o

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A Bird's Eye View

One of the many benefits of having visitors is the opportunity to explore the numerous attractions that Chicago has to offer. Since this was Jennifer's first visit to Chicago, we thought a trip to the top of the Sears Tower would thrill both Jennifer and Sean. Clifton was also thrilled; this was his first trip to the 103rd floor of the tallest building in Chicago. Photos courtesy of Maj. Sean P. Price. .

The John Hancock Center

The famous Chicago skyline

Looking down at the crowded Taste of Chicago Festival

Independence Day

Keith is shown here, hard at work cooking up some tasty burgers and brats. Keith and Deb really know how to throw a pool party. Hey...when is the next one and are we invited?

Dick and Fran appear to be enjoying the beautiful weather and the scrumptious vittles.

Kim, Deb, and David are digging into Deb's famous seven layer salad.

Rumor has it that on this day the record for the most people in the hot tub was broken. Richard and Julianne's friends from West Lafayette, IN helped break the record which now stands at eleven.

Sean used the 10 second timer feature on his Canon camera to take this awesome group photo.

Sean captured some candid bantering among the July 4th revellers.