I’m OK except for being up all night. I decided at 4:00 am to start drinking coffee and try to stay up all day. Of course once nap time hits, I don’t know where I’ll go from there. 🙂
That’s a possibility. It was right at the edge of a park and a middle school’s athletic field. An acre or so of ground had been disturbed by some heavy equipment that had been doing some work along a riverbank. However they got there, it was a wonderful surprise.
Hi maryb. I don’t think I ever told you that I finished reading Merry Hall. What a delightful read – I really enjoyed it. I’ve tracked down the other two books, and I’m halfway through the second now. I’m deliberately slowing down so I can savour them.
Oh I’m glad to hear that. The trials and travails and expenses of gardening can be quite entertaining. My whole group of friends enjoyed them and we still joke about “balustrades” (don’t remember which book that came in so you may not have gotten to that yet).
It’s been so long since I’ve read them that maybe I should re-read them.
Lovely poppy up top, SN and yours too, Jim. For me, they are bittersweet, as they always remind me of this poem.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow (1)
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
The brilliant little wild red ones were all in bloom when I was in the Spanish province of Aragon, near Zaragosa in May 1987. An area well worth visiting, BTW. If you go there, make sure to brush up on your Spanish first. Its not a touristy location and that makes it more special, IMHO.
Olivia will be along later this morning with Friday Foto Flogging so save your pictures up. The theme is “Hard and Soft” — kind of like the various spots in my pillow.
Were off to Maryland Sheep and Wool tomorrow…me, the CBs, CBtE’s girlfriend, and my mom. I’m still a little surprised that the boys want to come. CbtY is checking out the angora bunnies, CBtE just wants to spend a day with his girlfriend, and my mom and I want to play with yarn.;) We’re planning a picnic lunch and crabcake sandwiches on the way home.
Actually, I think my weekend is starting today…I have a friend in town, and my work is pretty much finished for the week. And we have dinner plans for tonight with other friends.
There really are sheep there…barns of them. And Sheep and Wool Princesses, and herding dog demonstrations, and goats and rabbits, and yarn, and spinning wheels, and fiber, and lamb burgers, and old-time music, and…need I go on?
And he can take pictures too — he’s very good. And you should tell him he can post pictures at Friday Foto Flogging — doesn’t matter what the theme is.
I looked for similar events in the midwest last year after CG talked about this and as I recall there was a Scottish festival somewhere near you that had sheepherding trials (you know, with cute sheep dogs).
oooh sheep pictures. And crabcake sandwiches. That is the one thing I miss about not living on the East Coast. I only lived there for 2 years and it was 30 years ago but I still miss good crabcakes. Have fun!
The hubby says he has a surprise for me. Apparently he and a friend from work have been trying to locate a barbecue restaurant for me… (from the south and I so miss my pulled pork..) and allegedly they succeeded. I am not to know till this weekend so wish me luck! I might get to eat something so totally not good for me!
I wish I could remember how to post links…I keep looking at the html jargon at the bottom of the page and silently weeping. The hubby has become quite obsessed with this top 50 women over 50 list he found the other day…
Me too. I don’t think there’s going to be any question though that we’ll make it. The biggest problem for me is that all they’ll have to go on are pictures of my feet. 🙂
We just returned home from seeing a great performance by the IU Soul Review.
The kids are full of energy and obviously love what they’re doing. They had people out of their seats dancing through a lot of the show.
That’s tricky without close-up observation…
One of my sisters had a rabbit called Hippy.
Another was called Trampe – which translates to [to] Stomp.
I forgot the name of the current one.
As a long-time rabbit aficionado, I’d suggest that you consider neutering him when the time comes. If only to curb the male rabbit’s tendency to mark everything with the most amazingly durable pee. I swear, rabbit pee soaked newspaper allowed to dry is harder than concrete.
If you haven’t had a “wooler” rabbit before, you’ll need to educate yourself about “wool block”. Essentially it’s the rabbit version of cat furballs – only deadly, as rabbits can’t hack them up. I suggest getting some papain enzyme tablets (sold as diet or digestive aids at health food stores) and feeding him one every month, or one every few weeks when he’s actively shedding. Papain (from papayas) breaks down protein and helps rabbits pass the hair fibers through their gut.
Also, don’t feed commercial pellets. I can’t stress this enough. A study at OSU’s veterinary college (the best source for rabbit info) found that everyone of their angora rabbits eventually died of wool block when fed pelleted feed. Instead, feed grass hay and fresh greens. Alfalfa is too “hot” (too high in nutrients) for rabbits, as is corn or any concentrated food like grains – these should be fed as treats and not part of their everyday diet. “Hot” foods can cause bloat (excess gas, which shuts down digestion, which is also potentially deadly in rabbits). Grass hay, and wild greens make for happy bunny bellies.
