Tag: photos

My Summer So Far

I have had a lovely summer so far. Judi had asked me the other day how it was going and I just texted her a bunch of photos. So I decided to do something similar with this. Oh, BTW, the little kitty got a name. He’s Pippin, my little pipsqueak. Maybe I’ll post a couple of videos of him later. But now, on to the show!

Photo of a telescope in my back yard. The telescope is on a tripod and is silver and black.
The Unistellar EVScope2 that the school received thanks to a grant from the Miami County Foundation (I wrote the proposal for it). I’ll be spending many a clear night getting a handle on this bad boy before I start sharing it with the community and my first astronomy class.
Selfie of me (wearing a green shirt with wind-blown hair) and the telescope to help indicate size - on the tripod it's almost as tall as me.
Here I am with the telescope to give an idea about its size.
Circular photo with caption "UNISTELLAR - M27 - Dumbbell Nebula - 21min. - 40°N 84°W - Jun 11 2024" Photo shows star field with a colorful (reds & blues) nebulous shape in the center - the Dumbbell Nebula.
Circular photo with caption "UNISTELLAR - M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy - 15min. - 40°N 84°W - JUN 11 2024" The photo is of a star field with a large spiral galaxy that seems to be connected to a smaller galaxy.
Circular photo with caption "UNISTELLAR - M11 - Wild Duck Cluster - 2min. - 40°N 84°W - JUN 12 2024"
Photo of a waxing crescent moon (almost halfway showing).
The moon on June 13. There is a bit of an artifact on the shaded side – not sure what to do about that. Yet.
Circular photo with caption "UNISTELLAR - M17 - Omega Nebula - 10min. 40°N 84°W - JUN 12 2024". Photo is a star field with a large red-pink nebulous cloud - the Omega Nebula.
Photo of the moon. This is waxing gibbous, though barely more than halfway visible.
The moon on Jun 15. Hoping the skies are clear when we get to full moon!
Photo of a box turtle crossing a leafy path. The turtle is yellow-green with brown/black mottling and a pattern on its shell.
This is a lovely box turtle who crossed my path while I was walking the Green Trail at Twin Creek Metropark.
Selfie of me (looking down at the camera), Pippin (front left) and Reesie (back right) sitting on my basement steps during a tornado drill. Pippin and Reesie are cats.
Here’s me, Pippin (front) and Reesie (back) sitting on my basement steps during a tornado drill on May 26.
Photo of a kitten (orange and black tabby) sleeping on what looks like a big fluffy cat bed but is actually his "sister" Reesie, a black & brown long haired cat.
Awww, Pippin found the perfect cat bed. And Reesie got the perfect comforter.
Photo of an oxtail daisy - flower with white petals and a bright yellow center.
Oxeye Daisy – I think at Maple Ridge.
Photo of a small five petaled flower. The petals are fuchsia/pink with with spots. There is another smaller one growing right beside it.
According to Picture This (the plant ID app I use), this is a Deptford Pink (a species of Dianthus). Pretty and not an invasive. Taken at the same park as the Oxeye Daisy.
Photo of two women holding up a beverage and aluminum foil (holding a sandwich). The woman on the left is wearing a colorful visor and a black shirt. The woman on the right is wearing a purple trilby and purple shirt.
Me and mum having lunch at Amy’s backyard after shopping at the Yellow Springs Street Fair. Mom’s shirt says Inclusion in rainbow colors (using element symbols to spell it out). My shirt is for Madeleine’s Salty Lark Pies business.
Photo of a sign at a campsite. The sign symbolizes the campsite with an inverted V shape and also has stylized images of a hiker, a biker, and a kayaker. Written by someone else is the statement "No fires?? Who wrote that rule? A mosquito?"followed by a drawing of a mosquito. On the other side of the upside-down V is another drawing, probably from the same graffitist of a face.
This sign at Island Metropark made me chuckle. On the list of rules behind this sign, it does say no fires allowed at the campsite. It looks like it would be a neat place to sleep overnight, but no fire and no nearby bathroom means I’ll never partake of it. Oh, and there’s the bit in that I don’t actually camp.
Photo of a chicken sandwich, cole slaw, and a cup of water from Popeye's restaurant on a picnic table. The background is a view of a river and trees.
One of the nice things about being an adult in the summer and on vacation is that, if I get a whim to get carry out and eat at a nearby park, I can do that. Yay! Adulting! I’m at Aullwood Gardens Metropark by the Stillwater river.
Very zoomed in photo of a butterfly on a tree. The butterfly is black with white dots at the top of the wings and orange/red stripes at the bottom of the wings.
Very zoomed in photo of a red admiral butterfly. It was nice of it to pose for me. Can’t recall which park I was at. I’ve been at quite a few this summer.
A collage of 6 photos of painted stepping stones. A dragonfly, a sun with sunglasses on, a turtle, a moon and stars, a unicorn (painted purple, of course), and a butterfly.
I did some art this summer! I finally finished painting the stepping stones which I bought for my pocket prairie. I had painted the turtle and the moon, but the others still needed painting. And all of them needed baking to, I dunno, seal the acrylic to the stones? No idea how they will hold up as stepping stones.
Photo of a terra cotta (orange) dish with bees, leaves, and flowers painted on it. It says "Bee Bath" along the side. There are also three white egg cups which have been drawn on with marker - bees and flowers on one, lady bugs and tulips on another, and colorful butterflies on the third.
More of my art from this summer. Egg cups which I’ve had for ages just waiting for me to draw on them with markers. (Thankfully, 5 of the 6 included markers still worked. Sorry pink!) And my bee bath! Waterproofing it now for eventual use as a bee bath in my pocket prairie.
Zoomed in photo of a dragonfly perched on a tall stick. Its wings are spread out wide and they are striped cyan blue and black.
I went on a butterfly walk with the Miami County Parks District. There were quite a few of us on the walk and we saw lots of butterflies. But this dragonfly was not about to be upstaged by the butterflies and posed for all of us to admire.
Fluffy black and brown cat sleeping on her side facing a smaller orange and black tabby kitten, also sleeping on his side and facing her.
Reesie and Pippin napping on the sofa beside me.
An older bearded gentleman in plaid shirt and rainbow suspenders sitting at a picnic table with an older woman in colorful visor and a Nature Conservancy Pride shirt. They are outdoors in a shelter in the woods.
Dad and mom having chicken dinners from Versailles Poultry Days at the shelter at Maple Ridge park.

