Turtles and Frogs

We have a fairly large pond next to our house. This is a view from Google Maps Earth.

Kev had it built several years ago. Unfortunately, it does not have a lot of nice, cold spring fed activity going on... so during the summer months, it gradually gets more and more shallow. But that's ok, because it's pretty deep on one end. The shallow end does suffer the most. This cycle makes our pond what it is, with the plant growth and critters that live in it.

We stocked it with fish a few times through the years, but the winter before last killed pretty much all of our fish. This happened to ponds all around our area. As it was explained to me, there was too much snow on top of the iced-over pond, causing extreme cold temps... too cold for the fish. Last summer, I noticed a few fish whenever I'd mow around the pond. This year, though, none so far. And what that winter didn't kill, the herons have done their best to catch and eat. But the frogs and turtles are having a heyday!

When mowing the other day, I noticed the big patch of horsetails and how the center is all bent over and forms like a mat of horsetails.

 My first thought was that it looked like a deer bedding area, but the horsetails are basically floating on the water... so, no, not deer. Then I saw the turtles.

Painted turtles. I've seen a lot of turtles swimming on the surface of the pond. A few on the sides of the pond, but those turtles disappear into the pond immediately. They are all very much aware of my presence whenever I'm near. Obviously, the lawn mower is a big clue for them, but even walking quietly... basically trying to stalk them for a photo, they know I'm there, and they do not stick around. 

The turtles that are out swimming in the pond are constantly diving and resurfacing, trying to avoid me. There are so many that the whole, entire pond surface is slowly popping with turtle heads all the time.

It's pretty good entertainment when I'm mowing. Little buggers will not let me get a good photo, though. At one time, I counted to 23 and then lost count... too much diving and resurfacing activity. Suffice to say there are a lot of turtles in our pond. They eat a lot of plants, but the turtles also eat frogs. We have a lot of frogs now... I'm supposing it's because we now have no fish, so there's no fish feasting on them, and since no fish, the birds that prey on fish, and also frogs, are not visiting our pond much these days. Banner time for baby frogs.

I took this video while mowing; this was around the end of June. There were thousands of baby frogs.

There a still a lot of frogs, but not as many as the baby boom in the video would make one expect to find. Though, whenever there are any on the edge and I get close to them, those suckers jump in and disappear almost as fast as the turtles... so an accurate idea of the true population is pretty much impossible for me. And I suppose if I were a frog in that turtle-filled pond, I'd be extra jumpy, too.

Some of the larger, older frogs, were very cooperative in letting me get a photo... possibly because they've lived that long and gotten that big, they have less worry about turtles and other dangers.

I could have posted a lot more photos... so many frogs! Beautiful, beautiful frogs. Of the many, many things that I will miss about living here in this house on this property, the pond is in the top of the list. We are definitely building a new pond at our new house.

Skink with five lines

This is a photo that Mike took with his cell phone (which is now my cell phone since I got it when he & Joycie got new phones). Mike and his friend, Nick, saw this Five-lined Skink (aka Blue Tail Lizard to some). It was setting on a log in the woods near the pond. Nick held the log out over our pond while Mike took the photo with his cell. And isn't it an awesome photo?

I remember finding these little skinkers when I was a kid and trying to capture them... it always freaked me out when the tail came off and continued to move. Still kinda gives me the creeps. But I think they are a beautiful creature.

Mike left a lot of things on his-old/now-my phone when he gave it to me. Of all he left, this photo is one of the few that's fit to share!

     Dear Tony, Mickey, Chris, et al:
     Re: Texting Our Mike
     Ewww!!!!!! Gross. Stop.
     Regards,
     Julie
     p.s. Grow up!

And HEY! A Big Shout Out to my girl, Joycie, who did me a Major Solid this morning!
     I love you, Pumpkin!
     Thank you!!!!
     XOXOXO,
     Love,
     Yo Momma*

*way to cool to fool

Kevin, Turtle Rescuer

Back in the first days of the month of June, Kev found a turtle at work and brought it home in a box...



