1.27.2008

Vindication with Vulpes vulpes



This morning as we were getting ready for church and watching some deer, this little guy (or girl) came traipsing through the backyard. This picture was taken from the bathroom window after I went running through the house to get the camera and binoculars, scaring the cat with my excitement. I think this is a red fox, Vulpes vulpes.
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1.24.2008

Charles on Fire

 


I realized when I looked at this picture that it appears that Charles has flames shooting out from his sides-oops! A good photographer would have composed this photo better.

Charles came to see us last weekend since we had not seen him in over a year. He had originally suggested that we go skiing, but I was not sure there was much good snow and it was bitter cold, so we opted to go shopping instead. I asked Charles where he wanted to go- like what was high on his list of things to get since shopping is better now in the US (for Canadians) due to the exchange rate and lower sales tax. His first request was to go to the dollar store. Yes, the dollar store as in everything is $1. I was puzzled as to why he wanted to go there; like don't they have dollar stores in Canada? Charles informs me that they are not the same there and he really wanted to go there to get spray starch for his shirts. Again, I suggested that they might sell this in Canada as well, but he informed me that it was much cheaper in the US. Okay, we'll go to the dollar store! Then I asked where else he wanted to go so we could pick the right shopping area in Rochester area. Charles told me that next he needed to go to Wal-Mart. Again, I inquired about what he needed at Wal-Mart, thinking it must be something unusual that Wal-Marts in Canada don't sell. It was conditioner, as in for hair. Apparently, this also is much more expensive in Canada? Other exploits included a little girl's dress for a cousin's birthday party, gift bags, scented candles, a wall clock, hot pepper relish and a new winter coat. We (Doug was working) spent 8 hours shopping including a trip to Moe's (WELCOME TO MOES) and the Christmas Tree Shop, my 2 favorite places in Henrietta. I made some progress on next Christmas.

So if you are looking for spray starch, conditioner, or other shopping assistance, I can hook you up! Thanks for the shopping adventure Charles!
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1.20.2008

3 words

 


Charles was here.
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1.18.2008

Under the bridge

 


Doug took this picture of the 104 bridge from underneath on our kayaking adventure; not that Adam cares...
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1.09.2008

On the Bay

 


We live less than 5 minutes from Irondequoit Bay, which is a great place to kayak. On our 2 60 degree days, we paddled around to explore. We made it to the 104 bridge on Tuesday- about 2 miles each way! Today's weather was completely different- 60+ mph winds for several hours. 75K people have no power in western NY and some may not get it back until Sunday. Ours only flickered once. Weird weather here!
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1.08.2008

What a difference a week makes!

We have been experiencing record highs for the past two days- in the 60s in early January is not typical for Rochester for sure! We took advantage of the nice weather plus Doug actually having some time off to go kayaking. This will probably be one of our only opportunities until spring....
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1.05.2008

The "Fox"

A few days ago, Daru started barking at something down in the ravine. When we investigated, we finally saw a little fox trotting around in the woods. Since it is winter, we could watch it for awhile before it disappeared. This AM, I was looking something up online for my sister since her power is out in CA, and Daru started barking again and I looked outside and saw the "fox." I didn't have my glasses on or contacts in; all I could see was something moving that was kind of the color of a fox though I didn't see any black on the tail. Now, I see clearly that it was not the fox, but an ordinary, probably cold, Felix domisticus. I wonder if the fox the other day was the same cat.....
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1.04.2008

Voluntary Labor

When my family came to visit, they volunteered to do some work around the house. This included draining the hot tub we inherited from the previous owners. Here my dad is vacuuming the last of the water out of the pipes with a Shop Vac that, to quote my b-i-l or at least paraphrase him, "could explode any minute." It did not, thankfully, and no one was injured-- at least in that venture.
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