Friday's Feast for June 1

It's Friday, so let's have a Feast.

Click on pictures for more detail.

Appetizer - Name something you think is “the best.”

My Canon S3 IS camera.

Check out the birds at the feeder pictures below. They were taken on "auto", point and click, through a window spotted with suet flecks and other smudges.

The camera ignores the dirty window, ignores the background, and focuses in perfectly on the bird. Total magic. It's the best.

Soup - On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 highest), how stressed are you today?

Three.

Salad - What kind of cleanser do you use to wash your face?

Kirk's Castile soap. For decades I've used it for everything except my hair.

It's inexpensive, lathers up great in our hardwater, leaves me feeling very clean, and doesn't smell.

It used to be called Kirk's Hardwater Castile, until the marketing department took a turn at the label.

From the label:

All natural, hypoallergenic skin care with no animal by-products or synthetic detergents. Pure botanical coconut oil soap. Ultra gentle with no drying residue.

Main Course - Tonight is a blue moon! What is something that you believe only happens “once in a blue moon.”

Once in a blue moon I spot a bird at the feeder I can't identify. It happened yesterday with this one.

Looks like a Grosbeak but the only Grosbeaks I've ever seen here are the Rose-breasted. This bird has a yellow breast. After thanking Bob again for the camera, I headed for the birdbook.

Conclusion: This is an immature female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The yellow on the breast fades as the bird matures.


This is a mature female Rose-breasted Grosbeak taken several weeks ago. She looks like a large sparrow (about 9 inches) with an obvious white line over her eye and an awesome, cream colored, seed cracking beak.

This might even be the mother of the yellow breasted young in the top picture.


Dessert - When was the last time it rained where you live?

One day this week we had a few sprinkles, too few to get the ground wet. Since I can't remember which day it was, we're not going to count that as rain.

The last good soaking rain we had was last Sunday morning. We do need more.

There's a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon and evening, which is why I'm posting this early in the day. When it thunders, I unplug my laptop and dial up connection.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Heron in a Pine Tree

This heron is sitting in a pine tree about twenty-five feet up from the ground overlooking the pond.

This post is an experiment in storing my pictures in Blogger instead of Picturetrail so I can provide better definition for less money.

Double click on the picture if you want to see it bigger and better.

If this doen't work for you or weird things happen, please leave a comment. Be sure and mention what operating system you're using.

Friday's Feast for May 25

It's Friday, so let's have a Feast.

Appetizer - Name a sound you like to hear.

This time of year the loudest, longest sound I like to hear is the frog croaking in the pond. It goes on all night. I tried to get a frog picture, but evidently they're sleeping the day away after a night of partying.

Another seasonal sound I like to hear is the call of the Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) that nest on the underside of the back balcony.

This is the male.

The Phoebe is a small (about 7 inches) member of the Flycatcher family. They sit on a perch, wag their tails up and down, and then fly out to catch an insect in the air to feed themselves or their young.


Mom Phoebe is doing her share of bringing home the bugs.


Soup - What is your favorite kind of cheese?

Swiss cheese is my favorite kind of cheese for cooking. I love the way it strings and tastes with eggs.

Sharp cheddar cheese is my favorite kind of cheese for macaroni and cheese.

Parmesan is another favorite. It's impossible to have too much of it on a plate of spaghetti.

Salad - Do you sleep late on Saturday mornings? Why or why not?

Rarely.

Now that I'm retired, I don't need to catch up on my sleep over the weekend.

Also, I get up for early church on Sunday morning, which is difficult to do if I sleep in on Saturday and go to bed late on Saturday night.

Main Course - When was the last time you forgot something? What was it, and how long did it take to remember it?

Just last night I went to doggy school and left my cell phone home on the charger. About three miles into the eight mile drive, I remembered and had to remind myself that I drove for decades without a cell phone and managed to live through it just fine.

