Spring! April 23, 2015

Aloe vera in bloom

Fuzzy decided to visit after dark and Jade stepped outside to tell him "hello"

Come on, Scrappy!  Wouldn't you like a slice of sweet, juicy apple?  Why do I feel like the wicked queen in Snow White?

Earth Day plus one: April 23, 2015

Found a real palm tree to hug across from Gloria's on Sixth Street



View from the patio at Gloria's, El Salvadoran restaurant at 300 West Sixth.  There's a horse on the corner.  Why not?  If I were a better photographer, or knew how to use Photoshop, you could see that the horse has a flashing taillight on the saddle.

Earth Day: April 22, 2015

Well of course one must have Palm Tree Hugger Nachos from Hula Hut for dinner on Earth Day. 

Incredible!

The party barge, parked next to Hula Hut

After dinner with Cheryl at Hula Hut, we hung out at her place and were joined by her daughters Loren (recently Dr. Kempf since passing her veterinarian licensing exam) and Megan, an attorney who practices in Austin.

Photo booth at Marty's party: April 18, 2015

The '60s!  One more time.

Rainy night on Sixth Street: April 18, 2015

Gushing gutter.  We'd better enjoy this now.  The hot, dry days of summer will be here soon enough.



Sixth Street glistens.

Sixth Street is temporarily deserted.  Throngs ventured back out when the rain stopped.

Marty's 65th birthday party: April 18, 2015



Marty Cirkiel and Tom have been friends for about 40 years.  Tom is the first person Marty met when he moved to Austin from Brooklyn.  Marty's wife Pam is a real estate agent and she sold Tom our house back in 1984.  Marty says this is his "Medicare" birthday since he just became eligible.

The party was at Parkside, on Sixth Street, a restaurant owned and operated by Marty and Pam's son Shawn, who's a renowned chef in the Austin area. 

Parkside's upstairs patio overlooks Sixth Street.

A Spring evening perfect for relaxing outdoors (until the thunderstorm and hail blew through a couple of hours later).

Marty with his granddaughter Dylan Claire Cirkiel.

Lazy afternoon

While Scrappy suns on the back deck, plotting his next move against Papa Tom, Lucy and Einar laze on the front sidewalk.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015: Taxes are done, it's off to Central Market to play!

Where there are boots, can a cowgirl be far behind?

Sometimes what comes down must climb back up.

Anna and Kristoff zoomed down the slide and plopped into the dirt

The boots are off.  It's serious sliding time now!

That was a tricky way down!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Cowgirl in her Elsa dress and rock 'n roll tattoos at Amy's after school and dinner





We stayed on the playground so long that Jade turned into a calf!



So did I!  That's what eating blueberry ice cream with Gumi bears will do!

Time to make a wish!

Sarah, Kirk, Jim, Sadie, Beka, Papa Tom, Jade, Amon, and me wait for Evelyn to blow out her candles on April 6, 2015, the eve of her 97th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

More party pictures

Amon brought out the mini-trampoline for Jade, Jim, and Sadie



Sadie rode on the back of Jade's trike

Evelyn's 39th birthday eve: April 6, 2015

Jim, age 2, and Kirk

Papa Tom and the birthday girl



Amon and Jade

Beka



Lighting the candles on Evelyn's cake. 

Sadie, age 3, and Jade, age 4, share a chair

Bird's eggs

A bird decided to start her family inside our dryer vent.  Not a good idea!  Papa Tom pulled out the nest and eggs.

Papa Tom rigged a replacement next holder using one of his curculio wasp traps.  He placed it next to the dryer vent in hopes that Mama Bird would find her eggs.

Crossing our fingers that Mama Bird finds the nest, now next to the dryer vent.

Ballerina

Jade on her way to school:  dance class, first thing

Kamikaze Scrappy, hanging on the deck: oh, how he taunts us!

Scrappy, eyeing me through the kitchen window.  What's your next plan for Papa Tom, Scrappy?

Scrappy, hanging on the deck, without a care in the world (or so he thinks!  Wait until Papa Tom gets the squirrel relocating trap out!)

Sure, Scrappy.  Turn your back on me at your own risk!



Anjanette's aloe vera

Aloe vera, almost in bloom.  Can't wait to see what the blossom looks like.  Anjanette, this is your aloe vera plant from our neighbor Suzan's 2011 plant party.  Will get it to you next time we see you.  In the meantime, thanks for letting us enjoy it!

April showers bring . . . a slug or a snail?

Spotted this snail under the peach tree, working hard to crawl up on to a blade of grass.  Do you see his extended body and antennae?

Almost situated

Success! 

And I learned something:

Slugs and snails are generally distinguished by the presence of a large exterior shell on the back of snails. Snails and slugs are both gastropod mollusks, and unlike most gastropods they are terrestrial i.e. found on land.

 

So what we have here is a snail.

Bunnies vs. squirrels

Happy Easter! Tom spotted these little guys with about four of their siblings last week. Much happier interaction with Nature than the latest in his ongoing war against the squirrels who raid our garden: Friday, a kamikaze squirrel dove from about 30 feet out of the elm tree, brushed Tom's face, and thudded onto the deck at Tom's feet. Dazed, the squirrel staggered to the edge of the deck, stumbled off the edge (about a 6' drop) into the grass, and clambered back up the tree. Nice try, Scrappy, but Farmer Tom wins again!

P. Tom's plum curculio wasp traps are in

Hoping to head off the plum curculio wasps this year.  The wasps bore holes in the peaches to lay their eggs and we get the happy surprise of a little green caterpillar inside every single ripe peach.  Cute, but not edible!

I didn't get a photo, but Papa Tom has caught two curculio wasps so far!  And a lady bug.  And spiders.  Who knew there was so much life going on at the base of a peach tree?

We're thinking an enterprising Papa Tom twin spent many a peach season developing curculio wasp traps.