Yes, a turtle...



and because no self-respecting, intelligent turtle would want to live in a chemical plant, he set it free in our pond...



Good-bye very happy turtle, no super powers in your future.

Kevin: Hero of All Natural Turtles Everywhere.

I have so many, many things yet to blog about, going back to last May. By last May, I really mean May 2008. To present. I have taken blogging procrastination to a Whole New Level. I should do something about it...

My guitar girl

Joyce did a ton of research, got a great deal, including a student discount, and bought herself a new iMac. It's gorgeous...



And as you can see, she's super happy about it. She has had it a little over a week now, and unfortunately, she already had some problems with it. But she was on the phone with the iMac folks and it seems to be all ok now.

The machine is amazing. The screen is huge, as you can see in the photo, and so crisp and clear. The hard drive is the monitor, no other piece. The CD/DVD drive is just an opening on the side. The keyboard is super lightweight and very thin. There is even a USB port on the side of the keyboard, which is handy for the iPod, etc.

Since it's a Mac, it came loaded with all kinds of stuff, including iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand. Oh. My. Heck. I love that she has GarageBand. Yesterday evening, she played 3 songs for me that she's created using GarageBand... Joyce singing and playing her Martin. I loved it! She's making a bunch of tracks for a CD for me. I can't wait to get the CD. Joyce used to never like to sing for me while she played her guitar, but like her guitar playing skills, her singing shines. Her songs are beautiful. I will see if I can talk her into letting me post one of her songs on my blog. I say "her songs" but they are covers, not songs she's written herself. Hey, now there's an idea...

Joyce did say, though, that while she was using GarageBand yesterday, it unexpectedly quit. So maybe all the little bugs aren't out of her new iMac yet. Which really sucks, considering it's brand spanking new. She bought the support/extended warranty thing, though, so she's covered. I told her it was "the nasty virus"... We've been discussing how Macs get very few infections, because the idiots of the world write those things for Windows, not Macs.

When she ordered it, she was like a little kid at Christmas, constantly checking the package tracking and telling me the status updates. It's left California! It's in Nevada! She kept asking me when I thought it would arrive. It was fun watching her excited anticipation and then her glee when it did finally arrive.

After she told me it was in Nevada, I sent her this text message:

"Your mac decided to make a quick stop in vegas. The good news is it won big time at black jack. The bad news is it blew it all on prostitutes and now it has a nasty virus."

I didn't hear back from her for a while. This was the Tuesday evening before last. Joyce had gotten home from class and made herself some bacon and eggs for dinner. Kev, who had forgotten to get milk on the way home, and really, really ticked off Joycie in the process, was outside with Sammy shooting baskets. They both came inside about 7:30pm, and by this time Joyce was up in her room studying (exam week this week for her), and I was laying bed enjoying the cool breeze coming in my bedroom window and the beautiful view of the pond and the relief on my neck from my lovely, lovely pillow (been a rough couple of weeks lately with neck pain, ever since N.C., one of our cats, tripped me up on the porch steps).

So the 2 sweaty boys decided to come in the bedroom and visited with me. Kev came in first and laid down with me and was massaging my neck, then Sammy came in and laid down in front me so I could hug his sweaty self. It was actually very nice... just what I needed to feel better.

Kev, Sammy and I were talking when my phone beeped a new text message... Joycie's reply. So the 3 of us started replying back, with Sammy doing the typing (man! that boy can text so dang fast)... here is that goofy text conversation... and what's funny is that Joycie didn't realize it was the 3 of us yanking her chain... We 3 found it hilariously entertaining.

Joycie: LOL don’t talk about my mac that way. Its only rumors.

Us: Bullshit. I saw the youtube video.
      [Sammy enjoyed typing "bullshit"... boys!]

