SkyWatch Friday: "Harvest Moonday" Hike, Early Snow

It's been a week of many seasons - Monday and Tuesday were definitely summer, with highs of 90ºF. Most nights and early mornings recently have had the chill of Autumn to them, and Wednesday was a chilly, rainy, Fallish day. Wednesday night and Thursday we were under a Winter Storm Warning and it snowed several inches (14" in our neighboring, higher elevation town of Story and up to 18" in parts of the Big Horns). Though we didn't get nearly that much (about 4" at our house), by early this morning our temp had dropped to 19ºF.

But let's begin with the summery weather and Harvest Moon of Monday, before the flowers, trees and shrubs were dealt such a cruel blow that also likely annihilated our chances for fall foliage.

Monday morning, before it got too hot, we loaded up the dogs and took them walking on a new extension of the wonderful Sheridan Pathways system (on the attached map, it's the red and black path near the bottom right, running between the yellow and purple signal light symbols). This part of the path leaves very busy Brundage Avenue and as it heads toward Sheridan College it takes you into a different world… one of trees and marshes and birdsong and tranquility. And shade - which was our chief objective on such a warm, sunny morning!

Here are BW, Willow and Josie crossing one of two handsome footbridges that cross the marshy stream meandering through this area...

Once over the footbridge (you can just see it in the bottom right of this next photo) and out of the trees and into the meadows, you get to enjoy this beautiful view of the soon-to-be-snowcapped Big Horn Mountains (if you know where to look, you can even see the road that led to our old house on its way over the mountains!)…

Look at that clear blue cloudless sky!

Oops, I spoke too soon. Startin' to cloud up. :-)

And you thought I was joking about it clouding up, didn't you? ;-)

Here's Willow enjoying a rest in the shade back at the trailhead after our walk. Notice her leg draped elegantly over my foot, her way of keeping me from wandering off! :-) …

She was intently watching BW deploy our wonderful PetLoader, which Tess demonstrates...

That night, of course, unveiled the full Harvest Moon, seen here rising over the dry hills to our east...

Rarely satisfied with how my moon closeups turn out, I decided to have some fun and make this one a little funkadelic….

And now for a too-soon taste of things to come, the wintery scene from our patio yesterday…

We covered our front flowerbed Wednesday night, but could do nothing for our large rose bush except pluck this last beautiful, fragrant bloom and bring it inside to enjoy for a while. The bergamot on the right had already broken off when I went out at 5:30am to knock the snow off the trees and shrubs, so I brought it in, too. I think the rose looks sad, and doubt the reassurance that our temps will return to the 80's early next week offers much consolation…

Wishing you a week of lovely skies! 

We'll be spending it in Big Sky Country (Montana) with our dogs and camper! 

Soil & Toil & Flora & Fauna :-)

Wonder of wonder and miracle of miracles - BW was offered Friday off, a huge surprise - and accepted it, which wasn't! :-) We've been wanting to get our backyard herb garden planted, and knew we had a very narrow window of opportunity before several days of significant rain moved in. So Friday morning BW spent two hours prepping the bed with a pickax and some amended soil, and then we spent most of the rest of the day visiting three different greenhouses to buy some drip irrigation supplies, fencing, and plants.

Bright and early yesterday morning, we started designing and planting it (sometimes in the rain that came earlier than forecast), and by lunchtime we had this little herb and flower garden under our kitchen nook windows...

Willow wants you to know that she and her sisters "helped." :-)

We bought a really pretty solar-lit, painted glass birdbath on sale last fall, and it was supposed to go beneath the middle awning window and be the centerpiece of our herb garden. Alas, its metal stand has a defect that makes it too wobbly to trust, so BW plans to take it to an automotive repair shop to see if they can repair the flaw. *sigh* Meanwhile... we planted red and purple columbine, lavender, marigolds, thyme, rosemary, spearmint, cilantro, three varieties of basil, and two varieties of peppers. The "Yorkshire Scroll" fencing came from Home Depot and the recycled rubber stepping "stones" from Gardener's Supply (sorry they got so muddy during our planting frenzy, you'll see on the web site how pretty they are when they're clean!)... 

