Roses and Rabbits

Ok, first let me dispense with the bad news. The bunnies lovingly photographed in the last post are now dead. Sad, but true. I'm honestly not sure if all three are dead, but I know at least one is. I went out to see if they were still there, because I hadn't seen them for a while. I thought maybe Mama had moved them. No biggie. But I was going to mow over the area and wanted to make sure. So I started lifting up some of the grass and hair covering the hole. I saw a little brown fur and was startled. Ok, they must be in there. I went and mowed the front and came back a while later. This time I was just going to expose them and nudge them a bit to see if they were alive. I didn't even get that far...all I saw was some liquid and I just stopped. I'm pretty sure we have some decomposing baby bunnies in our yard. Yuck. But that's the circle of life for ya. I'm just kind of afraid that I caused that. I didn't hold them or anything, so I hope that their untimely demise had nothing to do with me. Sigh. Maybe more next year.

But on a much happier note, we have had an explosion of ROSES!! I just want to kiss the person who had enough foresight to plant rosebushes all around our garage. They are amazing when they start to bloom.


Do they make such thing as Champagne Roses? Well, if they don't then I have the first strain. This beautiful pink and white rose smells exactly like wine. Not even joking. I wish they made scratch-n-sniff blogs.

These are some of the flowers I picked today. The card next to it is a pretty card my Mom made for our anniversary. It's called Paper Pricking and she does it by punching little holes as as pattern. Then she takes embroidery thread and goes through each hole in a cool little pattern. I'm surrounded by flowers!!
Eric and I did this a while ago. I've always wanted to do those Wall Word things (they are the rub-on phrases). I was on the road a few months ago, bored, and walking around the local Yankton Mall. I stopped into a funky little shop that had a bunch of these. I really happen to like the saying, too. This wall really had nothing else but the clock and I think it punches it up a little.

Tired Dog

I don't think Lily is quite in her summer shape yet. She and I had walked to the library (which is well over a mile one way) and back one night. It wasn't particularly hot, but her tongue was dragging on the ground by the time we were done. She came home and plopped down amongst her toys. Ahh...the dog days of summer.

We have Triplets!

I discovered last week that a mama bunny has chosen our backyard to have her little ones. I discovered it when I was mowing. I'm not sure what made me stop, but I paused long enough to look in the grass at a spot about a foot in front of the lawnmower -- and the grass was moving! That's what made me pause. I thought maybe it was a baby bird, but when I got down to take a look I realized they were mammals.

My first thought was a mole (??), but when I saw those little ears I knew they were rabbits! How cool is that? At first only two were poking their heads out (I'm sure I rocked their world with that lawnmower), but just today I discovered three! When I first saw them they were hairless, but now they have hair and are able to crawl all the way out of their hole. I actually called them out twice! I walked up to the hole and made a squeeking noise and they came out!! Wow. But then one got stuck in the grass surrounding the hole and hunkered down. So I had to use my two ring fingers to pick him up and push him back towards the hole. I'm sure he wouldn't have found it on his own. Anyway, here are some pics -- I can't wait to watch them grow up and out!

The Mall of America

Sunday was another busy day after we got back at Midnight from our trek across Minneapolis post-Twins game. We got up on Sun morning and went swimming. Eric helped A-man to swim and get more comfortable in the water. I wasn't down there yet when this happened, but A-man was running around the side of the pool and slipped. Luckily he didn't hit his head or break anything, but it was hard enough of a fall that his earplugs popped out! Yikes. I don't think I've seen that kid cry from being hurt -- what a trooper.
Then in the afternoon, on the way out of town, we went to the MN Zoo in Apple Valley. We didn't have a lot of time and it was hot (probably only like 82 degrees...I'm not looking forward to the rest of the summer), but we managed to see a few things. We saw the tigers, the Underwater adventures, and the tropical dome. We took a train ride around the outside of the park. It was pretty cool to see the critters from the air.
Above: Bingo's dream.
Anthony said the Flamingo's legs were broken. He must have been looking forward to the Flamingos because we saw some pink floating balls in a pond and he screamed in delight, "Flamingos!!!"
I can't remember what type of a critter this is (I just remember the sign said that he's NOT a monkey. I think it's a macqaue). Anyway, he was hanging out like this with his arms up like he was chillin. After a while he got up and sat in the crook of the tree in the "thinking man" pose. I wish I could know what he was thinking about.

The red pandas were a little elusive. My battery was running low at this point and I was trying to get as many snaps as I could. When one did turn around his little face reminded me of a Lily. They were sure cuddly.


These Japanese snow monkeys were fun to watch. There were some babies with them that a momma was nursing. I liked this shot of this one.

My pictures of the Discovery Bay didn't turn out very well because it was just too dark. I didn't have my flash on because it reflected and I didn't want to spaz out the sharks floating by. It would have ruined my day if the flash tripped some primal instinct in its pea brain and it rushed the glass. So I'm just left with some blurry, pretty colors.


Our illustrious traveling posse. What happens in Redwood Falls, stays in Redwood Falls.

Twins vs Yankees

We had a fun weekend up in the Twin Cities. Eric and I went with Eric's mom & dad, Anthony, and Janel, a family friend. We left on Sat morning and came back on Sun night. We really packed a lot into those few hours. Saturday night was the Twins game against the Yankees. I hadn't been to a MLB game since I was in the 6th grade (it was a Cincinnati Reds game). It was GREAT! What energy in the Metrodome .

And having the Yankees there was even more exciting. It was fun seeing so many of the athletes that you normally hear about on TV in person. We rode the Metro train to the stadium from the Mall of America. We weren't the only ones, though -- the train was standing room only after the game. But it's really funny how friendly people are when you are standing and your armpit is right over their head. Everyone just talks like it's no big deal. It makes me wonder if it was just the spirit of the game or if it's like that because we are still in the Midwest. Makes me wonder what it's like to ride on trains in big cities like NY or Chicago. Yuck. Couldn't pay me enough to live with all those people -- but it's sure fun to visit.




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We had fun making signs to hold up so that we might get circled by Bert Blylevyn, the announcer for the Twins. Alas, we got screwed, but it was fun making up the signs. Tell me which one you like the best (you'll make someone's day if you vote for the right one!) (Click on the picture to make it bigger).