B Family Wedding!

Howdy, y'all!

I hope you've been doing well. Things are good here, although I feel a little guilty about not writing very much this summer. The whole working 8 to 4:30 thing is taking up some of my time, along with busy weekends and activities, not to mention the triathlon I'm doing this Saturday!

This weekend we celebrated the wedding of R's sis AB to RM!


Unfortunately I only have action shots of the couple. This is maybe appropriate as they are both some of the busiest people I know; RM as a chef and manager of a restaurant, and AB as a grad student, thrifter, munchkin-attendant and educator.



The wedding was held at A to Z Produce, (they don't have a website) an organic farm in Stockholm, WI.


(Quite a vista for the four piggies in the background!)


Of course there was a litter of kittens running around. Bro D and Baby B snuggle this marmalade kitty.



Where the magic happens:



This is an unappetizing photo of tremendously good pizza. I can't wait to go back on a Tuesday night and have it once more!


The dessert table.


Wendell and sis K in the Motherland.


R and Wendell.


The piggies.

The B Family grew even more a few weeks ago when newlyweds ACM and RM adopted their yellow lab/border collie mix Ari. He is adorbs.


Hugs to you all and I hope to do a more critter related post soon!

Yup

Hey guys! I hope you are having a good Monday!

I'm quite tired from the Bachelorette weekend of Sis AB (featured here in her Party Outfit.)


We had a great time at a cabin up north! We caught up with a lot of magazines at the cabin, where I learned for the first time that Ryan Adams and Mandy Moore had been dating.

(What's with the dye job, Ryan?)

I think they've broken up now, however. Man, I thought he was still dating the red-haired Banana Republic model Jessica Joffe:


Better get back into the loop!

In the Pet Peeve department:
Lately at the Twin Cities big grocery stores, the issue of bagging has moved from do-it-yourself to having baggers there. Sometimes the checkout people will also help you bag your items. The latter happened a few weeks ago, and the checkout guy placed my avocado and bag of cherry tomatoes into the same bag with, can you guess? Yes, about six metal veggie cans. It's like, you know, let me bag my own groceries if you're going to jack up my produce. Right?

R was gone this weekend as well, on his annual man-trip to the BWCA. He took the camera, and here are some of his snapshots of the Great White North. Damn, don't you want to go?


The Wild R.


The men went swimming in two waterfalls! I've never done that.





The Wild Strawberry:






Create a great day for yourself,
Wendell!

The Last Two Weeks

Don't cry; dry your eye, cause here comes Wendell with an entry that's fly!

There is my Lodi Dodi-inspired rhyme! Weak.

How are you? Things are smoov here, although it's been a busy two weeks.

For the Fourth we went to the Motherland:

R and I spent a lot of time with sister LW and her boyf CC, plus of course, the puppies! The dogs, Diesel (four months?) and Chevy (almost a year) played grab-ass the whole time.

We learned that fireworks aren't for the kids, but rather for the grown men, including R, who stocked up at a WI fireworks shop. We shot off huge mortars and I used a roman candle for the first time. Pyro fun! No photographs were taken, however.

We did feed Hot Dog, the gray fox. He might have a lady-friend who was also feasting on wieners, but it was hard to tell them apart.

This is the same bad picture from last year; I took a bunch of new Hot Dog photos with sis KW's new camera. Man, foxes are cute; his ears were so rounded and his fur so beautiful! I love Hot Dog the fox!

When we came back from lighting the fireworks, a little tree frog was awaiting us on one of the patio chairs!
Frog-love!

After leaving the Motherland, R and I roadtripped south to Peoria, IL for his cousin's wedding. I'd never visited that town, which is perched on the Illinois River. We took photos of an impressive edifice, the Cornerstone Building. I felt it had some Arts and Crafts features, an era I've been researching as R and I look for houses of our own. Scenes from above the wedding reception:



I love the chandelier!



Last weekend we made a marathon journey to Arkansas. Here R's Dad and I pose in front of the Nixa, MO Super 8:
We look a little wiped out after ten hours in the car.

Side Note: If you want to buy a fabulous house on the cheap, move to Springfield, MO! You can get like, a 3,000 square foot house, a horse barn, a riding arena, and five acres of land for $175K.

I wish we could have stayed longer in the Ozarks: they were ravishingly beautiful.
At the bottom of a valley. With a cow.



R's Grandfather's house:


Some Ozark cows:


While most of Iowa and Missouri closely resembled MN from the highway, we did start coming into some rolling hills as we approached Springfield, which is very close to Branson, Missouri*. We started spotting these mimosa trees. The delicate threads of the flowers had a light, sweet scent.


*We passed right by Yakov Smirnoff's theater as we headed down to Arkansas. Remember that guy?!

One of my critter goals for AR was spotting the wild armadillo!

