Progress and Pressies...

Hi...
I feel so blessed.
I wanted my mom to make a quickie post to say humongous thanks again for all the well-wishing from so many doggies and other furry creatures (as well as your parents, too, of course). It means so much to me and I’m going to make an attempt at directing Mom to visit some of your blogs today to see what you’ve all been up to. Then I’ll dictate some commentary to Ma.

Doorbell does not ring, but Mom finds this and beautiful flowers on the mat. Thank you Honey!



I love this card too! What a happy Boston Terrier!



I had a pretty good night, but my stitches bothered me a little. Still, I actually ate two little jars of turkey baby food off of Ma’s index finger and kept it down. This is really good news. I’ve had lots of water and meds too and have also kept these down.
Golden Honey stopped by last evening, but never rang the doorbell. Imagine my surprise when we found the above on the mat. How gorgeous! Thank you so, so much Honey – I love tulips – especially “golden” ones and they are cheering me up! How sweet. And my pals at Pet Express sent a doggie carrot cookie home with Mom yesterday. I’ll love digging into that in a couple of weeks! Thank you, kind ladies at P.E. so much! I’ll keep you updated, but for now, I’m finally getting to visit some of your blogs.

Huge Hugs and So Many Thanks xo

Sammie

Cow Parsley in the Owl Wood

I love the month of May - it is normally the month when the hedgerows burst into life and there is so much hawthorn blossom that it looks as though the hedges have been sprinkled with snow.



In Owl Wood there is a different magic.

Ivy marches across the pathways and up the trees, if left unchecked.



The bluebells are past their best, still beautiful...but fading.

A beautiful white froth of cow parsley seems to spring up overnight, to compete with the marching ivy.





Most of it grows to about four feet high, in places it grows to almost six feet...so you can imagine what fun that makes walking with Harry. He scurries away and is hidden from sight.

Toby and the cats get swallowed up by it only to reappear unexpectedly. Little Red Hen disappears into it for hours at a time.

The trees are surrounded by white foamy flowers. The effect is quite wonderful. I keep making excuses to walk Toby and Harry in the Owl Wood; wicked woman that I am it is mainly for the pleasure of walking through the cow parsley.



It changes the quality of the light and looking across the woodland things are viewed as though through gauze. It is quite magical.

Cow parsley is easily confused with several other similar looking, but poisonous plants - Hemlock being one of them.

I need to get my plant identification book out and study it closely!

Bike Bash 09

Last evening was Nebraska Cycling Association's annual awards banquet. Awards were presented for road racing and mountain bike racing.
The function was held in Mallet Lodge at Platte River State Park. The evening stated with a spaghetti feed. Soda and a keg of Fat Tire quenched the thirst.
The evening's entertainment was capped off by a slide show with the Year in Review for the Psycowpath season.
My photos of Bike Bash are at: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=220828

Duddington - Tixover - Wakerley and back

Just over 6 miles. Straight through Duddington to Tixover and along the path (Rutland Round mainly). I turned back when it met the road from Wakerley. Very windy, but mostly sunny.





I didn't visit Tixover church on this occasion.

Duddington church

This also marks the boundary between Northants and Rutland - in the middle of the bridge over the Welland

Looking down at the river Welland, just after walking through Welland Spinney

The view of Wakerley church and the house that was once Wakerley station

Tixover Church

Sheep's wool caught on barbed wire





A family of swans paddling in the Welland

Duddington bridge and water mill house from the Jurassic Way footpath.

Cedar Breaks

Well, I sure CANNOT recommend staying in Hurricane, UT. Last night I found Ted & Allen's Sport Grill. Looking for a good beer after the day I had and they had Slickrock Amber Ale in the menu. But they no longer have it, looking for a new amber ale supplier. I prefer to eat at local restaurants when on the road - not a chain restaurant. More on food and beverages later.

Slept in a bit this morning. Breakfast (waffle) and coffee. Planned to head to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Desk cleark there had been some problem on the roads in the Cedar Breaks area. I pulled out my map to ask where the problem was. All she could do was give me hand directions to the area. Said she did not read maps. Duh?

I went anyway and found NO problems getting to the Monument. Was a bit cooler up there - snow in the sheltered areas! Had a good time shooting photos. Construction at the Visitor's Center so passed it by.

Stopped in Cedar City - wanted to check out the Sports Authority and restroom. Was a small store and did not see any sale/clearance racks. Did not find the rest room. Took care of that problem at the rest area on I-15.

Figured I might as well check out St, George while I was out and about. Did a little shopping at Dick's Sporting Goods.

Put today's photos on the spare drive for the laptop and processed today's photos. After that, I was time to look for dinner. Wanted to eat local, with a good beer (amber ale). The afternoon desk clerk could not help me (new to the area). The younger clerk from yesterday was in the back office. Tried to explain what i was looking for - not easy since he speaks with India/Pakistan accent.

Bottom line - the only place with draft beer with dinner was the place I are last nigh. URGH Had to drive back down to St. George for chain restaurant food.

Had been a while since I are at Chili's, so went there. Wrong decision. The hostess started talking about where to sit, and turned her head away from me - I hate it when people do that. I cannot hear/understand when the turn away from me. Sat at the bar. Waited for service. A different server came up beside me and asked it I had been served yet. I said "No". Instead of letting me tell her what I was looking for, she started trying to make suggestions. I stopped her and said I was looking for a draft beer, preferred Amber Ale or IPA. Guess she had no idea what they were, so turned to waiter. He made two suggestions - I opted for the Sam Adams. She opened at BOTTLE of Sam Adams. At that point, I had enough of it. Left and went to Applebee's.

Much better luck at Applebee's. The bar gal stood in front of me where we could converse. Ordered am Amber Ale and Chicken-fried steak. That almost did not go well as their "seasonal vegetable" was a mixture which included broccoli and zucchini - NOT. I could substitute with corn or cole slaw. That was better. The food was great - large steak with garlic mashed potatoes.

Green and black cicada

Newly emerged Linne's Cicada, Tibicen linnei. Looking pretty spiffy, especially considering the dirt nap.
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I think that this is Linne's Cicada, but as you can see here, the Tibicen cicadas are very similar.
Go here to hear some of the songs.
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Submitted to the Friday Ark.

Pretty In Pink

Some of my favorites from last night ...
The first two - the top left because they're primping, getting read to race, fixing knee socks and adjusting straps.
The top right - Mike, Morgan and Paul because for Mike and Paul it was their first cross race - Mike a endurance mountain biker racing on a single speed and Paul a cat 2 road racer, borrowing my old cross bike.

The left one because of the pink rocklobster. The right one because of the housecoat that reminded me so much of my granny.

The left one, because of the billowy scarf. The right one because as the coconut man was being lapped by the strong ones, he remarked out loud to me that he'd forgotten that this was supposed to be serious racing.

The left one because, well, because it's perfect with the dejected shoulders. The right one because of the sexy legs and low cut blouse.

The left one, because it was Lulu's favorite outfit and the right one because Hans looks so cute in his white, silky, chiffon. Although I think it's a curtain.

Ok, time for lunch now.