Have you ever seen a mama squirrel with teeters full of milk climbing a 3/4″ diameter iron pole for a little lunch when there’s plenty available in her own private dish on the ground? There’s my QOTD.

This one here, well, he just wouldn’t stop lookin’ at me. Silly standy squirrel.

I’m a pacer. Not that it’s related to my crazy kooky squirrels, but it is, sortof. In my best creative moments I’m pacing from the front to the back of my house, usually munching on granola or yacking on the phone. Yesterday I paced. I was working on a blog design layout that is black & white. Literally. In a world full of colors, I had to restrict myself to black, white and a couple of shades of gray.

For me, that’s a little like being a two year old throwing a tempertantrum that momma won’t let me use her watercolors, just a stupid lead pencil and one lousy sheet of copy paper from her printer. ::stomps and pouts::

We work with what we’ve got, though, and I made it work. Phew.

Still, in the creative process of putting the pieces together in my head, I paced. I have my camera at the ready, and I was delighted to see a couple of really beautiful and unique birds yesterday. I know a lot of you might not remember to check my photoblog, and yesterday was an especially active day, I uploaded quite a few new bird photos. For the larger image, just click the thumb.

I used to post my photography here. I decided to create a photoblog so that I could not only make my photos larger for viewing, but to be able to post more frequently without disrupting the regular average everyday stuff I write here on my blog. Now I’m wondering, was that such a great idea? I mean, there are folks using Flickr who were given Nikon D80’s to test for 6 months – with an option to purchase at a discounted rate at the end of the tryout. Who wouldn’t want to be approached with a deal like that? Is Flickr the place to put your stuff, then? I’m so confused. I’ve got my own server space, my own place to do it – I’m not sure I see the benefits of putting my stuff on someone elses server, aside from the obviously cool opportunities, as long as people notice and/or like your photos.

And then there’s my gallery – and it must be “that time” again because I’m wondering how functional it is for my guests. And I’m also wondering when I’m going to have time to format a bunch of auctions so that I can offer my Eye Ate It paintings for sale – and Kiki, too – now that I have them back from exhibit.

I do this, from time to time, I start revamping my whole existence on the web in my head. I crave feedback from everyone who stops by.

Well, dude, could you help me out here? I’ll be in the other room(s), pacing.

This is supposed to be Heather. I think. Seriously. Some of these are pretty scary and are giving me a complex, so I’m hiding the rest of ’em. Pfft.

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Ode to a Gerbera Daisy

To my dear cheerful flower,
You make me smile.

You bring color to my world on a cloudy day.

Your broad green foliage protects your young buds,

Reminding me of a mother protecting her newborn.

You’re a finicky flower, you know.

Your need for hydration borderlines on obsessive.

You call out to me several times a day,
Starving for affection, attention,
And more water.

You make me crazy sometimes, Dear Gerbera,
The slightest droop and I fear for your life.

My hose is always at the ready,
To shower you with H20.

I know you appreciate me, too,
Within minutes you’re standing tall and smiling at me again.

Thank you, Dear Gerbera,
For brightening my garden,
And for your beautiful, bold color.

If you weren’t so daggone pretty,
I’d rip you right out by the roots.

~the end.

I know it doesn’t rhyme or anything – is it supposed to? Oh well. My Ode to a Gerbera Daisy is dedicated to everyone who wants to have them, but might not understand why you can’t get them to stay alive for long. I’ve learned, by killing a few of my own. You all think I have such a green thumb – I should show you the brown stuff I’m successfully managing to kill off in my yard. It’s so depressing – which explains why I don’t mention it. Just green stuff that’s pretty, and growing, and alive! That’s all you really want to see anyway, right?

Show of comments – who wants to be reassured that I have only a tinge of green on my thumbnail? I’m not afraid to show you the stuff I can’t grow, try as I might – I do have some pretty pitiful looking plants. Then you can laugh and laugh and know that I am totally normal.

This morning I had the opportunity to meet this fabulous young lady for a photo shoot back behind the poplar tree. She wanted me to tell you that squirrels are really not all that bad. They have a soft, sensitive side – just like you and me. So in an effort to portray their inner “enjoying nature and foraging for food and shelter like the rest of us” beauty, she asked me to share with you these wonderful shots from her own personal portrait session.