Still, I like to have my cell phone with me. It's comforting to know that if I have a problem, Bob is just a call away. Especially when I have two little dogs in the car.

Dessert - Fill in the blank: I notice ____________ when _____________.

I notice the beauty of where I live when out with my camera. Much of it is natural, but some of it was intentionally planted, like this azalea.

I don't remember its name. Its a human created hybrid. As beautiful as it is, the hummingbirds, hummingbird moths, and butterflies don't go to it like they do to the native azalea planted a short distance away.

That makes it less beautiful in my eyes.

Mourning Dove Nest

Mourning Doves, (Zenaida macroura) are plentiful in all the continental 48 states.

They're named for their sad call, coah, coooo, coooo, coooo.

We have a small population on our property. They're pretty in their own unflashy way and I enjoy their singing.


This tree is toward the rear of our property. The dog walking path goes around the back of it.

Yesterday while walking the dogs with my camera, I looked into the branches just above eye level and spotted this . . .


The mourning dove nest is a small platform of twigs. How they ever keep the eggs in it, is beyond me.

How can they possibly keep wiggly hatchlings from falling out or through?

They must be able to do it. There are so many Mourning Doves around that last fall hunters tried to make them legal game birds. Fortunately they failed.

8 Things Meme

I've been tagged by Kathy and Shirley for this meme.

I'm even going to try and think of eight things to say that I haven't blogged about before.

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.

1. I drink a cup of coffee when I first wake up in the morning and a second cup at lunch. Any coffee later than lunch and I can't get to sleep at night.
   
   
2. I've booked a flight to Idaho on June 26 to visit my two year old granddaughter Sydney Anne.
   
   
   I miss her so much it hurts to think about it.
   
   
   
3. I fondly remember my days as a computer analyst in corporate America, but wouldn't want to repeat them. Retirement is wonderful.
   
   
4. I take Boniva for osteoporosis and it's working to increase my bone density. I consider that a miracle.
   
   
5. Just this week I was tempted to drive to Nashville and get another rescue Papillon. Fortunately, DH an I have an agreement that three dogs is all we can handle. As long as one of us stays sane when the other is tempted, we'll be OK.
   
   If you're interested in a one year old Papillon rescue, check out Ace.
   
   
   
6. One of my patterns, Shetland Lace Rib Socks, is featured on a Japanese web site here. Since the website is mostly in Japanese I can't figure out why or what kind of website it is.
   
   
7. I like an occasional peanut butter and bacon sandwich.
   
   
8. I am predominately left brain, sometimes too much so.
   
   

   Brain Lateralization Test Results

   Right Brain (12%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (76%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

   Are You Right or Left Brained?
   personality tests by similarminds.com
   
   

I tag anyone who wants to do it who hasn't done it yet - or wants to do it a second time if they have done it.

Saturday Sky and Tiger Swallowtail

The day started out like this, cloudy and chilly.

See that little spot of blue sky in the middle of the picture? Before the day way over, the entire sky was blue. I was able to work outside long enough to get good and tired.



This beautiful Tiger Swallowtail is enjoying the Azalea bush.

Real Hummers and Faux Hummer

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is the only hummingbird species in SW Michigan. Here at Violet Acres, we have many nesting pairs each summer.

The females just arrived this past week, the males the week before. The males have red throats, the females white throats.

If you think this little three inch bird is timid, you're wrong. They entertain us with their aerial acrobatics while conducting hummingbird wars around the feeder.


Before moving to this house, I never saw a hummingbird sitting still. They sit on the wires just like a big bird.

This female is guarding the feeder from her perch on the wire. When another hummingbird comes to drink, she will swoop down and the chase is on.


Remember the picture of the Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris diffinis) I published here? It was a good picture but it didn't show the wings. I've managed to do better this time.

In this picture you can see it holding the blossom open with its front feet and the proboscis drinking the nectar. A proboscis is a siphoning mouthpart similar to a straw.

