Sarlaac-ing in Skills

I love the dependability of our wildlife friends here.  Several days ago Todd spotted a Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris) sitting at the entrance of his hole down by the pond.  He's there every single day.  I always go down for a peek. 

A cardinal pair is nesting in an azalea under our sunroom.  Every day, I take a peek at "Little Miss" sitting on her eggs...

We are officially forbidden from using those stairs so we won't disturb the expectant parents!

Every day, of course, we see the familiar cast of characters:

The geese swim down to our end of the pond every day, bringing their little goslings. 

I'm following their development with great interest.  Even since last week, they've changed.  They're molting - more feathers and less baby fluff.  Their heads are bigger and are taking on the classic goose slope:

It's such a treat to watch them.

Every time I go down the deck stairs, I see the same Venusta Orchard spider, waiting patiently for her next meal:

They all start to feel like old friends, and it makes me happy to walk around and see them in their daily routines - just like me. 

Borga likes being outside too:

Not the cats, though.  Oh, it's fine for a while, and then it's:

That's what I call a kitten caboose!

In other news, I took my first stab at making a Star Wars cake recently.  This is a Sarlaac.  It's some kind of tentacled worm creature that lives in a sandy pit, catching prey in a way reminiscent of an ant lion (video here).  I got the idea from Yummy Crumble, whose cake turned out way better than mine.  But anyway...I baked a basic bundt cake.

I hand-cut the Sarlaac shapes in basic sugar cookie dough with a knife.

I frosted the cake and coated the frosting with crushed gingersnaps to mimic sand.

I gave the Sarlaac frosting teeth...

...and popped the parts into the bundt cake center, anchored with frosting.

I didn't think the tentacles looked right, so I ate them.  ;)  They were very tasty!

Finally, I went to a flea market this weekend and found this old wooden trough with several holes through its center.  I'm not sure what it was originally used for, but I had some small glasses that fit perfectly into the holes.  I pulled up some of our groundcover for the glasses.  I'm not sure what this stuff is, but it lasts FOREVER and in a darkened room, too.

It makes a nice centerpiece, I think!

Have a great week!