february 1st quickie

27 jan 2012 5:57 pm

the weather's weird.

cold then warmer. then freezing. then it warms up again.

the Azaleas are blooming!

i finally spotted a Fence lizard soaking up the sun.

...and the woodpeckers have been tapping away all winter...

i was lucky to catch this Red-bellied flying from tree to tree out front.

a little blurry...but you know...they're pretty quick!

i heard some crazy scratching sounds out front the other day.

scraping. gnawing.

when i finally saw what was causing this sound, i quietly turned

and opened the door ever so slowly...

and ran like hell to grab my camera.

yep!  

a squirrel...

gnawing at one of the old cow skulls in the yard!

here's the long term damage.

the only thing that's missing in that picture 

is a snake coming out of the eye socket!

(just kidding)

january sure flew by.

yesterday i worked on my january Art Journal page.

it was a quickie...but it was the last day of the month!

art markers & watercolor

well. i'm glad this J month is behind me. it was surely a journey.

i went to visit travis earlier today. in jail. he's been there a week & 2 days.

this was my first visit.

i'm hanging tough.

(sad + stressed = lower immune system = my body is fighting off some chest congestion.)

i never get sick. well, rarely. very rarely.

only when i get really stressed...

** THANKS to everyone who left a note at the end of my previous post,

 and thanks to those who THOUGHT about leaving a note...

shit...THANKS to EVERYONE who even READ my previous post!!

THANKS to you all...for your words of support...encouragement...understanding...

and HUGS!! **

after you've had enough hugging...

i'll leave you with another moon shot!

28 jan 2011  6:35pm

stay cool & have a safe journey.

laura

(a couple of NEW misspelled signs at the end of the misspelled sign page...here.)

computer woes. more fungi. goin' camping. art journal.

a Bromeliad flower in bloom!

sunday morning my laptop woke up with a dark screen.

i thought it might have been stuck in hibernate 

because the light on front kept blinking like it does before it goes to sleep.

so i went online...on sam's comp...and tried all sorts of remedies.

no luck.

yesterday morning i took my laptop to the hospital.

hopefully i'll hear from them SOON with a diagnosis.

i hope it's nothing serious.

my laptop's about 8 years old...running windows xp.

i like xp. it lets me be in charge!

close-up of the Coral Mushroom!

the one i'm on right now...sam's computer...runs vista.

vista treats you like an idiot...like you have no idea what you're doing. 

or maybe it's just because i'm so used to MY computer...

where all my files are...my folders. my programs. my desktop.

my pictures. my scheme. my theme.
my stickers all over the cover.

oh well. i'm whining. get over it.

HEY!!  if sam & i didn't each have our own laptop...

then i wouldn't be here...telling my tale of woe!

a little garden spider

so i don't have access to my latest pictures...

only the ones i still had on the camera.
i know...back up! back up!
i DO backup on an external hard drive...but not as often as i should.
it's been a couple of weeks.  :/

OH yeah...sam got the week between xmas & new years OFF!

so we'll be packing up milo...

and our bare necessities...on the 24th...

and hitting the road!! camping!  yay!!!!!!
~no phone~no internet~no stress~

(i found some older pictures i had saved on discs...from when we stayed at these parks before...)

first stop  will be Suwannee River State Park.

you might remember...this is the park where the 

Suwannee & the Withlacoochee Rivers meet...

where Balanced Rock  hangs over the Suwannee, along one of the trails.

Balanced Rock

...where a tired & worn out Hackberry butterfly hitched a ride on sam's back while we hiked...

after Suwannee, our NEXT stop will be Florida Caverns State Park.

we visited there about seven years ago. 

at that time we only went into the caverns...we didn't walk the trails. 

underground...in the caverns

a little BAT hanging upside down in there...

so...where ever this coming week takes you...

what ever you do...what ever you celebrate...if anything at all...

hanukkah...christmas...new years.

whether you're dealing with snow...blizzards...rain...freezing temps or summer heat...

may your life be filled with unexpected magical moments!

16  december  2011  6:30am

i leave you with my latest...my second...ART JOURNAL entry.

(17 dec 2011)

a two-pager!  tree done in marker.  collage on the right.

have a safe journey...this year into the next.

see you in 2012!

laura

the mole is dead. bones. scattered scat. and more!

yesterday (sunday),

the sky at 11:20 am...

oOo

if you're not new here...and you've wandered the woods with me before...

then you know i collect bones, feathers,  insect wings, rocks & stones.

you also know that months ago we found a dead Opossum and i buried him out back...

with plans to dig up the bones.

and i did. 

but i was surprised to find that the skeleton was not in one piece.

the bones are scattered.  

little by little i've unearthed some bones...

my latest find is one scapula...

views of the Opossum's left scapula

i've learned from a 'bone expert' that it's not unusual for the bones to be scattered. 

the shifting ground & insects tend to move them around.

raccoon prints all over the area i've been digging

hmmmmm...it never occurred to me. i just assumed...bury the carcass...

and when i dig it up...VOILA! a opossum, minus the tissue, muscle, skin of course.

small red Azalea bush in bloom!

this expert told me i have a better chance of keeping the bones together 

if i bury the animal in a cardboard box with the top open.

so that's what i did with the little Mole i found.

while wandering....the trails out back...

i spotted snake skin...shedding.

then...i saw something fuzzy on the ground...not a foot away.

upon closer examination...i saw it was a little Mole!

dead. no bite marks. no obvious or visible cause of death.

it's unusual to see one. they live underground, making burrows & tunnels.

they're small...only about 4-6 inches in length.

they have no external eyes or ears.

underside of dead mole. mouth & nose to the left

LOOK AT THOSE CLAWS!!

perfect for digging

(read more about this Eastern Mole here!)

so, needless to say, i buried him in an open top cardboard box...

and marked my calender on December 18th,

UNearth the MOLE!

what would a walk in the forest be without fungi!

a mushroom colony!

and SCAT!

i always notice it.  and if i happen to miss a pile...sam will bring it to my attention. ha!

just yesterday, while he was outside working on his truck...he made a special trip

into the house to tell me he saw a pile of shit poop. droppings. feces. scat.

aaaaaaah. now THAT's love.  :)

first i  snap a picture, then i look it up in one of my handy scat books...

i wonder if this was left as gift to milo? (her new friend, introduced in previous post.)

raccoon scat. blunt ends. brown to black. large seeds present.

either Fox or Coyote. tapered ends. fur & seeds present.

i tend to think Fox, only because we see the foxes more often.

flies feasting on (LOOSE!) scat of unknown origin.

UGH!

Pileated Woodpecker

i also came across ANOTHER Owl Pellet. left by our frequent night time visitor, the Barred Owl.

this pellet is the BIGGEST one i've seen yet!

bones. fur. claws. teeth. the undigested parts.

and finally...back out of the woods...

lizard on the house

i did my first  page in my "Art Journal"...over two days. nov 16th & 17th.

at the time i was feeling a little down, as it was nearing my brother's birthday (19 nov).

he passed away 3 years ago.

watercolor. real leaves.some glitter.

(i'm aiming for once a month with my art journal entries.)

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.  

~Henry Ward Beecher 

i leave you now, with a picture of the morning moon on the 19th of november.

19 november 2011    at  6:55am

have a good week. and if you celebrate, a happy thanksgiving!

gobble-gobble

be safe & stay cool.

laura