12th Annual Louise Lunch

Louise lunch started when Kimmy was named Kimberly Louise, the fourth generation of women with the middle name Louise.

On a Saturday in May the four of us meet for lunch to celebrate Mother's Day, Heather's May 13 birthday, and our love for each other.

As Kimmy once told a friend, "If your middle name isn't Louise, you can't come."

This year, as many others, we ate at Clara's in Battle Creek.

Left to right: Daughter - Heather Louise, Mom - Marguerite Louise, and Granddaughter Kimmy - Kimberly Louise.


By the time I handed over the camera to Heather and showed her which button to press, no one was being serious.

Left to right: Granddaughter Kimmy - Kimberly Louise, Mom - Marguerite Louise, and me - Marguerite Louise.


We all received a gift to suit our interests.

Here's Mom giving thumbs up to her new Donald Westlake book.


I'm appreciating all the compartments and pockets in a new knitting bag.


Heather is holding her handknit birthday socks. (Sock details here.)


Kimmy is grinning over her new bracelet.

Pappy's Haircut and Four Leaf Clover Bonanza

Pappy has a "full" coat, which is a polite way of saying he has dog hair up the wazoo.

During winter, we let it grow. By the end of winter he looked like this.


Wednesday he got his first summer haircut.

Yes, we know Papillons aren't supposed to get cut so short. But Pappy's a country dog who likes to chase rodents through the sticker seeds and ticks. It will grow.

We have a talented new groomer, so hopefully he'll never look like that top picture again, even when his hair is winter length.


I was looking forward to taking him to doggy school last night so he could show off his new do to all his doggy friends. Instead, doggy school was cancelled due to a breakout of kennel cough.

Some ignorant dog owner brought her Great Dane to class Monday night with a cough. Kennel cough always spreads rapidly, but imagine the germs a Great Dane can cough into the air.

Tuesday night Pappy and Sunny both attended and trainer Gail's demo dog was home coughing. Since he was vaccinated for kennel cough (kennel cough is a generic term for any viral or bacterial infection that causes a dog to cough), that likely means this strain of kennel cough is not covered in the vaccine he received.

Thursday afternoon Gail called to cancel class and reported more Monday night dogs are coughing. She's disinfecting the doggy school and hopefully things will be back to normal next week.

I'm also hoping she puts up a big sign on the door saying, "If your dog is coughing, take it home NOW!" Some people need to be told.

My dogs are vaccinated for kennel cough. I'm hoping our vaccines work better than Gail's.

It was almost three years ago that I spotted two four leaf clovers staring up at me. The most excellent good luck followed shortly after.

The first clover resulted in a visit from Son John and DIL Anne from Idaho. The second clover resulted in the exciting news that they were going to have a baby the following spring.

Yesterday while walking the dogs I looked down and spotted these two good luck symbols. The one on the right has five leaves. Without knowing the meaning of five leaves, I'm going to assume that is super good luck. Although I can't imagine anything better than Granddaughter Sydney.


On the next dog walk, I looked down in an entire different place to find another four leaf clover of a different, larger species.

Now I'm really getting excited! What do you think this means?

At the very least I'm expecting my dogs to stay kennel cough free.

---

Postscripts for anyone who is wondering:

I'm skipping Friday's Feast this week because I have other things to blog about for the next several posts and this week's questions didn't inspire me.

I'm not superstitious and the clover post was written in fun with a big smile. Good things that could be considered "luck" happen to me all the time, four leaf clover or not.

Still, that certainly was strange to find so many on the same day after all this time of not seeing any . . . .

Two Birds and A Moth

Last weekend the orioles arrived from South America.

This male Northern Oriole (Icterus galbula) does look a bit tired from his long trip.




When they first arrive, they can be tempted by oranges to come near the house. And, of course, we do just that.

It's such a thrill to see them and know they're going to nest somewhere nearby.

Once they start nesting, they stay in the tall treetops and are rarely seen again until next spring.

