Aviary

Lately there have been a lot of birds at my place...

This guy is one of a trio of couples that lives here. He is not afraid to show the squirrels who is boss!

Operation: Candy Retrieval

Scott and I didn't dress up for Halloween this year, but 60% of our household did! And with our supervision, they hustled in a metric ton (or 3 big bags) of confectionary goodness into our home.

Kitty Kat, Iron Man and Leonardo

Emi even had some cool contacts to make her cat costume complete. I thought she looked creepy in an exotic way and I was glad when she decided to take them out. Not because of the creepiness, but because I watched the news reports regarding those special lenses and saw the pictures of what happens when contacts are abused.

We opted to stay in our neighborhood this year vice traveling to friends' neighborhoods and it was really enjoyable - a perfect night to see old friends and even an owl! What is it with us and nature?

We took Gracie for an early morning run/walk this past Saturday and we saw a FOX (again!). And you know what?  It didn't say anything....

We had a few visitors this morning:

And we got a LOT done in the yard. The chickens were finally let out of their coop once we got their run mostly covered in chicken wire. We are using a greenhouse frame under one of our pecan trees for their run and the girls seemed to really like their new digs:

We also weeded the garden, partially cleared the back drive and started the forsythia hedge in the front yard.

BEFORE (notice the turtle?)

AFTER

I have been wanting to create a hedge to block noise and I really wanted a YELLOW hedge this Spring. The forsythia that we have were transplants put haphazardly in the front yard some time back. I dug up the odd one out to plant in a row with the crazy wild one in the corner and found a couple of offshoots with roots (good fortune) to go on either side. I've read that you can create a hedge with forsythia just by taking some of the long branches and clipping them into the ground beside the mother plant. After the new plant roots you keep repeat this process and grow a thick hedge.

With a little luck (and fertilizer) I can get the Japanese Barberry to grow together and the forsythia to grow together so I can have a red border and a yellow (then green) border in my natural courtyard.

Yellow

When Emi was in Kindergarten, I coveted the Gingko trees close to her school because they were a brilliant yellow a couple of months after school started. When she was in 1st grade I planted a Gingko treeling in the frontyard and another in the backyard. This year we have our very own YELLOW!

Death at Every Turn

Late breakfast at Pam's Diner in Talihina and a quick check of the shops on the main drag, then back to the cabin. We checked out the creek on the way back to try to get some cool pics of the water and plants and a neighbor's rock work but instead...

The first time we happened upon the water moccasin he was on the bank only a few feet away from us as we were looking at the plants. After he struck out at us, we ran to the Jeep and drove back to the cabin, adrenaline flowing. When we let the guys know about the encounter with death, they asked if we shot the snake. They were not impressed that we instead opted to crack open some beers and do our nails...and play Guitar Hero...


and commune with nature...


Later we hiked up to the bear trap and camera at dusk scaring ourselves numerous times walking through spider webs. No bear sitings (thank God) even though we smelled bear (or deer?) urine along the trail.

Cabin Girls

We had a great time at the cabin. It was a little unnerving getting up there (and I mean UP) late Friday night after a windy detour at dusk; navigating a steep, rocky incline on the dirt road up to the cabin and immediately squashing (Stina) a nasty scorpion upon entering the cabin. But we cracked open some Modelos and a bottle of champagne and settled in for the evening. We also made (with love) a batch of hot spinach and artichoke dip and dove into Christina's decadent chocolate raspberry cake to settle the nerves and celebrate Stina's BIG 4-0. We then "camped out" on the porch for the rest of the night getting in touch with nature and our beers...