Pics from Earlier this Week

The first pic is of an unusual yellow mushroom that just started growing in one of my flower pots outside. I've never had any mushrooms grow in a flower pot before, and it looks like there are about a half dozen other mushroom tops beginning to develop. I wish I knew if it were edible:


I went in the bedroom the other night and there were shadows being cast by the light coming through the windows. It was almost 9:00 P.M. and the light seemed too bright, and it was coming from the direction opposite where the sun should be. I went outside, and there was a beautiful cumulus cloud to the east of us reflecting the setting sun. I could also hear some rumbles of thunder coming from the cloud.

Church Signs

Here's probably the worst church sign I've ever seen. It's just so stupid!!!

"Jesus is coming. Look busy!"

OK. So, they're wanting people to be dishonest towards Jesus by just looking like they're "busy" when they're really not??? Sounds like they're teaching some fine morals in that church or maybe it's just a church for lazy souls. It would have been much better if the last part were to read "Get busy!"...but then I wouldn't have a chance to laugh at them quite so much.

Animal Notes

Oddly enough, it's been an interesting week as far as animals go. On Tuesday morning as I was getting ready for work, I noticed that there were too small red squirrels playing in our front yard. They must have been quite young because they were about the size of a chipmunk. They were playing and foraging for food. They seemed to be enjoying eating the seeds from our American Elm. They were very cute to watch.

Tuesday afternoon we had a outing for our area at work. On the way to the bowling alley were the outing was held, there were two fauns near the side of 37th street. They were about the size of a medium sized dog, and the spots in their fur were barely visible. At first they acted like they were going to dart out into the traffic, but luckily they didn't. I didn't see their mother nearby, but she could have easily been lying just out of sight in tall grass. Hopefully, they managed to get safely down to the river and away from the busy street.

Yesterday, we had an injured crow in our yard. I went out to see if it would let me get close, but it didn't. It just hopped away into another neighbors yard before I could even get within 10 feet. However, I had a really close encounter with a sparrow at our bird feeder. I don't think it noticed me walk onto our patio, and I was within about 3 feet of it before I realized it was at the feeder. I just stood still and watched it eat. It didn't seem to be very concerned...Tabby was watching through the window, and I think he was jealous that I was so close to a potential snack.

And speaking of Tabby...he had a really bad hair mat along his back. I decided it needed to come off, so I started to slowly work on it. It was very close to the skin, so I had to be careful when I was cutting so that I didn't break his skin. He'd get frustrated with the cutting and hiss and bite at the scissors. I think he knew I was trying to help, since he'd move away from me but not get all that far...just far enough that I had to change positions. We went back and forth the cutting, hissing, and biting for a while. Finally, Richard got the idea to give Tabby some leftover liver. So, while Tabby ate the liver and growled and hissed, I cut the mat from his back. It made things so much easier for him to be eating while I was cutting. My efforts were successful and I was able to get the entire mat out without cutting his skin (and without me being bitten). I think we were both relieved.

Weezer has quite the nose. Richard took some old ham up to the top of our hill and dumped it out. Until yesterday, Weezer had been sticking close to the patio after possibly getting stung on his butt the other day. However, he once he smelled the ham, he slowly worked his way up the hill directly to where Richard had dumped it. I was amazed at how well his nose worked considering it was windy and we had a storm on the way.

BBQ

It's such a relief to get this past weekend over with. Richard and I had our annual barbecue, but that was really the fun part of the weekend :-) We had about 50 guys show up for the BBQ this year including friends from Indiana, the Twin Cities area, and Austin, MN. We cooked about about 5 dozen brats, hot dogs, hamburgers, and a turkey. A lot of the guys brought food, so there was plenty to eat...we had some brats left over and a number of dessert items, but all in all the food was great and there was plenty to eat for everyone. The weather was pleasant and the mosquitos were not all that bad...

Anyway, it was a nice way to end a very hectic week and Saturday with all the planning and work I'd put into the Rochester Pride festival, IBM booth, etc. Of course there will always be some glitches and minor problems with events like this, but it seemed to go quite smoothly this year...now, I can relax a bit and get my life back to normal.

Vacation in Madison

We traveled to Madison, WI this past weekend to attend the birthday party of a friend of ours (Tony). He made arrangements for us to stay at the apartment of a couple of guys named Jim and Jim. We had never met them before, and my first contact with them was the night before our trip.

The trip to Madison was uneventful, and we found the apartment of the Jims without any problems. The Jims ended up being really nice guys and wonderful hosts. We enjoyed meeting and spending the weekend with them.

On Friday night, we attended a potluck/pool party at a house in Cookesville. The house was an old farmhouse and had been beautifully restored. It was quite interesting to see...the food was excellent and the guys there were really friendly. After the party, we met up with Tony at a Perkins for a late night snack.

Saturday morning we went to the farmers' market which is set up around the block where the state capitol building is located. The market was quite amazing and I enjoyed seeing the plants that were for sale and sampling the cheeses.

Saturday afternoon we went to the birthday party. On the way, we picked up another friend of the Jims named Scott. He's a big guy and we ended up sandwiching him in between us in the back seat. It was a snug ride and the car had good air conditioning, so it wasn't too bad...the party was held on a farm between Evansville and Janesville. When we got near the location of the party, we had to take a detour off the main roads due to an accident. We had to figure out a way to get to the party via the country roads in that area...everyone going to the party ended up calling Tony for directions since the highway was shut down for such a long time.

The party itself was a lot of fun. We ended up running into a number of guys that we'd known from events such as bear camps. It was almost like a reunion because we knew so many people. We were really glad we attended and got to reconnect with some of the guys.

At the party, they had Karaoke and there were a number of people there that were excellent singers. So, the entertainment was quite enjoyable. After it got dark, they even had a rather impressive fireworks display.

And Speaking of Lumberjacks...

We were on our way the grocery store the other evening, and we saw a bunch of utility workers working on some power lines. It turns out someone decided to be a weekend lumberjack and dropped a branch on some power lines. The full news story can be read here.

This brought back a memory of when my dad had me trim some branches on one of our cherry trees and one of the branches fell on the power line. It knocked the line of the power pole and on to the neighbors garage. I don't think it knocked the power out. I can sure remember thinking I was going to be in big trouble, but at least I didn't get blamed or get in any trouble for it since I was doing exactly what my dad asked me to do...

As far as other things go, the insurance adjuster finally had a chance to look at our house to see if it had any hail damage. The shingles are OK, but all the metal vents and chimneys are dented. Amazingly enough, the metal siding on our house withstood the hail and is in excellent condition. The adjuster is going to come up with an estimate and let me know later on what the damages are.