Thursday bunny count

I went on the longer walk that Benjamin and I usually only do on weekends (just because it takes 40 minutes, and we tend to be short on time during the week). This is important because it made my bunny total for the morning higher than normal: 6 bunnies! Also spotted 5 cats (4 house cats out for their constitutionals and one stray on the UCA campus) and a pair of robins engaged in procreational activities. Not to mention all the other birds I heard and saw, going about their normal business.

Well, it's Wednesday

I wish I had something interesting to say, or at least another funny photo, but I don't. Benjamin has been gone since last Wednesday and won't be back until Saturday, so apart from the house inspection on Monday (which went fine, apart from the many mosquito bites I got investigating the backyard) I haven't done anything . He also has the camera, so I can't include any pictures of my new tattoo (OK, so I did one other thing over the weekend).

I have been going for a walk every morning, now that it is light enough out at 5:30. I love getting out when it is quiet - well, quiet isn't exactly the right word, because the birds are all singing like crazy, but there aren't any motors going. And there are bunnies. I usually see 3 or 4 bunnies on every walk. They just hang out in the yards around the neighborhood, munching grass (and presumably other plants). I wonder if there will be bunnies in our new neighborhood? Not that I will see them, assuming I start walking with a dog...

We have had about 13 inches of rain so far in May. It is supposed to rain again later today. Ugh.

A Funny for Friday

Oliver decided that he wanted to try on Benjamin's new hat. It is too small for him.

Of waterfalls and free radicals

Sunday was the first truly nice day in weeks, far too nice to stay at home, waiting for word about our offer on the house. We decided that it was a perfect time to go for a hike. May is a good time to go waterfall hunting in Arkansas, and the amount of rain we have had lately has made it especially good. So, we headed out to Petit Jean Park to see Cedar Falls. Check out the difference between our trip on Sunday, and our trip last August!

The falls were indeed worth the hike in to see them, and the large number of families seemed to agree. Now, I fully support introducing children to nature - I was taken hiking before I could walk - and I fully support people getting out in fresh air rather than sitting on their couches playing video games, but sometimes, I wish they would all go away! People, if there is a warning at the beginning of the hike that it can be a difficult trail, do not hike it in flip flops. If you have children with you, and they have to pee, please take them off the trail a little way, so I don't have to watch them. Keep the free radicals under control - there are other people on the trail with you who do not care to have to dodge children the entire hike.

No idea what this is, other than a lizard-like creature. Greg, do you know?

Whew. Off my soapbox now. After we finished the hike to the waterfall, we headed off down another trail, one that was delightfully free of people. It was quiet - no screaming or crying toddlers. Ahh. The trail wound around a series of rocky outcrops, and we got to scramble around and do a bit of amateur rock climbing. Benjamin enjoys pretending to be a billy goat!

All in all, it was a good day.

House update

So, it has been sort of a whirlwind last few days. On Friday, we went to see a couple of houses. We liked the first one right away, but went to see the next one anyway. It wasn't what we were looking for. There was one more we really wanted to see, because it appeared to have potential, so we decided to go see it before we made a decision about the 1st Friday house. Well, both the houses we looked at on Saturday bombed, so the Friday house was our choice. We made an offer on Saturday, found out that there was another offer already, and then had to sweat and wait until Monday morning, when the owner returned from out of town.


But, we got it! Then the stopwatch started and the race began. Lining up an inspection, getting the loan process going, finding the proper paperwork... And Benjamin is going out of town for a week and a half, and the car is in the shop. Gah! But, if everything goes as it should, we will close on our 8th wedding anniversary and be out of our apartment by the end of June. Anyway, here are a few of pictures of the house.

House hunting...it stinks

We have officially begun our house hunting adventure. And so far, it isn't that much fun. We saw 4 houses last weekend. 1 was cute but after thought too small. One had a lot of side yard, but no back yard, and felt like a granny house. 2 were weird/70s funky. We found one we really, really wanted to see, but it has a contract pending. We are going to see a couple more today, and a couple more on Sunday. Several others we wanted to see are also already under contract. If we want to see houses in Conway (we are currently looking in another town between Conway and LR), we discovered that we have to get a different agent, since the two don't cooperate with each other. Huh.

Why can't it just go smooth? Why does nothing go smooth? Why can't I buy a house off Amazon, get super saver shipping, and be all set?

New Arkansas State Library Web Site

So, S at work has been hard at work for the last couple of months, redesigning, no, creating from scratch, a new web site for the State Library Services. I know most of y'all don't live in Arkansas, but you should still check it out - the Ask a Librarian form is for everybody, and we answer all the questions we get.

In Memoriam

My grandfather, Richard Van Dyke, passed away today. He was a good man. He and my great-grandfather taught me to play Cribbage when I could barely count. He loved to play and watch sports, especially golf. He served our country with honor in WWII.

He always pulled out the chair at the dining table for my grandmother. He helped to raise a fine family. He will be missed.

Iris galore

In the flower gardens surrounding the Arkansas Supreme Court buildings, there is one bed dedicated to iris. I started watching it earlier this spring, and finally had a nice day, the camera, and iris all at the same time.

There was a fantastic array of colors in the beds. The sun was a little too bright to get all the colors, but I think you can get the idea.

I am glad to know that iris can do well here. I intend to plant some in my future garden!

I love the ruffles and the streaky, vivid colors. All they need to be perfect is a good scent! I am sure they are gone now, since these pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago. The roses are blooming now, but it has been so rainy that I haven't had any chance to get out to take pictures. Maybe soon.

Crimson clover!

I need a reminder that it hasn't always been raining. A couple of weekends ago, while Benjamin was out of town, I finally had time to get pictures of the crimson clover. It was a good thing too, because it was gone by the middle of the week.

I have never seen anything like it before - we have white clover and light purple clover up in Washington, but not this brilliant clover.

This isn't a great shot - taken out of the car window while stopped at a stop light - but it gives you an idea of the way it carpeted the sides of the road. Gigantic patches. It was so incredibly lovely, while it lasted.

Now the clover is gone, and the honeysuckle is blooming. It too grows rampant on the sides of the road, climbing over the trees and bushes. Ahh.... hunny-suckle, as Pooh might say.

A bluebird of happiness for your Monday

Remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we had a bluebird within sight of our bedroom window? And that I couldn't get any good pictures of him? Well, I finally did manage to get a couple of good pictures of him, and even more miraculous, I found time to get the pictures off of the camera. Isn't he cute? Now, if only I had a telephoto lens, so I could get a real close-up.

It rained on us all weekend, and by rain I don't mean Seattle-style drizzle rain, I mean buckets. At least 3" by Saturday afternoon. It was good to go through the pictures on the camera of sunny days just a week past and remember that it won't always be so wet.