Dreaming of a White Christmas

Daru loves snow and won't come inside even when it looks like this!

Raccoon in the tree

The raccoons really liked the stinky fruits and at one point we saw 2 in the tree at the same time- yuck! They spit the seeds all over the ground. Here this guy is chowing down.

Deer Meets Raccoon

Sorry it is a little dark, but this is the best we could do with the crepuscular conditions.

Rocco the Raccoon

This guy (Procyon lotor) has been visiting lately and climbing our stinky female gingko tree. Daru is distressed by this.

The Buck I Shot

With the camera after it wandered into the backyard. I heard that hunting is illegal in Irondequoit....

Baby Elliana

Elliana Grace, our new niece, was born on August 20th.

Grace

Last September, the Houghton gang gathered for a baby shower for Grace who was not yet born. This year many of us met her for the first time. Contrary to the majority of our pictures, Grace was clothed for the majority of the weekend. It is easier to clean the baby than the baby's clothes (when she won't wear a bib at least), so she eats in only a diaper.

The Iron Chef

As part of our weekend adventures, we went to a local arts festival in some suburb that I won't even attempt to spell. We heard the pork people mention free t-shirts and all of a sudden we were sitting in the blistering sun watching this chef who is a contestant on the Iron Chef make pork tenderloin with almond-plantain BBQ sauce or something to that effect. I did a lot of smiling and nodding since I am not convinced that it would take me only 8 minutes to make the marinade and I don't own half of the equipment he mentioned. He seemed to appreciate our group, perhaps because we actually sat through the whole thing and even asked a question on mike. (I am sure you will see some better shots of this experience from Andrew) He was our "local professional photographer." Allen, Danielle and Grace had parked themselves in the shade so they didn't get a stunning t-shirt which says "Bring it Tong!" =(

We got to sample the pork and I must admit it was pretty good even if Heather looks a little apprehensive here. He served it with mint and a chili pepper thread which he of course claimed that normal people could make in their own home. Again, I was not convinced, but maybe more skilled cooks could. Andrew got a group shot of all of us with the chef.

Aunt Mindy in Action

On our way home from our Philly Houghton reunion, we stopped to see one of my high school friends and her family who happen to be one of my college roommate's in-laws since she married my high school friend's brother (who was also a high school friend). Got that all? Here Mindy reads to her niece and nephew about the wheels on the bus (which go round and round).

Chipmunk cheeks

Tamias striatus came to our patio the other day. Though we have seen them in the woods, I hadn't seen one so close to the house yet. Luckily, Daru did not see it. Those spry little guys make her crazier than squirrels. I failed to get a great picture of its bulging cheeks which were making me laugh. It was just too fast. Some people in my family have chipmunk like cheeks when we smile. Rebekah and I had a friend who called us "Cheeky Weeky" and "Puffy Wuffy" (respectively) because of our chunky cheeks.

The front yard surprise

Yesterday morning, when walking Daru, I was surprised to find this fawn, Odocoileus virginianus, laying in the front yard near our driveway. (Our grass is about 4-5 inches high for a reference- yes it might need to be mowed =)!) I was more surprised that Daru didn't notice it when we walked by either time. After some reading, I learned that baby deer are almost odorless so Daru probably couldn't smell it even though she was 2 feet from it:

"When a suitable place of concealment is reached, the doe leaves her fawns and moves off perhaps 100 yards away. The fawns in their spotted coats are almost impossible to see and are almost odorless. The doe comes back five to eight times a day to nurse the young and then leaves again. She always remains somewhere in the area where she can see if danger approaches or can hear the little ones if they call to her. (http://www.bowhunting.net/NAspecies/whitetail3.htm)"

For more on white-tailed deer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer
For another cute picture of fawns from Rochester: http://rachelanddoug.blogspot.com/2006/08/oh-deer_01.html

The Law of Reflection

We talked about the law of reflection in science class today...angle of incidence equals angle of reflection.

When the turkey calls...

Meleagris gallopavo visits our backyard- and later gets trapped on the front porch and freaks out.

The Waterfall

We have been kayaking on a creek that leads to Irondequoit Bay the last week or so. We checked out the creek on Google Earth and saw what looked like a waterfall upstream. We had some time restrictions a couple times and didn't make it to the apparent waterfall until Monday. As you can see it is not quite a waterfall =). Doug was able to get over it to the other side, but I could only get half over (it really is a stronger current than it looks like- I promise), partly because I laughed everytime I got stuck halfway. I tried another opening but it was like I was on a kayaking treadmill. If you want to see the Google map, here it is:

Branta canadensis

While very few people love the Canada goose since it eats the grass and poops everywhere in parks and other public areas, it is interesting to observe them more in their natural habitat. In our kayaking we have seen many nesting pairs, and it is funny to see how the females duck their heads and try to look invisible. It will be fun to see the babies, though I am a little nervous about getting attacked by a protective mom or dad =).

Agelaius phoeniceus

Though you can't see the red wings so well, this is a male red winged blackbird from today's kayaking adventure. I just realized that I work at Frontier Field which is the home of the Rochester Red Wings- are they named after red winged blackbirds?

Daru goes to school

Yes, the boys get all the fun classes. Daru came to school to talk about animal behavior a few weeks ago. She was pretty well behaved considering the herds of children and strange surroundings. If you look very carefully, you can see my boy who is terrified of dogs in the back of the room.

Chameleon Climbing II

Chameleons have zygodactyly.

Chameleon Climbing

My "big boys" and I took a trip to Petco to see the animals- a free field trip thanks to Field Trip Factory. They loved the chameleon and it was pretty cool I must admit. I had never seen their feet which are forked to help them climb and it was fun to watch it climb all the boys.

The birds

After 2 months of a birdless feeder, the birds came in full force starting last week and almost emptied the whole thing. We have seen chickadees, nuthatches, two varieties of woodpeckers, and male and female cardinals. Kina loves bird watching and I think this morning she was licking her lips.

The Falls

There were actually falls too- not just ice and rainbows.

Ice

Everything near the falls was covered with ice from the mist. It is amazing that the trees can survive a winter at all! The Kodak building is in the background.

Sunny day

My cousin Joshua came to visit so I decided I wanted to show him High Falls in downtown Rochester, but then I saw a picture of Lower Falls and decided I wanted him to see that (or at least I wanted to see it). We went yesterday at dusk with a camera sans batteries, so I dragged Doug there today. It was a nice day to go. A faint double rainbow is above the clearer rainbow.

The Deer Gang comes to visit

Six (one not pictured) deer came to visit this afternoon, but not the buck. If you look carefully at the picture you can see a cat also made its way into the photo.