Squirrels…

We just can’t seem to keep squirrels out of our yard, not that we really want to, but they’re just so bold! I saw something white on the bank by the driveway and realized it was one of the many white squirrels we have roaming the neighborhood. Of course I pulled out my camera ( which lives in my purse) but only managed to get one picture of him before he noticed me. Drat!

Once I got into the porch, I heard a strange noise…a squirrel, this time a grey one, having a snack out of the bird feeder. He was so cute I decided to take a few pictures of him too.

Around the yard…

The other evening we were skyping with Andy and he asked if I could walk the laptop around the house. It’s been four months since he’s been here and he wanted to see if anything has changed. Unfortunately, there are still boxes waiting to find a new home. As I said in my previous post, we have a few projects started, and I need to put a huge shelf together before I can put the boxes away. I suppose I could do that tomorrow too…hmmm, my to-do list is getting kind of long.

Anyway, I thought Andy might like to see what the yard looks like at this time of year. The plants are quite a bit bigger than they were in June, and the pear tree is so loaded with pears that the weight broke some of the branches, so I think that poor tree is in for a severe pruning after harvest. The goldfish in the pond keep having babies and they grow really fast. It’s hard to believe that the fish in the pictures are this spring’s babies. I didn’t get the huge white fish in the picture, but I think there might be a koi in there.

Patio…

One of our projects this summer is to try and finish connecting the pond to the pergola. With all of the projects we have started, it’s been a little difficult to concentrate very hard on any of them. I think I’ve pretty much burned David out with all of the ideas I have.

While we were at the cabin, Barb and I got to talking about our unfinished projects and she suggested that David and I work together on one project and actually finish it. WOW, what a concept, unfortunately, for us it sounds much easier than it really is. I see other people start a project and work, work, work until it’s finished. Then they get to enjoy it!!! So, even though I’d really like to have the basement finished, that we can do when the weather is less than ideal, where as the patio has a time and weather limit. I figure we have about six weeks to get all done. It certainly is attainable, but, well, you know, things come up. We have the circle laid out, the fire ring in with the first ring of granite in. The second ring of granite has been started, but I had to stop so more sand could be wheeled in. Our neighbor Ed was kind enough to help out with that, and he and David were able to get most if not all the sand spread out. Then I had to work a couple days, and then it started raining and has been for the last three days. At least the sand is good and packed down. Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow and I can lay more granite. After the granite is all in, we will pour cement, put some aggregate in and voila, it will be done. I will believe it when I see it. I took a few photos of work in progress.

 

Pencil portraits…

These are three drawings I did in the past for my sister of four of her dogs. She tends to be just a tad bit partial to English Springer Spaniels.

Once again I have to say that I’m very disappointed with how the pictures turned out.  I removed the glass this time, but I didn’t have enough light and the camera’s flash just left a bright, shiny blotch, and I don’t have a handheld flash.  They looked just fine in the camera’s picture viewer. I guess I’ve learned another lesson today.

Zoo 2…

I guess I should give a little credit to the other animals we saw too.

I just love watching the bears. This one in the water is the darkest of the three, and seems to be the most outgoing. He loves to put on a show for the people standing at the glass. He got in the water and came right up to the glass and looked at each person as he made his way to the other side. It is so cool!! 

MN Zoo…

During Kira’s visit this week,  we made a little trip to our favorite haunt, the Minnesota Zoo. I have had a membership to this zoo ever since the kids were little (it really pays to have memberships to places when they are <18 years) and I now have a single +1 membership, so David and I can go whenever we want and when Kira’s around, she gets in free, or I can take a friend with me for free. Whenever we hear the pitter patter of little feet, we will get the Grandparents membership.

I can only go for a little more than two months without a zoo visit, and after that I get an almost overwhelming need to go. ( It’s really kind of strange, this need I  get).  I’ve recently been having  that feeling about the History Museum, I guess I’ll have to back there soon.

I took quite a few pictures, a lot of them didn’t turn out very well, even with a camera that can ‘do it all’ by itself. I always have to putter around, I’m certain THAT has nothing to do with it, so it’s a good thing there are fix-it choices in the pic ture files.

We went through the butterfly exhibit and I got some good pictures of some butterflies I’ve never seen before.

   

Portraits in Pencil…

I finished a drawing of a dog a few days ago and decided to take a picture of it. I always takes pictures of my name drawings and why not the portraits too. I found a few others that I had and took pictures of them too, although I was too lazy to take them out of the frame, you will see a glare on each one that was framed. I will retake those pictures, along with a few my sister has and do this up right. I also noticed that I need to take them in the black and white setting. With the regular color setting, even though they are drawn with graphite pencil, you can see color pixels. Some of the detail is lost when taking a picture too. It all looks a little blurry. This may be due to the fact that I am doing something wrong when taking the picture. Maybe I should get the manual out and see what it says. But for now, I am posting a few of my graphite pencil portraits.