Flower Spider

 

This little fellow, a flower spider, was found in the cone flowers this evening. Isn't he pretty?

Tri Loom Weaving

I took advantage of the fabulous weather this afternoon to get started on my weaving project. I'm making another shawl with some of my natural dyed angora/BFL hand spun yard.  Daisy, who I had just picked up from the groomer, kept me company and napped.

 In progress

 Sleepy Bichon

Self Portrait

The Rabbits Are Coming!

Just when I thought I had seen it all Pip gave birth to three kits in my presence about an hour ago. I was a foot away with my camera. The images of the baby were not taken with a long lens-I was literally right beside them. Pip did not seem to mind me one bit. Andrew came over while all this was in progress and she didn't even flinch. Pip was in and out of her "compound" all evening long and spent the time in between lounging in the yard. I told Andrew that I thought she was getting ready to have her litter as her abdomen appeared to be heaving with contractions when she was lying close to the ground.  There were two other rabbits in the yard tonight also. At least one of them was a male (body parts observed); the other we aren't sure about.  One of them seemed to be watching/protecting Pip-staying nearby until after she had her babies.  The watcher spent quite a bit of time chasing the other rabbit away. Not sure what was going on there.  Anyway here is a series of photos. Not great; lighting was low; rabbits were fast; couldn't use the tripod-but you get the idea.

 Pip resting in the grass with the defender rabbit nearby

 

Pip under the peony bushes.  Her buddy is behind to the left sort of peeking in. 

 Chasing away the interloper.

 

All three rabbits are in this photo. Pip is digging in her compound-far left; you can see her buddy to the right of her and the other rabbit is on the far right near the edge of the photo.

 

Starting to give birth.

 

Draw an imaginary line lengthwise down the center of this picture and you can see the baby nursing.

 

Cleaning up after birthing.

Click on the photos to make them larger.

For Better or Worse

Love this comic. I found it in my stash of "keepsakes" junk while cleaning this afternoon.  This is a typical scene at our house.

Click to enlarge

Bee Balm

I used Bee Balm blossoms to dye another skein of yarn yesterday. It turned out light pink.  Today I used some Jacquard dyes to make some other soft colored yarns that compliment the 3 natural colors that I had already done. I had grand plans to use all natural plant materials to dye the remainder of my yarn but several of the colors won't be available until later on in the summer and I wanted to get busy weaving my next shawl.

 

Bee on Bee Balm

Nice Try

Several year ago I gathered some persimmons, put them through a dormancy period in our refrigerator over the winter to prep the seeds that they contained for sprouting in the spring and then Andrew planted and finessed them along for a couple years until they finally became viable trees. At some time during that period a critter nipped one of them off so he built wire enclosures to protect the saplings from being nibbled again. Eventually the nipped one recovered.  I went outside the other day and Pip was INSIDE one of the enclosures digging a nest.  She's been rather industriously working on it for about a week; coming and going with ease as she gathers grass to line the cavity which is so deep you can only see her butt in the air when she is inside it.  She acts like it's her personal compound to the extent that Daisy was nose to nose with her this morning. Here's a couple pics. So far she hasn't exhibited any interest in the persimmon. LOL Crazy rabbit.

Bunny Bling

I went to Kohl's this afternoon to get some black cropped pants.  I found them and this ring that I couldn't resist. They also had some really cute stretchy rings and rings that you wear on three fingers all together; very trendy. With my 30% off coupon the total for the pants and the ring was $19.14.  A deal I'd say.

More Plant Dye

I was reading up on natural dyes this afternoon; after having success with the berries I wanted to try something else. An internet source which divided out plants by the color they produce gave the instructions for making a celery green coloring out of hydrangea blooms.  I suppose the variety of hydrangea comes in to play here as I got a pale yellow color.  The mordant is alum. While not as pretty as the previous attempt I am still pleased with the bit of color that it gave my yarn. 

 

The hydrangea bloom

 In the dye bath

Just a touch of yellow- sort of a butter color.

Edited to add: I used an old tin pan to soak the yarn in the dye. My research indicates that the tin may have reacted with the solution thus preventing it from producing the celery green color which was expected.

Pie and Dye

Andrew and I were walking Daisy on our usual route through the park this evening when Andrew noticed that the mulberry trees by the creek were loaded with plump, ripe mulberries.  After our walk we got some containers and rode our bikes back and picked 4 quarts of them.  After we got home I made a pie and then I decided to make a juice concentrate to dye some of my Satin Angora/BFL yarn.  Unfortunately I only dyed one skein. If I had known the color was going to be so beautiful I would have done a couple of them. I will never be able to reproduce this exact color. The pie by the way was fabulous as the mulberries this year have exceptional flavor.

 

 Ripe mulberries

 

A bunch of berries

 The pie

 

The dye

 

The final color

Ah Summertime!

Yesterday it rained all afternoon. As soon as the sky broke open in the evening we knew the sunset was going to be gorgeous so we packed up the canoe and headed to the lake for a short evening paddle. This is what I love about summertime. Being able to be outside and active for more hours per day and not feeling like a slug.

Family pic

 Elisha

Daisy

Fabulous sunset



Mesocyclone

My friend Sharon, who lives in Bismarck, ND sent me this photo of a mesocyclone that was above her house this past Saturday.  Can you imagine seeing this behemoth coming at you? According to what I have read they are capable of spawning the mother load of tornadoes.

