Thoughts from Alison that might at least entertain you!

Presenting Fiona Siobhan!

She is a wee spunky Irish lass, of course...

In keeping with the Subaru theme...

John and I just ordered and made a downpayment on our newest car.  In about 8-10 weeks we'll be bringing home one of these to replace Charlotte Pearl (my red Forester).  I got to see this color/model in person in Toledo last week, and decided this is definitely the one for me!  The picture doesn't quite do the color justice in my opinion, but it's pretty good.  I have never had a brand new car in my life, and I must say I'm pretty stinkin' excited!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

So we're thinking that I'm headed for a new car in the next few months.  And I think I likely want one of these (a Subaru Impreza 5-door).  But how, oh how, am I supposed to choose a color?!?

Pictured Rocks Vacation Album!

I've just added an album here of our Picture Rocks National Lakeshore vacation adventure!  Buckle your seatbelt for 85 pictures.  Most of the pics were taken by John on our "Sunset Cruise" to see the rocks from the lake.  What fun to re-visit the adventure with his fantastic pictures.  Enjoy!  (The album is on the left-hand side of the page, just below my photo and "About" link)

Olive, helping with vacation photos:

Olive did a lot of helping on our vacation (photo album to come once I get my act together with the 320 photos John took!) - especially with photography.  I was taken with these four directional totem animals at the Mission Hills Cemetery overlook in Bay Mills, MI.  The overlook was a place John and I discovered (with the help of a great waitress) on our honeymoon, so we hunted it out again on this trip.

Here is Olive, helping:

Travel and Stuff

John and I are getting ready to go on VACATION!  After this Friday, we will both have two solid weeks off of work, and the adventure will begin.  Olive will be joining us on a road trip that will take us west, then north, then east, then south!  Yes indeed - we plan to trek our way (by car) around Lake Michigan, with stops in Gobles MI, Madison WI, St Paul MN, Ironwood MI, Munising MI (Picture Rocks National Lakeshore!), Gladwin MI, and finally back home to Ann Arbor.  I am so excited for this adventure, I can hardly articulate it.  Eeeeeeeeeeeee!  (That was me, squealing in excitement) 

And if that's not enough?  We are also planning a short little camping trip with friends for a weekend in October.  And Olive will join us for that field trip too.  And we have this new tent on its way to our door.  Hooray for camping!!  The occasional escape is good for my soul.

Pixie!

Mugsy The Masked Marauder, Maybe?

Somebody's up to no good in the vicinity of Prune Ridge, and I have my suspicions...  Whoever this is has been working very hard at a number of tasks.  Or maybe, s/he's just yanking our chain? 

Yes, this chain - formerly the carrier of a freshly stocked suet feeder.  Yes, this suet feeder - recently discovered hiding under the daffodils. 

Methinks mayhap Mugsy the Masked Marauder has returned?  Some of my readers may recall Mugsy from last year's suet feeder hijinks.  Mugsy stole the feeders over and over and over...  carrying them whole buildings away from ours.  I retrieved the wayward feeders dutifully and tried to foil his/her attempts.  So far this year, through the fall, winter, and spring my handiwork has kept the feeders just where they ought to be (wired solidly into place), and we've seen nary a sign of Mugsy.  The suet has been disappearing rapidly in the last couple of weeks, but I still don't know for sure if this was Mugsy's work.  Someone is yanking our suet feeder - and also, these weeds: 

I don't know what this plant is, but I've been chuckling since the condo grounds folks started mowing.  They've very carefully avoided this "plant" that I didn't put there, and that I think is a weed.  Someone, however has decided it is a very tasty treat.  Yesiree, Bob.  Someone is up to no good!

Vacationing Reeds

Oh yes, we have been on vacation this week.  John and I have had a fantastic escape and plenty of nothing to do.  Last weekend we traipsed down to Southern Ohio for a stay in the Wayne National Forest.  We rented a cabin at Burr Oak State Park (which, yes, is essentially inside a National Forest - I don't know how that works). 

On the way down we took a jaunt through the Hocking Hills and Old Man's Cave area that we visited last fall.  We learned just how different those fantastic sights are on a beautiful October Saturday afternoon than they were last year when we visited - on a slightly damp and chilly weekday.  LOTS of people!  We still enjoyed the Cantwell Cliffs, which we hadn't seen before, and the Rock House that was a favorite spot on our first visit. 

