little flowers

Another cloudy cold day here at the Walsh ranch. We are gearing up for Gull lake. I am going to do some more packing today. Then...............I have a crown prep. OOOHHHH! I hate the dentist! After that I will just sit in pain until I go to "work".

I took some sweet photos of the little and not so little flowers on the porch. Such fun surprises to be found in the garden. K~

flowers for sale??

Here is the group I have done so far. They all have pins on the back and buttons on the front, except for the pink one in the top row. As you can see, they very in size.

Here are some close up.

I plan on putting them on Etsy soon?? K~

I didn't know if these 2 were fighting or trying to mate with each other (both males). They seemed to be doing the mating dance, but, one is definitely crazy (the dark one, Maxwell) and the Other has a "I'm super cool" attitude. It was so nice to get the zoo outside in the sun and the warmth.
We went to William O'Brian State Park. Yes mommy took them to the park with out daddy (who had to work on Saturday and Sunday!) If you know me, this has been a big hurdle of mine over the mommy years. I get a bit overwhelmed, but the aunts and uncles were going, so, I thought, why not.

C was in the water immediately, even though, I forgot the swimming suits! and she didn't until we needed to eat and then leave.

The boys and friend, were busy building sand castles and were very excited to destroy them. Except S :-) he needed to keep his just as it was.

And of course Bing! Sweet sandy Bing. He liked the water and liked the sand even more.....

He got hot and proceeded to dig a deep hole under the bench and lay in it.

Gilligan??? Here is D ready to go to a 3rd grade graduation party.

C likes to play outside and entertain me and the neighborhood. It does make for a nice atmosphere.

The Minnesota Zoo, which we are now a member of! Monday we went there with my sister in law Janet and her son N. She is expecting "baby rocket" as N has named it, in October.

My very favorite exhibit is the Bactrian Camels! I love them! We all walked out to see them they are at the farthest point of the trail. It was a nice trip and I look froward going back many times! K~

forgotten work story

I forgot to add that at work on Wednesday, there was a fledgling hairy woodpecker that needed tending. I was trying to clean it's cage, which it didn't seem to appreciate much. It was pecking me and pecking me. It was biting my hand and then would squeak. I tell you it was one angry little baby! I don't know how I could forget getting attacked by a woodpecker. K~

1st day off of school

Good-bye "QUIET" retreat...

S the Kindergarten graduate!!!

Welcome home all! 90 days of US!

It was Milkshakes birthday (D's polar bear friend). He is one. So we made a cake to celebrate his birthday and the last day of school.

Oh dear.......the din has already begun!

K~

A lesson in care giving.

Last night I left my messy messy home and my husband and 3 kids to go and take care of sick animals. My job as you know, is to clean and feed them. Well, I really got an interesting perspective on care giving.

The fact that mess will happen is predictable,

the amount of mess is not.

I encountered one of my first worm balls yesterday. Kind of freaky. Mine don't seem to do this. They were in a large mass and I had to break it apart in order to count them. EEEWW. Cleaning the flight room (Ward E) was a veritable poop fest. At one point, I thought I had some on my back. I didn't. When we leave for the night, we turn the lights off. So, I peeked in to see how my friends were doing and the floor was just covered in poop and bird food. nice.

Then I moved to Ward C. This is where the turtles usually are. Instead, was a HUGE trumpeter swan and 3 mallards. The swan came up past my hip bone and was hissing and hissing at me. Luckily he could not fly. I needed to empty 2 pools, spray down the floor, feed them and fill the pools. Basically it was me and the swan (with the 3 little mallards following it) doing ring around the 2 pools. I would walk and spray, and he would grumpily walk ahead (with his little duck train). Round and round we went. When I went to put the lights out for them, the floor was covered. ick! I opened the door to check on them, and the swan was just behind it. It flapped and rustled really loud, and of course, I screamed!! Darn it!

I moved to Ward D. This is the ward with the Loon. I worked with the usuals and some new ones too.

grey cat bird

ring billed gull

female hooded Merganser

Before the night was over, I needed to peek in on the baby coyote we had in isolation. He was absolutely adorable. I didn't hear him call, but I was told that sometimes he does.

It is the last day of school today. Time does fly. I am now faced with my own house mess to clean.

K~

Help with gardening - year 2

This is Bing's 2nd spring. He liked to help me photograph my gardens last year, by being in each photo and then biting the plants afterwords. This year, he like to help by being on my lap, standing in the dirt (in the pot) and wading in the turtle pool after I cleaned it. He also likes to rip up my tomato leaves and drink my cold press coffee that I have out there for me to enjoy. Needless to say, I am not getting along with my dog as of late. Yes he is cute, and yes he can be sweet, but, he is SOOOOO naughty! K~

The flute recital

Cora had a wonderful flute recital on Saturday. We went shopping for her dress and bobbles that morning. Pink was the choice for this one. She played The Country Dance and The Can Can. I was just beaming when she was done. She sounded so good! Mikes girlfriend gave her flowers at the end. She was just glowing with joy! Over 1/2 the place was there for C! Even a fellow classmate flute player came to see her.

Then there was the peanut gallery. The whole place was surrounded by mirrors. S could not resist going into a 1/2 hour giggle fest. dear me. K~

If you take the Walsh family fishing.........

Make sure you get ring side seats to the show.

Oh My Word!

I can not believe how much chaos and comedy one family can provide. It started out innocently enough. We went to a sweet little lake to go fishing and try Bing out in the canoe. (we were still thinking of the BWCA this summer) Here are the children by the shore. In the mean time, Bing had escaped up a hill and stolen a brownie off of a child's plate and wolfed it down.

The fishing rods were a flyin'. We got the line in the trees so many times, Rick was about to go mad.


I proceeded to catch a turtle, yes, a painted turtle. It got off before I could photograph it.

Then..... S caught a big carp! He was so excited.

Then it was time to test Bing in the canoe. He did ok. He whined the entire time and was extremely antsy, but stayed put.

The disembarkment however, could have gone a bit more smoothly. Bing jumped onto the bank and wobbled the canoe. C not being so adept to counter balance, just seemed to go with the rocking canoe. Once Rick's hip touched the water, I knew it was all over. There they went! I got the picture of the full canoe, but was laughing a bit hard to catch the initial entry into the water.

So the kids went swimming.

Then we did some fishing from shore and the canoe. Rick, D and C went in the canoe and S and I stayed on shore for a time. ONE cast after Rick paddled away, and the hook, worm and bobber were in the tree. I tried, in vane, to get it loose. So I just left it hanging there for Rick to get it free.

We all made it home alive and are thinking more about possibly cancelling the BWCA part of our summer trip. K~