Tomfoolery

Tomfoolery! When is the last time you actually heard someone use that word in a sentence?   We celebrated Father's Day in grand style; my parents and brother came over and we grilled huge rib-eye steaks. After they went home we decided a trip to CVS and Home Depot was in order. Thrilling huh? Anyway Elisha found some cool crackle nail polish in CVS and hence the impetus for my story.  When we got home Elisha decided to give herself a manicure and paint her nails.  I had done mine earlier that morning with a nice hot pink color to match my outfit and was anxious to try out this new crackle polish.  (Elisha tells me all her friends are talking about it). Anyway we were on the back porch with all our paraphernalia and had a good ole time with the polish while Andrew was raking the ground ivy out of the lawn and watching and not saying a whole lot. Daisy was right there with us like one of the girls and Elisha painted Daisy's toenails orange.  It was so cute.! Later when we were in the house and I was downloading the photos Andrew was looking at the computer with me and I said, "Isn't Daisy cute getting her nails painted?" He said,  "And she's such a willing participant in your Tomfoolery...." My husband-he cracks me up.  Probably no one else in the entire world will think this is funny but Elisha and I just rolled.  Happy Father's Day.

Just a Fern

But isn't it beautiful?

 

"Art is not to be found by touring Egypt, Chine, or Peru: if you cannot find it at your own door, you will never find it." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Giant Leopards

Andrew called me this afternoon and told me to get prepared for a photo outing.  Fortunately I was just about to get off work.  We ran home and grabbed the camera gear.  Turns out he saw two Giant Leopards on a pine tree near his office.  Giant Leopard Moths that is; species Hypercompe scribonia; both a male and a female.  These striking large striking moths, in the Tiger Moth Family, are a rarity in our area and we have never seen a live specimen before.

 

Male -(note darker concentration of black around some of the spots); also smaller in size.

Close up of female wing

Female

Female (left) and Male (right) Giant Leopard Moths.

A Bunny Amongst the Lambs

I let Garnet roam around the a yard this afternoon. She stayed pretty close to me and seemed to enjoy being out. I thought the sunshine and exercise might do her some good.  She meandered into the lambs ears and looked around some before heading back over to the potting shed and inside for a rest. She's got her summer hair cut and you can see on the side of her face where I have trimmed around her abscess.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

Last evening around 9 pm we got a rather nasty storm with rain and lightening. (So bad that Daisy hid in the bath tub and wouldn't come out). Throughout the night severe storms continued, we lost power and slept fitfully.  This morning at 6 am Andrew went to check on the aquatic critters in the garage lab and found that two- a Swamp Darner and a Blue Dasher-were emerging; a process that can take several hours.  We've never had a double emergence before. We're blaming it on the weather. The larva in each instance was about a year old.

 Blue Dasher and exuvia (exoskeleton left after an arthropod has molted), Swamp Darner exuvia (top)

 

Swamp Darner (a couple hours after emergence)

 Close up of the Swamp Darners face. 

Ready to fly away.

The Crow and the Rabbit

We came home this afternoon from taking Daisy for a walk and heard a lot of commotion in the backyard.  Pip was in defensive mode and running to and fro in front of the deck. There was a huge crow nearby dive bombing the ground. Pip lunged at it with her front paws outstretched and ready to attack.  Andrew knew immediately that it was after one of her young, which up to this point we didn't even know existed. (In hind sight though Daisy had been spending a lot of time snooping in the coneflower in the previous days). I opened the back door and ran out into the yard and clapped my hands at the crow and shooed it away.  Pip just stood nearby watching me and then as if nothing had happened began munching clover. I think she was dazed and later she laid down in the grass to rest.  I looked down at the ground around me and at first saw nothing and then saw a baby laying very still in the grass. I picked it up. It was basically playing dead.  I showed the baby to Pip who was laying nearby and Andrew took a few pictures.  I found the other two babies in the coneflower. The smallest one bit the crap out of my pinky finger. I guess I deserved it. All the babies have a little white stripe on their heads just like Pip's. After we went inside Pip went into the coneflower to check the babies and later joined me in the rabbitry during nightly feeding for her dinner.

 Pip resting up from the ordeal.

 Lucky who was saved from the crow

 

Flash and Lucky

 

Striker-the baby that bit me!

 See the white stripe on Pip's head?

On the Mend...

Miss Garnet may have turned the corner.  She's had a long haul with her facial abscess. It was the size of a hickory nut on Tuesday. Now it's finally draining on its own -26 days after beginning the meds. I am cautiously optimistic that we may be getting rid of the bacteria in her system that caused it to begin with.  If it's a tooth root or tear duct defect that is the devil in the details then I may have maintenance issues to worry about on down the road but for now things are looking up. In another week or two when I'm sure we've got this beat I'll post some details about how we did it.  If not I'll report on that too.

 Daisy says "I love you Garnet"...

(whispers in her ear)...don't worry you're going to get better soon.

Sacked Out

It's officially too hot.  I hate to complain since winter and spring was miserable but I am. The rabbits have had it.  Even with their short haircuts they are laboring in this heat. Norman gets his own fan since he weighs 20 pounds and its really hard for him to keep cool. Thumper (Netherland Dwarf) is least effected by the heat.