J: Whatev

Us: Youre the one that will be touching it

J: Yeah and it will feel amazing. I will just wrap it in saran wrap.

Us: Your sex life is your business
      [Again, Sammy cracked up at "sex life"...
      14-year-old boys!]

J: Yes it is

Us: But I think you should tell mike, he has the right to know to protect himself from possible infection

J: Don’t worry I will let him know my mac is a whore

Us: Thats coz all macs are whores

J: Again... whatev. It dont matter none.
      [Joyce did that one just to annoy me;
      she knows I can't stand poor grammar.]

Us: Spoken with the grammar of a true mac user.

J: ...grrr

Us: What’s the difference between a pc and a mac?
      [Sammy asked me what the answer was...
      I told him it depended on what Joycie said back.]

J: What?...

Us: Exactly!
      [Sammy said, "I don't get it"...
      I said, "Exactly!"
      Sammy said, "I still don't get it."]

J: Dont get it.

Us: You can tune a piano but you can’t tuna fish.
      [This was Kev's contribution, and Sammy
      was laughing so hard he could hardly type.]

J: I’m done trying to understand you.

Us: It is what it is.

no answer...

Us: Dad wants to know if you got any milk on the way home?
      [Major chain yanking here!]

J: No, tell him that its his job and he should know these things.

Us: Mmm... bacon smells good

J: It was good

Us: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

no answer...

Us: You should have bribed him with bacon

J: Oh well, sucks for him I guess

And that was it. It was good for a laugh, and it is making me smile just typing this up. But maybe it was one of those times where ya hadta be there...

Phone pics from the kids

Joycie took this photo with her phone recently. We already knew how Reilly spends his day... this just proves it. Sprawled out on Sam's queen-sized bed in the sun...



Reilly isn't always spread out like that; he spends a lot of time laying on the bed so he can look out Sam's bedroom windows down the driveway. Lovely way to spend a day.

I'm jealous.

Sammy took this photo with his phone right before we left the house one morning on the way to school/work. He didn't tell me about it or show it to me on his phone; he emailed it to me at work, and it was a pretty surprise...



I love watching the sunrise on the pond. This pic is now my laptop desktop background.

Why, hello there

Every once in a while, I like to look through Photo Friday. I like the Link Viewer they have, and I like zipping through the photos. I do this sometimes at work at my desk while I spend a quick 15 minutes eating my lunch, and it's a nice little break in the middle of a busy day. Especially when some of the photos are so spectacular, they can take one right out of one's dinky little cubicle for a brief second or two. Nice.

The range of photo quality, though, is truly amazing... from really great to really bad. A few years back, I used to participate, mostly as a means to try to learn how to use an Olympus that was my first real digital camera (I'm not counting my very old Sony Mavica). That Olympus had features on it that I never did get around to using. I think Photo Friday was booming then, this was early 2005... and it wasn't unusual to see over 600 photos posted for one weekly challenge. That's a lot of photos to look at, especially when we had only dial-up Internet access back then. I think now it mostly depends on the weekly challenge, some of them get a lot of interest, thus 900 photos, and some don't, so 120 photos. I find it all very interesting.

Mostly I enjoy Photo Friday just to find those few photos that really strike me for whatever reason. A photo I can't get out of my mind.

There's a lot of professionals or almost-professionals using it for basically free advertising, and eh, who cares. But they bore me. They bore me about as much as their polar opposites... the ones I see that are the half-assed photos of someone's little daughter, photos hardly in focus and barely able to be categorized as part of the week's challenge. Those all just make me bored. I mean, HELLO, it's Photo Friday, not show me your crappy quality photo you took AGAIN of your kid. And it's not all about you, Mr. $8,000-camera PLUS expensive lens selling photos and copyrighting everything because of money, money, money.

Photo Friday is about... well, here it is in their own words:

• Each week Photo Friday posts a photo assignment. Your mission is the creative interpretation of the week's theme. When you're done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday.


