Funfetti, Fawns, and Foxes...Oh My!

Late last week, Todd removed the lawn mower from the carport, mowed for about an hour, and came back to the carport to find this:

That's right...ANOTHER tiny fawn!  Apparently the mothers leave them for 8 hours at a time so they can go feed/build up their milk.  What a sweet face!

He disappeared after a few hours, but our mailman told us that she'd seen him there the day before as well. 

I don't think it's the same fawn, but here's Mama with a baby next door, the very next day:

Another newcomer is this red-tailed fox.  I'm afraid that he might have sarcoptic mange, judging by his thin, scraggly tail.  I've only seen him once, but our neighbor sees foxes all the time!

This Cooper's Hawk has been making the rounds recently...

...as has this Merlin, so similar to the Cooper's Hawk but much smaller.

Our resident crows are not happy about the hawks and owls who visit our trees.  They're very territorial and I can hear them squawking daily, usually two or three at a time.  I've seen them chase owls and hawks from tree to tree, but normally I see them just strutting around...

...or sitting like lords in our trees, scanning the branches for interlopers.

The beds surrounding our house are full of these tiny toads lately...

New life is everywhere!  And our "old faithfuls" are around, too.  Here is Augustus, assuming his daily position:

Because of the heat and the mosquitoes I haven't been out too much, though.  I've been inside, and when I'm not working, I'm still keeping busy.  I made this amazing cake last week:

It's a homemade funfetti cake with sour cream chocolate frosting from Hummingbird High (recipe here).  I already have a favorite vanilla cake recipe, but oh, this cake...

It's fairly basic, reminiscent of an old-fashioned birthday cake.  The frosting is delightfully tangy.  I'm definitely going to make it again.

I planned my next knitting project:  Birdie Fair Isle Cardigan (link here).

Resisting the urge to copy the exact same colors as the sample yet again, mine will have a light green body, white yoke, dark grey birds, and a marigold trim around the yoke.

Ignore that pale peach skein pair at the top.  I had hoped it would be closer to cream than peach, but it isn't, so I'll have to order a bit more in white.  I'm very motivated because I recently took a Craftsy class called Fit To Flatter.  It teaches you how to evaluate your body type, take your own measurements, analyze a sweater schematic, and determine where and how to make changes to custom-fit it to your body.  For example, the cardigan above is knit "flat" (back in forth on the needles, not in the round), top-down.  Not my preferred construction.  I'm going to take a basic sweater pattern that's bottom-up in the round, add the fair isle yoke, and then steek it to make it a cardigan.  Scary!  I have to wait a while to start.  I've always held my yarn incorrectly with knitting, tensioning with forefinger and thumb, and I'm an incredibly tight knitter as well.  I've fallen into the habit of knitting every night while Todd works on his computer, so have had some real marathon sessions lately.  I realized that my thumb and forefinger was feeling a little stiff and sore, so I started knitting with either my middle finger or continental-style, with my left hand.  Still, the feeling persists.  No tingling, no numbness, no real pain, but I feel stiffness and a little weak in those areas.  I will probably take a three-week break to see if it makes a difference. 

Tabitha, however, will make sure my yarn doesn't get lonely!

Have a great week!