Mr. Studious

Look who's sportin' a new look!

Yep, definitely expecting to see more of this now... (they're only for reading)

Down in the Bayou

About a month ago Stevie invited me on a date to his company-sponsored dinner dance.  Really, he didn't want to go, but I think he was scared that I'd find out about the thing and give him a hard time for not taking me.  He's a quick learner and I'm sure the memory was still fresh from when I gave him what-not for not telling me about military balls (dances, that is). 

Anyways, the dinner dance was on Saturday and it was a fun time to get dressed up and leave the kids at home (Cannon was the babysitter!)

Emmy, the photographer, said we looked like a prince and princess!

The theme of the night was "Down in the Bayou" so we had to have the cheesy pictures taken there.

Soap on a Rope

I've posted before about my pathological desire for a garden this year.  Why pathological?  Because every ounce of advice I've received should convince me to just give up and surrender to the call of the wild, but I still stubbornly push ahead.

I knew from the get-go that I would be battling deer, rabbits, slugs and birds, and they were all truthful warnings.  The slugs have been my biggest threat so far.  They have destroyed a third of my broccoli and some peas and one of my pattypan squash plants the first night it was in the ground.  Something (the birds I think) have eaten every little swiss chard seedling before they can even fully unfold their first set of leaves.  But until now I haven't heard from those notorious deer...

Two days ago I was checking on the fruit trees we planted (2 apple, 2 pear and a cherry) and I saw that their new leaves were all still in tact and growing (yippee!).  So yesterday I had Cannon take the protective covering off the cherry tree because it was impeding the growth.  He came back reporting that one of the apples had the top broken off.  What!?  I went to check and sure enough those flee-flabbin' deer had been in my "orchard"!  Not only had they broken one apple, they had munched the tender leaves of that apple and the cherry.  Grrrr.

Munched leaves

So I went on "deer defense" - I grabbed my large bottle of stinky, nasty deer-repellent and hosed those trees. 

Then Cannon got in on the act and decided to build a deer fence out of fishing wire (he thought they would not like the feel of it).  So we strung a triple-layer barrier of fishing wire around the perimeter of the trees. 

And then I put a big piece of chicken wire between some of the trees because I read that deer don't like the feel of chicken wire under their feet. 

And then, because I was on all-out deer defense mode, I marched upstairs and grabbed 5 bars of soap, drilled holes through them and strung one from each tree (I had also read that deer don't like the smell of soap because it smells like humans). 

So my tranquil, idyllic orchard now looks like a voo-doo doctor's junk yard.  All I have to say is that those deer better not come back!

On the flip side, the lettuce growing in a tub on my deck is doing GREAT!  Guess those bunnies haven't figured out how to climb stairs.

Creative Play

I love when I come to the top of the stairs and see things like this:

You just have to laugh at the creative minds that went into building it.  And don't worry, I'm pretty sure it's a re-creation of a scene from "How to Train Your Dragon" and not a new way of torturing stuffed animals!

He's back!

Cannon made it home safely from Nicaragua on Saturday night.  We all went to the airport to greet him.  He looked tired, but happy and says he wants to go back soon.  In fact he was petitioning his Spanish teacher to get a group together for this summer!

I had told him he wasn't aloud off the plane unless he had coffee from Nicaragua.  I think he took me quite literally - look at his suitcase!

It's not all for me!  Some of it was for presents and thank you gifts...

Our other presents included some cool black pottery from a studio in Jinotega.  Cannon tells me that black clay is found in only 3 areas of the world.  The clay itself is a dark grey, but when fired it turns black.  He also tells me that the potters take their whole family and hike 3 kilometers into the mountains and then have to dig a meter down to find the clay.  I think the worst part would then be hauling it back the 3 kilometers!

Look for a post from Cannon soon...

Tulips

Our friends Kelly and Mike Payne who live up in Anacortes have long talked about the tulip fields near their house.  They live in an area of Washington that's more agricultural and one of the "crops" that is grown in Skagit Valley is bulbs.  About a month ago, there were fields of daffodils, but this months it's tulips and it is quite the tourist attraction.  Lately there have been articles in our newspaper about the tulips and you see stories on the news and tourist brochures.

Saturday we decided to be spontaneous and drive up to the fields and see Mike and Kelly.  They had just closed on a new home the day before so we were able to have a tour of their new home. 

Kelly and her new house.

After a short visit (they were working hard to get it cleaned up before moving), we headed out to see the fields.  It's not hard to spot the tulips as you are driving along - the strips of color on an otherwise grey and green landscape really pop out!

It's pretty amazing to see the fields because of the intense color that is radiated by this beautiful flower.  The first fields we found were red and yellow.

This yellow guy must have gotten lost...

Love this pic that Emmy took.

Cannon isn't with us because he was flying home from Nicaragua.

I look cold because I was!

A beautiful hybrid of the red and the yellow.

The next fields we found were pinks, purples and other colors.

Spring break - Thursday

Today we fly back home, but not until 7:30 tonight which leaves us time today to play some more.  The kids fell into their usual routine now: coloring, crafting, playing and riding bikes.  And we managed to sneak in one more trip to the pool before a "norther" blew in around 12 and cooled things down considerably.

This has been a great getaway and a wonderful visit with friends.  The sunshine and warmth were definitely needed, but more than that so was the time to catch up with old friends.  Thanks Liz, Don and Lydia for a great time!

Spring break - Wednesday

Those dag-um agricultural fires still have us cloud covered, but that didn't stop us from getting out again today.  We planned another full, fun day that started with a trip to a bird preserve (by London's request).  We saw brown and white pelicans, sand piper looking things, a duck, a reddish egret (yes, that's its real name) and a few others, but not the hawks and eagles London was hoping for.

Twins!

From the bird preserve, we went for lunch at Jason's Deli (an old favorite of Steve and I) and then a trip to Hobby Lobby for some crafts (and for me because it's been years since I've been to one!)

Finally we headed out to Mustang Island - a state park and beach on Padre Island.  We didn't plan on swimming today, just a walk along the shore and a photo shoot for Liz and I.

My beautiful friend

Showing off her baby bump

The joy of running on the beach.

 

 

 

Like I said, we didn't plan on swimming, but the girls decided to get a little wet!

A Portgugese-man-o-war jellyfish

Emmy - I think she's begging me for something.