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) doesn't nest on our property, but they do pop in occasionally to catch some dinner.

This one is fishing in our pond, his long legs underwater so you can't tell how tall he really is - about four feet. They also like to wade down the creek where I usually don't see them until they fly up and startle me.

The hunting is good here, and I'm sure we'd have more Great Blue Heron visitors if Glory (dog) didn't delight in chasing them.


A few days ago while I was doing something else, I heard a DH call from the porch to "Bring the camera!"

By the time I got there and got focused, there was only time for one picture before this hummingbird moth flew away. Fortunately, it's not a bad picture, except you can't see its quickly fluttering wings.

There are several species of Hummingbird moths who earn their common name by looking very much like hummingbirds as they dart from bloom to bloom in the daytime. This is a Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris diffinis) thoroughly enjoying the sweetness of my woodland phlox.

There are gorgeous pictures of the entire Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth life cycle here, including a good view of the wings that don't show in my photo.

Sky, Swallow, and Special Patch

The sky looks like it's going to rain, we need rain, so why doesn't it rain?

The picture was taken at eight this morning. Now it's after lunch, the sky looks about the same but it hasn't rained a drop.

According to the National Weather Service, there is only a 30% chance of rain today. Seems a strange forecast with a sky full of rain clouds, but they stubbornly refuse to produce.


There is a power line crossing the back three acres. You can see it in the sky picture above.

Some of the birds love to use the wire as a launch site for their insect collecting and to sit and monitor the activity around their nesting sites.

After fledge day, the Tree Swallows and Bluebirds line their young up on the wire for lessons in how to live outside the nest.

The handsome fellow in the picture is a Tree Swallow.


Our apple trees are in bloom this week.

The earth under the trees isn't suitable for growing grass, just violets and other assorted little weeds wildflowers.

We don't mess with the ecology of that area because in the spring it's a . . .


. . . bed of Morel mushrooms.

In this part of the country people go crazy in the spring hunt for the elusive Morel mushroom.

Morel patches are jealously guarded and kept secret year after year. There are websites with Morel lore, Morel recipes, Morel pictures, Morel spotting updates (not with exact locations) and Morel jokes.

We were handed our Morel patch along with our mortgage. After a late April - early May rain the Morels magically appear underneath three very old apple trees on the north side of the house.

We have never been part of the Morel mania but we acknowledge our patch as something special. We celebrate that specialness by eating them.

So far this year the mushroom crop has been super sparse. It may not be too late, though. Please let the rains begin.

Friday's Feast for May 4
It's Friday, so let's have a Feast.

Appetizer - Name something you would not want to own.

A knitting machine.

About twenty years ago I bought a nice one and took lessons, so I have experience to back up my thoughts.

The machine knitting process is nothing like hand knitting. It's more like running a machine - because that's what it is.

It ended up stored under the bed for a year. Then I hauled it out and sold it to a woman who was thrilled to take it off my hands.

Soup - Describe your hair (texture, color, length, etc.).

Fine textured but thick. About 80% white, 20% warm brown. Short and blunt cut. Slightly wavy when I don't blow it dry.

I get it cut every six weeks. The picture is the week before a haircut, so that's almost as long as it gets.


Salad - Finish this sentence: I’ll never forget ___________.

The day I met my daughter, Heather Louise.

After a nine month wait, her dad and I were invited to come to the adoption agency and check out a baby girl.

She was a delightful two month old baby with red hair, dressed in pink from head to toe. We loved her at first sight.

Three days later she was legally ours and we took her home.


Main Course
Which famous person would you like to be for one day? Why?

Forget the fame. I want to be someone who knows Japanese and English.

I would spend the day translating the Japanese Heirloom Knitting book and writing notes so I could do more translations after turning back into myself.

Dessert
Write one sentence about yourself that includes one thing that is true and another thing that is not.

I bought a new John Deere tractor this week and now my lawn will be perfect.

