Various things

First of all, I went walking with Cliff this morning and made it ALL.  THE.  WAY.!!!!  I even went down and back up the steepest hill.  This is taken before I had done any hills, and I was walking at a pretty good pace.  

Cliff wanted me to turn around and smile, so there you have it.  

This was taken near the end of our walk as I was getting ready to head to the house, and I can assure you I was walking a whole lot slower than when I started.  I don't wear shoes when we walk in the pasture unless it's below freezing outside, by the way.  

When we moved behind the barn three years ago, I planted a trumpet vine.  This year it has finally bloomed; I hope the hummingbirds enjoy it.  I know my cows enjoy eating the vine; Cliff had to put an electric fence up to keep them from destroying it.  

Have I mentioned I love coneflowers?  

This is what hail does to a cucumber vine.  It'll be all right eventually.  

Remember a while back when I told you about Tyler, the twenty-year-old kid next door with cancer?  He just had his first all-day chemo treatment yesterday, and came to report to us today.  He seems not to be too much worse for the wear so far.  I believe he said he has to have an all-day treatment once every month, but he has other chemo sessions in between that won't take so long.  Since the doctors haven't seen cancer quite like this before, they're throwing a little bit of everything at it.  I stole the above picture of him off Facebook; I figured if he's using it as a profile shot, he probably approves this pose.