Crazy wabbits!

Okay, so this is a little gross, but I'm going to post it anyway. Yesterday, we came across something odd on our front porch...nope, not a gift from FedEx...nope, not a baby in a basket...nope, not Jehovah's witnesses...a dead baby bunny, two actually! One was there Tuesday morning...got rid of it, another one showed up Tuesday evening. We have no clue what's going on, but it sounds like something we've been warned about in the Bible or something. We are hoping its a cat that has found a nest in our yard and is taking them out one by one and dragging them up there for some reason. The only reason we hope that's the case is because i think I'd freak out if we found out it was a person or a ghost doing this. Yes there are too many rabbits in our neighborhood, but I don't want all the dead ones at our house. Just hope none of them are the Easter Bunny...he he...sorry, bad joke.

Spring has Sprung!

Mike had gone to Kentucky this weekend to go fishing with his grandpa and uncle Johnny, so I got the house to myself and got to do whatever I wanted...so what did I do? Took pictures of all the pretty flowers blooming of course...even the ones in my neighbor's yard. He wasn't home so it was okay. We don't have a pretty cherry blossom tree or whatever the pink flowering tree is. But the yellow flowering shrub (forsythia maybe?? guess I should've paid more attention in flower arranging class in college) is ours. They are so pretty! I hate how they change to all green in the summer, but I guess that's what makes it so pretty and special during spring.










As for my bulbs...they are still coming up. I just don't know why I only have one tulip bloom when other people have all their tulips in bloom! I guess its good because theirs will die and mine should still be alive. So here is a picture of my single tulip bloom. The funny thing is that I think its a fire spray tulip which is supposed to have about three blooms on one stem. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

St. Patty's Day Pi

Can't believe I went a whole week without blogging. Sorry about that to those of you who read my blog. Not too sure what kind of following I have, but I will keep blogging anyway.
This past week was a blur. I don't really know what I had done or accomplished, but it flew by. There were two big days last week, Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and Wednesday (3/14) was Pi day. Yes Pi day...March 14th...3/14...just like 3.14. Its not the kind of pie you eat, but its the kind of pi that is a mathematical wonder. Its just too bad its not the year 1592...that would've been a real Pi Day!

St. Patrick's day was fun. I spent the day out fabric shopping with Amy. We went to Jackmann's fabric on Lindbergh near Olive and she was right when she said, "if they don't have it, it doesn't exist." I have never seen so many fabrics! Wool felt, fleece with monkeys on it, cotton with checks, stripes, plaids... It was great but so overwhelming. Of course we found exactly what she wanted when we walked in the door. You still have to look at the rest of the store, but that's okay...we had fun.

After fabric shopping, Mike and I had to take the pup to the humane society for a "growly dog" evaluation. He passed...or failed...whatever you call it, he is a confirmed growly dog, just like we thought. We had to go into this room with two ladies in it. One was testing Rouge and the other was documenting everything he did...when he started panting, when he ears perked up, when he yawned. Every time he did something it meant he was stressed or he was relaxing. Basically though, he was stressed the whole time because he doesn't like being in new places. The lady testing him held on to him and kept trying to pick up his paws to see what he'd do and he tried to bite her. Then she brought in another dog, which usually drives Rou insane, but he just woofed a few times and whined. Not a perfect-dog response, but it was making us look like we were lying about him being growly and how he lunges and barks at other dogs. So then she did a final test and stomped her feet in place and that's when he lost it and barked and growled at her. So we are now on the waiting list for growly dog class at the humane society. Hopefully it will teach us how to keep Rou comfortable in situations so he doesn't feel the need to be defensive against people or dogs. He's gotten a lot better, especially with people, since we've brought him home from the pound, but he still has issues (Humane Society's term, not mine!).




Rouge Celebrating St. Patrick's Day last year, right after we brought him home:







St. Patrick's Day night was fun. We met Amy and Ryan at Fox and Hound in Chesterfield for dinner and drinks. All Mike said he wanted for St. Pat's day was corned beef and cabbage and by golly he got it! And all I wanted was green beer and it was a-flowing. Other than dinner we just watched the March Madness games and rooted against the Indiana fans that were next to us. Don't think I've ever rooted for UCLA before and it probably won't happen again. All and all it was a pretty good night.

Action Jackson

This weekend we went to Decatur, IL to see Mike's family. Mike's nephew, Jack, is already six month old. He has changed so much since we saw him at Christmas. He's getting so big and he's jumping around and laughing. Its like a different kid. I wasn't sure if he remembered Mike and me, because he is only six months old, but I think as soon as I got behind my camera he was thinking..."Oh yeah, that crazy lady who blinds me with the bright light flashes." I took a ton of pictures of him at Christmas. He is a very good baby...didn't really cry and he was laughing and baby-talking a bunch. He loves his grandma and thinks his great-grandma is funny because she dances for him to make him laugh. How could you not love this kid?!



