The Monarch Butterfly

FINALLY I have gotten to do a little gardening. Not much  - lack of funds and lack of time and too much rain have made it a challenge, but I have added a few things and made myself happy with how things are looking. I was popping some flowers in my bird-bath garden and found a few monarch caterpillars on the milkweed. Nice to have the garden support butterflies AND birds. And since the milkweed showed up courtesy of the birds - it's kind of cool. Circle of life and all that.

All the rain means we have lots of REALLY big mushrooms in our yard right now. We have lots of varieties and they are all over the place. They seem to pop up over night and you can see them from inside the house. They are big and I wonder if smurfs will show up next?

So nice to be out in the yard again!

Nice Pecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

We have a bird feeder station in front of our big living room windows with a cat tree for our cat Miss Izzi to perch in and watch the action. Frequently we will hear Izzi chirping away at this bird - the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. I am not sure if it's the size of this bird or the way it swoops in and startles off the finches and other birds, but for some reason we will here our cat talking away to this bird.

Today I had the windows open and I hear this guy talking away. (Go here if you want to listen to what it sounds like - it's a great sound and the site is full of info on birds.) I wonder now if Izzi wasn't hearing this bird through the window and answering? Regardless, it's fun all the way around. Fun to hear our cat talking to the bird, and fun to watch this guy crawl around the feeder and pull out fruit and nuts to chew on.

Second Sock Progress

I AM making progress on my 2nd sock. I keep knitting until I hit 7 inches, and then I can turn heal number two. I am happy to have been working through these socks - but I admit I am already dreaming of my next socks. I dream of skinny fingering weight yarn in CRAZY colors and afterthought heals. I dream of Magic loop and toe up two at a time on two circular needles. **sigh** I think my summer of working on WIPs may fall to the superior force that is sock knitting.

Now that winter is over, I find myself so busy I can hardly think. I have gardens on my brain and grilled food in my tummy. Summer is so brief - that we really try and suck up every bit we can around here. I have been grilling and gardening and even got the first lawn mow of the year under my belt. (And had a massive allergy attack from all the mold and dust and pollen I kicked up - THAT was fun - NOT!)

Slowly slowly I am getting my gardens cleaned up and redone. Here is a photo "Before and After" shot of the Bird Bed.

I have several bird loving perennials in this bed and then I edged it with Snap dragons and Zinnia. Can not wait for the flowers to POP! Also on this bed (not pictured) is my new Hummingbird Feeder. I hung it out last weekend and already have had many customers at it. There is nothing like watching a hummingbird land and drink nectar.

Snow Bird

We got another 6 inches of snow last night. It's insane to me that we are getting snow like this and it is almost May. HOPEFULLY (knock on wood) this will be the last storm of the season.

When I got to work this morning I saw this guy in the tree by my car. I quick snapped a few pictures of him. I suppose the mice are pretty obvious in all this snow - good hunting weather for him.

In theory our weather will improve dramatically in the next few days. I am hoping my spirits will improve then too. It's just depressing how much winter we have had. Garg.

Izzi! Duck!

We have a pair of ducks show up almost every spring. This year they discovered our bird feeder and have been happy to much away at the seeds all the other birds scatter. We have our cat tree in the window for Miss Izzi and she has REALLY enjoyed watching these large birds out in the front yard. We, in turn, really enjoy watching her watching them. Everyone wins!

Hood and Shoulders Above the Rest

Yesterday when I came upstairs after my tread milling, I noticed it was starting to snow. At first it was just a cold freezing rain sort of mess, but it quickly changed to giant fluffy flakes. This is a terrible picture of the bird feeder outside our front window. We have several large pine trees and the Cardinals seem to know when it snows and they will appear magical frolicking in the snow.

After Tom got back from his workout I asked if we could do a Photoshoot outside with my new hat that I named "Hood and Shoulders above the Rest". The pattern is a free pattern on Ravelry called Capucine and I really love it! It's fast, simple, and a great stash buster for some bulky yarn in one's stash. (Although I HAD to have this in black to go with my new Red Coat, so I had to go to JoAnns and buy this special. Go figure.)

It was still snowing and starting to get a little dark out by the time we wandered out to take pictures. I left off the tassels that are used in the pattern and just wear it as it was knit. The ribbed section is flipped over and it frames my head (and my 80's cowgirl hair I was rocking yesterday) quite well. When It is really cold I can pin the "Wings" together under my chin for more warmth and stay-put power.

You can see the flipped brim a little more here. (It was snowing pretty good!) I think because I used such bulky yarn it was actually about 1 inch longer than it was supposed to be. None of the other patterns had a flipped brim and a lot of people using this yarn cast on less stitches and knit to a certain length rather than following a pattern exactly. I am happy with my results regardless.

This shot shows (if you can see around the snow) the bonnet quality this hat has. It would make an excellent hood on a sweater vest!

And here is how it looks in back. I love the stitch definition with this yarn. If you look in the background of the picture you can see Emma running in the snow. The first snow of the season is always so exciting for Miss Emma!

Am very pleased with and would (and intend to) make more of these!

And how was your Wednesday?

Our Bird Feeder in front of our house.

Emma on the bench that faces the bird feeder. Both Emma and our Cat Izzi love the activity at the feeder.

My reward for putting on my big-girl pants and going to the dentist - a lovely haul from Lila and Claudine's Yarn Store.

So I took Wednesday off to go to the dentist. My appointment wasn't until 10:45 so I was able to sleep in and have a quiet morning. I got myself looking human and ran to the Department of Moter Vehicles on my way yo the dentist and had my license renewed. Nice to get that out of the way. It's been four years since I had my last picture put on the license - so it will be good to have something that looks more like me to present.

