Things in my yard

I was going through my pictures from this Spring and I realized that my yard is actually quite interesting.  We have pretty trees, pretty flowers, a lazy dog, a hyper dog, and sometimes really gross dead-things.  Here's a quick overview of my yard from April until today.

We have a couple of plum trees, and this one is my favorite.  You can see it from the kitchen, and sometimes Penny sits under it looking adorable.

She wasn't feeling up to the walk to the front yard when I took the picture, so there is only a pretty tree.  Sorry.

We had daffodils in the gardens, too.

This one reminded me of an egg.  Probably because I hadn't eaten breakfast yet when I took the picture, but whatever.  It's still pretty.

Almost every time I take a picture of Penny she is laying down.  The following two pictures are no exception. Here's some back story about why this is so disturbing, though.  Spencer and I woke up to find the dogs gone.  The gates were closed, but there was apparently a gap in the fence they had crawled through.  After looking for them for about a half an hour, the neighbor said they were behind his shop.  We found the dogs.  They barked at us, because they forgot who we were.  We brought them home and realized they needed a hosing.  They really don't like the hose, but they made it.  Penny went right back to her usual stance of laying wherever the hell she felt like laying.

This meant she dug a little spot for her in the dirt, walked in a couple of circles, and lay down.  Soaking wet.  In loose dirt.

Awesome, Penny.  Really awesome.  She got another hose down after that little incident.

Today, I went to look at the pond.  There was a fish floating in it.  The fish was alive the last time I saw it.

Not so much anymore.  No more fish for us.  Sniper wanted to eat the fish, but Fabian gave it a little fish funeral instead.  Sometimes I just shouldn't ask.

Happy June!

-Erika

Memorial Day 2011

Happy Memorial Day, everyone!  Every year during Memorial Day weekend my mom, brother and I head up to Fort Snelling National Cemetery to visit my dad's gravesite.  He was a captain in the US Army Reserve when he died four years ago.  

We don't do flowers or anything outrageous, because Dad would probably smack us in the back of the head if we did.  We usually have a picnic and enjoy the weather while we're up there, but it was chilly yesterday.  And we were still full from brunch that morning.  

Grandma Betty Lou and Grandpa Jerry, my dad's parents, were up visiting from Phoenix, so we invited them along as well.  They hadn't been up to the cemetery since Dad's funeral, so it was nice for them to see his gravesite.  

We had a nice time, as we normally do, wandering around and seeing all the other service members buried at Fort Snelling.  

It's always so pretty up there, even in the winter.  The white headstones are so stark against the green, it's hard to remember it's a cemetery sometimes.

There is always a Memorial Day service where the Governor speaks along with a Senator or two.  We went one year, but we decided it was too crowded to enjoy being there that we usually avoid going on Memorial Day anymore.  It's still wonderfully majestic whenever we make the trip, though.  

Happy Memorial Day!  Thanks to everyone who has served.  Now go hug the closest service member.  They'll appreciate it.

-Erika 

Prom 2011

My former high school's prom was a couple weeks ago.  I didn't go, because that's weird.  I did take pictures for my brother and his date, though.  He graduated a year ago, so he went with a friend of his, C.  It rained all weekend, like any typical Spring day in Minnesota, so we didn't get to take any pictures outside without my brother's hair being ruined.  He's such a diva.

They're cute.  Or C is, and Spencer is a dweeb.  

Told ya.  Dweeb.  It was fun, even after I remembered how crazy parents of seniors in high school are at school functions.  I had fun trying to be unobtrusive and failing at times.  Apparently most students' older siblings aren't as cool as I am when it comes to hanging out with high-schoolers.

Yep, no one look at me.  Ever.  I'm just the weird one in the corner.  I always am.

Spencer even dragged his friend Zach into the mix, because one of C's friends didn't have a date.  Spencer and Zach have been friends since kindergarten.  Zach is only slightly more normal than Spencer.  

See?  We're not the only crazies in town.

Ladies, I am so sorry you had to deal with those two all night long.  C, your dress is fabulous.  

-Erika

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Or is it April showers may bring flowers?  Our garden is rather depressing still.  Even the flowers look sad.

Yes, daffodils are sad.  They really didn't like the snow this week.

Seriously, they look really sad.  I don't really like daffodils, but I still felt sorry for them.