• Photo Friday is about challenging our participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. It's not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a place on the internet to post pictures can participate.

I like the regular average Joes & Janes who take a great shot or set up a great shot for the challenge and post it. Those are the pics I look for.

Last week's challenge was "Extreme Closeup" and some of the photos were amazing. This one I just cannot get out of my head. I just like this little feller. He's my laptop's desktop background right now. Yes, I totally do that. If I find a photo I adore, I may use it for my desktop background. I mean, seriously, click on the photo and look at him large... how can you say no to those eyes?

I found one photo quite some time ago that was a black and white shot of a circle of dark stones on a beach, and there was just something about it that was awesome. But I can't locate it now, and so... I miss it. But not enough to go through a kazillion Photo Friday photos to try and find it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

OK, so... reminding myself of my penchant for copying the pics for using as my desktop background, I went to my old computer and found it!...



I sorely wish I could give credit to the photographer, but after finding the file and looking at the date of it, then spending a bit of time trying to find it again on Photo Friday, well... it seems an impossible task. If I find the photographer, I will totally update this post and give him credit (I seem to recall it was a him, and they were on vacation in Norway or Finland or something, and he lived in Switzerland or something, or I could possibly have dreamt all that up). Love the photo, though. Don't you? Do a Google image search on "beach circle" and you'll see some neat photos, but in my opinion, not as good as this one.

   UPDATE:
   I found the pic, "on the beach" on Photo Friday,
   in the "Best of 2007"... here's the link to it
   on the beach by urbanmonster
   Not the story I remember...
   But awesome photo.

This has been such a strange day. Good Friday, and a holiday by my company (whoo-hoo, thank God for those Christians, eh). But I did have to do a bit of work today, at least from home (been doing a LOT of that lately). Kev spent time outside stacking wood, and he came in the house to tell me there was a beautiful pair of Canada geese setting on the edge of our pond in the sun. So I grabbed Joycie's/my little Sony and snuck out there. It was pretty windy today, so I managed to get quite close to them.


Since I knew Kev was going to head out back with the 3 dogs shortly and would scare the pair away, I tried to get even closer. They got up and got agitated, and then got into the pond, like swimming kind of toward me. I taped it with the little Sony, but between my walking on uneven ground, the strong wind, my facing the sun, and the little Sony wiggling at every move, the movie file is awful (Joycie said like "The Blair Witch Project"... ugh!). I would walk a little closer toward them then stop, then walk, then stop... and at one point they really started squawking at me. Something caught my eye and I looked down at the edge of the pond and saw this:


Why would she lay an egg on the edge of the pond like that? Freaked me out. I stopped the taping, and right about then, the 2 geese took off from the pond... talk about a grand exit. It was gorgeous. And I wasn't recording any longer. Sweet.

So Kev and I, and the 3 dogs, took another 4-wheeler ride out back and retrieved the game camera. I convinced Kev to plant a fence post near the egg and set up the camera there... I wanna see what happens to it. When Kev was setting the metal fence post, Barney and Reilly were with us, getting into the pond. Reilly suddenly noticed the egg and started for it... Kev had to yell at him quick. Reilly thought it was a ball, and he surely had to get it before Barney! That would've been a let-down in so many ways.

Can't wait to see what the camera shows tomorrow. Full moon tonight, too. Very beautiful on the pond. And how do I know this? Because it is right now almost one o'clock a.m., A.M.! I am wide awake at 1am. This is not like me, and I'm not sure how this happened. I am the one trying to stay up until at least 8:30pm lately. Especially now, working so many extra hours on quarter close (work stuff, y'know). I'm pooped by 7pm. But today, I'm all wide awake. Well, wide awake for me. Tomorrow should be very interesting.

