Bichon Antics

It poured down rain this morning and carried on with lightening and thunder for about 2 hours.  We really needed the rain. Lacy threw up on the bedspread this morning, probably from eating Skittles, and so I washed it and at lunch time took it out of the washer and hung it to dry. I let the pups out to potty and Nolan decided he needed to "ant" himself in the dirt and then they both came in, posed for a photo and then ran and jumped on the bed sans spread and decided to look as cute as possible to avoid my wrath.  Its like camping around here with all the dirt. Thankfully they are both getting groomed later in the week which, in addition to cleaning them up, will be a relief from the heat.

Lazy Sunday

Today we went to a book release signing party. The much awaited, Birds of Hocking County, Ohio was written by a colleagues/friends and we were excited to support their endeavor. We then came home to get the pups out for their nightly exercise and played in the yard.  You can most likely find us in the yard anytime the weather is decent and we are free.

Buttons

Sat night around 9:30 the neighbor knocks on the door and asks if all our rabbits are accounted for b/c there is a big lop earred rabbit on his front lawn. (So right off the bat I know it's not ours). Andrew goes down and gets the rabbit. Poor thing was on the neighbor's porch looking in his storm window for someone to help him. We named him Roamin' and suspected that he had been dumped. He stayed with us for 4 days. Very friendly little guy. On Tuesday the same neighbor hands us a slip of paper with a phone number on it and says Roamin' is Button and his family is looking for him. Happy reunion for (cute as a) Button and his family last night. They live diagonally across from us. They are new to the neighborhood and since we are holed up in our back yard most of the time we only know the neighbors that are out and about while we are walking our dogs. Wife is Korean and was making Mongolian beef and rice. She sent us home with a big to go container of it. Best I have ever eaten. Glad too that the rabbit went home b/c we do not want any more rabbits. Taking them a sturdier cage this evening. One that we aren't using...

Independence Day

First year in recent memory that it has rained on July 4th. Went to the movies to see The Shallows. Since we grew up in the era of Jaws and The Deep-The Shallows did not disappoint.

Came home and grilled out between raindrops with my brother and our neighbor Judy. Great day overall. Happy Independence Day!

On Location...

On location with WBNS-10TV doing a segment on dragonflies at Darby Creek Metro Park. Will air this fall as park of a tv special on the parks.

Spring Canoe Outing

Beautiful day on Little Darby! Even took a swim.      

                           

Happy Father's Day

Sunshine Daydream Rose

My new Sunshine Daydream yellow rose that Andrew planted for our 16th anniversary.

The first rose to win AARS honors with no-spray cultivation, this stunning grandiflora offers waves of bloom. Each flowering stem bears up to eight 3½-inch blooms of soft butter-yellow that matures to a rich shade of cream over time. Superb disease resistance keeps the glossy dark green foliage healthy-2012

A Moment to Relax

The calm before the storm of upcoming medical issues.  Out to Battelle Darby for an afternoon of relaxation before the upcoming week of surgeries....

Howard T with recommended reading for me

Woodland warriors

Showy orchis

A Lesson on Vernal Pools

Science lesson for today. Vernal pools are pools of water that fill in early spring and dry up in mid to late summer. They are teaming with aquatic animals both easy to see and not so easy to see. They are unique because they don't contain fish. They are home to salamanders, frogs and invertebrates. You saw chorus frogs and wood frogs earlier this week. Here are photos of the smaller organisms that require are closer look. In the photo of the leach the tiny things floating around in the water are seed clams. There is also a close up of a seed clam that is greatly magnified, 2 snails, and a fingernail clam. There are also two case maker caddisflys that construct their home, that they carry on their backs, out of leaf litter, sticks, bits of grass in and some cases tiny pebbles. Look close at the photo of the prickly caddisfly and you will see his head sticking out and another caddisfly looking at him from a totally different type of home.Photos by Andrew.

 Leech with pea clams around it

Snail

Seed Clam

Pea Clam

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 Snail

Leech

Two different caddisflies

Chorus Frogs

Todays adventure: Chorus frogs
Video of an individual chorus frog.https://youtu.be/NhCyHWZI3hs 

Mother Nature Paints the Sky

Last night the sunset was stunning. Probably one of the best I have ever seen. The sky was purple, pink, orange and all kinds of shades in between. The show lasted almost an hour.  Here are some photos:

Last Winter Outing of 2015

Our last winter outing for 2015 definitely yielded signs of spring. First day for wood frogs mating, the skunk cabbage is up and we found a red back salamander. Fifty five degrees and a bright blue sky. 

https://youtu.be/uyLtf5I6KFQ  A video I shot of the wood frogs mating and you can hear the quacking sounds they make.

Skunk cabbage

Andrew is a happy camper because he got to see his wood frogs

Red back salamander

Mating frogs

Selfie with my good boy who didn't squirm in the pack or bark at the frogs.

Written Rock

Wood Frogs competing for mates

Selfie with Nolan-Clear Creek raging behind us

https://youtu.be/uyLtf5I6KFQ

Nolan and Blip

If you have been a reader of my blog for awhile then you will remember Pipsqueak, the wild cottontail rabbit that lived in our yard for 7 years. Our dog Daisy and "Pip" were buddies.  We lost Pip and Daisy within a month of each other.  Pip had two kits in her final litter and one of them, probably a female, stayed close by.  We named her Blip.  Blip and Nolan met last spring.  This past year I have been feeding Blip the same rabbit feed that my domestic rabbits get for dinner.  Blip goes under the door in the rabbitry and eats on a wooden platform. The other morning I caught her coming out under the door and Nolan saw her at the same time and gave chase. He wanted to play!

Ice Against Different Colors

It finally warmed up a bit and the sun was out so after work I took a few photos of the icicles hanging from our roof.