The hyacinths were a little better looking, but they were still angry with the weather.  It has been raining for the past week, with the exception of the one day of snow we got.  I'm so glad I live in the upper Midwest.  Hopefully the weather will warm up after Easter.

Speaking of Easter, tomorrow is also my little brother's birthday.

This kid is going to be 19 tomorrow.  I can't handle it.  He's only 8.  I swear.  He's not old enough to be 19.  I'm not old enough to have a 19 year old brother.  What am I going to do with him?  I'm terribly ill-prepared for this.  I still haven't gotten him a birthday present.  Sorry, Spencer.  I'll make it up to you on Monday or something.

Happy Easter, and Happy Birthday Spencer!

-Erika

Soggy Socks

It's no longer snowing, but I'm still soggy.  In other news, I went to lunch with my old roommate, Melinda, on Friday.  Yes, I'm just now getting around to writing about it, but I had to get over the snow thing first.  

Melinda and I are on a mission to find a Mexican restaurant to rival our favorite from college.  A restaurant of this caliber is proving elusive in Minnesota.  I think it is because there are zero restaurants in gas stations here. I dunno.  We ended up at an Ol' Mexico in the Twin Cities area.  I won't go back, as I had a couple issues with it.  First, the margaritas were less than mediocre.  I make better margaritas and I don't have a blender.  Second, a very nice young man offered to make us balloon flowers.  Kinda hokey, but I didn't mind that part. It's a family restaurant.  I minded the balloons.  I'm terrified of them, because they make loud noises when they pop.  They will always pop.  

Needless to say, I refused the balloon flower.  Melinda did not.  

The object of my phobia sat in my car for twenty minutes, and I had to deal with seeing Melinda carry it up to her dorm room.  With KEYS in her hand.  Whatever.  I'm over it now, and I will avoid anything with balloons for a very long time.  

On a happier (for me) note, my dog is evil.  She stole my mom's boyfriend's shoe.  Normally she will just chew anything she finds into little shreds of its previous existence.  This time, she just carried it to the other end of the yard, leaving Fabian to hobble across the damp grass in his sock to get it.

I laughed.  And took pictures.

I could have helped, but I didn't want to walk across the yard.  And this was kinda funny.

Seriously, the dogs just looked at him like they had no idea why he wasn't wearing both shoes.  Or why he was telling off Sniper for taking the shoe.  Obviously she was chuckling in her head.

Clearly, she is a devious one.

Back to Winter

It's snowing today.  This is not good.  The weekend was beautiful.  It was sunny, somewhat warm, and it didn't rain.  My mom and I terrorized our dogs, too.  They did not enjoy it at all.  

Sniper didn't know what was going on or how to walk while wearing a shirt.  She needs some shoulders if she ever wants to wear a polo again.

Penny was somewhat distraught.  She kept trying to bite me as I was putting the shirt on her.  It's kind of adorable that she fits into an extra-large men's polo.  She looks good in blue.

After we dressed up the dogs, we went to the new house to move stuff around and make dinner.  

This little robin was not afraid of the dogs.  At all.  I was amazed there were even birds in the yard once the dogs jumped out of the car.

Or the birds aren't afraid of the dogs because this is all they do.  They'll chew on a stick if it is already close to their mouths.  I'm not sure they're real dogs.

That was over the weekend, though, and weather in Minnesota changes without warning.  It's thirty degrees and snowing today.  Wonderful snow.

Seriously?  I moved furniture in this crap.

At least it's somewhat pretty until it melts.  If only it weren't April 19th.  This is unacceptable.

In other news, my grandmother is adorable.  My mom and I were talking about my cousin's upcoming confirmation, complaining about the 8am service, when grandma chimes in with, "Is that the one where they go in the pool?"  Nope, that's a baptism, grandma, but thanks for your insight.

My grandma, the theologian.

Refusing to shovel,

-Erika

First Tromp Through The Woods

Well it's finally nice enough and I have enough time to go walk through the woods with the dogs.  I lost my job on Friday, but I start a new one in a week.  I'll call it a vacation instead of a cut-back.  So, since I have all this free time, I decided to go out to some acreage my grandpa has and bring the dogs with me.  It's a wonderful place for them, since there aren't fences or leashes and there are usually dead things for them to roll in.  More on this later.

