Last California Karate Class...

Well the kid had her final class last night for karate. We're really sad to have to leave this class behind, she's been taking karate every Tuesday night since third grade.

She was a 2nd degree blue belt. Her sensei tested her a week early to see if she would advance, and to our surprise last night he presented her with her new belt--a 1st degree RED belt! He told her that he was skipping her a belt because she had worked so hard to improve and had really earned it. He also said a lot of students drop out before reaching red belt as the class gets MUCH harder, and he'd never skipped a belt for one of his students, so this was a big deal!

Receiving her new belt:

Afterwards he told her to put it on so he could see it on her.

I'd told her 'look fierce' for this picture.

We are VERY proud of her and warned her that we were gonna brag about her!

Diggity Dig...

Well, the guys came by this morning and dug out 18 rose bushes so I can clean them up, surround the roots with shavings and wrap the root bundle in burlap, taking them all down to bare root condition like those plants you buy in the Spring at the hardware store...

Naturally it's gonna be about 98 degrees outside today with high humidity. Thank goodness for the big willow tree for shade!

Anyway, here's some fun before and after shots of the patio, the 'After' shots taken just now...

Before (neighbor's peacock which was wandering the neighborhood):

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Hopefully the roses will make it, roses are damned tough and a lot of these made the move to this house back when we moved here in '95 the exact same way, and I was none too gentle digging them out then, so they should.