Unhappy Update, 5/24: After 24 hours of 40mph sustained winds and gusts of 60 since the middle of Wednesday night, our new herb and flower garden, not even a week old, is a near total loss. Even some of the sturdy little marigolds were broken and wind-blasted, and the columbine, herbs and pepper plants never stood a chance. It's very frustrating because it's in the one area that should have been protected from our usual N/NW winds, and therefore the one place we can enjoy flowers! But this time the wind came from the E/SE instead. Our potted flowers didn't fare much better, since those winds - which had not been predicted - came up suddenly in the middle of the night. I know I shouldn't complain - at least it wasn't a tornado! - but to see all that time and effort and money and prettiness go down the drain after only four days of enjoyment is a bit hard to take without feeling pissed off. In somewhat happier news, BW was able to fix the birdbath (I'd brought the glass bowl indoors the evening before the wind blew so badly, so at least it wasn't smashed to smithereens!), and though they were violently blown around, I think most of our other plantings made it through (can't say the same about our mulch, though!) And at least we haven't planted the front flowerbed yet - but I think we'd better go with boulders and tree stumps, the only things that can stand up to Wyoming's #@$% winds!

We've also been planting flowers in our flower pots during the past couple of weeks, so while I was in the back yard with my camera I decided to photograph some on the patio to share with you. But Tess thought the photo would be much more interesting if she walked through it as I took it (one of her methods of "helping," the others being to sniff and lick everything you're working with, and/or to sit on it and demand lovin's. Also to lick your face suddenly while you're working at dog-tongue level)...

There's no rest for the wicked, especially when racing the weather. The rains had stopped for a few hours, but were clearly intending to start in again just as soon as they felt like it, so after a quick lunch break we took turns mowing and trimming the back yard. I'd just mowed it on Wednesday, but it's clear that it's going to need it twice a week, especially this time of year when it grows so fast, because that yard is too beastly hard to mow with the reel mower when the fescue gets so long and thick. This time it was much easier, especially with BW at home to share in the fun! :-)

We were delighted when our Greenspire Linden finally leafed out last week, after stubbornly (but perhaps wisely) clenching his little bud fists since late March!

We had another brief break in the weather last evening, when we even got to see the sun for the first time all day. So we took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood and I took my camera along, because on a walk the day before I'd spied this beautiful Purple Leaf Sand Cherry in bloom down the street. There are several in our neighborhood, but this one is huge and by far the most beautiful. I reduced my many photos of it down to three (based largely on their lovely backgrounds of "blossom bokeh!"), but then could cull no further. But maybe you can narrow these down to a single favorite...

Willow, who'd promised her fan club a photo (to make up for her "bad hair day" refusal to be photographed for this SkyWatch post), found that a day filled with "helping" in the garden, watching Mom and Dad mow, and then going for a walk and having to wait while Mom took 14,593 photos of some smelly branches, just too exhausting for words...

:-)

Today is rainy and windy and cozy, and we'll be spending much of it in the garage, sorting through and pricing more stuff for our huge upcoming yard sale in three weeks. But after that, it's BW's famous homemade vegan pizza and a movie! :-) Here's hoping your weekend is being a perfect mix of productive and relaxing! 

Boston's pain and the comfort of furry faces

My original plan for today's post was to share some recent photos of our furry-faced family members. But in light of yesterday's tragic events, I first want to say...

My favorite city for as long as I can remember, Boston holds many fond memories for me, and like so many I am broken-hearted at yesterday's awful news. Such brutal acts of violence defy understanding. When I composed my profile on Care2 many years ago, one of the things I listed under their What Scares Me heading was, "Humanity's capacity for brutality," while under the adjacent heading Inspirations, I listed "Humanity's capacity for kindness." That we're so capable of the latter, but too often choose the former, is both frustrating and tragic to me and to anyone who longs and strives to live in a nonviolent world. But although both traits were on full display in Boston yesterday, the vast majority of people were clearly acting on, demonstrating, and inspiring us with their courage and compassion. So while we grieve and try - yet again - to make some sense of the senseless, I think it's important to remember and focus on that. Because Mr. Rogers' mom was right...

(image via Vegans of Instagram)

Very true. (Now if only our species would stop creating so much need for so many helpers!)

☮♥☮♥☮

I find few things as reassuring and full of love as a furry face, so here's my original post, composed at first to entertain but now also offered as a source of comfort to anyone who feels the same...

I've been remiss in posting photos of our canine kids lately, but not because I haven't been taking any. With faces like these, how could I not? :-) I've actually had this post ready to go for a while, except for Josie holding up the show. She's very photogenic, but as soon as the camera appears, Josie does the opposite. But if you're going to be a "wildlife" photographer, you have to be persistent (e.g. more stubborn even than Josie), and finally - for a few brief moments Saturday morning - it paid off. Here's Josie's "I want to be alone" Greta Garbo pose...