Some Good Sparrows

First, a reminder that there are bad sparrows. English Sparrows/House Sparrows are little terrorists, killing cavity nesting birds like Bluebirds by pecking off their heads.

I've had it happen in one of my nest boxes. But don't take my word for it. Read about it here.

Now, on to a couple of the good sparrows that nest in Violet Acres, SW Michigan.

The little White-throated sparrows (Zonotrichia albicollis) scratch around in the spilled seed on the ground under the feeders.

At a length of almost seven inches, they are one of the largest in the sparrow family.


This head-on picture shows the big feet, almost like chicken feet, that they use to scratch like chickens - back and forth, back and forth.

It also shows the pretty white throat.


The smaller, more delicate, Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina), is five inches long. They also like to eat on the ground under the feeder, but they supplement their seed diet with insects caught in the air.

Chipping Sparrows are named after their noise, Chip - - - Chip - - - Chip. I can't bring myself to call it a song because it isn't. But I enjoy them anyway.

Sky and Disappointed Woodpecker

Blue sky, gorgeous day, and not too warm - 63 F/17 C at 2 pm. The sun is slowly chasing off the damp chill from the last couple of days.

Only the small trees and shrubs are showing green in my corner of SW Michigan. The larger trees have buds about ready to pop, but they're being slow about it. Maybe they're worried there is going to be more snow.

The tree top in the picture is an old, tall oak in the hedgerow.

Certainly by next Saturday we should have green leaves in my sky picture.


"This brick is a little hard on the beak."

I have friends with cedar homes who have to continually repair the holes in their siding created by woodpeckers. Fortunately, I learned from their plight and bought a brick house when we moved to the country.

I love all our woodpeckers. It would break my heart to have to try and chase them off.

And, if my friends are any indication, it isn't really possible to discourage a woodpecker once it decides a house is tasty.

Friday's Feast for April 27

It's Friday, so let's have a Feast.

Appetizer - How fast can you type?

Fast enough so I never find myself wishing I could type faster.

Soup - What is your favorite online game?

I don't play any online games, but I do the Jigzone puzzle every morning using the 80 piece classic cut.

Salad - On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), how intelligent do you think you are?

Oh my, this is a loaded question. For those of us with overly logical thought patterns, the first thing we want is a definition of intelligence as intended in this question.

I'll try to get over it and give a simple answer.

For most of my life I've had the pleasure of working with or going to school with some of the most intelligent people in the world. And then there are my overachieving siblings to consider.

I give myself a 7.5.

Main Course - Name three of your best teachers from your school years.

Mrs. Moore, third grade, Vicksburg Elementary School. She really cared about the kids in her class.

Mrs. Foster, ninth grade home economics. She warned us about boys, but we were young and thought she was nuts.

My All Time Favorite Teacher: Ruth Ann Erskine, advanced math, Marshall High School.

She taught the beauty of mathematics and she taught me how to think.


Dessert - What are your plans for this upcoming weekend?

Depends on the weather.

If the rain lets up, there will be yard work. Possibly with a new tractor. I will try to walk the narrow line between getting sore and getting too sore.

If it stays cold and wet, I will be knitting and catching up on Bloglines.

Heather's socks are down to the toes, so before the weekend is over I'll be casting on a new pair. Yarn and pattern yet to be determined.

On Sunday there will be church, brunch, and the Sunday paper to read.

Sometimes life is more interesting than this, but I'm happy for quiet weekends at home, too.

First Five Things

I've hardly had time to knit all week and a topic for blogging escapes me, so here are the first five printable random thoughts that cross my mind while I sit here wondering what to write:

1. At the end of March, SW Michigan was about two weeks ahead of schedule with spring buds and blooms. Then winter returned for over a week. Now the trees are about a week behind in leafing out. I'm ready for GREEN.
   
