Category Archives: wildlife

Oct7

SSSssssss

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Brian thought he’d contribute to my blog tonight. He almost stepped on this guy:

He’s showing you his tongue there! I’m pretty sure this garter snake (who looks bigger than he really is) lived in the vicinity of where I have an herb bed as I saw him there this summer.

It’s not funny how much I have to do outside to separate irises and put away decorations. I’ve felt a bit blah these last few days, so I’m waiting until I feel stronger to get the work done before it gets too chilly, though that is nice weather to work in. You bet I’ll be wearing gloves near that herb bed.

Sep28

Hungry

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Bambi:Mama said ‘roses are delish’, so these Rose of Sharon must be too! I already ate the little roses on the other side of the yard!

(photographer Brian through the dining room window-cropped by yours truly)
And look who else was hungry:


From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby
Sarah Palin and her daughter Willow ordered cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia Saturday.

PHILADELPHIA (CNN) – Sarah Palin partook in an established political ritual on Saturday night when she headed to Tony Luke’s in south Philadelphia to order a pair of cheesesteaks with cheese whiz and onions.

But as the kitchen sizzled and orders were barked out, Palin found herself talking politics, calling McCain’s debate performance “awesome” and taking questions from a voter about the hunt for terrorists in Pakistan.

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No food shopping…yet…probably Monday. It started pouring, so I scrounged around and made spaghetti and meatballs.

Sep17

Awesome nature!

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I went outside to look around yesterday. I’m pretty much through with gardening until I have to put all the decorations away, which is a back breaking job in itself. My back wasn’t good yesterday and I made it a little worse watering potted plants after dinner. My heating pad isn’t working that great and I even tried the infrared thing-a-ma-jig. Bri found some Therma-care heat wraps and so far the one I have on is awesome. It’s like having little warm peebles on your back. It seems to be getting hotter, so I better watch that. I need the winter to get myself ‘fixed’ and ‘rested’ again.

So enough rambling! My mom went back to the eye doctor and he took a stitch out of her repaired right eye. Imagine laying there while he did that! He still wants to see her again on Friday and her next surgery may be postponed until she can see better. I was hoping she would be lots better by now, but it was a hard cataract.

Heard brother #2 went to see Joe Biden last night at Linvilla Orchards, a neat place we use to go to all the time as kids. They had hay bales there for the people to sit on. I believe Gov. Rendell was there too.

Here’s what I found out in the herb bed, munching on fennel and dill:

I think there were about 20 Monarch butterfly caterpillars on these herbs! I guess since I’m not using them, they decided to move in!

Also did a little art last night. A few more Skinny cards. My flickr pal had sent me one, so I made her one too:

Found the neat weathervane in an old American history book, the crow from an old bird guide, and the stone wall is from a desk calendar.

And I thought this turned out cute:

I call it ‘Dear Child’

Later the Dishnet guy is suppose to come upgrade the tv. He cancelled out on Monday due to van issues. Bri had to call to reschedule since I wasn’t the name on the account, they wouldn’t let me do so! I was the one who scheduled it in the first place. Needless to say, I was a bit steamed. It better be so worth the hassle.

I’ll show an update of ‘Sleeping Kitty’ later. I’ve been working on him diligently as I want a finish to frame soon. I also want to do a few Halloween designs from the JCS Halloween issue. I have a little Halloween tree for such things with little round orange lights. Someday I’ll take photos of some more of my autumn decor.

Aug6

Art and cooking

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Different ideas same background ATCs, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I was looking through stuff as I sorted last week. This week seems to be a bust because of my back issues. The sore spots like to move around, but Advil and the heating pad are my pals. It doesn’t bother my rest, just when I am sitting a lot which isn’t good.
I found a really neat page in a landscape catalog we picked up at the Philadelphia Flower show this year. These are what I made from the one page-all these cards’ backgrounds! I know, my imagination tends to run wild. I loved her eyes in the one image of Clara Bow, so they became the focus of the card. The other lady card is indeed Clara Bow again. She was gorgeous in my opinion.

