Saturday, August 30, 2008

Look at what was in our yard


Doug had got onto Amber (our dog) for digging in the yard. While Doug was home working last week, he spied a visitor. It's a groundhog that we think lives in the neighbors backyard behind our yard.

For living in a suburban neighborhood we sure see a lot of wildlife. When we lived in GA, we saw lots of interesting creatures. That was to be expected, I thought, since our home backed up to a wooded area and was near a small lake.

This summer we have seen interesting birds. Every once in a while we'll see the Cooper's Hawk come to our feeder and catch a meal. Although we have not seen hummingbirds this year. Last year they were in abundance at our next door neighbor's house. We saw a large numbers of rabbits this year. Doug captured Monarch Butterflies on film.

One year we had a little ground squirrel eating at our bird feeder. We have also heard screech owls at night. They have a very distinctive sound. It sounds like the whinny of a horse. Several years ago while out walking Amber in the evening, Doug and I saw a screech owl perched atop the stop sign in our neighborhood. Early this summer I heard the screech owls but never saw them.

The most amazing animal siting this summer was witnessed by our neighbor. He saw a deer in our backyard. Yes, a deer!! We had an early morning thunderstorm. This kept Amber inside and Doug in bed a little longer than usual. We think the lack of Amber in the backyard helped in creating a friendly environment for the deer to feed. Then a clap of thunder sent it leaping over the fence, through a few yards and across the street. Later that morning our neighbor told us there had been a deer in our flower garden. Sure enough there were deer prints in the soil.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

No Blogs Lately

I mentioned those unplanned projects that creep into my nicely organized list. Well mine this summer has been making costumes for my daughter's ballet group. They will be performing the ballet La Bayadere in about two weeks. Since early July I have been altering patterns, cutting material, and making costumes. I am working on bodices, long tutus, and belly dancer tops.

My kitchen table is a mess since that is where I do my work. I took two weeks off to get ready for school and to help the dance group with a garage sale. So now I am having to step up the pace to get some closure on these costumes.

In the spring I made several long tutu for their student concert. The ones I'm working on now are the same just all white. Here is my cat. I think he wishes he could join the dancers.
Each day I had to store the material in the closet or on my son's bed and close the door tight when we left for school and work. Otherwise the cat would chew, roll around, and/or drag the material around. I couldn't keep the material and partially finished skirts in my room because my bedroom door doesn't completely latch shut and the cat knows this. After the cat locked the dog in our bedroom one day, Doug and I just leave the door wide open. We have less damage that way.

Some Photos

Here are some of those photos I promised about a month ago.
The basement with the photo boxes.
The table in the basement where I kept finding that one last photo, certificate, or negative that needed to be put away. It's also the table where the sympathy cards were. You can see Doug's work on the table and the scanned box of family slides.

Here is most of my baby boy's baseball collection on display. It is interesting that colleges often have their name and mascot on footballs, basketballs, and golf balls but very few have them on baseballs. Rows 3, 4, and 5 are college balls.