basic Necessities

Trip to the grocery store in the dead of winter to get the basic necessities: bread, milk, eggs, tulips.

where's Waldo?

hidden among the birch branches, chatting with me as I filled the feeder, can you find him?
(click on photo if you can't)

snowy Snoot

Captain Jack Sparrow surveys the snowy seas of his realm.

bridge over the river Koi

In July, lovely, languid koi swim beneath your feet among the waterlilies. In February, they are vacationing inside a nice warm greenhouse and the hardy lilies are snoozing in the ooze at the bottom of the pond.

watermelon Babies

 

 Thumb-sized plant plugs of coleus filled a whole tray, gorgeous and bright as 2 inch high babes.

What a jolt of color they will create in a big pot on someone's front porch in June. No wonder they were the darlings of Victorian parlors. New varieties seem to bring out the wacky sense of humor of plant breeders, you can find any of these by mail order or at your favorite greenhouse, I would buy them just because of their names!

Brooklyn Horror

Fishnet Stockings

Irate Ochre

Pretzel Logic 

Religious Radish

September Divorce

Flapdoodle

Dead Drunk

Goose Bones

Radical Butterbean

Cicada Muse

Electric Frizz

and

Brave New Artichoke

puzzle Pieces

what do all the pieces put together make?

are you lost, Fellas?

I find it rather puzzling that brown pelicans would be a popular garden ornament in SOUTH DAKOTA! Here they are, with powdery snow on their sunny southern selves. Do we have Florida envy?

addendum: see www.pureflorida.blogspot.com today, envy (with all CAPITAL letters) of my blogfriend, FC is huge.

a pound Puppy

 

My "rescue" bonsai (read: bargain shelf at Lowe's, dry as a bone, few leaves left) has responded to a little TLC. It wasn't as far gone as it could have been. Even though there has been 6" of snow overnight and it is 3F at the moment, it already had decided it was time to get busy for spring. Don't you love enthusiasm?

bloomers for your Bloomers

One of the most colorful things in the mid-winter greenhouse is the pot covers! New baby plants just getting started, no flowers yet. Went to a container gardening workshop on a snowy day today, lovely earthy smell to a greenhouse when everything outside is frozen solid.

panda plant and Friends

Erik and Mia sent me this for my birthday...it is also known as pussy's ears. A kalanchoe from Madagascar, maybe it should be lemur's ears instead.

florida Weather

OMG, we broke a 75 year old record for high temperature on February 15, it was 67F! If we are going to have Florida weather in the middle of February, I am going to wear my Tevas! We will, of course, pay for this down the line...we had snow days in May the past two years.

happy heart Day

 

...And in a clearing on a hill of flowers

Was set this noble goddess, Nature;

Of branches were her halls and her bowers

Wrought according to her art and measure;

Nor was there any fowl she does engender

That was not seen there in her presence,

To hear her judgement, and give audience.

For this was on Saint Valentine’s day,

When every fowl comes there his mate to take,

Of every species that men know, I say,

And then so huge a crowd did they make,

That earth and sea, and tree, and every lake

Was so full, that there was scarcely space

For me to stand, so full was all the place...

Geoffrey Chaucer

"Parliament of Fowls"

just add a Little

pixie dust and hopefully your dreams will come true

in the eye of the Beholder

 

beauty

only a few more Days

Have you taken care of your Valentines yet?

alice's adventures in Wonderland

The moon masquerading as the Cheshire Cat.

The Cheshire Cat masquerading as the Cheshire Cat per Disney.

shucks, it's Inorganic

 

I caught sight of this cool looking fungus growing on one of the logs in our woodpile. Looked like a neat macro shot, so I got the camera and got ready for an artsy photo. Imagine my chagrin when I got close to the "fungus" and discovered that it is the remains of a piece of nylon rope that had been attached to the dead tree with a roofing nail! Bad botany.

a little bit of Sunshine

 

on a snowy day

oh give me a Home...

I am guessing that I am the only one of your acquaintance who spent the morning at a buffalo auction. The Black Hills Stock Show Buffalo auction was held today, free to anyone who wanted to watch and learn. Not so free for the buffalo breeders who were looking to add to their herds. These are all registered animals and come from about 5 states around and are going to new homes is at least that many states. Sales prices were in the thousands for yearling animals.

