Succulent turtle

Isn't this guy cute? As the succulents grow, the turtle will have a solid shell. This is ostensibly for my daughter-in-law (who doesn't read this blog) but I am becoming attached. I showed it to a friend who instantly rushed out and got one (a different animal) for herself

The shady side of my patio. Lots of lilies

Asiatic lilies and callas. You can see the marijuana shaped leaves of my cleome coming up

At noon today, we were to have the septic field report. It is past noon. We are probably not going forward on the house, especially under the current terms. So many things are rushed making us highly suspicious. So the only way we are going forward is for them to fix the many issues prior to closing, not just leave money in escrow for us to be subcontractors for the rest of the summer. If they go with the back-up offer, fine for them. Both us have spent too much time worrying about numerous what-ifs. I am tired of asking questions and receiving very evasive answers. No trust left including for our agent who is trying to ram this down our throats.

On my bike ride yesterday, I went by the house again. Sale pending across the sign. Well they have faith. Then Rocky the German Shepherd came rushing towards me snarling, baring teeth ignoring the orders of his owner. I stopped and he stopped, still snarling. I tried to leave but he started towards me. The seller's doofus lab pup came bounding towards me too but I knew he was harmless. The developer, who owns Rocky, had sent us a lengthy list of rules to follow in this little subdivision, which included No Barking Dogs. How about No  Menacing Dogs? Yeah, I know I could get Rocky to like me eventually.

I did stop at the nursery for my water break. Bad idea as I found more things to buy though they will be birthday presents (except maybe the turtle). They held stuff for me to return by car. Upon my return, I ran into my Facebook photography buddy who is about Shanna's age and the daughter of an ex- colleague. As a child, she was terrified of me but now we are friends.

A pleasant evening was spent dining outside with my former co-workers in Ypsi. Unfortunately I forgot that every Thursday night, the streets are jammed with antique cars. I could barely find a parking spot and assumed our target restaurant would be full beyond capacity. I felt bad because this was my idea but all worked out. I love summer nights. By the time we were finished, the cars were gone.

It is a few hours later and the septic field report finally came in and it is not good. We said there will be no closing until everything is fixed. And they will have to fix things, not us. We are not spending our summer being a contractor for that house along with our house too. Initially they wanted to close early and then rent from us (I can see no good coming from that aside from the rent money). We are no longer agreeing to that. A new purchase agreement is in the works. Contractors are being vetted, not by us. The seller's agent knows our concerns. I am not sure what the sellers think. But at this point, we are prepared to walk.

Moms group got cancelled tonight just after I made an elaborate caprese salad from all my Farmer's Market purchases. Usually I am the dessert lady but the salad lady was going to be delayed so we switched roles. But just as well as we will be hammering out issues.

So I will be incommunicado for a while. I will post on Facebook but I can't take the computer or iPad on the ride, which may be cold and rainy. For the first day and a half, there will be nothing except pine trees with only one small town. Steve and I went to this same small town to begin our 2 day canoe journey down the Pere Marquette years ago. Not long ago, I read an article about the Canoe Test. Every couple should go on a 2 day trip down a river. Bad things are bound to happen and one can see how the other handles adversity. Well we passed the test that time...