Tessa has a face that's made for closeups. Which is a good thing, because the instant the camera is pointed at her, she comes up and sticks her big schnozzle right in it...

After a week of lovely weather, long walks and basking on the patio, I'd just told her that a winter storm was coming the next day. This is her "That totally sucks, dude" expression. 

And here are the two goobers together at the back door, with Josie contemplating making a break for it (which she did right after I snapped this), and Tessa wondering what's going on in the kitchen behind me and what might be in it for her...

This is how our much-easier-to-photograph Willow usually looks: completely sacked out on her bed in the kitchen nook...

.....Zzzzzz.....

Until one of us begins a food-related activity in the kitchen. Then BOOM! She's on instant Full Alert and ready for snarfing action...

This time it was BW cutting up sweet potatoes. Willow luuuuuvs sweet potatoes!

This was the first practice photo I took with my new Rebel...

I put this pretty frame around it using Photobucket's fun editing tools, 

most of which are no longer available since their web site "improvements." Gah.

Holiday House Tour, Part 2 (the kitchen)

It feels like I posted Part 1 of our new house tour a year ago! ;-) Sorry for the delay on Part 2; I took these photos in December while the house was decorated and had hoped to post it by New Year's weekend, but things conspired to send my good intentions down the loo, and this post took even longer to put together than the last one despite being primarily limited to just one room! But it is, after all, the heart of the home so far be it from me to be a total slacker with this post. 

So, picking up pretty much where we left off, here are a couple of views from the kitchen into the living room/dining room area. We redesigned the kitchen island, in the foreground, from the small, odd and inefficient "space module" island in the original floor plan...

See Part 1 for info/links for the paint colors, hardwood floors, fireplace, art piece, windows, etc. As with that post, I'm sharing links to some of the products used in our house, and this time some links to a few favorite "accessories" as well! :-) (As I mentioned in part 1, we shopped around and hit a lot of great sales, special offers, or got items through our builder and/or subs, so the prices currently listed on these web sites are usually far higher than what we paid). 

Ceiling fan: Hampton Bay "Farmington" 52" in Tarnished Bronze from Home Depot

Watering can: Behrens 1/2 gallon copper embossed from Amazon.com

The drawer beneath the sink is a tip-out, stainless-lined storage tray. I'd never had one before and I LOVE it! It's so nice to have sponges, etc off the counter and out of sight.

The dishwasher is so quiet, I usually have to look at the light panel to know if it's running!

Faucet: Delta "Leland" Single Handle Water Efficient Pull-Down
Dishwasher: Bosch Ascenta Series in stainless steel

This photo, though not my favorite since it looks like I took it on the deck of a listing ship, does the best job of showing the majority of the kitchen and nook. The pantry door is on the left, the door to the garage (which the floor plan lacked and we added) is straight ahead, and the French door to the patio on the right. The garage door leads to the "3rd car/storage area" portion of the garage, which in our family's case is our dogs' heated kennel with a dog door to the back yard.

A better, though smaller, photo of the same area...

Kitchen Island pendant light: Royce "Essex" mini pendant from Lighting Direct

You can just see Willow peeking through the patio door. The dogs love to peer at us, Snoopy Vulture-like, through that door and low awning windows when they're outside. :-)

The oak wardrobe is an antique from England, purchased from an antique dealer in Dallas right after we got married. Moving it is always a bit traumatic, and it always gets pride of place in our home. Here's a closeup of the basket of grape lights, which some of you may remember I bought as a housewarming present to myself when we sold our house and moved into Dragonfly Cottage. :-)

Wall color: Sherwin Williams "Kilim Beige" SW-6106

Ceiling Color: "Divine White" SW-6105

Trim color: "Pure White" SW-7005

Tile floor: Daltile Fidenza 18"x18" in "Cafe"

Grape Lights: Wine Lovers Purple Grape Christmas Lights from Amazon.com

We were able to get this tile less expensively at a local flooring store than at Home Depot. We used the same tile in our front entry, but in the 12x12" size.