I hope I haven’t scared you. But wool breeds do have special requirements.
I’m aware of wool block and i know what you’re supposed to do about it for the most part. The woman who sold him to us said he could eat as much as he wants for a couple months when hes growing and told us the name of a rabbit food (blue seal or something) and i checked and it says the certain type she recommended had like papaya in it so that should help. she also said that she hasnt had a problem with wool block in her bunnies at home. By greens what do u mean? like lettuce? celery?
By greens I mean the ones that we should eat and mostly don’t. Modern commercial lettuces have very little nutritional value and too much water in them for rabbits – which leads to “the runs”. Older-style “bitter” greens like spinach, kale, mustard, dandelion, broccoli, etc. are all great for both rabbits and people. They are naturally high in anti-oxidants, which the plants produced to deter predators, and in animal bodies deter free-radicals. Greens that you might not have heard of, like lambs ears or purslane probably grow wild in your area. If you have a veggie garden you can grow some sort of greens nearly all year long. Also, just about anything that grows wild and isn’t poisonous is fine food for rabbits. Hector eats weeds and leaves from our garden plants. Even gathering hand-fulls of plain old grass is preferable to feeding most pellets.
Wild dandelions are a bunny favorite.
The other advantage of gathering food for your rabbit on a daily basis is that you can tell right away if they’ve started going off their feed – which usually means wool block is starting. If a rabbit cuts back on his pellet intake you might not notice the difference for days.
There are lots of rabbit care sites on the web, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding out what your “local knowledge” is on bunny keeping.
oh and, i forgot to ask, is there any other reason for neutering? i was actually planning on breeding him because he has nice wool and i feel like we should allow him to pass on his genes haha..
By all means keep him intact if you plan to breed him. But if you don’t need him intact, he’ll be less aggressive and probably happier without those pesky hormones. As with most domestic animals, neutering eliminates the potential for reproductive tumors and other sexual organ related health problems.
Obviously, if you have more than one rabbit you’ll have to keep an intact buck separate from any others.
Oh, and intact females are not any better, and sometimes worse, when it comes to aggression. Even if you don’t breed them they often think they are pregnant or have kits and will accordingly defend themselves. When I kept breeders I always had scratch marks on my arms.
So, thanks to the great orange satan (kos) I am very nearly about to make blueberry pancakes. They had a diary over there yesterday about the blueberry industry in Michigan and I just had to have some. Mmmm can’t wait!
that’s what I really miss about our yearly couple of weeks in the Upper Peninsula in August. We would collect gallon jugs of teeny wild blueberries and just plop them in everything from pancakes and muffins to salads. My ex MIL was a nasty old thing but she made the best wild blueberry pie I’ve ever had. The berries were so small it looked like a caviar pie, but those tiny things packed 100x more flavor than the ginormous, tasteless things you find in the grocery store.
I used to go wild blueberry picking in Alaska, and you’re right, the wild ones are miles better than the domestic version. Blueberry muffins, mmmmmmmmm.
I posted a little something to brighten up your BCROD-filled day, Andi. 🙂
Good morning CG,
Are you up early or is this just another normal day?
I’m usually up now, but either busy nipping at CBtY’s heels to get ready for school or too sleepy/uncoordinated to post anything. 🙂
How are you this morning?
I’m OK except for being up all night. I decided at 4:00 am to start drinking coffee and try to stay up all day. Of course once nap time hits, I don’t know where I’ll go from there. 🙂
I bet you’ll be napping furiously later this morning…
I fell asleep at 8:30 last night, and slept until almost 6 this morning. I think CBtY and I are coming d with something.
Yep I have no doubt that on the first nap of the day I’ll probably be out for awhile. 😉
I really hope you and CBtY aren’t coming down with the flu. Is CBtY’s school still going or have they closed for a week?
School’s still going, and I think were just suffering the effects of all the trees blooming…painful, but not deadly. 😉
Hate to see ya’ll in pain, but I’d rather that then the other.
Well I feel a very intense nap coming on.
See ya later.
Pretty Poppy!!
A few years ago a piece of vacant land next to a bike trail I ride on exploded with poppies. They haven’t been as prolific since.
Second Nature takes some nice flower photos, doesn’t she?
The pink ones from your ride are gorgeous too. I wonder what made them so prolific that year.
