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.

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.

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!

3 words

 

Charles was here.

Under the bridge

 

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

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!

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....