Riding with the dogs

After Kev felled the big oak last weekend, he and I took a short ride together on our 4-wheeler. We drove out back so Kev could show me where he cut down some more trees. Out back by our little pond, there are 2 clumps of witch hazel growing there. I have a fondness in my heart for those witch hazel, and Kev knows this. The past couple of years, some small poplars have begun growing up too close to the witch hazel. I've been hinting, asking and outright begging Kev to clear those away. And he did! Have I mentioned lately how much I love that man?...

On our way back to the house, I used Joycie's little Sony for another video. I am amazed at how well that little thing records. And yes, my skills are not very refined, I'm afraid. But I was riding on a 4-wheeler. Don't expect too much.

The fun part, which is also at times very irritating, is Reilly's behavior. Reilly loves, loves, LOVES a 4-wheeler ride. He likes to be right in front of it and jump and act all weird. He used to bark at it and act like he was trying to bite it, but we got him to stop that behavior. Most of the time. Usually Kev will holler at him and tell him to run on ahead, and since Kevin is the ONLY person Reilly will mind, that's what Reilly does. I asked Kev to let him be coz I wanted to record Reilly's madness so we could laugh at it later. You can also hear Barney huffing and puffing behind us. Now that he's blind, he follows the 4-wheeler right on our tail. Betty makes her way however she wishes. Now, from her you'll usually hear some major huffing and puffing... but she stayed back away too far to get it on this video. The ride was fun. Enjoy...



Kev had moved both the pickups away from the polebarn in the event the big oak wasn't convinced to fall in the direction he wished. Squash the pole barn, just don't squash the trucks! I loved his comment when we were riding along side the pond and could see both the trucks parked in the front drive... Kev said, "30 years of technology right there between those 2 trucks." I thought that was a cool observation... we love the old pickup. Kev traded in his 1999 Chevy truck for this 2008 he has now. I think Kevin really tried to love that 1999, but he just could not. Me, neither. This new one, we both love. She's a keeper.

you must learn to eat time

We're in the midst of a big snow storm, and word is we're supposed to get about a foot of snow; it's already begun... snowed through the night. Sammy has a snow day today. Which actually disappointed him a great deal... for one thing, I was taking him to Espresso Milano for breakfast, and for another, it's the last day of school before Christmas break, which is always a pretty fun day. Since I somewhat expected it to be a snow day, I packed heavily at work yesterday and brought a ton of work home with me. But first thing this morning when I logged onto our company network, I had to do an update to my laptop. So I kicked off the update and filled up my coffee cup, and I went and sat down in the recliner & turned on the TV... flipped to Fox Movie channel and there was an old movie on with a very, very young Joan Collins and Richard Burton, I think, in a raft on the ocean, shipwrecked. I watched for a little while. It must have taken place in WWII, because they came across a surfaced submarine with Japanese soldiers. After some debate, the Japanese gave them water and food, but left them. One guy in the raft hollered out something like, "which way is land?" The Japanese captain said, "Land is all around. Open your mind. You must learn to eat time."

You must learn to eat time.

I am so swamped right now, as usual for this time of year, busy with 4th quarter and year-end close, along with still tons of backlogged work and other special events causing nothing but work, work and more work... I need more time, and I need more energy. Can you imagine...??? You must learn to eat time.

This is how fast time has flown by. Yesterday it was mid-October...





And today, it's almost Christmas...





Notice all the stacks of wood Kevin has cut, split and stacked. They're beautiful setting out there by our red pole barn. The stacks go on and on; you can't see half of them in the photo above. The amount of wood dwarfs the barn. We are warm and toasty in the house, even though the temperatures this week have occasionally hovered around zero. Kev takes very good care of us.

And speaking of Christmas... ugh. Thank goodness for plastic, eh. *flinch* Sammy and I went shopping together last weekend. From the long lines to check out at the registers at Kohl's, you wouldn't think there's any kind of economic slump. It was amazing. And Kohl's, as usual, had some amazing sales.