   
2. GREEN means time to mow the lawn. We have a sixteen year old John Deere lawn tractor that steers so hard I don't like to drive it, so I've been shopping. Nothing decided yet, but there's a good chance of a new bright green and yellow (Deere colors) in my future.
   
   
3. We've been eating organic brown eggs from uncaged chickens lately. They're 25% less saturated fat than chicken factory eggs and are much tastier. Good flavor even without salt. Sometimes there's even a double yolk. Yes, they cost a little more, but they're still cheap food and we've decided they're worth the price.
   
   
4. Congratulations to Toyota on becoming number one in vehicle sales. Many Midwesterners considered it almost an act of treason to not "Buy American" back in 1981 when I bought my first Toyota. (I still drive Toyota.) Did those people really do General Motors a favor by driving inferior American cars instead of making GM face its problems decades ago?
   
   
5. I just joined a new Yahoo Group, Knitting in Japan. Since my approval just arrived, I can't comment yet. I'm off to check it out now.

Feel free to disagree with anything I've said. Just be kind.

Sky and Robin Nest

The sky is blue and sunny today. SW Michigan is expecting a high temp in the 70s F/20s C and loving the thought of it.

I'd love it more if I didn't have so much outdoor work to do, but that's the price of having a five acre yard. Even though most of it is "natural", there are still areas around the house where we try to keep nature under control and nature fights back.

By next week all the trees, including these oaks, should have leaves.


One advantage to not having leaves on the trees yet, is being able to see the early nests being built.

This robin worked on this nest all day. No eggs yet. She's just trying it out to see how it fits.


For those who don't have robins (anybody?), they're a medium size bird. The male and female look alike.

In Michigan, they're common and a much anticipated and talked about sign of spring, arriving around the middle of March.

Friday's Feast for April 20

It's Friday, so let's have a Feast.

Appetizer - What is your favorite kind of bread?

Asiago bread from McKenzies Bakery in Kalamazoo covered in real butter. I cannot have this bread in the house and maintain my weight, so I don't buy it. I miss it terribly.

Soup - When was the last time you bought a new pillow?

Over a decade ago.

My pillows are still OK, but Bob's pillows are squished disasters. If I were to buy him new pillows, he'd complain. It took a long time to get them shaped the way he likes them.

Salad - Approximately how many hours per week do you spend surfing the ‘net?

Wanting to be precise, I looked up the definition of "surfing the net" on Google:

Cruising the Net, pointing and clicking and browsing between the different links, sometimes at random.

By that definition, I have to count the time spent reading blogs in Bloglines, but I don't have to count the time I spend reading email, blogging, and doing off line activities.

The answer depends on the season, the weather, my mood, and my dialup connection. I'm guessing an average of about 14 hours a week.

Main Course - What’s the highest you remember your temperature being?

102 when I had measles as a child.

This question reminds me of one of my scariest childhood experiences.

Several of my siblings, my mother and I all had chickenpox at the same time. In the middle of the night mom came into my bedroom to check on me. Her face was covered with Calamine Lotion and she had on a long, flowing nightgown. I thought she was a ghost.

Dessert - Fill in the blanks: When I ____________, I _____________.

When I go for a dog walk, I often take my camera.

This male bluebird was in a tree by one of the bluebird houses. Nest building hasn't started yet, but they've got their boxes staked out.

Three Dog Sunny Day

Earlier this week we had some blue sky. The dogs were happy to be outside in the sunshine and I snapped some pictures.

Glory, a 62 pound lab mix and Queen of Violet Acres, turns eleven years old this year.

She ran out into the back three acres and then decided a nice sun bath was in order.


Sunshine (Sunny), a sixteen pound second generation (at least) designer dog, is Princess of Violet Acres.

Most days Glory the Queen is content to let the Princess reign. As you can see by the look on Sunny's face, she takes her royal responsibility very serious.


Pappy, a fourteen pound Papillon, is Prince of Violet Acres.

He tries to stay out of the way of the Princess because he has important work to do catching rodents.