We chose epoxy grout for all the tiled surfaces in the house except the kitchen backsplash and are very glad we went to the additional expense, especially in the kitchen. We just had no luck sealing and/or cleaning regular grout in our old house. Epoxy grout needs no sealing and wipes clean with water - even when it's taken a hit with pomegranate juice! :-) And since we had an excellent professional install all the tile, he had no trouble with the challenges of working with epoxy.

We had some difficulty choosing a kitchen countertop surface that worked with our budget and our criteria for looks, durability and ease of maintenance, sustainability, and future home resale. BW really liked soapstone (far too expensive, and I didn't want gray countertops), while my first choice was recycled glass - I had my heart set on Vetrazzo - but that proved difficult to find in our area, and cost-prohibitive when we finally located some in Montana. After researching and eliminating other possibilities, it came down to a choice between granite and quartz. After studying several articles and helpful tools, including these...

Quartz vs Granite countertops 

Kitchen Countertops 101: Choosing a Surface Material

Quartz Kitchen Countertops: Harder and Cheaper than Granite

Countertop Review comparison chart

...and shopping around at our local building supply/design stores and comparing countertop samples to our chosen cabinet colors, we'd pretty much decided on quartz, preferring the look, available colors and ease of maintenance. Then the decision was virtually made for us when we learned that one of our two top quartz choices had been substantially marked down due to "inventory overstock" at one of the local countertop fabricators. The fabricator we'd chosen (he was far less expensive and came highly recommended by our builder) was willing to match the sale price, and the deal was done. We're happy with our choice with one exception: quartz slabs are smaller than most granite slabs, so we have an extra seam. And though our installer did a good job (well, not at first - we had him come back and vastly improve one of them), seams still show, especially when the sunlight hits them. I don't know that we would have made a different decision knowing this, but the deed is done, we love the look and ease of the quartz - and we more or less came within our builder's paltry countertop allowance for the entire house. (We did end up with granite in the guest bath when we got a killer deal on a beautiful remnant that went perfectly with our chosen tile and vanity colors!)

Countertops: LG Viatera Quartz "Tenerife"

Here's a closeup of the plaque over the pantry door. Can't remember where we bought it years ago, but have seen them for sale in various places since.

Our kitchen cabinets were the first thing we chose, figuring we could more easily match flooring tile and countertops to the cabinets than vice versa. Given that this was one of the bigger expenses in the home, we once again did our homework first:

JD Power's Kitchen Cabinet Satisfaction Study (2011)

Kitchen Cabinet Reviews

Consumer Reports Kitchen Cabinet Buying Guide

These were helpful, though once again our budget, product availability, looks and features were also key to our decision. And once again we shopped around - at Home Depot and two local kitchen design places, one of which dropped the ball and never bothered to give us a bid. In the end, Home Depot's prices and features on our choice of Kraftmaid cherry cabinets could not be beat (and then we ended up lucking into a great sale on top of the already better pricing and free features!) And we adored our designer, Rachel, who moved to Virginia when her fiance was transferred there just as our project finished! We were incredibly lucky to work with her, and she was as delightful as she was skilled. Kitchen design would have been pretty stressful otherwise.

The cabinet color and style were surprisingly easy choices since we knew we wanted a warm, rich color (we went with cherry with a stain color called "Chocolate," so I love to tell people I have a kitchen made with chocolate covered cherry!), and a simple Shaker style to go with our Craftsman home. 

Then the hard part started.* Veneer vs solid center panels (the awesome sale was for the veneer, so that decision was made for us), glaze (no, it costs 10-15% more and I don't like how it looks on Shaker style doors), drawer fronts (we went with slab, which we preferred and was standard so didn't cost extra at the time, but now it does), soft-close (oh yeah, on every cabinet door and drawer in this house! It was one of the free features with these cabinets), full extension drawers (highly recommended!), the Lazy Susan style (we chose an upgrade; "Easy Reach" with wood shelves, no center pole), full or partial overlay (ours our full), how many roll-outs (we have four, including two huge ones beside the range where we store our skillets, pots & pans and casserole dishes - and they're so handy we still wish we had a couple more... but there's always the after-market!), all the other available features like cutlery trays (we passed on most of them), and of course the cabinet sizing and placement. Rachel did a great job helping us with placement (and was invaluable in helping us redesign our island), and we love the layout of our kitchen, which is very efficient and user-friendly. Where we goofed a bit was in the cabinet height. We wanted the end and corner cabinets to reach the 9' ceiling (for complicated carpentry reasons, they don't quite reach it) and the others to be a foot shorter so I could put crocks and baskets up there. We even had the electrician install a couple of outlets above the cabinets so I could put little white lights among the greenery in the baskets. What we failed to take into account was the 4" tall crown molding - there'd be room for my baskets up there, but only if I could fold them flat first to squeeze them between the molding and the ceiling! Oh well, now we're thinking of putting LED rope lights and artificial grapevines up there instead - just haven't had time to make it happen yet.