The Michelangelo prophets are from a Dover Publications sticker book. I used both Isaiah and Jeremiah on my cards then did a google search to find out that Isaiah literally put the fear of God in people and Jeremiah was know as ‘the broken hearted’ prophet. Interesting!
Here is what we had for dinner last night called Frittata Al Tonno.
Frittata Al Tonno
Found it on the Chicken of the Sea website. I wanted to use tuna, and it also has eggs (of course), zucchini, onion, basil and tomatoes-mostly fresh from our garden. The secret was to cover the pan and steam the eggs for about 5 minutes. Both guys asked if it was quiche!
And speaking of eating-on the opposite end of the spectrum, our cute little mop top and bottom moths are cannibals! I found a completely bare stem of milkweed and there was only bits and pieces of a bunch of the critters left on it. Not saying a bird or two didn’t get to them. But I am sure I haven’t seen too many of the moths around.

My mom has loved paperdolls since she’s been a little girl and has collected Tom Tierney (also from Dover Pubs) for many years. Look what Mr. Tierney just came up with, no surprise to me. I’m thinking their clothes can’t be too exciting, maybe Senator Obama’s?

And three cute little girls-two fairly famous-you know who they are (belong to B and A):

and a little girl I found on etsy-on her mom Adrianne’s store:

I photoshopped this a bit. As you can see, I live vicariously through those who have daughters. : ) I’m still hoping for a granddaughter or two someday.

Sean and I are off to BJs Wholesale Club tomorrow. I broke down and bought a membership there. Dangerous-big quantities of things-must buy-!!!!

Aug5

Look that this mop top!

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And mop bottom too! LOL

milkweed tussock moth caterpillar on the wrong plant to have a snack, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I always wondered what these caterpillars were. A little google search lead me to the correct page-they are Milkweed Tussock Moths. They are kinda pretty with their silvery wings when they turn into moths.

And of course they seem like they this area of PA. They have devoured the milkweed which I save for the Monarch! Hopefully the Monarchs got their fill of the tender milkweed they prefer.

Went to the dentist and they got kinda quiet. Without x-rays, he found 5 small cavities in my front teeth, but they can wait until the insurance turns over in January. He gave me a special paste I have to apply before bed to help my aging, barely holding in there teeth (so I exaggerate-seems many of my family members are good at that lately!) My dilemmas!!

Kudos to my friend Karin for landing a great job as a Culinary instructor at a Vo-tech school! She just graduated in December from culinary school and had a job with sporadic hours, so she is happy to get this one.
Jim needs another operation to fix his nose. I am so sick about wondering about how he hurt himself so badly.

Jul22

Local guy really feeling the heat

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A local newsman, Larry Mendte, really screwed up his career by hacking into his co-anchor’s Alycia Lane’s email account-about 500 times over the last few years!

During this time, Mendte allegedly leaked privileged legal information about Lane’s personal life to the press “in an attempt to undermine his colleague’s ongoing legal cases,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid at a press conference on Monday.

Larry is from Lansdowne, PA, the same town as my mom and graduated with Brian from West Chester University in 1979. He worked at the same tv station where my oldest brother does.

The article goes on to say that he was jealous that Lane made about $100K more than him a year. Larry was on the syndicated nationally known show ‘Extra’ years back, before returning back to the Philly area to anchor the news.

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I’ve been watching ‘The Mole’ and the last of the three people from the Philly area went home (was executed) last night. Clay, from West Grove, PA a few towns over, at least got to see his wife before he was sent home. I’m going to be on the look out for either one of them at Walmart, etc.

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I picked some Italian green beans (I think that’s what they are) today and a few zucchini. It was wicked hot to do so. It is suppose to rain tonight and tomorrow-thank goodness! We watered things anyway, as they were so droopy. A couple of squirrels were in the pear tree having a feast and scooted away when I came to pick the beans. I noticed there was a small pile of pears, like they were harvesting them! I picked them up, thank you critters!