Sammy and I were looking at a couple of things there, and a phone began ringing. It didn't sound like a typical cell phone jingle; it sounded like an old-fashioned telephone ring. It was quite loud. So I, of course, looked around. There was an older gal pushing a Kohl's cart, and she looked at me and said, "Doncha hate that?" I looked back at her, head cocked, with a puzzled expression... huh? "You know," she says, "when your boob starts ringing." And she reached into her bra and pulled out her cell phone. I about pissed myself laughing! She was adorable! Sammy cracked up, too.

On Wednesday I had a PT appointment at noon, and then afterwards, I met Joyce in town for the 2 of us to do some Christmas shopping. It was a nice couple of hours together. Then she booked back on home, and I continued to shop... and I think I'm mostly done now. Just have to wrap, and I think I will make time for that today so the kids can wonder about the gifts under the tree for them. Otherwise, what's the point... I've been running pretty late at Christmas every year for the past few, and next year, I'm looking forward to feeling better and getting on top things. I will eat time.

I have only one New Year's Resolution this year, and that is to do more blog posts. Because really, if I do more blogging, that means I am more organized and energized in my life in general. I don't blog much lately because I'm too busy with work and then I don't have the energy for hardly anything else. So I will concentrate on one thing, and all the other stuff will fall into place. That's my plan.

Hey, it's nice to have a plan.

A long post, just like make-up sex

So I haven't been posting much on my blog lately. I think it's not only because I'm so swamped at work and then so tired out when I'm home, that the little free time I seem to have at home, I end up doing work at home, and then my brain is too tired to feel creative at all... so writing a post, even logging onto my home computer seems like too much work... And I enjoy this blog, so then it's just more negativity in my life. And then it seems like just one more thing on my 'to do' list. And then I feel like I miss it. And then... well, ya get the picture.

So here's a long post for today, and I promise a joke at the end. A joke! At the end! So maybe not so much like make-up sex (I hope, for your sake).

My dear, dear Sony is currently sitting in my LaSabre at a garage while my car is getting repaired... we took it in for a $400 pump thingy and it's turned into a $2,000+ whatever thingy. Shit.

We dropped the car off yesterday afternoon late, and I was home before I realized my camera was still in it. I am missing my Sony. I take it with me everywhere I go, usually. Since I've had it since May of 2006, it's basically a really old fart of a digital camera now... and she's been through some rough times. I lost the button to push to take a photo over a year ago, and handily set up a paperclip to work instead. Works fine, and cheaper than what they wanted to repair it. But this past Saturday morning, while at Sammy's last football game of the season, I dropped my Sony. From the very top of the bleachers all the way down to the bottom underneath onto pavement. So now I'm missing the wheel to change selections and the push thingy for zoom. But the stem of the wheel thingy is still in place, and I can turn that, so that's ok. And another paperclip can be utilized to zoom in and out (I used a safety pin at the game).



Seriously, is that one helluva camera or what?! Still works great. I took a ton of photos at Sammy's game... here's our Big No. 68 on the team...





And in this one, he's the one nearly horizontal, next to No. 24 on top of some opponents dressed in blue.



Go Sammy! It was an awesome game. The team they played has remained undefeated for the past 3 years we've played them and all this season... until Saturday when our boys beat 'em. Whoo hoo.

After the game, Sam and Kev left for Ann Arbor to go to the U of M and State game. They had a blast. Kev wore his Michigan garb and Sammy his State, and they watched State win. I stayed home, alone because Joycie & Mike were with Mike's family at a wedding in Kalamazoo. So I made a cake for Sammy...



Then Sunday, Kathy called me on her way home from Mt. Pleasant, heading west on a rainy, stormy cloudy day, shot with sunshine here and there. She was fortunate to see one of the most outstanding rainbows she's ever seen, vibrant colors. Plus a triple rainbow, and then further west, the vibrant rainbow from end to end, the whole arc. I told her, see that's why I take my camera with me everywhere I go! And I ran outside into the cold wet grass and out by the pond, but no rainbows to behold at our house. It was pretty, though, and windy. Sunshine came through for a little bit.