*This is handy stuff to know when shopping for kitchen cabinets!

Kitchen cabinets: Kraftmaid "Layton" in Cherry with "Chocolate" stain, purchased through Home Depot.

See our pizza stone inside? :-) Can't live without that baby!

(I don't recall the brand of ours, but it's similar to this one)

We were also somewhat challenged by our decision on appliance colors. I'm fond of white appliances and love the fun, playful colors offered by companies like Big Chill, Smeg and Aga - but none of those were going to work in this Arts & Crafts, Tuscan-themed, earthy kitchen (or within our budget!) What would work was black or stainless steel. Not a big fan of stainless steel - I think it's an overdone trend that may be close to playing out, especially given the extra maintenance required to keep smudges at bay, and the "commercial kitchen" look is really not my style. But it's still considered high-end, and around here at least (Wyoming is usually about a decade behind any current fashion), it's still very popular. So again, with resale in mind, we felt compelled to consider it. I refused, however, to have a stainless fridge. Polishing the one in Dragonfly Cottage was a royal pain in the arse, but the real deal killer was the fact my magnet collection wouldn't stick to it! :-) So we chose a black fridge... and, hedging our bets, a combination of black and stainless for our other appliances. Again, we hit a great sale - the President's Day sale at Sears combined with additional savings on Bosch appliances. We wanted to get the microwave in black, but conditions of the sale required we buy the stainless one. I actually like our stainless dishwasher, which matches our sink and faucet nicely, but I really love our range. This was one of our splurges - we wanted dual fuel and were willing to pay the extra $ for it, and have no regrets. We love cooking on gas burners and having the consistent results and zero hassle of an electric oven. This range has been awesome, and we like its looks, too! (The microwave is just okay).

Range: Bosch dual fuel gas range 

Microwave: Bosch Microhood

We ordered the corner cabinet doors without glass, since it was substantially cheaper to have our local glass place cut pieces of glass to fit them. We chose seeded glass for a vintage look you can easily see through. 

The backsplash appears to have a greenish tint to it on my computer monitor, but in real life it's a very neutral off-white that matches some of the quartz in the countertop. Nothing fancy, but we like the clean and simple look.

Here's a closeup of the stained glass rooster light; again, I can't remember where we bought it years ago, and unlike the "Vive Bene" plaque, I've never seen one exactly like it since!

Cabinet Hardware: Liberty Sisal Pull in flat black

Backsplash: Daltile Briton 6"x6" Field Tile in "Bone"

LED Under Cabinet Lighting: Model UCB Double Row LED from Broadwax (top item in third section from top)

LED puck lights in corner cabinet: Maxim Light Disc Starter Kit from Lighting Direct

This guide was a very handy resource when buying LED lights, especially since we prefer "warm" light temperatures...

LED Light Bulb Color Temperature Explained

The kitchen viewed from the nook

Since there are just the two of us and we have an additional refrigerator in the garage (the original Jenn-Aire that came with our Big Horn house that we bought in 1991, can you believe that?), we bought a small fridge but had the space for it constructed so that with the easy removal of a spacer trim piece, a larger one can fit there.

Mixer: KitchenAid Artisan 5-qt in Cinnamon Gloss from Amazon.com

Blender: Waring Professional Bar Blender in Chili Pepper Red from Amazon.com (purchased 10 years ago next month and still going strong!)

This photo is payback for Ellie C (aka Elephant's Child!) :-) Not the most focused photo, and the glare from the nook windows or flash is giving me fits - but I have an idea so will keep trying and will replace it if/when I get a better one...

The magnet collection: a big reason our fridge isn't stainless steel! :-)

Refrigerator: Whirlpool Gold 22 cu. ft. Resource Saver™ Bottom Freezer

And here is the nook viewed from the kitchen. The cupboard on the left is one of these 

(only we went with a single, since we have our recycling containers in the garage). 

