Thursday, June 25, 2009
Happy Bumblebee
Bumblebee oh so happy
In the clover field so sweet
Flowers white filled with pollen
She'll drink deep to sate her needs
Her bags full with golden nectar
From the many flowers about
Pollinating as she twitters
Between blossoms one by one
Somewhere near a hive awaits her
At days end she will return
To deposit her golden bounty
The treasure oh so dear
Bumblebees oh so busy
In their hives at end of day
Turning all collected pollen
Into waxy honey sweet
Yesterday, Pa mowed down our little field of clover. Before he did that I managed to get a couple pictures of the bees that were making the most of the pollen those flowers contained. It's no wonder there were so many bees, as walking out into the area I was almost overpowered by the sweet aroma eminating from all those flowers!
The month of June has certainly had it's ups and downs at our house.
We have enjoyed a couple trips to the beach, the memories of which we especially relished as illnesses took over. Lindsay managed to get over her illness, but not before sharing the bugs with her brother. She has always been such a generous girl. Nathan got over it with amazing speed, but that only lasted one day, before it returned with a vengeance!
Naturally, as a Mother I responded by worrying and getting less and less sleep each night. Last night I finally managed to get more than 4 hours of sleep!
Today the kids and I are all feeling much better, which is a very good thing as it means we can go to town, get more books at the library, check our mail, and stock up on groceries!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the end of our family illnesses for the season and that I will continue to catch up on sleep. I've found as I've gotten older it takes me longer to recover from those sleep deprived nights than it did in years past.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tardy In The Boondocks
It's been another busy week at our house. For some reason I've been having problems sleeping long enough to keep my mind and my body happy. In addition to that, Lindsay came down with something, which meant I lost more sleep, both due to my concerns for her, and her wakefulness during the night.
Prior to all this, last Thursday we went in to the Library. It was a particularly nice visit this time! First off, I noticed Gary, the head Librarian, and admin for the library, had his photo display up in the room set aside for such events. He chose some great photos, which I had already seen on his flickr, but they were even better in person!
We had a fine chat with Gary, including some "camera talk", then we noticed the kids were all done selecting their books to check out. We headed over to the counter and were surprised when one of the Librarian's said they had some new book bags for the kids. They were really nice ones this time, and as a bonus, they gave me one too!
As a result of this latest gift from the Library, we have a surplus of book bags, several of which will be great for grocery bags! Yes! At last I will be able to go through the checkout at the Grocery store without feeling pangs of guilt over choosing between plastic and paper. I can just hand over my wonderful canvas bags and say "Fill 'em up!" :)
Today we just couldn't put it off any longer. Pa and Nathan headed into town to pick up some groceries, as well as batteries for my camera as my 4x specials had run dry and I had managed to go through all the regular AAs in the house, including those I plucked out of the flashlights!
While Pa and Nathan were gone on their little errand, I stayed home with Lindsay who is still recuperating. She was feeling better enough that I was able sneak outside and grab a few photos though. I used up the very last of the batteries from the flashlight on pictures of a squirrel that had managed to find his way past the birds that were giving him a very hard time, guarding their feeding station. He somehow climbed into the feeder and was happily munching away as I inched in closer and closer for better and better shots. I even managed a couple macros of him! The very best though was the one I snapped after he'd had enough and hopped away onto another tree and looked back at me. After cropping this picture I was quite pleased with the result!
Finally, Pa and Nathan returned home with their purchases. The first thing I saw was Nathan happily bounding into the house with a long rectangular box. He informed me I was going to be very unhappy with this purchases, then handed me what turned out to be something I've been wanting practically since I got my camera. A tripod! Oh my! Oh my! I'm so excited! Pa helped me get it set up, and it is now sitting here, in the middle of the living room waiting for me to decide just how I am going to use it for it's maiden photo shoot! Hmmm. Wonder if the clouds will part this evening so I can give my lunar experiments another go? Hehe.
Saturday Night At The Movies
I know. I feel so guilty! Two weeks without a movie review! I'll get on that right now! Last Saturday evening we watched The Last Starfighter. The kids really enjoyed this film, which had minimal romance, and plenty of action. If your children enjoy Space adventures, and/or video games, and are a bit older (I'd say 8+) then chances are they'd enjoy this film.