We found Burr Oak State Park to be slightly less visited and calmer with not as many people.  Our cabin was simple (heated and air conditioned, so not too rustic) and perfect for an escape for the Reeds of Prune Ridge!  We had dinner one evening in the restaurant at the Burr Oak Lodge, and one night in the cabin.  We trekked 20 miles or so into Athens for lunch one day at a great little local deli, and partook (is that a word?) of Blizzards at Dairy Queen one night.  John and I have never met a Dairy Queen we didn't like.  We also hunted for covered bridges on the way to Athens, successfully (eventually) finding both indicated on the map.  I had no idea there were so many covered bridges remaining in Southern Ohio.  On Sunday afternoon we chose a trail in the woods at Burr Oak for a good long hike.  We both discovered calf muscles that we didn't know we had!  The woods were spectacular (with leaf color past-peak, but still stunning) and we found views of the lake that required a few moments of just sitting on a big rock outcrop to look down over the lake.  We did toss our apple cores from the rock outcrop break-time snack into the woods for the snacking pleasure of local critters.  This was my view from our outcrop hiking break:

All in all, this really was a perfect Reed escape.  I'll share a few more pictures later from our return-to-Prune-Ridge drive, when we stopped in and around Columbus to visit a couple of spots there.  John actually took more pictures at the Franklin Park Conservatory (where there are several Dale Chilhuly glass pieces on permanent display) than we did the whole rest of the weekend.  I'll probably share those in an album eventually.  The loveliest part of this escape weekend?  The screened-in porch on the back of our cabin.  We spent a good amount of time both nights sitting on the porch in the dark, listening to the dark night woods and watching the full moon rise.  What a joy to have such perfect moments of "nothing."  After this jaunt into the woods, I now plan to re-read (for about the 6th time) a favorite book of mine - "The Necessity of Empty Places" by Paul Gruchow.  This is the daytime view from our cabin porch at Burr Oak:

Leslie Science and Nature Center

This past weekend I decided to check out a place near Prune Ridge that I have known about for some time, but never visited or really learned what they do there.  The Leslie Science and Nature Center is less than 3 miles from our house.  I hope to spend more time there and learn a lot more while I do, but in the meantime...  How is it possible that this place exists so close to our home and I've not enjoyed it before now?!?  The first picture is of the Black Pond along the Black Pond Trail at LSNC.  Please note the frog trying to hide in the second picture, taken from the foot bridge over the pond.  These pictures were taken with my cell phone:

Heifer Adventure Photo Album!

Woohoo, finally - I have uploaded the full set (80-some) of photos from my Heifer adventures in Arkansas last month.  See the new album in the left-hand column of my blog if you like, just below my Family album.  Prepare yourself - there are lots of animals in there!

Women's Lambing Experience, Part VIII - More Animals, Of Course

Alright, so I was clearly a little bit taken by the goats at the Heifer International Ranch, and of course by the sheep, and by the cows (noses, specifically) - But Wait.  There's More! 

Just on the drive up to the Visitor Center where we registered for our visit we saw camels, llamas, water buffalo, goats, and sheep!  Later we were to meet pigs, turkeys, ducks, chickens, rabbits, cattle, donkeys, and horses. 

The water buffalo are amazing animals.  It was especially entertaining to watch them navigate - expertly - the large metal framework thing (I don't know what it's called) in the middle of their pasture that holds their hay.  Even with those incredible horns, they both managed to maneuver their head and horns through incredibly small spaces in the framework to get the hay inside.  Briggs and Stratton are the two resident water buffalo - but I don't know which is in this picture! 

I thought this goat was quite the looker.  He is one of the two males hanging out near the visitor center, and he is quite sociable.  I was also impressed with their handling of their horns.  Both males did a good job of getting their heads through the fence for optimal ear scratching opportunities from their admirers.  The two male goats were penned with several sheep as well.  I don't remember for certain, but I believe maybe those were the male sheep and goats all together.  Their time for procreating is carefully planned and monitored!

I wandered down to visit the Belgian draft horses and two donkeys during some unscheduled time one afternoon.  The horses are stunningly beautiful and enormous - but not terribly interested in people.  The donkey pair, on the other hand, were all about meeting and greeting.  The male was especially keen to be the center of attention, working hard to make sure he was between me and anyone else who might take attention away from him.  While I was schmoozing with the donkeys, one of the horses wandered our way to partake of a cool drink from the stream.  Male donkey quickly attempted to head the horse off and possibly intimidate him into leaving.  He thought better of it when the horse gave him a look that clearly said "Seriously?  You think you can take me?"  

The Ranch is also home to two dromedary (one hump) camels - Rajah and Gobi.  We were warned early in our visit that Rajah is quite the lover and displays his love of anyone who shows him attention with crazy grunting noises, a display of his dulaa (a balloon-like inflatable sac in the roof of his mouth), and lots and lots of goopy foam from his mouth which he gladly flings around.  Notes from the Ranch about the animals do mention that Gobi, the female, shows no interest in Rajah's sexual display! 