Bookstand: ORE International 3-tier metal book rack from Amazon

Since our pub table is taking the place of a dining room set for now, Willow has commandeered the nook with her bed and water bowl (Tess and Josie love their big garage kennel, but want nothing to do with coming in the house!) The nook is a strategic spot that's perfect for being first in line for handouts of her favorite from-the-kitchen treats: raw red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and carrots! 

Spoiled rotten? You betcha! Wouldn't have it any other way. :-)

Dog: One-in-a-million border colllie/collie mix adopted from local shelter. Highly recommended. :-)

These days she's also having to share "her" nook with two enormous house plants that we're babysitting for our next door neighbors while they're on a four month cruise. One of our benches had to go elsewhere to make room. (Now I just hope I don't kill the poor dears - one of them is 30 years old!)

Another photo I've shared before but that feels appropriate to share again here: our nook light. The one light fixture I intend to take with us when we move!...

"Maple Jewel" Tiffany-Style Pendant Light from Lighting Direct

The final part of the house tour (it certainly won't be a "holiday" one anymore, unless I don't get around to posting it till next December!) will be the upstairs, but I honestly don't know when that might be. Some of it is still a work in progress.

Thanks for coming over for another tour! As your reward, here's a treat...

Applesauce Ginger Cake with Maple Glaze

Or as we call it, Gingersnap Cake - because duh, it tastes just like gingersnaps!  :-) I made this for the first time this weekend and we devoured it (before I even thought to take photos, but no matter since Susan's pictures are better than any I'd have taken anyway). I made no changes to the recipe, just used sucanat for the sugar (as usual), which was a perfect sweetener for this cake. I intend to make it again soon, and this time will reduce the amount of sucanat to 3/4 cup, since the cake was sweeter than we're used to. But so moist and yummy! Bon appétit! :-) (Update: It's perfect with the sucanat reduced to 3/4 cup!)

Willow (& other sweets!) :-)

Yesterday was snowy, windy and, as one would expect with snow and wind, cold. Perfect day for baking, which is what I'd planned to do regardless of the weather. I baked a batch of Cranberry-Orange muffins and Hearty-Spiced Cocoa muffins to send to my mom for Christmas, and dole out to a couple of friends (and yes, snarf ourselves!) :-) For Mom, I make the Hearty Spiced Cocoa muffins in a peppermint version by leaving out the cayenne and adding a teaspoon of peppermint extract (I used Watkins brand in this batch, which is pretty mild. In fact, I probably could have added more. Don't know that I'd be that generous with it if I were using a stronger flavored extract).

See the top of Tessa's head? She's peeking through the patio door to the right!

In addition to being spied on by Tess, I was kept company by two of my favorite people: BW, who was offered the day off (a huge surprise for a UPS man at this time of year and he by-golly took it, having worked very long and grueling hours since Thanksgiving and knowing that this is a lull before the real storm ahead), and precious Willow, who is recovering from having a broken, abscessed tooth extracted and a lump removed last Wednesday...

She didn't feel very good that first evening, but has since recovered fully, starting with her always-robust appetite! She's been enjoying lots of pumpkin mixed with her kibble to soften it, and one of her favorite treats - raw red cabbage! :-) But despite her longing looks, she got no muffins (and was unimpressed by my warnings that chocolate is toxic to dogs!) 

Meanwhile, we await the results of her biopsy, which we should get this week. What our vet diagnosed as a small cyst on the lower side of her face in late May had grown to twice its original size, and our vet now thinks it's a soft-tissue sarcoma. :-( We're hoping, of course, that she's wrong and it's benign, but if it turns out she's right we're hoping she was able to get it all. It's been hard impossible not to worry, but I'm trying to think positive and distract myself by doing things like bake muffins and blog. Your positive thoughts are also appreciated! I'd send you a batch of muffins too, if I could, but this wee gift will have to suffice instead :-) ...

Just print, clip, and show to your parent, spouse or parole officer. LOL

UPDATE: O happy day! We just got the results of Willow's biopsy, and her mass was a benign trichoblastoma, a tumor of the hair follicle, and the surgery got it completely and is considered curative! Yay! Thank you all for your positive thoughts and well-wishes, Willow and we appreciate them very much! :-) 

SkyWatching Critters

Most of my critter friends enjoy a little Skywatching! :-)

Dogs...

Josie

Willow

Tessa

Deer...

Punky

Bucky

Chipmunks...

(identity protected by the Witness Protection Program:

Birdfeeder Theft Division)

And husbands...

:-)

Please...

And enjoy skywatching with some critter friends of your own!