This Saturday we watched Back To The Future, starring Michael J Fox, and Christopher Lloyd. I'd seen this film before, but it had been such a long time that I'd forgotten most of it. We all thoroughly enjoyed this film and I would recommend it to anyone with children in the same age group as the previous film mentioned. The difference being I think the adults in the family enjoyed this one more.
I'll try to get back later on, or early tomorrow to visit with everyone, but right now I need to run and get some jello made for Lindsay. She's hungry! Yes!
Prior to all this, last Thursday we went in to the Library. It was a particularly nice visit this time! First off, I noticed Gary, the head Librarian, and admin for the library, had his photo display up in the room set aside for such events. He chose some great photos, which I had already seen on his flickr, but they were even better in person!
We had a fine chat with Gary, including some "camera talk", then we noticed the kids were all done selecting their books to check out. We headed over to the counter and were surprised when one of the Librarian's said they had some new book bags for the kids. They were really nice ones this time, and as a bonus, they gave me one too!
As a result of this latest gift from the Library, we have a surplus of book bags, several of which will be great for grocery bags! Yes! At last I will be able to go through the checkout at the Grocery store without feeling pangs of guilt over choosing between plastic and paper. I can just hand over my wonderful canvas bags and say "Fill 'em up!" :)
Today we just couldn't put it off any longer. Pa and Nathan headed into town to pick up some groceries, as well as batteries for my camera as my 4x specials had run dry and I had managed to go through all the regular AAs in the house, including those I plucked out of the flashlights!
While Pa and Nathan were gone on their little errand, I stayed home with Lindsay who is still recuperating. She was feeling better enough that I was able sneak outside and grab a few photos though. I used up the very last of the batteries from the flashlight on pictures of a squirrel that had managed to find his way past the birds that were giving him a very hard time, guarding their feeding station. He somehow climbed into the feeder and was happily munching away as I inched in closer and closer for better and better shots. I even managed a couple macros of him! The very best though was the one I snapped after he'd had enough and hopped away onto another tree and looked back at me. After cropping this picture I was quite pleased with the result!
Finally, Pa and Nathan returned home with their purchases. The first thing I saw was Nathan happily bounding into the house with a long rectangular box. He informed me I was going to be very unhappy with this purchases, then handed me what turned out to be something I've been wanting practically since I got my camera. A tripod! Oh my! Oh my! I'm so excited! Pa helped me get it set up, and it is now sitting here, in the middle of the living room waiting for me to decide just how I am going to use it for it's maiden photo shoot! Hmmm. Wonder if the clouds will part this evening so I can give my lunar experiments another go? Hehe.
Saturday Night At The Movies
I know. I feel so guilty! Two weeks without a movie review! I'll get on that right now! Last Saturday evening we watched The Last Starfighter. The kids really enjoyed this film, which had minimal romance, and plenty of action. If your children enjoy Space adventures, and/or video games, and are a bit older (I'd say 8+) then chances are they'd enjoy this film.
This Saturday we watched Back To The Future, starring Michael J Fox, and Christopher Lloyd. I'd seen this film before, but it had been such a long time that I'd forgotten most of it. We all thoroughly enjoyed this film and I would recommend it to anyone with children in the same age group as the previous film mentioned. The difference being I think the adults in the family enjoyed this one more.
I'll try to get back later on, or early tomorrow to visit with everyone, but right now I need to run and get some jello made for Lindsay. She's hungry! Yes!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fun In The Boondocks
This has been a busy week for our family. Sunday, the kids played with the cats, and I busied myself taking pictures. My favorite of that day was the Ladybug with the Aphid 
Monday was a fairly sunny day, and according to the weather report, it was the only promising day of the week. In addition to that, it was also getting awful close to tourist season so we decided it would be a good day to head to the beach once again.
This time we decided to head to Sunset Bay. Since this particular location includes a fair amount of tidepools, we were able to count it as a Science Field Trip. I was tickled to manage some photos of some of the life residing within those tidepools.