Alas, all the ones we saw were deceased by the highway. Check out my armadillo entry here. Sheeot, I need to fix those old picture links. Sorry.

We did see a juvenile prairie skink! Unlike the following photograph, the lizard I saw had a BRIGHT blue tail, like fluorescent blue. He moved fast, sliding sideways into a sidewalk crack.


The ten hour ride home yesterday was greatly improved by the end of the book on tape we'd purchased for our Colorado trip this spring. Back in March, the iPod died with five hours left to go! So yesterday we listened to the finale of Dan Brown's Digital Fortress. (Uh, we bought it on iTunes.) It was a bit cheesy, but fast paced, and the narrator had a fascinating voice and did great characterizations of everyone. Highly recommended!

Due to our traveling, I missed the triathlon I'd signed up for on the 12th. So, I'm doing a different race on August 2nd! Hopefully I will be able to do some freshwater swimming before then.

Shout outs to Big W and Big K, who welcomed a bouncing baby boy on the Fourth of July! While they were birthing, R and I got to see their daughter Phook as Grandma J brought her over to ride on my parent's front porch swing. She has cuteness, and curly hair, two of my favorite things!

How are the critters treating you this summer?

Best wishes,
Wendell!

Recent Encounters.

Heyyyyy!

Are you ready for the Fourth of July weekend!? R and I are getting ready to head to the Motherland, and then down to Peoria for a wedding on his side of the family. Yay!

I am excited to report the first vole sighting of the year! I was walking to work, and an enterprising vole ran out on the sidewalk in front of me, noodled around curb-side, and then hightailed it across the road! I yelled for him to be careful, but the vole made it safely across!

Check out this vole story!



A more somber encounter was at the break room at work. I'd heard rumors of infestation, but witnessed this firsthand as a colleague and I opened the door. I saw a flash of movement near my feet, and as I lifted my foot to take a step a dead cockroach was revealed! I'd just squished it! It's good I did it by accident, because some of those big guys freak me out too much to step on. EEeeeeeee!



My cockroach blog, with expired pics, sorry.

Keep me posted about any Independence Day critter sightings!

xoxoxo
Wendell!

Stroll at Wood Lake

Hello everyone!

How was your first official weekend of summer?! Birthday shout-outs to Poundpapi; I'm looking forward to hearing about his celebration.

Recently life has been dominated by work and triathlon training. Three weeks to go! I'm feeling fairly competent, even at swimming, although my endurance in the water isn't the best.



This weekend I hankered for a fish taco and went to Sea Salt. It's not a place to visit by yourself; it seems there is always a huge line and a long wait for food, which is fine if you can chat with a buddy. I had raw oysters on the half shell and four fish tacos, which lacked the creamy sauce and cabbage I was hoping for. They were sprinkled instead with good salsa, cilantro and onion and served with limes. I might have to try to make my own fish tacos, although it seems the Food Network website is lacking what I want as well. Maybe I will try this recipe.

On Sunday R and I made our inaugural journey to Richfield to check out the wetland and hopefully spot some critters!

The first

of the season!

I love fat toads! A faster-moving toad hurried across our path later in the walk.

Also enjoying the sunshine:

Some turtles! A faster-moving turtle sped down the embankment and into the water later in the walk.

We also found some dried up turtle egg shells and shallow holes from which the baby turtles emerged. How amazing would it be to watch the tiny turtles making their way to the pond for the first time?! (Wendell wipes a wishful tear from her eye.)



We did see the muskrat, the red winged blackbird, a dead mole and a dead shrew! We think the latter might have been drowned out of their holes.

More Wood Lake nature:




How is your critter watching?

Have a good week, y'all!
Wendell!

Car Cat

Hello!

I hope you are in the midst of a delightful weekend! Happy Father's Day to all you daddies out there; especially to Mr. JS, as we met his newborn daughter this week! Adorbs. And congrats to Mrs. JS too, of course!

(R's mountain bike, robbed of fenders and lights to trick out my hybrid bike! Also the hallway where our three bikes spent the winter.)

Currently I am damp from my first nighttime bike ride! Not only am I a recent bike convert, partially because of my triathlon training (less than a month away!) but also because I'm commuting to work! My new job is seven minutes away by bike. This is perfect for me as I don't get too sweaty or nappy-haired, and also because there is no parking at my workplace; plus I'm saving the earth or whatever.

Tonight the plan was to meet sis AB and some of her peeps at a local bowling alley. R said, "It's really close; let's ride our bikes." Of course a thunderous downpour occurred while we were bowling! It was fun to ride home in the rain with our lights flashing!