And Reilly came out to greet me...



But I could almost hear him thinking, are ye daft, girl? it's freezing out here. Right you are, old boy. In we went.

Kev bought me a present this past week, as a sweet surprise. This is my new CO2 BB gun.



Works great and I can pop those chipmunks and squirrels in the butt and they know I mean business now. I love it.

And I have a funny story with Kev... the other evening we sat down to watch a recorded episode of CSI, it was Episode 2 of Season 9, and I was reading the description about it, how a girl jumps to her death from a tall building and lands on a bus... and I said something like, well, this sounds... and before I could finish, Kev says, "flattering?"...

Well, it cracked me up.

The other day, I had this e-mail conversation with a guy I work with... something else that made me laugh...
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      JT & A. , I need to skip today's update meeting. Sorry for the short notice. I was out sick yesterday & Tuesday, and now have some urgent catching up to do.
      Thanks,
      Julie
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Hi Julie - I hope you're doing okay now. Was your dementia acting up again? Ugh :(
      Try not to press yourself, k?
      I know I have a ton of things to respond to you on; just have to unbury myself from qtr end & that transfer I did for ya.
      Talk to you soon
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      Oh, JT, you just provided me with what will likely be my only laugh of the day!!!!!!
      I have vertigo, not dementia! Though maybe dementia ain't that far away in my future.............
      I think I had a stomach flu, combined with the still present vertigo. It was yukky.
      I owe you stuff, too. Maybe we can talk one day next week.
      Have a good day!!!
      Julie
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Y'know, as soon as I sent that reply, I knew it was wrong - duh!
      Hee-hee; glad you're better though :)
      You have a good day too!
      ____________________________________________
      From: Julie
      To: JT
      I wonder if I could retire early if I have dementia..........
      What were we talking about?
      Who are you, again?
      Where am I?
      ____________________________________________
      From: JT
      To: Julie
      Can you hear me now?


And now for the joke I promised:
A cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won't stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring. He replies: 'I have a question to ask you but I don't want to offend you.' She answers, 'My son, you cannot offend me. When you're as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I'm sure that there's nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive. ''Well, I've always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.' She responds, 'Well, let's see what we can do about that: first, you have to be single and second, you must be Catholic.' The cab driver is very excited and says, 'Yes, I'm single and Catholic!' 'OK' the nun says. 'Pull into the next alley.' The nun fulfills his fantasy, with a kiss that would make a hooker blush, But when they get back on the road, the cab driver starts crying. 'My dear child,' says the nun, 'why are you crying?' 'Forgive me but I've sinned. I lied and I must confess, I'm married and I'm Jewish. 'The nun says, 'That's OK. My name is Kevin and I'm going to a Halloween party.'

Goose, goose, duck

The Canada geese parents and their goslings have left our pond and not returned. I saw them the day after Mother's Day, all of them swimming in a row in the pond. The mom was in front, then all 6 babies following following her, with dad bringing up the rear. I found out that this formation, goose, goslings & gander in a row, is called a crèche (which is how I know for sure it was the mom in the front).

I tried to get a good photograph of the crèche, but this is what I ended up with...





I was hurrying and didn't have my glasses on... *sigh* They crossed the pond quickly and went up onto the far bank.

I love our pond. It's brought in a lot of wildlife to us that we wouldn't otherwise get to see. With all the critters, there's been some interesting scenarios played out for our enjoyment. Like the other morning, when Kev noticed a lone duck on the pond. It was at the shallow end, near our sandy drive. It was a type of duck I couldn't identify. So of course, I grabbed my camera. I was afraid to go outside and take a photo for fear it'd fly off, so I took some photos through our windows. Photos through our house windows usually don't turn out well...





