Our Photo Galleries

Here are links to our photos on Facebook. You should not have to have an account to view these albums.

Alligator in The Backyard
Gatorland 2011
Christmas 2011
Crawdad
Disney World 2011
Flowers in December
Pollywogs
Sulpherous caterpillar/butterfly - we hatched this guy
Monarch Butterfly - we hatched this guy too
Black Swallowtailed butterfly - yup, this one too.


Spoonbills
Unsorted Images

We're back...

Recently we have been posting stuff to our Facebook wall/page whatever and not here. I found, I hate Facebook. Not everyone we know wants to be a Facebook member, create a stupid account to view our stupid pictures, etc. So we are back to our blog. Keep checking in here to see our latest follies, whatever they may be. I am going to be posting 'back issues' here as soon as I can.

Chicken

I think this rooster lives across the street but I am not sure. Anyhow, it is pretty cool, he roams around and the neighbor says the cats are afraid of him. He likes a bit of bread....

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Another caterpillar

Here is another caterpillar we found on an oleander bush. It looks almost the same as the Oct. 1st butterfly but the hairs are much longer and fuzzier.  We'll see what he turns into. It was hard to photograph him, he was moving fast and never stopped. We actually have three of these guys in the bug hut.

Butterfly

This is the butterfly from the October 1st 2011 caterpillar. He was gorgeous and we let him free in the back yard. This is the first cocoon we have done ever I believe... You can also see another, different caterpillar behind him.

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And here is the cocoon he made...

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And here is the original caterpillar

And there you have it... from caterpillar to butterfly, just amazing.

Easy Bean Dip

This recipe is reminiscent of the bean dip you get in a can made by Fritos®, but it is way cheaper! Dip your favorite tortilla chips in it and enjoy.

In a bowl, mix together:
  1-16 oz. can refried beans
  3 Tablespoons sour cream
  2 Tablepoons salsa con queso dip
  2 dashes cayenne pepper
  3 dashes chili powder

NOTE: We have a set of measuring spoons with a dash spoon which is about 1/6 teaspoon.

The Pink Flamingo

Sounds like a bad '80's movie, a gaudy bar on a Southern California beach, or a hideous trailer park decoration. Oh no...this is a fantastic wood carving that resides in the lanai. Oh yeah...we are in Florida now, it fits right in. I love this guy! He was also rescued from certain death by garbage truck. Sometime in the far future his paint will need to be touched up. This guy has been here since we moved in, just hadn't gotten around to posting the picture, in all it's glory for all to see.

Click to enlarge

Homemade Garden Recipes

UPDATE: Originally this post contained some homemade garden recipes you could easily make in your kitchen, most of them with common household ingredients. However, the post grew to larger and larger proportions, so I had to move it to a separate page. Go to the Homemade Garden Recipes Page. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Another Cocoon

We saw these at least a month ago, so I do not know how long it has been in a cocoon or even what is in it. But I will be able to tell you what it becomes, someday.

Cocoon(ing)

The caterpillar from a couple of days ago is already spinning his cocoon. We can still see it is not complete, but he is not moving so I do not know how he will finish it. Until we took this picture we did not see the wide array of web on the inside of the bottle. How long will he be in the cocoon? Who knows? Stay tuned to find out. Maybe a little research is required here.

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Invasion!

We found these guys at a neighbors house feasting on a Passion Fruit plant. They did a good amount of damage overnight but probably not life threatening to the Passion Fruit. There were also a bunch of red and black (not Monarch) butterflies mating and flying around our heads. Stay tuned, as soon as he is in a cocoon I will try to photograph that and finally when he emerges a butterfly. I have him in a water bottle with some leaves and a bit of water in the bottom, and holes melted in with a hot nail. He is about 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" long. Pretty cool.

Nightstand Before and After

Here is a side by side before and after comparison picture...

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Note: I was looking at these images and the nightstand on the left is the one I have not refinished yet, so they are not exactly the same, but you get the idea.

One down...a lot to go

Here is the finished nightstand. Came out really nice. The clear Minwax polyurethane came out a little rough on top so I am going to try another method of applying it, found here. But all in all it was worth the effort.

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Toads

We saw these little guys out last night. Hopefully they are getting plenty of bugs...less I have to deal with. I think the first one is a toad but the second one I am not sure if it is a toad or a frog. As always click for a larger image.

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Cool Lightning Cloud

This was a cool cloud just before sundown. I got lucky and caught a bolt of lightning reaching out in the first few seconds.

Refinishing Update

Here is a sanded down nightstand... It is going to take awhile to finish all of the new furniture, but it will be worth it in the end. Technically, I still need to hit this nightstand with a finer sandpaper before staining. All wood furniture is worth the effort to refinish to me. And of course the price was right.

Boatload of furniture

A couple of weeks ago our friends Bill and Maria gave us this furniture for the new bedroom. It needs to be refinished, which is going to take a little time and elbow grease. But when it is done it will match the rest of the furniture. It is all wood so it needs to be stripped and sanded and re-stained and clear coated. Larry helped us out one afternoon with his truck and hauled it over here....

We are going to stain it a cherry color....

Big Bug

This is a big bug. He landed on the screened in porch (lanai) and let me poke and prod him and take his picture. We saw one of these a few weeks before when we had stopped at the serpentarium on the way back from the beach. I did not photograph that one although I believe he was larger by a third and was a little more colorful. When I was talking to Bill he said he and his daughter had seen one also about a week ago.

Florida!!!

We arrived in Sunny Florida on April 20th 2011, I believe. We arrived late in the evening around 9:00 or 10:00. We had a small bit of trouble with the toll booths but eventually arrived to a glorious, albeit pink, house, which has since been painted.

We have been busy painting, planting, working, furnishing and enjoying the warmth and sun we had not really seen in the past 7 years in Washington State.

Anyhow, we have been here around 4 months now. I had been busy and not posted anything here. In fact not much has been posted here in the past 3 years. I am going to be making some posts from the last 4 months to catch up and go from there.
Here's a picture of the house before we painted...and of course the 'Big Red Truck', which is actually a medium sized Toyota 4-Runner.
Stay tuned...