Critters and flowers

This is one of the poor unfortunate critters that happened to move in the sight of one the kids. So, this little frog had to have a "new" home made for him (they didn't do a bad job, really). But man, I really had to talk them out of letting him go swimming in the pool with them. Can't remember what I said to pull that one off but I'm sure the frog appreciates it. At least he's still alive! He'll accidentally escape after they go to bed if you get my drift :)

Every year we pick up turtles on the side of the road. We have a tiny chicken wire pen with a terra cotta plant potter bottom in it (for water) and large chunks of bark for them to hide under. We planted some lettuce and cabbage in there too although I've never seen them eat off of it. Ella LOVES the turtles. Every single one is named Jack. I love watching her check them out. She'll hold them in her hand and gently touch their little toes and tail with a look of sheer awe on her face. We've collected quite a few turtles. They "dig out" after a few days (wink wink) when the kids forget about them. Apparently one of them had a baby in the pen. We went looking for one of the turtles that we had recently "saved" (and he really had dug out ) and found this little one. TINY!!! So tiny I couldn't get a good clear picture close up. Too cute! I hope he makes it so he can escape :)









Here's some pics of the flowers around the house. I was worried about the clematis because I had to repair the trellis I made and Ella decided she wanted to cut up some "sticks" which happened to be the clematis vines without anything on them yet. So this year they are kind of sparse. Then there's the pics of the daisies out in our field. I'm not allowing Dennis to cut that part of the field. Like he's going to complain...

Memorial Day Monday

It's just horrible! It's hot and I won't take them to Mamaw's to swim. I'm so evil. Well, Dennis and Caleb went to the creek with Charles and his wife Anne Marie so I got out our blow up pool. After scrubbing it down (it was caked with mud and leaves from being in the barn) blowing it up, filling it with water....guess what! IT'S TOO COLD! Ella didn't care at all. Allie was a different story. "Do you have a heater you can put in here? Can we get some hot water from inside to pour in here?" I guess the water is going to be warmer in Mamaw's pool. We'll see...I know we'll end up there tomorrow. I still got some good pictures though. This one I like a lot.

Saturday

Saturday we went to the Strawberry Festival at Stumler Orchard in Indiana. It wasn't the big event it used to be but the strawberries were good! Here's some pictures....

Today I did housework. YIPPEE! Caleb and Allie went back to thier Mom and Ella was really cranky but it all ended well. I got a lot done. Tomorrow we go to the Strawberry Festival in IN. Hopefully I'll have some nice pics to share. Going to work on my webpage now, hopefully I won't pull any hair out....

Thursday we visited my husband's friend James. He sold my husband his first dog. And his second and also our half feist Daphne. Ella loves going there because there's a lot of dogs and critters in general. All three got to ride his pony. And they got to see a baby raccoon. It was rescued and as you can see being well taken care of. SOOOO CUTE!

BUSY WEEK! Wednesday we went to the zoo. Here's bunch of pictures. They have an enclosed area where you can feed Lorikeets nectar from little cups. They just land wherever on you. They are so beautiful. The kids loved it!

Ella feeding her lorikeet. Allie had one land on her head.

Caleb with two others and Allie's lorikeet checking out her ponytail.

Trystan was a little scared at first and Taylor had one on her head too. And yes, the will use the restroom on you if they feel the urge. The turtles are hardly ever out so I had to get a pic.



These little guys are one of my faves too. They are meerkats like Timon in the Lion King. They were taking naps.

Everyone was taking a nap as a matter of fact, but still cute.
After we look at all the animals they get to ride the carousel. It's all different animals plus the traditional horses. Very pretty. And here's a picture of me in the middle :) And another meerkat pic.

The picture on the left is of all five: Taylor, Ella, Caleb, Trystan and Allie. The one on the left are the three that belong to me: Caleb, Ella & Allie. It's so nice when they cooperate long enough to get a good picture like this....ahhh, but it never lasts!