Sick kid and mad beads

The Vile Tummy Virus struck here again. After waking us at 5 am barfing, Isabelle spent the day on the couch sipping juice carefully. I spent the day spraying Lysol carefully and burning all the towels and sheets.

Between the Lysol fumes and tending the flames, I did some beading:


When I saw these cool painted china disc beads, I had to have them. This is a piece I actually made for myself. I love that it turned out exactly like I wanted it to.


Glass flower beads + silver leaf spacers = dangles....that I don't know what to do with.



Ever since I have perfected the art of the wire "swirl", I can't stop incorporating them into stuff.


More swirls...and pretty shell discs. I can't stop myself. It's become an obsession. I have enough pieces to start my own jewelry store.


The birds were pretty quiet today, due to a pair of Cooper's hawks chuck-chucking off in the back woods most of the day. But we had a squirrel.....
Brace yourself for some sweet squirrelly toes and nom-nom-noming:


Zick Dough being put to good use. Julie has BUNNY LIPS...I have squirrel toes. So there.



And I may not have Chet, but I have Nellie. Thinking deep thoughts. Well, probably the only deep thought she has ever had.

Fish, sunflowers, kids and bugs

Today was a day of birthday parties.
First, Geoff and the girls went up to a 2nd cousin's 2nd birthday party, then picked me up and we all went to another birthday party. This one was for Aidan, the oldest child of our friends, Mike and Kim. Aidan is 4 now. Time flies.
And Kim puts me to shame in the "kid's birthday" department.
The theme was The Sea...
She made:

Fish made of pears, blueberries, mandarin oranges and a slice of almond for the fin.

And peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into fish shapes.
And the creme de la creme:

A scuba diver cake. Hershey's Hugs for hair, and candy for the eyes, nose and mouth. Complete with goggles and snorkel.
Good grief.



Their dog, Russell, is recovering from surgery...Aside from a dental procedure, he also had a wart removed from his side, and a benign cyst removed from his penis.
OW.
I am going to let that soak in for a minute.
I'm not a guy, but....DAMN.


While waiting for Geoff to pick me up (my car is broken again. DAMN), I sat in the shade and watched the birds.

I adore chipping sparrows. I don't know if they are all like this, but ours are almost tame...they don't mind when we walk out the door, and we can get closer to them than any other feeder bird.
The sun was making the goldfinches even more golden than usual. They were glowing.




I watered the plants in the front, and enjoyed the fuzzy heads of the past-prime clematis:



Then I turned to our sunflower patch.


This patch started accidentally. This is where the feeders used to be, and during a spell when I really wasn't weeding thoroughly, some sunflowers began to grow. So I put a fence around them so it looks like we did it on purpose.
And now I have a spot of happiness every time I walk out the front door.


I couldn't stop taking pictures of them..they were glowing with the same fire as the goldfinches.

And then I noticed all the bugs that were coming out after the watering...

A stink bug? Assassin bug? Whatever. I treated him with the utmost respect. Because they look like little armored cars full of attitude.



A skipper came to noodle around the flowers...20 times bigger than himself. Don't the flowers look soft enough to sleep on?


This one made my day.
Orange, blue and just a touch of red, a stained glass bug. A bug made of burnt blue steel.
Oh, yeah.

UPDATE:
Junior has gone to his new home in Illinois. I wanted to have one last goodbye, but he was gone before I could get over to RAPTOR. Be a good owl, Junior. They will love you.



Our gray screech owl is in home care right now, due to a foot infection. Our best screech owl for programs...calm, always ready to put up the ear tufts so I can demonstrate how well they blend into tree bark...hope she gets better soon...I have "Harry Potter" programs coming up and they want all of our owls there!

New Blogger, illness, funerals, Boomer, a street I want to live on, Word of the Day

Blogger finally let me switch over to the "new" version. It remains to be seen if it's any better than the old one.

I signed up for a Word of the Day thing, and I will be posting a new word every day,
so we all can learn something.

The Word of the Day:
gadabout \GAD-uh-bout\, noun:
Someone who roams about in search of amusement or social activity.
Use it in a sentence today!





Sweet Boomer...there may be a home for him. I will be shouting it from the rooftops when it happens. Stay tuned.

We don't get grackles at the feeders very often. And when they do show up, it's always in a huge flock. Today, one grackle gave me the eye from one of our feeders. Where are your peeps, dude?

It was COLD today, in the teens in the morning and warming up to a whole 22 degrees! This goldfinch melted my heart...look at his little fluffies sticking out.

Ground feeding birds are interesting to watch. This white-throated sparrow was kicking to get to some seeds, throwing its legs forward and back, like two little shovels.

In our wanderings today, Lorelei and I saw some signs in a neighborhood that praise certain streets for their recycling efforts. Good idea. If people are proud of their accomplishments, and see this sign every day, it might help keep them recycling.

Lorelei and I browsed the settling basin today, but most of the water was frozen. These coots were huddled in an open space about 20 feet across. Behind them, a Canada goose is sitting on the ice.

I want to live on this street.

I broke down and went to the doctor today. This cold (my brother called it the "Creeping Death") and cough have been holding on for too long. Diagnosis: Ear infection, bronchitis and the beginning of pneumonia. Jeepers. No wonder I feel like Hell. And I was out in those temperatures today...I think I will be staying home tomorrow.
So I am on an antibiotic, an inhaler, and the most fun (I wanted to say "funnest" but Geoff would have a conniption) cough syrup in the world: Tussinex. It's an antihistamine mixed with liquid Vicodin. Hello!

More somber things: I will be attending two funerals this week. My parents have a huge circle of friends, some of them gals that my Mom worked with back in the 60's, and some of them are school buddies of my Dad's. The first funeral will be for my Aunt Kay's mom, Gladys. See this post for info on my Aunt Kay: She married my Dad's brother. Gladys had been in decline for years, and I only saw her once a year for the past 10 years. Funny story about Gladys: The "Girls" went on a camping trip with us kids (I was 8 at the time), without the men. When it was close to bedtime, Gladys went around to all of us kids with Dixie cups full of wine (Mogen-David, I think) to knock us out fast so the women could relax. Rock on, Gladys!
The second funeral will be for the mother of one of my Dad's lifelong friends. Charlie's mom, Laverne, was a red-headed fireball who was always smiling and always ready with a helping hand or a funny story. Gentle journey to two wonderful women.