Meet Reesie

Photo of two cats, one tabby, one tortie/fluffy cuddled together with a person's hand reaching over to scritch the belly of the tabby.
Reesie started feeling at home early. Here’s a photo 10 days after she joined us. This moment didn’t last long, but it was early days yet!

After Lucy died in October, Linus and I spent a lot of together time. We became addicted to watching Star Trek spin-offs and Bewitched DVDs. But then one of my coworkers mentioned to me that there was a sweet little kitty who kept visiting her home. But the two outdoor cats didn’t like her, and her Grandma said there were already too many indoor cats (there were four between my coworker and her Grandma). So my friend was looking for someone who might be able to take care of Reesie. She thought of me.

We agreed to have Reesie and Linus meet up at her Grandma’s garage on Friday, November 3rd. I brought Linus in his harness, and just on the off-chance that they liked each other enough, I brought one of my cat crates.

As soon as Linus came into the garage, Reesie immediately ran over to him and wanted to meet him. It was love at first sight for Reesie. She thought he was the best cat EVER! (She’s not wrong, you know.) My friend coaxed Reesie into the crate and we took her home for a week’s trial.

Overhead view of two cats sitting side by side on the sofa, one a fluffy tortie and the other a gray and black tabby.
Reesie and Linus in a surprise bonding session on December 2nd.

As I said, Reesie LOVED Linus. But Linus was more or less indifferent to her. So I was a bit worried that her attention might be stressful to him. I made sure to have some alone time with Linus. We’ve taken to sleeping with just the two of us and he can have his Chunky Chicken Entree without her bothering him. (That does mean I feel sorry for Reesie out in the rest of the house alone. But she seems to be OK with it now. Especially as she gets to join me in bed when Linus wakes me up to leave the room in the middle of the night.)

