There's pictures at the end, I swear!

 So a few things to let you in on that I have been derelict of duty on:

First off, while I haven't been posting about it, my M10 is still going strong.  In fact we're 4 weeks into the annual "Songs Of Summer" battle, and here are the top five as it stands (if you've a mind to listen:

5-Silversun Pickups, In The Air

4- Lemon Twigs, Look For Your Mind

3- Buck Meek, Can I Mend it?

2- Rolling Stones, In The Stars

And 1- Gorillaz- The Empty Dream Machine

Plus, one more- last week the 1,000th song to make the M10 entered the chart-

Brooke Annibale, Bolder Font

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Next up, the car: It is fixed and paid for- but not without incident.  You see, the shop's test drive, our bringing it home, and Laurie going to work all happened in about an hour and a half's time.  When it finally got a chance to sit, it developed a few air bubbles in the water pump (oh, didn't I tell you? In addition to the brakes, they said the seal between the water pump and thermostat was leaking, too).  According to AI, it's not uncommon to get little pops at this point- of course, Laurie didn't know this.  So she's scared something new is wrong, focuses on that, so that when she went to turn into the complex, she almost missed it and hit the brakes hard.  What I knew, and she didn't, is that the brakes tend to catch and grind if you hit them too hard- so now she thinks something's wrong with the steering too (because she didn't realize it was the brakes).  Long story not much shorter, while I drove it around the complex trying to receate a sound I didn't know was the brakes, she gets looking up and finds the pops are "part of life".  When I returned home with no pops and no grinds, she then tells me a) what she learned while I was gone, and B) the exact circumstances of the grind, and we breathed a collective sigh of relief at last.

Finally, how about an afternoon walk?

Yesterday was a rainout, and just before this, the clouds were making one wonder.  So I put on long pants (mistake!) and away we go.

In fact, in between clouds it was hot enough that Misty was looking for our springtime cut through (which is too overgrown right now)

But, rain means drinking holes...

Mr Black Squirrel

Of course, veer off to go down the middle of the puddle

So I think it was Monday there was a Bobcat moving stuff around over here, and today we saw why.  One tree tipped in the rain and wind, knocking over another, mostly dead one, right across the trail.

The golf trail less travelled

Since we missed Flag Day Monday...

Somebody wasn't nice at the Alumni Center...

That little white spot in the water is approximately where I was standing 2 days ago...

Oh, and the little froggies!  Misty had a circus!

Look dead center

At this point, the froggies all jumped that log, and Misty was set to join them- except I was still attached, and I did NOT want to enter the swamp.  Eventually she turned back, at which point she tripped and fell into the stinky water.

Later, hunting varmints on the creek bank

I took her through the tall grass to 'clean her up', but to no avail.  She shared a shower with me when we got back!