Introducing Zorro

Zorro (note the black line above the eye and across the nose)




Andrew taking photos-note Zorro in the background and Pip in the foreground.

Dining together...

Pip brought a little friend home with her tonight. Actually last night Daisy was watching a rabbit in the neighbors yard and I turned around and next thing I knew it appeared beside the rabbitry and I thought it was Pip and wondered how she got from one spot to another so quick. Turns out there are two of them now and they are really enjoying my hostas. Since they are providing an endless source of entertainment for us that is much better than watching tv we will forgive them. I plan to plant a couple rows of lettuce this weekend so they have something to munch.
Zorro has a mask, hence his name, and how we tell him and Pip apart. Andrew and I both got within two feet of them this evening and they didn't even flinch.

Eye Can See You

I just came back from taking my brother to have an Advanced Surface Treatment (not to be confused with lasik) on his right eye. The entire appointment took about 45 minutes including the pre and post op. He came out of the operating room wearing the same big grin that I had when I came out of my laser surgery 8 years ago with 20/10 vision. Oh the marvels of modern medicine. One note of caution on this. If you are going to have eye surgery of any kind shop around like it was life or death. Find a board certified doctor and interview the doctor personally, not just some lab tech that takes your eye measurement, and observe the office staff. If they are crabby that's a sign of poor customer service.

Pre Convention Grooming

This is Sienna having her wool groomed in preparation for the Ohio State rabbit convention on Sunday. She is good natured about the whole ordeal and I really didn't have to spend much time on her as she keeps herself pretty nice. I plan to blow them all out one more time prior to the show. I am taking 4 Satin Angoras. Three does and a buck. Unfortunately my French are all out of coat.

The Lily of the Valley

How often do you see lily of the valley these days? There is a story behind mine. As long as I can remember my grandma had a garden filled with lily of the valley. My brother and I used to love the smell and always asked to pick a bouquet. I remember being fascinated with the tiny little bell shaped flowers and the smoothness of their stems. Years later when grandma and grandpa got older and were unable to maintain their house and manage the stairs-they sold it and moved to a small apartment. Before they left I asked grandma if I could dig up some of the lily of the valley plants so we would always have them in the family. She seemed pleased and said that I could. Now I have an entire bed of them at my house (the root stock has to be around 50+ years old) and every year in the spring they remind me of grandma and grandpa who have been gone for over a decade now. I sent mom and a couple of my aunts the above photo today-and as my aunt said of it- "beautiful on so many levels".

We have so many flowers in our yard this spring. I have worked hard over the past few years to get plants that have showy blooms from February (crocus) through September (purple cone flower). Today I photographed what was currently in bloom because I thought we were going to get a rain event that would knock down all the blossoms. The rain never amounted to more than a passing shower (gosh I can't believe the weather man was wrong) but nonetheless I got some great photos. Here is a link to see all my spring flowers. Along with my new computer came the iPhoto application which enables photo editing which includes antiquing, color fade, edge fading etc. and I am really enjoying it as you will see in the photos. In addition to the lily of the valley are your standard fair of tulips; although I have some that are called black. Also a unusual variety of daffodil, bleeding hearts, phlox, purple and white lilacs, white bud, grape hyacinth, and sweet woodruff. Enjoy!


Lily of the Valley in Folklore:

He's the Lily of the Valley,
The bright and Morning Star.
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
from hymn, The Lily of the Valley, by C. W. Fry

Lily of the valley supposedly sprang from the blood shed in the fierce struggle between St. Leonard and the dragon Malitia. Due to the flower's pristine color and its association with the Virgin Mary's tears, it often symbolizes purity, and is considered the 5th thing that a bride should carry. In the Language of Flowers, the plant's low stature associates it with "humility." Perhaps because it signifies the return of spring, it also stands for the "return of happiness."

A Mount Baker Canadian Lilac

...is what we planted tonight for our 10th anniversary - which isn't until May but now is the time for planting. The Mount Baker Canadian Lilac has an interesting history which I read about after we bought it. For our first anniversary we planted a white bud which is now a huge beautiful tree (well at least compared to what it used to be) in the back yard .



White bud (cercis canadensis var. alba)

(syringa hyacinthiflora)

Andrew also planted (seedlings) of mussel wood, red bud, prickly ash, gray dogwood, and he relocated a spruce that sprouted on it's own in our yard. The persimmon seeds that have been in our fridge since October will go into the ground soon. It will be interesting to see if they sprout.

