Curious

Goodyear Blimp landing

Driving down the road, a huge shadow overcame our car and suddenly, we noticed the Goodyear Blimp hovering over us. Ok, well maybe, we turned and sped and turned some more to get into its path but that’s a whole lot less interesting now isn’t it?

I think this is the closest I’ve ever been and it was really neat to watch it land at the Appleton airport.

Seems to take a lot of people to help it land. I know the day was overcast and dreary, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to snap at least a few photos. Hope you don’t mind too bad.

Macro Monday - Drip drip drop

I have decided to make Mondays ‘Macro Monday’ here in my little space, at least for a while. We’ll just see how it goes. I’m more than happy to link up to you if you would like to join in.

I was sitting in the yard after I watered the plants and noticed the cool drips on these buds. I snapped and waited for the drop to, well drop, but it took forever, and I got bored. Still I liked these shots watching the drip get longer and longer and less round. . .Oh, how 'bout that bug?  Did you notice him up there?

Other players:

• Heaven in Belgium


• you?

If you wanna join in, just let me know in comments, see you next week. :)

Martha Stewart's blog

Did you know that Martha Stewart has a blog?  I just discovered it!

Walk the plank

This summer I went on my first ever Pirate Adventure! Courtesy of Pirate’s Hideaway in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

We had a beautiful day of it!

The ship is 50 feet long and will hold about 30 people. You can even rent it for your wedding or other event.

The Time Flies When You’re Having Rum!

I think cannons and Rum don’t mix.

But you can hang up a monkey or two.

A real pirate guides the tour, with his parrot of course!

The pirate has great rings of mystery!

And a trunk full of jewels of course (actually costumes so you can dress like a pirate too)!

If you ask real nice he will give you a tattoo.

There’s a lot of water to explore.

I was lucky and wasn’t made to walk the plank.

I never saw Johnny Depp out on the seas but I did see a huge Eagle’s nest and the Eagle it belonged to.

Taming of A Shrew

My son has a basement bedroom and one evening in his window well he kept hearing a noise. Well, being the curious boy that he is, he captured the burrower and put him in a fish tank. Being the son of a blogger he brought his find to his mother.

Being the good blogger I am, I promptly took photos to share. I thought we had a mole and I was all ready to use him for my “M” post last week, but when I looked him up in my Mammals of Wisconsin Field Guide, I discovered that what we have here is a Northern Short-tailed Shrew, and well, I’m too impatient to wait until I get to the letter “S” to share him. It looks like he has pinpoint light blue eyes, interesting.

Part of how I was able to identify him was that I took photos of him at all angles. Believe it or not this butt shot helped. Even though it’s really not a ‘keep’ photo, I often take photos of unknown beings from every direction possible for this very reason.

Being the good people we are, we did let him go and he has been happily leaving amongst my flowers ever since. Maybe he’s helping to take care of the spider situation, or maybe that’s why he chose his new home instead of scurrying away.

Proof he escaped. My grass isn’t very tall, even though it dwarfs him. He’s only 3-4” long and ¾-1” tall. He weighs less than an ounce, but we figure he could bite so he was only handled with containers, not bare hands. They’re only the size of honeybees when they’re born and weaned in two days, don’t you wish human babies were weaned so fast. . . And maybe even that they were that small when born? Except, if my baby was the size of a bee I would probably misplace it. Good thing their shrieks can be heard from 10 feet away, it might be the thing that would save my baby.

A Coop full of Crafty Chickens

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

My chicken coop may be empty but I keep a few chickens in my house. My mom and grandma made a brood and were kind enough to share a few with me.

Don’t run away scared, this hen isn’t from Hellraiser, she’s just a comfy place to stab your straight pins. They’re made from two quilt blocks, sewn together in a creative way and stuffed, with little triangle tails, felt beaks & combs, and bead eyes.

She'll hold a lot of pins and I use their little tails for safety pins.  And I always think of my mom and grandma when I see my little hens.

A day with Twister

I have to admit that I was kind of nervous when Tristan came to spend the night. I know he loves being with me, but I fully expected a crying spell wanting his mama near bed time. It never happened!

We played inside, we played outside, inside and outside. He discovered not only that MeMaw had forgotten to turn the hose off but that he’s now strong enough to spray it.

Getting him to look at the camera is a real challenge since he’s grown up with a camera in his face. Haden warned that he might turn and spray the camera but luckily he hasn’t figured out how much fun that is yet. Either way, we turned the water off.

See just a trickle now.

He was looking to see where the water went when there was just enough to slam him in the face. Luckily, it just brought giggles.  Bath time over. ;)

Uncle Haden got him a piece of chalk.

Which he promptly put back up. Everything in its place, just ask my Twister.

And the lid must be put on tightly or someone’s not happy.

Doesn’t he look angelic?!

Or maybe that’s devilish? A rock in an empty water bottle makes a grand noise!

Some time on the tricycle wears a boy out.

He played in his stroller, round and round the driveway until Haden and I were dizzy.

When he got out of the stroller he felt the seat belt needed to be buckled. Everything in its place, you know?

He found my crocs and not too many photos were taken after that. Something makes me nervous about an 18 month old traipsing around on asphalt in shoes a million times to big for him.  Needless to say, I hid the crocs as soon as he left them behind.

He approves of the little raccoon charm SwampAngel (In geocaching we’re the bandits and I love the charm!) got me, he just wishes he could have taken it home.

Now, are you surprised he slept 12 hours that night?