Chipping Sparrows

We've got a family of chipping sparrows in our boxwood bush near the front porch. They are the cutest little birds...

Angelica

One of my two original French Angora foundation does, Angelica, left this world on Friday. She was an old girl by rabbit standards and slipped away in my arms, after having what was probably a heart attack. She was a gentle girl who loved to have her head scratched before eating her meals.  She was born in a snow storm in our potting shed during a particularly bitter winter and she and her litter mates were almost frozen when I got to them.  I was able to revive 5 of the 10 kits by warming them in my hands.  Considering her precarious start in life I would say she had a good run. We built a small memorial in the back yard this weekend for all the rabbits that have lived at Lilac Haven and who are buried in our backyard.

Yes this is her. The dark nose that she had the first year faded out over time.

Best Buds

These two grew up together. Duke is a rescue that my husband brought home from the park where he works.  Daisy was just a puppy and we had her for 3 months when Duke came to live with us. They were about the same size then. They have played together for years.  Daisy is 12. Duke is 12 +.  He's an old boy. I'm hoping they have many more years together.

Beach Glass

We love to beach-comb!   We've found everything from fossils, to agates, to jewelry to sharks teeth and old pottery. Of course it depends on where you are but you never know what might turn up. The best picking of all the places we've been, in my opinion, is on the beaches of South Carolina, Northern Michigan and Oregon. I've heard the north shore of Lake Ontario is really good but we've haven't made it there yet. We spent Saturday with the in-laws getting a perch sandwich in Sandusky on the waterfront and then went to Lion's Park to pick.  There had been a recent fish kill and the place stank to high heaven but we found some great glass. Sunday we drank some Great Lakes Brewing Company Lake Erie Monster and worked in the yard. It was a nice weekend but it didn't last long enough. But then they never do...

Fish Survey

Too much goose poop and hot summers have progressively degraded the small lake in Slate Run Metro Park near our home. Although the surface of the lake is relatively open right now it will soon be covered with what is commonly referred to as "pond scum". This algal covering, encouraged by hot weather and nitrogen in the goose poo, hinders fishing, decreases oxygen levels, and contributes sediments which reduce the depth of the lake and cause a general imbalance in the ecosystem when they occur over a period of years.  Visitors to the park are complaining about the poor fishing conditions and after last night's survey I can personally attest to the fact that the lake is significantly not as productive as it was in the mid 90's when I participated in a previous study and when I, along with my co-workers, fished the lake to get specimens for a kid's program on fishing. Back in the old days one needed only to make a single cast and was practically assured a legal length large mouth bass.  The lake is catch and release for ages 16 and younger only. Last night a team comprised of my husband who is the forest ecologist, an aquatic ecologist, the park manager, an intern and myself (the photographer covering the outing for social media and the quarterly park magazine) did another fish survey by electrofishing for them. Electrofishing is scientific survey method used to sample fish populations to determine abundance, density, and species composition. This process results in no permanent harm to fish, which are returned to the lake after identifying, measuring and weighing. We got bass and bluegill and I netted on grass carp that was 27.5 in. and 11 pounds. I could barely hoist it into the boat. Overall we observed a giant turtle, a plethera of teeny tiny blue gill and only netted 5 largemouth bass, 30 medium sized blue gill,  and the aforementioned grass carp after 3 hours of combing the lake. It was a beautiful night to be out and about and enjoyable to participate in the survey.

 Buzzards Roost Lake

                                                             Waiting for the sun to set

 

I wandered around photographing (with their permission) visitors enjoying the park.

                                                           Discussing strategy

Bringing in the monster grass carp

                                                 Weighing and measuring

                                          Recording species data and length of fish

Mom's Having Fun

 Family pic

 Mom and her "cherubs"

Me and my fur baby

 Andrew cut down a huge honeysuckle for mom and dad-clean up will be another day soon

 This little bird wants its mother

Elisha made me a Fiesta Chicken casserole for supper.

More Morels

A bit past their prime but tasty nonetheless we found a handful of the "big yellow" morels last evening. Also did a bit of photography after encountering a box turtle and some gorgeous flowers in the woods; the large flowered trillium was in all its glory.

 Trillium

 Dwarf larkspur

 Big yellow morels

Box turtle

Little Darby

A perfect day on National and State designated scenic river Little Darby Creek this past Sunday. 

 It just doesn't get any better than this!

All the spring blooms were out in full color, we saw ducks and  found morels. 

With with flotsam

 Virginia Bluebells

Morels. 

Andrew and me

Our friends Kristen and Dan

 Soft Shell Turtle

Dwarf larkspur

Luxury Nests

The baby goldfinches in our yard will have posh nests this spring. I gave Andrew a bunch of my shorter angora fiber that I took off my french angoras this spring and he put it in a dispenser for the birds.  Two pairs of goldfinches were busy yesterday gathering up fiber for their nest. One of them got so exuberant that she was covered with the stuff.  It was so much fun to watch and they seemed  delighted and almost playful as they flew back and forth all day collecting their treasure.

Discovering the fiber

Off with the first batch

 Getting pretty exuberant with the "harvest"

 The male "supervising"

 Picking up another batch

This is mine! Go find your own!!!

Doggie Diva

So one evening last week I photographed my rabbit amongst the lilacs. Daisy was with me watching the entire time. The other night I had my camera in hand and was walking around the yard taking photos of some spring flowers and such and on the spur of the moment I asked Daisy if she wanted to have her picture taken. Smart dog that she is she understood what I had asked and jumped right up onto the lawn chair and proceeded to ham it up for the camera. The sparkles are points of sunlight that were streaming through our fence that I converted using a setting on our camera.

Among the Lilacs

This is Pixie, my French Angora doe, and from the first litter of FA's ever born at Lilac Haven in 2006.  She's a gentle girl and loves attention. In the morning she demands scratches before she will eat  her food.  Our lilac bush was beautiful last evening and I wanted to get some photos of Pixie while her coat was prime as I will have to give her a haircut in the near future as she is starting to shed anyway and it is getting hot outside.