The duck was swimming back and forth and towards the bank. Then Kev and I both noticed N.C. sitting in the middle of the drive, just watching the duck...



The duck didn't appear at all concerned about N.C., in fact, it seemed like the duck was trying to get N.C.'s attention. Then N.C. stood, stretched and walked a little further up the drive... and the duck followed him, swimming along with him to the edge of the pond! N.C. dug a little hole in the drive and did his morning business. (Kev was so happy about that... He's spent so much time and effort making that drive out to the back little barn, then N.C. craps in it. Nice.)

Then N.C. casually walks down to the edge of the pond, more towards the middle of this shallow end where there's a gentle slope into the water. And again, the duck follows him! N.C. stays there drinking for a while and the whole time, the duck is swimming back and forth a short distance in front of N.C. It was like the duck was saying Hi! Hi! Hi! Hey, Hi! Hi!

N.C. walks off, and a while later, the duck flew away.

N.C. is quite the hunter, and we appreciate his efforts in keeping the chipmunks away from the house. Also, the occasional mole or mouse. And yes, sometimes, rarely, a bird. But N.C. is no dummy... no way could he get a duck for dinner. This he knows.

So, anyway... back to the duck. This is the best photo close-up I got of her...



My trusty "The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds Eastern Region" wasn't really that much help in definitively identifying the duck, though it led me in the right direction. Some Google image searching revealed the duck to be a female Hooded Merganser. Which is a new one on me; I've never heard of them. I sure hope there is a male around, and that the pair of them arrive at our pond because I'd like to see him... he's a beaut. Good information and photos about Hooded Mergansers can be found at this site.

Sunny climes

Or, as Sammy would no doubt call it, where everybody but me is going... South.





This is Spring Break for Sammy, and also for Mike... but not for Joycie. We are staying home, of course, for this Spring Break. Kev had briefly contemplated maybe he and Sammy going somewhere, but you know... money, money. More precisely, the lack thereof. I'm remembering the four hundred bucks we just spent on 28 pills. (I just can't get over that!)

Mike, though, got an invitation, and then he invited Joycie... so even though she has classes all next week, my organized and intelligent girl devised a way to join Mike for a week in Florida, visiting his paternal grandparents. They live somewhere near Sarasota, which I only just now discovered is on the Gulf side, so I hope they see some gorgeous sunsets. Possibly even some romantic ones, even if it is at Gramma and Grampa's house.

I'm sure they'll love being in the sun, at the beach, walking in the hot sand, walking the shore, looking for shells and hopefully sea glass (because I'd like some brought home to me!), and most of all, spending the whole week together. Mike mentioned fishing, too. Sounds like he really loves visiting his grandparents in Florida, and I could tell he is looking forward to sharing the experience with Joycie.

And getting some sun...

Pondering

This summer has been very dry, and our pond was about the lowest we've ever seen it. It always gets low by August, but this year the water had shrunk so that only the deep end had water. This left the shallow end high and dry.

Originally, we had planned that one end of the pond would be a "beach" area, and we had it built shallow at that end for swimming. That didn't work out. With it being so shallow, that allows the sunlight to penetrate to the bottom soil of the pond, which makes plant life flourish. Including the scummy floating plant life, the stinky stuff. Not an incentive for swimming.

Last year, Kev took advantage of the summer dry spell and decided to start digging out the shallow end of the pond, making it deeper. We're hoping this will help cut down on the plant growth. This year, he had plenty of room to do more digging there.

First he shoved the sand up on one edge...



Doesn't really look like all that much, but it is an enormous pile of sand...



He took the sand out of the pond using the front bucket of the tractor... about a couple of hundred trips in and out of the pond...



He said he actually got sick and tired of hauling sand, but Barney loved it...



It looks nice now, and the water is already filling in again...



We also have a huge stockpile of sand, ready to use for trails and fill and whatever else we want. Kev is pretty dang handy with that tractor.