Here is a video of him in his jumping swing thing (click on the picture below). I wasn't sure if he was laughing or crying, but he was cracking us all up.
So, of course we watched a ton of basketball. Unfortunately the Illini lost in the Big 10 tournament, but were invited to the NCAA tournament, so Mike's happy. Here is Uncle Mike being a bad all-day-sitting-on-your-rear-watching-basketball-influence on Jack.

The biggest drama we had this weekend was with the dang dogs. They have two of their dogs on the electric fence, but the other two can roam where they want to. Bubba and Onxy. Bubba is a funny mix between a basset hound and cocker spaniel. I met Bubba when he was just a puppy. He looked like a little lab, but now looks like the picture on the left. He might be funny looking, but he's a sweetie. Onxy is a black lab who is kind of the leader of their pack because she could whoop up on any dog! Anyway, they like to wander around and wandered onto the other side of the interstate and luckily Carol's friend had stopped and called us to let us know what was going on. So Mike's brother-in-law, Chip, and Bob went up to the interstate and in between cars racing by called them back. Crisis averted.

Bringing up Bulbs

At about the latest possible time last fall, I planted about a million bulbs in our yard. Maybe not that many, but more than any first time gardener-wanna-be should. No, its not really that hard, but its a lot of, dig the hole, throw the bulb in, cover the hole. The whole time thinking...is it the right depth...are they spaced correctly...is it right side up? After a while, it was more like if the bulb makes it in the ground, good for it. So I figured this spring, I'd have a bunch of flowers growing towards the middle of earth if they were even in the ground deep enough to not freeze. But, luckily I was wrong! Just the other day we noticed little green plants sprouting up from the ground!

So hopefully, sometime soon we'll be swimming in tulips and whatever else I planted. That's another problem. I didn't really pay attention to where I was planting everything, so it will all be a surprise this year. Not too big of a deal and at least if something doesn't come up I won't really notice. So, as always, I had to document the occasion with pictures. Even Rou is excited about me not screwing up all the flower plantings!

Summer is almost here!

This is my favorite time of year. I love it when the days start to get longer... I'm wearing lighter jackets...and the fruit stand on Caulks Hill Road is open. It also reminds me that I need to start planning what we want to do for summer. Forget the new year, I make resolutions for the summertime. I feel like summer is such a short time of year, filled with weddings, and visits to family, and yard work. I enjoy two out of three of those, but it feels like your summer is always planned for you and that trip you wanted to take to Chicago gets lost in the shuffle. Then September rolls around (aka football season) and weekends are filled with college gameday and NFL Sunday. So this year, I'm going to make summer time plans and stick with them! I put up a list on the sidebar for stuff I want to do this summer. Last summer we talked about going to Kentucky Lake for a weekend and renting a houseboat, but never did it. I still have not been to the Hermann wineries or even Chicago since I've lived in St. Louis. Easy road trips! So this year, I'm going to get it together and plan stuff and do it!

Another thing I've been wanting to do is to find a place to go hiking. I mean some place other than the Katy Trail. I want to actually climb and not just walk. When I was in Australia we were there over a weekend and had some time to kill. So why not climb a little mountain? It was a place called Devils Peak (highest peak in picture on left) and was in Quorn, South Australia. Pronounced like "Corn" and there was a rock with "Quornies Rule" spray painted on it. Why didn't I take a picture of it, I ask myself that everyday. Sigh. Anyway, it was quite a hike...took us about an hour to get to the top...and it was a beautiful site. It was a bit hazy out, but we could just barely see the ocean on one side and the country with mountain goats and cows on the other. I think I did pretty good. It was tough for a while (taking a break in pic on the right) and I wanted to quit, but I had to see the view from the top.



I used the "I wanna take a picture" excuse for mini breaks on the way up...




Views from the top!

Artsy Wedding?

Yesterday I went to the Foundry Art Center in downtown St. Charles. Its a local art museum/studio that holds wedding receptions on the weekends. I had heard wonderful things about it and wanted to check it out. It is so unique which is what I want. They also book up really fast. I talked to them early last week and they still had 2 weekends in April open, but on Saturday both of those weekends were on hold. Told you it is popular! We will make a decision on that soon I hope. Just need to figure out if its the best fit and make Mike check it out too.


I also enjoyed going to the art center just to look at the art, too. I pretend I'm an amateur artist because I take pictures and draw and stuff. I know my silly PowerPoint drawings won't quite make it in to art museums, but its still fun to and say I'm an artist. I actually thought about submitting a few photos to an art contest at the St. Peters Community Art Center on Mid Rivers. They had a contest for photos with a travel theme. I took a ton of photos in Italy and Australia last year, since it was the first time to either place. I really liked some of the ones I took in Italy and photoshopped them a bit. I thought they looked cool because I upped the contrast a lot and played with the color. They looked neat to me and I was really going to submit them, but chickened out at the last minute. A silly voice in my head kept saying...What if they don't fit the theme, what if people laugh at them because they are too photoshoppy...The voice won and I procrastinated too long to do anything. Oh well, maybe next time. I decided to post them on my blog and maybe that will help me get my confidence up.