The best way to combat evil is to do good.
The best way to fight fear is to be strong.
The best way to ease loneliness is to love.
The best way to grow is to change.
Fight for your life. Tell your stories.
Send your signals to the world.
~Jon Katz

Jon Katz published this on his blog (blog.bedlamfarm.com) this morning and it really hit home for me. Thought I'd share.

Been a crazy few months. I look back that I last posted in August and wonder where September went. Oh.... school, hockey, life. Passes by too quickly sometimes.

Kyle... back in school, and struggling, but only because he doesn't give his best effort. But thankfully overall he's a good kid. He has a new group of school friends this year. He's going to football games and hanging out with them outside school which is nice. Ron and I went to a football game a few weeks back. It had been since high school that I'd been to a high school football game. Was very fun.

Hockey, going well. A big change from previous seasons where we could do it all and win it all. The kids are going to have to work harder and learn to live with some losses this year, but that's not a bad thing. Went 2-2 in the Labor Day tourney. Went 2-2 in the IceBreaker Tourney. Off to Dallas next weekend for the Silver Stick tourney. Kyle still loves playing, I still love managing.

Dogs... Ron drained the pool and they both seem devastated by the loss of their giant water dish. We're running again in the mornings (thank you Mother Nature for finally turning down the thermostat!) They love their morning runs. There is a Border Collie we see occasionally, Zach, who loves to play with them. We also have two Australian Shepherds we see fairly frequently. They do love the play time.

Snoopy is not feeling 100% right now. He has a vet visit tomorrow to check things out. Needs his 6 month Valley Fever titer test and maybe a round of blood work just to be sure things are in order.

Joe is Joe. Absolutely freaking nuts and thankful that the monsoon was rather mild this year.

Ron... in training this weekend. Last time in the 737. This time next year he should be flying the Airbus. I think he's looking forward to the change.

Me... Life goes on as it always does. Running the dogs, doing the laundry, driving to hockey. The mom life doesn't change much.

Did I mention?

It's hockey season. So far, 3 games played. 1-1-1. Beat Peoria U16A/AA, tied Team AZ Bantam AAA, lost to CAHA U16AA. All 3 good games. The kids are playing well together and seem to have bonded quite well, considering all the new kids this year. We have several 1993s who returned after a year of high school hockey too.

Not much planned for this season yet. Labor Day tourney here. Ice Breaker tourney here in Sept as well. Silver Stick in Dallas in October. Silver Stick will determine the rest of our season's plans.

Kyle seems to be liking it. He has a new linemate - Jared. They seem to like playing together (at least Kyle says they do) and seem to play well together. It's a change since last season he finished out the season playing with Steven, Eric & Josh. But so far so good. Kyle had a beautiful goal in the game against Peoria last Thursday and had some stellar shifts last night against CAHA.

Again, it's the start of the season. More to come!

thankfully.....

school starts tomorrow. Summer has actually been pretty fun, and though we had the hottest July on record, June was nice and last night we sat out on the Swansons front patio all evening. So we can't complain about the weather this year. Not much anyway.

Hockey is back in almost full swing. Two practices a week. Tournament in a month. Lots of emails, lots of paperwork.

Ron has most of August off - vacation!

Kyle is NOT looking forward to schoolwork, but he is looking forward to seeing his friends tomorrow. I think even for kids, it's nice when the routine gets back to normal.

I am looking forward to cooler weather, running outside with my dogs, and wearing jeans. Okay, maybe I'm two months premature on all of those. It still is August here, and the a/c usually doesn't go off for good until October. But a girl can wish.

What kind of blogger am I?

May 9th? Last post was May 9th? Ugh. Gotta get on it.

Summer has arrived here in Gilbert, after a LOVELY June, we're getting the June temps now. Guess that means the monsoon will arrive sometime in August, and likely we'll have the a/c on well into October this year. Gotta pay for that wonderful June weather.

We did a maiden voyage with the boat back in June. Got about halfway back on the lake when we blew a main water hose.

Some really nice people towed us back to the dock. Had to hand load the boat back onto the trailer and head down to the marine repair we use. Ordered a new hose. All is well now.

Took the boat out on 7/5 to Roosevelt Lake with the Swansons. It was such fun. Tied the boats together and floated in the water for hours.

Captain Ron at the helm of the Burkovich boat

The look you get when you try to take too many pictures of your teenager.

These were my adorable 4th of July toes that were ruined once I went waterskiing.

This was the other teenage boy on the trip, the birthday boy, Steven.

We skiied, wakeboarded, tubed, swam, ate, drank and had a really great time. Unfortunately Roosevelt is 90 minutes away, up several steep passes that Ron's truck didn't enjoy. Otherwise I could see myself there EVERY week. My sunburned shoulders might disagree.

In other belated news....

Kyle ended up with a B in math during summer school. It was a long 4 weeks for him, but he did well, and mom is proud. He never whined once.

Snoopy and Joe are thoroughly enjoying that Ron took down all the fencing in the backyard, so now they can swim whenever they please. Mom is not enjoying all the water on the floors all the time. Fair warning - watch your step when you visit.

Ron has been enjoying lots of time off (actually called "reserve" days.)

So far a good summer had by all.

Saturday, May, already.

School ends in just about 2 more school weeks. Summer is here (we're now over 100 every day.) Going to be too hot to run daily soon enough. Dogs are swimming every day again.

We had our nice two weeks off from hockey, but have tryouts starting the 15th. Midgets. I don't know when Kyle grew up and became a midget. That's the final step in youth hockey. Become a midget and when you're done with that, you're done.

Thanks to the hockey playoffs, my knitting has become prolific! I am working on slippers for Ron (new target completion date - Father's Day,) my wrap cardigan in orange cotton, and a Mustang team color scarf in the hopes that Kyle will make the team next season.

Ron spent his entire vacation working on our front yard. It's quite beautiful. He built a courtyard off our patio, complete with a fire pit. It's a nice place to sit and enjoy the currently comfortable evenings in front of a fire. We planted two new trees - an ornamental plum and a little leaf ash. 5 new potato bushes with pretty purple flowers. He built an amazing walkway to my front door and lined it with blue salvia, which hopefully will tolerate the brutal summers (the garden lady said they would.) My early Mother's Day gift was a lovely fountain. Pictures coming.