Wildlife on the Island

Upon check-in at our hotel, the lady at the counter informed us of some beach rules.  This time of year is sea turtle nesting, and anything left on the beach might get in their way.  We didn't see any sea turtles though.

This is a gopher tortoise having lunch by the pool.  There were traffic signs all over the island for "gopher tortoise crossing."

Mom was good at spotting manatees in the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  We saw two while we were there, but this smaller one was the only one present when I had my camera.

I snapped this osprey one evening during a walk on the beach.

Sanibel Island, Florida

Mom and I recently returned from a vacation to Sanibel Island, FL.  We had heard that it was one of the top shelling destinations in the world.  This place sure lived up to the hype.  We soon discovered that June is not the peak time, as you can tell from the oh-so-crowded beach in the photo below.  The water was beautiful and warm, and there were so many shells that we had to wear our shoes almost the whole time. 

A white ibis hunting for food

Sunset on our first day

Looking for shells after supper

Mom doing the 'Sanibel Stoop'

I will post more photos tomorrow.  Blogger is being a little slow at the moment.

Flowers

These are my favorite day lilies right now.  They are bright orange with a triple bloom.

Here is the blooming mother-in-law's tongue.  The flowers remind me of fireworks.  I hope this doesn't mean my plant is about to kick the bucket.  Sometimes plants put on a big show right before they die.

School's Out!!!

I'm on vacation until August!  Are you jealous?

Late Spring

My hostas were late bloomers this spring.  I thought most of them had been eaten by the moles in our yard, but today I noticed 3 trying to peek out from under the leaves.  Now all of my hostas from last year have come back.

Have you ever seen a mother-in-law's tongue have a bloom?  Well, mine has one!  It looks a little like an unopened bloom on monkey grass only much larger.  I took some photos, but they wouldn't upload correctly.  I think this bloom is trying to keep its presence a secret.  I'm going to try to capture this elusive creature on camera again.

Horsing Around

After the cookout on Saturday, we rode over to Skyla's place to see her new house/riding arena and play with her horses.  I think I have all of their names down, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Cindy feeding Dolly.

Skyla and Seis.

Mom scratching Ruby, her favorite.

Derek and me feeding them "candy."

Dolly

Dad's Birthday Cookout

Derek is a great supervisor.

Ellie can be a good supervisor too.

These girls are always looking for an "Oops" moment.

Group photos are common with this bunch.  I think this turned out to be the most interesting one to date.  Everyone is doing something different.

Easter Sunday Dog Wrangling

Nashville!!!

Sorry these are so late.  My trip to Nashville to see LB was over a month ago while I was on Mardi Gras break.  I had a great time flying all by myself, seeing where LB lives and plays, and hanging out with my family.  We went to a Predators game too.  They beat the snot out of Detroit 8-0!  Mom and I were really into the game.  I think everyone around got a kick out of watching us cheer and chant "We're gonna beat the hell out of you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and you !"  I wish we could go to more hockey games together, but then mom and I might get into a little trouble if we did.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Baby Its Cold Outside!

Its not supposed to be freezing cold in southern Louisiana!!!  

The low tonight is 28 and tomorrow its 21!!!

The Doodler enjoyed relaxing by the fire.  Ellie, on the other hand was a little nervous, and it shows in these next photos.

Merry Christmas!!!

I apologize for the lack of Christmas photos.  I was too busy enjoying the holiday to take many photos this year.  We had a wonderful Christmas break, but sadly there are only a couple of days left before going back to work.  

Happy New Year!!!

Snow Day!

Ellie wasn't too sure about the snow, which I'm sorry isn't visible in the photo.

Thank goodness school didn't get canceled, otherwise we would have lost a day from our Mardi Gras break.

The Big Tree

Finally.. The big tree is decorated.  I hung at least 450 ornaments today.  The photos don't do it justice.  The flash washed out all of the pretty lights.  Yall will just have to come over for a visit so you can see it in person.

Everybody Thought They Were Ours!

I got a phone call on Sunday afternoon about these two boxers, one brindle and one fawn, roaming around in the neighborhood behind ours.  I quickly checked to see if my girls were inside, which they were, and told the girl on the phone that they weren't my dogs.  

A few hours later our door bell rang.  It was a man from down the street with two boxers in tow.  Both were male and obviously less than a year old.  He thought they were ours as well.  By this time it was starting to get dark, so Derek and I decided to take them in for the night and try to find the owners in the morning.  

We brought them to the back yard and then let our girls out.  All four of the dogs were playing together.  Ellie did have to put them in their place a few times.  She is the boss you know.  Of course I had to give them names... Rocky and Bruno.

After I got home from school the next day, I phoned the vet here in town and got the number for the owners.  These two little boys were back with their family by 5p.m.  Their real names were Walker and Saint.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Not wanting to have the same photo as last year, I opted not to tie ribbons around the girls' necks.  It would have been the same exact ribbon as last year, and it would have been very difficult to do without Derek's help.  Most of the photos ended up looking like regular back yard photos, and I was a little disappointed.

This first photo was a strong contender, but was lacking in personality, unlike last year's winning photo.
The second photo was one of the rejects.  There was a ton of chop-licking because I was bribing them to sit and stay with chicken jerky.  In most of these the girls looked like zombie-robot dogs, very intense and focused but again, lacking personality.
The winner will be posted closer to Christmas.  

Till then, happy decorating!  As you can see, I've already started.  Don't tell anyone.

Helping Mamma

Earlier today I was working on writing a test on fossils and early Earth history.  These two just had to help me.

Pop Quiz:  During which era were dinosaurs the dominant life form?

a.  Cenozoic

b.  Mesozoic

c.  Paleozoic