Monday I built the deck for my floating duck island, and yesterday I added the floatation devices, which I made out of PVC pipe. I had four pieces of four inch pipe,

and all I needed to do was cap each end.

After gluing on the caps,

I fastened the pipe to the bottom of the deck,

then leaned the deck up against a trailer. I had to ask for help to load it, because IT WAS HEAVY. It took three of us…Donna, her daughter Katie, and me.
Then I hauled it to the pond

with Katie following to make sure the thing didn’t fall off along the way.
Lyndsey, Katie’s friend, is here too,

and she helped unload the deck. Then Donna, Katie, Lyndsey and I shoved it out into the pond for its maiden voyage…and guess what?

The thing actually floated! Donna suggested that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for people to ride around on it, but for ducks it would be just fine.
By that time, we were all really hot, especially the girls, who came here from Buffalo, New York. So I took them to the creek.

They stayed in just long enough to cool off. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised that those girls even got in in the first place, knowing that they were sharing that same water with the yard long copperhead that jumped in just before they did.

Yesterday Joel took the boys down to the store and bought them lunch. They chose chicken tenders and biscuits. The chicken was Hudson’s, and the biscuits were Denton’s. Upon arrival back at my house, they decided that they wanted to have a picnic. They found a blanket that I spread out in a patch of shade in the front yard while Joel fixed ‘plain milk’ for them in cups with lids.

It was just a simple undertaking,

but Hudson said that it was a dream come true.
Whatever they were playing before they came over evidently required them to wear shirts with no pictures on them.

Thus, the reason for their shirts being wrong side out, and in Denton’s case, backwards.
If the boys are outside, Matilda, who turned twelve last month,

is usually close by. She likes to be where they are,

but knows better than to join them on a picnic blanket.
However, Cutie Pie

is a different story. I was informed that her last name is Pie, and Miss Pie

had to be monitored closely. Cats are like that. But old dogs and children seem to have things worked out.