What Do You Do With All The Shells?
Every time I took the kids to the beach this year, we always came home with a bag of shells. Morgan wasn’t too picky about which ones she put in the bag – just about every one was ‘take home’ material.
Gavin and I had a ‘thing’ for beach rocks. We even played catch in the water with them. The downside to that was when you missed catching it, it was hard to find again in the water. Or even worse, it bonked you in the mouth a time or two.
Just before the gang moved to NC, I came up with an idea of what to do with some of the shells. We strung the ones with holes on copper wire to make a mobile of sorts.
I had the kids pose with it not quite finished to record how big they were when we made this.
Then it was my task to figure out how to hang this work of art.
I had the piece of driftwood for probably 20+ years – always reminded me of a dragon. At this point, I can’t even remember where I got it. Seems like I’ve had it most of my life. It hung with the orchids at the farm for years and years.
So I decided to finally put it to work. It turned out pretty nice and is hanging next to my front door.
A reminder of our fun beach days!
One Big Toad
This is one of those bufo toads that get so darn big. They also secrete some kind of nasty poison stuff that you wouldn’t want to lick.
I don’t intend to be licking ANY toads (or frogs either) but I did used to worry about these things being in my barn and my dogs trying to pick them up in their mouths. Dogs aren’t always real smart about things. But I only ever got the smaller garden variety of toads who did their best to keep the bug population in check.
Dinner anyone?
This toad was part of a nature show at Weeki Wachee. We also learned that you don’t get warts from toads or frogs. YAY – just one more thing to quit worrying about….
My Bomb Shelter
Apparently I had a bomb shelter built into my house all these years and didn’t know it. It was disguised as my shower. Look at how thick the concrete was on the walls.
Look how thick this stuff is!
.. the the top of the shower is even thicker – 3″ to be precise. Two guys were working on if for hours today and only got one wall down.
My house was built in 1959. That’s about the time we used to do the ‘duck and cover’ exercises in elementary school during the Cold War. If it wasn’t for the window in that bathroom, it looks like it would have been the perfect bomb shelter… or at least the place to go if a hurricane ever came by.
But, now it’s bye-bye aqua tiles. Time to move into the 21st century.
SuperKitty and Jack
I have a couple of stuffed cats. One of them has a mask and a secret zipped compartment, so it got named ‘SuperKitty’. The other one is named ‘Jack’ probably because I was watching Stargate when Gavin insisted on naming it years ago.
The kids have always like playing with them. The other day, Morgan decided they needed to be fed.
How cute is this?
Gator Wrestling
My idea of gator wrestling is with one about this size.
What do you think he's smiling about?
Yeah Buddy – bring it on!
These critters are scary looking even when they’re little. The best thing to do when confronting an alligator is to make sure you’re with people who you can outrun.
My Favorite Color
When I was a kid, I thought peacock blue was the most beautiful color in the world. And now that I’m a bit older, I have to admit that it’s pretty hard to beat the colors you find on the whole bird.
Mother Nature out-did herself when she painted a peacock!
I Never Roll Out of Bed
Morgan told me last night that she never rolls out of bed. That was right after I said, ‘No’, to her request to leave her cup of water next to her.
How can this be comfy?
I checked on the kids a couple hours after they fell asleep and look who was completely off her bed right where the water cup would have been if Morgan was in charge. I had to take a picture to show her.
She thought it was funny.. Gavin thought it was funnier!
Weeki Wachee Mermaids Still Swimming
We went to Weeki Wachee on Gavin’s birthday. Yup, just what every 6 year old boy wants to do – have a mermaid birthday!
The promise of swimming in the springs that’s now called Buccaneer Bay made up for the show. He liked the turtles and fish that kept swimming around the mermaids the best. Probably when he gets older he’ll be more inclined to look at the mermaids more than the turtles..
Could these possibly be the same mermaids that I saw back in the 60's?
.. or maybe these are the mermaids that were there in the 'good old days'...
That water there is COLD.
But the place still looks like it did the last time I went as a kid.
Which Is Cuter?
Back to that old question: Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all?
Who would win this beauty contest?
If anyone still thinks a squirrel is just a rat with a fluffy tail.. well.. I beg to disagree. Just look at those beady rat eyes and that pointy nose.
The Blurry Cat
Most of the time anyone who visits must think I have one cat and one cat-shaped blur. She’s the one who is running for cover as soon as I get company. So here’s a picture of Twiggy so you can see how cute she is.
Here's what Twiggy looks like when she's sitting still.
What you can’t hear are all the funny noises she makes. Her other name is ‘Chatty Kathy’.