When I got to the dentist I checked in and sat and read some crappy free book on my iPod. I was reading away when the receptionist came over and I looked up at her and smiled and said "Hi!" and she said, "I didn't recognize you! You came in and your hair...It's so different! It looks really cute! How long have you been wearing it like this?" And I told her I had gotten about 18 inches cut off three weeks earlier and it was still pretty new to me. She gave me praise and I was kind of touched that someone would go out of their way to give me a compliment. When you have been overweight for years you sort of get used to people not really seeing you - so it was nice to have someone give me a compliment.

Then I was called back to the office to get my teeth cleaned and the hygienist was all compliments too. Like SERIOUS compliments. "I just LOVE your hair! It is so pretty. Those layers..... Just beautiful!" Dang y'all - makin' me blush! ;) It was very gratifying to my little ol' ego. :) To be fair - I gave myself some BIG hair today for my DMV picture - and was full make-up and trying to look nice. But for it to hit the mark and have people fawn all over me??!?!? Um, Yeah. I will Soooooooooooo take that! (High Five!)

So I was steeled for bad news at the dentist. I had been told that my one molar had a pretty big crack in it and that I was going to need a crown before long, so I was sure it would happen this time. Imagine my delight when I found out I did NOT need any work done! Angels sang, let me tell ya! AND I found out that the bleeding I have going on it my upper front teeth when I brush and floss is due to my sleeping (snoring) with my mouth open at night. Apparently gums don't like to be dry - so if you sleep with your mouth open and you get dry gums over night your gums are more likely to bleed. Hu. Makes sense. Also good to know it wasn't from me doing anything wrong. :)

So I finished up at the dentist office and headed over to the yarn shop. I love this yarn store. They are so welcoming and kind. Helpful without sticking their hands in your wallet and making you feel like they like your money more that you. The Shop is called Lila and Claudine's and they just expanded and the place was even better than it was before! I love it when a LYS is able to grow - such a good sign that they are a) doing things right and b) growing! Love that. So I hopped in there and I just had to take a picture of my haul and share it with you all. I am VERY excited with everything I got and anxious to try it all out! The yarn I got is: Three balls of Cento , that I want to knit up with the two balls of Woolie Bullie in Black, ( I am thinking hat and mittens here). Two balls of Monsoon (for a shawl I think), a bottle of Ecualan in Eucalyptus. Two Cast Iron mice (not pictured - they ran out of the bag and hid in the kitchen when I got home...). I also got two skeins of of wool by Claudia & Co in the color Mustard Custard. (Yummy single ply wool - I am thinking perhaps a pair of Bella Mittens?) One skein of Lorna's Lace's Sock Yarn in Zombie BBQ. (Best name for a yarn Ever!) And last but not least - 1 skein of Fabjous Fibers Recycled Silk Yarn - So lovely I couldn't put it down! A mighty fine haul AND I was very close to the budget I set for myself - so GO me!

After my yarn splurge I came home, had lunch (vegetarian chili and a clementine) and then hit my work outs. I have to say - even though I went to the dentist - it was a REALLY nice day! I am happy!

And how was YOUR Wednesday?

Izzi is for the Birds

Izzi turned three this month. This summer we put up a bird feeder in our front yard - partly for me (I love watching the birds) and partly for Izzi who spends hours watching the birds out the front window. I find it curious that she doesn't like to sit on the bench seat we have pushed up against the window - instead prefering to sit on the floor and watch the flight of the birds from our front pine trees to the feeder. I guess it must be the best view for her. Occationally a bird will fly toward our window and Izzi will just go bananas jumping up to the window and leaping in the air. It's amazing to watch her.

I am amazed at how fast the birds are going through the feed in the feeders right now. They must be stock piling up for the winter ahead. I am filling our finch feeder a couple times a week and could fill it more often if it weren't kind of a pain. The big songbird feeder is going through the seed as well - but not quite as fast. I think the volume it holds is a help on that end. So NOT ready for Winter thoughts. Meh.

For the Birds

I had a little garden bed on the side of the cucumber hut that housed rhubarb and chives. Since Tom is sugar-free and I am on a perpetual diet - it didn't seem to make sense to have a pile o' rhubarb hanging out in the yard. And as for the chives? We never really ate them. I think once in like four years we cut some and put them on shrimp we grilled the piss out of. But mostly they just got huge, flowered, fell over and then I would trim them. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

So I yanked them all out and started over. Ran to Linder's and after much research found a bunch of dog-friendly plants that attracted birds, butterflies and Hummingbirds.

Bam! I have awesome garden! I think I did all the planting at the start of June. (We had a really long cold spring this year.) A few weeks later we got a swing arm and a Hummingbird feeder and put that up. We used a length of fishing line to hang the feeder to help keep some of the bugs/ants out of the feeder. (This last week when I changed it there were a shit-ton of big black ants in it. Yuck. BUT the Hummingbirds have found my feeder and I am really enjoying watching them flit in and out of my garden. They feed at the feeder and then jump onto the rungs of the cucumber hut and have a rest. My next Hummingbird feeder will be this one but with posts for the Hummers to rest on while they feed. Otherwise this feeder has been great. I am following the 1 part sugar to 4 parts water recipe that came with the feeder. My system is pretty smooth. I take my glass 6 cup (or is it 8 cups?) measuring glass and fill two cups of HOT water. Then I take a half cup of plain white sugar and stir it in. Then I nuke it for about 1 minute and stir until it dissolves. (It does not have to boil.) Then I fill the feeder. It's just the right amount - doesn't fill it to the top - but I clean it out about every week to two weeks so it never gets empty.

The birds and butterflies have been happy as can be here too. The birds love the bath and hang out all over the cucumber hut. We have seen lots of Butterfly, bee and moth activity as well. I am really happy I changed this bed out.