Yes, she does! 🙂
She certainly does.
Those are excellent pictures Jim.
Would someone have thrown a handful of seeds there?
That’s a possibility. It was right at the edge of a park and a middle school’s athletic field. An acre or so of ground had been disturbed by some heavy equipment that had been doing some work along a riverbank. However they got there, it was a wonderful surprise.
Thanks CG. I put in the middle of the room. 🙂
I’m sure it looks lovely there. 🙂
You really have to work on coming to BCRODs at the other end of the state, though.
If I had any choice in it, they’d all be right in the middle of Canyonlands National Park. 🙂
But at your place wouldn’t be bad either. 🙂
Gotta go get ready. See ya tomorrow (I hope)
Red is always a good accent with beige.
Rain here. Rain yesterday. Rain tomorrow.
Hi maryb. I don’t think I ever told you that I finished reading Merry Hall. What a delightful read – I really enjoyed it. I’ve tracked down the other two books, and I’m halfway through the second now. I’m deliberately slowing down so I can savour them.
Oh I’m glad to hear that. The trials and travails and expenses of gardening can be quite entertaining. My whole group of friends enjoyed them and we still joke about “balustrades” (don’t remember which book that came in so you may not have gotten to that yet).
It’s been so long since I’ve read them that maybe I should re-read them.
Good morning all. Wish I could see those photos. 🙁
Hi boran! Sorry about the pics.
Is it as chilly up by you as it is here? I had to put on a sweater this morning.
Hi CG! It’s cool but not too bad. It will warm a bit later on.
So are you and Andi doing a meetup in Pa?
But it just makes me feel guilty…
Lovely poppy up top, SN and yours too, Jim. For me, they are bittersweet, as they always remind me of this poem.
The brilliant little wild red ones were all in bloom when I was in the Spanish province of Aragon, near Zaragosa in May 1987. An area well worth visiting, BTW. If you go there, make sure to brush up on your Spanish first. Its not a touristy location and that makes it more special, IMHO.
Hi ID … agree w/ you. When we went to France last year I cried when I saw this:
Great minds…;-) and IIRC, the poet was Canadian.
A fitting end for the last day of National Poetry Month.
Olivia will be along later this morning with Friday Foto Flogging so save your pictures up. The theme is “Hard and Soft” — kind of like the various spots in my pillow.
Welcome home! Glad you survived the BCROD and flight home.
It’s Friday-yay!
Howdy. And me, too.
I had a surprisingly easy trip home given all the bad weather that forecast.
You got any fun stuff happening this weekend?
Were off to Maryland Sheep and Wool tomorrow…me, the CBs, CBtE’s girlfriend, and my mom. I’m still a little surprised that the boys want to come. CbtY is checking out the angora bunnies, CBtE just wants to spend a day with his girlfriend, and my mom and I want to play with yarn.;) We’re planning a picnic lunch and crabcake sandwiches on the way home.
Actually, I think my weekend is starting today…I have a friend in town, and my work is pretty much finished for the week. And we have dinner plans for tonight with other friends.
How about you and Jim?
That sounds like a lot of fun — bring you camera and take us some pictures. Are there really sheep there?
Nothing doing here … but I’m happy just to be getting back to the woods (even though there’s nothing but rain forecast for the next week).
There really are sheep there…barns of them. And Sheep and Wool Princesses, and herding dog demonstrations, and goats and rabbits, and yarn, and spinning wheels, and fiber, and lamb burgers, and old-time music, and…need I go on?
No … but you definitely, really, truly, absolutely need to take us some pictures!
I will. I’ll get CBtE to help make sure I don’t miss anything.
And he can take pictures too — he’s very good. And you should tell him he can post pictures at Friday Foto Flogging — doesn’t matter what the theme is.
I looked for similar events in the midwest last year after CG talked about this and as I recall there was a Scottish festival somewhere near you that had sheepherding trials (you know, with cute sheep dogs).
There is one — it’s in Columbus (where Jim teaches). We’ve gone to herding trials. I don’t remember any knitting stuff there though.
There is one — it’s in Columbus (where Jim teaches). We’ve gone to herding trials. I don’t remember any knitting stuff there though.
oooh sheep pictures. And crabcake sandwiches. That is the one thing I miss about not living on the East Coast. I only lived there for 2 years and it was 30 years ago but I still miss good crabcakes. Have fun!
Happy ugly rainy Friday!
Happy, cloudy, breezy, warm Friday to you!
Same here. Rain the last three days. Rain into the weekend. Grass is really green but that’s about all that I can say for it.