Today bro DHB rode his bike over to meet R for a disc golf excursion. Since the living/dining room was filled with cycles, I figured I better take a picture:
In the foreground, DHB's maroon Surly Steamroller fixie; in the background my blue Specialized mountain/hybrid bike. More hidden are our road bikes; R's Surly Cross Check and my "new" red Peugeot, which was a true find at a Motherland yard sale!! Apparently the latter is worth some money as it has a sought after steel frame.

These photos also illustrate why we need to buy a house with a garage!

The title of this Critter Corner refers to a phenomenon R and I witnessed this last week. While looking at homes in south Mlps, a blue Lumina passed us. It was adorned with multiple bumper stickers, but instead of a dog sticking its head out of the passenger window, there was a car cat!

It's true; a brown tabby, head out the window and alert and blissful in the manner of a pooch. Have any of you seen this car?! The funny thing is that the same car was parked near the Franklin Avenue public library on Tuesday night. The tabby was roaming the dashboard!

Someday I will take a photo of this car cat. Would your cats enjoy this type of activity? I think my Uncle JS's cat, Bob, rides in the car with him.

Meow,
Wendy

Garter Snakes

Hello and happy Sunday to you all!

After watching a show featuring garter snakes a few months ago, I knew I needed to write an entry on these charming reptiles!

Do you like snakes or are you scared of them? When and where was the last time you saw one?

Apparently as a little girl of three years old, I walked up to my Mom excitedly holding a snake! I'm assuming she told me to put it down.


The Eastern garter snake.

The most widely distributed reptile in North America, garter snakes range from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and are the only snake found in Alaska. These snakes are obviously very adaptable, living in prairies, forests, rocky heights and wetlands.

Within the Thamnophis genus there are many species and varieties of garter snakes, some of which are disputed by scientists. Only one garter snake species is endangered: the San Francisco garter snake.

Oooh, pretty!

Garter snakes are 24 to 53 inches long, weighing about 5.28 oz. Most garter snakes have one to three light-colored vertical stripes down their body, while some have patterns between the stripes. The background color of their scales can range from black, gray, brown and olive. Back in the day folks thought these narrow, striped snakes resembled garters, and the name stuck. Here is a pretty MN native, the red-sided garter snake:


Like most snakes, garter snakes are predators. They find food by moving around their territory, particularly in cool mornings, afternoons, and evenings. Using vision, vibration detection and sense of smell, garters search out slugs, worms, bugs, eggs, lizards, birds, spiders and rodents. An aquatic garter snake will also eat tadpoles, frogs, fish and leeches. Many people consider garter snakes helpful as they will dine on garden and yard pests.

Because of their diet, garter snakes are affected by pesticides and water pollution. Other enemies include mink, hawks, crows, crayfish, other snakes, herons, raccoons, snapping turtles and domestic cats. Baby garters are preyed upon by shrews and frogs.

Garter snakes are mostly independent during the warm months. They communicate by excreting pheromones to each other, or leaving pheromone trails. Because of the cold here in MN, and further north, garter snakes hibernate together during the winter, finding traditional hidey-holes that stay between 37 and 39 degrees fahrenheit. This process is called brumation, which varies metabolically from actual hibernation. On warm winter days garters will occasionally come out to sun themselves on rocks.

In the spring, garters wake up from brumation horny! Often the males will emerge first, lying in wait for the females to emerge a few days or weeks later. She will emit a sex pheromone, and the snakes form a writhing mating ball!


To assist in successful copulation, male garter snakes (and all snakes) have two penises! Each hemipenis is attached to its own sexual glands. Apparently only one penis is used at a time, however!

(Don't worry; the above snake is not being harmed. Gently "popping" out the hemipenes is a definitive way to sex a snake.)

Some male garter snakes are born with both male and female pheromones. These "she-males" emit their female scent while in a mating ball, presumably to distract the other males from the ladies. Once a male has ejaculated inside a female snake, he leaves a mucous plug inside her cloaca to block other males. She also stops emitting the sex pheromone, and can leave the mating ball to find a suitable place to eat and bear her babies.

If the female garter snake isn't feelin' any of the dudes, she can simply use sperm she might have saved from the previous autumn!

After two to three months, the female garter snake gives birth to three to fifty live babies. The juvenile snakes are 5 to 9 inches long, and independent immediately after being born. Being small and vulnerable, baby snakes often die in their first year.

Cuteness!

Contrary to popular belief, garter snakes do produce venom. However, their small rear fangs lack the venom grooves to deliver poison to the enemy, and they don't possess the giant front fangs a rattlesnake or viper has. A garter snake has to sort of chew the enemy to deliver their mild neurotoxin. Most garter snakes will retreat when approached, but will occasionally strike. They can also be tamed and make good pets!

I hope you've learned something about garter snakes, and will send them happy vibes the next time you see one! I know I'm always excited to spy a snake. Maybe you will like them more if you think of their twin penises!?

Whither do they slither,
Wendell!