Once the Science portion of our trip was done, school was over and the real fun began!
The kids ran and jumped
They played and they laughed
They explored
They stopped and said hello to the gull on watch
They waved at the floatplane that happened by
At the end of the day we all stopped and looked back for one last glance of the bay as the sun began descending.
Tuesday morning I began going through the 178 photos I had managed to take. I narrowed them down to about half that number, then went through them again. It took me all of Tuesday, then yesterday, and finally I finished loading the 40 chosen photos to load on to my flickr.
This afternoon, we're off to town. The kids are in need of more library books!
Hope this week is turning out to be as fun for you and your families as it has been for us!
Monday was a fairly sunny day, and according to the weather report, it was the only promising day of the week. In addition to that, it was also getting awful close to tourist season so we decided it would be a good day to head to the beach once again.
This time we decided to head to Sunset Bay. Since this particular location includes a fair amount of tidepools, we were able to count it as a Science Field Trip. I was tickled to manage some photos of some of the life residing within those tidepools.
Once the Science portion of our trip was done, school was over and the real fun began!
The kids ran and jumped
They played and they laughed
They explored
They stopped and said hello to the gull on watch
They waved at the floatplane that happened by
At the end of the day we all stopped and looked back for one last glance of the bay as the sun began descending.
Tuesday morning I began going through the 178 photos I had managed to take. I narrowed them down to about half that number, then went through them again. It took me all of Tuesday, then yesterday, and finally I finished loading the 40 chosen photos to load on to my flickr.
This afternoon, we're off to town. The kids are in need of more library books!
Hope this week is turning out to be as fun for you and your families as it has been for us!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Loony Moon
Lately I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how in the world I'm going to manage to gt a really good picture of the moon. While it seems a rather elusive dream at this point, I'm determined to push my camera to it's limits. I'm just sure there's some creative means of manipulating what I've got to realize my rather lofty goal.
Last night I headed outside with my little Powershot and began fiddling with some of the options available within my camera. While coming nowhere near my ultimate goal, I did get some interesting shots!
I was quite upset after seeing this one, and realizing I had somehow managed to break the moon!
Fortunately, the moon recovered, and began having fun.
The moon then decided to start playing with different shapes!
After a good hour of playing in the sky, the moon got tired and decided to lie down in a branch of our fir tree to take a nap
If you want to see more proof that the moon has a playful side, click on any of these pictures, for a full size view (these smaller photos really don't do them justice!), as well as access to more pictures. I even placed them all together in their own little set, called Lunar Whimsy!
Last night I headed outside with my little Powershot and began fiddling with some of the options available within my camera. While coming nowhere near my ultimate goal, I did get some interesting shots!
I was quite upset after seeing this one, and realizing I had somehow managed to break the moon!
Fortunately, the moon recovered, and began having fun.
The moon then decided to start playing with different shapes!
After a good hour of playing in the sky, the moon got tired and decided to lie down in a branch of our fir tree to take a nap
If you want to see more proof that the moon has a playful side, click on any of these pictures, for a full size view (these smaller photos really don't do them justice!), as well as access to more pictures. I even placed them all together in their own little set, called Lunar Whimsy!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Rain In The Boondocks
Any time of year
If you visit here
You'll most likely find...
Clouds and
Rain in the Boondocks
When the sun comes out
Folks don't fear a drought
They know it's close behind...
Refreshing
Rain in the Boondocks
Don't bother waterin' the garden
It's June and so we know
The clouds, they soon will gather
and bring
Rain in the Boondocks
We make the most of the sun
But we know clouds can be fun
Anything goes in our backyard
When there's
Rain in the Boondocks
If for Oregon you're bound
Bring an umbrella along
Grab Galoshes too
'cause there's
Rain in the Boondocks
The air is fresh and clean
I hear the Robin's sing
May as well join in
It's just
Rain in the boondocks
The folks around our town
Laugh and splash their way around
All the puddles to be found
When it's
Rain in the boondocks
As the drops come falling down
Children gather round
Catching drops upon their tongues
Gotta love that
Rain in the boondocks
If you visit here
You'll most likely find...