Add me to the rain, gloomy list … though, the winds are warm and all the rain is helping w/ the greening up.
Hmm…let’s see…
The hubby says he has a surprise for me. Apparently he and a friend from work have been trying to locate a barbecue restaurant for me… (from the south and I so miss my pulled pork..) and allegedly they succeeded. I am not to know till this weekend so wish me luck! I might get to eat something so totally not good for me!
I wish I could remember how to post links…I keep looking at the html jargon at the bottom of the page and silently weeping. The hubby has become quite obsessed with this top 50 women over 50 list he found the other day…
Hey there … posting links …
< a href=”http:// pasted here …” > title here < /a >
Remove the spaces on each side of the angle brackets < > and preview …
thanks for the tip! here’s to practicing now…!
50 sexiest women over 50
Hmmph! I looked at the list and I.Am.Not.On.It. ;P
I looked at the list as well, out of purely intellectual curiosity.
Good night all. Enjoy your Saturday.
And that’s what Imogen told you too, right? 😉
Night.
Well, I’m not actually 50 yet, but I’m shooting for making the list next year.
I’ve already got your name on the name nominating list.
Me too. I don’t think there’s going to be any question though that we’ll make it. The biggest problem for me is that all they’ll have to go on are pictures of my feet. 🙂
lol
How about The 50 Sexiest Women Of The Froggy Bottom Cafe? (Of course we’ll have to give the men equal time, you understand).
I know, I know, Manee will get top billing;-)
mrawr yeah he would!
Woah! Jennifer Tilly is over 50? How could that be?
Darn, I’ll have to wait like 20 or 30 years to get on the men’s list.
I’m sure the small matter of age can be easily dealt with, since I know they will insist that Manee be allowed on it;-)
Well, I know for a fact that Mary can be influenced with M&Ms.
That’s a weakness of mine as well.
You shouldn’t give away your advantage, but yes I can. 🙂
We just returned home from seeing a great performance by the IU Soul Review.
The kids are full of energy and obviously love what they’re doing. They had people out of their seats dancing through a lot of the show.
What a good time that sounds. But you didn’t say … did you dance?
Yes, but only in our seats.
Lily had her first day of puppy school today, along with her brother Neo. This was recess. Neo’s the clean one.
Very cute.
We have a new family member here this morning…he came home from the Sheep and Wool with us yesterday. 🙂
Well you can let that sentence stand without more info … and a picture (well, depending on exactly what it was that came home with you).
Just seeing if you all are awake this morning…I’ll have to get the proud parent to pose with his little guy this morning.
CBtY’s baby:
That’s a cutie!
Has CBtY named the little critter yet?
Not yet. He’s trying to come up with the perfect name. Any suggestions?
That’s tricky without close-up observation…
One of my sisters had a rabbit called Hippy.
Another was called Trampe – which translates to [to] Stomp.
I forgot the name of the current one.
awwwwww.
He is quite the litle ball of cuteness.
First a new bunny … then a new BIG puppy …
I can see it now.
How is he adjusting to his new doggy friends?
Oh, I’m in love. And it looks like Hector is going to have some competition.
Given where you got him I’m assuming he’s a wool breed, i.e. an Angora.
French or English (I’ve ruled out German Giants because they are usually white)?
I had an entire rabbitry of French angoras many years ago – back when I used to spin. My favorite black buck was named Onyx.
It’s a french angora.
I thought as much. Is “it” a boy or a girl? If you don’t know I can tell you how, with only a small amount of undignified prodding, to figure it out.
it’s a boy… i kind of realized after i posted it that i should have said he instead of it.
As a long-time rabbit aficionado, I’d suggest that you consider neutering him when the time comes. If only to curb the male rabbit’s tendency to mark everything with the most amazingly durable pee. I swear, rabbit pee soaked newspaper allowed to dry is harder than concrete.
If you haven’t had a “wooler” rabbit before, you’ll need to educate yourself about “wool block”. Essentially it’s the rabbit version of cat furballs – only deadly, as rabbits can’t hack them up. I suggest getting some papain enzyme tablets (sold as diet or digestive aids at health food stores) and feeding him one every month, or one every few weeks when he’s actively shedding. Papain (from papayas) breaks down protein and helps rabbits pass the hair fibers through their gut.
