history mysteries

(Sorry for republish...had to fix the video links!)

Really cold, but not much snow.  We did had a mini blizzard blow in last week!  I hastily shot a video (sound on!), but unfortunately, this only lasted for about ten minutes.  What a bluster, though!

Extremely low morning temperatures (7 degrees anticipated tomorrow) mean that Pepita isn't getting her regular walks...and she's become a little monster!  She has quite a lot of energy and spends a lot of time pestering the cats and invading their space...

"WHY is she HERE?!"

...and playing loudly with her toys.  She has a habit of dropping her toys off the couch and generally being too lazy to retrieve them, so she flops and grunts/howls until one of us obliges her, or she finally gives in and gets it herself.  This is a MINOR episode...she's usually much louder!

Meanwhile, the cats are being their usual rambunctious selves...

So these quiet winter days can actually be quite noisy!  Well...sometimes they're peaceful.

It's been so cold that I've been fretting about our outdoor animals.  We're keeping cat food in multiple locations outside for not just cats, but raccoons and other friends.

Bird feeders are full, drawing the usual crowd, including an unusual amount of cardinals!  A nice bit of color on grey days.

In my free time, I finished a puzzle this week...another one by Charley Harper.  I really enjoyed it and plan to get the whole series...eventually!  Right now, this is my only one.

I finished that embroidery project from a couple of years ago.  Regrettably, it is a little bit rough, but I'm pleased to have it finished and move on to something else.  Practice makes perfect!

I've been knitting again, slowly working on a sweater sleeve, and doing quite a bit of reading.  With Todd being sick/work flow interrupted, I've had so much more free time and have actually finished eight books so far this year!  The best has been I, Medusa, but my current book (The Buffalo Hunter Hunter) is pretty promising too (two thumbs down for the much-ballyhooed Theo of Golden).  I'm busting through podcasts and feeling very productive in general in 2026!

The old photo of Ruth last week reminded me of some other photos that I received in that batch of unwanted things from her son after her death.  Photos like this one, of my great grandparents, displaying their well-known love of animals and flowers.  I spent a lot of my childhood at their house and well remember the rose arch, the weeping willow, the hundreds of irises that my great grandma cultivated, and the big backyard, plowed up into rows for vegetables and flowers.

I have this letter from their son, who was my grandpa's brother.  He was a crew chief on a B-17 and a technical sergeant.  Many of his letters and telegrams were in this box.  Really evocative.  "I've toured England - seen all the things I studied in history etc. - and I've seen the horrors of war.  Death, destruction beyond comprehension, evacuees by the thousands, poor homeless kids and hundreds of things I never wanted to see hear or think again as long as life goes on."

I've read a lot about World War II and this is interesting on a broader level, but more specifically, it made me curious about family dynamics.  I was raised by my grandparents, with my great-grandparents just down the street, but my grandpa's brother Lawrence - "Lonnie" - was never around.  A rift had developed between the two brothers and Lonnie moved to Florida, never to return to Indiana.  I wondered at this letter.  Lonnie, the beloved older brother, had a rather glamorous role in World War II, living in England for years and working with war planes.  My grandpa joined the Navy as soon as he was old enough, but he was mustered out after basic training.  He had a heart murmur from a childhood illness, and he was deemed unfit, medically, to continue.  It must have been a crushing blow to the little brother who wanted to be a war hero.  Surely he was jealous.  Could this have led to the rift?  It's too late to find out...but I love these little clues.  This box of old family documents and photos is a real gift!  

I feel that even in these quiet months with many fewer wild creatures moving around, you can still be a bit of a "historian" about their past movements, just by seeing what was left behind.  Poking around the back barn while feeding the feral cats, I noticed a few interesting things.  Old wasp nests...

...and groundhog holes, although they weren't very visible this year.

Old barn swallow nests...

...and remnants of a hornet nest.

This was a pretty lively place last summer.  I'll have to pay more attention to it this year.

Have a great week!  

heat defeat

It's hot...really hot.  Normally, when temperatures are in the 90s, I stay inside.  But because of this girl, we are outside...so...much.

Many socialization excursions that will have to take the place of puppy training until she gets a clean bill of health from the vet.  So it's walks on campus, with so many other pups...

(adults pups are okay!)

...and lots of local hikes, where she meets lots of new people.

She loves the car!  

She's a pretty chill pup...most of the time.

Okay, so I *have* to be outside...at least I can try to enjoy some nature.

green heron eating a frog

groundhog invading our neighbors' container gardens

black tiger swallowtail caterpillar

But honestly, I have the worst attitude ever.  For some reason, summer is killing me this year.  I never like summer with the heat/humidity, the mosquitoes, the ticks...but this year it's just the worst.  I'm apathetic and lethargic.  I'm not motivated to get things done and feel almost desperate for fall.  Every time I see a sign, I celebrate. 

Changing leaves...coincidence?!?

This is a FALL webworm caterpillar!

These winter shoes really needed cleaning because it's ALMOST time to wear them again, right?  Right?!?!?

We had to have some trees trimmed because they were crowding power lines recently...

They only cut a few down.  Most of them were just trimmed closely on one side.  Bare, they look like winter trees.  

Sometimes I look at them and pretend that the leaves are falling and that soon it will be cold again.  I've got another two months to go, easy, so I'm trying to work through this summer ennui with lots of pep talks.

Summer flowers from the garden!!

Fresh fruit!!

Lazy cats in the grass!

(Claudia is doing well and will get to go outside again soon!)

Lakes, rivers, wildlife!

geese at Lake Griffy

It's helping...a little bit.  But sometimes staying positive is a full-time job.  September will be here soon! Stiff upper lip!  

And...have a great week!  

Signed, someone who is ready to live in a more moderate climate.  ;)  

mellow yellow

It's the yellow season in the garden!  I didn't mean to plant so much, but I think it's so cheerful and I just can't help myself. 

Our white poppies are about done...

...and now the red ones are starting.  All re-seeded from last year!

Although nothing from the annual garden is near blooming yet, I've been able to get plenty of flowers from the perennial garden.

An insane amount of daisies this year.  They've tripled their original number and just keep growing and spreading!

It reminds me so much of my favorite photo of great grandma Grace.

A busy time with the animals here.  I noticed Claudia wasn't eating, and that she had flecks of foam on her whiskers.  She let me check her mouth and I realized that she'd lost her incisors on the left side and couldn't masticate the hard kibble that she normally eats.  I pureed wet cat food for her until her mouth healed.  It was a strange week.  She occasionally leaves bird parts on our doorstep, but that week there was just one confused bird that she'd tried to gum...

...but only managed to pull out a few feathers.  She's all better now!

The choglets are eating and growing...

...and we've continued our snake streak with a THIRD black rat snake in as many weeks!  This one was in our storage barn.

He was a lot bigger than the first two! 

We've been seeing a lot of rabbits around, too.

And on these rabbits...

Yes, more ticks, and MORE ticks.

I even found a tick crawling on Frances yesterday, and he's a strictly indoor cat!  We are being very, very diligent about tick checks this year and so far only Todd has had a single tick attached.  Of course, he's been in their territory quite a bit lately.

We've both been outside lately because the weather has been wonderful, and continues to look promising in the forecast.  70s into the second week of June?  I'll take it!  So we're outside as much as possible, and when inside, our indoor animals keep us on our toes.

Here's Barnabas, who decided that a mere screen did not provide enough ventilation, and it cramped his stretch as well.  So, necessity is the mother of invention...

A new hole provides enough of both!  And Frances is responding in a similar way to his no-cats-on-the-table training.

Life is never boring around here.  Have a great week!