Will You Be My Friend?

Pip decided her first nest wasn't good enough so she has moved to yet another spot, also smack in the middle of the yard. Presently she is moving all the dried grass that she pulled up and stuffed in the first hole over to the second hole. (Andrew said that Fiver thinks a good rabbit's nest should have roots in it to keep it from collapsing and maybe Pip's first nest didn't have adequate support LOL). All the while Daisy was watching from the deck and later decided to go a little closer. After they greeted each other Daisy wandered back in the house and Pip went right back to digging. Can you believe this?

Junior Prom

We went south to take prom photos this evening. It was a beautiful evening for the prom. Elisha and Ian looked great! There were about 300 people in the park taking photos as three local schools were having their prom on the same night!

Elisha and Ian

Elisha and Andrew

All of Us.

Don't ya love the dress??

Oh to be young again.



Onward to the high school...

Under Construction

This morning when Andrew got up and looked outside he noticed that Pipsqueak was building a nest..right out in the middle of the yard of all places. I thought for sure she would run off when he opened the back door to go to work. When she didn't I grabbed the camera and got the first photo in this series and then handed it to him to take the rest. She didn't even look nervous at him being about 5 feet away. The final photo I took when I got home from work. Pip was watching me from the hydrangea bush.


Under construction

Grooming

Just takin' a break-this is hard work

More grooming

Completed nest-no babies yet. The nest is tunneled way back in the ground and is packed full of the yellow dry grass. She made the nest right on the edge of a dead patch of grass and pulled up all the dead grass to line it. I guess we won't be mowing there for a couple months. So much for a uniform and weed free back lawn this summer.

Arbor Day

I'm sending my hubby the Arborist off to work tomorrow with a cupcake cake that I made for him to celebrate Arbor Day. He's been busy planting a bunch of trees at a new park downtown Columbus on a tight schedule. I figured he deserved some recognition.

Where in the World is the Mushroom?

If you look close you can see the morel that I found at the base of the may apple...

...in between dodging the raindrops.


Daisy "helped" out by playing in the creek and getting muddy.
Dinner turned out to be Kentucky Fried Chicken. LOL

Celebrating!

...Administrative Professionals Day and Earth Day...

The faculty (those who weren't teaching class) spoiled me with lunch at Rusty Bucket and gift cards to Cabelas and Starbucks. I am lucky to have such wonderful co-workers (all of them!) for the past 10 years!

Rain or shine-celebrating Earth Day with a morel hunt and cook out with friends this evening!

A Dandelion for Doodle

These were obviously not taken today because anyone that was in central Ohio this afternoon will tell you that the weather was outstandingly awful. We had rain, wind, more rain, high wind, sleet and hale. I know quit whining-it snowed elsewhere. Anyway Doodle was out on Saturday afternoon enjoying some sun and grazing on dandelions and twigs. I just thought these pictures were cute.

Peek A Boo

Look! It's a tree!



Surprise. Sleepy baby racoons inside the knot hole.

Andrew once again climbed up to look inside.
Please don't try this on your own with out safety gear on. Luckily mama was elsewhere.

Another Felted Purse

Here's the purse I knitted from the yarn I dyed in osage orange. The front and back are Wensleydale and the sides and strap is merino. The flowers are BLF.

Picture This: Earth Day 2009

We spent the morning volunteering for Friends of Alum Creek and Tributaries as part of a work group to clean up Boyer Nature Preserve. The event was a part of Picture This 2009 but FACT organizes many of these types of projects around the community in the spring.


About 25 people helped out-young and old alike. Most of them were from the neighborhood.

The major focus of the project was to clean out the evasive honeysuckle which grows up and prevents light from getting to the forest floor and thus prevents native wildflowers from thriving. Some of the volunteers also picked up trash and cut multiflora rose and pulled up wild garlic mustard-two other non-natives that are prolific in the preserve.



These folks are dragging honeysuckle to the front of the preserve. The city will later bring in a chipper truck and grind it all up and dispose it.

Andrew and I worked the trail by the lake and later went to the back of the preserve to cut and carefully chemically treat some larger honeysuckle that was overshadowing a stand of pawpaw trees. It was a nice morning to be outside.