Also, don’t feed commercial pellets. I can’t stress this enough. A study at OSU’s veterinary college (the best source for rabbit info) found that everyone of their angora rabbits eventually died of wool block when fed pelleted feed. Instead, feed grass hay and fresh greens. Alfalfa is too “hot” (too high in nutrients) for rabbits, as is corn or any concentrated food like grains – these should be fed as treats and not part of their everyday diet. “Hot” foods can cause bloat (excess gas, which shuts down digestion, which is also potentially deadly in rabbits). Grass hay, and wild greens make for happy bunny bellies.
I hope I haven’t scared you. But wool breeds do have special requirements.
Keep us updated, with plenty of photos of course.
I’m aware of wool block and i know what you’re supposed to do about it for the most part. The woman who sold him to us said he could eat as much as he wants for a couple months when hes growing and told us the name of a rabbit food (blue seal or something) and i checked and it says the certain type she recommended had like papaya in it so that should help. she also said that she hasnt had a problem with wool block in her bunnies at home. By greens what do u mean? like lettuce? celery?
thanks for the help and info.
By greens I mean the ones that we should eat and mostly don’t. Modern commercial lettuces have very little nutritional value and too much water in them for rabbits – which leads to “the runs”. Older-style “bitter” greens like spinach, kale, mustard, dandelion, broccoli, etc. are all great for both rabbits and people. They are naturally high in anti-oxidants, which the plants produced to deter predators, and in animal bodies deter free-radicals. Greens that you might not have heard of, like lambs ears or purslane probably grow wild in your area. If you have a veggie garden you can grow some sort of greens nearly all year long. Also, just about anything that grows wild and isn’t poisonous is fine food for rabbits. Hector eats weeds and leaves from our garden plants. Even gathering hand-fulls of plain old grass is preferable to feeding most pellets.
Wild dandelions are a bunny favorite.
The other advantage of gathering food for your rabbit on a daily basis is that you can tell right away if they’ve started going off their feed – which usually means wool block is starting. If a rabbit cuts back on his pellet intake you might not notice the difference for days.
There are lots of rabbit care sites on the web, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding out what your “local knowledge” is on bunny keeping.
oh and, i forgot to ask, is there any other reason for neutering? i was actually planning on breeding him because he has nice wool and i feel like we should allow him to pass on his genes haha..
By all means keep him intact if you plan to breed him. But if you don’t need him intact, he’ll be less aggressive and probably happier without those pesky hormones. As with most domestic animals, neutering eliminates the potential for reproductive tumors and other sexual organ related health problems.
Obviously, if you have more than one rabbit you’ll have to keep an intact buck separate from any others.
Oh, and intact females are not any better, and sometimes worse, when it comes to aggression. Even if you don’t breed them they often think they are pregnant or have kits and will accordingly defend themselves. When I kept breeders I always had scratch marks on my arms.
Ohhhhhhhh … too cute!
It looks like an updated version of the Trouble with Tribbles.
I had 2 boys spend the afternoon with the principal on Friday for that same recess activity.
I hate it when kids bite.
So, thanks to the great orange satan (kos) I am very nearly about to make blueberry pancakes. They had a diary over there yesterday about the blueberry industry in Michigan and I just had to have some. Mmmm can’t wait!
It’s pretty cruel to mention having something yummy and then not offer to share with everybody. 🙁
that’s what I really miss about our yearly couple of weeks in the Upper Peninsula in August. We would collect gallon jugs of teeny wild blueberries and just plop them in everything from pancakes and muffins to salads. My ex MIL was a nasty old thing but she made the best wild blueberry pie I’ve ever had. The berries were so small it looked like a caviar pie, but those tiny things packed 100x more flavor than the ginormous, tasteless things you find in the grocery store.
I used to go wild blueberry picking in Alaska, and you’re right, the wild ones are miles better than the domestic version. Blueberry muffins, mmmmmmmmm.
LOL, I read that same diary and picked up a bag of wild blueberries today too. 🙂
Good morning everybody. What could be better than a sunny Sunday morning that includes a visit from the old dude and a very adorable new dude.
Not to mention other yummies. My self-discipline just up and flew out the window.
Good morning, everyone!
curly went for a walk in the Conservancy Garden last night.
That’s really pretty. I love walking in gardens.
ask – those are gorgeous. What a lovely place.
Good morning all. Drizzling here (again) but I did manage to finish the lawn. Now I’ve got to clear my head/nose from the allergy aftereffects.
You’ve been getting a lot of rain and cool weather it seems!
I’ve been looking for clips of this show ever since someone told me about a cartoon series that featured a Pyrenean Mountain Dog named Belle.
It’s going seriously and determinedly green. 🙂
click for larger
Perfect for a new cafe!