All in all, I did come away from this experience with a bit of a yearning to try my hand at farming for both the agriculture and growing experiences and the animal management.  I would be happy with a house full of animals - but it's possible that wouldn't work out quite so well for my marriage!  Instead, I'll just continue to interact with animals as much as I can, possibly visit the Heifer Ranch again, and definitely do what I can to help the work of Heifer.

Thank you, Heifer International for sharing your programs, excitement, knowledge, and Animals with me!

Women's Lambing Experience, Part VII - Sheep and Lambs

It suddenly strikes me as funny that I've been posting and posting and posting about our Lambing Experience at the Heifer Ranch, but I've hardly talked about the lambs and sheep at all! 

While we were visiting the Ranch, I believe they had about 45 ewes or maybe even a lot more who were expecting.  The planning was such that a majority of those lambs would arrive during the Lambing experience times.  (There are 3 sessions of Lambing in a row totaling about 12 days)  There were several lambs already when we arrived, and I believe about 10 were born while we were there.  No, I didn't actually manage to witness a single birth - but it's all good!  As I've mentioned, I spent quite a bit of time out in the fields with the sheep and lambs - especially moving fences. 

So here are a few pictures for you, with of course many more to come in the oft-mentioned photo album!  Lottie is the precious lamb sleeping in the first picture above.  Lottie was a special little lamb (most of the lambs are not named like the goat kids are, they are numbered).  Lottie earned her name and her special place - with the goat kids - because she was effectively abandoned.  Because so many ewes are lambing together, it is not uncommon for a few ewes who haven't yet birthed to think perhaps they have when another ewe has a lamb - and there are a few ewes in particular who have a tendency to "steal" newborns from other moms.  Lottie was a stolen lamb, but when the Ranch staff corrected the steal by returning Lottie to her real mom, real mom didn't recognize her lamb.  So Lottie was promoted to special goat-kid-lamb status! 

At the Ranch, the ewes waiting to lamb are in a pasture (with Zelda the dog) right next to the pasture with the lambs and moms (with Henry the dog).  In some of the pictures you may see numbers on the ewes & lambs.  They are paint-branded.  Tagging (ear tags, yes - ouch) and paint-branding the lambs were two of the "sheep work" tasks that I would have helped with in one of my chore sessions if there had been any new lambs that afternoon.  The lambs are paint-branded with the same number as mom, and then they transition to the pasture with the other numbered moms & lambs.  Of course half the fun of being around these animals was simply taking in their lovely colors - and also of course watching precious newborns frolicking, nursing, and sleeping! 

The last picture here is a far-away view of the ewes waiting to lamb.  I've never seen a collection of animals who at once look so lovely, calm, and horribly uncomfortable!  There were a few who were very close to lambing who just looked like they could hardly stand, let alone walk.  The most uncomfortable looking ewe we watched while we were there finally had her twin lambs (twins are very common, and triplets also not uncommon) in the middle of the night before our morning departure.  Phew!

Women's Lambing Experience, Part VI - Cow Noses!

Coming tomorrow - pictures of sheep and lambs, and many many many more animals from the Ranch in a couple of posts, and ultimately (this weekend if not tomorrow) a rather large photo album of the whole trip.  In the meantime - Cow Noses!  I love them for some reason.  I think I may have a cow nose collage somewhere in my future.  Ha!

Women's Lambing Experience, Part V - Global Village

At the Heifer International Ranch, one of their primary educational tools is the Heifer Global Village.  We got to tour it briefly when it wasn't being used by another visiting group.  This is the same type of Heifer program which is also located at the Howell Nature Center, not too far from where John and I live.  I am looking into the possibility of Volunteering there although I'm not sure how easily it might fit into my life since a good portion of the programs they do are overnight adventures - and of course I often work at night! 

The Global Village is a collection of dwellings - representations of types of dwellings in a whole host of developing countries where Heifer International has programs.  Some text from a brochure I picked up during our adventure about the Global Village Programs can explain it a bit better than I can: 

"Heifer's Global Village programs offer the extraordinary opportunity for people to experience the challenges of hunger and poverty - and come away determined to be part of the solution.  These are experiences that provoke change and will challenge participants to examine their habits and consumption patterns - in fact, their core beliefs - on the way to becoming more responsible global citizens."

"The realities of obtaining shelter, food, water and firewood.  An existence in which nothing can be taken for granted.  Heifer's Global Village programs show participants that sometimes having a little means a lot.  Whether spending one night or multiple days and nights in a village representing one of the regions in which Heifer works, participants will be taken through the daily struggles that impoverished people face every day." 

These are quite authentic dwellings - almost none with electricity, glass in the windows, plumbing, or even proper doors.  Programs range from day visits and tours for younger children to overnight (single night through 4 nights) visits for older groups. Most of the pictures here should have the name of the country represented in the title if you scroll over them or click on them.  I'll share all the pictures and some descriptions in my full Heifer experience photo album soon!