Coming in

Sold! Going out

 

Waiting in line

 

the Head Wrangler

Yearling at 1300 pounds +

This beautiful bull sold for over $16,000!

A simple square knot in a lariat rope between us and mayhem.

Wooly Bully! look at how well he is insulated, the snow doesn't melt off his back.

rule of Thirds

2/3 pasture, 1/3 fuzzy yearlings

from the tower window of Rapunzel

 

If you are French, you know her as Persinette or if you are Italian, you may know her as Petrosinella.

The Brothers Grimm neatened up her story so it was appropriate for children, as it was originally described as being quite bawdy.

When Rapunzel let down her hair, she really let down her hair!

sky Fingers

 

Birches

by Robert Frost

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel...

four o'clock Artiodactyl

pinewood Phil

 

At 8 am we rousted Pinewood Phil out of bed. He strongly objected, it was -9. He did his duty, there was his shadow declaring 6 more weeks of winter. He has now gone back to bed, not to be seen again for weeks! 

Hope your Phil predicted spring where ever you are this morning.

:o)

siberia, south dakota or Summer?

 

We'll take summer right about now! -40 wind chills have absolutely NOTHING to recommend them!

cow camo Cat

Lucifer is a man who looks after his comfort. If a snowy day doesn't provide a sunny spot to snooze, then he finds the next best thing. I don't think he was trying to hide, but it is pretty effective camouflage nonetheless on Rachel's cow blanket.

jacket sleeve Jewel

 

Guess what...it is snowing, and for once it is just floating down and not driving horizontally!

once upon a Time...

             ...... she could have worn these tiny moccasins.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

boys Toys

 

We had a fascinating assembly at school yesterday, Jay Red Hawk talked to our kids about Lakota culture, goal setting and integrity. He and his family, several generations together, raise and train horses and follow traditional ways. Among the unique skills Jay has is that he is one of the only Lakota men today who hunts buffalo from horseback with a bow. This is the style of hunting that George Cattlin depicted in sketches and paintings from the 19th century (see below). Can you imagine the courage and training necessary to have a successful hunt? Jay hunts with a handmade bow of Osage orange, hand-fletched arrows with stone arrowheads!

 

Among the things that he brought to show the kids were toys that helped teach the children their adult roles in society. The boys' toys on the table are horses. The kids played with them like modern children play with Transformers or action figures. These toys, however, are not plastic, they are toe bones from the foot of the buffalo. They are painted to resemble the roan, sorrel and palomino horses from the family herds.

i love vanity Plates!

 

These two  cars were literally  face to face in the grocery store parking lot this afternoon! Who is your money on in a duel?

a favorite Neighbor

Pica hudsonia

The black-billed magpies love this lone pine lookout tower. I see them most days either on my way to school or on the way home. If I am lucky, I catch them both times. 

This one was soaking up the final rays of the late afternoon sun and hollering about something or other. I didn't see anything to be stirred up about, maybe he was just yelling for the fun of it. Wish I'd had the bigger lens, not the point and shoot, they are so photogenic and very camera shy.

flying between the Clouds

Where are you going, high flying jet?

Heading west into the setting sun,

Is your destination California or Hawaii or Fiji or Tibet?

in the Doghouse

 Rapid City public schools participated in a fundraiser for our local Humane Society earlier this month. The Learn and Serve program students built doghouses and distributed one to each elementary, middle and high school. The kids were to decorate one as they wanted, the houses to be auctioned off to benefit the animal shelter.

Any of our kiddos could enter the design contest and there were many entries. The staff chose the winner and 4th hour Civics class began work. We chose this design, hands down! We live 20 minutes from Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, we are Lincoln Academy, so the kids decided on a patriotic theme.

The delightful sense of humor won us over, and Zach, Matt, Quinton and Alfredo put hours in copying their design and hand painting. Neat, neat project for an Active Citizenship requirement in 9th grade Social Science.

another view, Mr. Sandburg

FOG

THE fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

Little cat feet on the front porch.
He sits looking over the front lawn on silent haunches

and then moves on.