I really have to applaud her for these shots. They’re personal and revealing, they tell a story about how sensitive and playful a squirrels’ personality can be. I’d be surprised if your heart doesn’t just melt. You’ll never see a squirrel the same way again. Maybe.

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(not necessarily in that order.)

Friday night was sleepover night at my house – I had four 11-12 year olds taking up every computer in the house (ok yeah, we have four, I’ll get into that another time) – playing webkinz.

First I’ll get sidetracked and tell you how proud I am of my own 11 year old. It all started a few weeks ago when she cleaned the house – without prompting or prodding or even poking with a stick. That in itself made me ask the most obvious question, “what do you want?”. Of course she wanted something. A new webkinz. She spent an hour that day cleaning, and I told her that was great -but I’ll only pay her $4 an hour, and they cost $12. She needed to give me two more hours of hard labor, and did she ever. She cleaned the house again, and after an hour she didn’t know what to do. I told her that if she could get on the airclimber and do it for an hour, I’d count that as chore time. Honestly? I didn’t think she could do it. Heck, I can’t even make it through the 20 minute workout (yet).

She did it.

Off to the nearest Hallmark we went, where she immediately picked the webkinz she wanted, a frog. Chickeymonkey present, I couldn’t get out of the store without two – you know how that goes. I wrote the check, our intuitive cashier put them in separate bags, and we were all set.

On the way out of the store, Catybug exclaimed “I can’t wait to give this to H tomorrow at school!”.

Wait. Hold up. Excuse me? What just came out of my childs mouth? “You did all that work so that you could get this for your friend?” She said “yes, she doesn’t have one, and they can’t afford one, and I really want her to be able to play too.”

Wow. ::insert choked up teary eyed mommy moment here::

Of course I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her for being so generous to work so hard just to do something for someone else. Then I quickly had a million flashbacks about how anything I could have possibly done as a parent would have had this kind of effect on her character. I don’t know how it happened. It’s a fluke, I swear it.

End of sidetrack.

H was giddy, of course, and the first several hours of the night were all about each on their own computer online playing webkinz as a team. It was cute, and they had fun. They also had banana splits with the works, and pizza. I try to be a good sleepover mom.

So yesterday was the beginning of the weekend warrior projects. Oh my. Our big project was delayed by rain – but this weekend it’s just gorgeous. I love this weather. I carry around my camera, put it down, grab a shovel, dig, transplant, and get my camera again. Fun stuff, people!

We’re building (and by we I mean my husband, as I stand and point and say “no” and “yeah”, and then I do the making it pretty when he’s all done part) a raised planting bed that’s an “L” shape – about 3 feet deep, 12 feet wide and 18 feet long. Part of this project requires the major undertaking of transplanting everything on our back mound (7th photo), because we need the dirt. This stuff here is being replaced by the planter, so everything needs to be transplanted from those areas, as well.

It was a busy day yesterday. I put three old fashioned thornless rose climbers in the backyard against the fence, they’re new and I am hoping they take off and cover the entire fence area since we have an offensive odor blowing into our house when the windows are open. We’re hoping this curbs that problem and fills our home and yard with something more pleasing to the nose. I also added about a gadgillion seeds to another area in the yard, and if I did well I should be able to show you those in about 2 weeks.

As for the birds, I saw this couple flitting about in our poplar tree lastnight once I settled down with my bottled water and camera and just stopped, watched and listened. They’re really neat birds – they fly high and they have a really interesting wingspan in flight. From this kinda crappy photo, I’ve deduced that they are Tanagers – a bird I’ve never seen before. I can’t determine whether they’re hepatic or scarlet, because the females don’t seem to match. I thought because of the speckled breast on the female that it might be a true purple finch, but the male is much too red. If you can’t tell, I really enjoy birdwatching and identifying them. I heard a lot of neat birds yesterday – our northern flicker is back, and it won’t be long before he makes an appearance on our suet – or at least on the hill of ants by our poplar tree. Hubby spotted a predator swooping through our yard twice yesterday on the hunt, looking to nab a small bird or squirrel. I missed the action, off digging up a plant somewhere, but what a cool thing to have going on in our backyard!