Clouds and
Rain in the Boondocks
When the sun comes out
Folks don't fear a drought
They know it's close behind...
Refreshing
Rain in the Boondocks
Don't bother waterin' the garden
It's June and so we know
The clouds, they soon will gather
and bring
Rain in the Boondocks
We make the most of the sun
But we know clouds can be fun
Anything goes in our backyard
When there's
Rain in the Boondocks
If for Oregon you're bound
Bring an umbrella along
Grab Galoshes too
'cause there's
Rain in the Boondocks
The air is fresh and clean
I hear the Robin's sing
May as well join in
It's just
Rain in the boondocks
The folks around our town
Laugh and splash their way around
All the puddles to be found
When it's
Rain in the boondocks
As the drops come falling down
Children gather round
Catching drops upon their tongues
Gotta love that
Rain in the boondocks
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Busy In The Boondocks
Nathan had been eying some trees for quite some time now, and asked if he could cut one of them down. Since the trees he was referring to are not native to our region, reproduce at an almost alarming rate, and just happen to be an excellent source of firewood, I answered in the affirmative.
The tree Nathan chose was one of the taller ones. It was still alive but definitely showing signs of age. It was in the process of finishing it's life cycle. It was also surrounded by the offspring, either of itself, or it's neighbors, and so was an excellent choice.
Nathan grabbed the hand saw and set to work. Within about 30 minutes we all heard that satisfying crash and bang of a tree falling through neighboring branches before settling down in it's final resting place. It had lived a good life and was now awaiting it's time of service.
Nathan was quite proud of his newest accomplishment! After all, this was the largest tree he had ever cut down all by himself! Although these trees, dubbed "The Tall Skinny Trees" (as we haven't managed to properly identify them as yet), are not impressive in their diameter, they do grow quite tall!
The seedlings you can see in the forefront are this years growth. They'll probably grow another 2 - 3 feet in the next year.
While Nathan was doing the Paul Bunyan thing, Lindsay busied herself taking care of our latest additions to the Boondock clan.
This is Snowflake and Rusty. Graystripe was off taking a nap, after a busy morning frolicking with her siblings.
After our Summery weather of last week, we've been a bit disappointed to note the cooler weather this week. However, we do rather enjoy firing up the woodstove in the evenings. It just seems more "homey" somehow, listening to the crackling wood inside as we soak in the heat radiating from within. Last night was especially nice, as we were utilizing some of the wood we'd reaped from Nathan's hard work earlier in the day.
Twas a pleasant ending to yet another fun filled, busy day in our little corner of the Boondocks.
The tree Nathan chose was one of the taller ones. It was still alive but definitely showing signs of age. It was in the process of finishing it's life cycle. It was also surrounded by the offspring, either of itself, or it's neighbors, and so was an excellent choice.
Nathan grabbed the hand saw and set to work. Within about 30 minutes we all heard that satisfying crash and bang of a tree falling through neighboring branches before settling down in it's final resting place. It had lived a good life and was now awaiting it's time of service.
Nathan was quite proud of his newest accomplishment! After all, this was the largest tree he had ever cut down all by himself! Although these trees, dubbed "The Tall Skinny Trees" (as we haven't managed to properly identify them as yet), are not impressive in their diameter, they do grow quite tall!
The seedlings you can see in the forefront are this years growth. They'll probably grow another 2 - 3 feet in the next year.
While Nathan was doing the Paul Bunyan thing, Lindsay busied herself taking care of our latest additions to the Boondock clan.
This is Snowflake and Rusty. Graystripe was off taking a nap, after a busy morning frolicking with her siblings.
After our Summery weather of last week, we've been a bit disappointed to note the cooler weather this week. However, we do rather enjoy firing up the woodstove in the evenings. It just seems more "homey" somehow, listening to the crackling wood inside as we soak in the heat radiating from within. Last night was especially nice, as we were utilizing some of the wood we'd reaped from Nathan's hard work earlier in the day.
Twas a pleasant ending to yet another fun filled, busy day in our little corner of the Boondocks.
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