Angry Birds

It was my cousin's birthday this past weekend and I made her some stuffed angry birds as a present. I forgot to take a picture of all three but I made a little blue one too. I've been spending quite a bit of time messing with the sewing machine recently. Since it refuses to snow I haven't had much outside to photograph I find interesting.

Rainbow Dog

I've been reworking my window shades and cleaning my bedroom. I found my sun catcher crystals, and now there are tiny rainbows all over my bedroom all morning. I also partially dismantled my desk and reworked it. I'm still not completely happy but the goofy monitor stand part is gone.

Content Kitty

My silly cat's nose is quite close to healing finally, so I expect her to bash it on something any day now.

Just Snow

The snow is just about gone, and it was almost 60 here a few days ago. The weather's been very wonky for a while now. I can't imagine what summer will be like.

Deuce

My sister's dog in the snow.

Toka Snow

She looks so serious because I had hot dogs in my pockets. Frankly, I'm lucky she isn't drooling.

Simple Plate Shelf

A few weeks ago I slightly reorganized my cabinet and ended up with my smaller plates stacked on top of the bigger ones. It was slowly driving me mad. I have more salad type plates as I use them for eating, but the bigger ones are for food prep, so I was yanking them out regularly anyway, and it was taking two hands.

Being completely unwilling to spend money on the solution I stewed for a bit before taking a plate downstairs and making the freaking shelf. I can't add too many more large plates, but I can grab them with one hand now. It's just two pieces of 1 x 6 I had in the basement cut to the size I needed. I put two screws through the side of the cabinet, but left the bottom side loose. It is only holding a few plates. And yes I can now see the screws next to the sink, but my cabinets are 30 year old white melamine, they have plenty of problems beyond two tiny screw holes.

Snow and Hawk

Finally got some snow. We actually got two days worth, but this is from Friday. Right before I had to leave for work I spotted this red-shouldered hawk in my neighbor's yard. He was obliging enough to fly a little closer. He got close enough that even my awful telephoto lens could catch something decent.

Snowy Hawk

So it finally snowed in MA, well it's still snowing, but yesterday was the tease. It was nice and sunny in the morning so I convinced the dogs to let me take pics of them in the snow, some hot dogs may have been involved. I kept hearing hawk calls but couldn't spot the hawk. Eventually, I found it in some trees behind my yard. I went in and got my crappy telephoto lens and took some pics. The hawk was kind enough to fly to another tree with a better view. My guess is a red-shouldered hawk, but I couldn't get a great angle and I had to leave early to go to work.

Christmas Cactus Blooming

I would almost kill for a greenhouse. Then I could surround myself with blooming plants for the winter and spend less time bemoaning our lack of snow. I'd take credit for getting this plant to bloom, but all I did was keep it alive through summer when I picked it up on the side of the road. A 2 foot wide Christmas cactus for free.

Sand Boa equals Pet Rock

last week I scrubbed critter cages and did some shuffling. The Kenyan sand boa got some new sand and some slightly shuffled rocks. I liken this snake to owning a pet rock. Any time I look into the cage I might spot a tiny little bump in the sand barely 1/4" long. That would be his nose. He stays buried 95% of the time. I even have to dig him out to feed him. He's only a foot long and about 2/3rd adult size if he is a male. Females might hit two feet. He's clumsy and nervous out of his cage and makes me wonder how his kin survive in the wild. He's totally a snake to get if you want a snake who stays small is laid back and survives well in captivity. He's not a snake to get if you want an active showy pet. He does do a perfect rock impression however.

Jewel Orchid Flowers

The flower spike last week. More of the flowers are open now, and the other plant in my bedroom is just starting to open (then my mini blind attacked it and crushed some chunks of the plant off).

Kitty

A few days ago the mini-blind in my bedroom fell for the last time. Every few weeks it falls out of its hangers because I pull it up once a day and drop it down at night. The far hanger slowly works open and then bang it pummels my plants. This time it broke up a plant I've been waiting years to get to bloom again. I may have dented the wall when i threw the blind. Now it's in a messy pile under my bureau and I'm not re hanging it. I'm playing with alternatives, but for now just hang fabric over the existing curtain rod and pull it off during the day. This has made my bedroom nice and bright in the morning, and the sun worshiping cat quite content.

Waiting For Snow

This morning was another pitiful dusting of snow. It was gone by the afternoon. If we're going to be freezing and living with horribly short days for 4 months of the year could it at least snow? If it's going to be winter I want my white blanket. I can't snowshoe in mud and when the ground's frozen it hurts to hike. I want snow now so I don't have a summer garden with water restrictions.

Female Common Whitetail

It's freezing here so I'm dreaming of dragonflies.

Jewel Orchid Blooms

It's been a few years since I've seen these guys bloom. This is actually from a small offshoot that my dog was nice enough to break off a few months ago. The mother plant also has some bloom spikes up, but no flowers yet. I should mention these flowers are only 1/3" to 1/2" wide.

Playing with the Sewing Machine

Did I mention my sister is wonderful to haul this 17lb sewing machine around three airports just for me :)

I've been mostly playing with it. I have a few projects in mind, but they are all missing some part (zippers and stuffing primarily) so are sort of on hold. I have made a basic reversible fleece hat, two draft blockers and spent some time playing with the stitch settings.

Look at all the pretty stitches the machine can make. I even read the instruction manual so now know how the buttonhole foot works and what those other feet are actually for.

Sleeping Snake

While it's hard to tell this is a sleeping corn snake. Char is quite happy with his new larger cage and uses the entire space. I still need to seal the edges and drill some holes to attach his branches to the sides and back so he can really climb. He no longer looks too big for his cage.

I re homed a rescue ball python a few weeks ago and her new owners were amazed by Char's size. They'd seen the baby corn snakes at the store and found it hard to believe my 4 1/2 foot pet was the same species. As I always told people back when I worked at a pet store. Always consider the adult size of your pet. Corn Snakes get up to 6 feet long. They average 12"-14" in a pet store as babies. If you don't want a potentially 6 foot long snake, pick a different species.

An Attempt at Snow

See that light dusting of white on the ground and the rock. That appears to be nature's attempt at snow. Is it bad that I'd prefer at least 1/2" or even 6" so I can get some useful footprints out of it, or at least go snowshoeing?

Furry Frost

Frost appears in strange ways on furry plants. Strawberry leaves are covered in hairs, and the frost often only forms on the hairs.

Amaryllis

This was a gift to myself, a half-price clearance Minerva amaryllis bulb. It's white because it tried to sprout in its box, but otherwise it looks fine. I'll be potting it up today. Maybe this will encourage my sleeping Red lion amaryllis that it should try blooming too.

Happy 2012

Here's a frosty lupine from the first of the new year. I keep expecting the cold to shrivel up the young lupines, but they keep hanging on.

Sewing Machine

On first glance it may look as if I got a sewing machine for Christmas. Technically that is true. My sister dragged my sewing machine onto two planes and across a few airports to bring it back to me. I'd hauled it out to North Dakota over a year ago when I thought I was moving, and have dearly missed it since. My good snow shoes are still out there. I spent some of today trying to remember how to use it and making little pillows my sister requested. I only have five or so projects I need to do now.

I need two more dog beds, I just need stuffing and zippers. The curtains in my living room need bottom seams as I just chopped them off with scissors to keep the dogs from shredding the bottoms. I have to devise a curtain for my new metal back door that is light enough to hang with magnets. I want to make curtains for my bedroom, a temperature blocking curtain for the critter room, and a curtain to keep the heat in my bedroom from the hall.