I happened upon a large field of trout lily. What a spectacular sight!

After the cleanup small shrubs called Spicebush were planted in hopes of establishing a population and also some trillium and virigina bluebells (above). If the flowers can gain a foot hold it will be very lovely to see each spring.

More Spring Wildflowers

Now that it has warmed up outside the wildflowers are really starting to bloom. Here's a couple of my favorites-trout lily (both yellow and white) and dutchman's breeches (so named because they look like little pairs of pants hanging on a clothes line). These were growing at the park near the creek where the beaver lives. Andrew took the photos.

Snack Time

Bananna Cream pie icecream-a seasonal favorite.

Bradford Pear's in bloom on Main Street

It was such a beautiful day that two of my friends (who are also my co-workers) and I decided to walk uptown and get an icecream cone at the favored coolspot-Graeter's. It was a nice break and a great snack.

Britain's Got Talent

I'm not a big fan of reality t.v.-sorry to disappoint. I did enjoy watching the very first season of American Idol and got tired of it after that. I don't watch the news so I never know what's going on unless its something big and can't be avoided. Most of the time I get my news from someone at work-from either a co-worker or the students. Apparently Britain has a version of American Idol called Britain's Got Talent. I found out via an email. Everyone all over the world is abuzz about last night's performance by Susan Boyle. Three million people have viewed the link below since last night. If watching it doesn't make you tear up then pinch yourself because you might be dead and shame on us all for making snap judgments about a person based on their appearance. Click here for one of the most inspiring messages you will ever see and save the link so you can watch it again when you need to.

Happy Easter

The sun is shining! Hope you all have a great day.

Felted Purse

It was a little too chilly for comfort outside so I spent the day inside knitting. I found an easy purse pattern on the web and the flower pattern on Ravelry. After I finished knitting it I threw it in the washer to felt it. The seafoam yarn is BFL and the brown is an angora wool blend. In the photo above I have the purse laying on the material that I 'm using for the lining. I think it turned out fabulous!

Easter Blast from the Past

It rained all day so we cleaned cupboards. We got rid of a huge bag of books at the Half Price book store and we donated some junk (I mean stuff) to the thrift store. In the process of this flurry of cleaning I came across two photos which I forgot that I had and thought they would be appropriate to share for the Easter season.

This is me (light coat w/ bonnet) and my cousins at my grandma's house in 1965. We were having an egg hunt. Look at our darling little outfits. In the old days people knew how to dress! My cousin David and my brother were born but were too young to hunt eggs. There are now 28 of cousins total on that side of the family; 18 on the other.

This is me and my brother in 1968, again at Grandma's house. Don't you love the drapes?

A Gal Named Cinda Lou

Uptown Westerville has some pretty neat shops but most of them close at 5 pm so I don't get to look very often. We grabbed pizza at Pasquales this evening and then noticed that the retro shop A Gal Named Cinda Lou was still open. It's such as fun place. They have 50's, 60's and 70's vintage clothing, jewelry, housewares and good selection of vinyl records and CD's. The resident Boston Terrier, a handsome youngester named Henry, enthusiatically greeted us as we entered the shop and proceeded to follow me around the entire time. (Probably because I let him slobber on my cheek, chew on my hand with his little needle teeth and I took his picture, petted his belly and made over him like he was my own). Andrew found the CD Heart Shaped World by Chris Isaak for a couple bucks so he was a happy camper too. We listened to it on the way home-not bad. It's worth stopping in to look around if you are going through town.

Alex, Gracie and their fabulous Snow Bunny

This might be one of the cutest things I have seen in a long time. My friend Sharon sent me this picture that was in the Bismarck (North Dakota for anyone not up on their geography) Tribune-its of her daughter Alex and her friend Gracie and the snow bunny they made for Easter. And to think I was griping because we have snow flurries today.

Petty Theft

As we were strolling down the nature trail yesterday afternoon at a local nature preserve (hard to believe in light of today's change of weather) I spied a tufted titmouse fly from a hole in a silver maple tree with a bit of fur in its beak. I told Andrew he should put the camera in the hole and take a picture and maybe we would see some baby birds. He did and there was a sleeping raccoon inside the hole. The titmouse had been picking fur from its back while it slept. Look close at the photo and you can see where she's been picking.
Cracked me up!

Snoopin' around...

Sleeping coon.