Over Christmas Break, Reesie went in for her neutering. She came out with a Cone of Shame which amused Linus and did not amuse Reesie. However, during her two week recovery time, she and I bonded a lot. Reesie became my TV watching buddy (as Linus avoided her during this time because (a) Cone of Shame and (b) she was getting stinky not being able to groom her backside because of (a)).

Fluffy tortoise-hair cat in a Cone of Shame sitting on the lap of a human (from POV of the human).
Celebrating New Year’s Eve in the Cone of Shame

Two weeks after the surgery, she was free of the cone and the klingons which had been stuck to her fluffy butt. She was THRILLED to be able to groom herself again. And Linus returned to his indifference. She still thought he was the BEST KITTY EVER and still enjoyed TV time with Trina. (She’s sitting on the desk to the left of me right now and watching me as I type this up.)

As the weeks have gone on, Reesie and Linus have become friends and not just UberFan and BestKittyEver. It’s now Big Brother and Annoying Little Sister. Linus still has patience issues with her and I’ve not been successful at getting everyone in the comfy chair together (though we had about an hour this morning when all three of us were kitten piled in the bed). But there are more times than not that I’ve found the pair curled up together in the window seat or the comfy chair or the bed.

Window seat with two cats curled up together on it. Gray-haired tabby asleep and fluiffy tortie resting her head on the tabby's body.
“Ain’t nobody gonna bother my big brother!” (Not the best camera shot, but I had to zoom in to avoid spooking Reesie.)

So, welcome to our home, Reesie! I’m sorry I was late on this update, but I’ve not been in the mood to (a) look for photos and (b) write up a post about Reesie. Today the stars aligned such that I could do so!

Close up of a very fluffy tortoise-hair cat with her paws on the leg of the person taking the photo. Person is petting the cat.
Reesie and me watching TV, Feb 9, 2024.

Thanksgiving at Glen Helen

My sister and I were able to take a hike at Glen Helen Nature Preserve on Thanksgiving afternoon.

The beaver dam on Yellow Springs creek. The area is now a wetlands thanks to the beaver population. Glen Helen Nature Preserve.
Another view of Yellow Springs creek.
Evidence of beavers at Glen Helen.
Look! It’s Yellow Springs! The source of the spring & the name of the town.
A closer view of the stone structure that protects Yellow Springs origin.
Yellow Springs creek at Glen Helen.
Craggy stones at Glen Helen.

Early Spring at Twin Arch Reserve

Photo of wildflower, lesser celandine (fig buttercup or figwort) along the bike path near Twin Arch Reserve
Lesser celandine (AKA fig buttercup or figwort.)
Photo of wildflower, white fawnlily, along the bike path near Twin Arch Preserve
White fawnlily on the rare day it blooms.
Photo of wildflower, bloodroot (bloodwort) along the bike path near Twin Arch Preserve
Bloodroot (or bloodwort)
Photo of paved walking path that is winding. Trees to the side of the path with grass & yellow flowers too.
A long and winding road…
Photo of wildflower, Virginia bluebells along the bike path near Twin Arch Reserve
Virginia bluebells (AKA Virginia cowslip)
Photo of wildflower, ground ivy (AKA creeping Charlie), along the bike path near Twin Arch Reserve
Ground ivy (AKA Creeping Charlie) – I know it’s a common “weed” but it’s still really pretty!
Had a lovely walk on Sunday on the bike path near Twin Arch Reserve.

Hobart Urban Preserve, Early Spring

early spring fields at Hobart Urban Preserve
Early spring fields at Hobart Urban Preserve
long shadows along the path at Hobart Urban Preseve
Long shadows along the path at Hobart Urban Preseve
sculpture at Hobart Urban Preserve
Sculpture at Hobart Urban Preserve
redwing blackbird in bare tree at Hobart Urban Preserve
Redwing blackbird in bare tree at Hobart Urban Preserve
winding path & pink bedding trees at Hobart Urban Preserve
Winding path & pink bedding trees at Hobart Urban Preserve
close up shot of pink buds on tree with blue sky background at Hobart Urban Preserve
Pink buds on tree with blue sky background at Hobart Urban Preserve
Lovely evening at Troy’s Hobart Urban Preserve.
Video of a Redwing Blackbird chirping before it takes off.