Sidenote: we also rescued 4 baby bunnies last weekend and released them the other night. One had been injured, so we wanted to get the bloody one away from danger and healed. They’re doing fine now, hiding in the brush pile – you can see one of the little cutie pies in my photoblog.

Today we should finish the new raised bed and transplating. I’m not as sore as I was last weekend, I learned my lesson and did bicep and tricep curls on the treadmill while I walked for a few days this week. The airclimber also helped with the leg squatting and digging. Whatever the task – bring it on, I’m ready!

These are the lengths that I will go to to be sure that the ideas in my head are absolutely as original as they can possibly be. If I want something to look a certain way, I’ll create my own reference photo and start from scratch. That’s what it’s all about, right?

That photo, that idea – it represents something to come, something like a rebirth. A new energy, a new outlook, another step forward. It’s a work in progress, and it won’t be too long before you know what I mean.

There’s a part of me that changes every spring, I think when I get outside and spend some time with my gardening gloves on, I grow right along with the beautiful plants and flowers I mother on a daily basis. When I saw my new stargazer lilies peeking up through the mound of dirt and mulched leaves this morning, it was almost a zen moment. Then my nose filled with the smell of a beautiful sherbet hyacinth, and my ears were ringing with the sounds of multiple birds chirping and chatting.

Aaah. Can you smell it? I wish I could bottle the scent. I’d make a mint.

I’ve been working on blog design projects for EW, so I’ll show you those once they’re up in the official portfolio. For me and my own portfolio – I’ll be finishing up that monochromatic cat painting today, I’ll be back later to update you on that one.

Happy Friday – don’t forget to stop and smell the roses – or whatever you’ve got blooming near you!

The three squirooges.
I had 8 at one time, but these three were a hoot.
Don’t bother getting up. No, really. Just lay there and eat.

Because a little nibble of bread isn’t enough when you have to share with 7 other squirrels. Fend for yourself!
(Especially while the other guy is lying in all the other food.)

Did you just throw PEANUTS out the window?!?!?!?

(why yes, I did!)

You know what I’m talking about?

We went to dinner lastnight, and half of us are sick today. The half that’s sick used different oils in our (Mongolian) food than the other half, and it’s my best guess that the oil may have been a little rancid.

Easter was wonderful. Church services were moving, our biggest little one played three songs on piano before services began and I was so proud of her, she played so well. Our baby quaker parrot birdy boy was just adorable this weekend (see our little pocket pal?), and we had a couple of slumber parties that left us all sleeping on our ginormous sectional.

One of the highlights for me was seeing and id’ing a new backyard bird. Meet Jeepers, our new brown creeper. (Jeepers, creepers. Easy to remember, yes?)

Ain’t he just the cutest? I thought it might have been some kind of nuthatch, the way he climbs the tree. He’s even foraging off the nuthatches stowed away food under the bark. I identified him on BDI – man I love that site. We’re doing a lot more to the yard this year to bring more birds in and right now we’ll get to see some of the most interesting birds as they migrate. My camera and I are so excited!

I’ll end my Monday on that note, since going off into tangent-land would probably cause my fingers and wrists to ache, and I’ll be using them in the studio later.

Happy Monday (in spite of it all!)

Two tulips. This is, unfortunately, the beginning and end of my tulips this year, I’m afraid. I am so sad, this cold snap has just turned them into drooping beauties. I look at them and I can feel the sadness creeping in, like The Nothing is slowly taking over my perennials.

I did get a glimpse of majesty yesterday, though. Right in my own backyard. Hubby spotted her and I was called to duty – it went a little like this:

“Honey! Camera! Hurry! Hawk!”She was beautiful, and I was only mildly creeped out by the size of her blood tinged talons. A girl’s gotta eat though, huh?

I’m working on a monochromatic cat painting today, three beautiful cats – I’ll show you the sketch when I finish it up.

Happy Good Friday to you!