On the way out, we stuffed three dogs in the back of my mom's Kia.  Two lay down and took a nap, but Sniper is a very attentive dog.  She looks out the front whenever she's in the car.  She also decided to lick my ear.  A lot.  Thanks, dog.

When we got out there, this greeted us:

Yes, it is, in fact, a deer carcass.  We usually find several dead things scattered throughout the woods in the early Spring.  The dogs drag them back to our cars for us.  It's like they're bringing us presents.  Gross presents.

There's a little creek that runs through the woods, but it's usually dried up by mid-April.  It was kinda cold, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Three minutes later, my feet were covered in mud and were very soggy.  My shoes are waterproof, but only if they aren't submerged.  Whatever.  The dogs liked the creek, too.  Penny and Sniper jumped over it.  Trixie ran through it and splashed around.  I don't know what her problem is, but she's weird.

She chews on trees.  Clearly, she has a problem.  Also, that was the mud I decided I could walk through without any problems.  It was DEEP.  Not good.  Trixie was black from her belly down.  Sniper was a bit more wary about the mud.  Penny was off laying down in the grass, probably chewing on the deer carcass.

This trip out to the woods actually did serve a purpose.  We were collecting sap for maple syrup.  Yes, my family is the crazy one that makes their own syrup.  Gallons of it.

We have four or five trees with this set-up.  Pound a spout into a tree, rig a hook underneath the spout, hang a five-gallon bucket on the hook.  This works best when you are wearing a 20-year old flannel shirt and look like my grandpa. 

After we got all the buckets (and by "we" I mean "grandpa"), my mom and I walked through the trees with the dogs.  They attempted to chase rabbits, I tried to get the mud off my shoes, and my mom tried to identify plants.  It's really hard to identify plants when everything looks like a stick.  

The dogs found something else to roll in, too.

Trixie rolled in it, but Sniper thought she was being dumb, so she pounced.  We found the dead thing later, and I think it was a squirrel.  The bottom half of a squirrel.  Tasty.

Mom found some interesting-looking things, even if she did look a little lost while she was looking.  

Nice sweater, mom.  See how grey everything is?  It makes the moss stand out, though.  I can't wait for actual leaves on everything.  We'll barely be able to walk out there in a month.  

I don't know what this is, but it looked cool.  If anyone knows what kind of tree this is, let me know.  I'm curious.

This little patch of moss was peeking out from the snow and dead leaves.  This is the only green out right now.  

Dead trees are covered in weird mushrooms.  There were five of these on one tree.  This one is as big as my hand.  

After our walk, which ended up being several hours long, the dogs got tired.  And hot.

Penny lay down right in the snow.  And started eating it.  She didn't want to get up, and I don't blame her.  It got warm out there.   

Three snow piles later, and she was a happy dog.  

So happy for Spring Break!

-Erika

April Fools?

I've been out of the loop for a while.  I apologize.  Clearly everyone needs a daily dose of silly dogs and sometimes not-so-coherent ramblings.  Penny feels for you.  She really does.  

Or she is really tired and the sun is bright.  Turn it off, please.  Don't worry, Penny.  It's cloudy and raining today.

I haven't posted in a couple of days because I haven't really left the house.  I've been busy at work, it has been cold and gross outside, and I was really enjoying my mornings spent on the couch.  It's hard to write when I have zero human interaction.  Clearly I need to get out more.  

My weekend plans include getting out more, but I don't think human interaction will be a major part of my getting out.  I'm going to a nearby state park to go hiking (finally) and take pictures.  My camera has been feeling neglected, and there are really only so many pictures of the squirrels on the deck I can take.  My memory card can only handle 900 or so, and squirrels aren't that exciting.  

In other news, I introduced the dogs to some of the neighbor's cows.  They made the strangest noises I have ever heard.  The dogs, not the cows.  The cows were pretty silent throughout.  I thought maybe Sniper would realize there was a fence and she shouldn't go through it to get to the cows.  Not the case.  She's a sneaky one.  Penny just sat at the edge of the road and whined.  There was some yelling on my part to get the pups to come back, which failed.  At least they smelled something delicious and dead closer to the house, so I could lure them home.  Maybe I'll bring a leash next time, but I'm not sure if I can handle a dislocated shoulder right now.

Clearly I thought this through.  Good job, Erika.

Happy April, folks!

-Erika